Rotunda Rumblings
Power struggle: Ohio’s booming data center industry is transforming the state’s economy — and straining its power grid. A new Chamber of Commerce report hails the jobs and investment the facilities bring, while regulators and lawmakers question who should pay for the infrastructure they need. Anna Staver reports that the answer could shape how long Ohio stays a “breakout star” in the digital economy.
Get out the vote: As early voting season begins, Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chair David Brock is aiming to tackle a chronic challenge: anemically low voter turnout in the City of Cleveland, Mary Frances McGowan reports. Brock said the party is specifically targeting four wards with voter outreach efforts in 2025 and hopes the groundwork he lays now will provide a strong foundation in time for the 2026 midterms.
Pension pushback: A new coalition of six Ohio unions has formed to defend public retirement benefits amid what they describe as growing attacks on public workers. The Ohio Public Pension Coalition says recent Statehouse actions threaten workers’ earned security. Staver reports lawmakers behind the changes argue they’re pushing for transparency and accountability, while unions say those efforts come at the expense of fairness and local control.
On Guard: President Donald Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to cities across America — from Los Angeles to Chicago, often over governors’ objections — has thrust the nation’s oldest military organization into the center of a constitutional clash over state versus federal authority. Sabrina Eaton examines who are the Guard members being ordered into American cities and how the centuries-old force, which answers to both state governors and the president, actually works.
Vanishing act: A new study on chronic absenteeism gives mixed reviews to Ohio’s approach to reducing it. The EdTrust report said Ohio’s requirement that schools take attendance hourly is an example of a good policy. But the report concluded the state isn’t spending enough money on strategies, Laura Hancock reports.
Intercepted: Ohio University film professor Thomas Hayes, a Columbus resident, was on the flotilla headed to Gaza with humanitarian aid that was intercepted by the Israel Defense Forces, per the pro-Palestine group the Freedom Flotilla Coalition. Hayes was one of 145 people taken into custody. He was also featured in a video of eight American passengers released, NBC4’s Katie Millard reports.
Vance and Schumer trade quips: Vice President JD Vance reused one of President Trump’s jokes about a “Palestinian” member of Congress at a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, mocking Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) over both the government shutdown and a Middle East peace deal, the New York Post reports. “Obviously the president of the United States, a New York real estate billionaire, one of the most famous New Yorkers in the world, has a lot of interaction with a lot of people who are very pro-Israel,” the Cincinnati Republican added. “He also, of course, knew one of the most famous Palestinians in the world, Chuck Schumer.” A response from Schumer said Vance “should know to ‘couch’ his language more carefully.”
Read more Ohio politics stories
Low voter turnout in Cleveland: Can Democrats’ strategy make a difference?
Richard A. Starr for Cleveland City Council Ward 5: endorsement editorial
Ohio lawmakers, local communities need e-bike laws with bite, and to crack down on e-motos, too: editorial
Full Disclosure
Here are five things we learned from the May 14, 2025 financial disclosure form filed by state Rep. Gary Click, a Vickery Republican, about his 2024 finances:
In addition to his legislative salary of $77,848.92, he earned between $10,000 – $24,999 for ministerial work with the Fremont Bible Baptist Temple and between $1,000 – $9,999 for the same with Gary Click Ministry.
He reported investments in an IRA with PFS Investments and a retirement fund with the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System.
At some point during the year, Click owed at least $1,000 to the Fremont Federal Credit Union, Citibank, Capital One, Synchrony Bank, and Bank of America.
He reported one fiduciary relationship as a board member of Fremont Bible Baptist Temple. He resigned from the position in March 2024.
He’s licensed as a minister to solemnize marriages.
On the Move
Former Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher was formally inaugurated as president of Baldwin Wallace University Thursday while celebrating the institution’s 180th anniversary, WOSU reports.
Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican candidate for governor, has been endorsed by Carpenters Local 2, a Monroe, Ohio-based labor union.
Birthdays
Chris Zeigler, API-Ohio executive director
Straight from the Source
“These families feel we have been swept to the side of the road. When in fact we were the first ones to travel the dark journey and lose our loved ones.”
-Jackie Lewis of Marysville, in a letter to the OneOhio Recovery Foundation, which decides how to distribute Ohio’s opioids settlement money. Lewis told the Washington Post’s Marisa Iati that her late son’s addiction depleted her financially, and now she’s raising his daughter. She and other families are fighting to receive a portion of the settlement money, although few families are getting any.