Commentary
As a fellow Ohioan, I have some concerns about U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance
Donald Trump announced Monday Ohio junior U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate in the 2024 Election, and I have some concerns. Like J.D. Vance, I am also 39 years old; I also grew up in a struggling old industrial city in Ohio; I have also lost countless people close to me to the […]
This volunteer spent a week validating Ohio petition signatures. Here’s what he observed
The seven-day epic is over. And, having validated signatures on petitions for the Franklin County Board of Elections for a week, I can say that several things stood out. First, it seems pretty likely that Ohioans will have a chance to vote for redistricting reform in November. Most of my week was filled with validating […]
Pennsylvania shooting should be a wake-up call for the next three-plus months
As with all such horrific acts of political violence throughout American history, this past weekend’s attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump has prompted an array of immediate and widely varying responses. And this reality has, of course, been only enhanced by the tumultuous politics of the present moment. Now, add in the frequently toxic […]
It’s past time for the tough conversations on Biden that the Democratic Party ducked in January
This presidential election year was never going to be a breeze for Ohio Democrats running in front-line races. The National Republican Congressional Committee homed in on three Democratic-held seats in the state held by vulnerable incumbents Marcy Kaptur (Toledo) Emilia Sykes (Akron) and Greg Landsman (Cincinnati). Its GOP counterpart in the U.S. Senate made unseating […]
How can we improve housing affordability in Ohio?
Last week, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio reported that a full-time worker needs to make nearly $21 an hour in Ohio to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Housing affordability is a growing concern in Ohio. According to Apartment List, the average apartment price has grown from […]
Proposed bill to hamstring pensions threatens Ohio’s economic stability and long-term progress
Ohio Senate Bill 6 threatens our state’s financial health, economic stability, and long-term progress by prohibiting state pension systems from considering Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) factors in their investment decisions. ESG investing allows businesses and investors to consider Environmental, Social, and Governance factors in their decision-making. These criteria are not just trendy buzzwords but […]
How can we do capital budgeting better in Ohio?
Late last month, the Ohio Senate sent a $4.2 billion capital expenditures budget to the Governor’s office. Ohio’s capital budget is a budget of long-term investments in projects and infrastructure across the state mostly financed by debt. This year’s version of the capital budget includes $3 billion in new debt taken on by the state […]
Project 2025 looks to impose publicly-funded religious education on America. Ohio already has that.
If you haven’t heard about Project 2025, the dystopian blueprint for a second Trump administration, Google it. There’s a reason the felon angling for a get-out-of-jail-free-card with another White House romp pretends ignorance about the Handmaid’s Tale regime his former senior officials and allies created for him. It’s straight up authoritarian rule under God. Besides […]
With our democracy under siege, this Independence Day was a somber one
July 4th hits different when you’re confronted by the unescapable reality that the American experiment is over in a fundamental way. And no, that isn’t hyperbole if you read the U.S. Supreme court opinion released last week in Trump v. the United States by six right-wing justices, who function more like insular high clerics than thoughtful jurists. The case […]
2024’s violent tornado season has been one of the most active on record
Spring 2024 was unnerving for people across large parts of the U.S. as tornado warnings and sirens sent them scrambling for safety. More than 1,100 tornadoes were reported through May − a preliminary number but nearly twice the 30-year average at that point and behind only 2011, when deadly tornado outbreaks tore across the southeastern […]
Black economic boycotts of the civil rights era offer lessons on how to achieve a just society
Signed into law 60 years ago, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination in the U.S. based on “race, color, sex, religion, or national origin.” Yet, as a historian who studies social movements and political change, I think the law’s most important lesson for today’s movements is not its content but rather how it […]
What’s next after Supreme Court curbs regulatory power?
By Robin Kundis Craig, University of Kansas Federal Chevron deference is dead. On June 28, 2024, in a 6-3 vote, the Supreme Court overturned the 40-year-old legal tenet that when a federal statute is silent or ambiguous about a particular regulatory issue, courts should defer to the implementing agency’s reasonable interpretation of the law. The […]