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Workers at Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo part of the ongoing United Auto Workers strike
Thousands of workers at the Stellantis Jeep plant in Toledo are striking as part of the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike. The strike started Thursday at midnight after contract negotiations failed with the “Detroit Three” auto manufacturers: Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. The Toledo Assembly Complex makes the Jeep Gladiator and Jeep Wrangler, […]
Ohio Democrats introduce bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage
Ohio Democratic lawmakers have once again introduced a bill that would raise the state’s minimum wage. Ohio Senators Kent Smith, D-Euclid, and Hearcel Craig, D-Columbus, recently introduced Senate Bill 146, which would gradually raise the state’s minimum wage one dollar each year until it was up to $15. Under the bill, minimum wage would increase […]
16 women graduate from CATCH Court, a criminal justice program for victims of human trafficking
Liyah Guilkey was able to leave prison to access CATCH Court, a specialized docket in the Franklin County Municipal Court for women in the system who are victims of human trafficking. “Every person that wrote you off as no good, who viewed you as a commodity and treated you as if you were disposable, made a […]
What’s different about this year’s effort to legalize marijuana in Ohio?
Ohio voters will once again have the chance to legalize marijuana on Nov. 7 — eight years after Ohioans overwhelmingly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made cannabis legal. But there are some key differences between the two. Issue 3 in 2015 was a proposed constitutional amendment and today’s Issue 2 is a […]
Gov. DeWine attends first Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group meeting
The newly formed Ohio School Bus Safety Working Group held its first meeting Monday — less than a month after an 11-year-old died in a Clark County school bus crash. Aiden Clark, a Northwestern Local Schools elementary student, died on Aug. 22 when a minivan going the other way crossed the centerline, causing a head-on […]
A look inside classes at an Ohio prison
This is the second in a series of stories about education opportunities in Ohio’s prisoners. Read the first story here. Dexter Bass earned his bachelor’s degree from Ashland University behind bars. The 60-year-old was sentenced to prison in 1990 for murder and was recently granted parole. Before prison, his highest academic attainment was graduating high […]
Ohio State Teachers Retirement System will close on-site child care center
The Ohio State Teachers Retirement System is closing their on-site child care center — leaving families scrambling. After 34 years, the C. James Grothaus Child Care Center is shutting its doors for good on Dec. 31. “The decision to close the center is nothing that comes to me easily,” STRS Executive Director Bill Neville said […]
More incarcerated Ohioans could be able to take college courses through Pell Grants
This is the first in a series of stories about education opportunities in Ohio’s prisons. More incarcerated Ohioans could soon be eligible to take college classes while behind bars. Pell Grants for incarcerated students went into effect on July 1 — meaning an estimated 760,000 additional incarcerated people could be eligible for a Pell Grant […]
New Ohio Black Student Equity report campus sheds lights on discrimination, campus policing
A little more than half of Black students, 54%, surveyed at Ohio universities, reported feeling discriminated against because of their race. This is according to the new Ohio Black Student Equity Report from the Ohio Student Association, a statewide grassroots organization. “Some had very negative experiences, or uncomfortable experiences or didn’t feel comfortable going to […]
Ohio Ballot Board sets language for proposed recreational marijuana law
The Ohio Ballot Board unanimously voted Thursday to solidify the language voters will see for the proposed recreational marijuana law in the November election. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana like Alcohol is backing the ballot proposal which would legalize and regulate cultivation, manufacturing, testing and the sale of marijuana to Ohioans 21 and up. It would […]
Medical marijuana cultivation sites could also harvest adult-use weed, if Ohio initiative passes
Thousands of marijuana plants grow in a highly controlled environment from seed to harvest at a cultivation facility in Buckeye Lake. PharmaCann, Inc., a Level I medical marijuana cultivation facility, harvests 36 times a year in Licking County. “Everything’s controlled,” PharmaCann Manager of Cultivation Tommy Black said. “Everything from the light, the light’s intensity to […]
Good Works provides housing to people in nine Southeastern Ohio counties
This is the second part of an ongoing series looking at homelessness and housing insecurity in rural Ohio counties. Read the first story here. Keith Wasserman opened up his remodeled basement to people experiencing homelessness more than four decades ago and hasn’t looked back. He asked his professors at Ohio University if he could do […]