Rotunda Rumblings
Fiscal friction: Outnumbered in both chambers, Ohio Democrats are trying to reshape the state’s massive budget through 423 amendments. Anna Staver reports they’re targeting hot-button issues like money for a new covered Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park and Medicaid cuts but say it’s an uphill fight.
Double down: A week after an Ohio Senate GOP bill was introduced to legalize online gambling in the state, Ohio House Republicans on Tuesday unveiled a more limited proposal. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, House Bill 298 would permit each of Ohio’s nine casino/racino owners to offer online slot machines and table games, though (unlike the Senate bill) it wouldn’t allow internet lottery games or online bets on horse races. The House bill’s sponsors argued online gambling is a logical next step following the approval of casinos/racinos in 2009 and sports betting in 2023; some Democrats, though, expressed concerns that it would exacerbate gambling addiction in Ohio.
Run for the money: Parents who signed up for Afterschool Child Enrichment (ACE) Accounts now get until Dec. 1 to submit expenses for reimbursement. The legislature created the $125 million ACE account program four years ago with COVID-19 relief funds to get students, who suffered academically during the pandemic, up to speed. After terminating the COVID funds for Ohio’s K-12 students in late March, the federal government is allowing the reimbursements again, but with more limited activities. Money can be spent on tutoring and lessons, but not day camps, Laura Hancock reports.
Exaggerated claim: In a U.S. Senate floor speech last week, Westlake Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno described how a man from Toledo drove to his house when he wasn’t there, knocked on his door, and “was there to kill me.” Sabrina Eaton writes that Westlake police reports on the 2024 incident contradict Moreno’s claim that the Toledo man wanted to kill Moreno or made any threats towards him. Westlake Police Capt. Gerald Vogel says the man was warned he’d face trespassing charges if he returned to Moreno’s house, and he did not return.
The dyes have it: The US government is pushing food companies to switch their bright synthetic dyes to natural colors — but the maker of Dum Dums lollipops and Sweethearts candy hearts is in no rush, Bloomberg reports. Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Spangler Candy Company in Bryan, Ohio, said a key problem with changing ingredients is taste. Take beet juice: “That’s a nice red, but it tastes like beets,” he said. Then there’s carmine, which makes some consumers queasy because the reddish pigment comes from cochineal insects. “People said, ‘I’d rather get cancer than eat the bug,” Vashaw said, referring to an instance when his company used the coloring.
Backing the blue: U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce of South Russell is one of 10 U.S. House of Representatives Republicans nationwide whom the union representing more than 33,000 federal correctional workers is targeting with a billboard campaign that claims they don’t support law enforcement. The billboard campaign, launched by the American Federation of Government Employees’ Council of Prison Locals, wants Congress to reject an executive order from Trump that strips collective bargaining rights from more than a million federal employees at Bureau of Prisons and other agencies.
Sounding the alarm: After meeting with leaders in Springfield on Monday, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said that employers are expressing concerns about federal efforts to revoke the legal status of the of Haitian immigrants, particularly from plants manufacturing auto parts. As Josh Sweigart of the Dayton Daily News reports, the Trump administration has worked to revoke the legal status of Haitian immigrants who are part of U.S. programs such as humanitarian parole and Temporary Protected Status. This includes an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 immigrants in the Springfield area.
Son of Sam: Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants to expand the state’s “Son of Sam” law to prevent crowdfunding for those accused of crimes. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that move comes after more than $50,000 was raised online for a man accused of killing a sheriff’s deputy.
Lobbying Lineup
Five organizations that lobbied on House Bill 15, a sweeping energy reform bill that Gov. Mike DeWine signed last week.
Cleveland Cliffs
Ohio School Boards Association
Coalition of Rural and Appalachian Schools
National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio
Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber
On the Move
U.S. Sen. Jon Husted on Tuesday announced he’s endorsing former Ohio legislator Kevin Coughlin’s Republican bid to take on Democratic U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes in 2026
Katie Smith, a former senior communications advisor with the Ohio Democratic Party, has been hired as Midwest regional press secretary for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Birthdays
Laura Bischoff, Statehouse reporter for the Columbus Dispatch
Thomas Evans, communications director at the Ohio Manufacturers Association
Joe Michalowski, legislative aide to state Rep. Bill Dean
Straight from the Source
“I rise with a heavy heart after the deadly rail accident that occurred last night in our district, in Fremont, Ohio.”
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Toledo in a floor speech addressing a deadly incident in which an oncoming train struck a family from Fort Wayne, Indiana.
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