Rotunda Rumblings
Uncovered: The number of uninsured children in Ohio increased by 30,000 between 2022 to 2024, leaving 5.6% of the state’s minors without coverage. This is largely due to children being disenrolled from Medicaid/CHIP, according to an analysis of U.S. Census data by Georgetown University. During the pandemic, states were not allowed to kick people off Medicaid until March 2023. Then Ohio removed over 600,000 adults and children, Laura Hancock reports.
Rule reversal: Seneca County’s elections board voted Tuesday to rescind a short-lived rule that barred voting-machine critics from managing polling places. The reversal came after a packed meeting where Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy urged the board to change course. Anna Staver reports that while Ramaswamy called the policy a First Amendment violation, he declined to take a side in the larger debate over paper versus electronic ballots.
Content restored: YouTube has agreed to reinstate creators previously banned for COVID-19 and election-related content, marking a significant shift in the platform’s content moderation policies following intense pressure from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and ongoing Republican investigations into alleged government censorship, Sabrina Eaton reports. In a letter sent Tuesday, the video platform, owned by Alphabet, made several major concessions to the House Judiciary Committee including admitting the Biden administration pressured the company to remove content that did not violate YouTube’s own policies. The letter written by Alphabet’s attorneys called the Biden administration’s censorship pressure “unacceptable and wrong.”
Rights under fire: The U.S. Justice Department is quietly considering a proposal that would strip transgender Americans of their constitutional right to bear arms — a move historians say would be a dangerous escalation in the systematic targeting of marginalized groups, Eaton reports. The discussions surfaced after a shooting at a Catholic school in Minneapolis that left two children dead and 21 injured was carried out by a transgender woman. But scholars of democratic erosion say the discussions themselves — regardless of their current status — merit serious attention. They warn that the issue transcends gun policy, echoing a troubling American tradition of systematically stripping rights from entire communities.
She’s the one: Amy Acton, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, has been endorsed by Dick Celeste, the last Ohio Democratic governor to win reelection (back in 1986). As Jeremy Pelzer reports, the 87-year-old Celeste’s backing isn’t a surprise, as Acton has said he and then-U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown were the ones who initially approached her about running for governor.
Filling in: Republican gubernatorial frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy will join other prominent conservatives and GOP elected officials in finishing the remainder of slain activist Charlie Kirk’s college tour this fall. Ramaswamy is slated to attend a Turning Point USA event at Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana, on Oct. 7, as a featured guest alongside Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte. Guest speakers at other upcoming campus events originally scheduled by Kirk around the country include media figures Glenn Beck, Tucker Carlson, and Megyn Kelly, as well as U.S. Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
From crew to ICE: Madison Sheahan, 28, who just six years ago was captain of the rowing team at Ohio State University, is Deputy Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), after having served as a body woman and policy aide to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem when she was governor of South Dakota, New York Magazine reports. The native of Curtice, Ohio, knows that there are people who think that, without any law enforcement background, she isn’t qualified for a job usually occupied by veteran ICE officials. “I absolutely think I’m qualified for the job,” she told the publication. “Because at the end of the day, what really makes anybody qualified for any job?”
The AI will see you: A pilot program is being launched in Ohio next year that will use artificial intelligence to determine whether certain healthcare treatments are a necessity for Medicare patients, Celia Hack of Signal Cleveland reports. The program focuses on traditional government-run Medicare, while many privatized Medicare Advantage programs and private insurance companies already utilize a similar process commonly known as prior authorization. Ohio is one of six states part of the pilot program.
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Lobbying Lineup
Five organizations that are registered to lobby on state House Bill 246, that would require certain construction industry employers to use E-verify and to sanction specified hiring practices in the industry.
Coalition of Ohio Regional Districts
Ohio Chamber of Commerce
Encino Energy
Ohio Rural Water Association
ACT Ohio
On the Move
Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and GOP gubernatorial frontrunner Vivek Ramaswamy, both from the Columbus suburb of Upper Arlington, endorsed each other during an event in Columbus on Monday night.
Ramaswamy has also been endorsed by 65 of Ohio’s 88 county sheriffs, according to his campaign. Of those, 21 previously endorsed him – including one Democrat, Jeffrey Paden of Guernsey County. Another 21 sheriffs now supporting Ramaswamy had previously endorsed Attorney General Dave Yost before he backed out of the Republican governor’s race, including Jeffrey Balzer of Delaware County, Scott Anger of Greene County, Frank Leonbruno of Lake County, Rob Streck of Montgomery County, Bruce Zuchowski of Portage County, and Eric Weisburn of Stark County.
Jay Edwards, an Athens County Republican running for state treasurer, has been endorsed by U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Westlake Republican.
Vice President JD Vance is visiting Concord, North Carolina, today to deliver remarks on the Trump administration’s tax cuts for working families and its commitment to empowering state and local law enforcement.
Vice President JD Vance is visiting Concord, North Carolina, today to deliver remarks on the Trump administration’s tax cuts for working families and its commitment to empowering state and local law enforcement.
Birthdays
Joseph Staton, senior legislative aide to state Sen. George Lang
State Rep. Jim Thomas
Straight from the Source
“First of all, I don’t think a horse would.”
Secretary of State Frank LaRose, in a video released by his office in which digital media manager Kate McLaughlin asks him and staff members, “If a horse were to wear pants, how would they wear them.”