State Republican lawmakers have re-introduced legislation to modernize the statutes authorizing the Ohio Cosmetology and Barber Board.
House Bill (HB) 158, sponsored by state Representatives Melanie Miller (R- City of Ashland) and Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), aims to update the statutes to harmonize the regulations and processes of the board and better serve licenses.
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A Republican Ohio House Representative has introduced legislation aimed at protecting healthcare workers and patients from harmful surgical smoke exposure.
House Bill (HB) 104 sponsored by state Representative Monica Robb Blasdel (R-Columbiana County) aims to require Ohio’s hospitals and ambulatory surgical centers to adopt and implement a policy designed to prevent human exposure to surgical smoke.
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The clash of the GOP titans didn’t happen after all in the Hawkeye State.
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were scheduled to make separate campaign stops in Iowa Saturday.
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The National Republican Congressional Committee has begun a digital advertising campaign to target House Democrats like U.S. House Representatives Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-09), Greg Landsman (D-OH-01), and Emilia Sykes (D-OH-13) for their contribution towards reckless spending that is putting America on the brink of debt default.
This follows Reps. Kaptur, Landsman, and Sykes recently voting against the GOP debt ceiling bill which aims to address the debt ceiling and implement common sense spending reforms to limit wasteful spending, save taxpayer dollars, and grow the economy.
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Former President Donald Trump dominates rival Governor Ron DeSantis by nearly 20 points in Iowa, according to a new National Research Inc. poll commissioned by the Center for American Greatness. The survey of 500 likely 2024 Republican Presidential Caucus voters found that 44 percent of respondents favored Trump compared to 26 percent who backed DeSantis. Twelve percent of likely voters said they were undecided, and the remaining voters were split between the six other candidates.
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Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) swore in two new members to the Ohio House to fill the vacant seats left due to the passing of State Representative Kris Jordan (R-Ostrander) and the resignation of State Representative Brian Baldridge (R- Winchester) to take a job as state agriculture director.
After the untimely passing of Jordan, Delaware County Republican Brian Lorenz (R-Powell) has been chosen to fill the remaining term for the 60th House District seat.
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Four Ohio business organizations have come out in support of the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2, which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
On Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives approved the amendment that would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary sending it to Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for approval and to make preparations for an August special election to vote on it.
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A Republican-backed bill in the Ohio Senate that aims to stop diversity and equity training for faculty and students at state colleges and universities has been revised.
Senate Bill (SB) 83 known as the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act introduced by state Senator Jerry Cirino, (R-Kirtland) would eliminate the need for professor, staff, or student participation in diversity, equity, or inclusion training or courses. It would also create transparency for all tasks, as well as compulsory and suggested reading.
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A group of Hilliard City Schools’ parents is concerned about the content of certain books within the school’s libraries.
Sarah Kamento, a mom of a five-year-old, and Cyndie Sheets, mother of a Hilliard City Schools’ graduate told The Ohio Star that they have researched the books in the districts’ libraries and have found 49 books in total to date that they say are “inappropriate.”
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Making the case for America-first principles, Ohio entrepreneur and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy told a campaign rally in suburban Des Moines Thursday evening that, as president, he would seek a constitutional amendment raising the voting age to 25.
Ramaswamy, the first millennial Republican candidate to seek the White House, has been known to shake things up on the campaign trail.
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The Ohio State Bar Association has awarded Republican Ohio Supreme Court Justice Patrick Fischer with its highest honor the Ohio Bar Medal.
The Ohio State Bar Association states that the Ohio Bar Medal is awarded to individuals who have selflessly donated their time and talents by assuming important leadership positions on the bench and in the organized bar, as well as to people who have silently strived to win the community’s utmost respect and affection.
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Back in the Hawkeye State this week for multi-day campaign tours, Republican presidential hopefuls Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley commented on House Republican committee findings tying the Biden family’s fortunes to suspect foreign entities in China and Romania.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY-01) on Wednesday addressed bank records that show payments made to companies connected to President Joe Biden’s troubled son, Hunter.
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On Wednesday, the Ohio House of Representatives approved an amendment that aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments as well as legislation to allow for a statewide special election in August to vote on it.
The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
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According to a press release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation identified some confiscated drugs as “rainbow fentanyl” for the first time in the state.
The attorney general’s office said that the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office discovered the 1,025 candy-like, brightly colored tablets while conducting a narcotics trafficking investigation in the Columbus region.
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A former Republican lawmaker is pushing for Ohio to strengthen the state’s current laws to secure the primary election system and stop party raiding.
According to former Ohio Congressman Jim Renacci, the current Ohio election law, which allows challenges to party raiders in primary elections, is not being enforced.
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U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) blasted the Biden administration for its ongoing failure in addressing the southwest border crisis, which is about to get a whole lot worse when Title 42 ends later this week.
The Iowa Republican said it’s time to move on her Build It Act, legislation allowing states to finish the border wall by using previously purchased materials.
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A Democratic-backed group that opposes the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment released an advertisement praising House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) for the lack of a House floor vote on the resolution.
The group One Person One Vote praises Stephens in its advertisement for the lack of a House floor vote on the resolution and the August special election for voters to decide on it.
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U.S. Senator JD Vance’s (R-OH) bipartisan rail safety legislation gained significant momentum with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
The Railway Safety Act sponsored by Vance and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), would require that trains carrying hazardous materials be scanned by wayside defect detectors, or “hotbox detectors,” every 10 miles to prevent future derailments caused by faulty wheel bearings. It stipulates that railroad companies must provide advance notification to state emergency response commissions when transporting hazardous materials. It requires railroads to operate with at least two-person crews. It also increases the maximum fine for rail safety violations.
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Eighteen state attorney generals have signed onto a brief filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost trying to overturn a lower court’s preliminary injunction on the state’s Heartbeat Act which blocks the majority of abortions once a fetal heartbeat is found.
Yost filed the 20-page brief on Monday at the Ohio Supreme Court saying that the high court should dismiss the preliminary injunction on enforcing the state’s Heartbeat Act because the plaintiffs are clinics and not patients.
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The Ohio Republican State Central Committee has unanimously voted to support a resolution and implore lawmakers to pass the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments and to allow for a special August election to vote on the amendment.
The Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, Senate Joint Resolution (SJR) 2 would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
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An activist-led petition for marijuana legalization in Ohio could be on the November ballot now that state lawmakers have declined to evaluate the change.
The 34-page bill proposed by The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol aimed to impose a 10 percent tax on the sale of all cannabis products and legalize the possession, purchase, and sale of marijuana by Ohio residents aged 21 and older.
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and his Department of Safety Director Andy Wilson have announced that the state of Ohio is awarding nearly $500,000 in funding to law enforcement agencies throughout the state to help aid in the recruitment of new officers.
31 law enforcement agencies in 21 counties will receive the grant funding totaling $445,449 as part of the second round of funding offered as part of the new Ohio Law Enforcement Recruitment Grant Program. The program was created by Gov. DeWine in 2020 to enable police departments throughout Ohio to focus on recruiting efforts.
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Former President Donald Trump has taken notice of presidential competitor Vivek Ramaswamy’s rise in the Republican presidential primary polls.
In a statement released Friday, Trump said he’s pleased to see the Ohio businessman and political outsider doing so well.
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A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers introduced a bill to modernize and streamline the adoption process across the state.
House Bill (HB) 5, known as The Adoption Modernization Act, sponsored by State Representatives Sharon Ray (R-Wadsworth) and Rachel Baker (D-Cincinnati), aims to provide financial support for expecting mothers, expedite kinship care, and clarify Ohio law to help streamline the adoption process.
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Oberlin College’s record on lawsuits is so bad that it hired a new role this school year – a dedicated risk manager.
The college most famously paid out $36.6 million to local Gibson’s Bakery after its administrators were found complicit in damaging and false accusations of racism against the town staple. The damaging accusations of racism came after a bakery employee chased several black individuals who stole alcohol in November 2016 out of the store.
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A bipartisan group of Ohio Lawmakers introduced a bill prohibiting intimate examinations on anesthetized and unconscious patients without their consent.
House Bill (HB) 89, sponsored by state Representatives Brett Hillyer (R-Uhrichsville) and Munira Abdullahi (D-Columbus), aims to require specific consent from patients before doctors, nurses, and medical providers-in-training perform intimate pelvic, prostate, or rectal exams as part of their training while patients are unconscious for an unrelated procedure.
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U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) claims that President Joe Biden is “playing Russian roulette with the country’s finances” for refusing to negotiate on the current state of the debt plan.
This follows House Republicans passing the Limit, Save, Grow Act last week, which aims to address the debt ceiling and implement common sense spending reforms to limit wasteful spending, save taxpayer dollars, and grow the economy in hopes that Biden would negotiate with them.
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The Ohio Republican State Central Committee unanimously voted to oppose a proposed constitutional amendment to enshrine abortion in the state Constitution during their Friday meeting.
The Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of radical pro-abortion activists that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, proposed “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety.”
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Governor Kim Reynolds checked off just about everything on her to-do list in the recently wrapped-up legislative session.
From universal school choice to passage of a sweeping government restructuring plan, the popular Republican governor accomplished much of what she set out to do on the way to bolstering her rising national political profile.
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On Friday, the Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee voted to endorse Ohio Supreme Court Justice Joe Deters, Franklin Court of Common Pleas Judge Dan Hawkins, and Hamilton County Court of Common Pleas Judge Megan Shanahan for the 2024 Ohio Supreme Court elections.
According to Ohio GOP Chairman Alex Triantafilou, all three candidates have judicial experience, and their success as prosecutors show that they are committed to fighting crime hard and making Ohio safer for all Ohioans.
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The quaint caucus process where voters meet in school gymnasiums, churches, and restaurants to debate the merits of their candidates would be a thing of the past under a draft plan by the Iowa Democratic Party to reinvent the state’s storied presidential nominating system.
Instead, the plan calls for a mail-in caucus in which registered Democrats would request presidential preference cards by mail or online and send them in.
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U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) introduced legislation to increase online transparency and support products made in the USA.
The Bipartisan Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) Online Act, sponsored by Vance and U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), would ensure that all products sold online list their country of origin to protect Americans’ right to know where the things they purchase are manufactured, as well as the promotion of American-made products for internet buyers.
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced on Wednesday that a preliminary injunction was issued against Michael Peppel and his sham charity, Ohio Clean Water Fund, who stole thousands of dollars after pretending to raise money for East Palestine residents in the wake of the disastrous February 3rd train derailment.
Yost claimed in his initial lawsuit and request for a temporary restraining order that Peppel, a resident of Leetonia, and other individuals had pocketed at least $131,000 of the approximately $141,000 collected from more than 3,000 donors to allegedly help the community of East Palestine.
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Ohio Republican businessman and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024 Bernie Moreno said that if President Joe Biden and U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) want people to take them seriously when they claim they don’t want open borders, then they should extend Title 42 and finish building former President Donald Trump’s wall.
His statement follows Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday agreeing to send 1,500 U.S. soldiers to the Mexico border at the Biden administration’s request. However, as Title 42, a pandemic-related immigration policy, is slated to expire next week, the soldiers will only be used for administrative work.
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Ohio residents are tired of corporate welfare. They’re tired of politicians bailing out major corporations with their tax dollars. Unfortunately, however, the 2023 Piglet Book released by the Buckeye Institute this week prove that this sad reality is happening more often than ever.
Over $3 million on marketing for the state’s wine grape growers. Nearly $4 million on grants for sporting events. Over $160 million on “earmarks” — spending provisions that secretly award companies that don’t have to go through the government’s competitive and thorough vetting process large rewards. Ohio is doing all of this on the taxpayers’ dime. Frankly, that’s unacceptable.
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The Ohio Republican Party State Central Committee is scheduled to meet on Friday to consider endorsements for the three Ohio Supreme Court seats up for grabs in 2024, as well as a resolution to support the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment.
In the Ohio Supreme Court, Democratic Justices Michael Donnelly and Melody Stewart are up for re-election and Republican Justice Joe Deters must run for retention in 2024 and re-election in 2026. It will give Republicans an opportunity to hold 6 of 7 seats in the high court. Currently, the GOP has a 4-3 majority in the state Supreme Court.
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Fresh from penning another Wall Street Journal op-ed, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is set to pay another campaign call on the Hawkeye State.
The GOP presidential candidate plans a five-day, six-stop bus tour next week, including a rally with Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds.
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On Tuesday, moderate Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) once again delayed a floor vote on the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment, House Joint Resolution (HJR) 1, which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments.
The measure, if approved, would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
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Google announced on Wednesday the addition of two new data centers in central Ohio.
According to the firm, one of the centers will be constructed in Lancaster and the other on South High Street in South Columbus, bringing Google’s total investment to date in the state to over $2 billion. According to Google, it has generated nearly $13 billion in economic activity for businesses and nonprofits.
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A former Republican lawmaker is advocating for the state of Ohio to secure the primary election system and stop party raiding.
Currently, Ohio voters do not need to specify a party when registering. By requesting the ballot of the party primary they want at the time of voting, they can cast a ballot in either the Republican or Democratic primaries. Additionally, voters have the option of switching between parties during various elections throughout the year.
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A newly formed political action committee (PAC) has been set up to push House Republicans to vote on the Ohio Constitution Protection Amendment which aims to alter the process of how initiative petitions can propose constitutional amendments
Save Our Constitution PAC is urging lawmakers to set an August election for Ohio voters to decide on the proposed amendment. The measure, if approved, would mandate a 60 percent approval percentage for any future constitutional amendments, call for signatures from all 88 counties, and do away with the opportunity to “cure” petitions by collecting additional signatures if necessary.
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On Monday, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced that expanded access to one of the nation’s most effective resources for investigating and averting serious gun crimes is now available to law enforcement officials in Ohio.
The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) is a database that contains digitized photos of spent cartridge cases recovered from crime scenes or fired from firearms that law enforcement took into custody. The database essentially serves as a massive library of ballistic “fingerprints” because every gun leaves its own distinctive microscopic imprint on the cartridge cases it ejects.
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GOP heavyweights, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, are slated to appear at events in Iowa on May 13.
Trump, who declared his run for the White House late last year, is scheduled to be in Des Moines, an unnamed campaign official told the Associated Press.
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The Ohio Senate has unanimously passed legislation that aims to require local boards of education to draft “non-exhaustive” lists of religious holidays and excuse students for up to three days each academic year.
Senate Bill (SB) 49 known as the “Religious Expression Days” (R.E.D.) Act sponsored by State Senator Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) would require schools to accommodate “any missed assignments including tests” and teachers would have to accept these absences “without question” while maintaining “alternative accommodation requests confidential.”
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Ohio Republican U.S. House Representatives are calling on President Joe Biden to negotiate with Republicans on common sense reforms that address the nation’s growing debt problem.
This follows House Republicans passing the Limit, Save, Grow Act last week, which aims to address the debt ceiling and implement commonsense spending reforms to limit wasteful spending, save taxpayer dollars, and grow the economy.
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As his polling numbers climb nationally, Ohio businessman and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy’s political stock appears to be rising in South Carolina, as well.
The youngest GOP candidate in the field “enjoyed another well-received visit to the Palmetto State,” one of the first presidential nominating states, according to the latest FitsNews Palmetto Political Stock Index.
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Former two-time candidate for U.S. Congress Brandon Lape announced on Monday that he is exploring a run for Ohio House District 98 in 2024. State Representative Darrell Kick (R-Loudonville), who is currently in that seat, will not be able to run again because of term limits which, in theory, would create an open seat, but new districts will have to be drawn again.
Lape, from Loudonville, ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Ohio’s 7th Congressional District against Incumbent Bob Gibbs (R-OH-07) and Democrat Quentin Potter in the November 2020 General Election. He lost to Gibbs and gained 3.3 percent of the vote.
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A Bipartisan group of Ohio Lawmakers has re-introduced a bill to generally prohibit 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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As of April 16, Ballotpedia has tracked four election-related bills in the Iowa House of Representatives since the beginning of the year. Of the four, Ballotpedia tracked one from April 10-16. No sponsors are named for this bill. The one bill is below:
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The Iowa State Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the 2024 ballot that would create a system of succession in the case of temporary or permanent disability of the governor. The amendment would provide that if the governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor would assume the office of governor for the remainder of the term, thereby creating a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. Under the amendment, if the lieutenant governor assumed the office of governor, they would have the authority to appoint a new lieutenant governor.
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