News

This article first appeared on the Ohio Capital Journal

As it sought a massive, corrupt bailout in Ohio, Akron-based FirstEnergy also spent lavishly on Trump-aligned dark money groups and at hotels and golf courses owned by the former president, a new report said this week.

Trump and his aides wanted to provide a federal bailout for the company’s coal and nuclear plants, but they hit a brick wall — first in the form of a regulator, and then by public opposition to corporate bailouts, the report said.

In December 2022, during the Christmas holiday season and lame duck session – with no public input - the Ohio General Assembly stuffed a poultry bill with amendments and passed a law requiring fracking under Ohio’s state parks and public lands for gas and oil.

HB 507 also falsely defined gas as a “green energy,” despite climate scientists’ warnings that methane gas emissions related to gas and oil production are 80 percent more potent than carbon dioxide and accelerate climate warming.

Ohio public lands include state parks, forests, wilderness and wildlife areas, public colleges and universities, and Ohio Department of Transportation rights of way.

Save Ohio Parks, the statewide, all-volunteer group concerned about the effects of fracking on human health, the environment, its fresh water, and planet warming, lists in a Candidate Accountability document the legislators who voted yes on H.B. 507 and are running for office in 2024: 13 for Ohio Senate seats and 35 for the Ohio House.

America’s Supreme death penalty hypocrisy must end before more innocents are murdered. Six “pro-life” US High Court “Justices” have shrugged at the death of Marcellus Williams, a horrific sentence cavalierly imposed September 24 in Missouri.

Williams forever proclaimed his innocence. The family of the alleged victim joined his in begging that he not be executed. Numerous judicial players on the many sides of this lethal travesty asked that he be spared. Procedural, evidentiary and common sense holes in the case left more than ample room to further explore the obvious defects in the prosecution and sentencing.

But this MAGA Court, like so many Trumpist lovers of the death penalty, believes itself to be Divinely ordained beyond all decency and law. The level of dishonesty is cosmic. By 6-3 the Court has robbed millions of women of rightful control over their own bodies. Proclaiming the “sanctity of life,” these murderous “justices" are more than willing to let women die for lack of medical care. Their melodramatic concern for “the unborn” does not extend to women unable protect their bodies in cases of rape, incest or accidental pregnancies.

Today’s Ohio Capital Journal reported that, “A former city employee received a $195,000 settlement from the city of Columbus after claiming she was illegally required to work on the 2023 reelection campaign of Mayor Andrew Ginther.”

“Ohio law prohibits the use of public resources, such as a public employee’s hours worked, on political campaigns. Columbus’ policy forbids office holders and employees from engaging in political activity forbidden by state law.”

“Bauer, a six-year mayor’s office employee last paid the equivalent of $85,010 a year," claimed in the suit that Ginther and other city staff “could command where, when and how much labor” she performed and she largely was on call, even when off work, a vast majority of the time. She said she regularly worked 50- to 60-hour weeks without extra pay.” https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2024/10/04/ex-columbus-employee-gets-195k-settlement-after-claim-she-was-required-to-do-ginther-campaign-work/

Ohio is among the top 10 states where gerrymandering runs rampant. Now, a chorus of Black Faith leaders are uniting and urging Ohioans to vote yes on Issue 1, which will end gerrymandering by empowering citizens, instead of politicians, to draw fair legislative maps in an open and transparent process. More than sixty Black faith leaders released an open letter urging Ohioans to vote YES on Issue 1. 

A Florida resident named Isaac Menasche received a home visit this September from a police officer asking whether he’d signed a petition for a ballot measure.

The petition, which Menasche had indeed signed, was for a November initiative overturning a strict abortion ban that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed last year. Now the governor is attempting to discredit those signatures using state-funded cops. According to the Tampa Bay Times, state law enforcement officers have visited the homes of other signers as well.

When the Olympics return to Los Angeles in 2028, we can make history— and vastly lower our electric rates, clean our air and employ our people— by making sure the Games are 100% powered with local-generated solar energy. 

That clean green electricity should not be wired in via an obsolete, over-stressed grid, coming from places that should otherwise be left in their natural state. Instead we have four full years to cover every appropriate southern California rooftop with photovoltaic cells.  

That would mean installing solar arrays atop this mega-city’s many square miles of wahouses, businesses, factories and homes. It would also embrace our parking lots and structures, sports stadia, aqueducts, canals, rivers, reservoirs, all powering local-based micro-grids that can save billions in unnecessary generation and transmission costs.

This Olympian deployment would be a great long jump for southern California’s power supply. As we’ve seen from the state’s 1.8 million rooftop PV installations, solar-generated electricity can be far cheaper than anything coming from fossil or nuclear fuels. 

Yo, Yost, no one is eating dogs and cats in Springfield! No one is eating dead geese or ducks either. Please stop the mad hysteria! AG Yost should grow a backbone instead and defend Springfield, Ohio and not spread fake news started by Donald Trump.

Just for the record, the Haitian community in Springfield is 12,000 to 15,000 according to Mayor Rob Rue and not 20,000. That's nearly 7,000 less! Most Haitians in Springfield are legal residents, green card holders, or newly naturalized US citizens. They came into Springfield five years ago.

Haitians are attracted to Ohio because there is plenty of jobs and excellent universities and affordable living.

Stereotyping Haitian refugees is hurtful, embarrassing, and is not the way to welcome newcomers to our state.

GOP smack talk Haitians led by you, Sen. Vance, and your party leader is a hate speech, and it depicts Haitians as savages and troublemakers.

Dave Yost's public statements about Springfield add insults, subtract pleasure, multiply ignorance, and divide attention.

Trump is well-known for making outrageous statements on social media that are intended to attract media attention.

Background

The Ohio Coalition to End Qualified Immunity (OCTEQI) has been actively working to place a constitutional amendment on the Ohio ballot to end qualified immunity for government officials. This summer their efforts have faced significant legal hurdles, primarily centered around the case of Cynthia Brown vs. Dave Yost, the Ohio Attorney General. Brown is director for the OCTEQI, her leadership inspired by her 30-year-old nephew Kareem Ali Nadir Jones who in 2017 was approached by Columbus police for no good reason, shot in the back and killed.

The Petition Process

On Tuesday night, September 10, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump faced off in a high-stakes presidential debate where Harris emerged as the consensus winner after getting under the former president’s skin during a tense part of the debate. It was a highly important debate for both of them as the latest polling numbers showed them neck and neck in the battle for the White House. Trump attempted to stick to his typical talking points but slowly fell away after an odd rant about immigrants eating dogs in Ohio.