journal
Judge allows challenge to guns-at-government-meetings law to proceed
A Warren County judge denied a motion Monday to toss out a lawsuit over a local ordinance that allows residents to carry concealed firearms into city council meetings. Common Pleas Judge Timothy Tepe ruled against the city of Lebanon, declining its request that he dismiss a lawsuit that three residents filed earlier this year. On […]
Ohio utility regulator lobbied for legislation to save FirstEnergy millions, texts show
Ohio’s top utility regulator quietly lobbied lawmakers to include a provision in the state budget that saved tens of millions for FirstEnergy Corp., text messages from company executives show. FirstEnergy admitted in federal court earlier this year that it funded $60 million to a political nonprofit that wasn’t required to disclose its donors, secretly controlled […]
House rep introduces latest vaccine mandate ban
An Ohio representative introduced the latest version of legislation Tuesday to prevent Ohio schools, private colleges, and employers from mandating vaccination. While the short title of the bill refers to COVID-19, the text of the legislation itself could include mandates for vaccinations against any disease. It states employers who require employees to receive a vaccine […]
FirstEnergy to pay $306 million in refunds in legal settlement
FirstEnergy Corp. has agreed to refund $306 million to customers after the Supreme Court ruled the utility improperly excluded millions in charges from a calculation of whether its profits were “significantly excessive.” The refund traces back to what FirstEnergy called a “distribution modernization rider” (DMR) — about $458 million collected from customers over about 2.5 […]
COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations continue to wane in Ohio
COVID-19 infection rates in Ohio continued to descend Monday, as they have for roughly six weeks and counting. At October’s end, an average of roughly 2,700 Ohioans were contracting COVID-19 per day, as compared to nearly 7,200 in mid-September or more than 10,000 daily in December 2020, according to data from the state health department. […]
How a 2005 Ohio ‘tort reform’ law has cost child rape victims millions
Placing limits on the money juries can award to lawsuit winners was “urgently needed to restore balance, fairness and predictability” into Ohio’s court system, the authors of 2005 “tort reform” legislation wrote. The absence of such maximums, they said, would hold the door for open runaway juries demanding corporations pay outrageous sums in legal disputes. […]
House lawmakers review coal bailouts, energy efficiency proposal
Major pieces of scandal-tainted legislation remain on the books in Ohio, and House lawmakers indicate they plan to keep it that way. The Ohio House Public Utilities Committee on Wednesday reviewed two pieces of legislation aimed at different remnants of House Bill 6 from 2019. HB 6 is now mired in a bribery scandal that […]
House committee passes bill allowing for concealed carry of guns without training
An Ohio House committee passed legislation Thursday that would allow most Ohioans who are 21 years of age and up to lawfully carry a concealed firearm. Current law allows Ohioans to carry concealed weapons after completing eight hours of training and submitting an application to their county sheriff, who conducts a background check. House Bill […]
GOP megadonor gives $10,000 to small-town council candidate
One of the biggest donors in Ohio politics wrote a $10,000 check to a candidate running for city council in Worthington, a Columbus suburb with a population just below 15,000. Virginia “Ginni” Ragan, who The Columbus Dispatch identified as the biggest state-level political donor of the last decade, gave $10,000 to Mike Duffey’s Worthington City […]
Ohio’s prison workforce is 28% vaccinated, per state data; lowest rate among all state agencies
Ohio’s prison authority, the largest government agency in the state tasked with overseeing the 43,000 inmates in its custody, is the least vaccinated entity in Ohio’s government, according to state data based on employee-submitted records. About 28% of employees within the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction are vaccinated against COVID-19 and have submitted proof […]
Senate passes bill blocking cities from limiting concealed knife carry
Last year, lawmakers passed legislation allowing Ohioans to carry of an array of concealed, non-firearm weapons like butterfly knives, switchblades, springblades and billy clubs. On Wednesday, the Senate passed legislation ensuring that Ohio’s cities don’t try to pass legislation on the local level that would limit this newfound right. Current law, enacted earlier this year, […]
Ohio senator joined anti-vaccine panel hyping debunked, ‘alternative’ COVID treatments
An Ohio senator joined a conference of anti-vaccine advocates hyping “alternative” COVID-19 treatments, several of which like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine are explicitly warned against by regulators, public health officials and medical associations. State Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, was introduced as a “surprise special guest” amid a panel that included an anti-vaccination advocate who was indicted […]