journal
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. […]
Appellate court resurrects OSU lawsuit over serial predator it employed
A panel of judges resurrected a lawsuit against Ohio State University brought by sex abuse victims who allege the school knew of and covered up the serial predation of a physician it employed. In a split ruling from the judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals released Wednesday, Judge Karen Nelson Moore writing for […]
Analysis: Only 1 in 4 Statehouse races will be competitive under new redistricting plan
On the first run of Ohio’s new legislative redistricting system, as few as one in four races are likely to produce competitive general elections, a new analysis shows. All 99 seats in the Ohio House and 17 of 33 Senate seats are up this year. Of those 116 races, just 30 will take place […]
A crackdown didn’t stop this payday lender from cashing in on poor Ohioans
A Canton man borrowed $300 just as businesses began to close in the pandemic. He said he paid $780 on the loan with another $300 due. A Miamisburg woman said she has paid back $1,400 on a $1,000 loan and still owes more than $700. A Patsakala man said he paid off his $300 loan […]
Supreme Court to rule on whether those accused of crimes can carry guns
The Ohio Supreme Court will soon decide whether to overturn a state law that prohibits people accused of violent crimes from possessing guns. In 2017, authorities indicted a man named Delvonte Philpotts on accusations of rape, kidnapping and assault. While released on bond, Philpotts posted several photos on social media depicting himself carrying and wielding […]
Ohio State employed a serial sex abuser. Its fight with his victims lives on
As Ohio State University came to publicly acknowledge that a physician it employed abused hundreds of students over two decades, it also waged several high-stakes legal and political fights against some of his victims to narrow their path to financial damages, an Ohio Capital Journal investigation has found. In state and federal courtrooms and behind […]
Judge says lender created a ‘legal fiction’ to skirt payday loan reforms
A Franklin County municipal court judge last week rebuffed a “legal fiction” she said was concocted to evade Ohio’s new payday lending law and ruled against a company seeking to collect the debt. Judge Jodi Thomas, in what she indicated is one of the first major decisions under Ohio’s 2018 payday lending reform, ruled that […]
State government may soon kill a solar project in the governor’s backyard
Solar energy developers are facing peril after state officials recommended against granting them a permit to build a solar farm in Greene County capable of powering an estimated 34,000 homes per year. Opposition from local governments, primarily concerned about the rural aesthetics of the area, trump the Kingwood Solar’s signed leases with landowners, the payroll […]
DeWine ducks Whaley’s call for debate
Nan Whaley wants a debate with the governor. But will Mike DeWine go toe to toe with his Democratic challenger? He repeatedly avoided a clear answer on the subject Friday. “We’ll see. I suspect there will be joint appearances that some of the newspapers will be having, those will be available to people to watch […]
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, […]
Ten Ohio counties ban wind, solar projects under new state law
At least 10 Ohio counties have passed resolutions blocking the development of new utility scale wind and solar projects within all or part of their jurisdictions in the last year. The counties’ moves come after the October 2021 enactment of a state law giving the locals the veto power over renewable energy generation sites — […]
House Republicans propose free loans, tax breaks for new gas pipelines
Two state House Republicans proposed legislation to give some natural gas pipeline developers state-funded tax breaks and interest-free loans, while allowing them to add a surcharge to ratepayers’ monthly bills. Reps. Jay Edwards, of Nelsonville, and Jon Cross, of Kenton, proposed House Bill 685 to aid communities that they say lose out on economic gains […]