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History Thursday: Ohio played pivotal role in ending MLB color barrier
Drivers on Route 23 north of Columbus may be surprised to learn the highway is named after a University of Michigan graduate. But Wesley Branch Rickey was much more than a Wolverine. The native of southern Ohio played and coached baseball at Ohio Wesleyan University before reaching the big leagues as a catcher. It was […]
More efforts this fall to legalize sports betting in Ohio? A good bet.
Ohioans will have to hold off from planning their next Buckeyes-Bengals-Browns parlay, but perhaps for not too much longer. Ohio lawmakers did not finalize a proposal on legal sports gambling before departing the Statehouse for a summer break. But it’s a sure bet they will take a close look at the issue upon returning to […]
LaRose: 104 illegally registered to vote in Ohio, 13 voted in 2020
More than 100 people in Ohio are accused of illegally registering to vote and casting ballots during the 2020 election cycle, Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced Monday. LaRose acknowledged some of these cases involve “honest mistakes” and reflect only a small portion of the millions of ballots cast here in 2020. Though he touted […]
Mailbag: What’s the cost of sending Highway Patrol to the Texas border?
Welcome back to another installment of the Ohio Capital Journal Mailbag, which rank choice voting has shown is the most-read political column in the state. (Or at least is readers’ third pick.) Let’s get to it: Got a question about Ohio politics/government? Send them by email to [email protected] or tweet them to @tylerjoelb. Any new […]
Scrap tires and alcoholic bingo: The Ohio budget’s most obscure items
The new state budget allocates billions of dollars to necessary public services, but you have to flip to page 1,326 to find the part about buying to-go cocktails. Tucked between groundbreaking investments in broadband internet and children’s services, this provision lets Ohioans purchase drinks for “off-premises consumption,” so long as the drink is not any […]
History Thursday: Budget debate led lawmakers to mow Statehouse lawn
By the fall of 1971, having tried just about everything else to get the state budget passed, Ohio lawmakers turned to their next great negotiating tool: Lawnmowers. The tardy budget meant state funding cuts. Lawmakers protested by cutting the grass on the Statehouse grounds themselves. Fifty years later, the Ohio General Assembly would pass a […]
DeWine on sending troops to southern border: ‘It’s in Ohio’s interest’
Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday it is in the state’s best interest to send more Ohio National Guard troops and other law enforcement officials to help protect the southern border with Mexico. The decision reflects Ohio’s broader effort to aid fellow states — or the federal government — when help is requested, the governor said. […]
Voting begins today for congressional primaries in Ohio’s 11th, 15th districts
Early voting begins today for the Aug. 3 special election in Ohio, which features two congressional primary elections and a handful of local ballot issues across the state. Most Ohioans do not have anything to vote for in this special election. But all eyes are on the 11th and 15th Ohio Congressional District primaries: 11th […]
Ohio ballots will list party affiliations for top judicial candidates
A change to Ohio’s ballot rules could impact key Supreme Court races in 2022 and influence the leaning of the state’s highest court for years to come. Gov. Mike DeWine signed a bill into law Thursday that will list candidates’ party affiliations on ballots for certain judicial races. This will include races for the Ohio […]
DeWine signs budget, blocks erasure of COVID-19 health violations
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the $74 billion, two-year state budget into law, keeping in place nearly all of its signature policy positions and spending priorities while once again nixing an effort by Republican lawmakers to counter his administration’s methods of handling the deadly COVID-19 pandemic. The governor also vetoed an attempt by Republican lawmakers to […]
Budget includes $250M for Ohio broadband internet expansion
Few items in the new state budget will have as direct an impact on Ohioans’ lives as the money to be spent on improving access to broadband internet, what one lawmaker has long championed as the “great social equalizer of our time.” Lawmakers agreed to spend $250 million on broadband internet expansion projects to aid […]
Ohio college athletes will be able to profit off of names, likenesses
When a legislative effort was fumbled, it was said that Gov. Mike DeWine picked up the ball and ran with it. As it turned out, the Ohio General Assembly did get the job done before the final bell sounded. Sports metaphors abounded inside the Statehouse on Monday as two branches of government worked to enact […]