Dr. Amy Acton, former Ohio Department of Health Director, told reporters at the Democratic National Convention this week that she is considering launching a campaign for Ohio governor in 2026.
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Ohio plans to spend $20 million in taxpayer funds over the next 10 years to study the causes of depression, suicide and drug overdoses.
The research initiative, conducted with Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine, along with several stat universities, is expected to study the role of biological, psychological, and social factors that underlie what officials call an epidemic.
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Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s executive order banning transgender surgeries for minors in Ohio may not be enough to stop a veto override ride in the General Assembly.
House Bill 68 sponsor State Rep. Gary Click, R-Vickery, called the order temporary and is no substitute for a law.
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The Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center (ONIC) has released a public safety notice in order to warn Ohioans of the various forms of fentanyl being found across the state.
According to ONIC Executive Director Cynthia Peterma, ONIC has found fentanyl in six different physical forms in Ohio, including powder, tablets, chalk, rocks, black tar, and gum. The various forms reported in Ohio contained fentanyl primarily mixed with other substances.
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Residents of East Palestine and the surrounding areas now have a permanent location to go in the village for medical attention as worries about short- and long-term health continue to grow in the wake of February’s Norfolk Southern train catastrophe.
On Monday, the East Palestine Health Clinic formally opened its doors in collaboration with East Liverpool City Hospital and the Ohio Department of Health (ODH).
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine issued an executive order on Wednesday that would make Ohio one of the first states in the nation to designate xylazine as a controlled substance drug.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, xylazine, a non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer, is a central nervous system depressant that can cause drowsiness and amnesia and slow breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low levels.
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At a Wednesday hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that after speaking to medical leaders from the East Liverpool City Hospital, the temporary health clinic in East Palestine is becoming a permanent clinic for the community.
“This is a long term commitment to the health of the people of East Palestine,” DeWine said.
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On Wednesday, health was a major topic of conversation during the second Ohio Senate Select Committee Hearing on Rail Safety, especially the health of the East Palestine community and the emergency personnel that responded to the wreck there.
The East Palestine incident in early February served as the catalyst for the hearing, which featured testimony and questions from the departments of transportation, health, and mental health and addiction services in Ohio.
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There are growing reports of health concerns from residents following the chemical explosion and toxic train derailment that upended the community of East Palestine, Ohio over three weeks ago.
Some residents this month say they have been diagnosed with bronchitis, lung issues, and rashes that doctors and nurses suspect are linked to the chemical exposure.
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A spokesperson for Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office told The Ohio Star that he is scheduled to visit East Palestine on Tuesday to provide an update on the cleanup following the catastrophic February 3rd train derailment that resulted in the controlled release and burn of noxious gasses creating an ecological disaster in the region.
His office also told The Star that DeWine will also talk about Tuesday’s Ohio Department of Health East Palestine clinic launch, which state authorities have indicated is open to locals with medical queries or concerns.
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The Ohio Department of Health announced this week the opening of a health clinic in East Palestine to assist with those harmed by the toxic chemicals from the Norfolk Southern train derailment. “Registered nurses and mental health specialists will be on hand. A toxicologist will either be on site or available by phone,” the Ohio Department of Health said in a statement.
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Residents of East Palestine, Ohio, are requesting more details about the railway crash that released toxic chemicals into the area.
More than a week after the train derailed, representatives from local, state, and federal agencies met Wednesday night for an open house-style gathering to field questions.
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According to authorities, a Cleveland FBI task force has seized an estimated 88 pounds of suspected fentanyl and other drugs—enough to kill 20 million people.
“The sheer volume of drugs recovered during this seizure is astounding,” FBI Cleveland special agent-in-charge Gregory Nelsen said in a statement.
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A Republican state lawmaker in Ohio introduced a bill to prioritize the health of pregnant women in the state, leading to better maternal outcomes with each pregnancy.
The legislation sponsored by State Representative Jennifer Gross (R-West Chester) will impose obligations on medical professionals who perform abortions, requiring them to remain informed of the most recent, correct medical knowledge regarding the possibility of adverse effects. Then, this measure mandates that the provider inform the expectant mother of the information.
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Ohio will soon receive an influx of federal funding intended to improve kindergarten readiness.
According to a statement from Governor Mike DeWine’s Office, the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services will receive a total of $48 million over three years to support and increase access to quality early childhood care and education as part of the Preschool Development Grant Birth to Five from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.
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Approximately 22,000 fentanyl pills and nearly 42 pounds of suspected fentanyl seized in a drug bust by the Central Ohio Major Drug Interdiction/HIDTA Task Force is proof we need a stronger southern border according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.
The task force, created under the state attorney general’s Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission and led by the Columbus Police division intercepted the smuggling of the illegal drugs this week.
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Ohio lawmakers gave final approval Thursday, on a Republican-backed bill that aims to cut down on unemployment fraud by revising and updating the state’s unemployment compensation system.
Senate Bill (SB) 302, sponsored by State Senators Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin) and Bob Hackett (R-London), looks to tighten the rules for verifying the identity of applicants for unemployment benefits in the state.
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The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Northeast Ohio found that individuals are setting up labs with pill presses to produce fentanyl pills inside their homes.
According to the DEA, generally in a lot of cases, cartels produced the pills in Mexico and then distributed them in the United States but now say they are finding a concerning trend where individuals are producing these dangerous drugs from local home laboratories.
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The Ohio House passed a bill Wednesday, with bipartisan support, that would decriminalize Fentanyl testing strips, pushing forward with a proposal that supporters claim will help prevent fatal overdoses and save lives.
In the state of Ohio Fentanyl drug testing strips are considered drug paraphernalia and it’s illegal for someone to be in possession of them.
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An Ohio lawmaker introduced a bill that would prohibit a public or private school from discriminating against an individual based on COVID-19 vaccination status.
Republican Representative Scott Lipps (R-OH-62) put forward House Bill (HB) 739 earlier this month. Although the state does not mandate COVID-19 vaccines in schools, Lipps said HB 739 is a preemptive measure for future law changes.
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Law enforcement officials seized 570 grams of fentanyl on Monday in southwest Ohio which the Butler County Sheriff’s Office says is enough to kill 190,000 people, which is roughly half the population of Butler County.
Law enforcement seized the lethal drugs as part of an operation by the Butler County Undercover Regional Narcotics (BURN) Task Force with the assistance of the Hamilton Police Department’s Vice and Neighborhood Police Section.
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On Friday, the Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas sided with Ohio abortionists in granting a preliminary injunction against a law forbidding termination of pregnancies in cases when the unborn child has a detectible heartbeat.
Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed the Heartbeat Act in 2019, though the statute could only take effect after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision this June. Judge Christian Jenkins (D) placed a freeze on the law pending a determination. The state of Ohio is expected to appeal the injunction.
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Pro-lifers who marched on Ohio State Capitol Square in Columbus on Wednesday had some cause for celebration in light of the June Dobbs decision by the U.S. Supreme Court. But marchers also had much to lament, including an increase in the number of abortions performed in the Buckeye State.
According to the Ohio Department of Health’s recent report titled “Induced Abortions in Ohio, 2021,” deliberate killing of unborn children via surgery or medication rose seven percent from 2020 to the following year. In total, 21,813 pregnancies were so terminated in the state in 2021, 95 percent of those terminations obtained by women who reside in Ohio.
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Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian A. Jenkins this week imposed a two-week suspension on the Ohio law banning abortions for women whose unborn children have detectable heartbeats.
Effectively, the statute, known as the “Heartbeat Law,” generally prohibits terminating pregnancies that have gone on for longer than six weeks. Governor Mike DeWine (R) signed the legislation in 2019 but agencies could not enforce it until this year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision which legalized abortion nationwide.
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The city of Cincinnati Tuesday announced that it would end all mask and vaccine mandates for city employees, effective immediately.
“Today, alongside top health experts and City leaders, we announced the removal of masking and testing requirements for all City employees and facilities,” Mayor Aftab Pureval (D) said on Twitter.
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After the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Friday recommended that 70 percent of the U.S. population can stop wearing masks to slow the spread of COVID-19, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) is still unwilling to update Ohioans on the status of the pandemic.
When contacted by The Ohio Star to ask for the department’s professional opinion on whether Ohioans will soon be able to return to pre-pandemic life, ODH spokesman Ken Gordon declined to comment. The Star also noted that even Congress – which has had a mask mandate in place for two full years and threatened to fine members who refused to wear masks – finally made masks optional ahead of President Joe Biden’s Monday night State of the Union address.
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Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost released a study Thursday and suggested there is a link between the distribution of COVID-19 pandemic-related stimulus checks and high rates of opioid-related overdoses in his state.
The pandemic and the epidemic of drug overdoses in the U.S. have created a “perfect storm” for high rates of overdose deaths, the authors of the study wrote.
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Ohio’s seven-day COVID-19 case rate has now fallen to about the same level of seven-day cases as the state saw in mid-September, when the more deadly Delta variant was the virus’ prominent strain.
As of February 2, Ohio had an average seven-day case rate of 7,806, a drastic drop in that average over a period of just two weeks, according to publicly available data. On January 19, the seven-day average caseload was 27,462 cases.
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According to Ohio’s COVID-19 data, the caseload in the state is declining dramatically from what appears to be the Omicron variant’s peak.
As of January 17, the seven-day average number of new cases peaked at 28,054. As of Monday, one week later, that number was 17,438, or a drop of about 10,500 average cases over the past seven days.
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Despite continued panic from some of America’s COVID-19 officials, and even though the Omicron variant has cause cases to skyrocket, Ohio’s seven day average for deaths is not much higher than it has been throughout the entire pandemic.
As of Jan. 17, Ohio’s seven-day average for COVID-19 was 121 deaths, or 17.2 deaths per day. For context, Ohio’s population is nearly 12 million.
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There are discrepancies in COVD-19 data provided by the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and other prominent sources of information, The Ohio Star has learned.
“According to our data, 1,704 Ohio residents died from COVID-19 in December,” Michelle Fong, a Public Information Officer for ODH said Wednesday. “Our report information is based on date of death when reported residence was inside Ohio.”
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Despite reports that some hospitals in the state are “overcrowded,” data from the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) and Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) says otherwise.
Many in the media and within the U.S. government’s public health apparatus are panicking as cases of COVID-19’s Omicron variant soar to record levels.
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Republican Gov. Mike DeWine’s office told The Ohio Star Thursday that it will not address concerns about whether the current protocols in place to end the COVID-19 are actually working.
The Star asked DeWine’s office if, amid the surge of Omicron variant COVID-19 cases, the governor’s office had any plan to implement new measures other than mandating mandates and encouraging vaccines that might help control the pandemic.
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More than 1,000 Ohio National Guard members began working in hospitals across the state Monday to help combat what Gov. Mike DeWine called a growing strain caused by the rising number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The Ohio Department of Health also has begun working with a staffing company to bring more nurses and other providers from out of state to help ease pressure on current hospital staffs as the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has reached its highest level of the year.
“While the staff will be concentrated in the places where they are most needed, the entire state will feel relief as the arrangement supports the coordination of patient care that has been happening really since the beginning of this pandemic,” DeWine said at a news conference.
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According to an affidavit obtained by The Ohio Star, a nurse in Ohio who was in charge of procuring COVID-19 vaccines for Miami University says she was never able to obtain Pfizer’s FDA-approved version of the vaccine, called Comirnaty.
The affiant is a nurse practitioner and employee of TriHealth, which runs two hospitals and 130 sites of medical care in the Cincinnati area. From June 4 to Nov. 3, she was put in charge of procuring vaccines for Miami University, located in Oxford. The Star has redacted the nurse’s name out of concern of reprisal.
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More than 1,000 Ohio National Guard members began working in hospitals across the state Monday to help combat what Gov. Mike DeWine called a growing strain caused by the rising number of COVID-19 hospitalizations.
The Ohio Department of Health also has begun working with a staffing company to bring more nurses and other providers from out of state to help ease pressure on current hospital staffs as the number of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 has reached its highest level of the year.
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Attorneys at Mendenhall Law Group in Akron have filed a lawsuit against the University of Cincinnati over the school’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“School officials are overriding students’ civil rights to bodily autonomy under the United States and Ohio constitutions. Young people do not experience this as a grave illness. It is unprecedented for a university to require students to participate in experimental medical procedures such as injections or masking,” Warner Mendenhall told The Ohio Star Friday.
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Following Wednesday’s story in which The Ohio Star reported that Pfizer is currently still shipping it’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) COVID-19 vaccine, the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) won’t say which version of the vaccine it is distributing.
ODH is responsible for acquiring and distributing at least some of the state’s supply of COVID-19 vaccines, though Alicia Shoults of the ODH’s Office of Public Affairs told The Star by phone Thursday afternoon that some healthcare providers procure the vaccine directly from the federal government.
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More school districts around Ohio continue to drop mask mandates in favor of optional policies as the number of COVID-19 cases has dropped over the past month.
The Ohio Department of Health also has relaxed its quarantine recommendations for students and student-athletes, with the idea of reducing what the state is calling unintended consequences of out-of-school quarantining.
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Ohio’s newest COVID-19 vaccination incentive program doubled in size Friday when state officials announced a total of $2 million in scholarships will be given way and age ranges will expand.
The program that originally targeted 12- to 25-year-olds now will include those age 5-11 once the vaccine is authorized for their use. Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff said authorization should come by the end of the month.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s plan to encourage more people to get the COVID-19 vaccine by offering millions of taxpayer dollars and college scholarships through a raffle program appears to be legal, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said.
Yost tweeted the opinion, but he stopped short of saying he believed DeWine’s plan was a was a good idea.
“About the $1M [vaccination] lottery: I heard about it yesterday. It doesn’t appear to violate state law, though it depends on how it’s designed,” Yost’s tweet read. “Just because a thing may be legally done does not mean it should be. The wisdom of it is a question for the Governor and the General Assembly.”
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Ashland, Ohio – An Ohio judge ruled that the Director of the Ohio Department of Health (ODH) does not have the authority to issue mask mandates, social distancing or other types of mandates since Ohio law does not give the agency such stated or implied authority.
Ashland County Common Pleas Judge Ron Forsthoefel wrote that the ODH only has ultimate authority in matters of isolation and quarantine – matters the legislature defined in Senate Bill22, the law enacted when the General Assembly overrode Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s veto of the bill last month.
The case Forsthoefel judged involved Cattlemans Restaurant and the Ashland County Health Department – the latter which issued a cease and desist order against the restaurant for an alleged violation of the COVID-related Dine Safe Order.
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Former Ohio Department of Health Director Dr. Amy Acton released a statement Tuesday revealing that she will not seek the 2022 Ohio Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
“It has been a tremendous honor to be asked to consider a run for the U.S. Senate. Like many of you, I have a profound reverence for the office, and for those who have answered the calling to public service,” wrote Acton
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – Wednesday afternoon Senate Bill 22 passed the Ohio House by a vote of 57 to 37. Five Republicans did not cast a vote – Paul Zeltwanger (Mason), Tracy Richardson (Marysville), Mike Loychik (Bazetta), Jeff LaRe (Violet Twp.), and Ron Ferguson (Wintersville).
One Republican, Nino Vitale, voted against the bill despite being an outspoken opponent to the DeWine Administration’s pandemic health orders. Vitale was also one of a handful of lawmakers who supported articles of impeachment based on alleged executive overreach during the state’s handling of COVID.
The Senate concurred on the House changes so now SB22 will be sent to Governor DeWine where he has the choice to approve, veto or do nothing – in the event of the latter, the bill would become a law after 10 days.
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COLUMBUS, Ohio – March 9 was the one-year anniversary of Executive Order 2020-01D, the state of emergency “to protect the well-being of the citizens of Ohio from the dangerous effects of COVID-19.”
During a briefing the same day, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the emergency as a tool to allow the State of Ohio to purchase health-related items.
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Republican Governor Mike DeWine offered Ohioans a new “deal” late Thursday, saying, “When Ohio gets down to 50 cases per 100,000 people for two weeks, all health orders in the state will come off.”
The announcement came in a specially called press briefing that started at 5:30 p.m., during which DeWine encouraged Ohioans to take the of the COVID vaccine and to stay the course with nonpharmacological interventions: masks, distancing, state orders that limit crowds and limits on long personal contact.
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It was spring of 2020 and three friends were sitting in their regular gathering place in the Short North – the district just north of downtown Columbus.
“We were looking around at all these businesses downtown; boarded up, closed or empty – more employees than customers,” said Lad Dilgard, a management consultant and real estate investor.
He continued “behind every one of those is a story; the story of an entrepreneur, manager, supplier, landlord, employees and customers. There are horror stories going on. COVID-craziness with all the lockdowns. We wanted to give businesses some visibility. What they’re going through and the collateral damage they are suffering.”
Fast forward to March 2021 – after weekly Saturday morning sessions during which one of the three buddies would bring breakfast and another lunch, the trio released a short film under the banner of their own production company, Fire Owl – Behind the Mandates: Untold stories of local businesses.
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Tuesday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced Ohio Department of Health Director Stephanie McCloud endorsed two mandates – one related to sporting events and the other to mass gatherings.
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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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COLUMBUS, Ohio – State Representative Derek Merrin (R-Monclova) introduced a bill Wednesday that would both expunge the records of businesses cited for COVID violations and return fines and penalties paid. Upon its introduction, House Bill 127 was assigned to the House State and Local Government Committee on Thursday. HB127 does not contain an emergency provision, which means if it is passed in both the House and Senate and were approved by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine – or if it passes both chambers and is vetoed by DeWine but then overridden with supermajority votes in the General Assembly – the bill would go into effect 90 days later. The meat of the measure is twofold: expunges the records of all businesses whose files reflect violations of codes, orders or rules enacted by state agencies or local boards of health related to the State of Ohio COVID response; returns to businesses penalties and fines paid for violations. The expungements and refunds reach back to March 14, 2020 and will extend forward. “Our businesses have suffered enough. Punitive fines accomplish nothing at this time. Orders are ambiguous and constantly changing – it’s unfair to hold businesses to these orders,” Merrin said during…
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