Ohio State News

A Q&A with university President Ted Carter Jr.

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:48:13 +0000

President Ted Carter Jr. discusses his challenges and goals during an exclusive interview with The Lantern. Credit: Nathan Mader | LTV Campus Producer

The Lantern sat down with university President Ted Carter Jr. to discuss Ohio State’s biggest challenges, the controversy surrounding Les Wexner, accessibility and affordability goals, Ross Bjork’s recent appointment and more.

“I believe affordability and accessibility should be our North Star.”

Q: What would you say are the biggest challenges facing the university as of today?

Well, obviously, how we are feeling, the sense on campus with some of the global events that are happening that are really conversations. Obviously, as someone who’s been around the world a number of times, been involved in friction points around the world, it’s always tough, especially if you have a personal connection — whether it be a family member or somebody you know — for events that are going on in Israel with Hamas, or even in Ukraine, and there are other events happening around the world. And I know that our faculty and our students feel that and they want to be able to have an open conversation about that.

So I have already spent some time and gotten in front of some of those students — Hillel, Chabad, Students for Justice in Palestine. I wanted to go in there and hear their concerns and be empathetic and also make sure they know that they do have a voice and their voice can be heard.

But we also have to understand that keeping the temperature down [is important] so it doesn’t look like one group is pitting itself against one another — it’s not helpful on this campus because my goal is to keep our campus safe and secure. That’s one of our top priorities.

Q: What are your priorities with addressing crime on campus and do you plan to keep some of the things Mohler implemented with the increased cop presence?

I’ve gotten to look into that a little bit more. I’ve been over to Blankenship Hall and met with some of our security folks over there. I’ve seen the very intricate, integrated camera system that we have here on campus — over 5,000 cameras that overlook an entire campus live, which is very impressive.

Is that enough? I’m learning a little bit more about some of the things that we’re doing. We’re still looking for seven more hires within [Blankenship Hall] to meet what we said we would get to, and then we’ll take another look. But whatever we’re doing, we’re going to continue to look to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to keep our campus safe and secure, because for our students, it’s not what has happened in the past, it’s not what is the event — a lot of these things have happened off campus, not even on campus — it’s how they feel. You can’t tell someone how to feel, and if they feel either insecure or ‘What else can I do to feel best protected?’ we’ve got to be able to have that conversation, we’ve got to be able to listen.

I personally believe that we do have a responsibility within, even outside, our own perimeter. That’s where more than 50% of our students live, so we are engaging with the various security forces, whether it be the Columbus police, our own police force, state highway patrol, how they collect and share intelligence information. Are there any gaps there? What else can we do? We obviously have some of our own patrols that are unarmed, that are there to diffuse situations.

So there’s a lot that has been going on. I think the reporting folks have done a good job telling that story of what is actually happening because sometimes people may not feel secure, but they don’t know all the things that are actually currently happening, or how much we’re going to continue to do to make sure our campus is secure.

Q: What is your response to the Department of Education investigating the university? How are you going forward with that looming over and with the conflict still going on and with students still calling for more safety measures and also divestment?

So again, First Amendment rights, student voices — we listen. We’re hearing them. That’s one of the reasons I met with those groups. I learned about the Department of Education claim against the university just yesterday. Obviously, we’ll engage in that, and again, it’s an investigation first.

What I will say is, whatever the response was from acting President Mohler, I’ve been very clear on my statements coming here from day one. We’re not going to tolerate any harassment. We’re not going to tolerate any bigotry of any kind, whether it be antisemitism, Islamophobia — any type of bigotry. Now I understand there is some speech that is protected, and we’ve got to understand that, but when anything leads to incitement of violence, then we’re going to have to hold people accountable. And that’s how we’re going to be, and I’ve been about as clear as I can be on that.

Q: Do you have certain policies you hope to implement during your first few months in the office, or a plan to carry out some of the same initiatives that Kristina Johnson started? Acting President Peter Mohler worked to increase police presence on campus — are these things that you hope to continue? If not, what policies do you hope to implement?

There’s been a void of firm presidential leadership here for a while. You all know that. So as I am now in my 24th day in the job, my first job is to make sure I do no harm. If this is a very large ship — for a second, we can use that nautical reference — to keep the ship sailing, clean and straight, and then learn how to operate. And so I’m really getting my arms wrapped around that.

To answer your question directly, yes, I’m inheriting the same things that were enacted by acting President Mohler, a lot of the things that President Johnson had in place. I haven’t removed or changed any of those policies, other than the ones that have already been started before I got here. So there’s been some changes in hiring practices, and before I make any other changes beyond either increasing resources for more security or any other policy change, I need to make sure I understand exactly how the organization is today. And that’s what’s happening right now. That’s going to take me a few months.

And meanwhile, I’m trying to take this vision of where I think this university is going to go over the next three to five to 10 years, turn that into a written strategy — something I plan to produce around the 100-day mark — and then we’ll start to move that and measure ourselves against the things we say are important. And then we’ll start to think about making changes as necessary.

Q: In light of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on affirmative action, how is the university looking to revamp its admissions process? What is your definition of merit, and what does that mean for incoming and prospective students?

It’s interesting, when I was a superintendent at the Naval Academy, which is the same job as being the president of a university — just a slightly smaller campus — I was deeply involved in the admissions process. And of course, it’s more complicated because you have to have a nomination from a member of Congress or the president or the vice president, and there’s a lot of academic physical leadership standards by which you have to get in.

If you reference the U.S. Supreme Court decision, they exempted the service academies from that, saying you could apply affirmative action. I never did. For the five years that I ran the Naval Academy, we never had a quota system. We never used any affirmative action, profiling of any kind to get the most diverse student body that we’d had in the Naval Academy’s 170-plus year history. And yet, we were increasing the percentage of women that were coming to campus, the underrepresented minorities every single year, because we just want to attract the best students.

And a lot of times, what will really make the difference, when students come to a campus and they see what the campus looks like, that will be the best advertising that you’re ever going to have… So what I would tell you is when we’re looking at when rules and regulations are put down to us, we’re going to first follow the rules.

But second of all, when we’re looking for what types of students we want to have here, we are somewhat of a selective campus. It’s very hard to come here from out of state with only 30% of our student body being from out of state. I think there’s 10 qualified students that want to come here for every one that gets in. And then when you look at who’s coming here from the state of Ohio, it’s still competitive to get in.

But my view is — again, I haven’t sat down with all the admissions team — we’re looking for not only the most talented students, we’re looking for the best-rounded students. So sometimes that shows up in merit and academic performance. Sometimes it’s going to show up in the ability to be a natural leader. Sometimes it’s going to show up in other skill sets that somebody might have. The application process, I am hopeful as I will learn more about it, will allow those elements of the whole person to shine through so that we can welcome a very diverse campus.

Q: We know that we’re currently in the process of trying to fill the vice president role. We wanted to see what qualities you’re looking for in a vice president and if you have any notes on significant progress within that search.

It is underway. The committee has been formed. They’re going through these various listening sessions. And then there’ll be a call-out for resumes and people will be able to apply.

Some of the basic things that we’re looking for are two simple requirements. One is we need a provost and a senior vice president who is a leader because that person is going to lead the academic mission principally of this great university, but also lead 15 university deans. That alone is a leadership challenge, and you think about all the different academic disciplines those 15 colleges represent.

But you also have to have somebody that can be a little bit of a follower because that person is still going to work for the president, and those two people have to be aligned. And that’s really important.

And finally, I would just say that we’re looking for somebody that is a little bit different from me. Obviously, I do not have the classic academic training that a lot of lifelong academicians have. I have different qualities I bring to the job, but I definitely want somebody that’s been more classically trained, been involved in research, has been at multiple levels of academia that is now ready for that position.

Q: You do have a very different background from typical university presidents. How do you view your military service and your past leadership roles as helping you in this role?

A lot of people will look at my background and think it was my time wearing the uniform of the nation that got me here. That’s just the job that I had.

If you take away the military part of it, what I did get to do in uniform was, first of all, lead two world-class academic institutions, but more importantly, lead very large, complex organizations, some of them the most complex things that we do in the military, like taking an aircraft carrier apart, putting it back together to include starting up, nuclear reactors, replacing all the engineering. It was an unbelievable project that we actually delivered on budget in time. So when you do all that, it comes down to being able to manage complex tasks and people.

And then as I transitioned out of uniform, I was very fortunate to transition out of leading an institution — a leadership institution in the U.S. Naval Academy — then go to Nebraska and lead, again, a very large, complex [university]— the only public university system in the entire state with 50,000 students and 16,000 faculty and staff on four very dispersed geographic campuses.

At the time, that was the job that I never knew that for my whole life I was training for. And as I got into that job and lived through COVID like everybody else, we prospered during the most difficult times of that global pandemic and came out of it strong enough to do well in a state that’s not very populated. And they’re still on a course to do well as a public university, land-grant, R1 research university at the flagship in Lincoln.

As I’ve shared with a lot of people, I wasn’t looking to become the 17th president of The Ohio State University. I actually was very happy with what I was doing in Nebraska. Ohio State kind of found me, and they convinced me that I was what they were looking for. I questioned that, to be quite honest, at the beginning, knowing the great history of this university.

As I got more involved, spoke to everybody from student leadership to faculty to the board of trustees, that’s when I realized maybe this is the right time and the right place to come here. Maybe I would be the right fit here.

This would be my last point: I’ve done transitions where the leadership of some of these institutions should’ve had a Ph.D., should’ve gone through multiple phases of their academic progressions, and I showed up without those classic pieces of paper. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have the utmost respect for those who have done it. In fact, I’m probably the biggest champion of those that have been through that.

But I did fine at all those organizations. I even got the same questions when I went to Nebraska, and you can read about how upset they were when I left, meaning that I guess I was doing OK.

The last point I’ll make is, the Navy has some pretty unique academic programs, and I was very fortunate to go through one of them. That was the Navy Nuclear Power Program. It’s a classified program, so it’s not accredited. You don’t receive a master’s degree when you get it because you have to go to a specific place to do all the courses of study.

I did well beyond master’s-level education in that program. I took 54 exams, eight-hour finals multiple times, stand-up boards, prototyping — where you actually get qualified to operate a nuclear reactor.

And then on top of that, my command of an aircraft carrier wasn’t one that drove a carry around the world. It was actually taking one and completely dismantling and rebuilding it, as I just talked about. So I got to [apply] the courseware that I took, and I’m very comfortable talking [about] technical things, STEM background. And I believe that part of my job is to be a champion for not only our students but our academicians that are here. We have world-class faculty here and I’m really proud to just be part of that team.

Q: During your time at Nebraska, something you worked on a lot was making it more affordable for students, and it kind of mirrored the Scarlet and Gray Initiative that President Johnson used to have. Are you hoping to continue that legacy or do you have other goals of making Ohio State more affordable and attainable for students who may not be able to afford to come here?

I believe affordability and accessibility should be our North Star. The cost of education has gone up significantly over the last 10 to 15 years. I’m very, very sympathetic to that for students. I know that can be a challenge.

I like to make sure I understand all the scholarship and needs-based programs that we have here. The Scarlet and Gray Advantage that you just described, I’ve looked into it just a little. I think it’s still in its early stages. I support the concept. I did something very similar in Nebraska with the Promise program. I noticed Columbus State has a program almost exactly the same, so I was really heartened to see that.

The whole impetus behind creating that was, as we were going into a global pandemic, I said, “We have wonderful merit-based scholarship programs in Nebraska. What are we doing for Pell-eligible students or those students that are somewhere in between Pell and other qualifications?” And we didn’t really have a program. And the beauty of that program is we created it and did not take it from taxpayer money.

We actually cut our budget $5 million for the initial offering and paid for it out of our own budget. I cut my own personal staff by 25% to help pay for that. And I’m really proud of what we did. It started out with the 7,000 students that applied in six weeks, and by the time I left, we had over 18,000 students that have gone through that Nebraska Promise program. And what’s interesting is they were performing at or better than all of the non-promise programs, which is again the statement that, given an opportunity for those that are inspired, they’re going to do well. And they were.

So I’ll continue to take that mindset here and look at how we can best support those that may not have the same background and resources as everybody else. Reducing student debt is more than just getting it down to $0… It costs more now to attend university than it costs for just the tuition.

So there’s the cost of education part, and there’s the cost of total attendance, and the cost of total attendance is what’s been rising the price tag up today in most public universities, and I’m sure it’s the same here. I know it was in Nebraska. Almost two-thirds of the total cost of attendance was living, eating, driving, parking, books — all the rest compared to just the tuition fees. And I froze tuition for two years.

Q: More information has come to light with Les Wexner’s affiliation with Epstein and — with someone who’s such a big donor to the university and much of campus is named after him — many are concerned with the connection between the university and Wexner. How will the university respond to those concerns in light of recent events?

The first thing we should acknowledge is that the Wexners, both Les and Abigail, have been incredibly generous to this university, almost like nobody else in our history. We should be very thankful to them and their family for that kind of generosity.

The second is that I know what has been written up in the media no differently than anybody else, and I don’t know anything more. But for those that are worried about this, the word I would use is patience. Let the facts play out.

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Ohio Senate Overrides Gov. DeWine’s Veto of House Bill 68

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:47:09 +0000

Gov. DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68 was overridden by the Ohio Senate Wednesday. Credit: Lantern File Photo

The Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. DeWine’s veto of House Bill 68 Wednesday. The bill prevents doctors from prescribing medical treatments for gender dysphoria to minors and prohibits transgender girls and women from participating in high school or college sports.

After a 23-9 vote, the bill is set to become law in 90 days. The Ohio House voted to override the veto on Jan. 10 with a 65-8 vote.

On Dec. 29, 2023, DeWine vetoed House Bill 68, citing concerns of overstepping parental control. One week later, DeWine proposed rules to regulate transition care for minors and adults, like requiring those under 21 to receive six months of counseling prior to treatment, according to previous Lantern reporting.

House Bill 68, also known as the Ohio Saving Adolescents from Experimentation — or SAFE — Act, bans hormone replacement therapy, puberty-blocking drugs and gender reassignment surgery for minors. It also requires schools and universities to have separate teams for those of the biological female sex and those of the biological male sex and prevents biologically male students from competing on women’s sports teams.

It does not prevent the existence of coed sports teams.

Komencanto Eterna, a first-year master’s student in comparative studies and an organizer of a trans equality protest that took place at the Ohio Union Friday, said the impact of House Bill 68 is far-reaching.

“This is not someone else’s issue,” Eterna said. “This impacts the entire trans community. This impacts all queer folk. This impacts anyone who is marginalized as a result of gender and sexuality even more broadly.”

During deliberation before the veto vote, senators discussed biological advantages in sports, medical autonomy and protections for children.

“I find it very disconcerting that we stand here and make bold statements and not really understand or accept the fact that someone has their own autonomy and [are] able to make choices about their own medical care,” Ohio Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson (D-11) said.

Ohio Sen. George Lang (R-4) said the “one thing [he] could not overcome is the advantages that men have in sports.”

Some senators said that they are not focused on banning the existence of transgender people.

“We’re not saying you can’t [transition], we’re saying you have to take a breath and wait until you’re a little older,” Ohio Sen. Shane Wilkin (R-17) said.

Transition care does not need heavy government regulation, Ohio Sen. William DeMora (D-25) said.

“Doctors already have systems in place,” DeMora said. “The Ohio High School Athletic Association already has systems in place. This is not an issue. And if there was legislation needed, it should be to make it easier for people to get the care they need, not withhold care from them.”

The American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics oppose restrictions on transgender health care.

What you need to know about Bjork’s rocky past

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:46:32 +0000

Ross Bjork (left) was introduced as Ohio State’s next athletic director by president Ted Carter (right) at a press conference at Covelli Center in Columbus on Jan. 17, 2024. Credit: Nathan Baird (via TNS)

Ross Bjork, who will succeed Gene Smith as Ohio State’s next athletic director come July 1, has been involved in more than academic success, fundraising and stadium construction.

Try recruiting scandals, ill-informed contract extensions and a “lack of institutional control.”

This doesn’t mean he won’t advance Ohio State athletics over his time in Columbus, but it should be said that the Buckeye program is one of the top in the country, and following Smith will be no small task.

Bjork’s hire became official Jan. 16 — pending approval from the board of trustees in February. His contract’s base salary is set at $1.65 million annually through June 30, 2029, but with yearly media appearances and opportunities, fringe benefits and travel expenses, his annual salary will lie just above $2 million, according to his employment agreement.

In 2010, Bjork got his first start as an athletic director at Western Kentucky. During his two-year tenure in Bowling Green, Kentucky as the then-youngest athletic director, he was able to provide raises for several coaches, most notably its former head football coach Willie Taggart. Additionally, Bjork won at least four Sun Belt championships in men’s basketball, women’s volleyball and men’s and women’s tennis.

His fault? Former assistant defensive coach Lance Guidry, under his watch, was arrested for driving under the influence while in Baton Rouge for a road game in 2011. Bjork never suspended Guidry.

But because of the positive aspects over his reign, he upgraded to a Southeastern Conference school — Ole Miss — where he resided from 2012-19.

While a Rebel, Bjork doubled their athletics revenue from $57 to $117 million, according to Ole Miss’ website, and opened or completed fundraising for more than six stadium constructions and renovations. In addition, over the 2015-16 academic year Ole Miss student-athletes reached a cumulative GPA of over 3.0 for the first time in program history.

However, for the good he does, the bad has no problem following. One name: Hugh Freeze, Ole Miss’ head football coach from 2012-16.

Freeze and the football program were under investigation by the NCAA in January 2016 for several recruiting violations, spanning from alleged help from coaches on ACT scores to unethical benefits for recruits, according to USA Today, which the NCAA called a “ lack of institutional control.”

During their investigation, USA Today reported that the NCAA discovered at least eight more severe violations involving recruits, assistant coaches and current players, all allegedly under Freeze and Bjork’s knowledge.

In an attempt to save their reputations and the Rebels program, the pair told reporters and recruits that everything they’d been accused of was collateral from former football coach Houston Nutt. However, Nutt filed a lawsuit for “defamation of character” in the summer of 2017 to clear his name.

Shortly thereafter, Ole Miss and Nutt came together to resolve the lawsuit, but another discovery against Freeze was made. He had been making calls to a female escort service for over 2.5 years while under contract with Ole Miss. According to ESPN, the calls spanned less than two minutes each.

On July 20, 2017, Freeze resigned as head coach, though Bjork claimed he would have been terminated if he didn’t voluntarily step down, and the Rebels faced a two-year postseason ban as well as a monetary decrease in scholarships and new restrictions placed on already in-place recruitment regulations.

“We went on facts — you can say whatever you want about perception,” Bjork said at his press conference Jan. 17 at the Covelli Center. “There’s a lot of outside forces that infiltrated, but as far as the head coach, we knew exactly what was happening from a compliance standpoint and then he had a personal failure and as soon as we found out about it, we took action.”

Despite the many tribulations and chaos at Ole Miss over Bjork’s tenure, he upgraded again: College Station, Texas — home of the Texas A&M Aggies.

Bjork was hired at A&M in 2019 and will stay until July 1. As an Aggie, he made seven instrumental coaching hires, including men’s basketball head coach Buzz Williams.

Additionally, he oversaw new state-of-the-art athletic facilities in Aggieland and was heavily involved in passing Texas House Bill 2804, which says Texas universities “may identify, create, facilitate, or otherwise assist with opportunities for a currently enrolled student-athlete to earn compensation from a third party,” according to The Eagle.

But one thing he’ll always be remembered for is the November 2023 firing of head football coach Jimbo Fisher, after Fisher violated the COVID-19 recruiting period in both football and men’s basketball and made “impermissible contact” with recruits, according to 12th Man.

Fisher, who was hired in 2017 on a 10-year, $75 million contract, was ultimately fired amid the 2023 season for underperforming. From 2020 on, his team’s records steadily declined. However, Fisher’s contract was extended by Bjork and the Texas A&M board through 2031 and he was offered $94.95 million.

Due to his football program’s struggles and 6-4 start to the season at the time of his firing, Bjork made the ultimate decision to relieve Fisher of his duties, generating the most expensive buyout of a coach in the history of college athletics at $77.6 million, or $7.2 million per year, according to ESPN.

Ohio State President Ted Carter Jr. backed Bjork at their press conference Jan. 17 following the announcement of his hiring.

“I pressed that question pretty hard, I had a lot of questions about that,” Carter said. “Ross has owned it — as has the [A&M] institution. Remember, these things just don’t happen in a vacuum. Even though he is the athletics director, he wasn’t the original hiring authority. Yes, he did give an extension, that happens a lot.”

Two weeks after Fisher was fired, Mark Stoops — head coach of Kentucky — was supposed to succeed him, but instead, posted on X, formerly Twitter, around 1 a.m. Nov. 26, 2023, that he no longer planned on leaving the Wildcats, undermining Bjork’s authority and doing so out in the open.

According to the Texas Tribune, just one day later, the Aggies hired former Duke head coach Mike Elko on a six-year, annual base salary of a $7 million contract.

Meanwhile, Ohio State was looking for its own person. In turn, Bjork upgraded for a third time.

According to Ohio State’s annual fiscal report, which was released Tuesday, the athletic department’s revenue increased 11% from 2021-22 to 2022-23. Last year, its total of $251.6 million — which was No. 1 in the NCAA — was outshined by 2023’s $279.5 million.

Some sort of trouble seems to follow Bjork wherever he goes, but with Ohio State’s reputation and immense revenue generation, his faults will be tested come July 1.

Revitalizing excellence: Interfraternity Council revamps educational presentations

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:45:43 +0000

Delta Tau Delta, located at 67 E. 15th Ave., is one of 29 university-affiliated social fraternities governed by IFC. Credit: Brooke Tacsar | Lantern Reporter

Ohio State’s Interfraternity Council is spearheading the transformation of its educational program topics under Greek Life’s standards of excellence to focus more on men’s health and wellness.

The council’s standards of excellence initiative — a program established in 2001 to improve Greek Life’s development and growth — will be altered to include presentations on more complex topics like male privilege, Mitch Howard, the Interfraternity Council’s director of diversity, equity and inclusion, said.

“Previously, those sessions were kind of base level [and] not very engaging,” Howard said. “A lot of the content was specific to general [topics like] drinking less or liquor hazing.”

Under the standards of excellence, 85% of every chapter must attend at least one program for each of the three goal categories: member development, inclusive excellence and harm reduction, according to Sorority and Fraternity Life’s website.

Attending multiple programs that fall under the same goal category can be combined for a chapter’s total 85% required attendance, or a chapter can design its own program about a specific topic for its members.

Howard said he is working with Kim Monteaux De Freitas, director of Sorority and Fraternity Life, to develop a new standard for presentations, independent of the standards of excellence’s three goal categories, but following its purpose and intent of improving Greek Life.

“We’re focusing on mental health, particularly men’s mental health, and that intersection between manhood and toxic masculinity,” Howard said.

Howard said these presentations formerly focused on topics of hazing, leadership and sexual misconduct.

This year, Howard said he plans to remodel these sessions to explore more progressive and intricate topics that additionally focus on cultural competency, sexual wellness and body dysmorphic disorders commonly faced by men such as bigorexia – a fixation on muscle mass.

“All of these subjects are in some way, shape or form correlated, and we want to bring them more to the forefront,” Howard said.

Hunter Hartwig, Sorority and Fraternity Life’s associate director of council leadership and primary advisor for the Interfraternity Council, said he feels this initiative taken by Howard will help the council’s associated fraternity members thrive in social awareness and education.

“That kind of education, I think, is imperative to the success of our organizations, especially as the populations of students continue to diversify,” Hartwig said. “Fraternities have to be educated and ready to support those students once they become members as well.”

The council will work with the Student Wellness Center to bring sexual wellness, health and awareness to these presentations, primarily focusing on the available resources provided to students through the center like HIV testing and condoms.

“That’s not something a lot of us knew in Greek Life or in general,” Howard said. “It’s going to be a collaboration with the Student Wellness Center to kind of shine a brighter light [and] give more attention to their harm reduction resources.”

Howard said there is a lot of content to be explored beyond the three traditional categories of the standards of excellence initiatives, specifically with diversity and equity programming.

“The DEI relevancy hasn’t exactly been there, so we’re working with Dr. Kim to be more specific to those and ideally, there will be more than three [categories] once we’ve cleaned out the content and pushed out the message a little bit,” Howard said.

Ohio State athletics boast record-breaking numbers in athletic revenue

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:44:51 +0000

Gene Smith and Kylie Murr; Ohio State women’s volleyball NCAA tournament vs Tennessee State. Ohio State won 3-0. Credit: Katie Good | Lantern File

One of the largest athletic departments in the nation is only getting larger.

The Ohio State athletics department brought in a record-breaking $279.5 million in total revenue in fiscal year 2023, an 11% increase from the previous year, it announced Tuesday.

Ohio State’s athletic director Gene Smith, who’s held the position since 2005, said he credits those who’ve poured into the athletic program and continue to do so.

“Ohio State athletics remain on a rock-solid foundation thanks to the tremendous support from our fans, students and alumni,” Smith said. “They continue to show up, tune in and support our student-athletes, coaches and staff at our fields, stadiums and arenas.”

The “rock-solid foundation” proved to be stronger than any other program, as the athletic department was deemed No. 1 in athletic revenue, leading the way ahead of top powerhouses like Georgia, Alabama and Texas, who finished second at $271 million.

The total revenue reported accounts for the dates between July 1, 2022, to June 30, 2023, according to an annual financial report filed each year with the NCAA.

The majority of the revenue — $73.3 million — stems from ticket sales, which has been the largest income generator for the department. From ticket sales, $64.3 million was accumulated from the football team alone.

Former Buckeye quarterback and now Houston Texan C.J. Stroud played in eight home games during the 2022 season as Ohio State hosted two top teams in Notre Dame and neighboring rival, Michigan.

The marquee matchups aided in a nearly $13 million jump in revenue generated in ticket sales across all sports. Media rights were another huge contributor to the athletic department’s unparalleled feat.

Revenue generated from radio, television and digital platforms accounted for $49 million in the fiscal year 2023, a $887,127 increase. Contributions from individuals, foundations and companies totaled $57.8 million.

The Ohio State athletic department will look to continue its growth, and it doesn’t need to look too far as its sports are only getting more competitive.

As of right now, three teams hold the No.1 in their respective sport, including men’s volleyball, men’s tennis and women’s ice hockey.

With Smith’s retirement effective June 30, newly appointed athletic director Ross Bjork will have a chance to operate one of the most renowned departments in the world.

Women’s Basketball: Viewership soars to 14-year high with Ohio State-Iowa overtime thriller

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:43:01 +0000

Sophomore Forward, Cotie McMahon, is surrounded by her teammates during a celebration in the game against the Iowa Hawkeyes on January 21st 2024 at the Schottenstein Center.
Credit: Lily Hynes | Assistant Photo Editor

Approximately 3.9 million eyes were on the Ohio State women’s basketball team Sunday as lead scorers Cotie McMahon and Jacy Sheldon led the Buckeyes to an 8-point overtime victory over Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The clash of these Big Ten titans was the most-watched regular season game of women’s collegiate basketball in the past 14 years, averaging 1.93 million viewers across five heart-stopping periods of play.

It was a battle from the opening tip, the first quarter marked by five ties and three lead changes.

Ohio State led 29-27 early in the second, but couldn’t win the advantage back again until 3:44 remained in the fourth. A Celeste Taylor layup capped an incredible 19-6 run that brought the Buckeyes back in front, 77-76.

The end of regulation flipped the script, and Ohio State never trailed during the five-minute overtime period, winning 100-92 over then-No. 2 Iowa.

McMahon led the scoring with a career-high 33 points to go with 12 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Sheldon had 24 of her own, playing every second of the 45-minute match, and each of Ohio State’s starting five ended the night in double-figures.

The Hawkeyes went down swinging under Clark’s 45-point performance, but the reigning National Player of the Year’s efforts were not enough to overcome the Buckeyes’ late surge.

Ohio State will ride their five-game win streak to Champaign, Illinois, where they face another conference foe in Illinois at 7 p.m., Thursday night. Clark and her Hawkeyes will have another chance at the Buckeyes on March 3, hosting a rematch that will conclude the regular season for both teams.

Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show discusses Grammy-nominated album ‘Jubilee’ and upcoming Columbus show

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:42:17 +0000

(left to right) Mike Harris, Mason Via, Morgan Jahnig, Cory Younts, Ketch Secor, Dante’ Pope and PJ George make up string band Old Crow Medicine Show. Credit: Courtesy of Bryan Ros

Two-time Grammy Award-winning group Old Crow Medicine Show will perform at KEMBA Live! Thursday.

The seven-person string band’s August 2023 record “Jubilee” is nominated for Best Folk Album at this year’s Grammy Awards, Bryan Ros, a Missing Piece Group publicist who represents Old Crow Medicine Show, said in an email.

“The new album is a wildly expansive body of work showcasing the dazzling musicality and poetic yet powerful storytelling that has made Old Crow Medicine Show one of the most potent and influential forces in American roots music for more than two decades,” Ros said.

According to a Nov. 10, 2023, press release, “Jubilee” — a follow-up to the band’s 2022 album, titled “Paint This Town” — was co-produced with Matt Ross-Spang and features guest artists like Mavis Staples, Sierra Ferrell and Willie Watson.

Ketch Secor, Old Crow Medicine’s frontman as well as a multi-instrumentalist, said “Jubilee” tries to capture the ups and downs of ordinary American life.

“This kind of work, you’re just always trying to reflect the beauty of the world around you and the hardships that people face because music is supposed to be a reflection of society,” Secor said.

Secor said the album is titled “Jubilee” for a specific reason. The word’s triumphant connotation is a testament to the band’s 25-year run.

“Our voices are jubilant at making music together and we have a really dynamic set that is always changing,” Secor said.

One of the album’s singles, titled “Miles Away,” spent nine weeks in the “Top 10 at Americana Radio” and features Watson, a former Old Crow Medicine Show member whose presence on the track marks her first recording with the band in over 10 years, the press release states.

Most of the songwriting featured in “Jubilee” was spontaneous in nature, Secor said.

“There’s a freshness to the music that I think only comes from having your material be newly conceived of,” Secor said. “We wrote a lot of this music at 2 o’clock in the morning. Then we were making the record at 10 a.m.”

Secor said the band only slept a few hours each night while recording “Jubilee,” leading many of its songs to have a “coffee buzz” type of feel.

“I think maybe the song ‘Keel Over and Die’ might have the most caffeine,” Secor said.

Old Crow Medicine Show aims to bring this caffeine-like, buoyant energy off the album and straight to their shows, Secor said.

“It’s a high-energy show,” Secor said. “It really feels like a rock show, honestly, but on acoustic instruments.”

Secor said coming back to Columbus feels like a homecoming for the band’s members, as they have consistently performed in the city throughout their respective careers.

“Folks in Columbus know the Old Crow from our many years of playing everything from the Ohio Theatre to the hockey arena, local festivals in Franklin County and just us hanging out at the downtown farmer’s market,” Secor said.

Secor said one of his more meaningful Ohio-related memories is taking a hitchhiking trip to see his hospitalized grandfather in Knox County. He was about 19 years old at the time, catching rides with empathetic strangers and spending nights in various trailer parks.

Such nostalgia has Secor excited to return to Ohio for the band’s upcoming show.

“I met all kinds of wonderful people who reminded me that all across the country is goodness, joy, kindness and kinship,” said Secor. “Music, like the kind we make, is just a reminder of the connective tissue that our shared ‘Americanness’ affords us all.”

Secor hopes concert attendees can take a moment to look around and realize they are surrounded by a strong community.

“As folks across Ohio look forward to the new year, I think there’s some forces at play that are going to be extremely divisive in this next year, and that’s why it’s so important to remember the power of music to bring folks together from all walks of life,” Secor said.

Notably, Secor said Thursday’s show promises a comfortably frenzied atmosphere.

“As long as you bring your dancing shoes out and get ready to have a good time, then we will be happy to be your tour guides on this wild night of joy and small amounts of debauchery,” Secor said.

Concert admission is priced at $39.50 in advance and $45 at the door, with doors opening at 7 p.m. Thursday. More information about Old Crow Medicine Show can be found on the band’s website.

Famed magician Richard Turner to give career-concluding performance at this year’s Magifest

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:41:40 +0000

Magician Richard Turner performs at The Magic Castle, a clubhouse catered to magic fanatics. Credit: Courtesy of Josiah Sanders

Columbus may be known for Ohio State football and modernist architecture, but a select community knows its other reason for renown: it’s home to the oldest magic convention in the country.

Magifest — presented by global magic store Vanishing Inc. — will return for its 93rd consecutive year in Columbus Thursday through Sunday, according to the company’s website. The three-day event will be hosted at the Renaissance Downtown Columbus Hotel and feature a panel of performers encompassing a vast array of disciplines, headlined by guest of honor Richard Turner.

For Turner, Magifest 2024 is a farewell performance to cap off a career spanning over five decades. Turner, who lost his eyesight as a child due to retina degeneration disease, is widely regarded as one of the best close-up magicians in the world and has entertained the likes of Muhammad Ali, Brad Pitt, Colin Powell and Johnny Carson.

“I think about the fact that I have been on stage for 52 years now. That is shocking to me.” Turner said. “It is kind of thrilling when people ask me stories about things. I have done things that 99.9% of people in the world will never have the opportunity to do, and I have met some of the most amazing people in the world.”

Turner lost his sense of sight when he was 9 years old, but he said he has not allowed that to hold him back. On top of a fruitful career in magic, Turner is a sixth-degree black belt in karate and partakes in many thrill-seeking activities like cliff diving and shark hunting, he said.

“Some people see [my loss of sight] as a liability, but it turned out to be my greatest asset,” Turner said. “I do have a touch and that has allowed me to do things with cards that other people thought were not possible to do.”

Magician Richard Turner (right) with Dai Vernon (left), one of the most well-known 20th century magicians and Turner’s card mentor, in 1982. Credit: Richard Turner

Turner will be joined by several fantastical performers at this year’s convention, including mentalist Jason Suran, globally respected juggler Alexander Koblikov and other world champions in various magic and talent shows, co-founder of Vanishing Inc. Joshua Jay said in an email.

Unlike some conventions at which large crowds can hinder attendees’ ability to enjoy the event, Vanishing Inc. is limiting the number of total tickets sold to only 1,000 to prevent these problems, Jay, also an Ohio State alum, said.

Tickets for the three-day event start at $350 and, for the first time in Magifest history, exclusive VIP tickets with special perks will be available for $550. In addition to priority seating, these VIP tickets grant holders entry to private workshops that allow aspiring magicians to learn from professionals Art Benjamin and Dan Harlan, according to Vanishing Inc.’s website.

“This is the closest you will ever get to a private lesson,” the website states.

Though anyone can attend and enjoy Magifest’s performances, Jay said the convention typically attracts amateur magicians due to its ample workshop opportunities.

“We have a youth scholarship so that anyone under 18 can apply to attend for free, and we welcome magicians from all over the world,” Jay said. “Beginners are entirely welcome. Absolutely no experience is required.”

In order to apply for the youth scholarship, Vanishing Inc.’s website states that young magicians must perform for free at a local nonprofit and submit evidence of the performance with their application.

Besides performances, speakers and workshops, the website states that Magifest will host the largest Dealer’s Room of any magic convention in America, where vendors set up booths to sell magic-related items such as books, tricks and cards. Attendees will be able to get their hands on unreleased books, new tricks and other magic-related items.

Turner said he looks forward to captivating a crowd of magic-lovers one last time.

“This is my farewell, full-going-out performance, and I know there is going to be a lot of amazing magicians there, so that will be fun as well,” Turner said.

Around the Rink: Thiele tabbed WCHA goaltender of the week, “something to prove” at St. Cloud State

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 04:40:50 +0000

Senior goaltender Amanda Thiele was recognized as the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s goaltender of the week after her 1-0 shutout against No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Saturday. It was her first WCHA weekly award of the season. Credit: Mackenzie Shanklin | Lantern File Photo Graphic: Reid Murray | Design Editor

The Buckeyes’ defense is on fire.

Allowing one goal in four games against ranked teams, No. 1 Ohio State’s three defensive lines and goaltending duo seem like an immovable object. But this Friday and Saturday, they’ll have to face the only conference opponent to beat the Buckeyes this season.

Here’s what’s happening around the rink this week.

Thiele’s shutout earns WCHA recognition

Senior goaltender Amanda Thiele’s 18-save shutout against No. 7 Minnesota Duluth Saturday made her the Western Collegiate Hockey Association’s Goaltender of the Week, the conference announced Monday.

The 1-0 win was Thiele’s second shutout of the season in her first start since Dec. 10, 2023. Senior goaltender Raygan Kirk also recorded a shutout against the Bulldogs in game one of the series, making 14 saves in a 3-0 win Friday.

Thiele’s goaltender of the week honor comes one week after Kirk earned the same title following a one-goal weekend at then-No. 2 Minnesota.

Graduate defenseman Cayla Barnes said the pair of goalies’ strong play has allowed Ohio State to excel in other areas.

“We play a very offensive, in-your-face type of game, and with that comes some risk,” Barnes said. “In hockey, things can turn on a dime, so having confidence that they’re going to make the saves that we need them to make is huge and allows us to play the game that we want to play.”

After the shutout, Thiele has a .909 save percentage, and 1.60 goals allowed per game in her 10 starts this season.

Looking ahead: Grudge match on Olympic ice

Ohio State (20-2-0) has a near-perfect conference record of 17-1-0 so far. But the one WCHA team to defeat the Buckeyes — No. 9 St. Cloud State (15-8-1, 10-7-1 WCHA) — is Ohio State’s opponent this week.

The last time these two teams met, the Huskies won game one 2-1 on Dec. 1, 2023, before the Buckeyes split the series with a 6-2 win the following day.

Head coach Nadine Muzerall, who was not present for the game one loss for undisclosed reasons, said she noticed some weak spots in Ohio State’s performance watching the television broadcast.

“I think we were not utilizing our speed as much as we could,” Muzerall said. “We did outshoot them pretty well, but we’ve got to finish.”

The Buckeyes outshot the Huskies 47-17, but two second-period goals and a heroic effort from goaltender Sanni Ahola — whom Muzerall called “one of the best in the country” — handed Ohio State its second loss of the season.

Barnes said the Buckeyes are aware of where things went wrong in December and will look to rectify their past shortcomings on the road.

“They’re physical, they’re gritty, they capitalize on their opportunities, and we didn’t in that game,” Barnes said. “This weekend, we feel like we have something to prove. I give them a lot of credit, they played us really well and they deserved that win. We’ve grown and matured a lot as a team, and putting that forward on the ice and seeing what we can produce I think will be a really big test this weekend.”

This weekend’s series has one notable abnormality: the playing surface. St. Cloud State’s Herb Brooks National Hockey Center uses a 100-foot-wide, Olympic-sized ice sheet instead of the 85-foot-wide, NHL-sized sheet that can be found at most NCAA hockey arenas, including the Ohio State Ice Rink.

Barnes said the Buckeyes have been preparing for the Olympic sheet, and the wider dimensions should play to Ohio State’s strengths.

“[Muzerall] always talks about how our superpower is speed, and I think that that will fend really well on the big ice,” Barnes said. “There’s a lot of room, there’s a lot of extra ice to be able to take space and use our speed. One thing that we’re gonna really focus on this weekend is just utilizing that extra space to kind of get things going, move up the ice quick and find openings.”

'I wanted to die. I really did': Trans Cincinnatian fears impact of ban on gender-affirming care for minors

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 03:18:36 +0000

Before transitioning as a teenager, University of Cincinnati sophomore Elliot Borgatti said he often contemplated and tried to commit suicide to escape the feeling of living in the wrong body.

"I wanted out," he said. "I wanted to die. I really did."

Borgatti believes undergoing a medical transition under the supervision of a doctor as a teenager saved his life.

"This doesn't happen with everybody, and I still have mental health issues for sure, but, I mean, I didn't have a suicide attempt after I started testosterone," he said. "I think that says a lot."

He is in step with many protesting at the Republican-dominated state capital Wednesday after the Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of HB 68. The bill implemented bans on gender-affirming care for minors and outlawed trans female participation in women's sports.

Following the vote, DeWine expressed his disappointment in lawmakers in the House and Senate, where Republicans hold a super-majority, pushing the law through despite his objections.

"I think the parents should make those decisions and not the government," DeWine said. "To me, that's what we believe in families."

At a press conference announcing his veto, DeWine said he decided to veto the bill after talking with people who may not have been alive if not for gender-affirming care.

Bill supporters in the house, like Republican co-sponsor Adam Mathews representing Latonia's District 56, celebrated the veto override.

"I am so grateful that the senate was able to follow our lead in the house," Mathews said.

Mathews argued the new law protects young Ohioans from choosing to alter their bodies before they can comprehend what they're doing."

"This is motivated by a love for everyone to take care of their bodies," he said. "This is part of the same type of legislation that Ohio has no problem banning tattoos for minors."

The law will take effect in 90 days if not blocked by a judge in likely litigation.

Attorney General David Yost posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he was prepared to defend the law against "the inevitable legal challenge."

Several LGBTQ allied groups had already planned to host a virtual town hall on Jan. 25 to discuss available resources for trans-youth if the governor's veto was overridden.

Football: Michigan’s Harbaugh off to the NFL

Thu, 25 Jan 2024 01:54:07 +0000

Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh in the tunnel before the game on Oct. 15, 2022.
Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com (via TNS)

Jim Harbaugh will now be on the sideline in the City of Angels.

The former Wolverine head coach agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Chargers Wednesday night, just 16 days removed from winning his first national championship with Michigan.

Harbaugh leaves Michigan after nine seasons and an 86-25 career record, including three straight appearances in the College Football Playoff and a trio of Big Ten championships over the past three seasons.

Harbaugh spent the 2011-2014 seasons at the helm of the San Francisco 49ers, highlighted by an appearance in Super Bowl XLVII.

After going winless from 2015-2019 against the Buckeyes, Harbaugh’s Wolverines toppled Ohio State three seasons in a row from 2021-2023 after the 2020 edition of The Game was canceled due to COVID-19.

Harbaugh is expected to bring Wolverine defensive coordinator Jesse Minter and special teams coordinator Jay Harbaugh with him to Los Angeles, according to multiple reports.

Despite recent success, Jim Harbaugh’s time at Michigan was tainted due to multiple suspensions this past season and an ongoing investigation into sign stealing that resulted in the resignation of Michigan staffer Connor Stalions in November 2023.

Jim Harbaugh leaves Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a 3-5 record against Ohio State and a 2-7 record in bowl games.

Opinion: What Ohio State could learn from others when it comes to climate action

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 23:07:56 +0000

Ohio State students held several protests last year urging the university to divest from fossil fuels. John Scholl thinks Ohio State should listen to students and follow the path paved by other universities. Photo illustration credit: Lily Hynes

This piece is the perspective of John Scholl, a third-year in history at Ohio State and a lifelong resident of Ohio.

In September 2023, New York University committed to divesting from fossil fuels after pressure from its student body. It joined a long list of institutions that have made this same pledge to combat contributing to global climate change, eliminating investments in companies dealing in fossil fuels and avoiding any future investments.

Over 100 schools in the U.S. have committed to divestment in some fashion, including the University of Michigan. Ohio State, however, has not.

In fact, Ohio State is linked to big oil company Marathon Petroleum. The university accepted funding from the company in 2022, and Gary R. Heminger, former CEO of Marathon, currently serves on the board of trustees.

As an Ohio State student, I believe the school needs to take steps toward divesting and cutting ties with the fossil fuel industry, especially with the calls to do so from its own student body.

In 2017, Ohio State’s Undergraduate Student Government adopted a resolution calling for divestment from notable fossil fuel businesses, including the top 200 companies. The university did not adopt demands in the resolution, and instead said, “A shift toward making investment decisions for non-economic reasons would be a broad departure from our current investment strategy.”

On the contrary, in September 2020 the university approved the creation of a new natural gas power plant. A complete transition to renewable energy might have been difficult and time-consuming, and outsourcing might not have been possible considering only 4% of electricity in Ohio was supplied from renewable sources in 2022.

The plant is said to cut carbon emissions by up to 30% by providing more energy-efficient electricity. This measure, however, “doesn’t include the energy required to extract the natural gas — which is chiefly done through hydraulic fracking.”

While natural gas produces significantly less carbon dioxide than coal, hydraulic fracking can seriously degrade the environment. The extraction process can be harmful to the health of those living near fracking sites and can pollute the water and air.

Despite its vow to cut emissions, approval of the fossil-fueled power plant was met with student resistance. In September 2021, students gathered on campus to protest the construction of the plant.

Students protested again on campus in October of 2022, with calls for the university to divest from fossil fuels. Ohio State responded by shrugging off the responsibility, stating the school “outsources investments to external capital managers.”

Most recently, in November 2022, USG passed another resolution calling for the university to divest from fossil fuels. Once again, the university took no action.

Transitioning to renewable energy is important as the output of carbon dioxide changes the climate, and reducing output is vital as a changing climate has severe global repercussions.

As temperatures rise with greater levels of carbon dioxide, natural disasters increase in frequency and severity. Significantly more people will be negatively affected by worsening floods, droughts and storms worldwide.

Understandably, divestment is not an easy transition for the university to make. The university’s Office of Business and Finance responded to the 2017 student resolution by stating, “divesting in fossil fuels as requested by the student body would ‘reduce the resources available for priorities such as student scholarships and faculty positions.’”

At the very least, the university should foster a productive collaboration with the student body on determining how the transition away from fossil fuels can best be made while doing the least harm.

Ohio State needs to demonstrate its commitment to the student body and protecting the environment as a whole. The school needs to follow the lead of other universities already committed to combating climate change. Divestment does not need to happen suddenly or all at once, but shutting the door on the student body time and time again shows a lack of regard for the concerns of the students that the university provides for.

For those concerned over Ohio State’s lack of divestment, please stay active and stay attentive to what action the university is taking — or not taking — in regards to combating climate change. Consider joining the student government or sustainability organizations on campus and continue to pressure the university for positive change.

Ohio Senate overrides DeWine's veto on tobacco regulation ban

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:52:20 +0000

The Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto on their legislation to prohibit cities from regulating flavored tobacco.

The override passed with 24 senators in favor and 9 opposed.

The bill dealt with the question: should cities be able to ban flavored tobacco? Cities that have looked into these types of bans would have been able to ban flavors if the legislature voted not to override the governor. Because the veto was overridden and the legislation will take effect, cities will not be able to enact bans on flavored tobacco.

The governor has continuously vetoed legislation that would take away home rule when it comes to tobacco regulations. The latest was in the budget, the one that went into effect this January.

Click here to read the deep dive into each side of the argument.

The Senate session began at 1:30 p.m. Also during Wednesday's session, senators voted to override the governor's veto on a bill that will ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth in Ohio.

Ohio Republican Congressional candidate sought office as a Democrat in 2022

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 21:08:25 +0000

The following article was originally published in the Ohio Capital Journal and published on WCPO.com under a content-sharing agreement.

In 2022, Derek Myers, the former editor-in-chief of the Scioto Valley Guardian and now a Republican candidate for Ohios 2nd Congressional district, tried out for a different political gig. There was a vacancy on Chillicothes city council, and he was hoping the local party would select him to finish out the term.

He was seeking the appointment as a Democrat.

Despite that past allegiance, Myers is now running as a rock solid conservative. When asked about the party change, the Myers campaign issued a statement, saying it was fake news and that the Ross County DemocRATS have lost every election but one in the last four years.

Derek does not associate with losers and the DemocRATS cannot stand Dereks polling so well in his race, he insisted.

The Republican primary in Ohios 2nd district has attracted a long and colorful list of hopefuls, from state lawmakers seeking a promotion to party officials to first timers. With a dozen people running, one candidate could wind up securing the nomination with a fraction of the primary electorate.

The 2022 vacancy

Chillicothe City Council member Nena Park, a Democrat, resigned her seat representing the citys sixth ward in September of 2022. Later that same month, the county Democratic party held a meeting to select her replacement.

Ahead of the meeting, local attorney Mike Warren sent around an email from Myers expressing his interest in the position. In the message, Myers claimed he had the support of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and the Ohio Democratic Party. Parenthetically, he added that a representative of the party would be attending to speak on my behalf.

According to the meeting minutes, committee members nominated two candidates Jamie Brown and Derek Myers. Both candidates spoke for a few minutes and the committee voted. Brown won eight votes to one.

Rev. Terry Williams leads the Orchard Hill United Church of Christ, and hes the county partys vice chair. He wound up leading the meeting because the chair was out of town. As he recalled it, the meeting was routine, mundane. No one showed up on Myers behalf from the party, but he pitched himself as well connected with powerful party members, Williams said.

His main argument was, you know, Im passionate about Democratic politics, and Im passionate about people like Tim Ryan, and the Republican Party is running roughshod over our mayor in town, and I want to support the mayor, Williams recalled.

The Myers campaign statement contends, anyones name could have been nominated without their seeking or approval; Derek would have declined. He does not associate with losers.

Both Brown and Williams say it was Myers who showed up and spoke at the 2022 meeting, and he can be heard in a recording of the meeting at the 8:20 mark.

Despite his previous interest in a Democratic council seat, Myers voting record is patchy and mixed.

The Ross County voter file indicates he voted for the first time in 2010. He pulled a Democratic primary ballot in that election. In 2012, however, he pulled a Republican primary ballot. Myers then voted in the 2013 primary, but didnt vote again until the 2016 general election.

After this story was published, Myers insisted he has never voted in Ross County, which is possible. The county voter file held by the Secretary of States office includes statewide voter history, but doesnt indicate in which county a ballot was cast.

In a Twitter spaces interview in February, 2023, Myers explained, I am not registered, because after I did not get the seat on city council, I got angry at the local party, and I withdrew my voter registration entirely.

To run for office, though, Myers has to be a registered elector in the state of Ohio. He re-registered about two months ago, on Nov. 17, 2023.

Myers Twitter spaces interview had to do with charges of sexual harassment hed made against former U.S. Rep. George Santos, R-NY. Myers had a brief stint in the Congressmans office in January 2023, but the job offer was rescinded, according to Myers in an interview he gave to TPM.

Shortly afterward, Myers filed a complaint against Santos with the House Committee on Ethics and told The New York Times he had filed a report with the Capitol Police.

The Committee on Ethics released its report on Santos in November. With regard to Myers claims of sexual harassment, the Investigative Subcommittee Report states it was unable to substantiate this allegation. The group adds that testimony from other witnesses contradicts what Myers told them, and that they had concerns about his credibility and motivation in making the allegation. They note Myers, contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation with his allegation in order to be paid by them for information regarding Representative Santos.

So which party is it?

During the same Twitter spaces interview, a Democratic organizer named Meryl Neiman expressed confusion about Myers political affiliation. She described an incident in which Myers, still a reporter at the time, came to Franklin Countys early voting center to campaign on behalf of a Republican judicial candidate. Myers, she said, was holding a sign describing himself as a Democrat and encouraging people to ask him why the party hadnt endorsed the incumbent, Julie Lynch a former Republican running as a Democrat.

The organizer recalled Myers insisting voters should know Lynch used to be part of the GOP and that he didnt know the Republican candidate. Since then, she said shed learned Myers personal attorney is married to the Republican who was running against Lynch, Jessica Barwell.

You lied to me, right? she pressed Myers.

Your sign said Im a Democrat, and this is why Im here and you were wearing a (Congressman Tim) Ryan shirt, and you told me that you never knew the Barwells, Neiman said.

Myers defended his actions.

I was a big supporter of (Democratic) Congressman Ryan, and his bid for the U.S. Senate, he said. Our paper ended up we endorsed the congressman. We felt he was the best direction for the state moving forward, and that endorsement is still on our website.

I was holding a sign, as you know, that said Im a Democrat, Myers added. That is absolutely 100% true.

His claims about state party connections, however, dont appear to hold water. The Ohio Democratic Party doesnt typically issue endorsements for local vacancies, and it didnt weigh in on the Chillicothe City Council decision.

Speaking on his own behalf rather than for the party, Rev. Williams expressed exasperation with Myers.

Derek Myers is Ohios George Santos, 100%, he said.

As a Minister, I kind of feel bad because I believe in the goodness of every person, but Im telling you, this man tests my faith sometimes.

Where he stands now

Myers did not agree to an interview for this story. But between public statements and his campaign website, hes staked out positions on more than a dozen issues.

In response to Gov. Mike DeWines veto of anti-trans legislation, Myers railed about pedos run amok in our schools, and without evidence, attempted to blame schools shootings on the trans community.

Hes also taken aim at primary opponent state Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miamisburg, who lives a few miles outside the congressional district. While its perfectly legal for Antani to run for the seat, Myers called Antani, who is Indian-American, a foreigner who needs to stay the 17 miles across the border.

Our country has been invaded enough and under no circumstance will he be elected in this district, Myers added. Hes not from here and he is not welcomed here. We will send one of our own to Congress.

On his campaign website, Myers commits to taking on the deep state and finishing the border wall. He promises to unequivocally reject cuts to Social Security or Medicare and refuses to vote for tax hikes. Myers dismisses the Biden administrations efforts to lower drug prices as lip service.

To address veteran homelessness Myers argues, we must stop housing illegal aliens and redirect our resources towards those who have served our nation honorably. As part of my commitment to America First, I advocate for ending welfare benefits for those who have entered our country illegally.

Myers doesnt point to a program that houses undocumented immigrants, and people who entered the country illegally are already ineligible for most federal benefits including SNAP and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Although he hews to the GOP party line on several issues, Republicans arent exactly embracing him either. A request for comment with the Ross County GOP chairman went unanswered.

Kim Georgeton, one of his opponents in the primary, said, Derek Myers has always been a Democrat in disguise. OH02 needs me, an America First middle-class mom to take OUR country back from the lying liberals like Derek.

A spokesperson for Sen. Shane Wilkin, R-Hillsboro, responded to a request for comment saying, Were focused on our own campaign, but I am certain Shane Wilkins proven conservative record has never gotten him confused for a liberal Democrat.

Ohio Senate overrides Gov. DeWine's veto, banning gender-affirming care for trans youth

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 18:08:30 +0000

The Ohio Senate voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto on legislation that would ban gender-affirming care from transgender youth and prohibit trans students from participating in athletics on teams that align with their identity.

The override passed the Senate with a vote of 24 yays to 8 nays. Only one Republican senator, Northeast Ohioan Nathan Manning, voted against House Bill 68.

The law will now prohibit gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary youth, including hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), medical or surgical procedures and some mental health services. In addition to banning gender-affirming care for trans children, it will prohibit trans athletes from taking part in women's sports.

The Senate met at 1:30 p.m., with senators in favor and opposed to the override giving the last testimony before the vote.

Protests from the LGBTQ+ community and their allies took place outside the Statehouse at 12:30 p.m.

News 5 has extensively covered this legislation for years.

Click or tap here

to find more stories.

Transgender rights advocates braved the rain trying to show Ohio Republicans that gender-affirming care is needed.

"It's just important to me because it's improved my quality of life so significantly; a lot is riding on this," transgender teen Ruby said. "I've got career aspirations I can't do that if I'm dead in the ground."

Ruby wouldn't be alive if he didn't have access to this type of healthcare, he said.

"The evidence and the testimony that came to the committee are that the chemical changes that happen also are a problem," Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said.

Click or tap here to learn more about the bill.

DeWine and doctors report there is no substantiated evidence that hormone blockers cause any major harm. Still, Huffman believes families shouldnt make decisions before the child knows who they are.

"I feel like there's no light at the end of the tunnel," Ruby said.

One of the main supporters of the bill is State Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson), who gave a speech on the floor.

"Despite what the liberals say, gender is not assigned at birth, but rather from the moment of conception, you are either male or you are female, Roegner said. "There is no such thing as gender-affirming care you cant affirm something that doesnt exist."

Doctors have continuously testified at the Statehouse that this logic is inaccurate considering science shows that intersex people exist and that transgender people are real.

"We are opposed to H.B. 68 because it uses false information to strip away parental rights and impose nonscientific based restrictions on pediatric health care specialists," Nick Lashutka, the president of the Ohio Children's Hospital Association, testified.

H.B. 68 will now go into effect in 90 days, although the ACLU is evaluating all options including filing a lawsuit.

When DeWine vetoed the bill last month, he said: Were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child better than the two people who love the child the most - the parents. I cannot sign this bill as it was currently written and just a few minutes ago, I vetoed the bill.

A week after the veto, DeWine issued an executive order prohibiting gender-affirming surgeries on minors in Ohio and set forth draft administrative rules around gender-affirming care in minors and adults, which would restrict any gender-affirming care for minors in Ohio.

"This will ensure surgeries of this type on minors can ever happen in Ohio," DeWine said. "I know that is one of the concerns that has been expressed. I never disagreed with that. If we look at what evidence there is, there's very little that that is occurring, but let's make sure. That's what this does."

He has never heard of a trans minor getting gender-affirming surgery in the state, and no one brought it up to him during his information-gathering period with hospitals and families, he added.

H.B. 68 was introduced by state Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery). Lawmakers in favor of the bill argued that trans teens dont know what they really want, and their parents and doctors are pressured to approve of this healthcare.

About five trans student-athletes are competing in middle and high school in the state. None have won any awards for sports.

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Men’s Basketball: Ohio State’s road-game struggles continue in Lincoln with 83-69 loss

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 04:25:22 +0000

Second-year guard Bruce Thornton (2) brings the ball up the floor during Ohio State’s 76-72 win over Rutgers Jan. 3. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor

Thirteen straight.

That’s how many consecutive road games the Ohio State men’s basketball team has dropped, going back to January 2023.

It was no different Tuesday night at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Cornhuskers (15-5, 5-4 Big Ten) decimated the Buckeyes (13-6, 3-5 Big Ten) 83-69 behind a career-high 34 points for Nebraska’s junior forward Rienk Mast.

Ohio State started fast, making its first four shots from the field.

Senior forward Zed Key dropped in a layup with 14:13 left in the first half, which sparked a 9-0 Buckeye run, increasing Ohio State’s lead to nine, a game-high.

With 10:51 to go in the half, Nebraska finally snapped Ohio State’s run and started one of its own.

The Cornhuskers outscored the Buckeyes 10-2 in the next 3:56 of play before sophomore guard Evan Mahaffey finally got one to land for Ohio State with 6:11 left in the first half.

After some back and forth, Nebraska beat Ohio State 11-3 in the final 3:14 of the first half, giving the Cornhuskers a 43-35 lead heading into the break.

Nebraska shot 7-for-17 from beyond the arc in the first half, compared to the Buckeyes’ sloppy 2-for-8.

While Ohio State was able to hang around in the first half, the Cornhuskers were unbeatable for most of the second.

Despite an 8-1 Ohio State run early in the second half that resulted in the Buckeyes reclaiming the lead, Mast was shooting the lights out.

Undeterred by his 0-for-4 mark from three in his past two games, Mast finished the contest shooting 6-for-8 from beyond the arc and tallying a career-high 34 points.

“I just think his ability to shoot it and space it, it’s just a difficult matchup,” head coach Chris Holtmann said. “We have to get better with our traditional lineup of guarding that.”

Nebraska, as a team, shot 14-for-27 from three, including 70% in the second half alone.

Ohio State will look to get the bad taste out of its mouth Saturday when it heads to Welsh Ryan Arena in Evanston, Illinois, as it will take on Northwestern. The game will be broadcast on Big Ten Network. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m.

Ohio State alum founds service-based nonprofit to foster empathy in Columbus youth

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:23:48 +0000

Seeds of Caring encourages volunteerism and community service among Columbus youth to teach them about empathy. Credit: Courtesy of Brandy Jemczura

Throughout her life, Ohio State alum Brandy Jemczura has lived by one mantra: “Kind is cool.”

This motto pushed Jemczura to found Seeds of Caring, a Columbus-based nonprofit that encourages service, social action and community-building for children, in 2016. Jemczura said the nonprofit aims to create a kinder and more connected world led by the youngest generation.

“We want to create a community of belonging,” Jemczura said. “Not a community of othering.”

The idea for Seeds of Caring was planted after Jemczura became a mom, she said.

“The idea of raising community-minded, kind and empathetic people was very important to me,” Jemczura said. “At that time, though, I just wasn’t sure how.”

Drawing from her experience as a social worker and educator, Jemczura said she knew instilling a passion for volunteerism and community service in children was key. Unfortunately, Jemczura said she found limited opportunities in Columbus that took volunteers under a certain age.

“That was the lightbulb moment for me,” Jemczura said. “Columbus was missing out on an opportunity to engage an entire generation in meaningful service.”

After that, Seeds of Caring was born. Since its founding in 2016, the organization has partnered with over 40 local nonprofits and community institutions — such as Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Goodwill — to make an impact on over 91,000 child participants.

Seeds of Caring offers different programs for kids and families to get involved in their communities year-round, Jemczura said. Every program emphasizes meaningful, hands-on service learning activities like packing sack lunches or making blankets for those in need.

Through these programs, Jemczura said she hopes Columbus’ socioeconomic barriers will be gradually overcome.

“We all need help sometimes and we can all give help sometimes,” Jemczura said. “That’s how we describe it to the kids.”

Julianna Hausman, Seeds of Caring’s program manager, said the nonprofit also wants to promote education around real-world problems — even broader societal challenges like environmental awareness or homelessness — with hopes to foster kindness, empathy and a healthy curiosity in all participants.

“We’re getting behind large community issues and making a difference,” Hausman said. “Sometimes, that leads to some really big questions, especially from children.”

Megan Hamilton, a former first-grade teacher and current community volunteer for Seeds of Caring, has felt the organization’s impact firsthand. Hamilton said she’s even seen a difference in her own son, who regularly participates in Seeds of Caring events.

Around the holidays, Hamilton said she saw her son eagerly put down a game controller and tell his friends he had to go volunteer. For a 7-year-old, she said choosing community service over the ever-popular game Fortnite speaks volumes.

“The experiences I’ve had with Seeds of Caring have been so meaningful,” Hamilton, also an Ohio State alum, said. “As both a teacher and a mom.”

Though Seeds of Caring’s main goal may be to positively influence children, it also exists for young parents, grandparents and everyone in between. Specifically, the nonprofit makes sure not to forget about those within marginalized communities, Hamilton said.

“One thing I like is that they give kids service opportunities who wouldn’t normally have opportunities to give back,” Hamilton said. “Seeds of Caring makes it accessible to all.”

While remaining deeply rooted in Columbus, Jemczura said she and her team have recently brought new opportunities for service and learning to Indianapolis and are hoping to plant seeds of empathy in children nationwide.

“In the end, at our core, if we can just show kindness to one another, our world would be a much better place,” Jemczura said.

More information about Seeds of Caring and how to get involved can be found on its website.

Ohio State alums work alongside first responders to develop life-saving technology

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:23:04 +0000

Co-founders of ParaWave Adithya Ramaswami (left) and Jack Murray (right) are developing drone technology tools to aid first responders. Credit: Courtesy of Adithya Ramaswami

While many new businesses are looking to set their corresponding markets ablaze, recent Ohio State graduates Adithya Ramaswami and Jack Murray are working tirelessly to extinguish flames.

Ramaswami and Murray are the co-founders of ParaWave, a drone technology company developing cutting-edge tools for first responders to save lives in critical situations. These include flash floods, house fires, search-and-rescue missions and other emergency scenes, Ramaswami said.

“Both Jack and I have a tremendous amount of passion and experience in the drone space, so back at the end of 2021 we decided, ‘Let’s take this passion in the drone space and apply it into something we’re both passionate about and something meaningful,’” Ramaswami said.

Now that Ramaswami and Murray have both graduated with bachelor’s degrees in aerospace engineering and aeronautical engineering, respectively, they can commit to a full-time ParaWave startup. Ramaswami said ParaWave is currently preparing to release its first-ever drone product “very soon,” with more updates to come.

The drone model will be equipped with cameras, thermal imaging and real-time data transmission technologies that provide first responders with enhanced vision, access, speed and ability to scout out dangerous areas, Ramaswami said.

“Say for example, you’re a parent and your child has suddenly gone missing one day and you are thrown into a panic wondering where they can possibly be,” Murray said. “You call 911, and the local police, fire[fighters] and EMS are spread thin throughout the entire community looking for that missing individual to bring them home safely. What a drone can help do is get an eye from the sky to cover wide areas with high-resolution and high-optical cameras that can allow public safety to get a good overview of the emergency scene.”

This bird’s-eye-view of an emergency scene can help first responders not only locate missing individuals but also reallocate on-ground resources to execute the most efficient searches possible, Murray said.

Ramaswami said he and Murray have extensive experience with drone technology. Ramaswami founded Buckeye Vertical — a national championship-winning drone competition team — in 2020, while Murray carried out two NASA internships in 2021 and 2022. Murray also worked at ResCon Technologies, a Columbus-based startup that implements artificial intelligence and machine learning into drone control software, during summer 2021.

Still, neither has any first responder experience, Ramaswami said. Consequently, the duo made it a priority to work alongside first responders to collect their opinions and gauge their feedback to determine which tech components would be most productive in ParaWave’s drone design.

“Hearing what they have to say and hearing how drones can transform the work they’re doing has been transformational for us,” Ramaswami said. “The feedback has been invaluable and incredible and has really helped guide us in the work that we’re doing.”

Ramaswami said it was challenging to determine which ideas should be implemented in the initial aircraft prototype and which ideas could be shelved for future use in versions two, three, four and beyond.

“Sometimes it feels like trying to drink water from a firehose, but we’re excited for the journey to come,” Ramaswami said.

Both Ramaswami and Murray partially credited their success to the vast array of resources available at Ohio State, especially the Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship. According to its website, the center provides entrepreneurs with “early-stage capital, startup talent and robust programming resources.”

“For any student that is kind of on the fence of starting a business or not really sure what to do, take the plunge, go for it and see what happens,” Ramaswami said. “Sometimes the best adventures are the ones when you step into uncertainty.”

Additional information and updates on ParaWave can be found on the startup’s website.

“Buckeye For Life” C.J. Stroud makes large donation to Ohio State NIL collective

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:22:17 +0000

Former Ohio State quarterback CJ Stroud joins the then-No. 3 Buckeyes for Carmen Ohio after a 20-12 victory over No. 7 Penn State. Credit: Caleb Blake | Photo Editor

Houston Texans quarterback and former Buckeye C.J. Stroud has become a Platinum Member of the “THE Foundation,” an Ohio State name, image and likeness collective, by making a notable contribution to his alma mater.

Stroud is the first former student-athlete partner to become a donor, according to THE Foundation, which was founded by former national championship-winning quarterback Cardale Jones and real estate developer Brian Schottenstein. To earn platinum status, Stroud must have donated between $50,000-$100,000, according to the group’s website.

The group’s mission is to bring NIL to men’s basketball and Ohio State football players, making them “brand ambassadors.”

Stroud’s offering comes at a time when head coach Ryan Day and the Buckeyes have added a stock of notable players from the transfer portal.

The contribution also comes just days after Stroud and the Texans were eliminated by the Baltimore Ravens from the NFL playoffs 34-10 in the AFC divisional round Saturday.

Stroud, now 22, was the No. 2 pick in the 2023 NFL draft and is seen as a heavy favorite to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.

New COVID-19 subvariant is easier to neutralize but may be better at infecting lungs

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:21:33 +0000

According to recent research, COVID-19 omicron subvariant BA.2.86 is easier to neutralize but can infect the lungs. Credit: Lantern File Photo

A recent study by Ohio State researchers shows that a new omicron subvariant of COVID-19 can be neutralized by the dual-strain vaccine, preventing the worldwide escalation of cases that was initially feared.

However, BA.2.86, the subvariant studied, can quickly infect and fuse with human lung cells, potentially making the disease more severe than other variants.

The researchers analyzed the antibodies of health care workers who had different levels of immunity through blood samples, according to Shan-Lu Liu, a senior author of the study and a professor in the Department of Microbial and Immunity. Health care workers who only received the single-strain, or monovalent, vaccines were compared to those who received a dual-strain, or bivalent, booster and those who had natural immunity after being infected with the XBB.1.5 strain, another descendant of the omicron variant.

“The monovalent vaccines were the shots that we got the first three times. They only have the original SARS-CoV-2 spike in them,” Julia Faraone, an author of the study and a Ph.D. student in the molecular, cellular and developmental biology program, said. “Whereas the bivalent one has that original spike in it, and it has the BA.5 variant spike.”

Although the antibodies from the monovalent vaccines and natural immunity were not effective against BA.2.86, the antibodies created by the bivalent vaccine were more effective at neutralizing the strain, including the new strain containing XBB.1.5, Liu said.

The BA.2.86 strain concerned researchers in the beginning, who feared that the COVID-19 vaccines were not able to neutralize the strain due to its mutations.

“BA.2.86 has more than 60 mutations compared to the original omicron variant,” Liu said. “Given so many mutations, we thought that there were going to be huge problems for the vaccine.”

Although there are fewer concerns about the vaccine’s efficacy, there are concerns about the strain’s pathogenic abilities. The researchers used a pseudovirus — a noninfectious, lab-created virus created from the spike proteins of different SARS-CoV-2 strains — to test the pathogenesis, or how infection leads to disease, of BA.2.86.

“If you look at the CDC data, the U.S. cases of death increased 2 ½-fold in December 2023,” Liu said. “A lot of cases of infection could be due to the increased pathogenesis.”

Despite finding that the strain was more efficient at infecting human lung cells by using the pseudovirus, there is not enough evidence to determine if BA.2.86 is pathogenic or not, Faraone said. A vast majority of viruses are not infectious to humans.

If a virus has higher fusion rates, it can infect human cells at a faster rate, thus making it more infectious and pathogenic.

“We have seen in the past a correlation between higher fusion and higher pathogenicity, but it’s a correlation in the end,” Faraone said. “We can only say that this needs to be investigated more with a live virus.”

With the bivalent vaccine’s success against the subvariant, Faraone advised people to get their COVID-19 boosters.

“People, please go out and get the new vaccine,” Faraone said. “I know people are over it at this point. They don’t want to talk about COVID anymore, but it really helps getting those shots.”

Researchers at Wexner Medical Center using real-time MRI technology in gene therapy for neurological disorders

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 02:21:00 +0000

Surgeons can better monitor the delivery of gene therapy to the brain by using real-time MRIs. Credit: Courtesy of The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center

Researchers at the Ohio State Gene Therapy Institute, Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine are studying the use of real-time magnetic resonance imaging, or RT-MRIs, during gene therapy of the brain to enhance the safety and efficacy of surgery.

Gene therapy is a technique that modifies a person’s genes to treat or cure disease, either by replacing the disease-causing gene with a healthy copy, inactivating a disease-causing gene that doesn’t work or introducing a new or modified gene to help treat the disease, according to the FDA.

Dr. Russell Lonser, professor and chair of the Department of Neurological Surgery and co-author of the study, said RT-MRIs play a crucial role in monitoring the precise delivery of gene therapy, ensuring proper treatment in the targeted area. He said RT-MRI use is a “game changer.”

“Before we had to do [the surgery] blindly,” Lonser said. “We just put the cannula in, we infused, we didn’t know where the therapy was going. Now we have the ability to actually see where it’s going, and make sure that we’re actually treating what we need to treat.”

Cannulas are thin tubes inserted into a vein or body cavity to administer medicine, drain fluid or insert a surgical instrument.

According to the study, RT-MRI use also allows surgeons to ensure accurate placement of the cannula.

Dr. Asad Akhter, a sixth-year neurosurgery resident at Ohio State and first author of the study, said the therapeutic gene — the gene used to correct disease-causing genes — is infused into the brain at the same time the RT-MRI is being performed, allowing surgeons to track the exact position of the gene therapy and add the appropriate amount of infused particles.

“Taking an MRI every two to five minutes during the surgery, we can see that the gene therapy that we are infusing is localized to the appropriate side,” Akhter said.

According to the study, previous gene therapy trials that did not use image-tracking technology like RT-MRIs demonstrated a lack of efficacy “linked to minimal perfusion of the target area.”

Perfusion is the process of oxygenated blood being delivered to the body’s tissues. RT-MRIs allow surgeons to monitor this process as it’s happening and if it is occurring adequately or not.

“Alternatively, gene therapy trials using real-time image assessment demonstrate efficacy is directly related to the perfused portion of the target structure,” the study said.

According to Lonser, the use of real-time MRIs with gene therapy can be used for several neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and tumors.

“We are having a meeting in March where 50 neurosurgeons from around the world will be coming to discuss how we make this broader and implement it internationally,” Lonser said.

U.S. Department of Education opens investigation into Ohio State based on discrimination of “shared Jewish ancestry”

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 19:51:56 +0000

The U.S. Department of Education Office opened an investigation into the university based on discrimination of “shared Jewish ancestry” Jan. 16. Credit: Lantern File Photo

An Ohio State parent submitted a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights alleging the university failed to respond to “incidents of harassment” based on “shared Jewish ancestry” in the fall semester.

The agency, which enforces Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, opened an investigation against the university on Jan. 16, according to an email obtained by The Lantern. Title VI prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin by universities that receive federal funding.

The office has not yet made a decision on the complaint, meaning no wrongdoing has been found thus far. The agency will “collect and analyze the evidence” necessary to make a decision, according to a letter by the agency.

University spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an email that Ohio State is aware of the investigation.

“Ohio State has never – and will never – tolerate discrimination or harassment of anyone based on their religious beliefs, nationality or identity,” Johnson said.

The complaint may be resolved before the conclusion of an investigation if the university and OCR come to a resolution agreement.

Several incidents occurred on and off campus last semester, including a hate crime on Oct. 18, 2023, where a student who was on the Oval attempting to buy an “I stand with Israel” bracelet was spat on by a male student, according to the Columbus Police report.

The victim chose not to press charges and instead wanted to bring the incident to the university’s attention, according to the report.

On Nov. 6, then-acting university President Peter Mohler condemned the incident in a statement, saying the incident was “absolutely unacceptable” and is not tolerated on campus.

On Nov. 9, 2023, two females were let into Ohio State’s Hillel Jewish student center by the front desk and started picking up Israeli flags, yelling “f*ck you,” “you support genocide” and “free Palestine,” according to a Columbus Police report.

At approximately 1:30 a.m. Nov. 10, 2023, two male suspects approached two students near 1840 N. High St. and yelled derogatory terms at the students, assaulting them while asking if they were Jewish, according to an Ohio State public safety notice. One victim was treated at the Wexner Medical Center before being released.

On Dec. 5, 2023, two students in the Alpha Epsilon Pi house, a Jewish fraternity currently unrecognized by the university, reported two people throwing bottles at the house while yelling “Jewish bastards,” according to a Columbus Police report.

Mohler condemned the Nov. 9 and 10 incidents in another statement.

“I want to be direct and clear – the university has no tolerance for acts of hatred or violence,” Mohler said. “Antisemitism is despicable and has no place in our community. The university will pursue all action possible against anyone committing crimes on or near our campus.”

Based on posts to a “Jewish Ohio State Parents” Facebook group, the parent, Susan Henner, has been considering filing the complaint since Nov. 22, 2023, due to the university’s “lack of support for the Jewish students” and “the actual allowance of their faculty to use OSU resources and one-sided teaching on campus to incite and create an unsafe environment for our Jewish students,” Henner said.

At least 50 investigations have been opened under Title VI for “shared ancestry” incidents on college campuses since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, 2023, according to OCR’s website. It is unclear whether all of these are related to discrimination against Jewish students.

Professor L. Camille Hébert to become acting dean of Moritz College of Law

Tue, 23 Jan 2024 01:49:47 +0000

Professor L. Camille Hébert will take over as acting dean of Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law beginning Feb. 1. Credit: Lantern File Photo

Professor L. Camille Hébert will serve as acting dean for Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law starting Feb. 1.

Hébert will take over while Dean Lincoln Davies takes leave before his term concludes in June, Executive Vice President and Provost Karla Zadnik said in an announcement Jan. 9. Her appointment as acting dean is subject to approval by the board of trustees.

Davies began his term on July 1, 2019, and it is scheduled to conclude on June 30.

Hébert said in an email that her goals as acting dean are to continue Davies’ excellent stewardship of the college while the university and the college choose a new permanent dean.

“I have a pretty good sense of how the college runs, and I am confident that I will be able to continue to steward the College’s upward trajectory during my time as acting dean,” Hébert said.

Hébert is a highly respected legal scholar and long-serving member of the Moritz College of Law faculty, Zadnik said in an email. Her deep experience and commitment to the college’s students, faculty and staff will position her well as acting dean.

“I am grateful for her leadership and service,” Zadnik said.

Since she joined the university in 1988, Hébert has served as associate dean for academic affairs at the Moritz College of Law, member of the Associated Graduate Faculty of the Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and chair of the employment discrimination section of the Association of American Law Schools.

To accommodate this new role, Hébert said she has reduced the courses that she will teach this semester down to one class to make room for her duties as acting dean.

“Teaching our next generation of legal leaders has and continues to be my priority,” Hébert said.

Kevin Leonardi, senior director of communications and marketing for the Office of Academic Affairs, said in an email that future information will be shared as the search process unfolds.

Ohio lawmakers want to get rid of police traffic ticket quotas

Mon, 22 Jan 2024 23:06:06 +0000

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Ohio wants to get rid of police traffic ticket quotas, preventing drivers from receiving excessive citations at the end of the month.

No one likes getting a ticket, especially when it seems there is no reason for it.

Many officers dont want to give tickets but feel pressured to, said Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio president Gary Wolske.

"'The boss is gonna be on me If I don't have X number this month,'" Wolske said, imitating an officer. "'I got to get another ticket.'"

Some police agencies have official or unofficial quotas, the minimum number of tickets or arrests done that month.

"Now they call them performance standards," the retired Garfield Heights police officer said. "It's a lot of pressure for the officers; it's a lot of pressure on the citizens. There's just no need for it."

He is supporting a bipartisan bill being heard in the Ohio House. State Reps. Bride Rose Sweeney (D-Cleveland) and Kevin Miller (R-Newark) introduced House Bill 333 to prohibit requiring law enforcement officers to meet quotas.

"It doesn't have to be on the books for it to still be a problem," Sweeney said. "That just has the same effect of not trusting law enforcement."

The bill would also prohibit quotas for evaluating, promoting, compensating, transferring or disciplining an officer. It also requires the attorney general to establish a form for a police officer to use to anonymously report the use of quotas, which will prompt an investigation.

Although there have been no public opponents to this legislation, she explains that cities may not be in favor of taking away quotas since it brings them revenue.

"Our cities oftentimes are unfairly strapped because of state policies, but this is not the way that they should achieve adequate funding for their communities," Sweeney said.

News 5 reached out to the Ohio Mayors Alliance for comment on the bill but did not receive a response.

The latest agency to face backlash for alleged quotas was the Independence Police Department.

The city of Independence in 2022 agreed to pay Leonard Mazzola, a former police officer, nearly $1 million for retaliation against him for speaking up against the quota practice which ended up forcing him to resign or be put on the Brady/Giglio list for unethical police officers, according to Chandra Law firm.

"The Independence Police Department does not have a quota for arrests or the issuing of citations," spokesperson Alla Lora said. "Our officers are expected to be proactive in all aspects of their duties, which include community outreach, traffic enforcement, and crime prevention."

However, a few months earlier in 2022, the Ohio Supreme Court forced the department to pay a resident $1,000 for ignoring her records request about said quotas.

"The case before the Supreme Court occurred before Mayor Gregory Kurtz was elected to office in 2020 and well before Robert Butler was named Police Chief in November 2021," Lora added.

News 5 also reached out to dozens of other police agencies. The ones who responded said they dont have quotas, but each department has a different way of monitoring police productivity.

Police response

Bedford Heights Police Dept.

They have a monthly rating system that measures the officers activity, which includes traffic citations but also foot patrols, business checks, parking tickets, warrant arrests, misdemeanor arrests, felony arrests and OVIs. Their chief assigns a value based on the amount of time required to perform the task and the importance of the task to the overall safety and security of the city. Officers are expected to achieve a minimum score based on the hours they work.

They do not require a minimum number of tickets. They can write zero if they choose, as long as they are engaging in other activities of value to the department during their non-assigned time.

"It has worked out very well for us and the residents," Chief Michael Marotta said. "I do not support ticket quotas as they limit officers from engaging in other activities that have a higher impact in keeping cities safe and secure."

Bainbridge Township Police Dept.

They used to have a policy, basically a quota, about 15 years ago that required officers to have 10 tickets a month. When Chief Jon Bokovitz took over, he changed protocol so the officers only needed to have 20 traffic stops a month, instead of tickets.

"We leave that discretion up to them they just have to make 20 stops," Bokovitz said. "Their discretion is what, who they cite and why they cite."

Quotas aren't fair, he added.

"I'm not a big fan of quotas because I know what happened when we had 10 tickets a month," Bokovitz continued. "On the 27th of January, the guys would look and say, shoot, I only got three tickets I gotta go out and write seven more tickets to get my 10."

Alliance Police Dept.

They don't have quotas at all. They do expect officers to proactively enforce violations, but there are no repercussions if officers don't meet a certain number, Captain James Hilles said.

"Obviously if you never write any citations or arrests while all your peers on the same shift are, we would inquire as to the reason and determine if you are just never seeing violations, need more training, or if the officer is being negligent in their responsibilities," Hilles added.

Cleveland Police Dept.

They deny enforcing traffic or arrest quotas, saying their primary focus is "ensuring the safety and well-being of our community, primarily in response to calls for service."

"Traffic enforcement is done so based on direct observations of traffic violations by our officers and/or at the requests of our community, city leaders, or businesses," CPD spokesperson Freddy

Diaz said. "Designated locations of enforcement are strategically targeted areas with high traffic violations."

They declined to comment on H.B. 333.

Akron Police Dept.

They do not have "formal quotas," nor do they encourage their commanders to create informal quotas for citations or arrests.

"The decision for an officer to ticket or arrest should always be made based on the facts of the matter before them and never influenced by anything else," Captain Chris Brewer said.

Ohio State Highway Patrol

Troopers are under no quotas. This could be due to a few reasons, but one is that their bargaining agreement prohibits them, numerous troopers confirmed to News 5.

"While troopers are best known for writing traffic citations, they are responsible for a great variety of activity," Lieutenant Nathan E. Dennis said. "Troopers assist over a half-million people a year, conduct motor vehicle inspections, respond to and investigate traffic crashes, and investigate other criminal activity."

Troopers issue about 400,000 warnings a year, he continued. There is no minimum level of activity for any category of activity.

What is next?

The bill will likely continue to be heard in the coming months.

"The idea of writing a ticket first is to promote safety and educate the public," Wolske said. "The first order of business shouldn't be to revenue generate."

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Ohio State to hire former Texans head coach Bill O'Brien as offensive coordinator, AP source says

Fri, 19 Jan 2024 15:21:19 +0000

Ohio State is hiring former Houston Texans and Penn State head coach Bill O'Brien as its offensive coordinator, a person with direct knowledge of the decision told The Associated Press on Thursday night.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the hire still needed university approval, but an announcement was expected as soon as Friday.

ESPN first reported Ohio State was hiring O'Brien.

Buckeyes coach Ryan Day has been Ohio State's primary play-caller since being promoted from offensive coordinator to head coach in 2019 to replace Urban Meyer. Bringing in an experienced play-caller at both the college and NFL level could allow Day to hand off those responsibilities.

Brian Hartline was offensive coordinator for the Buckeyes last year and will remain on staff as wide receivers coach.

The Buckeyes (11-2) ranked 25th in the country in yards per play (6.38) last season, their worst showing since 2016. Ohio State lost to Michigan for the third straight year and then dropped its bowl game against Missouri, playing with a third-string quarterback after starter Kyle McCord transferred and backup Devin Brown was injured.

O'Brien, 54, spent seven seasons as coach of the Texans, going 52-48 from 2014-20 and working with quarterback Deshaun Watson.

Before that he coached at Penn State for two seasons, taking over for Joe Paterno and going 15-9 with a program that was dealing with severe NCAA sanctions after the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

O'Brien returned to college after being fired by the Texans, joining Nick Saban's staff at Alabama as offensive coordinator for two years. He coached Heisman Trophy winner Bryce Young in 2021.

O'Brien returned to the NFL and the New England Patriots this season as offensive coordinator. His first stint working for Patriots coach Bill Belichick was from 2007-11. He was the quarterbacks coach for Tom Brady from 2009-11.

At Ohio State, O'Brien should have plenty to work with.

The Buckeyes brought in Kansas State quarterback Will Howard and Mississippi running back Quinshon Judkins as transfers earlier this month and bring back wide receiver Emeka Egbuka and running back TreVeyon Henderson, who both decided to return to school instead of entering the NFL draft.

Viral TikToker supports Ohio bill to protect ‘kidfluencers’ from exploitation

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 23:28:19 +0000

A popular TikToker is supporting a new bill introduced to the Ohio House, one that aims to create 'kidfluencer' labor laws to protect children from financial exploitation at the hands of their vlogger families.

Comedian Caroline Easom has captured the attention of the internet with skits about 'kidfluencers' children who make money by being posted on the internet.

The creator with 3.2 million followers created the "Lil Sandwich" series to dive into what she calls the exploitation of children featured as the main content in family vlogs.

"They are seen as these content machines and they are presented to the audience like products," Easom told News 5. "But my content intends for you to ask: when you see this type of content, why do I have access to this child being disciplined?"

And her content is resonating, with episodes reaching tens of millions of views. She has gained more than 400,000 followers in the past month, according to data analyzer Social Blade.

She has thousands of comments all supporting "Lil Sandwich," her fictional character representative of a child in a vlogging family. The character's lore has expanded with the popularity of the skits. There are now siblings all forced to play a Sandwich role, with viewers learning that Lil Sandwich is actually a teen girl named Sarah Grace.

@caroline_easom Christmas at The Sandwich House is a grueling day of work. #comedy #drama #dystopia #comedian #satire #parody #character #lilsandwich #oliviarodrigo #fyp #pov #skit #sketchcomedy original sound - Caroline

"My satire is advocacy work," Easom said. "It's also entertainment. It's also plot and storyline and all of that. But I think by adding the plot and the storyline and the characters, I do think I'm getting some people to care about an issue that they wouldn't have cared about otherwise."

Family vlogging has become a lucrative career, bringing in tens of millions of dollars to families. And like any emerging industry, there are no laws addressing the business.

Easom makes videos to help change this, and Ohio lawmakers have been listening to voices like hers.

State Reps. Michele Grim (D-Toledo) and Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown) proposed House Bill 376 to make sure children are getting payment for their work.

"Social media is a big business and it shouldn't be treated like any differently than any other Ohio business when it comes to child labor," McNally said during a press conference introducing the bill.

H.B. 376 would require adult vloggers who feature minors in their content to set aside a percentage of the money made per year. It would be in a trust one that the child can access once they turn 18. The amount set aside would be determined by a minimum contribution of one-half of the percentage of the time the likeness, name, or photograph of a vlogging minor was featured in a vlog, multiplied by the gross earning for that vlog in a calendar year.

In simpler terms: Say a child is in every single video (100%) a family channel makes the entire year, and the family's gross earnings were $10 million. The parents would be required by law to put 50% of the profit, or $5 million, into a trust that year.

Former Disney Channel child actor Alyson Stoner joined the lawmakers, adding that kids can't understand fame at such a young age. This led Stoner to struggle managing long-term consequences to their mental, emotional, physical and financial well-being.

"Later as an adult, I discovered $0 in a bank account due to my finances being unknowingly unprotected and mishandled," Stoner said. "The Coogan Account was an important step in ensuring I at least had a portion of my earnings set aside."

Child actors are supposed to be protected by the Coogan Account, which was passed in California in the late 1930s. The law does basically what H.B. 376 is aiming to do but it exists for actors in Hollywood, not nationwide. Child actors are also in a union, which helps protect them as well.

"Media has expanded significantly since my childhood, and the social media landscape substantially broadens the entry point for young people to be recorded, posted, and monetized," Stoner said.

Having the government interfere in your family finances may not be something vloggers want, Case Western Reserve University business law professor Eric Chaffee said.

"Immediate access in some instances really could improve the child's current life," Chaffee said, giving an argument parents may use.

News 5 reached out to a multitude of family vloggers, but none replied to comment. Chaffee explained what arguments have been used in the past against child labor laws.

"Parents in the United States have various liberty interests to decide how their children are raised, and as a result of that, that they ought to be able to decide whether or not the profits that their child makes go into a trust or are spent immediately."

Many have mixed feelings about family vlogging in general, though. Some users on TikTok argue that there is no harm being done, and it isn't actually a job to be recorded opening presents or sitting at the doctor's office.

"Take a step back and imagine you're six years old, you're going through a medical crisis do you want millions of strangers to know about that?" Easom asked. "I think we need to question who is telling stories because I wish parents would recognize that their children's stories are not their stories."

But for Easom, this bill doesnt go far enough, since she believes it invades a kid's privacy.

"As great as I think it is that there will be a guarantee of compensation, I don't know if it should be legal at all," she said.

Her videos didn't used to be as well-received two years ago, she added, but now it is hard to find a negative comment in a sea of people expressing their sadness for the characters.

"Do you think that the tides are turning on family bloggers right now?" Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked Easom.

"The tides are turning for sure," Easom responded.

The legislation is expected to be heard in the upcoming months.

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What is delta-8 and why does Ohio Gov. DeWine want to ban it?

Mon, 15 Jan 2024 23:57:23 +0000

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is urging lawmakers to ban delta-8 THC, a cannabis product under-regulated by the state, amid protests from consumers that it is essential for their health.

THC changed Jeremy Torchinskys life for the better.

"I was actually someone who was pretty addicted to pain pills and alcohol and other bad stuff," Torchinsky said. "I don't do that anymore."

He credited hemp products for helping him get off the substances, saying it has helped with managing pain, dealing with trauma and combatting social anxiety.

"I use it for the therapeutic aspects of it," he added.

Retailers like Joel Fink, owner of Fantasy Candies Chocolate Factory and Blue Planet Chocolate, help him get access to it.

Fink isn't a medical marijuana dispensary owner, but he is able to sell low-level THC amounts, often as delta-8. He is also a hemp processor.

Delta-8 is a cannabinoid produced by the cannabis plant, often manufactured by CBD. Many users News 5 spoke to used delta-8 to help with health issues or chronic illnesses. Delta-9 THC is the most common and is considered as regular marijuana.

"I would say we probably have about 20-25 per day that come in that are looking for, not necessarily a delta-8 or delta-9, but something to help them out," Fink said. "It's just amazing some of the successes that we've had."

Congress Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 allowed for hemp products to be sold as long as they have .3% THC or less.

"Delta-8 is sort of like delta-9 light," Fink said. "It gets you about half to two-thirds as high."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection issued guidance on their website that under the law, the Drug Enforcement Administration no longer has the authority to seize and criminalize sending or buying seeds with less than .3% THC. The DEA has also given this statement to numerous attorneys around the country with the same advice, including specifically addressing cannabis. This could change soon, though.

"It is a huge, huge market and for those of us that are doing it through the hemp program in Ohio, we're doing it properly," Fink said.

But he is worried. Gov. DeWine has been begging the lawmakers to get moving on recreational marijuana policy, but he also wants to address hemp.

"Today we have kids who are walking into these places, retail places in Ohio and buying this junk," DeWine said during a press conference Thursday. "We have no way to prohibit them from getting it."

Ohio doesn't have an age requirement to buy delta-8 since it is .3% or less. Thus, hemp products can be sold almost anywhere in the state, and the government has no jurisdiction over it.

"It is intoxicating, it is something that needs to be banned," the governor continued. "As soon as the legislature can do this, we'll be able to stop these sales."

The Senate changed the definition of hemp in its proposals for recreational marijuana policy raising concerns that it may outlaw delta-8.

DeWine informed that at his request, Senate lawmakers are drafting a standalone bill to regulate the selling of it. This may include only allowing licensed dispensaries to sell THC products of any kind.

The governor isn't alone here. Each medical dispensary News 5 has spoken with is not a fan of delta-8 sellers.

However, their reason could also be related to getting rid of competition and wanting all products to face the same health guidelines and scrutiny, according to retailers on each side of the issue.

Some House representatives think adding guardrails could also be helpful.

"I think there is a good chance that there will be some action to deal with the delta-8 and delta-9 products with high THC content," said state Rep. Jamie Callender (R-Concord). "Those products are currently unregulated and being marketed and sold to minors. I think that regulating the high THC hemp can be accomplished without disturbing the legitimate hemp market.

Fink agrees that there should be guardrails on age noting that his customers must be 21. However, getting rid of his ability to sell delta-8 entirely could cause his business, and many others, to suffer.

Right now, many retailers and consumers don't exactly trust the government to handle marijuana products fairly.

"There's a lot of people out there that still do need hemp," Torchinsky argued. "I think it's ridiculous for the lawmakers to even consider taking this away from you."

Senate and Gov. versus House

Right now, there are no authorized sellers of recreational marijuana in Ohio. The Division of Cannabis Control isn't set to start processing retailer applications until June, which means users likely won't be able to legally buy marijuana until fall. To learn how to access marijuana, click here.

The state Senate passed a bill to make weed available in medical dispensaries if the proposed law takes effect. The lawmakers took H.B. 86, which dealt with micro-distilleries, and added their marijuana policy to it.

Their version is seemingly universally hated by House members on each side. It would limit home growth, reduce THC levels and ban the vast majority of vapes. It also raises taxes, a major sticking point for many lawmakers. With this proposal changing the language and definition of hemp, it is unclear what impact that could have on delta-8 users.

Callender, the de-facto and seemingly bipartisan spokesperson for the House on marijuana continues to fight back against the pressure from the Senate and the governor to concur on the other chamber's legislation.

"I want to make sure that here in this chamber, the People's House, that we carry out the will of the people and the people have spoken," Callender said.

State Sen. Rob McColley (R-Napoleon), the de-facto and seemingly bipartisan spokesperson for the Senate, assured his proposal wasn't going against the will of the people since he believes that the voters didn't really know everything that they were voting on.

"I think what the voters really voted for would have been access to products," the senator added.

State Rep. Jeff LaRe (R-Violet Twp.) is livid about his bill being hijacked for the Senate proposal one that disregards the "will of Ohioans," he said.

"Slap in the face of Ohio voters," LaRe told News 5 in Dec.

Unfortunately for LaRe, the House sticking to their guns about following the will of the people and ignoring the Senate version hurts his original legislation.

"[H.B.] 86 is dead until we put it back to its original form," he said last week. "Amendment to do so has been drafted."

News 5 has been following through on marijuana policy and answering viewer questions about the current status of the process.

For all your pressing questions, there is a high likelihood that Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau already answered them in previous stories.

If she hasn't, email Morgan.Trau@wews.com.

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Ohio House lawmakers come back to ban transgender care and then leave

Fri, 12 Jan 2024 03:38:19 +0000

The Ohio House lawmakers came back from winter break early, and after voting to take away gender-affirming care from trans youth they are gone, dismissing their other priorities like marijuana policy, handling inflation and hosting capital budget hearings.

This leaves people like AJ Caraballo with Amplify Dispensary in limbo with customers.

"With no action from the legislature, there is no place for those patients, those customers to purchase," Caraballo said.

Both he and Gov. Mike DeWine would like to get moving on recreational marijuana policy since it's legal for Ohioans to smoke it, but nowhere to legally buy it.

"We are ready for sales in 90 days," Caraballo added.

But more than just marijuana, the lawmakers passed the fewest amount of bills in 2023 than they have in decades, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Service Commission. This was the least amount since 1955, Cleveland.com found. Yet, the lawmakers came back for this veto override that impacts about 1% or fewer youth in the state, according to the UCLA School of Law.

"There are many critical issues, important issues, that we could and should be addressing here in the legislature," House Minority Leader Allison Russo (D-Upper Arlington) said.

Russo is exasperated with the GOP.

She said there is a surplus of items the lawmakers could be addressing instead of just focusing on transgender children.

"We've got one in five Ohio children who lives in poverty; many Ohio children who are facing income insecurity, facing gun violence in our communities, facing mental health needs in our communities," she said, listing out the items that need to be answered. "Housing, public education, dealing with common sense gun safety, in addressing food insecurity in our communities."

There is also the capital budget, which provides money for construction of infrastructure and schools. It is due by the summer, yet lawmakers won't be able to have hearings on it if they don't return.

Diving deeper into housing costs, as inflation increases and people are struggling to pay their rent, there are bills to give tax cuts to vulnerable people but the Senate and House cant reach an agreement.

She believes House lawmakers came back early to override the veto to rally the Republican base. House Speaker Jason Stephens allies have contentious primary elections in March.

In case you missed it, there is an ongoing saga of Republican infighting in the House that has now trickled its way over to the Senate. Read more about the squabbling here. Plenty of money is being spent against lawmakers who supported Stephens for speaker.

The timing of the override clearly isn't a coincidence, Russo added.

Stephens was asked if the override now was a way to help out his clique.

"The primaries are still 10 weeks away," the speaker said. "I think most members have voted on this bill at least twice."

This was important legislation for his base, he added.

"I don't know that it's so much a primary issue, so much as it is an issue that people care about," Stephens (R-Kitts Hill) said.

But the governor argued that people also care about marijuana.

"If you wait a couple, few weeks or a month or two to get it right it's going to be better than to hurry up on this issue," Stephens answered.

There is no room for discussion when he dismisses the House for another month.

But Caraballo said he doesnt mind the wait, since he wants a good program that doesnt thwart the will of the voters.

"Waiting the nine months to make sure we have a sustainable program, I think that's more important than rushing and starting in 90 days," Caraballo said.

Ohio House overrides governor's veto of bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 21:15:06 +0000

The Ohio House voted to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto on legislation that would ban gender-affirming care from transgender youth and prohibit trans students from participating in athletics on teams that align with their identity.

The House voted 65 to 28 to override the veto, with five members not voting.

The override now gets sent to the Senate, which will likely override in late Jan. It would then go into effect 90 days later.

News 5 has extensively covered this legislation for years.

Click or tap here

to find more stories.

At 16 years old, Parker never wanted to go to the Statehouse to protest, but he said he had to.

"It takes away my rights, and I want to be here to protect them," Parker said.

It would ban trans youth, like him, from accessing gender-affirming care.

The bill would prohibit gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary youth, including hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), medical or surgical procedures and some mental health services. In addition to banning gender-affirming care for trans children, it would prohibit trans athletes from taking part in women's sports.

He was feeling cautiously optimistic when DeWine vetoed it.

"I knew it wasn't going to stop there," Parker said.

The House debated for more than an hour on the floor. Then, all Republicans present voted in favor. When it was passing the House originally, Republican state Reps. Jamie Callender (Concord) and Brett Hillyer (Uhrichsville) voted against it. During the override vote, Callender didn't show and Hillyer voted in favor of overriding.

"While I believe that biological males shouldnt compete in girls sports, and that irreversible elective sex change surgeries shouldnt be performed pre-puberty, this bill had many other elements that I couldnt vote for when it was on the floor," Callender told News 5. "I support the Governors veto and couldnt vote to override it."

Parker's mom Betty believes trans kids arent welcome in Ohio and now, Parker won't be able to get the health care he needs.

"It's going to uproot us immensely and it is all consuming at this time," Betty said. "We probably can't stay here, and that's the hard part for us."

H.B. 68 was introduced by state Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery). Lawmakers in favor of the bill argue that trans teens dont know what they really want, and their parents and doctors are pressured to approve of this healthcare.

The bill was originally two separate ones, but were put together since they both address transgender children. Bill sponsor Jena Powell (R-Arcanum) said the law also prevents families from making decisions before the child knows who they are.

"Unfortunately, the governor put profit above women in our state," Powell told News 5. "We want to see the override happen here in the Ohio House to protect women and children."

She added a ban on trans students from participating in athletics that align with their gender identity.

"When a parent tells their little girl, that you can be anything you want to be and you have the ability to thrive in your state in athletics, little girls will now be able to actually do that," Powell said.

About five trans student-athletes are competing in middle and high school in the state. None have won any awards for sports.

This is preventative, Powell said, to stop it from happening in the future.

Parker is asking the lawmakers to stop making laws against a community they don't understand.

"I think they're scared because they don't know who we are," he said.

DeWine issued the following statement regarding the override:

"I continue to believe it is in the best interests of children for these medical decisions to be made by the childs parents and not by the government."

The override now goes to the Senate, which won't be taking it up until Jan. 24. If they pass the override, the legislation goes into effect 90 days later. In the Senate, the only Republican to vote no was state Sen. Nathan Manning (R-North Ridgeville).

DeWine on Friday issued an executive order prohibiting gender-affirming surgeries on minors in Ohio and set forth draft administrative rules around gender-affirming care in minors and adults one week after he vetoed House Bill 68.

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Ohio leaders introduce bill to protect 'kidfluencers' featured in social media content

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 00:06:18 +0000

Ohio leaders are taking action to protect kids featured in social media content.

When it comes to child labor laws, social media content is uncharted territory. Many videos posted online feature kids, and in some instances, parents are monetizing off this type of content.

"Social media platforms are the new path for turning child labor into profits," said state Rep. Lauren McNally (D-Youngstown). "Beyond the traditional concerns of privacy, this money-making opportunity raises serious questions about the legal rights and protections of these children."

Former child entertainer and Disney Channel star Alyson Stoner, an Ohio native, shared some of the impacts of being a child in the spotlight.

"Personally, Im still managing long-term consequences to my mental, emotional, physical and financial well-being," Stoner said at a press conference Tuesday. "200 films and projects later, as an adult, I discovered zero dollars in a bank account due to my finances being unknowingly unprotected and mishandled."

Kids in traditional media are often protected under a union.

"And theres no union in existence for digital media," Stoner said.

The Kidfluencer Protection Act would require adult vloggers who feature kids in their content to set aside a certain amount of money for the child to be able to access once they turn 18.

This doesnt mean this would apply to any video posted online featuring someone under the age of 18. This bill focuses specifically on videos that are monetized. Money would be determined by a minimum contribution of one-half of the percentage of time the child's likeness, name or photograph was featured in a vlog, multiplied by the gross earnings for that vlog in a calendar year.

"The ones when a family is being compensated or being paid to produce images that involve their child," McNally said.

The legislation would also allow child influencers to request videos using their likeness to be removed after they turn 18.

"Its worth getting ahead of before we watch a new pipeline for child exploitation take shape right on our phones," Stoner said.

The Kidfluencer Protection Act will receive a bill number and head to a House Committee.

Ohio transgender candidate disqualified for only including legal name, not former name, on petitions

Wed, 03 Jan 2024 23:27:34 +0000

A transgender candidate for the Ohio House has been disqualified because she only circulated petitions with her legal name, instead of her former name and it has put multiple other LGBTQ+ candidates in flux.

Vanessa Joy reached out to Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau to share her situation. She was supposed to be a Democratic candidate for House District 50, covering Stark County, and she collected all the signatures she needed to run.

"The only thing that we can do is try to fight back and that's why that's why there are so many trans candidates in Ohio," Joy said.

She is a trans woman, one of the at least four running for state representative. Each is running to fight against the growing number of anti-trans legislation.

Joy is also the stepdaughter of state Rep. Bill Roemer (R-Richfield), but the two do not have a relationship and have never met. Although the Republican hasn't sponsored or cosponsored legislation impacting the trans community, he has voted in favor of legislation banning trans youth from having gender-affirming care and participating in athletics. He is one of the Republicans she wants to fight back against.

But she just learned she won't be on the ballot.

"I would have had to have my dead name on my petitions," Joy said. "But in the trans community, our dead names are dead; there's a reason it's dead that is a dead person who is gone and buried."

Dead names are the former names of many transgender people.

Even though Joy legally changed her name and her birth certificate which she provided to the county board a little-known law is preventing her from running due to when she changed her name.

A law from the 1990s requires all candidates to list on their signature petitions any name changes within five years, Case Western Reserve University elections law professor Atiba Ellis explained.

"It would be fair for the candidate to disclose their identity including prior names so that the people and their representatives in the state government would be able to vet that person and know exactly who they are," Ellis said, providing insight into why the law may be in place.

Joy wished she had a heads-up.

"Something that is that important should have been on the instructions," she said. "It should have been on the petition."

Not only is there nowhere to put it on the petition, but it isnt included in the secretary of states 2024 candidate guide. It hasn't been on any candidate guides in recent years.

News 5 reached out to the office with numerous clarifying questions, like why the name change isn't included in the 33-page guide, but did not hear back.

"If it is selectively enforced, that raises the question of whether the use of such provisions would be discriminatory," Ellis added.

At least two of the other trans candidates running also didnt know the law, and didnt include their dead names, but both were certified by their boards.

There is an exception that says the law doesn't apply to marriage name changes, but since it isn't well-known, News 5 checked with dozens of lawmakers anyway. News 5 asked married lawmakers if they had any issues when they changed their names, but all had been married for longer than five years.

"Do you think that this law will prevent trans people from running in the future?" Trau asked Joy.

"Yes, I think it will undoubtedly," Joy responded.

It is unclear what will happen to the other candidates, but Joy has until Friday to appeal.

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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine lays out priorities for lawmakers in 2024 session

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 23:24:10 +0000

Days away from the Ohio 2024 Legislative Session, Gov. Mike DeWine spoke about what he wants lawmakers to accomplish and why he feels this year will feature more bipartisan legislation.

DeWine said there is a "real consensus" from legislators that education (specifically the science of reading method), mental health and addiction are the top three issues they hope to tackle this session.

"Focus more and more on mental health this coming year ... kind of go back to John Kennedy 60 years ago," DeWine said. "When he signed The Community Mental Health Act, the promise was that no matter where you lived, whatever neighborhood, whatever community, if you had a mental health problem, you have a loved one who does, we're going to have a place for that person to get the help that they need.

"But we never really, as a country, lived up to this, and so my goal is for Ohio, for people to say we're making sure that people with mental health problems some people with a drug addiction problem, whatever their barrier is that we can break those barriers down and (they can) live up to their full potential."

There was already more than $100 million in the last budget to address education changes, and DeWine said he expects the focus on the science of reading to continue.

"It's unacceptable a third of our kids are not reading at their grade level," DeWine said. "We have to fix that problem, and we're making progress."

When it comes to possible changes to recreational marijuana, DeWine said that while he "(respects) the will of the voters," lawmakers need to create some guidelines for it.

"I was on the other side of (the vote), but I respect that. But I don't think anybody who voted for this thought you'd have the situation that we have today," DeWine said. "We've got to get our hands around this, and the legislature needs to take action so that we can actually put this under some control."

Some Republican lawmakers in Ohio have also spoken about wanting to amend the abortion amendment voters approved in November 2023.

"The voters spoke, but I don't think the issue is ever totally over," DeWine said. "I think most public policy issues, people continue to evolve, they continue to look at what is going on, what the situation is. I think it's important that we protect, in Ohio, the guardrails that we put in place over a period of time."

DeWine said that while he thinks Ohio is better off now than when he first took office, "there are some challenges that are out there." He said in 2024, the focus will continue to be on the people.

"2024 is going to see us really continue to focus on people," said DeWine. "The other thing that is really important is that we remove barriers for people. You know, people have some barriers that stop them from living up to their full potential."

Ohio House plans to override Gov. DeWine’s veto of bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth

Tue, 02 Jan 2024 23:21:14 +0000

The Ohio House is returning from their winter vacation early to attempt to override Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of anti-transgender legislation. Many Republicans think they have the votes, but it is unclear if they actually do.

State lawmakers weren't expected to return to Columbus until the end of January, but a veto has changed that.

Gov. DeWine refused to sign House Bill 68 into law and vetoed it on Friday morning. The bill would have banned trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care like hormone blockers, and also some mental health services for conditions like gender dysphoria, which can be life-threatening distress due to a person's sex assigned at birth not matching their gender identity. It also would have barred trans middle and high schoolers from participating in athletics with cisgender peers.

Click here to learn more about the legislation.

Were House Bill 68 to become law, Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child better than the two people who love the child the most the parents, DeWine said Friday morning. "These tough, tough decisions should not be made by the government."

And after months of protesting, Aaron Demlow was finally able to relax this weekend.

"I just felt like I could breathe for a second knowing that kids like me in this state will have a little bit more time to get the health care they need," said Demlow, a trans activist.

DeWine's veto came after spending weeks researching and talking to people on each side, which he told News 5 about in a one-on-one interview one week before vetoing the bill.

"I have to get this right," DeWine said.

One of the people he talked to was Demlow.

"It was just him as a person trying to understand me as a person so that he could make the best-informed position that he could for the good of the state," Demlow said.

Parents of trans kids like Sam Shim are praising the decision. Shim was worried about his daughter's safety if the bill was signed.

"She's been hospitalized twice at Nationwide Children's for gender dysphoria," the father said. "As teenagers, there's often a struggle and then you add gender dysphoria to the mix and it's a real challenge."

But the celebration is short-lived for many LGBTQ+ rights activists.

"Are there enough votes to override the governor's veto?" Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked state Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania).

"Yes," Williams said. "In the best interests of children, you don't allow them to make life-altering decisions with a child's brain; they cannot comprehend the long-term ramifications."

Williams is a supporter of the bill, and he and many conservative lawmakers are rallying to override the governors veto. They only need 59 votes, but DeWine believes he offered suitable alternatives. He proposed creating administrative rules addressing concerns, like looking into restrictions for full genital surgeries as a minor.

He also agreed with the legislature that there was no comprehensive data on those who receive gender-affirming care and will direct relevant agencies to report findings to the legislature and public about minors and adults seeking care.

All of the proposed rules have worried Demlow, for one, because he doesn't feel like it is safe to have a registry of trans people.

"I would hope that with the plan that I've outlined, we would be able to work on with the legislature," DeWine said.

Williams sees that as a power grab.

"The governor is attempting to pull legislative authority from the Statehouse and place it in the executive agencies under his control," the lawmaker said.

It would have made much more sense for DeWine to just be hands-off, he added.

"You can't talk out of the side of your neck when you say to the camera that the government shouldn't be involved and then 20 minutes later you say, 'but I'm gonna order the government to be involved,'" Williams said.

The governor's spokesperson, Dan Tierney, rejected the lawmaker's assertion that DeWine was power-grabbing.

"The Governor has invited legislators to collaborate with agencies on drafting these administrative rules. The rules must be approved by the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR), which is a joint legislative committee that provides legislative oversight a check-and-balance if you will over administrative rules before they can be adopted," Tierney said in a written response to News 5. "Given the Governor's open invitation for collaboration and the statutory check-and-balance powers retained by the legislature, I would disagree with the characterization you provided."

While the Republicans debate among themselves, Demlow waits.

"Why go against best medical practice?" he asked. "I feel like they would have blood on their hands because I know from personal experience that I would not have survived to 18."

Behind the scenes

Hours after the veto, House leadership sent out a text to Republican representatives saying that Speaker Jason Stephens "would like to act quickly to override the veto." The message then asked if the lawmaker would support an override and if they would be available for a session on Jan. 10.

Even lawmakers who had fundraisers scheduled, some out of town, plan to be back for the vote, many of them told News 5.

The plan was officially decided Tuesday evening to have a session on Jan. 10.

What's next?

A three-fifths vote of the members of the House and Senate is necessary to override the governor's veto meaning 59 representatives and 20 senators. The bill passed forward with 64 representatives originally (62 after amendments) and 24 senators.

However, if some lawmakers aren't able to make the Jan. 10 date or have changed their minds about the legislation, it is possible the lawmakers won't reach 59.

If it gets overrode?

It would then move to the Senate for their approval. Then it would go into effect after 90 days.

The DOJ and progressive groups are likely to sue, as similar laws are being held up in other states.

In late December, a federal judge in Idaho temporarily blocked their ban from taking effect.

He argued that their law, similar to H.B. 68, violated the equality provision, or the 14th Amendment, of the U.S. Constitution.

Transgender children should receive equal treatment under the law, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill in Boise wrote. "Parents should have the right to make the most fundamental decisions about how to care for their children.

Also in December, a federal judge in Alabama denied the DOJs request to pause their law while a lawsuit is being heard.

In the fall, federal judges in Kentucky and Tennessee allowed the states to enforce the bans as lawsuits are being heard.

After a case this summer, a federal judge in Arkansas struck down their ban, saying it was unconstitutional.

It is likely the U.S. Supreme Court will take these cases eventually.

How can Ohio lawmakers be held accountable with gerrymandered districts? Gov. DeWine weighs in

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 21:36:58 +0000

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is considering redistricting reform that is meant to combat gerrymandering. Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau sat down for a one-on-one with the governor to discuss what needs to happen to fix what many call a broken system.

This Q&A features moments from a 35-minute interview, along with some context around those answers. The first two segments of the interview can be found here and feature topics such as the results of the November election, gun violence across the state, and former President Donald Trump.

This piece has been lightly edited for clarity.

Ohioans went to the polls in 2023 to make their voices heard, with each of the three campaigns voting rights, abortion and marijuana saying politicians weren't listening to them.

Trau:

Do you think that the lawmakers are able to be held accountable for the decisions that they make?

DeWine:

Well, I think lawmakers are held accountable. I mean, we have elections and people have the opportunity to vote.

DeWines argument is ... debatable.

He was part of the majority of the Ohio Redistricting Commission that ignored seven state Supreme Court decisions that told Republican members to stop drawing maps that disproportionately benefited them and the districts were so broken that lawmakers were virtually untouchable.

Trau:

You yourself have said that redistricting should not be decided by the politicians that would directly benefit from it. The bipartisan Supreme Court had said that Republicans gerrymandered. How can people be held accountable if they gerrymander their districts?

DeWine:

I think the real question is: what do we do going forward?

Although that wasn't the "real question" being asked DeWine said that he wished he wasnt involved in the map-making process.

DeWine:

It just didn't work. It was a mess. We need to change that and we need to have something that actually works. I don't think the legislature should be involved in redistricting. I don't think the governor should be involved. I would be very happy not to be involved in that in the future... I think that the real question is somebody's gonna make these decisions, so how do you get people who are, in fact, impartial and who people can have trust in? And that, to me, is the real concern.

Former Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor, whose decisions were ignored in 2022, is leading the effort to change how Ohio draws maps. O'Connor, Citizens Not Politicians (CNP), and other nonpartisan groups of voting rights advocates have started collecting signatures needed to put a constitutional amendment on the Nov. 2024 ballot. It would create a 15-member citizens redistricting commission made up of five Republicans, five Democrats and five independent Ohioans with no political ties.

Trau:

Do you think that the proposal for the independent redistricting commission is a good idea?

DeWine:

Yeah, I'm still looking at that. I really haven't decided. I won't have a position on that yet.

Many Statehouse Republicans do not want this amendment to be passed. CNP is working its way up to about 415,000 signatures by this coming July.

Why many Ohioans feel politicians aren't listening or are actively ignoring citizens

Although feeling like a politician isn't listening is seemingly a constant issue with governments everywhere, 2023 was a momentous year for these claims in Ohio.

Even after the proposals on voting rights, abortion and marijuana were decisively chosen against the Republican supermajority, some members of the GOP are trying to scheme the system.

Some Statehouse Republicans have proposed putting Issue 1 from August back on the ballot. That Issue 1 would have raised the threshold for constitutional amendments to pass from 50%+1, a simple majority, to 60%. This means that 40% of Ohioans would get to choose the law.

August's Issue 1 was directly related to this November's Issue 1 on abortion.

Groups all over the political spectrum, including law enforcement, unions, teachers and social justice groups, opposed it because it impacted more than just abortion. Raising it to 60% would also make it harder for issues like redistricting reform, minimum wage increase and municipal bonds to pass. Some Republicans argued it was a big government play and a power grab.

After it failed, next came abortion and recreational marijuana on the ballot in Nov.

Dozens of Statehouse Republicans have spoken out or proposed legislation to prevent the abortion amendment from going into effect. Click here to view the timeline of every major statement or proposal.

Statehouse leaders have backtracked and now say they have no current plans to overturn Issue 1, but lobbyists told News 5 that anti-abortion groups are planning a new constitutional amendment overturning November's Issue 1, and another is planning a 15-week proposal for the ballot.

When it comes to marijuana, many citizens reached out to News 5, spoke at the Statehouse and rallied online to protest against the lawmakers changing weed policy.

A bill passed by the Ohio Senate is restrictive in comparison to the current law regulating marijuana use. It reduced the amount of weed someone could possess, banned smoking in most places and made the substance more expensive.

The House is fighting back against this, saying it goes against the will of the voters.

These were just a few of the many examples, which is why CNP is fighting hard for redistricting reform.

"Weve been overwhelmed by the positive response across the state for our nonpartisan movement to end gerrymandering in Ohio," group spokesperson Chris Davey said. "Signature gathering has continued through the holiday season, and we are excited to continue building and expanding our coalition in the new year."

Redistricting laws changed in 2018. There was a huge outcry to combat gerrymandering in the years leading up to that election. By a nearly 75-25% vote, Ohioans chose a new redistricting system, one that was supposed to prevent supermajority power from dictating maps.

This redistricting system was "doomed to fail" from the start, O'Connor told News 5. Politicians found a way to exploit the process, she added.

If politicians weren't able to protect themselves in their districts, Ohio may have more realistic and fair representation, advocates for the reform argue.

Regardless, both people for and against the redistricting amendment say something needs to change whether it is the system itself or the individuals on the court.

Then Ohio wouldn't have to spend millions of dollars on an extra election or be an embarrassment to the rest of the country for not getting it together before an important midterm.

Read the full amendment below:

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No. 7 Ohio State loses 14-3 to No. 9 Missouri in Cotton Bowl

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 14:20:37 +0000

All-America running back Cody Schrader bulled through two defenders to open the fourth quarter with ninth-ranked Missouri's first score in the Cotton Bowl.

That 7-yard touchdown run was a fitting play for the former walk-on, and finish for these Tigers, who wrapped up an 11-win season with a 14-3 win over No. 7 Ohio State on Friday night.

I couldn't have drawn it up any more perfect, quarterback Brady Cook said. He embodies what our team is, and what our values are and how we operate.

In a game with almost as many total punts (16) as points, Missouri (11-2) suddenly had consecutive scoring drives of more than 90 yards after punting eight times before that. Cook threw a 7-yard TD to Luther Burden III with 5:12 left in the game.

Ohio State (11-2), which was undefeated before losing its regular-season finale to Michigan, played without two-time All-America receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. The standout junior was on the sideline, but opted out of playing. He hasnt announced yet if he will enter the NFL draft.

The Buckeyes were already without starting quarterback Kyle McCord, who left the program earlier this month to transfer to Syracuse. Devin Brown, who took over as the starter, left the game in the middle of the second quarter with a high left ankle sprain. They finished with only 203 total yards.

After finishing 6-7 with bowl losses each of the past two years, Missouri wrapped up coach Eliah Drinkwitzs fourth season by winning 11 games for the first time since 2014.

I think tonight was a testament to a wilderness brotherhood. A bunch of guys that have fought through adversity their entire lives and careers, Drinkwitz said. Were not bluebloods. Were a dirty, hard-working brotherhood that loves each other, fight for each other.

Missouri had only 120 total yards before the eight-play, 95-yard drive that ended with Schrader, the former NCAA Division II standout and walk-on who finished with 128 yards, running through two defenders for his 14th TD and 10th consecutive game with a score. Cook had a 15-yard run before a 50-yard pass to a wide-open Marquis Johnson.

The Tigers then went 91 yards in 13 plays, including Cook converting fourth-and-1 with a 2-yard plunge, for Burden's score.

Thats just grit, Cook said. Thats a testimony to all the work this team has put in and a focus on being a gritty team. Not let adversity get you down and just go back to work.

Brown appeared to get hurt when he was sacked on a third-down play late in the first quarter. He returned when the Buckeyes got the ball back, but true freshman Lincoln Kienholz finished the game after that.

With McCord gone, Brown took over as the starter after not playing since Oct. 21, and was 4-of-6 passing for 20 yards while getting sacked three times. Kienholz was finished 6 of 17 for 86 yards and lost a fumble while being sacked with 3:13 left.

For Devin, I know he wanted to play in this game worse than anybody. And even after he hurt himself, he wanted to get back in there and actually did it for a series, Buckeyes coach Ryan Day said. It wasnt fair for him. He couldnt move.

Ohio State's only points came on Jayden Fielding's 44-yard field goal with 3:12 left in the first quarter, and the Buckeyes punted their other six possessions before halftime. Fielding's 48-yard attempt on the opening drive of the second half ricocheted high off the upright and back into the end zone.

The Buckeyes never reached the red zone on their 11 possessions (eight punts).

How to watch Ohio State take on Missouri Tigers in the Cotton Bowl Classic

Sat, 30 Dec 2023 00:13:10 +0000

The Ohio State Buckeyes will take on the Missouri Tigers tonight at the Horseshoe.

The seventh-ranked Buckeyes (11-1) are playing for the first time since their 30-24 loss at Michigan in the regular-season finale matching undefeated teams, costing them the opportunity to play for the Big Ten title and a spot in the four-team College Football Playoff.

Ohio State has won its two previous Cotton Bowls, against Texas A&M on New Years Day 1987 when the game was still in its namesake stadium, and over Southern Cal exactly six years ago Friday.

Missouri is 2-1 in the Cotton Bowl. The Tigers lost to Texas on New Year's Day 1946, but beat Arkansas when returning to the game 62 years later and won at AT&T Stadium against Oklahoma State at the end of the 2013 season.

The game starts Friday at 8 p.m. You can watch it live on ESPN or stream it on ESPN+ or fuboTV

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Ohio politicians behaved badly in 2023

Wed, 27 Dec 2023 11:53:51 +0000

There is no way to sugarcoat it Ohio public officials behaved badly in 2023. Politicians consistently dealt with the law, so Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau broke down a list of the public figures who ran into legal troubles.

The FBI has been busy this year. Five of the seven public officials on this list have been dealing with the feds, the other two are being handled by locals.

Disclaimer: There were plenty of other public officials that were under scrutiny this year, but the following were the biggest scandals involving either statewide officials or federal cases. This list does not include lawsuits filed against public officials, if it had this article would be seemingly endless.

Going chronologically, the year started off with a bang with the trial for the largest bribery scheme in state history.

Larry Householder

Unlikely to ever see the outside of a prison fence for the rest of his life, former Republican House Speaker Larry Householder had a tough year.

After his trial from January to March, Householder was found guilty of accepting a $61 million bribe in exchange for selling out the Statehouse to FirstEnergy and other utility companies. He used taxpayer money to create legislation called House Bill 6 that provided a more than a billion-dollar bailout for FE's struggling nuclear power plants.

He used the bribe money to put himself and his allies into power, demolishing and threatening anyone in his path, as well as paying off credit card debt and renovations to his home in Florida.

He then fell into the FBI's trap and, embarrassingly, lied on the stand. He seemed to not understand that the feds had recordings of him admitting to the crimes.

In June, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

"I'm not guilty," Householder exclaimed following the verdict.

The jury, judge and FBI begged to differ.

Matt Borges

Former GOP leader Matt Borges got the short end of the racketeering stick, having his bribery scheme charges combined in the same trial as Householder.

He pocketed over $350,000 from the scandal, but his biggest faux pas was attempting to bribe an FBI informant with a $15,000 check.

He was also found guilty, which the foreman of the jury told said it was a much easier decision to make than Householder since it was so clear-cut.

"I did not believe that anything proved that I had engaged in a racketeering conspiracy, which is why I fought this from the beginning," Borges said on the day the verdict was read.

Due to playing a significantly smaller role in the scandal and for seemingly taking responsibility for his actions in his sentencing request letter, he ended up with five years in prison.

Bob Young

In a three-month period, Former Republican state Rep. Bob Young was arrested thrice, ending up with a multitude of charges related to domestic violence.

The ex-Northern Canton lawmaker was first charged with domestic violence against his wife and assault against his brother in July, then violation of protection order in August, and then stalking and violating protection order again in September.

He refused to resign until public pressure mounted after his second arrest. He left his seat to focus on "his faith" in October.

During the trial, the judge was appalled when Young called his teen daughter a "liar," after testifying what she saw during the first assault.

"I may have hit her hand unintentionally or something just so I wouldn't get hit again," Young said when alleging his wife hit him first.

He was found guilty of domestic violence but acquitted on the assault charge. He took a plea deal on the subsequent charges.

P.G. Sittenfeld

In October, former Democratic Cincinnati city councilman P.G. Sittenfeld was sentenced to 16 months in prison after a jury convicted him of bribery and extortion charges.

A jury found Sittenfeld guilty on one charge of bribery and one charge of attempted extortion for taking $40,000 in campaign donations from undercover FBI agents who were posing as developers and asking for help on a Downtown project.

"For the sake of my family, I'm looking forward to putting this behind me, Sittenfeld said during the trial.

Elliot Forhan

After a tumultuous six months, Democratic state Rep. Elliot Forhan (D-South Euclid) had a civil protection order and a police report filed against him in November from a fellow lawmaker.

State Rep. Juanita Brent (D-Cleveland) filed and received a restraining order against Forhan after numerous incidents of harassment, including allegedly showing up to her house on numerous occasions, she said.

"I'm working with some representatives in defending myself in every respect," Forhan said. "Filing a false police report is a very serious issue."

Prior to the law getting involved, Forhan was stripped of nearly all his legislative privileges due to allegations of abusive and violent behavior and the "pattern of harassment, hostility, and intimidation of colleagues and staff."

He continues to deny all allegations.

Sam Randazzo

The dominos continue to fall in the H.B. 6 scheme. In early December, former chairman of the Public Utilities Commission Sam Randazzo pleaded not guilty after being charged with a dozen bribery crimes.

Unluckily for Randazzo, who didn't also take a plea deal when Householder's right-hand man, Jeff Longstreth, and FirstEnergy admitted to the scheme, he now has to deal with the ramifications of the information that is already public.

FirstEnergy has already admitted to bribing Randazzo with a $4.3 million payment so the former chairman could help the company behind the scenes in one way by pushing and helping to create H.B. 6.

Randazzo and his attorney have refused to address the scandal, but Case Western Reserve University law professor Michael Benza explained what fate likely awaits Randazzo.

"He will probably spend the rest of his life in prison," the professor responded. "He would be looking at probably dying in prison."

WCPO's sister station, WEWS, had a one-on-one interview with Gov. Mike DeWine, who said he regrets appointing Randazzo to the PUCO. DeWine and Lieutenant Gov. Jon Husted have both been subpoenaed in a civil case relating to this scandal and what they know about Randazzo.

Jeff Pastor

In mid-December, former Republican Cincinnati city councilman Jeff Pastor was sentenced to 2 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud.

Six months after he took office, FBI agents say he began soliciting bribes in exchange for official action on two development projects.

He was accused of taking $55,000 in exchange for votes on two development deals. His plea deal allows him to only admit to taking $15,000.

On Dec. 21, he was sentenced to two years in in prison for his role in a public corruption scandal that rocked City Hall in 2020.

Pastor will also be supervised for three years after his release from prison. Pastor will serve his time at a prison in Ashland, Kentucky, which he requested. He has to report to prison by Jan. 22, 2024.

What's next?

The FBI continues to work around the clock investigating the H.B. 6 bribery scheme.

"Worst case scenario, this ends up implicating every elected official in Columbus to some degree or another being involved in this bribery scandal," Benza said.

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One-on-one with Gov. DeWine: crimes, complicity, concerns

Sat, 23 Dec 2023 18:22:34 +0000

2023 has been a major year at the Ohio Statehouse: trials, arrests, legislation that caused national outrage and an election that legalized abortion and marijuana. Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau sat down for a one-on-one with Governor Mike DeWine to discuss his thoughts on how the year went. Some questions he answered others he didn't.

This piece will be formatted as a Q&A, as it features moments from the 35-minute interview. It has been lightly edited only for clarity.

Morgan Trau: "Did you ever think that gambling, marijuana and abortion would be legalized under your watch?"

Governor DeWine: "Well, no. When I ran for office, I certainly did not expect what we've seen in the last year. But, first of all, we have to respect the will of the people, the state of Ohio. And second, we have to do implement those things in a way that's responsible and protects people as much as we can."

Morgan Trau: "Which one hurt the most?"

Governor DeWine: "Well, abortion is something that I have a position on and that is a pro-life position."

Gun violence has continued to increase for years, yet DeWine has signed every bill loosening firearm restrictions that has hit his desk even after a mass shooting.

Morgan Trau: "Do you feel like you've been complicit in signing that?"

Governor DeWine: "I think that, I again am asking this year, for the legislature to look at the bill that we rolled out right after the Oregon District and Dayton tragedy... Basically, what this bill says is, if you have a member of your family and it's usually a member of the family who knows something's going on wrong with that person our bill would give you the right to go into court. You have to convince the judge, then and only then, would the guns be taken away from that individual. And again, you know, urge the legislature to take action on this."

Morgan Trau: "But you still signed permitless carry."

Governor DeWine: "Look, I don't think it creates a real problem. The issue is, what are we gonna do going forward?"

2023 can be defined by scandals one that DeWine was just subpoenaed in a civil case for.

Former House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison for accepting a multi-million dollar bribe in exchange to bail out FirstEnergy.

Trau asked DeWine if he was nervous about the scandal, or more importantly was he worried for Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted. DeWine said no to both.

Former Chair of the Public Utilities Commission Sam Randazzo has just been indicted in the scheme, with the feds saying he was one of the major players in getting House Bill 6 passed. But DeWine was how he came into power.

Morgan Trau: "Do you regret appointing Sam Randazzo to the PUCO?"

Governor DeWine: "Oh, look, if I knew what I know now, if I knew that I certainly would not have appointed Sam Randazzo to that position."

DeWine said he was the best person for the job, not knowing that Randazzo was FirstEnergys handpicked man. But he isnt the only politician facing legal issues.

Morgan Trau: "Do you think that Donald Trump becoming president again would be a threat to democracy?"

Governor DeWine: "I'm gonna reserve my comments about the presidential campaign."

Morgan Trau: "Will you vote for him?"

Governor DeWine: "We're gonna just put all questions on presidential campaigns back. I will tell you, I will certainly vote for our nominee for United States Senate."

Despite pivoting to the Senate, DeWine would not say who he would vote for.

By Dec. 29, DeWine is set to sign or veto House Bill 68, legislation that would ban LGBTQ+ youth from accessing gender-affirming care, including hormone blockers and some mental health services. Advocates for the bill say the bill prevents confused teens and pressured parents from ruining minors bodies before they know who they are. Hundreds of LGBTQ+ kids, teens, parents and doctors testified against it.

Morgan Trau: "Are you going to sign [H.B. 68]?"

Governor DeWine: "Well, this is something that I'm really thinking a lot about... So I went to children's hospital here in Columbus; I went to the children's hospital in Akron and children's hospital in Cincinnati just to see how they do it, what kind of care they give to these young people. But I've also talked to opponents who don't think that kind of care is appropriate... I've also talked to families who have told me that that care is just vitally important and save their child's life. So I'm trying to weigh all this and trying to get as much information together."

Morgan Trau: "You've always been somebody to care about children, but also parental rights. How would you reckon with signing this?"

Governor DeWine: "I really don't want to get too deeply into this We've got to get this I have to get this right... There's a lot of testimony in the Statehouse that you covered and I want to look at that testimony both pro and con."

Trau continued to press, but DeWine ended up saying he was focusing his efforts on it this weekend.

The lawmakers have been getting more into culture war issues year after year, proposing social issue legislation DeWine has said he doesnt want.

Governor DeWine: "There's some areas where we certainly have had a disagreement and I respect them, but I'm gonna call it like I see it."

Morgan Trau: "Do you ever feel like you have to compromise on some of your values?"

Governor DeWine: "I don't think I compromise on my values. I think at this point in my life, I know what I'm doing and know what I think is important."

That doesnt mean he isn't disappointed with the lawmakers, especially after six high-profile public figures have been in legal trouble this year.

Governor DeWine: "One person getting in trouble who is a public official is one too many. I mean, we don't want that. It's kind of like cancer is eating on the public's perception of and confidence in our system."

This was only a portion of the interview. Stay tuned for more on accountability, gerrymandering, legislation and worries on H.B. 6.

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Signing day: QB Dylan Raiola signs with Nebraska; Georgia, Ohio State vie for top recruiting class

Wed, 20 Dec 2023 17:32:55 +0000

The long and winding recruitment of Dylan Raiola ended early and with no drama Wednesday with the highly touted quarterback signing a national letter of intent with Nebraska.

Raiola is a consensus top 10 recruit in the class of 2024 and the son of former Cornhuskers offensive lineman Dominic Raiola, but it took him a while to choose Nebraska. He was first verbally committed to Ohio State and then Georgia. His family even moved the Atlanta suburbs for him to play his final high school season.

But earlier this week he announced he was flipping to Nebraska and then made it official Wednesday.

It remained to be seen if the opening of the early signing period for high school recruits would be so uneventful for other elite prospects. All 32 five-star players, as rated by the 247 Sports composite of industry rankings, came into signing day verbally committed, but coaches can't be comfortable until a signed National Letter of Intent is in hand.

The consensus No. 1 recruit, receiver Jeremiah Smith from Florida, has been committed to Ohio State for months but was not expected to make his choice official until later Wednesday. The 6-foot-3, 198-pound Smith was expected to be part of a signing class for Ohio State that will challenge Georgia and Alabama for No. 1 in the country if he indeed signs with the Buckeyes.

Order blocking enforcement of Ohio abortion ban stands after high court dismisses appeal

Sat, 16 Dec 2023 18:08:52 +0000

The Ohio Supreme Court has dismissed the states challenge to a judges order that has blocked enforcement of Ohio's near-ban on abortions for the past 14 months.

The ruling moves action in the case back to Hamilton County Common Pleas, where abortion clinics asked Judge Christian Jenkins this week to throw out the law following voters' decision to approve enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution.

The high court on Friday said the appeal was dismissed due to a change in the law.

The justices in March agreed to review a county judges order that blocked enforcement of the abortion restriction and to consider whether clinics had legal standing to challenge the law. They ultimately denied Republican Attorney General Dave Yosts request that they launch their own review of the constitutional right to abortion, leaving such arguments for a lower court.

The clinics asked Jenkins on Thursday to block the abortion ban permanently on the heels of the amendment Ohio voters approved last month that ensures access to abortion and other reproductive health care.

A law signed by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in April 2019 prohibited most abortions after the first detectable fetal heartbeat. Cardiac activity can be detected as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

The ban, initially blocked through a federal legal challenge, briefly went into effect when the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision was overturned last year. It was then placed back on hold in county court, as part of a subsequent lawsuit challenging it as unconstitutional under the state constitution.

Yost's office referred to a statement from Dec. 7 that the state is prepared to acknowledge the will of the people on the issue, but also to carefully review each part of the law for an orderly resolution of the case.

The abortion providers asked the lower court that initially blocked the ban to permanently strike it down. They cited Yosts own legal analysis, circulated before the vote, that stated that passage of the amendment would invalidate the states six-week ban, stating, Ohio would no longer have the ability to limit abortions at any time before a fetus is viable.

Ohio lawmakers pass bill to ban trans youth from gender-affirming care, athletics

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 00:29:27 +0000

Ohio lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday banning LGBTQ+ youth from accessing gender-affirming care or playing school sports, sending it to the governor's desk.

House Bill 68 would prohibit gender-affirming care for trans and nonbinary youth, including hormone blockers, hormone replacement therapy (HRT), medical or surgical procedures and some mental health services.

Healthcare professionals who provide this care could lose their licenses and be sued. Medicaid would not cover gender-affirming procedures for minors.

Parents are being manipulated by the physicians, Click said.

Click, who is not a doctor, said he has done hours of research.

"It would have a severe health impact on a lot of trans children and non-binary children in the state who are already receiving life-saving medicine, who would then be forcefully removed from the existing medications that have worked for them," said Maria Bruno with Equality Ohio. "Passing this bill would take away the parental rights of these parents to decide the best course of action for their children."

LGBTQ+ advocates, including teen Cassidy, had been speaking out all day against House Bill 68.

"If you medically transition and then detransition, your life isn't ruined," Cassidy said.

She was born as a female and transitioned to male when she was 14. A few years later, she realized it wasnt the right decision for her so she detransitioned.

"These bills are being proposed using stories like mine as evidence to support them," Cassidy, an advocate for trans rights, said. "I'm not mutilated; I'm not ruined or unlovable."

She feels her story is being hijacked by people saying she is the reason why H.B. 68 is essential.

The bill would ban gender-affirming care for LGBTQ+ youth.

"There's surgery, there's chemical intervention hormone blockers, a number of things like that and then counseling," Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said. "The first two are going to be banned by the bill."

Advocates for the bill, like Huffman, say the bill prevents allegedly confused teens and pressured parents from ruining minors bodies before they know who they are.

"Certainly, the parents are the most important decision maker in a child's life," he said. "But there are things where it's important for the state to step in and protect the child."

Athletics

Along with requiring schools, state institutions of higher education and private colleges to designate separate single-sex teams and sports for each sex, H.B. 68 provides the opportunity for legal action.

Anyone who feels they didn't get an athletic opportunity or "suffers a direct or indirect harm" can sue the school and district, interscholastic conference or organization that regulates the conference. If someone feels they have been retaliated against for reporting a potential "trans" student, they are also able to sue. The individual must bring the suit within two years after the "violation" occurs.

The bill mainly focuses on trans girls but also applies to male teams.

Six girls across Ohio may no longer be able to play on their sports teams if Republicans in the state get their way. Only three were approved to play for the spring sports season.

There are approximately 400,000 athletes participating in 7-12 athletics in the state, according to Ohio High School Athletic Association. They represent 0.000015% of the population. For the spring season, she and the two others represent 0.0000075%.

Results

Democrats and a couple of Republicans have tried to stop this bill. When it was passing the House, Republican state Reps. Jamie Callender and Brett Hillyer voted against it. In the Senate, state Sen. Nathan Manning voted against it. All the GOP no votes came from Northeast Ohio lawmakers.

And even though it passed, House Minority Leader Allison Russo has one last hope of it getting blocked.

"The big question is: what will the governor do if this comes out?" she asked. "Will he veto this?"

"Has the governor given any indication that he would veto this?" Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau asked.

"I don't know... It gives many members, Republicans and Democrats, a pause."

Governor Mike DeWine has spoken out against athletic bans previously.

"Transitioning didn't take my future away from me, but banning transition will take the future away from the kids who kill themselves because of this bill," Cassidy said.

The governor and his team said they are monitoring the bill but would not elaborate further.

"I'm not aware of exactly what has happened in the last few hours," DeWine told WSYX in Columbus. "I'm going to reserve that comment until I see the final bill."

Trans community center braces for impact of gender-affirming care ban as bill moves forward in Ohio

Wed, 13 Dec 2023 04:32:33 +0000

A Cincinnati transgender community center, Transform Cincy, has been preparing for the impact of legislation that has been moving through the Ohio Statehouse for months.

House Bill 68 would ban gender-affirming care for minors and prevent anyone not born female from participating in girls' sports in Ohio.

Tristan Vaught, Transform Cincy co-founder, said they fear the legislation banning gender-affirming care for minors could lead to young people diagnosed with gender dysphoria having increased complications.

"It's a sad space," Vaught said. "And this is why we continue to do the work, because that side, it doesn't look great."

Inside Transform Cincy, youth curious about their gender can experience alongside their families a safe place to explore their identity.

"They can take 15 to 20 outfits, shoes, accessories, free haircuts," Vaught said.

Vaught said if HB 68 passes, the services provided at the facility all non-medical would become more necessary for young people.

"It's a space to have community. It's a space to create identity, to explore identity, just to be," Vaught said.

Bill supporters testified to a Senate committee in late November that the gender-affirming care bans outlined in HB 68 including certain mental health treatments, medication like puberty blockers and reassignment surgeries would protect children in Ohio.

Matt Sharp with Alliance Defending Freedom testified before the government oversight committee as a proponent.

"This bill protects children. Children who deserve to have a natural childhood," Sharp said.

Others like Dr. David Bonnet testified that the science underlining gender-affirming care treatments, especially in the long-term, wasn't rock solid leaving room for harm.

"The medical literature with respect to gender-affirming care is incomplete at best," Bonnet said.

Retired pediatrician and Ohio American Association of Pediatrics consultant Christopher Bolling pushed back on bill supporters. He said the science behind gender-affirming care is constantly developing the same way all medical research constantly develops.

"Medicine is constantly evolving," he said. "Our treatment for cancer today is different than it was six weeks ago."

Bolling said that underscored why gender-affirming care should be left up to kids, their parents and medical professionals to decide without interference from lawmakers.

"I think that we need to meet families and kids where they are, support them, and allow them time and space and support to figure things out," he said.

Vaught pledged to continue providing people a safe place to be who they are if the care bans are signed into law.

"We've always existed," Vaught said. "We've always navigated this, and there are other ways to get through it."

WCPO reached out to Gov. Mike DeWine's office to determine his support for the bill and whether he would sign HB 68, and was told the Governor has not yet issued a statement on the bill.

The House passed HB 68, and the Senate's Government Oversight Committee is scheduled to hear it for a fourth time Wednesday.

5 things to watch at the Ohio Statehouse this week

Mon, 11 Dec 2023 22:34:01 +0000

Look for one last blitz of bills before Ohio lawmakers go on vacation until late January. Statehouse reporter Morgan Trau breaks down the five things to watch for this week at the Statehouse.

1. Marijuana policy

Lawmakers have been debating the guidelines around recreational use.

The Senate passed a more restrictive version, which the governor is urging the House to pass.

The House is fighting back against it and supporting its own version one that is more similar to what voters chose.

Both paths would likely lead to recreational marijuana for sale as soon as lawmakers agree.

2. House Bill 68

H.B. 68 is likely to be on the Senate floor. This is a bill that bans gender-affirming care for trans youth and bans trans kids from participating on sports teams.

3. House Bill 51 and Senate Bill 83

Two controversial bills are up in the air for full votes: H.B. 51 in the Senate and S.B. 83 in the House.

H.B. 51 was proposed by the gun lobby and prohibits police from enforcing federal firearm laws.

S.B. 83 would overhaul the higher education system to fight against so-called liberal bias.

It is unclear if either of them have the votes, and lawmakers on each side said it's likely they won't hit the floor this week.

4. House Bill 187

House Bill 187 is headed back to the House after being passed by the Senate. It would change how property tax is determined and increase homestead exemptions. There is a provision that would allow it to go into effect for 2023 taxes.

The Senate, however, changed it to focus on financially vulnerable people, which the House will now need to agree to. The bill sponsors are not happy with the changes.

5. Tobacco veto override

Should cities be able to ban flavored tobacco? Cities that have looked into these types of bans, like Cleveland and Columbus, would be able to ban flavors unless the legislature overrides the governor.

The governor has continuously vetoed legislation that would take away home rule when it comes to tobacco regulations. The latest was in the budget, the one that goes into effect in the new year.

The lawmakers have only this week to override the veto before the law goes into effect.

What's next?

There are plenty of other bills being heard and likely voted on this week. Session is expected to go into the late evening on Wednesday.

The next time the Senate is scheduled to meet for session is Jan. 24. The House has a Jan. 10 session as needed (which means it will likely be canceled) but an actual session on Jan. 24.

Adults can now legally possess and grow marijuana in Ohio — but there's nowhere to buy it

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 18:24:54 +0000

Ohioans woke up Thursday in a land of recreational marijuana limbo, in which adults can legally grow and possess cannabis at home, but cannot legally buy it.

That combination of factors related to a citizen-initiated statue voters approved in November is a recipe for disaster, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine said Wednesday night. He urged passage of a compromise bill setting parameters for carrying out Issue 2. The 11th-hour deal managed to make it through the Ohio Senate on the eve of the new law's effective date, but not through the Ohio House, which insistent there's no rush opted to adjourn.

DeWine predicted that black market sales would flourish in the state, making fentanyl- or pesticide-laced marijuana products more accessible and endangering Ohioans, including children who could be subjected to second-hand pot smoke at this holiday seasons festivities.

One regulator quipped that growing marijuana without being able to legally buy it must require immaculate conception.

Republican state Rep. Jamie Callender, sponsor of separate House implementation bill, told the House Finance Committee on Wednesday that DeWine and GOP Senate President Matt Huffman were wrong and that there is no drop-dead date for putting Ohio's legal sales scheme in place. He said home grow and possession could still proceed without incident.

Callender said he wants "to make sure we're thoughtful, that we've had adequate time to look at it and deal with the things that don't go into effect immediately that we can work on, and that voters' wishes are respected.

Republican House Speaker Jason Stephens did not speak to reporters Wednesday. But the chamber's No. 3 Republican, state Rep. Bill Seitz, defended the House's decision to adjourn without acting on the 160-page compromise, which was tacked onto an existing House bill that returns to the lower chamber next week.

Were not going to pass, sight unseen, such a monstrous proposition in 48 hours. Thats nuts, Seitz said. Lawmakers need adequate time to work through the complexities of setting up Ohio's adult-use cannabis sales, taxation and regulatory structure, he said.

State lawmakers, in fact, had four months last year to act. As a citizen-initiated statute, Issue 2 had to be submitted to them before going to the statewide ballot. After the GOP-controlled Legislature chose to do nothing, the measure was placed on the Nov. 7 ballot and passed with 57% of the vote.

As passed, it allows adults 21 and over to buy and possess up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis and to grow up to six plants per individual or 12 plants per household at home. It gave the state nine months to set up a system for legal marijuana purchases, subject to a 10% tax, with revenues to be divvied up between administrative costs, addiction treatment, municipalities with dispensaries and social equity and jobs programs supporting the cannabis industry itself.

With just days to go before the law took effect, Senate Republicans proposed a sweeping rewrite of what voters approved, angering the issue's backers and alarming both parties in the House. That first bill would have outlawed home grow entirely, cut the possession limit to 1 ounce, raised the tax rate on pot purchases to 15%, eliminated tax benefits for social equity programs that support the marijuana industry itself and directed most of the money to a general state government fund.

Under the compromise negotiated with DeWine and approved 28-2 by the Senate Wednesday, the number of marijuana plants allowed per household was cut to six, the higher 15% tax rate on purchases was retained and THC levels for cannabis extracts were reduced from the 90% allowed under Issue 2 to 50%. The deal restored the possession limit of 2.5 ounces, however, retained the 35% THC level for plants and nixed allowing Ohio state government to control most of the marijuana tax revenue.

In a move that garnered Democratic support for the measure, the compromise bill adds a provision not included in Issue 2 that calls for expunging the criminal record of anyone convicted of marijuana possession up to 2.5 ounces. It also adds protections for children, such as requiring child-safe packaging on legal marijuana products and banning ads targeting children a priority for the governor.

Ohio has never before made such significant changes to an initiated statute, according to Steven Steinglass, dean emeritus of the Cleveland State University College of Law and a leading expert on Ohios constitution.

Understand, this has never happened in Ohio, because the voters have only approved three initiated statutes in 111 years, and none of the three have been amended, repealed or fiddled with by the General Assembly," he said.

If legislators veer too far from the statute voters approved, the Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, the campaign behind Issue 2, or some other group can always pursue a referendum.

Because the proponents have some important constitutionally-authorized tools they might use, that should give the legislators an incentive to sit down with the proponents to perhaps reach a compromise over changes the legislators feel are necessary and that proponents feel are not violative of their legislative intent, Steinglass said.

Huffman said the compromise legislation is respectful of voters, while addressing important concerns.

Im opposed to (legalization), but its the law, the Senate president said. We dont want illegal sales the black market if you will to get a foothold.

Meanwhile, there are plenty of aspects of the new Ohio law that can be immediately enforced, said Louis Tobin, executive director of the Ohio Prosecuting Attorneys Association.

As of Thursday, its going to be very difficult to find probable cause and to prosecute people who are carrying around less than 2.5 ounces of marijuana, but prosecutors and law enforcement are still going to be on the lookout," Tobin said. People smoking in cars are still breaking the law, people carrying around more than 2.5 ounces are still breaking the law, people engaging in private sales are still breaking the law, people driving under the influence are still breaking the law.

Abortion, reproductive rights enshrined in Ohio constitution beginning today

Thu, 07 Dec 2023 16:54:13 +0000

What was Issue 1 in November is now officially an amendment to Ohio's constitution beginning Dec. 7.

Around 57% of Ohioans voted in favor of Issue 1 in the last election, choosing to enshrine choices on abortion, contraception, fertility treatment, miscarriage care and continuing a pregnancy.

The amendment prohibits the state from interfering or penalizing an individual's voluntary exercise of this right or any person or entity that helps in utilizing this right.

In addition, it also listed other rights that will now be cemented into the state constitution, including miscarriage care, fertility treatments, contraception, and the right to continue ones own pregnancy. While the use of contraception is not illegal in Ohio, and though its commonly called birth control, the medications are also used for other conditions like ovarian cysts, polycystic ovary syndrome and endometriosis symptoms.

The amendment text said lawmakers can restrict abortions after fetal viability, or when a doctor determines "the fetus has a significant likelihood of survival outside the uterus."

Parental consent isn't mentioned in the amendment and current Ohio laws regarding that will still be on the books.

Still, how and when the impact of the constitutional amendment that was Issue 1 will be felt is still unclear, even as it goes into effect. Passing legislation to bring Ohio law in line with the new constitutional amendment has so far been a non-starter with Republican lawmakers, who mostly opposed it and took extraordinary steps to defeat it.

Despite their decisive loss, Statehouse Republicans and anti-abortion groups have tried multiple times to stop Issue 1, including through a special August election where the only issue on the ballot sought to raise the majority threshold for passing constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%.

Just weeks after Issue 1 was passed by Ohio voters, several Republican representatives, including Jennifer Gross, who represents West Chester, still sought to rob it of any power. Instead of having judges and justices do their job by evaluating abortion issues, the lawmakers wanted to strip them of their duties due to perceived mischief by pro-abortion courts," they said in a news release published on the website for Ohio House Republicans.

For now, Republican Ohio House Speaker Jason Stephens has said legislation targeting the power of state courts will not be considered. GOP Senate President Matt Huffman has ruled out lawmakers pushing for an immediate repeal of Issue 1, as had once been suggested, saying nothing like that should be tried, at least in 2024.

"The Ohio legislature alone will consider what, if any, modifications to make to existing laws based on public hearings and input from legal experts on both sides," the press release said.

Then, Ohio Senators toyed with the idea of creating limits to the amendment voters passed. Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) told WCPO's sister station, WEWS, he was considering a 15-week abortion ban to cap the amendment.

"I don't know... I think it's a discussion that is in the future," the Huffman responded when asked if that ban would go against the will of the people.

Ohio State's Harrison, Illinois' Newton and Northwestern's Braun take AP's top Big Ten honors

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 17:33:10 +0000

Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. is The Associated Press Big Ten offensive player of the year, Illinois end Jer'Zhan Newton is defensive player of the year and Northwestern's David Braun is coach of the year.

Harrison is a unanimous AP All-Big Ten first-team pick for the second straight year. Newton, Michigan offensive lineman Zak Zinter and Iowa punter Tory Taylor are the other unanimous first-team selections by the voting panel of 23 media members who cover the conference.

The first team includes six players each from conference champion Michigan and Ohio State.

Ohio State's repeat first-team picks are Harrison, defensive end JT Tuimoloau and linebacker Tommy Eichenberg. Michigan running back Blake Corum and Zinter also were on the first team in 2022, as was Illinois' Newton.

Harrison, a finalist for the Heisman Trophy, is the Buckeyes' first receiver with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. He has seven 100-yard receiving games this season, and his 13 touchdown catches are tied for second nationally.

Newton was second in the Big Ten with 7.5 sacks, and he also recorded nine quarterback hurries and blocked four kicks. He was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Award.

Purdue safety Dillon Thieneman is newcomer of the year after he set school freshman records with six interceptions and 74 solo tackles. His 106 tackles are most among freshmen in the nation.

Braun, hired as Northwestern defensive coordinator last January, unexpectedly became the face of the program following the firing of Pat Fitzgerald in the wake of a hazing scandal. Braun was interim coach until last month, when he was hired to the permanent role. The Wildcats went from 1-11 last season to 7-5, the biggest turnaround in the Bowl Subdivision.

___

FIRST TEAM

OFFENSE u-WR Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State, junior, 6-4, 205, Philadelphia.WR Isaiah Williams, Illinois, junior, 5-10, 185, St. Louis.Tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Penn State, junior, 6-6, 317, Waldorf, Maryland.Tackle Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota, junior, 6-6, 325, Kansas City, Missouri.u-Guard Zak Zinter, Michigan, senior, 6-6, 322, North Andover, Massachusetts.Guard Donovan Jackson, Ohio State, junior, 6-4, 320, Bellaire, Texas.C Drake Nugent, Michigan, senior, 6-2, 301, Lone Tree, Colorado.TE Cade Stover, Ohio State, senior, 6-4, 251, Mansfield, Ohio.QB J.J. McCarthy, Michigan, junior, 6-3, 202, La Grange Park, Illinois.RB Blake Corum, Michigan, senior, 5-8, 213, Marshall, Virginia.RB TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State, junior, 5-10, 212, Hopewell, Virginia.PK Dragan Kesich, Minnesota, senior, 6-4, 240, Oak Creek, Wisconsin.All-purpose Cooper DeJean, Iowa, junior, 6-1, 207, Odebolt, Iowa. DEFENSE Defensive end Chop Robinson, Penn State, junior, 6-3, 254, Gaithersburg, Maryland.Defensive end JT Tuimoloau, Ohio State, junior, 6-4, 270, Edgewood, Washington.u-Defensive tackle JerZhan Newton, Illinois, junior, 6-2, 295, St. Petersburg, Florida.Defensive tackle Kris Jenkins, Michigan, senior, 6-3, 305, Olney, Maryland.Linebacker Jay Higgins, Iowa, senior, 6-2, 233, Indianapolis.Linebacker Tommy Eichenberg, Ohio State, senior, 6-2, 239, Cleveland.Linebacker Aaron Casey, Indiana, senior, 6-2, 235, Douglasville, Georgia.Cornerback Cooper DeJean, Iowa, junior, 6-1, 207, Odebolt, Iowa.Cornerback Mike Sainristil, Michigan, senior, 5-10, 182, Everett, Massachusetts.Safety Tyler Nubin, Minnesota, senior, 6-2, 210, St. Charles, Illinois.Safety Hunter Wohler, Wisconsin, junior, 6-2, 211, Muskego, Wisconsin.u-Punter Tory Taylor, Iowa, senior, 6-4, 232, Melbourne, Australia. SECOND TEAM OFFENSE WR Daniel Jackson, Minnesota, senior, 6-0, 200, Kansas City, Kansas.WR Roman Wilson, Michigan, senior, 6-0, 192, Maui, Hawaii.Tackle Josh Fryar, Ohio State, senior, 6-6, 313, Beech Grove, Indiana.Tackle LaDarius Henderson, Michigan, senior, 6-4, 315, Waxahachie, Texas.Guard Matthew Jones, Ohio State, senior, 6-4, 315, Brooklyn, New York.Guard Trevor Keegan, Michigan, senior, 6-6, 320, Crystal Lake, Illinois.Center Hunter Nourzad, Penn State, senior, 6-3, 320, Marietta, Georgia.TE Colston Loveland, Michigan, sophomore, 6-5, 245, Gooding, Idaho.QB Taulia Tagovailoa, Maryland, senior, 5-11, 208, Ewa Beach, Hawaii.RB Braelon Allen, Wisconsin, junior, 6-2, 245, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.RB Kyle Monangai, Rutgers, junior, 5-9, 210, Roseland, New Jersey.PK James Turner, Michigan, senior, 6-0, 196, Saline, Michigan.All-purpose Tyrone Tracy Jr., Purdue, senior, 6-1, 210, Indianapolis. DEFENSE Defensive end Adisa Isaac, Penn State, senior, 6-4, 249, Brooklyn, New York.Defensive end Nic Scourton, Purdue, sophomore, 6-4, 280, Bryan, Texas.Defensive tackle Mason Graham, Michigan, sophomore, 6-3, 318, Anaheim, California.Defensive tackle Tyleik Williams, Ohio State, junior, 6-2, 290, Manassas, Virginia.Linebacker Abdul Carter, Penn State, sophomore, 6-3, 249, Philadelphia.Linebacker Bryce Gallagher, Northwestern, senior, 6-2, 235, Raynham, Massachusetts.Linebacker Junior Colson, Michigan, junior, 6-3, 247, Brentwood, Tennessee.Cornerback Denzel Burke, Ohio State, junior, 6-1, 190, Phoenix.Cornerback Will Johnson, Michigan, sophomore, 6-2, 202, Detroit.Safety Dillon Thieneman, Purdue, freshman, 6-0, 205, Westfield, Indiana.Safety Sebastian Castro, Iowa, senior, 5-11, 205, Oak Lawn, Illinois.Punter Ryan Eckley, Michigan State, freshman, 6-2, 205, Lithia, Florida. INDIVIDUAL HONORS Offensive player of the year Marvin Harrison Jr., Ohio State.Defensive player of the year JerZhan Newton, Illinois.Coach of the year David Braun, Northwestern.Newcomer of the year Dillon Thieneman, Purdue.___ALL BIG-TEN VOTING PANELBob Asmussen, Champaign (Illinois) News-Gazette; Colten Bartholomew, Madison.com (Wisconsin); Bret Beherns, WCIA-TV, Champaign, Illinois; Frank Bodani, York (Pennsylvania) Daily Record; Angelique Chengelis, Detroit News; Graham Couch, Lansing (Michigan) State Journal; Dave Eanet, WGN Radio, Chicago; Bob Flounders, PennLive (Harrisburg, Pennsylvania); Brian Fonseca, New Jersey Advance Media (Newark); Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press; George Gerbo, Washington Times; Zach Hanley, WISC-TV, Madison, Wisconsin; Marcus Hartman, Dayton (Ohio) Daily News; Joseph Kaufman, Columbus Dispatch; Patrick Lanni, New Jersey Advance Media (Newark); Chad Leistikow, Des Moines (Iowa) Register; Sam McKewon, Omaha (Nebraska) World-Herald; Luke Mullin, Lincoln (Nebraska) Journal Star; Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star; Dylan Sinn, Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette; Chris Solari, Detroit Free Press; John Steppe, Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette; Darren Wolfson, KSTP-TV, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Ohio St WR Harrison Jr. named Heisman finalist

Tue, 05 Dec 2023 14:02:23 +0000

LSU's Jayden Daniels, Oregon's Bo Nix and Washington's Michael Penix Jr., transfer quarterbacks who have all played at least five college seasons, and Ohio State receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. were announced as the Heisman Trophy finalists on Monday night.

The Heisman has been given to the nation's most outstanding college football player since 1935. This year's winner will be announced Saturday in New York. The top four vote-getters determined by more than 870 voters, which include members of the media and former Heisman winners, are selected as finalists.

With Nix and Penix, the Pac-12 has two Heisman finalists for the first time since 2010 when Stanford's Andrew Luck was the runner-up to Auburn's Cam Newton, and Oregon running back LaMichael James finished third in the balloting.

The Pac-12 is in its final season with its current membership before 10 schools depart, including Oregon and Washington to the Big Ten.

A look at each finalist's road to Manhattan.

DANIELS

Daniels had one of the most prolific seasons in Southeastern Conference history for the 13th-ranked Tigers (9-3), his second at LSU and fifth overall after starting his career at Arizona State. He passed for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns and ran for 1,134 yards and 10 TDs.

Daniels is trying to become the third LSU player to the win the Heisman, first since Joe Burrow in 2019 another transfer quarterback in his second season in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Daniels is also trying to become the rare Heisman winner in the BCS/CFP era to win the award with a team that wasnt in contention for a championship late in the season. The last player to win the Heisman on a team with a 9-3 record was Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson in 2016.

HARRISON Harrison has 67 catches for 1,211 yards and 15 touchdowns, and his trip to New York gives No. 7 Ohio State (11-1) Heisman finalists in five of the last six seasons.Harrisons overall numbers lag behind some of the other star receivers around the country, but he was the most consistent threat for a Buckeyes offense that was breaking in a new starting quarterback and dealt with injuries to its supporting cast all season.He would be the fifth receiver to win the Heisman in the award's 87-year history, but the second in the past four years. Alabamas DeVonta Smith won in 2020 to become the first receiver to take the trophy in nearly three decades. NIX While Daniels went from the Pac-12 to the SEC and found stardom, Nix went the opposite way.After three years at Auburn, the former five-star recruit transferred to Oregon in 2022 and became one of the best players in the country, leading the eighth-ranked Ducks (11-2) to the Pac-12 title game.Nix has completed 77.2% of his passes, which is slightly behind the major college football record, and has thrown for 4,145 yards and 40 TDs. PENIX Penix is in his sixth college season after four injury-filled years at Indiana. He transferred to Washington in 2022 to play for coach Kalen DeBoer, his former offensive coordinator at Indiana, and has guided the second-ranked Huskies to 23 victories, a Pac-12 title and their second College Football Playoff appearance this year.This season, Penix has passed for 4,218 yards and 33 touchdowns.

Cotton Bowl pits SEC's Missouri against Big Ten power Ohio State in teams' 1st meeting since 1998

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 13:32:34 +0000

Missouri is headed to its first New Year's Six bowl game in the 10 seasons since the four-team playoff began and will play No. 7 Ohio State, which has never missed one. They meet in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 29.

The ninth-ranked Tigers (10-2, SEC) have 10 wins for the first time since 2014, when they won the Citrus Bowl in the first season of the College Football Playoff, a year after winning in their last Cotton Bowl appearance. They were 6-7 in each of the past two seasons, both ending with bowl losses.

In my wildest dreams, I dont know that I ever thought about being able to coach in the Cotton Bowl vs. Ohio State, fourth-year Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz said. So its something that Im going to be very, very present in, and really enjoy the moment.

Drinkwitz said the Tigers seniors have been through a lot, and that a 10-win season with a NY6 game is a reminder that all the hard work, dedication and hard practices were worth it.

The only loss for the Buckeyes (11-1, Big Ten) was 30-24 in their regular-season finale against Michigan, which won the Big Ten title and was the No. 1 team in the final CFP rankings released Sunday.

Ohio State played in the Orange Bowl on New Years Day 2014, just over a year before ending the 2014 season with a win over Oregon in the first CFP championship game. That game was played at AT&T Stadium, the home of the NFLs Dallas Cowboys and the Cotton Bowl.

Ohio State has a 10-1-1 series record against Missouri, but is 2-12 against Southeastern Conference teams in bowl games. That includes last years 42-41 loss to Georgia in the CFP semifinal Peach Bowl.

The Buckeyes and Tigers havent played since 1998, when Ohio State won 35-14 at home. This will be their first postseason meeting.

They play a tough schedule in the SEC. So theyve got to bring it every week and have some really good wins this year against Tennessee, Kentucky and South Carolina, Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. We know theyre a very good team, any time youre playing that type of schedule and winning like they are. ... But thats what you expect when you get into a bowl game like this.

CATCHING THE BALL

Ohio State standout junior Marvin Harrison Jr. and Missouri sophomore Luther Burden are two of the nation's leading receivers.

The 6-foot-4 Harrison has 67 catches for 1,211 yards and is tied second nationally with his 14 touchdowns. He is averaging 100.9 yards per game receiving, which ranks ninth.

Burden is 10th at 99.8 yards per game, only three total yards from a triple-digit average. He has 83 catches for 1,197 yards and eight touchdowns.

WALK-ON TO TOP RUSHER Former walk-on Cody Schrader, a super senior who began his career at Division II Truman State, is now the nation's leading rusher for Missouri.Schrader averages 124.9 yards per game, nearly 30 yards more than any other SEC player, while running for 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has TDs in nine consecutive games, and his fifth consecutive 100-yard game was a season-high 217 in the regular-season finale at Arkansas.He joins Oklahoma State's Ollie Gordon II and North Carolina's Omarion Hampton as finalists for the Doak Walker Award that goes to the top running back. Gordon led the nation in rushing before being limited to 34 yards on 13 carries against Texas in the Big 12 championship game Saturday, dropping his season average to 124.2. RISING TIGERS Missouri has won its last three games since a 30-21 loss at then-No. 1 Georgia, the only team to finish ahead of the Tigers in the SEC East. They are 3-2 vs. Top 25 teams, the other loss being to then-No. 23 LSU.The last time Missouri had been in the Top 10 was when being fifth in the final AP poll of the 2013 season, when the Tigers finished 12-2 after a 41-31 win over Oklahoma State in the Cotton Bowl. COTTON HISTORY Ohio State beat Southern Cal 24-7 in the Cotton Bowl at the end of the 2017 season. The Buckeyes' only other Cotton Bowl was New Year's Day 1987, a 28-12 win over Texas A&M (then in the Southwest Conference) in the game's former home and namesake stadium. ... The Tigers are going to their fourth Cotton Bowl. They also beat Arkansas on New Year's Day 2008, and lost to Texas in the 1946 game.

Buckeyes' Kyle McCord, OU's Dillon Gabriel biggest names in transfer portal as 30-day window opens

Mon, 04 Dec 2023 13:12:00 +0000

Ohio States Kyle McCord and Oklahomas Dillon Gabriel led a parade of quarterbacks into the transfer portal on the first day of a 30-day window football players can put their names out in search of another opportunity.

Arizona States Drew Pyne, Baylors Blake Shapen and Michigan States Katin Houser also entered the portal.

McCord beat out Devin Brown for the starters job in the preseason and threw for 3,170 yards and 24 touchdowns with six interceptions.

Gabriel ranks in the top 10 in Division I history in yards passing and passing touchdowns.