Public Corruption
Utility refunds top priorities list for new Ohio consumers’ counsel
Refunds for unlawful utility charges are a top priority for Maureen Willis, the veteran litigator who became Ohio’s new consumers’ counsel this month. The Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel is a state-funded agency that represents ratepayer interests in gas and electric utility cases, including matters relating to House Bill 6, the 2019 law at […]
Ohio Ballot Board approves anti-gerrymandering amendment. Proposal to go forward
Activists who hope to pass an anti-gerrymandering amendment to the Ohio Constitution can now begin gathering the nearly half-million signatures on the need to get the measure on the November 2024 ballot after the amendment was approved as a single issue by the Ohio Ballot Board Thursday. Without much ceremony, the board unanimously agreed that […]
Big investors continue to accuse FirstEnergy of hiding behind its lawyers
After years of hearings, depositions and court filings, some of the biggest investors in Akron-based FirstEnergy are still accusing the company of stonewalling their demands for information related to a massive bribery scandal that’s already sent two to federal prison. For its part, FirstEnergy says the plaintiffs in the suit either don’t understand or are […]
Even before office move is complete, Ohio Sec. of State LaRose appears to blur ethical lines
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose last week recorded a campaign interview that appeared to take place in the building where he is moving his taxpayer-funded state offices. LaRose didn’t respond to questions, but the backdrop of the interview seemed to preclude the possibility that it was set in any other building. It’s unclear whether […]
Menendez urged to step down by a growing number of U.S. Senate Democrats
WASHINGTON — More than two dozen U.S. Senate Democrats including Ohio U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown are calling on New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez to resign following his indictment on corruption charges for the second time. Among the 29 senators on the record as of Wednesday was New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, who said in […]
Menendez steps down temporarily as U.S. Senate committee chairman amid federal charges
WASHINGTON — New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez will temporarily step aside as chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee following a federal indictment for conspiracy to commit bribery and other charges. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer made the announcement Friday afternoon, saying in a written statement that “Senator Menendez has rightly decided to […]
Anti-democratic moves by state lawmakers raise fears for 2024 election
In Wisconsin, Republican lawmakers are threatening to impeach both the state’s election administrator, who is highly regarded nationally, and a state Supreme Court justice despite a ruling by the state’s judicial commission that the justice had done nothing wrong — effectively nullifying a recent statewide election she won, Democrats say. In North Carolina, a bill […]
Attorneys dig up thousands of new documents in case against FirstEnergy
Lawyers for pension and investment funds suing Akron-based FirstEnergy report that as they press the company for documents relating to alleged bribery, the company is finding thousands more. Meanwhile, the U.S. Justice Department isn’t commenting on rumors that further charges might be filed next month in the biggest bribery and money-laundering scandal in Ohio history. […]
Economists: Suing energy companies for concealing climate change would correct market, help society
More than 40 years ago, internal research at Exxon led the company’s scientists to predict that burning fossil fuels would warm the environment in a way that would have “dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050,” internal company memos said. But after the energy company’s executives decided that public knowledge of the research might crimp […]
Report faults EPA for not enforcing limits on toxic benzene emissions at oil refineries
The federal Environmental Protection Agency must do a better job ensuring that oil refineries that exceed emissions limits for benzene, a toxic, carcinogenic pollutant, cut those concentrations, the agency’s inspector general found. “Thirteen of the 118 refineries we reviewed had benzene concentrations above the action level in 20 or more weeks after the initial exceedance,” […]
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 […]