Two groups who had already committed to separate efforts to get reproductive rights in the hands of Ohio voters have now merged and set an end goal: abortion access on the November ballot.
Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights announced Thursday that they are joining together to “file language with the Ohio Attorney General to place a citizen-initiated constitutional amendment to restore and protect reproductive rights and abortion access on the November 2023 statewide general election ballot.”
“This grassroots initiative – by and for the people of Ohio – is foundational to ensuring access to abortion and the right to bodily autonomy, not only for ourselves, but for generations to come,” said Kellie Copeland, executive director of Pro-Choice Ohio and member of Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, said in the announcement.
The groups said the constitutional amendment will look similar to a Michigan amendment which voters approved in November 2022.
After the amendment is drafted and reviewed by the state Attorney General and Ohio Ballot Board, the groups plan to circulate petitions to place the issue on the ballot.
Rumblings of a constitutional amendment have been floating for months now, spurred on by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court overturned decades old nationwide rights to abortion nationwide in Roe v. Wade.
Placing the measure on the 2023 ballot was called a “moral imperative” which “offers the best prospects for success,” according to Dr. Lauren Beene, executive director of the OPRR.
“The lives and health of Ohioans have been at risk since Roe was overturned,” Beene said in a statement. “That is why we must seize the earliest possible opportunity to ensure that doctors and patients, rather than politicians and the government, are empowered to make decisions about pregnancy, contraception and abortion.”
The ballot measure might have another issue if in-fighting within the state’s Republican caucus continues. One side of the caucus is promoting the controversial legislation that would raise the threshold to approve constitutional amendments, while House Speaker Jason Stephens didn’t list it as one of the priority bills he and his faction unveiled on Wednesday.
Republicans on both sides of the aisle have expressed interest in legislative prohibitions to abortion since the downfall of Roe, and both sides are awaiting the resolution of a court case under which a six-week abortion ban is paused indefinitely as appeals go through.
Symmes Township, Ohio – The Smith Corporation will be installing a sanitary sewer between 9310 and 9360 Union Cemetery Road beginning Monday, February 20th. The closure is expected to last through Friday, March 17th.
The project will eliminate three household sewage treatment systems. Metropolitan Sewer Disrrict proposes to construct approximately 500 linear feet of 8-inch diameter gravity sewer, four 6-inch diameter sewer laterals, and sewer appurtenances.
If you should have any issues, it is suggested you contact Jay Smith with Smith Corporation at (513)782-8882 or Kurtis Boggs with the Hamilton County Engineer’s office at (513)946-8430.
Every day more details emerge from Ohio’s billion-dollar bailout bribery trial showcasing gargantuan levels of arrogance, corruption, and enabling among energy executives and Ohio’s most powerful Republican politicians.
Pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling, Clark described to undercover FBI agents how to make dark money contributions in a way calculated to get a public official’s attention, saying those should come in chunks of $15,000, $20,000, $25,000 or more.
“Based on a Supreme Court decision, businesses can do this and nobody can do anything about it,” Clark said. “Politicians can get a bunch of money and say, ‘I didn’t know.’”
And that exactly how many Ohio politicians have been operating, this trial is showing: Selfish, reckless, greedy, amoral, large-scale, pay-to-play grift.
The scope of corruption at every turn in Ohio is a bit staggering, so let’s take a look at all we’ve learned so far, all together in one place:
Indicted former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. Official photo.
Executives from financially struggling FirstEnergy flew Ohio House speaker aspirant Larry Householder and associate Jeff Longstreth to D.C. on the FE corporate jet in January 2017 for some swanky steakhouse dinners.
Partners for Progress was the dark money project of then-FirstEnergy lobbyist Dan McCarthy. It received $5 million from FirstEnergy within a few weeks of when McCarthy founded it.
Juan Cespedes. Photo provided.
During a meeting between Householder and FirstEnergy lobbyists in October 2018, a lobbyist named Robert F. Klaffky slid an envelope containing a check for $400,000 across the table and under Householder’s hand as they discussed a $1.3 billion ratepayer bailout of failing nuclear and coal plants, former FirstEnergy lobbyist Juan Cespedes testified.
“Our client cares very much about this issue,” Klaffky told Householder.
“We were trying to establish the fact that our support was specifically tied to the legislation,” Cespedes said.
All told, Householder’s dark money political machine amassed $61 million in utility company contributions to elect a legislature that would make him speaker and pass the bailout.
Why did it go through the dark money groups like that? It was thought to be bad optics if the struggling company were publicly giving the money, Cespedes said in testimony.
Even though he was supposed to be regulating the utility, the official, Sam Randazzo, played a role in writing the bailout legislation, according to documents released by the Ohio House.
Center, former Ohio Republican Party chair, and statehouse lobbyist, Matt Borges with his attorneys outside of the federal courthouse. Photo courtesy of WEWS.
“He’s going to be a friend in this process,” Borges texted to Cespedes. “So let’s be prepared to speak up for him.”
Cespedes responded, “We will support him more than anyone.”
Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. Official photo.
Kiani had plans to operate the two FirstEnergy Solutions nuclear power plants in Ohio for a short period, get a government bailout and then sell the power plants in a deal in which he stood to make $100 million, Cespedes testified.
DeWine and Husted, as well as Yost and LaRose, were reelected to second four-year terms in 2022.
Husted, Yost, and LaRose are all poised to continue to seek political advancement in Ohio.
Generation Now, Cespedes, and Longstreth have pleaded guilty.
FirstEnergy entered into its deferred prosecution agreement.
Neil Clark died by suicide in 2021, nine months after being indicted by federal prosecutors.
The federal racketeering trials of Householder and Borges are ongoing and expected to last until March.
Jurors will review all the evidence and decide their fate.
It will be up to Ohioans to decide how long we will continue to allow our politicians to rob and abuse us in service to themselves and private interest profiteering.
Every day we learn more about how Ohio government has really been operating under the design of unscrupulous thieves and grifters, rotting the institutions of our state into a national joke and embarrassment: a grotesque totem to pay-to-play corruption; a decayed and decrepit husk of representative democracy.
Calling all 3rd, 4th & 5th graders. The Hamilton County Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency’s 6th Annual #SevereWeather Poster Contest has kicked off and they want your submissions.
The 1st place winner will get the chance to report the weather with WCPO’s Steve Raleigh. The 2nd place winner will receive a disaster preparedness kit from American Red Cross.
Entry is open to all Hamilton County elementary school students in GRADES 3, 4, AND 5 in public, private, and charter schools, as well as any students being homeschooled.
Poster theme should depict what severe weather in Ohio means to the student and/or what actions to take to prepare and stay safe.
Creativity is the key. Individual work is encouraged. Posters with stencils, traced, computer- generated or commercially manufactured stick-on lettering or images will be disqualified.
Poster should be no larger than 11”x14.” Those larger than the identified size may be disqualified.
Students should use only crayon, markers, colored pencils, or watercolor/acrylic paint.
Themes
When creating your poster, focus on one of the following themes:
FIVE R.R. CARS ON THEIR SIDE AFTER TRAIN DERAILMENT
Loveland, Ohio – Early on the morning of Tuesday, August 31, 2004, five cars from a CSX train that had just passed through Historic Downtown Loveland derailed and ended up on their sides within thirty-five feet of O’Bannon Creek. The last car in the train had just passed West Loveland Avenue when it came to a halt. The train was heading northeast towards Goshen Township and early speculation from firefighters at the scene was that faulty and decayed wooden railroad crossties caused the accident.
Twisted track underneath one of the damaged railroad cars.
It was a tight-lipped CSX official who would say no more than that six train cars were involved and that the cars were not carrying hazardous materials. The derailment began on a curve in the track in the heart of downtown near the historic train depot that is now the Fleet Feet store. The cars came to a halt about one-thousand feet later, just west of St. Route 48 and the automobile bridge over O’Bannon Creek. The official said that the accident was on private railroad property and that no media was allowed to view or photograph the accident. A Loveland firefighter later escorted Loveland Magazine to the scene.
A CSX worker looking for leaks from an overturned tanker.
It was later revealed by Loveland Magazine that a tank car full of toluene was only a few cars behind the ones on their sides and was heading into the wrecked cars.
Two tankers and three boxcars were on their side.
Loveland Police Chief Dennis Rees said that at first, the train conductor was very uncooperative and he even had trouble getting the man to give him his name, and then he only offered his first name. Rees said, “They were very secretive.” Rees also said the conductor at first refused to give him the train’s manifest so emergency personnel could tell what dangers emergency responders and the nearby residents faced. Rees then instructed one of his officers to place the train conductor in handcuffs if he didn’t produce the manifest. Rees said the conductor, then handed over the paperwork.
Atlas Railroad Construction Company workers measuring and inspecting the track.
The railroad notified the police department about the accident at 3:39 AM. Personnel from the Atlas Railroad Construction Company was on hand later in the morning measuring and inspecting the track at the point where the damage caused by wheels dragging along the railroad ties was first apparent. Late into Wednesday evening, there was an abundance of heavy equipment at the site working to remove the damaged cars and make track repairs.
According to Miami Township Fire and EMS Chief, James Whitworth, police and fire personnel from Loveland, as well as members of the Goshen, Miami, Union, and Hamilton Township fire departments responded. More than forty, fire and police personnel were at the scene as well as numerous personnel from CSX, the American Red Cross, and an emergency Petroclean Hazmat team.
Only one of the cars was leaking a small, but steady stream of what was described as candle wax, and no injuries were reported.
There was damage to both sets of parallel railroad tracks.
The train tracks were damaged, when the overturned cars skidded and dug into the parallel tracks along this part of the railway line.
Loveland Magazine reported at the time that the “CSX Corporation was the parent company of a number of subsidiaries that provide freight transportation services across America and around the world. Formed in 1980, CSX Transportation operated the largest rail network in the eastern United States.”
When the different fire departments responded to the scene, they loaded more than 3,000 feet of large-diameter hose on the back of a flatbed truck. They then drove the truck to the overturned cars, turned the truck around, and went back the quarter mile to the fire hydrants on St. Rt. 48, all along, laying out the hose and coupling it together from the back of the truck.
Toluene is extremely flammable and harmful if inhaled or swallowed and is a central nervous system depressant. The vapor may cause headache, nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, confusion, and incoordination. Toluene is a teratogen and can cause malformations of an embryo or fetus. Had this car been full and the contents leaked into the nearby O’Bannon Creek which empties into the Little Miami River, tens of thousands of people would have been affected as drinking water wells for Milford, Indian Hill, and communities south of Loveland that pump drinking water from wells along this river. Loveland’s wells are upstream from where the O’Bannon feeds into the Little Miami River.
No 8 seed Loveland advanced in the State tournament Wednesday night in a game played at Lakota East High School by defeating #16 seed Oak Hills. Josie Early led all scorers in the 48-34 contest with 16 points. She was 7 for 9 from the charity stripe. Charity is a misnomer when it comes to Early. She more than earns those trips to the foul line almost never seeing a clear way to the rim as defenses double-team and collapse on her trips inside the circle. The Senior 5’7″ guard pulled down 5 rebounds and stole the ball from the Highlanders 4 times.
Ten of Olivia Rabe’s 14 points were a result of her perfect 10-10 night at the foul line. Rabe is a 6’2″ Senior.
Senior Forward Olivia Rabe also earns each of her trips to the foul line. She was 10 for 10 against Oak hills.
Mason (15-1, 23-1) advanced after beating Anderson 60-27 on February 5 and this past Wednesday evening by beating Northwest 67-8. Mason’s only loss was on December 7th when they traveled to Lakota East, 52-48. The Comets are on a 17-game win streak. Mason won the GMC conference title. Mason’s top scorer is Sophmore guard #20, Madison Parrish who scored 28 in Mason’s 63-62 win at Princeton on January 11. She averages 13.3 points.
The Tigers are 11-5, 17-5 for the season, and finished ECC competition # 3.
The Tiger vs Comets game is on Tuesday, February 21 at 5 PM and will be played at Harrison High School.
Ohio Statehouse Democrats have been in discussions with environmental groups and first responders to talk about how to help East Palestine recover from the toxic chemicals leaked as a result of a Norfolk Southern train derailment.
Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, joined with Assistant Minority Whip Sen. Paula Hicks-Hudson, D-Toledo, and state Rep. Lauren McNally, whose 59th House District includes East Palestine, to talk about protecting residents and bringing federal resources to the area.
“What we’re looking at is a town and the citizens of this town that are being hit with a big question mark,” Hicks-Hudson said.
The town was tipped into panic after a Norfolk Southern train transporting various chemicals, among them toxic vinyl chloride, derailed, spilling the chemicals and causing an areal evacuation ordered by Gov. Mike DeWine.
Though the residents have been allowed back, the leak and the subsequent clean up methods have left many residents and state leaders wondering how the derailment happened and what the environmental effects will be for years to come.
There have already been reports of animal deaths and sicknesses connected to the chemical spill, and alerts that not only the local water supply but the Ohio River may have been infiltrated by vinyl chloride and the other contaminants housed in the train cars.
In a Tuesday press conference, DeWine and other state officials said the leak and fire used to burn off the chemicals killed off thousands of fish in the waterways, though vinyl chloride has not been found in downriver water samples.
Here are resources provided via the Ohio EPA and U.S. EPA for those affected by the East Palestine train derailment:
For smells, fumes, animals, health and other concerns: Taggart Road Incident Hotline: (234) 542-6474
To request in-home air testing (for residences within the 1-mile evacuation zone): Residential Re-Entry Request Hotline: (330) 849-3919
Private water well questions: Columbiana County Health Department: (330) 424-0272
Any other Ohio EPA-related calls about the incident can be directed to the Public Interest Center’s Lisa Cochran or Mary McCarron:(614) 644-2160
One week on from the lifting of the evacuation order, Democrats say they are looking to work with Republicans on legislative fixes to the faults spotlighted by the derailment. To prepare themselves, Antonio, Hicks-Hudson, and particularly McNally met with first responders and environmentalists to talk about how to respond to the incident, and how to prevent it from happening again.
“It’s not just East Palestine and it’s not just the residents, it’s the businesses, it’s the entire Mahoning Valley,” McNally said. “It goes to show you how huge this catastrophe has affected a very tiny town.”
One of the people the Democrats met with was Jon Harvey, president of the Ohio Association of Professional Firefighters, who pushed for a statewide incident management system that would bring together decision makers in one spot in a quicker amount of time.
“One of the issues that you have is the different jurisdictions that come in and the type of decisions they can make,” Harvey said.
Legislators and experts alike want to see a state of emergency declaration open up federal resources to the area to help residents with things like the cost of bottled water and longterm health monitoring. Melanie Houston, managing director of water policy for the Ohio Environmental Council, said the state should also own the authority the Ohio EPA and the US EPA have to hold Norfolk Southern accountable.
“They can do things like issue penalties and put companies like Norfolk Southern under orders,” Houston said, meaning mandatory measures that the companies must complete. “We want to see the Ohio EPA and the US EPA lean into those authorities.”
A disaster declaration is something Antonio said she knows DeWine is also looking into, and it “sounds like something that we may advocate for.”
CINCINNATI — Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges paid $15,000 off the books in 2019, a witness testified Tuesday. It was in an attempt to gather inside information about the campaign to repeal a $1.3 billion utility subsidy that had just been passed by the legislature, a Borges associate said.
In addition, the chairman of the company that benefited most from the subsidy in an email referred to the scheme as a “black op” and said he was prepared “to do whatever it takes” to defeat the repeal effort, the witness, Juan Cespedes, said. Coincidentally, the chairman, John Kiani, started his career at Enron, a Houston Energy company that collapsed under a wave of unmet contracts and accounting scandals in 2001.
It was the 11th day in the federal court trial of Borges and former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, R-Glenford. Borges is accused of assisting Householder and others in a scheme to use $61 million from Akron-based FirstEnergy to make Householder speaker and pass the massive bailout.
The bulk of the bailout was intended to benefit money-losing nuclear and coal plants owned by FirstEnergy subsidiary FirstEnergy Solutions. It was going through bankruptcy proceedings and executives with the parent company and the subsidiary desperately wanted the bailout to complete the bankruptcy, spin off FirstEnergy Solutions and possibly sell the nuclear plants.
Gov. Mike DeWine signed the bailout the same day it passed in 2019, but a repeal effort started amid reports that it was “the worst energy bill of the 21st century.” Not only did it prop up 70-year-old coal plants under the guise of being a “Clean Air Program,” it also gutted the state’s renewable energy standards.
Borges was part of a team of lobbyists who worked to pass and protect the bailout, House Bill 6. And, because of his long experience in Ohio politics, he was asked to make use of some of his relationships in the effort, Cespedes, another member of the team, testified.
Cespedes was also charged with racketeering, but he pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors.
The off-the-books payment
One of the primary acts Borges is charged with has to do with a $15,000 payment he made during the repeal effort to Tyler Fehrman, who was helping manage the campaign to gather enough valid signatures to get the repeal on the ballot.
Inside information was valuable to the pro-H.B. 6 team because it enabled them to gauge the strategy and likelihood of success of the repeal effort.
Cespedes testified that he tried to keep the plan to recruit Fehrman from Kiani, the FirstEnergy Solutions chairman whose company financed a big portion of the fight against the repeal. Kiani was a hard-charging executive and Cespedes believed that once he learned of the spying effort, he would press the operatives relentlessly.
However, Cespedes said, Borges told Kiani about it, and it seems Cespedes’s worries were well founded.
In an Aug. 31, 2019 text, Kiani asked “what happened to the black ops?” in a reference that Cespedes said was to the spying effort. Then, in a Sept. 2, 2019 text, Cespedes told Borges that Kiani, “reiterated to do whatever it takes to get this information.”
It appears that Fehrman was paid, but it’s unclear what he was paid for.
In taped conversations played earlier in the trial, Borges discussed paying Fehrman, but he claimed to Fehrman that it was for work Fehrman might do some time in the future. But Borges made other statements that seemed to show that he knew the two were doing something wrong.
“It would be bad for both of us if the story came out,” he told Fehrman in a recording that Fehrman made with the help of the FBI. “But it would be worse for you.”
On Tuesday, Cespedes testified that he roughed out a budget at the time of the repeal campaign. He made an entry in it to pay $25,000 to an “employee.” Cespedes said the money was intended for Fehrman.
Asked why he used “employee” to label the entry, Cespedes said, “I wasn’t going to write ‘bribe.’ I wasn’t going to write anything nefarious.”
Prosecutors displayed a photograph of what they said was a contemporaneous budget that Borges roughed out in a notebook that Cespedes had photographed. Cespedes testified that when he asked Borges why a payment to Fehrman wasn’t in it, Borges “simply said it wasn’t something he wanted to write down.”
Cespedes testified that Fehrman later went quiet on Borges and Cespedes assumed that their deal had fallen through. But after the repeal campaign had failed, an accounting showed that the $15,000 had been paid, Cespedes said.
When he asked Borges about it, “He said, ‘I just wanted to keep him quiet,’” Cespedes testified.
Earlier in the HB 6 fight, Borges and Cespedes were struck by Kiani’s connections to Enron, which ceased to exist after one of the biggest corporate scandals to that point in American history.
“The shocking thing last night was learning that Kiani came from Enron,” Borges said in a text.
Kiani went from there to work as a hedge fund manager and then he made his way onto the FirstEnergy Services board as an activist investor. Cespedes testified that a Kiani aide told him that Kiani would make $100 million from the sale of FirstEnergy Solutions’ nuclear plants.
Regardless of whether that’s accurate, Kiani clearly was willing to spend lots of corporate money to win subsidies for them. To fund a statewide, eight-week media campaign for the bailout, bankrupt FirstEnergy Solutions approved a $15 million budget, Cespedes testified.
That amount would grow after the bill passed and the repeal fight got underway.
Kiani continues to be executive chairman of Energy Harbor, the new name for FirstEnergy Solutions after it emerged from bankruptcy. His company bio credits him with “the successful operational and financial turnaround of Energy Harbor into a leading, carbon free power infrastructure and energy supply company.”
Rocky is a member of the Congressional Committee for the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War and the Purple Heart Foundation. He is an active board member of the Warriors to Citizens Foundation, which is devoted to helping soldiers, police, fire, EMTs, and their families recover from the psychological harm caused by career-induced stress.
Rocky will share his story about his time in Vietnam and his amazing journey to recovery from injuries sustained while in the service.
6 PM: Pre-event live music from the ‘60s and ‘70s with The Remains
Live music from the ‘60s and ‘70s with The Remains
Concessions available for purchase throughout the event
7 PM: Tribute program begins
Rocky Bleier, Super Bowl Champ and Vietnam Veteran
Entertainment acts, including Bob Hope impersonator and tribute by Bill Cunningham
Stories of Vietnam veterans
Recognition of veterans from all eras and military branches
There is plenty of free parking behind the office that can be accessed from either the driveway off of West Loveland or the driveway off of Center Alley.
March 2
5 until 7 PM
514 West Loveland Avenue
Drinks and light appetizers provided
The ribbon cutting is at 5:30 PM
The new office is next-door to Union Savings Bank.
![[Game Photos] Loveland Tigers advance in State Tournament to face Mason Comets](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/early-feature-1200-size.jpg)
