Vaccine Lottery Earns Praise From President, Criticism From Ohio Republicans: Reporters Roundtable

A 2016 Shaker Heights High School graduate is the first "Vax-A-Millionaire".

Abbigail Bugenske said during a press conference yesterday that she was driving from the Cincinnati area, where she now lives, to visit her parents and shop for a used car in Shaker Heights when she received the call from Governor Mike DeWine. Bugenske is 22 and works for GE Aviation--a subsidiary of General Electric in Cincinnati. She says she has no plans to quit her job.

Joseph Costello, 14, of Montgomery County won the first full-ride college scholarship in a separate drawing for vaccinated Ohioans 17 and under. His scholarship will include up to four years tuition, room board and books.
He just finished the eighth grade.

More than It has 10-months since FBI agents raided the home of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, he's still got a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.  The raid was part of a federal bribery investigation into the passage of House Bill 6--the nuclear bailout bill--though the legislation includes a number of other energy policies. Householder--a Perry County Republican--maintains his innocence and though he was stripped of the speakership, he was re-elected to the Ohio House in November. This week, two fellow Republicans introduced a resolution to expel Householder. No date has been set on a vote.

May 25 marked the one-year anniversary of George Floyd's death under the knee of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. It set off nationwide demonstrations for racial justice and a national conversation and reckoning on race. While that conversation and reckoning is going on, there is a countermovement that Ohio now is part of. The state is seeking to ban the teaching of critical race theory--a concept that examines race and inequality as a systemic issue.

Cuyahoga County went a different direction during this week's anniversary of George Floyd's death. County Council approved a measure that will give county workers Juneteenth as a paid holiday. Juneteenth commemorates June 19, 1865 when word reached Galveston, Texas that previously enslaved people were free. The date marks the official end of slavery in the United States. The measure brings the number of holidays for county employees to 12.

Anna Huntsman, Health Reporter/Producer, Ideastream
Kabir Bhatia, Reporter, WKSU
Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV