Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has been indicted on ten new state felony charges alleging misuse of campaign money and ethics violations, Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Tuesday.
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A proposed constitutional amendment that would limit immunity for public officials was rejected for misstatements, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
The proposed amendment would repeal constitutional immunities and defenses in cases alleging civil rights violations by governmental units and public employees.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office released the 2024 version of the state’s Sunshine Laws Manual this week.
The manual, commonly known as the Yellow Book, guides the state’s Public Records and Open Meetings laws.
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In the wake of Alabama carrying out a death sentence with the use of nitrogen gas, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and some lawmakers want to kick start the state’s death penalty that has been stalled since 2019.
At a news conference Tuesday, Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said nitrogen has been made available following the Alabama execution and plans to introduce legislation to make it available in Ohio.
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A second attempt to significantly overhaul Ohio’s voter laws by putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot failed.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost again called the proposed amendment to expand early voting and voter registration and stop required voter roll purges misleading.
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Eighteen state attorney generals have signed onto a brief filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost trying to overturn a lower court’s preliminary injunction on the state’s Heartbeat Act which blocks the majority of abortions once a fetal heartbeat is found.
Yost filed the 20-page brief on Monday at the Ohio Supreme Court saying that the high court should dismiss the preliminary injunction on enforcing the state’s Heartbeat Act because the plaintiffs are clinics and not patients.
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A Delaware County Judge has blocked the gun control legislation passed by the Columbus City Council on December 5th meaning the city cannot restrict firearm magazines or implement gun storage requirements.
In a ruling issued on Tuesday, Delaware County Common Pleas Judge David M. Gormley placed an injunction on the legislation. Ohio think tank, The Buckeye Institute, filed a lawsuit against the city of Columbus’ gun restrictions in February on behalf of six anonymous residents to protect the rights of Ohioans to keep and bear arms. The lawsuit named the city, Columbus City Council President Shannon Hardin, and Columbus City Attorney Zach Klein as defendants.
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Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified to the Ohio Senate Select Committee on Rail Safety on Tuesday, over two months after the February 3rd train derailment in East Palestine.
Ohio Senators questioned Shaw over a wide range of topics related to the derailment and subsequent controlled release of toxic chemicals that negatively impacted the environment and the health and safety of residents, including long-term community assistance programs, two-person crew requirements, and safety requirements for tanker cars.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has delayed the executions of three death row inmates citing ongoing issues with pharmaceutical drug suppliers for the state’s lethal injection method.
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In advance of a potential November referendum on an proposed constitutional amendment aiming to legalize abortion throughout the state, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine said he wants the General Assembly to consider strengthening Ohio’s “heartbeat law.”
According to DeWine, to avoid passage of the abortion amendment, Ohio needs to revisit the heartbeat law and ensure that Ohio has sustainable legislation that voters will not overturn at the polls.
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The Cincinnati City Council unanimously approved two new ordinances on Wednesday that aim to extend gun restrictions in the city.
These ordinances come after a Fairfield County judge denied a request from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to block firearm regulations recently enacted by the city of Columbus.
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After pro-abortion groups decided to abandon their lawsuit, the city of Lebanon, Ohio may start implementing its Sanctuary City for the Unborn ordinance once more.
In May of 2021, Lebanon, Ohio became the first in the state to enact a measure outlawing abortion and declaring itself “a sanctuary city for the unborn.” According to the Sanctuary City for the Unborn website, more than 60 other cities across the U.S. have passed similar ordinances.
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A Greene County prosecutor requested an opinion from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on whether Ohio civil rights law requires local governments to permit individuals to use public restrooms according to their stated gender identity rather than their biological sex.
The formal request filed by Greene County Prosecutor David Hayes was filed last week as people who prefer to use their stated gender identity over their biological sex is an area of the law that is receiving increasing attention throughout the United States and in the state of Ohio. Both public and private institutions are up against questions and lawsuits over policies relating to biological males being permitted to use biological females’ public restrooms and changing facilities.
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Columbus City Council passed a package of gun control legislation Monday night despite a judge’s order to cease any such action.
Columbus Mayor Andrew J. Ginther, City Attorney Zach Klein, and City Council President Shannon G. Hardin announced their proposition of “common sense” laws to reduce gun violence last month.
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A recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling focusing on considerations a judge weighs when setting bail has led to activity in the Ohio Statehouse.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost expressed so much concern about the court’s 4-3 decision in DuBose vs. McGuffey, a ruling that upheld an appellate court’s decision permitting the reduction of a murder suspect’s bail without considering community safety, that he recently announced his support for a proposed constitutional amendment regarding bail reform.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost rejected a citizens’ petition on a proposed law that would support vaccine choice and privacy for the second time because it did not contain enough verified signatures.
Yost originally turned down the submission last month. It proposed the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Choice and Anti-Discrimination law that would require the state to protect the privacy and freedom of Ohioans in their ability to refuse vaccinations or gene therapy.
The proposed law would require the state to protect Ohioans’ privacy regarding vaccination choice from vaccine registries and discrimination, provide transparency, reinforce schools must honor vaccine choice and privacy, protect Ohio businesses honoring vaccine choice and provide legal recourse for vaccine choice and privacy violations.
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Across Ohio, homicide rates are soaring this year, especially in the state’s large cities.
Cleveland set a 10 year record for homicides in August, totaling 101 killings by Aug. 7. From Jan. 1 to the beginning of August last year, the city had 84 homicides.
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The Ohio Public Employees Retirement System claims Facebook violated federal securities law and purposely misled the public in a lawsuit filed to recover investor losses of more than $100 billion, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
The lawsuit Yost filed on behalf of the state retirement system and Facebook investors says Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg and other company officials knew they were making false statements regarding the safety, security and privacy of its platforms.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and six other state attorneys general have challenged the Biden administration’s authority to impose COVID-19 regulations through the Occupational Safety and Health Administration emergency regulations power in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati.
Yost joined Republican colleagues in Kentucky, Kansas, Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia on Nov. 5 in asking the court to rule against the OSHA regulations requiring those working for businesses with 100 or more employees to either get vaccinnated or wear masks indoors at their workplaces and get tested once every seven days.
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Conservatives supporting enanctment of anti-Critical Race Theory education legislation rallied on the south plaza of the Ohio Capitol even as Ohio’s State Board of Education remains quiet about a shot across the bow Attorney General Dave Yost fired on the panel last week.
About 100 supporters of House Bill 327 gathered to hear speakers against allowing teachers to promote CRT, a political agenda that presents American history, social justice, business and other aspects of society through the lens of radical racial and gender politics.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost called President Joe Biden’s requirement that private sector employees be vaccinated against COVID-19 unlawful and divisive, and he warned of legal action if it moves forward.
Yost joined a group of attorneys general from around the country in a letter that warned of a lawsuit over the mandate, which has yet to be put in place but Biden said would be carried out through the Occupational Safety Health Act emergency temporary standard.
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The State of Ohio has asked the Biden Administration to reconsider its Aug. 10 squelching of an Ohio Medicaid pilot program designed to encourage Medicaid recipients to work or receive job training in order to keep their government-funded healthcare.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)((cq)) on Aug. 10 withdrew its earlier approval for the demonstration program first approved under the administation of President Donald Trump that would have allowe the Ohio Department of Medicaid to require recipients ages 19 to 50 to either find work, join a job-training program, or find other “community engagement such as volunteering for at least 80 hours per month to remain covered.
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U.S. Senate contender Jane Timken has formally signed onto efforts in support of a constitutional amendment to keep the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at nine as the political left again attempt to expand the court’s membership.
Timken’s statement follows the recent U.S. Supreme Court “shadow docket” ruling not to immediately block a Texas law restricting abortion to the first six weeks has revived calls from political progressives to put more justices on the court beyond the nine set by tradition since 1869. The so-called “court packing” tactic first threatened in the 1930s New Deal era gained favor among the political left a few years ago as former President Donald Trump place three conservative/libertarian justices on the court.
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Legalized recreational use of marijuana recently cleared a hurdle on its second attempt but several more have to be passed before it becomes law in Ohio.
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost gave the go-ahead to the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol’s proposed law after rejecting its original plan in early August, saying the summary proposes to add an entire chapter to the Ohio Revised Code rather than enact a single law and the summary failed to include key elements in the summary.
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Reform-minded members of the Ohio Republican Party’s State Central Committee held a press conference outside the Governor’s Mansion east of downtown Columbus on Tuesday to push for ending endorsements in primary races and unchecked financial support of incumbent officeholders.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci has asked Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Secretary of State Frank LaRose to open another line of investigation into the FirstEnergy Corp. public corruption scandal and incumbent GOP Governor Mike DeWine’s re-election campaign.
Renacci transmitted the joint letter to the Republican statewide officeholders Monday late afternoon in the latest attack attempting to more closely tie DeWine and the corruption scheme from the House Bill 6 passed in July 2019. FirstEnergy pushed the legislation to allow it to tap Ohio electric customers both inside its service territory and that of other investor-owned electric utilities to financially support its two old nuclear power plants located along the Lake Erie shores to the tune of $1.1 billion.
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“(Sam) Randazzo is making moves that will make it harder to hold him financially accountable for accepting bribes,” Yost said in a Friday morning news release
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Those expenditures are lawful and proper and are made at the Chairman’s discretion.”
– Bob Paduchik, Ohio Republican Party chairman
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has expanded a civil racketeering lawsuit tied to the federal FirstEnergy Corp. public corruption case to include the former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and two fired executives of the Akron, Ohio-based electric utility.
The addition of energy consultant and attorney Sam Randazzo, former FirstEnergy CEO Charles Jones, and Vice President Michael Dowling comes just a few weeks after the utility cut a deal with federal prosecutors where it admitted its role in the scandal and paid a $230 million fine in a deferred prosecution agreement with the Department of Justice.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose announced on Monday that his office has identified 117 non-citizens that registered to vote for the 2020 election — a violation of Ohio state law.
After identifying the individuals, LaRose referred the individuals to the Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost for investigation and potential prosecution.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – House Bill 240 (HB240), the Parents Right to Know Act, received its first hearing in the Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee on Wednesday soon after ramped up pressure came from Rep Reggie Stoltzfus (R-Paris Twp), Ohio Value Voters (OVV) and a report from The Ohio Star drew attention to the law and committee Chairwoman Gayle Manning (R- North Ridgeville) who was suppressing the bill according to Stoltzfus and OVV.
However, Stoltzfus told The Star in an interview that Manning intentionally and passive-aggressively caused a three-and-a-half-hour delay in the hearing start time. “She is angry at me, and other folks, for putting pressure on her to hear conservative bills and that is the way she is taking it out on me,” said Stoltzfus.
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Governor Mike DeWine unveiled a program to entice Ohio adults and children alike to get the COVID vaccine on Wednesday – the State of Ohio will give away $5MM and five college scholarships. Winners will be drawn weekly over five weeks from a pool of vaccinated Ohioans.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – On Monday Nan Whaley, Democratic Mayor of Dayton, announced that she will run to be the next Governor of Ohio.
The Ohio Star received tips over the weekend that Whaley had already begun calling donors last week to raise money for the contest.
Whaley was elected Mayor of Dayton in 2013 and re-elected in 2017 when she was uncontested.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee (SCC) voted 53-11 on Friday to elect Bob Paduchik chairman over candidate John Becker.
Paduchik will replace Jane Timken who resigned just weeks following her mid-January re-election to run for the U.S. Senate seat that will not be sought by the incumbent and two-term winner Rob Portman (R-OH).
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Senate Bill to Establish Legislative Oversite of Governor’s and Agency Orders Now in Ohio House
Last Wednesday Ohio Senate Bill 22 (SB22) passed the upper chamber 25-8 – all Republicans were in favor, all Democrats opposed.
SB22 was introduced by primary sponsors Terry Johnson (R-District 14) and Rob McColley (R-District 1) and establishes legislative oversight to the Governor’s and health orders.
In its original form, the bill granted the General Assembly authority to immediately rescind a public health state of emergency declaration along with rules and orders the Governor and Ohio Department of Health (ODH) issued related to a public a health state of emergency.
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Friday, former Ohio lawmaker John Becker, who represented Ohioans from House District 65 between 2013-2020, announced his candidacy for Chairman of the Ohio Republican Party (ORP).
The top spot in the Ohio GOP is open after former Chairwoman Jane Timken announced her resignation on February 5 to run for the U.S. Senate.
The Southwestern Ohio Republican declared his candidacy in a letter to the ORP State Central Committee that contained his resume.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has agreed to a settlement of nearly $25 million in a case with McKinsey & Co. for the company’s role in fueling and profiting from the opioid crisis in the state.
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Rob Portman’s U.S. Senate seat is up for grabs after the establishment Republican announced he would not run for re-election in 2022. Portman cited gridlock and more time with family as primary reasons driving his decision to step away from federal politics – ending his 33 year career since his first political job as a legal aid to President George H.W. Bush in 1989.
Following the announcement, the Ohio rumor mill swirled with talk about many prospective Republican replacements.
Jim Jordan (R-OH-4) is a strong Trump advocate and member of the House Freedom Caucus who has represented Ohio in D.C. since 2007. His spokesperson said the congressman was honored by the overwhelming support to run for U.S. Senate but is solely focused on representing Ohio’s Fourth District and would not be running.
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Attorney General Yost outlined the progress his office made during 2020 – reviewing arrests, rescues, prosecutions as well as the education and legislation efforts designed to achieve the goal “where no one is bought or sold in Ohio.” One statewide anti-human trafficking effort – Autumn Hope –netted 109 rescues of human trafficking victims, cleared 76 cases involving missing and exploited children, arrested 22 individuals for arranging sex with minors, seized 157 men charged with solicitation and other crimes. Throughout 2020, high profile arrests were made in cases involving a Cuyahoga Count religious leader, a Portsmouth attorney, a human trafficking ring leader in Youngstown, and a Columbus man charged with 19 felonies. At the beginning of the year the inaugural Hope in Action Summit drew 600 people, with a focus on linking people and resources to strengthen the statewide fight against trafficking. In the Tuesday communication, Yost announced the 2021 event which is scheduled for January 14, 2021 – registration is currently open. “As part of our offices’ initiatives to strengthen the laws around human trafficking, we reached out to the General Assembly to introduce multiple ideas on how to increase the tools we have available to combat human trafficking.…
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The United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request made by nine Ohio parochial schools to stop a resolution issued by the Toledo-Lucas County Department of Health that shut down in-person learning in the plaintiff schools.
The court issued a temporary order halting the health department from enforcing the resolution in the schools based on the likelihood the order violates the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed an amicus curiae brief with the United States 6th Circuit Court of Appeals backing three Ohio Christian Schools and a community organization who brought a lawsuit against the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department. The department issued an order barring in-person learning for all students in grades 7-12 from December 4 to January 11.
Monclova Christian Academy, Emmanuel Christian, St John’s Jesuit and Citizens for Community Values (CCV) are the plaintiffs. The Court demanded a response from Toledo-Lucas County Health Department on Tuesday, December 29.
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On Wednesday The Ohio Star reported that Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost was taking a “deep dive into the legal theories” of the lawsuit Texas filed in the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) against Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the United States Supreme Court, according to the AG’s December 8 press release.
The Lone Star State’s top legal advisor alleges that the four states broke federal election laws by ignoring the role of the legislature in each state to choose electors and make election laws.
The Center Square reported Attorneys General from Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, South Carolina and South Dakota are also expected to join Texas in the lawsuit.
The Ohio Star contacted Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost to find out if Ohio will join.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost initiated suspension proceedings against Cincinnati City Councilman P.J. Sittenfeld on Monday amid allegations of corruption.
Sittenfeld has been accused of accepting $40,000 in bribes and was charged with two counts each of honest services wire fraud, bribery and attempted extortion, NBC News reported.
Sittenfeld has denied the claims, saying that he is “innocent” and that the allegations are “simply not true.”
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