Ohio Ford Workers Brace for Layoffs as Strike Continues

More than 300 striking auto workers at Ford’s Brook Park plant are preparing today for layoffs as the United Auto Workers strike against the nation’s Big Three automakers continues.

The UAW Local 1250 on its website told laid-off workers to register for strike assistance pay and Ohio unemployment benefits. About 370 total workers are expected to be impacted by the lay-off.

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Thousands March in Ohio Against Radical Abortion Ballot Measure

Thousands of pro-life activists marched in downtown Columbus, Ohio, on Friday, calling for protections for the unborn and urging their fellow Ohioans to vote against an upcoming pro-abortion ballot measure.

Ohio Issue 1, the Right to Make Reproductive Decisions Including Abortion Initiative, would ban the state from interfering with “reproductive decisions,” including abortion — effectively enshrining the “right” to abortion into Ohio’s constitution.

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GOP Presidential Candidates Support Ethanol Mandates, Oppose EV Regulations

All presidential candidates who have bothered to campaign in Iowa support increased ethanol mandates and oppose electric vehicle mandates, according to a biofuels advocacy organization.

Biofuels Vision 2024 said the Republican candidates actively campaigning for the GOP presidential nomination in the Hawkeye State support year-round E15 (gasoline with 15 percent ethanol added) and opposed EV mandates pushed by the Biden administration.

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Ohio State Troopers Out in Force Looking for Distracted Drivers

Drivers should see more Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers throughout the state this weekend with an eye on cellphone usage as strict enforcement of the state’s distracted driving law began this week.

As the warning period ends and law enforcement can begin stopping drivers for cellphone use and issuing fines of at least $150, Gov. Mike DeWine calls the new state law a lifesaver.

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Ramaswamy Campaign Disputes Grinnell Police Account of Crash Amid Protests at an Iowa Campaign Stop

The campaign for GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is pushing back against police accounts about an incident Thursday afternoon involving protesters and a car that reportedly struck a Ramaswamy campaign vehicle.

As the 38-year-old entrepreneur arrived for a campaign event at a cafe in Grinnell, IA, a group of “peaceful protesters,” according to the campaign, was picketing.

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Ramaswamy Rallies at ‘Vektoberfest’ in Suburban Des Moines Following Heated Exchange with Liberal Protesters in Grinnell

After last week’s disorderly, hostile debate, some fun and games on the presidential campaign trail may have been just what the doctor ordered.

Multi-millionaire businessman and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy rolled out Vektoberfest Thursday evening in suburban Des Moines, bringing Iowans “family-friendly fun” mixed with a serious campaign speech dredging the depths of America’s soul-sucking void.

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Ohio May Soon Block EV Mandates

Ohio could soon enact state legislation that would preempt electric vehicle (EV) mandates in the state.

Ohio HB 201 would prohibit any state agency, county or township from restricting the sale or use of a motor vehicle based on the type of energy used to power a vehicle, as well as prevent any state agency from adopting California’s stringent vehicle emissions standards, according to its text. The bill has progressed out of the committee process and now awaits a vote on the state House floor.

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Ramaswamy Campaign Urges RNC to Limit GOP Presidential Primary Debate Stage to Five Candidates

Asserting the current crowded GOP presidential primary debate stage is too cluttered, the campaign for Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is asking the Republican National Committee to trim the number of contestants for the next debate in November.

Ben Yoho, CEO of the Ohio businessman’s presidential campaign, proposed revised criteria for candidates to make next month’s debate stage in Miami.

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Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to End Critical Nursing Staffing Issues

A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill last week into the Ohio House of Representatives to address critical staffing issues in Ohio’s nursing workforce.

The Safe Patient Care Act, introduced by State Representatives Haraz Ghanbari (R-Perrysburg) and Elgin Rogers (D-Toledo), would ensure that patients in the state of Ohio receive the highest quality care and that nurses receive reasonable workplace protections.

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Ohio Bipartisan Legislation Authorizing Tax Credit for Landlords That Allow Pets Assigned to Committee

A piece of legislation introduced into the Ohio House of Representatives to authorize a tax credit for landlords who allow companion animals to reside in their rental units has been assigned to a committee for review.

Assistant Majority Whip Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) and State Representative Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) introduced House Bill (HB) 277, known as the Pet Friendly Rental Act on September 18th.

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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Announces New Grant Program to Support Human Trafficking Survivors

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced Wednesday details of a new program to help victim service agencies supply the needs of survivors of human trafficking.

DeWine and the Ohio General Assembly established the new Direct Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Grant Program as a component of the state’s new operating budget. As part of this program, nonprofit groups now have access to $4 million in financing to effectively support the rising number of sex and labor trafficking victims needing assistance.

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Ohio Senate GOP Launches Podcast to Push Back Against Media ‘Left-Wing Bias’

The Ohio Senate GOP on Tuesday pushed back against the media’s “left-wing bias” by launching its own weekly podcast with State Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima).

According to Ohio Senate GOP director of communications John Fortney, Ohio’s main newspapers have an extreme left-wing bias, and their editorials attack Republicans in the General Assembly and read like Democratic Party press releases.

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Ohio Republican Party Poll Shows Democrats Overwhelmingly Want Zero Restrictions on Abortion

Ohio Democratic lawmakers want zero legal restrictions on abortion in the state, according to a new poll conducted by the Ohio Republican Party.

The Ohio Republican Party straw X poll last week detailed that 71.4 percent of individuals surveyed said that Ohio Democratic officials and abortion lobbyists want to remove all legal restrictions to abortion in Ohio.

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GOP Presidential Candidates Prepare for Critical Second Debate Without Trump

If Wednesday’s second GOP presidential primary debate proves to be anything like the first, we’re in for a night of political punches and maybe a rhetorical gang fight or two as the candidates look to score points in another Trump-less bout.

With former President Donald Trump skipping the debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, CA, top tier candidates like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will try to tell those watching why they’re a better option than the race’s far and away frontrunner — and the rest of the crowded field of Republican candidates.

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U.S. Senator JD Vance Requests Clarification from Biden National Security Advisor on Ukraine Spending

On Monday, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) along with U.S. Congressmen Chip Roy (R-TX-21) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL-01) sent a letter to the National Security Advisor to President Joe Biden, Jake Sullivan requesting clarification regarding “major discrepancies” between claims made by administration officials regarding American aid given to Ukraine.

This follows Sullivan stating at a White House press briefing on September 21st, 2023 that the Biden Administration had sent approximately $79.9 billion in aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

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Gov DeWine and Lt Gov Husted Announce Cutting Bureaucratic Language in Ohio Administrative Code through Updated Building Codes

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted announced that the Ohio Board of Building Standards recently adopted the 2024 Ohio Building (OBC), Mechanical (OMC), and Plumbing Codes (OPC) rules, an approach that cut redundant and pointless bureaucratic language from these codes and reduced the Ohio Administrative Code’s word count by nearly 610,000 words ultimately making it simpler for businesses to comply.

As previously reported by The Ohio Star, in January, DeWine and Husted unveiled a plan to eliminate one-third of the Ohio Administrative Code and the Ohio Common Sense Initiative (CSI) began identifying duplicative, unnecessary, and no longer used portions of the Ohio Administrative Code. The Ohio Board of Building Standards adopting these rules is part of this initiative.

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Poll Showing Biden Leading Trump by 6 Points – if Former President Is Convicted – Has DeSantis Backers Written All Over It

A recent poll showing President Joe Biden ahead of Donald Trump in a 2024 rematch if the former president is convicted of the indictments he’s facing was conducted by the pollster working with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ super PAC.

As in other polls connected to the DeSantis camp, the latest survey does not include basic topline and demographic information.

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March for Life and Center for Christian Virtue Announce Speakers for Ohio March Next Month

The March for Life, in partnership with the Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), announced on Thursday the speakers for the second official Ohio March for Life next month.

As previously reported by The Ohio Star these organizations decided to team up once again to organize another march in Columbus following the tremendous success of the first Ohio March for Life last year.

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U.S. Senator JD Vance Addresses Ukrainian Plight for Aid as U.S. Government Shutdown Approaches

U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) addressed the Ukrainian plight for aid on Friday as lawmakers get increasingly closer to the end-of-the-month deadline to pass a government spending bill to keep the U.S. government from a shutdown.

This follows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s arrival in Washington, D.C., on Thursday to make his renewed case for $24 billion of American aid to Ukraine.

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Haley Lays Out Economic ‘Freedom Plan,’ Packed with Promises of Tax Cuts, Entitlement Reform and Regulatory Relief

Declaring that it’s time for Washington to start working for Americans and not the other way around, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley laid out her economic “Freedom Plan in a speech Friday in New Hampshire.

The former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador is proposing a litany of middle-class tax cuts, regulatory relief and “third rail” entitlement reforms in a proposal she asserts will check communist China aggression through American prosperity.

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Judge Blocks Ohio’s Attempt to Strip Power from Board of Education

An Ohio judge issued a temporary restraining order Thursday to block a proposed law that would change who gets to write statewide education standards, according to The Columbus Dispatch.

Republican Ohio Sen. Andrew Brenner and other Republicans want powers transferred from the state school board to a single cabinet appointee because of ideological fights over culture war issues and bureaucratic gridlock in the Ohio school board, according to The Columbus Dispatch. The Ohio school board filed a lawsuit Tuesday arguing the proposed plan to give control over statewide school standards to the governor’s office is unconstitutional, which prompted Democratic Judge Karen Held Phipps to block the proposed law as it moves through the courts.

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Vivek Ramaswamy Unveils Strategy on How to Declare Economic Independence from Communist China

NEW ALBANY, Ohio – Ohio native entrepreneur and Republican candidate for President of the United States Vivek Ramaswamy spoke to a passionate group of campaign supporters Thursday about how the nation can declare economic independence from communist China.

People packed into the one-hour event at the Axium Plastics facility to hear Ramaswamy’s strategy for “a clear and pragmatic vision for how Americans can actually and finally declare economic freedom from China while advancing American prosperity at home.”

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Ohio Supreme Court Rules Term ‘Unborn Child’ Can Remain on Abortion Ballot Measure

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the term “unborn child” could remain in an abortion amendment set to go on the ballot in November after activists filed a lawsuit over the language.

The state’s ballot board, which includes Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted 3-2 in August that the term “fetus” should be changed to “unborn child” in order to give voters a clearer understanding of the ramifications of the amendment, which would make abortion a constitutional right in the state. In response, Ohioans for Reproductive Rights (ORR) filed a lawsuit days later, arguing the board was ignoring rules that required the language to “not ‘mislead, deceive, or defraud’ voters, but the state Supreme Court determined that the use of the term “unborn child” could stay in, noting that even the plaintiffs did not argue it was “factually inaccurate.”

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House Select Committee on China Demands FBI and DOD Briefing on Communist China Spies Infiltrating U.S. Military Bases

U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-o8), chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, wants a briefing from top Biden administration officials on increasing incidents of CCP spies accessing sensitive military, economic, and technological secrets on U.S. soil.

Gallagher joined fellow committee member U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA-02) on Wednesday in calling on Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and FBI Director Christopher Wray to explain to the committee why there’s been a surge in CCP espionage, and what they plan to do about it.

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Governor Mike DeWine Unveils New Crime Gun Intelligence Center in Columbus

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine (R) joined state, local, and federal leaders in Columbus on Tuesday to unveil the new Central Ohio Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC).

According to the press release, the center is located within the Ohio Department of Public Safety and operates in partnership with the Columbus Division of Police, Ohio State Highway Patrol, Ohio Narcotics Intelligence Center, Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).

This new centralized law enforcement

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Burgum Campaign Announces ‘Cutting-Edge’ Voter Contact Effort as the GOP Presidential Long-Shot Looks to Miss Second Debate

The campaign for North Dakota Governor and Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum said it’s rolling out a “cutting-edge voter contact surge” that will target more “persuadable” voters.

Will it be enough to move the needle for a long-shot candidate on the outside looking in to next week’s second GOP presidential debate?

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Senator JD Vance Calls the Biden Administration’s EV Agenda a ‘Threat’ to the U.S. Auto Industry

U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) said on Tuesday that President Joe Biden’s forced transition to electric vehicles (EV) threatens the bargaining power of the U.S. auto industry.

This follows the United Auto Workers (UAW), an American labor union, calling for a strike at the Big 3 U.S. automakers, General Motors, Ford, and Stellantis, in Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio last week. The UAW is demanding shorter work weeks, restoration of defined benefit pensions, and stronger job security as automakers transition to electric vehicles.

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Governor Mike DeWine Announces Hundreds of Air Taxis to be Manufactured in Ohio

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik, and JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef announced on Monday that Joby Aviation Inc. plans to build an electric air taxi manufacturing facility in the state.

According to the press release, the company will build the facility at the Dayton International Airport and anticipates the project to create 2,000 new jobs in the area.

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Pence Vows to Block Federal Funds for Sex Changes on Children

Former Vice President Mike Pence says if elected president he would block federal funding to healthcare providers who perform and promote surgical or chemical gender reassignments on children.

Pence over the weekend laid out his Putting America’s Families and Values Plan that endorses passage of a 15-week federal limit on abortions, advancing universal school choice, and “ending the war on traditional family values.”

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U.S. Senator JD Vance Calls Norfolk Southern’s East Palestine Property Value Reimbursement Program a ‘Disaster’

On Monday, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) said that rail giant Norfolk Southern’s property value reimbursement program for the residents of East Palestine has so far been a “complete and total disaster.”

This follows Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw announcing in May that Norfolk Southern Railroad would set up a fund to compensate East Palestine homeowners for losses in property value due to the catastrophic February 3rd train derailment that spilled hazardous chemicals into the community.

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Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Freeze Property Taxes for Seniors

A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill to the Ohio House of Representatives to freeze property taxes for eligible seniors.

The legislation, known as the 70 Under 70 Plan, sponsored by State Representatives Thomas Hall (R-Madison Township) and Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati), would freeze property taxes for Ohioans 70 years or older who make less than $70,000 a year and have owned their home for 10 years or more.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Says He’d Win a Legal Challenge to His Plan to Slash the Administrative State

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy knows there would be legal challenges to his sweeping plan to drastically reduce the size of the administrative state. The 38-year-old political outsider knows the big government left won’t give up the heart of the D.C swamp without a bruising fight.

Ramaswamy’s good with that.

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