Ohio electric customers will soon stop propping up two coal plants with subsidies tacked onto their bills. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio voted to zero out the charges as of Aug. 14. The subsidies were part of the scandal-tainted House Bill 6 that also bailed out nuclear power plants. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges were sentenced to prison for their role in a bribery scheme connected to the passage of the bill.
We will begin Friday’s “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable with the removal of the subsidies and why the audit is being requested.
School kids have sick days and snow days. Should they also get days for mental health care? Senator Willis Blackshear, a Dayton Democrat, has introduced for the third time a bill giving K-through-12 students up to three "mental health days" per school year.
Robbery, felonious assault, breaking and entering and auto theft are down in Akron, according to the city's new crime report, which also shows there has been a slight increase in shootings, more burglaries and a sharp decrease in overdose deaths.
Cleveland firefighters will get a huge pay increase, 21 percent, under a new three-year union contract with the city.
Cleveland's longest serving councilmember, the "dean" of council who has represented his Collinwood neighborhood since 1978, is planning to run for a 13th term. But Mike Polensek will have to face fellow incumbent councilmember Anthony Hairston in the newly drawn Ward 10, which includes the Collinwood neighborhood and now the St. Clair Superior and Glenville neighborhoods. Colleagues appeared convinced Polensek would retire when they drew the new ward maps, reducing council's number from 17 to 15.
Backers of an effort to codify equal rights protections into the state constitution for veterans, women and LGBTQ+ Ohioans are will push for two amendments after the Ohio Ballot Board split their issue into separate parts. They could have challenged that decision, but have instead decided to seek separate amendments.
Guests:
-Abbey Marshall, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Conor Morris, Education Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV
