A Cincinnati double murderer has become the fourth person executed in Ohio this year, and the oldest person to be put to death since the state resumed executions in 1999. Two new Quinnipiac polls this week have good news for opponents of Senate Bill 5 and surprising predictions for next year's election. A controversial election reform has passed the House on a party line vote. With the fact that drug overdoses are now the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio driving it, the bill to crack down on so-called pill mills is now law.
The biggest single program in the state budget is Medicaid spending - Medicaid covered 2.3 million Ohioans last year, and accounts for 3.2% of Ohio’s economy. It's been estimated that Medicaid would cost Ohio $1.6 billion more next year if no changes were made – a 49% increase. Gov. John Kasich’s budget sought to get a grip on Medicaid spending by pulling all six state agencies that play a role in administering Medicaid under one office, the Office of Health Transformation. Greg Moody is a longtime health care expert, consultant and former agency administrator who's now in charge of that office.