Purple States
Michigan Supreme Court decision has implications for women in Ohio, Indiana, even Kentucky
A Thursday ruling by the Michigan Supreme Court could have profound implications for women and their doctors in Ohio as well as other neighboring states. The court ruled that a petition signed by a record 730,000 voters was valid and ordered that an amendment protecting abortion rights be placed on the Nov. 8 ballot, the […]
LaRose says Dems might wreck election integrity, touts Trump, who’s suspected of election fraud
Ohio’s top elections official on Sunday tweeted that if Democrats win in Ohio they might undermine secure elections. Then he boasted of an endorsement from someone who is himself under investigation for possible election fraud. It might demonstrate the needle Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is trying to thread as he runs on a […]
Ohio leaders say they’d like more competitive lege, congressional districts, cite challenges
Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted on Tuesday said they hope a new system of drawing congressional and state legislative districts will result in more competitive elections. But, they cautioned, the task will be far from simple. Ohio has among the worst partisan gerrymandering, according to multiple analyses. Districts are typically redrawn once […]
In a pandemic, efforts to kill the Affordable Care Act might be getting dicier
The Trump administration last month joined 18 states in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, arguing, “the entire ACA must fall.” The move comes as more than a million Ohioans are estimated to have lost health coverage because of coronavirus-related job losses. It also comes as the disease is expected […]
With coronavirus spiking, DeWine praises mask mandate but won’t announce his own
An alarming uptick in Ohio coronavirus numbers continued into the Independence Day weekend. But while Gov. Mike DeWine on Thursday praised orders in hard-hit Ohio cities to require masks in public places, he wouldn’t impose one statewide — at least not yet. Due to technical problems, new 24-hour data on the spread of coronavirus were […]
Yearning to breathe free, or just to breathe
Millions of Americans, it seems, feel as if they can no longer breathe. Through the first months of 2020, the novel coronavirus has choked the life from more than 100,000 of our countrymen and women. Disease-related shutdowns have choked 40 million more out of the workforce, changing the economic outlook for many — especially minorities […]
DeWine noncommittal on extra Medicaid money from feds
State leaders have already slashed half a billion dollars from the state budget, so billions in additional federal funding for Medicaid might sound good right now to those tasked with balancing Ohio’s books. But Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine wouldn’t answer directly Monday when asked whether he supported a request by the National Governors Association that […]
Swing-state battle begins in Ohio for Trump, Biden
The presidential race is now set: it will be President Trump, a Republican, vying for reelection against Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Biden, a former two-term vice president, wrapped up the Democratic nomination with U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont ending his campaign on April 8. Biden previously campaigned for Democratic party’s presidential nomination in the […]
Manufacturing in Midwest purple states has seen ups and downs on Trump’s watch
In 2016, Donald Trump ran on “bringing back” manufacturing jobs to Rust Belt states like Ohio, which was one factor in his surprise wins in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania (and less surprising victory in neighboring Ohio). “The heart of the [economic] slowdown has really been in manufacturing. The global manufacturing sector is in a recession […]
Ohio is flat, rural, red and boring. Except that it’s not.
Ohio is flatland corn country. It’s rural and red and full of white people who drink mass-produced American lager and like football. Oh, and it’s boring, painfully boring. It’s not that these statements are entirely inaccurate, but the massive generalizations they represent are wildly off base. In reality, while Ohio boasts plenty of flat corn […]