Ohio's new two-year $60 billion operating budget is off to Gov. Mike DeWine. The budget passed through a reconciliation committee, and both chambers of the legislature this week.
The budget is massive coming in at 5,000-plus pages laying out a mix of spending, tax cuts and policy measures.
One of the most watched items: whether the state should pick up part of the tab for the Browns domed stadium in Brook Park. The final budget came down on the side of the Senate plan to tap the state's Unclaimed Funds to pay $600 million toward the project.
The operating budget contains many other spending details including for schools and libraries. It also includes a change to the state's income tax 鈥揺ssentially flattening the tax so that everyone who's required to pay state taxes pays the same percentage regardless of what they make.
Gov. Mike DeWine can still use a line-item veto to strike out elements of the budget if he chooses to do so.
The budget passed entirely on party lines without a single vote of support from Democrats who criticize the budget as disproportionately helping the wealthy.
We will talk about the new budget at length on the 鈥淪ound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable.鈥�
A legal victory for Ohio school districts suing over the legality of the state's Ed Choice voucher program. A Franklin County judge this week agreed with school districts and declared the program unconstitutional.
The legal team representing the more than 200 districts involved in the lawsuit, however, cautioned, it's the first win in what's expected to be a three-round legal fight.
A grassroots effort to repeal Senate Bill 1鈥攚hich sets new rules for the state's public universities and community colleges鈥攈as fallen short of making the ballot. The repeal campaign launched by a group of faculty members at Youngstown State University planned to turn in petitions for a possible ballot issue yesterday but then elected not to do so realizing they were short of the number needed.
Senate Bill 1 is a law passed by Republicans that aims to counterbalance what lawmakers say is "woke" indoctrination on campus.
The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections has certified petitions submitted this week to recall Cleveland Heights Mayor Kahlil Seren. Petition organizers submitted more than 4,300 signatures for certification, which was well above the needed 2,900.
Guests:
-Andrew Meyer, Deputy Editor of News, 91制片厂
-Michelle Jarboe, Reporter, News 5 Cleveland
-Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV