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Author: Ohio Capital Journal

Ohio suicides went up in 2022, according to new report from Ohio Department of Health

(Photo by Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline.)

BY: MEGAN HENRY – Ohio Capital Journal

This story is about suicide. If you or someone you know needs support now, call, text or chat the 988 Lifeline.

The number of Ohioans who died by suicide increased by 2% in 2022, according to new data from the Ohio Department of Health.

There were 1,797 suicide deaths in Ohio in 2022 — the 13th-leading cause of death in Ohio, according to ODH’s Suicide Demographics and Trends 2022 report. Suicide was the second-leading cause of death among Ohioans ages 10-14 and 20-34 that year.

Demographics

Males accounted for 80% of Ohio suicide deaths and Ohioans between the ages of 35-44 had the highest rate of suicide deaths.

Firearms accounted for more than half of all suicide deaths — 64% of male suicide deaths and 36% of female suicide deaths.

Breaking it down by sex, males 75 and older had the highest rate of suicide deaths and females ages 25-34 had the highest rate of suicide deaths.

Black non-Hispanics saw the the largest increases in rates of suicide deaths (16%) from 2021 to 2022. White non-Hispanics had both the highest rate of suicide deaths (16.1%) and the total number of suicide deaths (1,525).

Vinton County had the highest suicide death rate (38.8 per 100,000) and Mercer County had the lowest rate (9.4 per 100,000). Franklin County had the most suicide deaths with 168, Cuyahoga County had the second most with 163 and Hamilton County had the third most with 136.

Thirteen of the 15 counties with the highest suicide death rates were rural.

988 Suicide and Crisis Line

The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline moved to the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline two years ago and since then Ohio 19’s call centers have responded to nearly 340,000 calls, texts and chats — an average of more than 14,000 contacts each month.

“988 is saving lives,” Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement. “The lifeline is providing free, around-the-clock support to Ohioans in crisis by connecting them with someone to talk to for help at the moment it’s needed most.”

Ohioans facing a mental health or addiction crisis and their families members can call or text 988 or chat 988Lifeline.org to get connected to a trained call specialist who can help.

“988 is confidential and functions as a crucial gateway to crisis support within our communities,” Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services Director LeeAnne Cornyn said in a statement. “Our hope is that reaching out to 988 in a behavioral health crisis becomes as natural to Ohioans as dialing 911 in other types of emergencies.”

There have been an average of 9,804 calls from Ohio area codes; 2,686 texts received per month and an average of 1,652 chats per month.

Cities across Ohio are trying to raise awareness of 988.

The City of Columbus Department of Public Utilities put up more than a dozen signs about 988 throughout the city. Some of the police departments in Huron County have added 988 decals to their cars. Heidelberg University rented three billboards about 988 to inform students at the private college in Seneca County.

“Any person or organization that puts effort toward building awareness about 988 is helping save lives,” Ohio’s 988 Administrator Doug Jackson said in a statement.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

MEGAN HENRY

Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 20, 2024
Vance, Moreno blamed “fascist” rhetoric for Trump shooting. Both said similar things — about Trump

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Just after a 20-year-old shooter made an attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life last Saturday, a host of Republicans rushed to blame Democrats and the media for the shooting.

They include Ohio U.S. Senator and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance and Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bernie Moreno. They also include Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia even posted on X that the district attorney of Butler County, Pennsylvania, where the shooting took place, should file criminal charges against President Joe Biden.

All rushed to judgment in the hours after the shooting. Some did so even before the shooter’s identity had been released. Yet four days later, the shooter’s motives are unknown and even the basics about his politics remain vague.

But one fact seems clear. The two most prominent Ohio players in the post-shooting blame game have in the past compared Trump to the most noxious fascist of them all — Adolph Hitler.

Spokespeople for Vance and Moreno didn’t respond to requests for comment on statements the two made about Trump, whom they were against before they were for.

On Saturday, just two hours after a 20-year-old took shots at Trump, Vance took to X to blame Biden.

“Today is not just some isolated incident,” he wrote. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

In February 2016, Vance sent a text message to a former Yale Law School classmate in which he made an even starker comparison about Trump.

Vance said he’d been going “back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler.”

Trump is under federal indictment on charges that he tried to steal an election that he lost, he’s called to “terminate” the Constitution over his loss, he’s embraced political violence and police brutality — and he’s called his political opponents “vermin.”

In saying — repeatedly — that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” the former president clearly rhymed with Hitler, who several times used the same metaphor to attack Jews and any other “race” that he considered inferior to “Aryans.” Of Jewish men who “allow” Jewish women to marry Christians, Hitler said, “He poisons the blood of others but preserves his own blood unadulterated.”

It might seem that some of the rhetoric stems from Trump’s own words and actions. It might also seem that the rush to blame others for the shooting was really an attempt to bully people from speaking publicly about Trump’s anti-democratic conduct.

But to Moreno, the GOP challenger to Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, blame for last week’s shooting lies with the media and Democrats.

“They’ve been calling (Trump) Hitler for eight years,” Moreno said in a recording that his campaign posted on X. “The shooter is 20 years old. From the time he was 12 years old, they’ve been telling him (Trump) is the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler. If you could take a shot at Adolph Hitler in 1935, would you be a good person or a bad person? That’s how (the shooter) viewed it. That’s on them. It’s on them, meaning the Democrats, and also on the mainstream media.”

But on Moreno’s Twitter account in 2016, Moreno himself comparing Trump to Hitler. In a now deleted post, the future Senate candidate retweeted a poll featuring Trump and Hitler, and he appended a comment.

“He attacked immigrants, tries to silence the press, & appeals to the darkest part of human nature,” it said.

Moreno didn’t say to which man he was referring. But his use of the present tense is telling, given the fact that Hitler was 70 years dead at that point.

Moreno’s spokeswoman was asked for examples of the press comparing Trump to Hitler for the past eight years. She was also asked whether Moreno worried that blaming press and political opponents for Trump’s attempted assassination would paint targets on their backs, given all the armed, unstable people there are.

She didn’t respond.

MARTY SCHLADEN

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He’s won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 20, 2024
State Board of Education of Ohio continues to search for options amid dismal funding outlook

BY: SUSAN TEBBEN – Ohio Capital Journal

Another cloudy financial outlook has the State Board of Education of Ohio looking at further ways to make cuts, though the options are dwindling, according to leadership.

At the board’s July meeting, Superintendent of Public Instruction Paul Craft led the state agency’s budget committee through current balances and future projections for their $17 million operating budget.

With the changes made to carve out the board from the rest of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce — changes tacked on to the previous state operating budget by the General Assembly last year and allowed despite a lawsuit against it — the board is left to use only the funds collected from teacher licensure fees as spending money for the entire agency, according to Craft.

In a separate bill passed by the Senate just last month, $4.7 million would be transferred from the state’s general revenue fund to the board’s licensure fund, also called Fund 4L20. That bill was passed by the House as well, but because they made changes before approving the bill, the Senate will need to concur on the changes, which won’t happen until at least November, when the legislature is scheduled to come back from summer break.

“This fund, supported by license fees paid by teachers and other school staff, is used by the State Board of Education to pay its operating expenses,” an analysis of Senate Bill 117 by the Legislative Service Commission stated, adding that the expenses are associated with educator credentials, investigations and disciplinary actions for education misconduct and background checks for school teachers and staff.

But Craft told the committee the fund wasn’t previously used for all the board’s expenses, causing a tenuous situation that Craft warned of at the beginning of the year, as the funding they were receiving from the general revenue fund every year dried up.

In fiscal year 2022 and 2023, the licensure fund was “running some deficits,” Craft told the board committee, but with the general revenue funds, the agency was able to pay the bills.

“Things changed rapidly,” he said, once fiscal years 2024 and 2025 approached.

The expenditure line has “jumped up quite a bit” since the board became its own agency with only the licensure fund from which to draw money.

The board is now using Fund 4L20 to pay the rent for its office building, support costs and IT expenses, things that were folded into the state’s Department of Education (as it was previously called) general expenses when the board was a part of it.

“Those are now things that are being charged against the teacher licensure fund that had never been drawn against the teacher licensure fund,” Craft said.

Revenue projections for the 2025 fiscal year are coming in about $2 million less than hoped, Craft told the board committee, adding that the projections are also lower than “historical average.”

Some of the hits to the board’s wallet stem from a familiar place of financial hardship: the COVID-19 pandemic.

When lockdowns and school closures hit the state in March 2019, the fiscal year 2020 was impacted, including the process of renewing and approving teacher licenses.

“It was a very, very slow hiring year, as you can imagine,” according to Craft.

Because college courses were hard to access and renewals were harder to arrange, the state allowed teachers to take a one-year extension on their five-year licenses. But that gap in licensure fees hadn’t come to bear in the board of education’s revenue stream until now, since the licenses are now set to be renewed in fiscal year 2026 with the one-year extension.

The board also just received a $1.3 million bill for the Resident Educator Summative Assessment (RESA) contract, a program that is required of teachers by state law before they are eligible for a professional teaching license.

The board is also expecting new expenses from expanded background check processes through what’s called the RAPBACK system, also required by the legislature. That is compounded with paying the 11 state board employee salaries under the umbrella of a licensure fund that sees ebbs and flows throughout the year based on number of teachers, coaches and administrators who apply for them. Typically, the demand ends by fall, when education staff who need them have received them.

“Right now, you can see that we need to end the year with some balances in order to make it through the lean months that come in the fall, until we get to the better months in the spring,” Craft said.

The board has instituted a hiring freeze within its employee ranks, and already has a freeze on travel expenses for the Craft and his staff. In its July meeting, the board approved a further travel expenses freeze, this time on members of the board, and talked about reducing the number and time of meetings to accommodate those who come from farther distances.

But Craft said the options for cuts are thinning out, with almost 1/3 of the operating budget required either by contract or by Ohio Revised Code mandate.

“There’s $6.3 million of those things that we can’t just cut because we want to,” Craft said.

Several members of the board pushed for discussions with legislators about getting more funding, especially for things required by lawmakers.

“I have never seen a budget so bare-bones; asking (Craft) not to travel, not having administrative assistants, pretty soon we’re going to have to pay for our paper to have the copies on,” said board member Amy Fugate.

Diana Fessler didn’t deny the usefulness of the background checks through RAPBACK, but said if expansions are required by the legislature, they should help out.

“I agree with you that it’s a good thing, but it does seem like an area that there could be discussion about the General Assembly picking up the tab since the source of this effort is expensive, but necessary … but we could use some help,” she said.

For Walter Davis, the problem behind it all is a lack of awareness that members of the financially-troubled board were elected to do the job.

“I think we can’t lose sight of the fact that the majority of this body is constitutionally elected by the people of Ohio who have a right … to have a certain amount of independence from the legislature, their whims and wiles,” Davis said.

This story has been changed to correct the status of Senate Bill 117.

SUSAN TEBBEN

Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow (KY) Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 17, 2024
Former President Trump taps Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as running mate in 2024

BY: NICK EVANS – Ohio Capital Journal

A little more than three years ago, J.D. Vance was just an author and conservative commentator. Now he might be next in line for the White House. It’s a dizzying political ascent for the 39-year-old man from Middletown, Ohio.

Presumptive Republican Party presidential nominee Donald Trump announced Monday during the first day of the Republican National Convention that he has chosen Vance as his running mate in the 2024 Election.

His 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy put him on the national stage as many were searching for an explanation to the rise of Donald Trump. At the time, Vance himself was extremely critical of the incoming president, but by the time he was running for office in 2022, Vance had reversed his thinking. Instead of “cultural heroin,” he argued Trump was the “greatest president in my lifetime.”

Vance’s embrace of Trump helped him secure the former president’s endorsement in his U.S. Senate race, and since taking office, Vance has been one of Trump’s most consistent defenders. On cable news and Sunday talk shows, the Yale law grad has shown a knack for smoothing the sharp edges off of Trump’s latest pronouncements without walking back his point. As the Trump campaign works to extend beyond its conservative base, Vance’s skills as a communicator and translator — presenting a more palatable version of the nominee’s message — could help appeal to undecided voters.

Still, there’s plenty in Vance’s own messaging that could turn some voters off. As a U.S. Senate candidate he leaned heavily into anti-immigrant rhetoric. On the campaign trail and in office, he has stridently opposed ongoing support for Ukraine. That stance is particularly notable given Ohio’s substantial Ukrainian community and Vance’s predecessor, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman co-founded and chaired the Senate Ukraine caucus. Critics argue Vance’s statements about the war mirror rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin.

On the other hand, Vance has signed on to several bipartisan pieces of legislation. In addition to co-sponsoring rail safety and unfair trade legislation with U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-OH, Vance has backed U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s, D-MA, bill to claw back bonuses from executives at failed banks, and U.S. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse’s, D-RI, bill that would eliminate a lucrative tax exemption for larger mergers.

Vance has also praised FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan for taking a more critical view of business consolidation. That more aggressive posture has earned Khan the ire of traditional GOP allies like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

What does he bring to the ticket?

When a presidential nominee selects a running mate, they often attempt to answer a perceived shortcoming. The vice-presidential pick might come from an important state or region. Maybe they have strong connections with a particular interest group or represent a wing of the party. Perhaps they bring greater governing experience to the table.

Ohio State political science professor emeritus Paul Beck argued Vance’s appeal for the ticket certainly isn’t geographic.

“Well, I think one thing Vance doesn’t bring is votes in Ohio that Trump would need,” Beck said. “He doesn’t need them.”

In 2016 and 2020, Trump won Ohio handily. In 2022, as Republicans nationwide underperformed, Vance and every other statewide Republican candidate won their races in Ohio.

Beck contrasted Vance with former Vice President Mike Pence, who helped bring Christian evangelicals into the fold. Vance doesn’t have a similar affinity group to add, but Beck suggested he might help solidify support among one of Trump’s strongest groups of supporters — white working-class voters. Vance speaks their language, Beck argued, when it comes to trade and offshoring.

“It could well be that he brings that group or at least solidifies that group in the Trump coalition,” Beck said, but allowed, “I don’t think Trump needs, necessarily, somebody who is going to strongly appeal to that particular part of his base. On the other hand he doesn’t want someone on his ticket, I would think, who would be opposed.”

Instead, Beck emphasized Vance’s ability as a communicator. “He certainly has emerged as one of the most forceful and articulate defenders of a lot of conservative policy,” Beck argued. And as part of the ticket, he added, Vance could be an asset “downplay(ing) some of the major Democratic criticisms of Trump and deflect(ing) them in a way that is plausible.”

Personal perspective

Dan Driscoll first met Vance as part of a veteran’s group at Yale and described him a reassuring voice for a “scared, humbled, self-conscious” first year law student. In an interview Driscoll said he’s “thrilled for a friend I have a ton of respect for and our country to get an amazing leader.”

Since graduating, Driscoll has settled in North Carolina. In 2020 he ran for the Republican nomination for the congressional seat vacated by former Trump chief of staff Mark Meadows. He lost in a crowded primary to the eventual winner, former Rep. Madison Cawthorn.

Driscoll argued Vance’s run of success from a book, to a movie, to a venture capital fund — “most people, one of those would be an amazing lifetime achievement” — is no accident. He described the senator as “one of the single hardest workers” he’s ever met.

And like Beck, he pointed to Vance’s communication skills as a kind of a “superpower,” but insisted it works because he’s saying what he believes.

“My true genuine perspective is that he just wants to make a difference for a set of the population that seems to have been pretty overlooked since the 80’s or 90’s,” Driscoll said.

He argued Vance is skeptical of elite political consensus on issues like trade because it has contributed the hollowing out of working-class communities like Middletown where he grew up. It was a familiar part of Vance’s stump speech throughout his U.S. Senate campaign. Driscoll brought up examples of Vance working with some of the most liberal lawmakers in the Senate, and argued he wouldn’t do so unless they shared concerns about policies impact those communities.

“Even if what he’s saying doesn’t fit in these clean boxes of the left or the right, if he believes it, he will say it,” Driscoll argued. “And that’s really compelling to a lot of people, I think.”

Ohio Republicans applaud

Shortly after President Trump’s announcement came a wave of positive reaction from Ohio politicos.

Gov. Mike DeWine, who will be tasked with finding a replacement if Republicans retake the White House, congratulated Vance and praised his “unique life story (which) will resonate with Republicans and Independent voters across the country.”

DeWine has no shortage of options to fill the vacancy created by a Vance Vice Presidency, but whomever he settles on would face an election in 2026 to complete the remainder of Vance’s unexpired term.

DeWine added that “J.D. will also bring a new generational perspective to the ticket,” and that his experience growing up poor in Middletown, Ohio will help him relate “to the many Americans who are struggling right now to make ends meet.”

Republican U.S. Senate nominee Bernie Moreno has been an enthusiastic supporter of Vance, and the feeling is mutual. Vance endorsed Moreno for the U.S. Senate more than a year ago in hopes of avoiding a messy primary, and last November, he campaigned with Moreno outside Columbus — urging the crowd to “send me reinforcements.”

“President Trump made a brilliant selection in Senator J.D. Vance,” Moreno said in a statement.

Moreno described Vance as a “dynamic, visionary leader” and the “perfect messenger” for Trump’s agenda.

“He will fight with President Trump for our middle class, secure our border, and unleash American energy,” Moreno continued. I am proud to call J.D. a friend and I look forward to working with him to fire Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and Sherrod Brown.”

Several of the Ohio politicians who could be in the running if Vance’s seat opens up poured praise on the selection as well. On social media, State Treasurer Robert Sprague said “once again, President Trump hits it out of the park.” In a press release Attorney General Dave Yost called Vance a “perfect pick.”

“Tough, smart and high-energy,” Yost went on. “He knows what it’s like to have to fight, what it’s like to win, and what it’s like to serve.”

Both men are eyeing the governor’s mansion in 2026, and speculation has begun that DeWine might name a gubernatorial contender as way to create a less volatile GOP primary. Lt. Gov. Jon Husted is laying the groundwork to run for governor as well.

Two recent U.S. Senate hopefuls congratulated Vance on his selection as well. State Sen. Matt Dolan, who DeWine endorsed in this year’s GOP primary, described the pick as “great news for Ohio and America. We are in need of new, results-driven leadership in Washington, DC.”

Secretary of State Frank LaRose praised Vance as “an excellent choice,” who will “serve honorably.”

“J.D. Vance is a patriot, a thought leader, and a fighter for America’s forgotten working class,” LaRose said.

Ohio Democrats criticize Vance’s ‘political shapeshifting’

In a nod to Vance’s previous comments against Trump, Ohio Democratic Party Chair Elizabeth Walters released a statement after the selection pointing to his “political shapeshifting.”

“J.D. Vance is an out-of-touch millionaire who launched his political career by taking advantage of Ohio’s opioid crisis and has spent his time in the Senate humiliating himself in the service of a convicted felon instead of working to improve the quality of life for Ohioans,” Walters said. “His support for a national abortion ban and his twisted belief that women should stay in violent marriages for the benefit of their children exemplifies his dangerous extremism. He’s not just wrong for Ohio, he’s wrong for the country.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

NICK EVANS

Nick Evans has spent the past seven years reporting for NPR member stations in Florida and Ohio. He got his start in Tallahassee, covering issues like redistricting, same sex marriage and medical marijuana. Since arriving in Columbus in 2018, he has covered everything from city council to football. His work on Ohio politics and local policing have been featured numerous times on NPR.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 15, 2024
BREAKING: Trump picks Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate

BY: JENNIFER SHUTT AND ARIANA FIGUEROA Ohio Capital Journal

MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Donald Trump announced Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate Monday during the first day of the Republican National Convention, capping off months of speculation about who would get the nod as his vice presidential pick.

Vance has not been a member of Congress long, having less than two years experience as a senator and having voted against major bipartisan bills throughout his tenure in the upper chamber.

Before becoming a U.S. lawmaker, Vance served in the Marine Corps during the Iraq war, worked as a venture capitalist and wrote a book about growing up in Middletown, Ohio. He holds a law degree from Yale.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump, who will be nominated as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate on Thursday night, posted on social media.

“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….,” Trump added.

Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, received the news while he was speaking to reporters at the foundation’s all-day policy fest in downtown Milwaukee.

“You will see a broad smile on my face,” Roberts said, adding that he and Vance are “good friends” and that he “personifies” Heritage’s values.

“He listens. He’s thoughtful. He’s funny. He and I had a similar upbringing, challenging childhood, so we hit it off like that when we met. He’s obviously going to be his own man. He’s got to work with our conservative standard bearer,” Roberts said. “The second thing is in terms of policy, he understands the moment we’re in in this country, which is that we have a limited amount of time to implement great policy on behalf of forgotten Americans.”

Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence has distanced himself from Trump since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol building — requiring Trump to find a different person to join him on the ticket this year.

Pence was in the Capitol that day, when a pro-Trump mob attacked police officers, broke into building and disrupted Congress’ certification of the electoral college votes for President Joe Biden.

Pence has been critical of how the Republican Party has changed under Trump’s leadership, including rejecting how the platform evolved on abortion this year.

The Biden-Harris campaign immediately slammed the selection of Vance.

“Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people,” said Biden-Harris 2024 Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon.

“Over the next three and a half months, we will spend every single day making the case between the two starkly contrasting visions Americans will choose between at the ballot box this November: the Biden-Harris ticket who’s focused on uniting the country, creating opportunity for everyone, and lowering costs; or Trump-Vance – whose harmful agenda will take away Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive – all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations.”

Vance background

Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio in August 1984. After graduating from high school in 2003 he enlisted in the Marine Corps, later deploying to the Iraq War.

He attended Ohio State University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in political science and philosophy in 2009. Vance went on to attend Yale Law School, graduating in 2013 before working for the law firm Sidley Austin LLP.

Vance gained national attention with his 2016 memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” which tells the story of him growing up in poverty in the Rust Belt. However, the book faced backlash from many historians and journalists over his depictions of Appalachia and the people who live there.

The 39-year-old worked in San Francisco in the tech industry as a venture capitalist. He served as a principal at one of the firms of Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal.

Vance later moved back to Ohio and raised more than $90 million to co-found a venture capital firm in Cincinnati, Narya Capital, which received financial backing from Thiel.

Vance ran his first campaign for U.S. Senate in 2022, defeating Democratic candidate and former U.S. House Rep. Tim Ryan with 53% of the vote.

Since being sworn into office in January 2023, Vance has voted against several big-ticket legislative items, including the law that raised the debt limit, the national defense policy bill and two must-pass government funding packages.

Aid to Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan

Vance also voted against legislation that held $95 billion in military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as a ban on TikTok within the United States unless the social media app’s Chinese parent company sold it.

Vance was among the 18 senators who voted against that emergency spending bill heading to President Joe Biden’s desk. Another 79 senators voted to approve the legislation.

During floor debate on the supplemental spending package, Vance spoke out against sending more aid and arms to Ukraine, arguing that there were parallels between its fight to eject Russia from its borders and the U.S. war in Iraq.

“And the same exact arguments are being applied today, that you are a fan of Vladimir Putin if you don’t like our Ukraine policy, or you are a fan of some terrible tyrannical idea because you think maybe America should be more focused on the border of its own country than on someone else’s,” Vance said.

“This war fever, this inability for us to actually process what is going on in our world to make rational decisions is the scariest part of this entire debate,” he added.

Bipartisan efforts

Vance has also worked across the aisle on bipartisan legislation during his somewhat brief tenure in the U.S. Senate.

He sponsored a bill alongside Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, Pennsylvania Sens. Bob Casey and John Fetterman, all three of whom are Democrats, to address rail safety in the aftermath of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine.

Vance wrote in a statement released when the bill was unveiled in March 2023 that with the legislation “Congress has a real opportunity to ensure that what happened in East Palestine will never happen again.”

“We owe every American the peace of mind that their community is protected from a catastrophe of this kind,” Vance wrote. “Action to prevent future disasters is critical, but we must never lose sight of the needs of the Ohioans living in East Palestine and surrounding communities.”

The bipartisan legislation has yet to advance in the Senate to either a committee markup or a floor vote.

Ashley Murray contributed to this report.

JENNIFER SHUTT

Jennifer covers the nation’s capital as a senior reporter for States Newsroom. Her coverage areas include congressional policy, politics and legal challenges with a focus on health care, unemployment, housing and aid to families.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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ARIANA FIGUEROA

Ariana covers the nation’s capital for States Newsroom. Her areas of coverage include politics and policy, lobbying, elections and campaign finance.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 15, 2024
U.S. House Speaker cites unproven Ohio evidence in support of new proof-of-citizenship voting bill

BY: NICK EVANS – Ohio Capital Journal

The so-called SAVE Act would require documents like a passport or birth certificate to register to vote and echoes a Kansas law that disenfranchised more than 30,000 voters

This week the U.S. House approved the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility, or SAVE, Act, which contemplates dramatic changes to the way Americans register to vote and cast their ballots. The measure is a priority for House Speaker Mike Johnson, and he invoked dubious reports of noncitizens on Ohio’s voter rolls in a white paper backing the bill.

The proposal demands documentary proof of citizenship to vote, and the list of acceptable documents is narrow. In Ohio, most voters would probably need to present a passport or a birth certificate and photo ID to register.

More than 21 million eligible voters don’t have those documents at the ready, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Maryland Center for Democracy and Civic Engagement.

Realistically, the SAVE Act is likely dead-on-arrival in a Democratically controlled U.S. Senate. President Biden has committed to veto it if it made it to his desk. But critics warn that’s not the point. Instead, they argue the bill could lay the groundwork for spurious allegations of voter fraud following the election this fall.

“This is the first act,” America’s Voice senior research director Zachary Mueller said during a press conference ahead of the vote. The organization works to advance immigration reform that would create a pathway to citizenship for undocumented people.

Already, Johnson and other Republicans are framing Democratic opposition as trying to allow noncitizens to vote. And if Republicans lose elections in November, Mueller went on, the SAVE Act’s failure offers an antecedent for the GOP to argue “the reason why we didn’t win is because immigrants looted the ballot box and stole this election with the support of Democratic elites. And that lie is extremely, extremely dangerous.”

Ohio connections

To drum up support, Speaker Johnson’s office sent around a white paper insisting there is “irrefutable evidence” of noncitizens illegally registering and voting in U.S. elections. Among his examples was Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose’s recent report of 137 suspected noncitizens on Ohio’s voter rolls.

Although it’s possible some of those individuals have committed fraud, LaRose hasn’t proven it. And in an interview with conservative talk radio host Bob Frantz, he acknowledged those registrations could be “the result of an honest mistake.”

Under federal law, the BMV and other state agencies have to offer people seeking services voter registration forms. That’s part of the so-called Motor Voter law that has been on the books since the mid-1990s. In some cases, ineligible people fill out the forms, and even identify themselves as ineligible, but their registration is processed anyway.

Another potential explanation for those 137 flagged registrations may be for people who were recently naturalized. While a new citizen is an eligible voter as soon as they take the oath, until they visit the BMV, they might still look like a noncitizen in state records.

Of the 500-plus cases LaRose flagged before this latest batch, an Ohio Capital Journal investigation showed just one resulted in charges.

Although Republican officials regularly invoke the threat of noncitizens voting, they’ve yet to produce evidence of any widespread fraud. Brennan Center for Justice voting rights director Sean Morales-Doyle argued that’s because the consequences are severe and there’s no discernible benefit for the fraudulent voter.

“It’s a fairly unique crime,” he said, “in which the way you commit the crime is by putting down on paper, in a government record, your information, and the proof that you are committing the crime.”

He described it as an “infinitesimally rare phenomenon” for a noncitizen to vote illegally.

“And frankly, most of the time it turns out it was an accident,” he said. “It’s someone who misunderstood or often was misled about their eligibility, because someone who’s going in fully informed just isn’t going to take this kind of risk.”

Still, without evidence, Speaker Johnson claimed, “it is highly likely many more noncitizens remain registered to vote in Ohio.”

The speaker pointed to Ohio’s list maintenance program and argued it’s too cumbersome a process for identifying and removing alleged noncitizens.

But Ohio’s process for removing active voters reflects requirements laid out in the Motor Voter Act. In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the process. Writing for the majority, Justice Samuel Alito described how Ohio’s system follows federal requirements “to the letter.”

The SAVE Act does nothing to alter those restrictions.

Acceptable documents

Under the SAVE Act, voters would need to establish they are who they claim to be and that they’re a citizen of the country. That might seem simple, but it gets complicated quickly.

A driver’s license alone doesn’t work, unless it indicates citizenship. A handful of states offer that feature, including for instance, some along the border with Canada. But many states like Ohio do not.

A Social Security number won’t help either. Johnson’s white paper argues asylees, parolees waiting for a court date and people who have overstayed their visa could have gotten one for work authorization or benefits. Notably, there are three different kinds of social security cards, and those groups get restricted versions. Rather than taking steps to wall off those Social Security numbers from voter rolls — or to develop an alternative system for work and benefit access — the SAVE Act eliminates social security numbers as a form of verification altogether.

In terms of singular documents, the bill allows for any “valid government-issued photo identification card issued by a Federal, State or Tribal government showing that the applicant’s place of birth was in the United States.” But in practice, the only option in many states and situations would be a valid passport. That means most voters would have to provide a photo ID and a document related to their birth, adoption or naturalization.

Morales-Doyle argued there would be “devastating” consequences for voter eligibility if those restrictions were allowed to take effect.

“Nine percent of adult American citizens don’t have documentary proof of citizenship handy,” he said, referencing the University of Maryland study.

“When you think about it, whether you have an up-to-date and accurate, with-your-current-name-on-it passport or birth certificate that you can grab when you go to register to vote, literally (21.3) million adult American citizens don’t have that.”

Contingency plans

Even if a prospective voter has or can get the necessary documents, they could face further hurdles if their name doesn’t match up — say because of marriage or a divorce.

The legislation doesn’t explicitly lay out how to account for those discrepancies. Instead, it directs the federal Election Assistance Commission and each state to develop guidance on what additional documentation a citizen needs to provide.

For Americans who simply don’t have documentary proof of citizenship, the bill offers a similar catch-all process. The voter would have to bring whatever evidence they have and sign an “attestation under penalty of perjury” that they’re an eligible citizen. The election official would also have to sign an affidavit approving their application and explaining why their documents were sufficient.

Mueller from America’s Voice dismissed that provision as a “fig leaf,” and Morales-Doyle noted the bill also threatens election workers with fines and jail time if they wind up registering a noncitizen.

Morales-Doyle added one state in particular already tried the same idea. Former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach led the charge on legislation requiring voters there to show proof of citizenship to register. The law had its own “alternative route,” Morales Doyle explained, where voters could provide other documents to demonstrate their citizenship.

But in practice it led to more than 30,000 voters having their registration suspended or canceled. A federal judge struck down the law in 2018 and an appeals court upheld that ruling in 2020. The judges wrote that in 19 years, “at most, 67 noncitizens registered or attempted to register to vote.”

More to the point, Morales-Doyle argued, if the measure’s backstop amounts to swearing an oath and signing a document, it threatens havoc for election administrators around the country only to recreate the current system where voters affirm their citizenship on a voter registration form.

“If all it is doing is saying that well, actually, if you don’t have documentary proof of citizenship, you can just swear you’re a citizen, then it’s just leaving us exactly where we stand now anyway,” he said. “Which goes to show that this is not really a solution of any kind.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Nick Evans on Twitter.

NICK EVANS

Nick Evans has spent the past seven years reporting for NPR member stations in Florida and Ohio. He got his start in Tallahassee, covering issues like redistricting, same sex marriage and medical marijuana. Since arriving in Columbus in 2018, he has covered everything from city council to football. His work on Ohio politics and local policing have been featured numerous times on NPR.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 12, 2024
Ohio Secretary of State office move cost $147K more than promised, watchdog says

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. (Photo by WEWS.)

Sec. of State Frank LaRose moved his office to the same building where his campaign address was registered

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

It was already controversial last fall when Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose acknowledged that he was moving his office to new digs and abandoning its home of 20 years.

An analysis by a watchdog group now indicates that the move was substantially more expensive than LaRose claimed. And it all but demolishes one of the main reasons he gave for making the move — that it would save taxpayer money.

The analysis, by the progressive group American Oversight, is based on documents obtained through an open-records request. It found that the cost to move the state office in charge of elections and business filings came in almost 25% more than the estimate LaRose gave the public.

Last September, as he was beginning his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, local media learned that LaRose was moving his state office from 180 E. Broad St. to a swankier location along the Scioto Mile at 200 Civic Center Drive. The new location would be farther from the state Capitol, state office buildings and the heart of downtown than the three others under consideration, WCMH Channel 4 reported.

More controversially, the new offices are also in the same building as the law offices of BakerHostetler, LaRose’s campaign attorneys — whose address LaRose used in registering his campaign with the Federal Elections Commission. That raised concerns among ethics experts that LaRose might use taxpayer-funded facilities intended to administer elections to also run for one of them.

Suspicions were raised even further when LaRose claimed to not have a campaign headquarters as he ran for a top office in a major state. Political observers said such a large, complex campaign needed a headquarters, and there were concerns that LaRose would be using space somewhere in the new building as a de facto HQ. There were just too many temptations for abuse, they said.

But in October, he recorded a campaign interview with a now-imprisoned Steve Bannon in what was almost certainly the building that now houses the secretary of state’s office. Asked in person after the interview if he had used the building at 200 Civic Center Drive for campaign purposes or would in the future, LaRose stalked off without answering.

LaRose’s office refused to answer questions from the Capital Journal about those matters, or for this story.

But in October, he recorded a campaign interview with a now-imprisoned Steve Bannon in what was almost certainly the building that now houses the secretary of state’s office. Asked in person after the interview if he had used the building at 200 Civic Center Drive for campaign purposes or would in the future, LaRose stalked off without answering.

Then in December, LaRose’s spokeswoman conceded that he had campaigned out of the offices of BakerHostetler, but said he would not in the future.

A major justification LaRose used for making the move was that it would save money. But even the numbers he initially employed made the assertion highly questionable.

The move would save a little more than $11,000 a year on rent, but the relocation was estimated to cost $600,000. So it would be 2077 before the savings on rent would have covered the estimated cost of the move.

If the estimate was accurate, that is.

American Oversight requested “all expense reports, invoices, charge card or credit card statements, and receipts reflecting the total cost of the move of the Office of the Ohio Secretary of State to its new office location.”

The state’s response included $183,000 in invoices from the movers themselves. But it also included $314,000 for “building maintenance” and another $139,000 paid to King Business Interiors in November, as well as other expenses.

Taken together, they total $747,000 — $147,000 more than LaRose said the move would cost.

That disproves his claim that the move was a good deal for taxpayers — or at least for the vast majority of those now living. If that’s what the move cost, it’ll be 68 years — or nearly the next millennium — before the rent reduction pays what it cost to move the state elections office into the building where LaRose’s U.S. Senate campaign was officially registered.

MARTY SCHLADEN

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He’s won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 11, 2024
“She’s not going in the boys bathroom.” Ohio mom speaks out against trangender bathroom ban bill

Getty Image

The Ohio House recently passed a bill that would ban transgender people from using the bathroom and locker room that aligns with their gender identity.

BY MEGAN HENRY – Ohio Capital Journal

Bradie Anderson fears she will be physically harmed if she uses the boys bathroom at her Northeast Ohio high school.

The 14-year-old sophomore is transgender and her mom Anne said she has never had any issues with using the girls restroom at school.

“She’s not going in the boys bathroom,” Anne said. “If my daughter went into the boys bathroom, I would hate to think what would happen to her in there.”

But the Ohio House recently passed a bill that would ban transgender people, like Bradie, from using the bathroom and locker room that aligns with their gender identity. The bill now heads to the Senate for concurrence, but the legislators are on break until after the election.

______

Jean Schmidt (R) who represents Ohio House District 62 is a co-sponsor of HB 183.

Jennifer Gross (R) who represents Ohio District 45 is a co-sponsor of HB 183.

Thomas Hall (R) who represents Ohio District 46 is a co-sponsor of HB 183.

Bill Seitz (R) who represents Ohio District 30 is a co-sponsor of HB 183.

Adam C. Bird (R) who represents Ohio District 63 is a Primary Sponsor of HB 183.

______

“The bathroom bill is going to get kids hurt and put them in harm’s way,” Anne said. “Why would anyone want to put any child, even if you don’t understand who they are, in harm’s way?”

If the bathroom bill were to pass, Anne questions who is going to monitor the bathrooms.

“If you don’t look feminine enough, if you don’t look masculine enough, are they going to be questioned?” Anne said. “Because cisgender people are also going to get pulled into this as well.”

The American Medical Association opposes policies preventing transgender individuals from accessing basic human services and public facilities consistent with gender identity.

Anti-transgender legislation in Ohio

The bathroom bill is one of many anti-LGBTQ+ bills Ohio lawmakers have introduced in the General Assembly — including one that would ban gender affirming care and prevent transgender athletes from playing women’s sports and another that would force educators to out students to their parents.

“These are our kids,” Anne said. “They’re not talking points. They’re real kids.”

Bradie came out eight years ago and was kicked out of Catholic school for being transgender, forcing her to switch to public school where she started experiencing harassment from her middle school peers around the same time Ohio lawmakers started introducing anti-transgender legislation.

“She had been threatened with physical harm, threatening to cut body parts off of her,” Anne said.

The harassment has not stopped Bradie from advocating for herself and others. She has testified in committee meetings against the various anti-transgender bills and started speaking out at protests when she was 11, Anne said.

But all of the anti-transgender legislation in Ohio is taking a toll on Bradie, who receives gender affirming care.

“The last few weeks have been tough,” Anne said. “Bradie’s been crying. She’s been very upset. The combination of being harassed in our town that we live in and all of the anti-trans bills, especially the bathroom bill, gives her major anxiety.”

Bradie loves playing soccer, but because of all the scrutiny around transgender athletes, she’s not sure if she’ll play this fall.

“She’s so much more than being transgender,” Anne said. “She’s sick of the adult bullies coming for her in this town, and a lot of them don’t even have children in the school.”

Despite all of these proposed anti-transgender bills in Ohio, Bradie doesn’t want to move away.

“She shouldn’t have to,” Anne said. “I grew up here, and I’m not going to be run out of town because people are ignorant.”

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

MEGAN HENRY

Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

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July 8, 2024
Increasing the minimum wage will save 4,000 Ohio lives, study says

BY: MARTY SCHLADEN – Ohio Capital Journal

There may be some drawbacks, but increasing Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 an hour would save 4,000 lives and create a $25 billion benefit to the state economy by 2036, according to a study released last month by Scioto Analysis.

A group proposing to increase the minimum wage from the current $10.45 an hour to $12.45 and then to $15 did not submit petitions last week for the November ballot, and is now looking to bring the proposal to voters in 2025. The cost-benefit analysis by Scioto found that such an increase would reduce suicides, homicides, infant mortality and low-birthweight babies — phenomena that are associated with economic stress.

The analysis identified two downsides to the proposed increase in Ohio.

It would cost an estimated 73,000 jobs from employers who are likely to calculate that they can’t afford to pay the extra money. It also found that 89,000 fewer Ohioans would get associates and bachelors degrees, if national estimates are correct that increases in the minimum wage correlate to a 4% decrease in college enrollment.

However, the analysis said those costs are far outweighed by the benefits of increasing the minimum wage.

“We find increasing Ohio’s minimum wage to $15 per hour will result in a net benefit to society between $5 and $45 billion over the next ten years, with an average expected net benefit of $25 billion” it said. “The benefit will be driven by saved lives, with the minimum wage leading to an estimated total of 4,000 suicides, firearm homicides, and infant deaths avoided from 2027 to 2036.”

The reasoning behind some the analysis’ estimated benefits:

• Suicides — They relied on a 2020 study that said every $1 increase in the minimum wage corresponded to a 3.4% to 5.9% decrease in the suicide rate among adults with a high school education or less. Coupling that with the $9 million in value to the economy that the Federal Emergency Management Agency assigns to a single life, they found that suicides prevented would be worth $14 billion over 10 years in Ohio.

• Gun violence — Economic insecurity is associated with homicide, and a Johns Hopkins University study this year found that every 1% increase in the state minimum wage relative to the state median income corresponded to a 1.3% decrease in firearm homicide rates. Given that roughly 820 Ohioans are killed by homicide each year, the state’s proposed minimum wage increase can be expected to save roughly 1,500 lives over the coming decade, creating a $13 billion benefit over 10 years under Ohio’s proposed increase.

• Infant mortality — A study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that every $1 increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 4% decrease in infant mortality. With nearly 600 Ohio children between 28 and 364 days old dying in 2021, just over 1,000 infant lives would be saved over the next decade, creating a $9.1 billion benefit, the analysis said.

MARTY SCHLADEN

Marty Schladen has been a reporter for decades, working in Indiana, Texas and other places before returning to his native Ohio to work at The Columbus Dispatch in 2017. He’s won state and national journalism awards for investigations into utility regulation, public corruption, the environment, prescription drug spending and other matters.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

MORE FROM AUTHOR

July 8, 2024
New report looks at underlying causes of Ohio’s violent crimes

Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images

More than 30,000 violent crimes — including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — were reported in Ohio in 2023.

BY: MEGAN HENRY – Ohio Capital Journal

Many societal structures and systems can be drivers of violent crimes, according to a new report by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio.

More than 30,000 violent crimes — including homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault — were reported in Ohio in 2023.

“Even with laws and penalties such as arrest and incarceration in place, violent crime persists and causes significant harm to victims and communities,” the report states. “Community conditions and societal structures can support or prevent violent crime. Since the research evidence is clear that arrests and incarceration are detrimental to the health of individuals, families and communities, it is important to take an upstream approach for violence prevention.”

There’s lots of opportunities as a state to mitigate violence, said Tonni Oberly, one of the authors of the report, titled Criminal Justice and Health: Social Drivers of Violent Crime.

“We can then also be preventative and treat it as a public health issue by addressing those underlying root causes of violence,” she said.

Violent crimes in Ohio

Ohio ranks 34th in the nation in homicides and 80% were gun-related in 2022, according to the report.

Homicides peaked in Ohio during the COVID-19 pandemic, but have not returned to pre-pandemic rates, according to the report. Two of Columbus’ deadliest years on records were 2021 with 204 homicides and 2020 with 175 homicides. Cleveland had 192 homicides in 2020 and 165 in 2021.

Columbus and Dayton both recently had mass shootings in the same weekend.

There were 18,742 incoming domestic violence cases in Ohio in 2014 — a number that has increased almost every year since with the exception of 2020 — and there were 24,534 cases in 2023.

Societal Structures and Systems

Racism, income inequality, zoning and neighborhood planning, gender-related social norms, education, employment, healthcare, housing and criminal justice are all structures and systems that can contribute to violent crime, according to the report.

“All of these structures and systems are also interconnected and interrelated, whether we have typical and current ongoing racist policies that have shaped the way communities are structured and the resources that people have access to,” Oberly said. “All of that aligns with income inequality, with how neighborhoods are shaped, and funding that goes into them, and that, of course, ties into the systems that drives violent crime as well.”

Redlining and the building the Interstate Highway System through communities of color in the 1950s are two examples of historical policies and practices.

“These … resulted in poor community stability, lower home valuations, increased foreclosures and limited economic mobility in majority-Black, Hispanic and Asian neighborhoods,” the report said. “As a result, many of these communities experienced concentrated disadvantage, which includes limited educational and employment opportunities and higher rates of poverty, unemployment and food insecurity that continue today.”

Ohio ranks 30th when it comes to income inequality, which puts people at risk for a shortened life span, poor health and increased neighborhood and interpersonal violence.

The report illustrates that increases in income supports — such as increased minimum wage, Earned Income Tax Credits and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — have been shown to lower violence and result in less firearm homicides.

Zoning and neighborhood planning can also play a role in the amount of violence in a particular area.

The report explained the relationship between alcohol outlet density and violent crime in a neighborhood. Off-premise outlets such as liquor and convenience stores are associated with higher rates of violent crime compared to on-premise outlets such as bars and restaurants.

“Alcohol outlet density is a prime example of how zoning impacts violence,” according to the report. “Due to inequitable zoning codes and weakened political power, communities of color and low-income neighborhoods are more likely to have a high density of alcohol outlets.”

Ohio’s liquor sales have increased 98% in the past two decades while the state’s adult population has gone up 8%. Ohio ranks 34th in the nation for excessive drinking.

Legislative actions

There have been legislative attempts to curb violent crimes.

The DeWine administration gave $20 million in grants to support more than three dozen community-based intervention programs to reduce violence and help victims of crime as part of the Community Violence Prevention Grant Program, according to the report.

An Ohio law will go into effect in August that bans all forms of spousal rape.

DeWine recently signed a bill into law that will go into effect in September that aims to help formerly incarcerated people find stable housing.

House Bill 420 would create the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention within the Ohio Department of Children and Youth which would administer grant programs to reduce firearm violence. Reps. Darnell T. Brewer, D-Cleveland, and Munira Abdullahi, D-Columbus introduced the bill earlier this year, which is in the House Finance Committee.

The report recommends implementing evidence-based firearm safety policies that includes child access prevention laws and firearm licensing laws.

Ohio is not one of the 30 states with child-access prevention laws nor is Ohio one of the 14 states that require checks at the point of transfer for all firearms.

The report also recommends increasing housing affordability, alcohol policies, including density zoning and pricing; and education, employment and criminal justice reform.

Follow OCJ Reporter Megan Henry on Twitter.

MEGAN HENRY

Megan Henry is a reporter for the Ohio Capital Journal and has spent the past five years reporting in Ohio on various topics including education, healthcare, business and crime. She previously worked at The Columbus Dispatch, part of the USA Today Network.

Ohio Capital Journal is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.

MORE FROM AUTHOR

July 8, 2024