An audit by Ohio county boards of election showed a clean 2021 general election, according to Secretary of State Frank LaRose.
LaRose recently announced post-election mandatory audits from all counties were finalized for the 2021 general election, and results showed a 99.9% accuracy rate in counties that used a percentage-based audit.
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In a press release Thursday, Ohio gubernatorial candidate and former congressman Jim Renacci made it clear that he stands with former President Donald J. Trump after President Joe Biden’s disparaging remarks.
“It’s a shame that Joe Biden is using this day to divide Americans, distract from his disastrously failed presidency, and take cheap shots at President Trump. The liberal media may eat it up, but Ohioans, who voted against Joe Biden and for President Trump in the biggest landslide in our state in over thirty years, see right through it,” Renacci said in a press release on the anniversary of the mostly peaceful protests at the Capitol.
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In a Wednesday press release, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) released a press release detailing its efforts to curb smuggling through the port in Cincinnati, which it says ranked fifth in the nation for smuggling busts in fiscal year 2021.
“From October 1, 2020 through September 30, 2021, Cincinnati seized 6,738 shipments, ranking the port in fifth-place for seizures among all 328 CBP ports of entry nationwide,” the release said. “Additionally, Cincinnati agriculture specialists issued 7,240 Emergency Action Notifications (EANs), the highest number of agriculture seizures ever recorded at the port.”
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Amid their deployment to assist healthcare professionals during a surge of COVID-19 cases in Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) says he’s not happy with the vaccination numbers among the state’s National Guard.
“This is a high-risk operation, you need to be protected,” DeWine said in a Thursday visit with National Guard members. “The best way for you to be protected is to get the vaccination. So, look, we’re not happy with where we are. We’re going to continue to push that with our troops.”
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Jim Renacci, a GOP primary challenger to Governor DeWine, questioned the governor for claiming he was “proud” of his response to the coronavirus pandemic.
DeWine’s response followed a question posed in an interview with WJW, asking if his administration would have preferred to alter any decision he made during his response to the pandemic.
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The author of “Hillbilly Elegy, who is one of the four major Republican candidates running to replace Ohio Republican Sen. Robert J. Portman, spoke out Wednesday on Twitter about the first anniversary of the storming of the Capitol. “Hi, guys. Tomorrow is the anniversary of January the 6th, the most traumatic moment in the history of American democracy,” said James D. “JD” Vance, who served a combat tour in Iraq as a Marine public affairs NCO. “So traumatic in fact that the Left has felt the need to talk about it eight times a day for the past year,” he said “It’s often framed as an assault on our democracy, but the assault on our democracy that too few people are willing to talk about is the fact that dozens of nonviolent protestors on January the 6th are being held in disgusting conditions in Washington, D.C., jails,” he said. Vance said he was concerned about the treatment of the protesters now held in custody. “No Democrats and too few Republicans are willing to speak up for them. They’re being denied their Constitutional rights, and the fact that so few in our media or in our political establishment are willing…
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Two Ohio Democrats running for Governor on Wednesday announced their running mates to serve as Lieutenant Governor for the state.
Nan Whaley, the former mayor of Dayton, chose Cuyahoga County Council Vice President Cheryl Stephens, and former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley selected State Senator Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo).
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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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The former co-campaign manager for Joseph K. Blystone’s gubernatorial campaign, who filed a complaint in October against that campaign, told The Star News Network she told two Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents Blystone mishandled cash contributions to his campaign, while they told her their probe into Blystone goes beyond his run for governor.
Sarah Chambers said she met with the FBI special agents Julie Becker and Blane Wetzel November 18 in the Columbus field office at or around 1 p.m. “They don’t conduct interviews over the phone; they want to meet in person.”
The whistleblower said the FBI agents were very prepared for her interview. They each had copies of her complaint with many of the pages highlighted, along with printouts of articles from The Ohio Star.
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According to an annual report by United Van Lines, more people moved out of Ohio than moved in last year.
The report showed that outbound movers totaled 56.3 percent of movers in 2021, compared to 43.7 inbound movers.
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Ohio State University along with CAS, a division of the American Chemical Society, teamed up to open a new drive-thru COVID-19 testing facility capable of administering 1000 tests per day to students at the school.
“We know that testing is an important tool in our battle against COVID-19,” said Dr. Andrew Thomas, interim co-leader and chief clinical officer at Ohio State Wexner Medical Center said in a press release. “We remain committed to supporting the central Ohio community and to meeting the increased demand for COVID-19 testing. At this point, our focus is testing individuals with COVID-19 symptoms and those with significant exposures to people known to have COVID-19. Knowing your COVID status can help prevent you from spreading this virus to family members, friends and others you come in close contact with.”
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Small businesses across Ohio find themselves in the middle of what one of the leading advocates in the nation calls a perfect storm of issues, causing continued concern and struggles.
A new survey from the Ohio branch of the National Federation of Independent Business shows labor issues, supply chain problems and inflation create significant hurdles as mom-and-pop businesses around the state continue to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
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A group of Ohio economists are not as certain about the economic impact of legalized sports betting in Ohio as a national gaming research group that predicted the state eventually would be one of the largest gambling markets in the country.
Only 10 of the 23 state economists surveyed agreed legalized sports betting would outweigh the economic costs of intervention for problems associated with gambling addiction, according to a recent survey from Scioto Analysis, a central Ohio group that provides analysis of issues around the state.
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U.S. Senate candidate JD Vance slammed President Joe Biden for hurting the U.S. Marines with a vaccine mandate for members of the military.
Vance, who served as a Marine during the Iraq War, has remained an outspoken critic of “wokeness” within the U.S. military.
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Ohio County Boards of Elections finalized its post-election audit of the November 2022 general election. According to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the results show a 99.9 percent accuracy rate.
Ohio County Boards of Elections finalized its post-election audit of the November 2022 general election. According to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, the general election resulted in several exceptionally close votes and eight races resulted in either a tie or were decided by two votes or fewer.
According to Larose, these tight races once again prove “that every vote matters.”
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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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Cleveland’s last homicide in a record-setting 2021 occurred when an off-duty police officer was shot and killed during a carjacking on New Year’s Eve.
“Preliminary investigation indicates that a suspect approached the victim in the parking lot of the apartment building with a gun, a struggle ensued and the victim was shot twice by the suspect,” Cleveland police said in a statement. “The suspect then fled in the victim’s vehicle. The victim was conveyed to Fairview Hospital by Cleveland EMS where he was pronounced deceased.”
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Congressman Mike Turner (R-OH-10) was appointed Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, making him the top GOP official on the committee.
Turner, who was first elected to Congress in 2002, has served on the committee since 2015 and is a subcommittee Chairman on the House Armed Services Committee, making him one of the few members of the House of Representatives to hold both positions.
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In an exclusive interview with The Ohio Star, the lawyer representing a whistleblower and former co-campaign manager for Joseph K. Blystone‘s quest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination, Sarah Chambers that the Federal Bureau of Investigation agents are probing Blystone’s campaign finances. “Sarah and I met with them on Thursday, November 18, in their Columbus office,” said Scott A. Pullins, a Mount Vernon attorney whose practice has included representing many campaigns and campaign law compliance clients. Pullins also said Secretary of State Frank LaRose, and his Campaign Finance Division, received evidence of Blystone campaign finance misconduct and took no action. FBI reaches out to Chambers The graduate of The Ohio State University and the Capital University Law School said he also took note that FBI Special Agent Blaine Wetzel, one of the agents who interviewed Chambers that day, was listed as a virtual attendee at the December 16 Ohio Elections Commission hearing, where the commission reviewed the 51-page campaign finance complaint filed by Chambers and other former senior Blystone campaign staffers October 28 against Blystone, his wife, and campaign treasurer, M. Jane Blystone and his campaign committee Friends of Joe Blystone. In the complaint, Chambers, and others detailed how Blystone…
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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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Ohio Republicans argued voters have more competitive congressional districts than before, despite claims in lawsuits the General Assembly gerrymandered new maps to benefit Republican candidates.
Attorney Phillip Strach, who represents Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told the Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday the state’s new congressional district map contains seven competitive districts, at least as many as any other plan offered.
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Ohio gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci on Wednesday opposed additional mask mandates, after healthcare leaders called the measure for children.
The statement from Renacci follows a letter from the Ohio Hospital Association to education officials and school board members across the state, asking for mask requirements for students.
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U.S. Senate candidate J.D. Vance on Tuesday blasted Dr. Anthony Fauci for suggesting the U.S. should consider a coronavirus vaccine requirement for domestic air travel.
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases explained, in an interview with MSNBC, that he believes the mandate “is reasonable to consider.”
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Ohio gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci on Monday slammed the level of government spending over the past year under Governor Mike DeWine.
The former congressman and DeWine’s GOP primary challenger has remained critical of the incumbent governor’s policies.
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In a year, Ohio’s highway system fell from consideration as one of the best in the nation to average, based on a recently released report from the Reason Foundation.
The state ranked 13th in the nation a year ago in the report that analyzes overall cost-effectiveness, along with condition, fatality rates and time spent commuting. It remains above average, however, coming in at a 24th ranking in the nation in the most recent report.
“To improve in the rankings, Ohio needs to reduce its administrative disbursements or have those costs translate into better system performance. The state’s disbursements are three times higher than Ohio’s peer states. The state also needs to improve its urban arterial pavement condition,” said Baruch Feigenbaum, lead author of report and senior managing director of transportation policy at Reason Foundation. “Ohio’s administrative costs have increased significantly from the last report. The state’s three fatality rates have increased slightly as well.”
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The Ohio Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Tuesday, relating to the constitutionality of new congressional maps that were recently signed into law by Governor Mike DeWine.
The new map, passed earlier this year by the state legislature, established new boundaries for federal and state representation following new data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Thursday signed a spending package to invest billions the state received from federal coronavirus funds.
House Bill 169, sponsored by State Representative Al Cutrona (R-Canfield), invests the funds in law enforcement agencies, education, and the state’s healthcare system.
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Gov. Mike DeWine officially made sports betting legal in Ohio with his signature, but it will likely be more than a year before the first legal bet can be placed in the Buckeye State.
DeWine signed House Bill 29 into law late Wednesday, creating online, retail and kiosk legal sports gaming throughout the state, but officials believe it could be January 2023 before legal betting begins.
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Law enforcement officials, working as the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC), have seized approximately $42 million in illegal narcotics in 2021.
The comprehensive total blows past the $29 million total captured in 2020, an alarming trend for law enforcement officers and the state’s leaders.
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Ohio schools would be required to tell parents nearly everything about their child’s education, rather than only when asked, if proposed legislation becomes law.
Rep. Brett Hillyer, R-Uhrichsville, said talks of what children are being taught in schools around the country have turned into heated debate, and he believes parents want to be engaged in what their children should and should not be taught in Ohio classrooms.
“The Education Transparency Act ensures exactly that, transparency,” Hillyer said. “The purpose of the bill is to better equip parents to be engaged in their child’s education experience by giving them the transparency they have been clamoring for.”
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine on Wednesday signed multiple bills that the Ohio State Legislature passed earlier this year, including “Esther’s Law” and a “born alive” abortion bill.
The two laws could bring dramatic changes throughout the state, as supporters of each piece of legislation argue the bills are meant to protect members of vulnerable populations.
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Multiple hospitals throughout Ohio have postponed elective operations due to the rise of coronavirus cases across the state.
According to the healthcare providers, the decision to postpone some operations will free certain resources in order to combat positive cases.
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Through Ohio attorneys representing Miami University in a lawsuit against the school over its mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy, The Ohio Star confirmed that at least none batches of Pfizer’s Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) vaccine were deemed Biologics License Application (BLA) compliant.
BLA compliance is typically reserved for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs. That is the licensing procedure for drugs seeking to become FDA approved.
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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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A student at Ohio University has filed a lawsuit against the school over its COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
“Everyone who wants to be vaccinated has been vaccinated at Ohio University,” Tyce Patt told The Ohio Star. “I believe it is not only wrong to force students to get an experimental Emergency Use Authorized vaccine to go to class, but also Illegal.”
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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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The Ohio Supreme Court has turned away a challenge to Gov. Mike DeWine’s first COVID-19 vaccination incentive lottery without ruling on the merits of the program.
The court rejected the lawsuit, saying the group – Stand Up Ohio! – failed to meet the requirements to sue in the Supreme Court. The ruling said the group failed to prove how it or any of its members were personally harmed by the state’s Vax-A-Million lottery program.
The court did not decide on the merits of the case, only the group lacked standing to sue.
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Business groups praised the passage of a bill they say makes it easier for Ohio employers to train and hire student workers.
The legislation, if signed by Gov. Mike DeWine, establishes the Student Pathways to Career Success Grant Program, which would give businesses financial incentives and creates a two-year pilot program that would allow a workers’ compensation premium discount to an employer with a work-based learning experience for students.
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The preliminary hearing to review allegations of wrongdoing by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Joe Blystone was referred to a full hearing by the Ohio Elections Commission (OEC) on Thursday.
The action stems from a complaint filed with the Commission that alleges Blystone underreported cash contributions, failed to disclose the names of those contributors in campaign finance reports, and that the purpose of doing so was to “facilitate a theft of these campaign funds by the respondents.”
The Ohio Star reported in early November that former co-campaign manager, Sarah Chambers, filed the complaint.
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The need for Ohio businesses to fill job openings stretches beyond entry-level or relatively low-paying positions and more employers have turned to a state-run database created two years ago to help.
More than 13% more Ohio employers included needs on TopJobs.Ohio.gov than the state’s previous response rate. The website reflects current workforce needs for in-demand and critical jobs across the state, according to Gov. Mike DeWine.
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The Buckeye Institute, an independent research and educational institution, filed a motion with the U.S. Supreme Court for an emergency stay of the Biden administration’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) vaccine mandate.
The filing followed a decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit that allowed the mandate, which will demand all companies with at least 100 employees to require the vaccine or regular testing, to be reinstated.
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Stephen K. Bannon welcomed The Star News Network’s CEO and Editor in Chief Michael Patrick Leahy on Thursday’s War Room: Pandemic to discuss The Ohio Star’s breaking story by Peter D’Abrasco regarding the unapproved COVID-19 vaccines being distributed by OhioHealth. Bannon: Michael Patrick Leahy from The Ohio Star, you’ve got a blockbuster story. Tell us about what’s on The Ohio Star right now. Leahy: Good afternoon Steve. How’s our connection here this afternoon? Bannon: It’s perfect. Go ahead. Let her rip. Leahy: This is a story we broke. Peter D’Abrosca wrote the story. A large Ohio hospital system has confirmed they are still distributing the Pfizer COVID-9 vaccine that is not fully approved by the FDA. It’s surprising because the version approved by the FDA in August is a brand of a label called Comirnaty. That was approved in August. It’s slightly different. We don’t know how much different from the version that was used under the emergency use label. That’s called the Pfizer BioNTech COVID vaccine. They are apparently legally distinct products. Now, this is relevant to Ohio specifically because in July the Ohio State Legislature passed a law, HB-244 that was signed into law by Governor DeWine.…
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A new poll, conducted by the Trafalgar Group, showed that Josh Mandel is leading the crowded field seeking the Republican nomination to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate.
However, JD Vance, Mike Gibbons, and Jane Timken are all within striking distance of the frontrunner, as the trio battles for second place.
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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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Ohio GOP gubernatorial candidate Jim Renacci on Friday praised the Ohio Senate for passing “constitutional carry” legislation.
According to Renacci, the measure is a constitutional right for citizens of the state, and he would immediately sign the bill, if he were governor.
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A Mexican national this week was convicted of funneling drug profits through Ohio banks to a cartel in Mexico.
“Susana Ramirez Orozco pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy to commit money laundering in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles,” according to Cleveland.com. “She served as a financial conduit between large-scale drug peddlers and the banks.”
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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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After signing a bill earlier this year that banned Ohio’s public schools and universities from mandating vaccines that have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Gov. Mike DeWine (R) will reportedly veto a similar bill if it passed by the state Senate.
“A school, private college, or state institution of higher education shall not require a student to receive any of the following utilizing messenger ribonucleic acid, deoxyribonucleic acid, or any other genetic vaccine technology and for which the United States food and drug administration has not issued a biologics license or otherwise granted full approval,” HB 218 says.
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Ohio’s state universities have implemented vaccine mandates, despite HB 244, which bans vaccine mandates for any vaccine that is not fully authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Ohio State University, Ohio University, and Wright State University all require students to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
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