The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill that would allow all businesses to stay open during a health emergency as long as the business can comply with government regulations.
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The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill on Wednesday that provides an additional $300 million in COVID-19 relief for businesses and other entities in the state, including $180 million in relief for small businesses.
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Ohio state Rep. Brian Baldridge (R-90-Winchester) spoke before the Michigan Senate last week to encourage the state to keep Enbridge Line 5 operating.
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Ohio Democrats have asked Gov. Mike DeWine to “pick a side” as Ohio Republicans prepare to censure 10 of their own over the recent impeachment of former President Donald Trump.
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Fully vaccinated staff members of long-term care facilities and nursing homes will no longer be required to undergo routine testing for COVID-19, according to a new health order signed on Tuesday.
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A group of U.S. Republican representatives have sent a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai asking her to continue opposing a request to waive intellectual property rights for coronavirus vaccines.
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Ohio State Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-65-Loveland) introduced a resolution to the Ohio House of Representatives last week encouraging the U.S. Congress to adopt an amendment that would cap the number of justices on the U.S. Supreme Court at nine.
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An Ohio judge has barred the Columbus Division of Police from using weaponry like tear gas, rubber bullets or pepper spray to disperse non-violent protesters in an injunction issued on Friday.
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The U.S. Census Bureau and the COVID-19 pandemic have created a constitutional issue for Ohio, and a possible change has members of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus concerned the public will be excluded.
Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, proposed asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment that gives the state options with critical Census Bureau information not expected until September and Ohio facing a constitutional deadline of Sept. 30 to redraw state House, state Senate and congressional district maps.
That has Black Caucus leaders worried public input could be reduced or eliminated.
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Two Ohio representatives have introduced legislation that would bar Ohio drivers from holding a phone while driving, making Ohio a “hands-free” state.
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State Sen. Sandra Williams (D-21-Cuyahoga) announced early Monday that she is running for mayor of Cleveland, Ohio.
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An Ohio think tank’s fight over the state’s municipal income tax laws, which continue to be an issue during the COVID-19 pandemic, has moved to the state court of appeals.
The Buckeye Institute, a research and education think tank based in Columbus, has filed four lawsuits challenging the state law that requires taxes to be paid to the city where work is actually done. During the pandemic, however, more and more people were working from home but still paying taxes to cities where their office was located, rather than where they actually worked.
The Buckeye Institute appealed Thursday to the Ohio Tenth District Court of Appeals its case of three of its employees who worked from home after the state’s stay-at-home order but continued paying taxes to city of Columbus. A Franklin County judge dismissed the case Tuesday.
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Ohio officials dedicated a memorial tree grove in honor of victims of the coronavirus pandemic on Friday, planting 15 new trees in an Ohio state park.
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The forensic pathologist hired to perform an autopsy on Andrew Brown Jr., a black man sheriff’s deputies killed in North Carolina earlier this month, resigned under scrutiny as a county medical examiner in 2013 and had his medical license temporarily suspended in 2018, according to filings with the North Carolina state medical board.
Brent Hall, who runs an autopsy-for-hire company called Autopsy PC, said in his autopsy report that Brown was shot five times, including once in the back of the head.
Brown’s family members and their legal team, led by Benjamin Crump, hired Hall to perform a private autopsy on Brown. They cited the autopsy results as evidence that Brown was executed by police.
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The Columbus Division of Police experienced a large division both internally and between it and the community during the protests resulting from the death of George Floyd in 2020, according to a report published by Ohio State University.
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The State of Ohio is set to become the 49th state to allow transgender people to change their gender on their official birth certificates, Breitbart reports.
The Ohio Department of Health has decided not to appeal a federal court ruling from December that ruled the state’s ban on gender changes in birth records is unconstitutional.
The court ruling issued last December came in response to a lawsuit brought by four transgender people seeking to change their birth records. According to the Breitbart report, Judge Michael Watson, a George W. Bush appointee, ruled that the Buckeye State must allow for “corrections” on birth certificates.
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A coalition of Ohio activism organizations have launched a petition asking the Department of Justice to investigate the Columbus Division of Police for a “pattern and practice of misconduct.”
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Several Ohio political leaders criticized the speech given by President Biden on Wednesday to a joint session of Congress.
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Three candidates are running to become the next Mayor of Dayton after incumbent Nan Whaley announced she would not seek reelection in 2021 – former Dayton firefighter and chief Rennes Bowers, former Dayton Mayor Gary Leitzell and current Dayton city commissioner Jeffrey Mims.
The top two vote getters next Tuesday, May 4, will square off in the November general election and the winner will become the Mayor of Ohio’s sixth-largest city.
The Ohio Star conducted an exclusive one-on-one interview with Bowers to ask him what drove his decision to run, how he plans to improve Dayton and what he believes distinguishes him from his competitors.
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An Ohio state representative introduced a bill on Wednesday to repeal previous legislation that allows the state legislature to establish oversight over a governor’s executive orders during a health emergency.
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The Ohio Senate took another step toward reducing regulations surrounding medical licenses when it agreed to allow the state to join 29 others in the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.
The move follows similar compacts the Senate passed this session for physical therapy, nursing and occupational therapy.
Senate Bill 6, if passed by the House and signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, provides an expedited path for licensure for qualified physicians who want to practice in multiple states and provides incentive for professionals to come to Ohio, said bill sponsor Rep. Kristina Roegner, R-Hudson.
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Two Ohio representatives are set to introduce legislation aimed at modernizing and reforming several election laws.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has spent a lot of time pleading for patience and talking of the dangers of rushing to judgement in reaction to the shooting death of a 16-year-old girl by Columbus police officers.
Community organizers, however, are calling for a U.S. Justice Department investigation of the Columbus Police Department, and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said there is lack of trust between the community and police.
Yost consistently has said half-facts lead to half-truths, tweeting two days after the death of Ma’Khia Bryant, “Let’s get all the facts and find the whole truth.”
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Texas and Florida are slated to gain congressional seats during the decennial redistricting process, while California and New York are set to each lose one, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Monday.
The U.S. Census Bureau released the decennial state population and congressional apportionment totals Monday, outlining how many districts each state will have for the next decade. The data also determines how many Electoral College votes each state will have through 2032, and allocates how federal money is distributed to each state for schools, roads and other public projects.
The release was originally scheduled for December, but faced delays due to the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration’s unsuccessful effort to exclude non-citizens from the count.
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Ohio Democrats blasted a Republican proposal to rewrite the state’s election law to stop off-site ballot boxes, eliminate early-voting options and strengthen Ohio’s voter ID regulations.
The proposal, however, also includes creating an automated voter registration plan and easier access to absentee voter requests.
Reps. Bill Seitz, R-Cincinnati, and Sharon Ray, R-Wadsworth, plan to introduce what they call a comprehensive modernization and reform bill, while Democrats believe it’s more extreme restrictions on the right to vote that continue across the country.
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Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) announced on Monday that he is running for the U.S. Senate.
Ryan currently serves in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Ohio’s 13th District. He is on the House Appropriations Committee and is the co-Chairman of the Congressional Manufacturing Caucus. Ryan was first elected to the U.S. House in 2002 and previously served in the Ohio state Senate.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost says Congress crossed a line and U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen struggles to explain whether states retain authority to set their own tax codes if they accept money from the recently passed American Rescue Plan.
Yost responded Thursday with a motion in support of his lawsuit for a temporary restraining order to stop the federal government’s tax mandate in the ARP. Yost believes the mandate holds states hostage and takes away Ohio’s control of its tax structure and economic policy.
“Congress crosses the line separating permissible encouragement from impermissible,” Yost’s latest motion reads. “Ohio stands to receive $5.5 billion. In the pandemic-caused economic crisis, Ohio cannot realistically turn that down.”
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As sales slowly improve, Ohio’s restaurants and bars now face another issue that threatens ongoing COVID-19 pandemic recovery efforts: lack of employees.
Ohio Restaurant Association President and CEO John Barker believes the intentions behind continued federal and state stimulus benefits are good, but a consequence is a lack of available employees as the state eases COVID-19 restrictions and customer traffic increases.
“Unemployment is an issue. There’s no question about it,” Barker said. “The intention by the government, both at the federal and state level, was to take care of people who are displaced and very much in need. It was the right thing to do. The problem we have now is these are looking like they’re going to be extended all the way through the fall. On top of that, people are getting big stimulus checks. And in some cases, they may be making more money staying at home than going back to work. And so, it’s a combination of factors.”
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Ohio House Republicans spent late Wednesday afternoon trumpeting passage of their $163 billion, two-year state budget proposal, which includes a new school funding plan and a 2% across-the-board income tax reduction.
Others, however, are calling it a missed opportunity.
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Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced on Tuesday that they support the “Keep Nine” Amendment, which seeks to cap the number of justices in the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Ohio Democrats continue to criticize the state’s new stand your ground law and unveiled a package of gun control legislation Monday that goes further than a proposal from Gov. Mike DeWine that has seen no movement in nearly two years.
Monday’s call comes 20 months since a mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, and less than a week after another one in Indianapolis. It also comes nearly two weeks after a law that removes the duty to retreat from Ohioans to defend themselves with deadly force went into effect.
“Ohioans have spoken loudly and clearly that we need to do something to end gun violence. Democrats are listening to you, the people of Ohio who overwhelmingly support commonsense solutions to keep our kids and communities safe,” House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes, D-Akron, said Monday at a news conference. “In the 20 months since Dayton, shootings have gone up, not down. We need reform now to ensure the promise of safety and security for all Ohioans.”
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U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) announced on Tuesday that he will be resigning from his position in order to serve as the president and CEO of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.
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A human trafficking sting operation in Ohio identified 53 victims and resulted in 93 arrests, the Ohio attorney general’s office announced on Monday.
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The Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday that would give grants to bars, restaurants and the lodging industry to offset the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
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Eight Ohio vaccine clinics will be suspending distribution after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended a pause on administering the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine.
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A Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Ohio law barring doctors from performing abortions they know are motivated by a Down syndrome diagnosis.
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The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has recommended 10 state projects for more than $3.5 million in grant funding,the department announced last week.
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Despite traffic on state highways, roads and bridges decreasing significantly in 2020, the Ohio Department of Transportation expects to spend nearly $2 billion in the next year on nearly 1,000 projects.
Traffic volume fell by 15.5% during the past year as the COVID-19 pandemic limited road travel, ODOT said. More people worked from home. Stay-at-home health orders, capacity limits, business closures and statewide curfews also reigned in optional travel.
Despite the limited driving, which also leads to less fuel consumption and less taxpayer money available, ODOT pointed to a 2019 gas tax increase, along with budget cuts, for staving off what could have billon a $3 billion swing in taxpayer money for the department.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost sent a letter to Twitter, eBay, and Shopify last week asking them to work to prevent the sale of fake vaccine cards on their platforms
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While Congress continues to push toward voting law changes and efforts to federalize elections, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose continues to speak out in trying to protect states’ authority.
LaRose and the Ohio General Assembly were among the first a month ago to call attention to House Resolution 1, which LaRose said is a federal takeover of state-run elections.
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The Ohio Department of Health has expressed concern about the spread of coronavirus variants in the state, as the statewide average has risen over the past few weeks.
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U.S. Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tom McClintock (R-CA) have sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas asking him to release communications about the transition between the Trump and Biden administrations in regard to immigration policy.
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U.S. Rep. Mike Turner (R-OH) teased a potential run for a seat in the United States Senate on Monday, releasing a video thanking people for the suggestion and support.
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College students have had a new test to pass this school year; in fact it’s a test most have been required to pass more than once: the COVID-19 test.
When school resumed in the Fall of 2020, every higher educational institution across the United States established their individual COVID protocol plans. The 3rd largest University in the nation, The Ohio State University, jumped right in with an aggressive testing model.
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Ohio opened vaccinations up to all residents ages 16 and older on March 29, a move that had been announced earlier this month by Gov. Mike DeWine.
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The antics of the Democratic Party make it easy to lose sight of other enemies, especially those standing right beside us. The fog of political war conceals not only the foes in the field but also fake allies. Jane Timken’s case is illustrative.
Timken recently announced her plan to run for the Senate in 2022, following incumbent Ohio Republican Rob Portman’s recent decision not to seek reelection. She served as vice chairwoman of the Stark County Republican Party until becoming the first female chairwoman of the Ohio Republican Party in 2017. Timken resigned in February when Portman’s retirement presented her with a possible path to the Senate. High-profile praise from a few people in Donald Trump’s orbit has already come her way.
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A wide spectrum of Ohioans could catch a break when it comes to state taxes after the Ohio House passed a bill Wednesday that brings state tax rules in line with federal rules.
The bill, which already passed the Senate and now awaits Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature, increases the child and dependent care credit, provides tax breaks for student loan payments and eliminates taxes on the first $10,200 in unemployment compensation.
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The Ohio Department of Taxation announced on Thursday that it would be extending the deadline to file and pay taxes in the state from April 15 to May 17.
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As President Joe Biden made his first visit to Ohio since taking office Tuesday, he was criticized for what one policy group called unnecessary spending.
Biden, in Columbus to tout his administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, along with the recently passed American Rescue Plan, visited the James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University late Tuesday afternoon.
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Although the Ohio Department of Health published mostly accurate coronavirus data over the past year of the pandemic, the department could have done better with the specificity of that data and disseminating it to the state’s residents, according to an audit by the Ohio Auditor of the State released this week.
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