firstenergy
Ohio utilities ranked among the worst on fossil fuel use
Three Ohio electricity companies are among the worst in the United States when it comes to weaning themselves off of fossil fuels, according to a major Sierra Club report released this week. And it’s possible that a culprit is huge coal subsidies passed as part of one of the biggest bribery scandals in state history. […]
FirstEnergy fights to keep records tied to bribery scheme from the public
Akron-based utility FirstEnergy Corp., which has admitted to spending tens of millions bribing top government officials, asked state regulators to shield documents about its bribes from release to the public. The company’s request will soon be decided by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, whose former chairman Sam Randazzo allegedly accepted a $4.3 million bribe […]
Judge orders unfreezing of assets of regulator accused of taking bribe
An appellate judge ordered Wednesday that the government must unfreeze the millions of dollars in bank accounts of Sam Randazzo, a former state utility regulator who was implicated in a public corruption scandal. Last summer, a civil suit led by Attorney General Dave Yost won a judgement freezing up to $8 million from several accounts […]
Amid rising energy costs, Ohio aggregator dumps its 550,000 electric customers
Citing a foreign invasion in Europe, economic inflation, and hot weather, a northeast Ohio electric aggregator is dumping its 550,000 customers. The aggregator, the Northeast Ohio Public Energy Council (NOPEC), said it’s taking reasonable steps to shield its customers from electric prices that have doubled in the past year and could double again this winter. […]
Utility regulators freeze investigations into FirstEnergy bribes
Ohio’s utility regulators froze investigations Wednesday into a massive bribery campaign from FirstEnergy Corp. that implicated their former chairman, stating they did so to defer to a parallel criminal investigation. By unanimous vote, the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio paused its four investigations into FirstEnergy’s conduct. The move came at the request of Kenneth Parker, […]
Ohio House Bill 6 scandal settlement payments coming soon, but isn’t over yet
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. Ohioans are starting to receive notices that they are eligible to […]
Democrats criticize DeWine administration’s ethics, demand fixes
Democrats are hammering the administration of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine for a rash of stories over the last few months they say raise serious ethical questions that highlight the need for changes to Ohio law. In late May, Ohioans learned that Lt. Gov. Jon Husted quietly took a seat on a bank’s board a few […]
Nothing new? Records show startling new info on DeWine, Husted roles in Ohio bailout scandal
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted like to claim “there is nothing new” whenever startling new information is revealed about their administration’s role in Ohio’s corrupt political bribery and nuclear bailout scandal. I suppose it’s true they have personally known the extent of their own involvement all along, but the public hasn’t. […]
DOJ asks regulators to back off investigation into FirstEnergy bribery case
Federal prosecutors who brought a sweeping criminal case against FirstEnergy Corp. and Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder are now asking state regulators to hold off on their own investigations into the matter. In a letter to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Kenneth L. Parker, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, asked […]
Texts, calendars, emails link DeWine to FirstEnergy’s bribery scandal
Gov. Mike DeWine and his administration played a hands-on role passing an allegedly pay-for-play nuclear bailout and appointing an industry-friendly regulator who has since been accused of taking a $4.3 million bribe, documents and messages show. Calendar records show DeWine, a Republican, met repeatedly to discuss energy policy with FirstEnergy Corp. officials and at least […]
Judge scolds former GOP chairman, forbids him from intimidating whistleblower
A federal judge lambasted a suspect in a criminal public corruption case for posting a FBI informant’s social security number and address on the internet. U.S. District Judge Timothy Black said he finds it “entirely incredible” that lobbyist and former GOP Chairman Matt Borges accidentally posted the information of the whistleblower online, as Borges claimed. […]
Utility regulator accused of taking a bribe helped write bill targeting watchdog
Ohio’s former top utility regulator, who was accused of taking a $4.3 million bribe, quietly spent months helping write a sweeping energy bill that targeted a state watchdog agency that advocates for Ohio’s residential electric customers, records show. Emails that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio gave in response to two FBI subpoenas show its […]