Catching our eye 12.4.19

Each day in our newsletter, we are highlighting stories and commentary from other media big and small throughout Ohio and the nation. We will publish this section in The Rundown as well. If you’d like to get this feature directly to your inbox, please sign up for our newsletter here. 

Catching our eye:

Out of darkness comes water testing. The Associated Press is reporting that, “Gov. Mike DeWine said Monday the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency will coordinate the testing of nearly 1,500 public water systems serving communities, schools, day cares and mobile home parks.” They are reportedly testing “for potentially harmful chemicals in the state’s drinking water, akin to those explored in a new movie with a Cincinnati connection.”The movie? Dark Waters, which covers the aftermath of the C8 contamination of drinking water in Mid-Ohio River Valley communities and subsequent lawsuits against the DuPont company.

Are voters down with BMV? (Yeah you know me). WCMH’s Jason Aubry is reporting on bipartisan legislation that seeks to help keep Ohio voter registrations up-to-date by having offices of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles report address changes automatically to their local boards of elections. State Sen. Vernon Sykes noted to Aubry that, “We interact with the bureau of motor vehicles a lot more than we than we do the Board of Elections; so this information would be automatically transferred over to the board of elections to update your records.”Aubry reports: “Right now, when you get or update your driver’s license, you are asked if you want to register to vote or change your voter registration address. If you do, you are given a paper form to fill out and it is submitted on your behalf.”

Standards and practices. Jo Ingles is reporting for Ohio Public Radio that, “Ohio lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow the state’s education department to set health and sex education standards for K-12 schools. But it is meeting opposition from conservative groups.”Current Ohio law states a preference for abstinence-only education, but the Buckeye State has no set standards for sex and health education.