jay edwards

Ohio House, Senate reach agreement on $191 billion budget, compromising on education initiatives

BY: and - July 1, 2023

A deal has been reached over Ohio’s state budget, with a variety of compromises between the Ohio House and Senate versions. It now goes to Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who has line-item veto power. The main focus of both the House’s and the Senate’s budgets was education. The Senate plan was much more conservative, while […]

“God doesn’t want people to be hungry;” advocates ask Ohio Senate for more funding for foodbanks

BY: - May 12, 2023

Advocates focused on ending hunger in Ohio gathered at the Statehouse Thursday for the Praying for our Daily Bread Faith Leaders luncheon to discuss solutions in the state’s proposed operating budget.   The Ohio Association of Foodbanks would be funded $39,550,000 a year, as distributed by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services under the House’s […]

House leaders tee up supermajority amendment measure for floor vote

BY: - May 10, 2023

The stage is set for a long-awaited House vote on SJR 2. The resolution would ask voters whether the threshold for amending the constitution should be 60% rather than a simple majority. But lawmakers pushing the plan may not be celebrating yet. A parallel effort to send the question to voters before they consider an […]

GOP lawmakers share insight into ongoing rift after ‘chaos’ erupts on Ohio House floor

BY: - January 27, 2023

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.   Republicans in the Ohio House can’t stop fighting with each other. After the […]

COMMENTARY

Don’t let Ohio GOP lawmakers hamstring efforts to protect people from latest COVID surge

BY: - September 9, 2021

Many of our expectations and assumptions about politics have been upended over the past five years. But nothing is quite as disturbing as the Republican Party’s ongoing war against local efforts to protect community members — including children — from the deadly and costly effects of a still-raging pandemic. In Ohio, this is manifested in […]

COMMENTARY

Ohio lawmakers who lied for Trump ought to be held accountable

BY: - January 13, 2021

We’ve been hearing a lot about accountability since the Trump-incited insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. Who’s at fault for this historic attack on American democracy, and how can they be held responsible? Most of us know who deserves the central blame. In an ABC News/Ipsos poll released on Sunday, 67 percent of […]

COMMENTARY

Civic society suffers when one party bypasses the public

BY: - October 28, 2020

What would you think about a candidate for public office who thought so little of the democratic process that he or she refused to respond to a nonpartisan voter survey, or ignored invitations to participate in a public candidate forum, with both programs hosted by a respected good-government group? This election cycle in Ohio, many […]

Democrat gets Ohio House candidacy reinstated by Ohio Supreme Court ruling

BY: - April 14, 2020

A Republican member of the Ohio House of Representatives leadership team will have a Democratic challenger this November after all. Rep. Jay Edwards will face-off against fellow Nelsonville resident Katie O’Neill in the 94th House District, thanks to an Ohio Supreme Court decision announced on Tuesday. O’Neill had seen her candidacy ruled ineligible by the […]

Many Ohio lawmakers use campaign $$ to subscribe to hometown papers

BY: - February 7, 2020

Dozens of Ohio legislators are choosing to spend their donors’ money in the interest of local journalism. In total, 35 state representatives and senators paid for news subscriptions using campaign funds in 2019, a review from the Ohio Capital Journal has found.  And though the president bemoans the alleged problem of “fake news,” it is […]