Ohio House Advances Parents Bill of Rights Legislation Promoting School Transparency About Sexually Explicit Materials

The Ohio House of Representatives advanced a Republican-backed piece of legislation that tries to require school systems to have policies that allow parents to be more active in their child’s education.

The Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee passed the legislation 10-5 advancing it to the house floor for further consideration.

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Ohio Senate Passes State Budget Proposal

The Ohio Senate passed its version of the state’s new two-year $85.7 billion budget bill on Thursday highlighting significant reforms for education policy, tax policy, and home ownership programs.

The latest version of House Bill (HB) 33 passed out of the Ohio Senate by a 24-7 party-line vote. Now approved, the legislation will go to a conference committee to work out differences with the House budget.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Appoints Attorney Diana Stevenson to the Barberton Municipal Court

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the appointment of Republican attorney Diana Stevenson to the Barberton Municipal Court serving the Barberton, Green, New Franklin, Norton, Copley, Coventry, and Clinton communities.

Judge-designee Stevenson started her legal career in 1993 as a judicial attorney for several judges in various counties, including a year as a judicial attorney at the Ohio Supreme Court. Stevenson started working for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office in July 1996 as an assistant prosecutor, a position she held for four years. She then worked as a magistrate for the Summit County Probate Court for 12 years. She was chosen to serve as the Barberton Municipal Court’s clerk of court in 2012. Stevenson won the 2013 election and was returned to office in 2015 and 2021.

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Ohio Ballot Board Updates State Issue 1 Ballot Language

The Ohio Ballot Board approved new ballot language for State Issue 1 following an Ohio Supreme Court ruling that the board rewrites the proposal to address issues in the ballot text of the previously approved version.

The new version approved by the Ballot Board in a 3-2 vote split down party lines summarizes for voters what State Issue 1 would do if passed, updated a section of text that the state Supreme Court said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot and removed the term “any” from the title of the ballot wording.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Requests Extension of Disaster Declaration for East Palestine Train Derailment

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine submitted a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requesting a second extension on the deadline for Ohio to request a major disaster declaration for damage resulting from the catastrophic East Palestine train derailment which occurred earlier this year.

The FEMA website states that a major disaster declaration provides a wide range of federal assistance programs for individuals and public infrastructure, including funds for both emergency and permanent work.

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Ohio House Advances Legislation to Protect Women’s Sports and Children from Exploitation

The Ohio House of Representatives advanced two Republican-backed pieces of legislation on Wednesday that aim to protect women’s sports and children from exploitation in the state.

House Bill (HB) 68, known as the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act, sponsored by State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery), passed out of the Ohio House Public Health Policy Committee by a 7-6 vote advancing it to the house floor for further consideration.

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Ohio Supreme Court Rules State Issue 1 Ballot Language Must be Rewritten

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that the Ohio Ballot Board must rewrite some of the language that will appear as State Issue 1 before voters on the August special election ballot.

In the decision issued by Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy and Justices Pat Fischer, Pat DeWine, and Joe Deters the Ohio Ballot Board (OBB) is to address issues in the ballot text, including one that they said misrepresented the new threshold of voter signatures that amendment campaigns must amass from each Ohio county to be eligible for the ballot.

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Trump and DeSantis to Join Full Lineup of GOP Presidential Candidates at Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner

Most of the GOP presidential candidates have committed to attending next month’s Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

The annual fundraiser, scheduled for July 28, is a must-attend event for those vying for the Republican Party nomination in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

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Ohio Senate Budget Reinstates Proposal Requiring Verified Parental Consent Before Kids Can Use Social Media

Lawmakers in the Ohio Senate have reinstated Governor Mike DeWine’s requirement for verified parental consent before children use social media in their version of the state budget.

DeWine included the Social Media Parental Notification Act in the executive budget for 2023-24, which he submitted to the Ohio General Assembly in February. In April, the House Finance Committee removed the proposal from the budget in favor of a potential separate bill.

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Don’t Be a ‘Disciple of the Donor Class:’ Ramaswamy Calls on Fellow Presidential Candidates to Commit to Pardoning Trump on Classified Records Charges

Political outsider and GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy is calling on all of his 2024 competitors — Republicans and Democrats — to commit to pardoning former President Donald Trump should he be convicted of the federal classified documents charges against him. 

On the same day Trump faced his arraignment in the 37-count indictment, Ramaswamy held a press conference from the same Miami courthouse where the former president was to briefly appear.  

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Ohio League of Women Voters Oppose State Issue 1 Despite Using a 66 Percent Amendment Threshold in their Organization By-Laws

The Democratic League of Women Voters have said that they are adamantly against Ohio State Issue 1 which aims to change the percentage needed to amend the constitution by a statewide ballot initiative to a supermajority of 60 percent from the current 50 percent plus one.

Their opposition is inconsistent however as their own organization’s bylaws require a 66 percent vote for amendments.

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Attorney General Yost Secures $679.6 Million From Settlement to Help Fund Opioid Recovery in Ohio

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that he along with 21 other attorneys general have secured final approval of a combined $17.3 billion settlement to hold two drug makers and two pharmacies accountable for their roles in the opioid-addiction crisis and help fund opioid recovery efforts.

Under the settlement, Ohio expects to receive a total of $679.6 million from drug makers Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens over the next 15 years.

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Policy Group Calls for Ohio’s New State-Based Immigration Policy to Fill Jobs

Gov. Mike DeWine praised a plan by a Columbus-based policy group that calls for a state-based immigration policy to allow Ohio to attract legal immigrants to fill a growing need in the high-tech labor force.

The Buckeye Institute recently released a report on how a state-based visa program could impact what it called urgent problems in the high-tech job market. That followed the group’s plan to upskill and reskill Ohio workers to meet labor shortages.

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Legal Experts: Politically Motivated, Yes, But Trump Could Be in Trouble with Latest Indictment

While many Americans feel former President Donald Trump is the target of a political witch hunt by the Biden administration and its allies, the latest allegations against the Republican Party’s top presidential candidate are troubling, according to a leading constitutional law expert. 

Trump arrived in Miami Monday, a day ahead of his arraignment in federal court on Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 37-count indictment, including 31 counts alleging the former president violated the Espionage Act prohibiting willful retention of national defense information. He’s also charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Ramaswamy Files FOIA Request Seeking Biden Communications with Special Prosecutor in Trump Indictment

Ohio entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says his campaign has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to uncover communications between the White House, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Jack Smith, special prosecutor behind the latest indictment of former President Donald Trump. 

Ramaswamy plans to hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. U.S. Courthouse in Miami, where Trump is scheduled to be arraigned on 37 counts related to his handling of classified documents. 

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Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Legislation Raising Tax Deduction for Joint Filers

Two Republican Ohio lawmakers have introduced a bill that would raise the annual tax deduction limit for married, joint filers.

House Bill (HB) 125 sponsored by State Representatives Adam Mathews’ (R-Lebanon) and Nick Santucci (R- Howland Township) aims to increase the annual deduction limit for married, joint filers for contributions to state 529 plans and Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE)savings accounts as well as index the annual deduction limits to inflation.

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University of Cincinnati Professor Melanie Rose Nipper Defends Giving Student a Zero Grade for Use of ‘Biological Women’

A gender studies professor defended her decision to give a student a failing grade on an assignment because she used the term “biological women,” claiming the phrase perpetuates “systemic harm.”

Olivia Krolczyk, a student at the University of Cincinnati, made a viral video discussing how her unnamed professor had awarded her a zero on an assignment in which she had argued that biological men, or transgender women, have an unfair advantage over biological women when they compete on the same sports team, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer. University of Cincinnati Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies professor Melanie Rose Nipper admitted to the outlet that she awarded Krolczyk a zero for her use of “biological women,” stating that the right to free speech and debate ends when “you are, intentionally or unintentionally, participating in a systemic harm of some kind.”

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Ohio U.S. Lawmakers Push to Relocate U.S. Space Command Headquarters to Ohio

A bipartisan group of Ohio U.S. lawmakers is pushing to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters to Ohio.

In a letter sent this week to President Joe Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, and Chief of Space Operations General B. Chance Saltzman lawmakers from Ohio implored Biden to select Dayton’s Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as headquarters for the U.S. Space Command and to locate additional U.S. Space Force units in Ohio in partnership with the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky.

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Undeclared Candidate Frank LaRose Leads in Ohio Senate Primary Poll

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is an undeclared candidate for the U.S. Senate, is currently leading the race to unseat Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024 in a new poll conducted by Louisiana-based Causeway Solutions for Leadership for Ohio Fund.

The poll obtained by the Washington Examiner details that among Republican primary voters surveyed, undeclared LaRose has secured a strong lead obtaining 24 percent of the vote over the already declared candidates.

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Poll: Trump Maintains Double-Digit Lead over DeSantis in Iowa

Former President Donald Trump has maintained a double-digit lead (39 percent to 24 percent) over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis among likely Iowa GOP Caucus voters, according to a new National Research Inc. poll commissioned by American Greatness.

Trump’s current 15-point lead over DeSantis is within the survey’s 4.38 percent margin of error of his previous 18-point lead conducted last month.

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Ohio Attorney General Yost Recovers Donations from Sham Charity that Stole Thousands Intended for East Palestine Residents

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost reached a settlement with the sham charity, the Ohio Clean Water Fund, which stole thousands of dollars after pretending to raise money for East Palestine residents in the wake of the disastrous February 3rd train derailment.

Under the settlement, the sham charity must return over the $131,000 in pocketed donations so the money truly does benefit East Palestine residents.

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Ohio Senate Unanimously Passes Legislation to Prohibit Installing Tracking Devices Without Consent

The Ohio Senate unanimously passed bipartisan legislation that generally prohibits the installation of an electronic tracking device on someone else’s property without the other person’s consent.

Senate Bill (SB) 100, sponsored by State Senators Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville) and Nickie Antonio (D-Lakewood), aims to establish the use of tracking devices for menacing or stalking purposes as its own offense under Ohio law – a move that the bill’s sponsors say closes a loophole in current state statutes.

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Pence Launches Presidential Campaign in Iowa, Skewering Former Running Mate in Partial Break from Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence launched his long-anticipated run for the White House Wednesday in suburban Des Moines by taking aim at his old boss, former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate in the race for the Republican Party presidential nomination. 

Pence laid out his vision for America, but he also used his campaign launch in Ankeny to differentiate himself from Trump — and to explain to conservative voters why he believes the former president let him and the country down on Jan. 6, 2021. 

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Ohio to Award $30 Million in COVID-19 Funding to Support Minor League Sports Teams

The Ohio Department of Development along with director Lydia Mihalik announced that Ohio is awarding $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support minor league sports teams statewide.

Eight minor league sports teams across the state will receive grant funding totaling $30 million as part of the Minor League Relief Grants administered through the Ohio Department of Development. Six of the state’s seven minor league baseball teams and two of the state’s minor league hockey teams are to receive the funding.

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North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum Launches Bid for White House, Joining Crowded Field of GOP Contenders

At a Fargo events center packed with family, friends and neighbors, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum stressed his small-town roots, his success in building a multi-billion dollar software business on the Great Plains,  governing a growing state, and his vision for an innovative America in announcing his bid for the White House. 

The newly minted presidential candidate joins a crowded field of declared Republican presidential candidates, launching his campaign on the same day former Vice President Mike Pence kicked off his in Iowa. 

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University of Cincinnati Student Calls for Action After Failing Project for Use of the Term ‘Biological Women’

A student at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio is calling for action after a professor failed her on her final project proposal over her use of the term “biological women” in a paper about feminism.

Olivia Krolczyk claimed in a now-viral TikTok video that her Women’s Gender Studies in Pop Culture professor failed her on her project proposal even though it was “a solid proposal” because using the term biological women is “exclusionary.”

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Ohio Hospital Doubles Down on ‘Diversity Quotas’ for Its Healthcare Leaders

An Ohio hospital is setting diversity quotas for its employees in leadership positions, despite failing to reach a previous diversity threshold in 2022, according to documents obtained by medical watchdog Do No Harm and shared with the Daily Caller News Foundation.

As a part of its 2023 Objectives and Key Results (OKR), the  has set diversity quotas for several of its leadership roles, including in its finance and Clinical Transformation departments, according to documents obtained by Do No Harm and shared with the DCNF. The clinic recently partnered with OneTen, a group focused on getting black people hired, to focus “its skills-first [hiring] lens on racial equity” noting that the hospital “has experienced a significant gap in attracting, retaining and promoting Black talent.”

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Norfolk Southern Seeks to Dismiss Lawsuit Over East Palestine Train Derailment

Norfolk Southern Railway seeks to dismiss a mass class action lawsuit against it following the catastrophic train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year.

The class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Youngstown, is a collection of 31 separate lawsuits that residents and businesses from East Palestine and the surrounding areas brought against the railroad corporation. Earlier this year U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that all 31 cases be consolidated to streamline proceedings.

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Ohio Attorney General Rejects Petition to Amend State Constitution Ending Qualified Immunity

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost rejected a petition which aims to amend the state constitution by ending qualified immunity for state workers claiming that the language is vague, confusing, and contradictory.

The proposal called “Protecting Ohioans’ Constitutional Rights” aims to add a Section 22 to Article I of the Ohio Constitution in order to end qualified immunity being used to protect state employees, including but not limited to law enforcement officers, against civil lawsuits.

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Ohio Lawmakers Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Legalize Adult-Use Cannabis

A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill that would legalize adult-use cannabis in Ohio.

House Bill (HB) 168 known as the “Ohio Adult Use Act” sponsored by State Representatives Jamie Callender (R-Concord) and Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) would permit Ohio residents over the age of 21 to grow, buy, and possess cannabis, as well as allow the expungement of conviction records for prior crimes involving cultivation and possession.

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GOP Presidential Candidates, Sans Trump, Descend on Iowa for Senator Joni Ernst’s Annual Roast and Ride

In many ways, the start of the 2024 presidential election year began Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines — with Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride. 

Eight Republican presidential hopefuls assembled all under one roof, making their case to some 750 Iowans on why they’re best suited to lead the most powerful nation in the world. 

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Ohio Republican Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Exempt Sales Tax from Firearms and Ammunition

Republican lawmakers in the Ohio House and Senate have introduced legislation to exempt sales tax from guns and ammunition and provide business incentive growth in Ohio.

House Bill (HB) 189, sponsored by State Representative Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) and companion bill Senate Bill (SB) 134, sponsored by State Senator Tim Schaffer (R-Lancaster) aim to remove sales tax from guns and ammunition and provide gun and ammunition manufacturers a tax credit that would offset the federal excise tax imposed on these manufacturers.

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GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Makes the Cut for the GOP Debates

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has risen in the polls to a top 5 candidate. Now the Ohio businessman and political outsider has secured a spot on the Republican National Committee debate stage. 

In fact, Ramaswamy’s campaign crossed the RNC debate stage criteria threshold in May, several months before the debates are set to take place, according to the candidate’s camp.  

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Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Ballot Board Decision Advancing Amendment to Enshrine Abortion in State Constitution

On Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court issued a ruling that upholds the Ohio Ballot Board’s unanimous decision that the proposed constitutional amendment called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” incorporated only one constitutional amendment.

The Court’s 7-0 ruling rejects a lawsuit by Margaret DeBlase of Montgomery County and John Giroux of Hamilton County claiming that the Ohio Ballot Board erred in its decision and that the proposed amendment contains multiple topics.

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Iowa Senator Ernst and Wisconsin Representative Gallagher Introduce Taxpayer Transparency Bill on Dollars Sent to China, Russia

Two Midwest members of congress have joined forces on a bill aimed at creating transparency and accountability for U.S. taxpayer money handed out in China and Russia. 

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) have introduced the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act requiring every penny from a government grant paid to any organization in China and Russia to be tracked and publicly disclosed. 

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Ohio Governor DeWine Authorizes Ohio State Highway Patrol to Assist with Texas Border Surveillance

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine authorized a contingent from the Ohio State Highway Patrol to assist local law enforcement in Texas with border surveillance.

The authorization by Governor DeWine came in response to a request for assistance from Texas Governor Greg Abbott in resolving the escalating border crisis, which has been marked by surging immigration rates and overburdened local law enforcement.

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