Civil Rights
Analysis: Paying to warm the planet. Corrupt utility law forces Ohioans to make climate worse
It seems crazy that people would be forced to pay to make themselves and their planet sicker. But thanks to a crooked utility law that the Ohio General Assembly refuses to repeal, that’s just what’s happening in the Buckeye State. The notion that rising greenhouse gasses could warm the planet goes back at least to […]
Ohio Sec. of State LaRose’s office move amid U.S. Senate candidacy raises ethical questions
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has decided it’s a good idea to both oversee Ohio’s U.S. Senate election as the state’s chief elections officer and house part of his campaign for the seat in the same building. But the arrangement, which LaRose has done little to explain, raises serious questions about potential conflicts of […]
Former U.S. attorney general warns of Ohio legislative attempts to cut court power
Some state legislatures are working to diminish the power of courts, imperiling the American system of checks and balances, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder wrote Tuesday. He used Ohio as exhibit A. Holder, attorney general under President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2015, warned of an “alarming pattern” in an op-ed published by the […]
Some lawmakers want to close Ohio primaries, claiming without evidence voters are gaming the system
Ohio Republicans have introduced legislation to close the state’s primary elections. But the supporters were unable to provide data or statistics backing up their claims that voters are gaming the system. Ohioans have a choice going into primary election day. Right now, voters are able to pick whether they want a Republican, Democratic or an […]
State Supreme Court dismisses congressional redistricting cases
The Ohio Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed two cases over congressional districts in Ohio. The decision isn’t a complete surprise because the groups filing the complaints asked for the dismissals earlier this week. But struggles over partisan gerrymandering in Ohio and elsewhere are far from over. The complainants continue to maintain that Ohio’s congressional districts […]
Study: Rural counties are hemorrhaging population. Immigration can fix that
In Ohio and across the country, 77% of rural counties have been losing working-age people since the Great Recession of 2008-2009, a new demographic analysis says. And if nothing changes, the problem will get much worse, it projects. However, the study proposes a solution — immigration reform. The analysis of Census Bureau and other data […]
Despite rise in child deaths, Ohio lawmakers won’t allow for gun safety laws
Ohio is seeing an increase in shooting deaths for children and teens, but state lawmakers refuse to put forward gun safety laws and won’t let cities enact their own either. Across Ohio, big city leaders are pleading to state lawmakers. “Do something about the guns flooding our streets,” Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said during a […]
Not just Ohio: Biased language is the hot new tactic to thwart ballot measures
Abortion-rights supporters filed a lawsuit Monday against what they call “deceptive” ballot language produced by Ohio officials for the state’s closely-watched upcoming referendum on the issue. But it isn’t just the Buckeye State that’s lately seeing fierce battles over the once-obscure topic of ballot language. In recent weeks, officials in Missouri — where another abortion-rights measure is […]
Still just a dream: 60 years later, racial wealth disparities remain wide
It was 60 years ago this week that Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream Speech” to a quarter-million arrayed in front of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. The crowd must have been filled with hope. Lincoln’s war against slavery had been won almost a century earlier. But virtual slavery in […]
‘Hate will not prevail in America’: Biden marks 60 years since March on Washington
The U.S. still hasn’t met the goals of the Civil Rights Movement, President Joe Biden said Monday, the 60th anniversary of one of the movement’s most iconic events. Six decades to the day after the 1963 March on Washington, where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech, Biden urged Americans not […]
Economists: Abortion protections will lead to better outcomes for Ohio women
Abortion rights will be on the ballot in November, and Ohio Republican politicians who oppose them are again trying to stack the deck. However, a majority of economists who were surveyed this month said that such rights will improve economic prospects for women — especially those who are poor. After the U.S. Supreme Court in […]
Report: CEOs who pay poorly do fabulously
Ticketmaster isn’t just crappy to its customers and to the musicians for whose shows it manages ticket sales. As a dominant event middleman, it tacks on hefty fees and has the effrontery to call them “convenience charges.” And bands complain that by the time parent company Live Nation Entertainment deducts its many cuts for their […]