Tag Archives: Ohio

The Washington Post reports: The political maelstrom swirling around coronavirus vaccines may be to blame for a higher rate of excess deaths among registered Republicans in Ohio and Florida during the coronavirus pandemic, according to a study published yesterday. The report in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine underscores the partisan divide over coronavirus vaccines that have saved lives but continued …

The Ohio Capital Journal reports: Early voting figures for the Ohio Aug. 8 special election are surpassing even the most optimistic expectations. Through seven days of early voting more than 116,000 Ohioans have shown up at their local board to cast a ballot. Another 38,000 have absentee ballots have made their way in as well. As Secretary of State Frank …

The Columbus Dispatch reports: Drag performances in Ohio would be banned from public parks, parades and other places children might be if a bill introduced by House Republicans becomes law. House Bill 245 would expand the definition of adult cabaret performers from strippers and topless dancers to include “entertainers who exhibit a gender identity that is different from the performer’s …

Cleveland’s Fox affiliate reports: Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has officially announced his candidacy for the United States Senate, according to a spokesperson for LaRose’s campaign. Early Monday morning, LaRose, an Akron native and Ohio State graduate, filed paperwork with federal elected officials. According to the release, LaRose is focused on “restoring Ohio’s voice in values to the Senate …

The Wrap reports: In what might be the subjectively raciest political ad ever, Democratic lobby group Progress Action Fund debuted a steamy sex scene takedown of the GOP this week. The scene opens up with a man and a woman kissing in bed, both of them in their underwear with the woman straddling the man and asking if he has …

Cleveland.com reports: A Shaker Heights attorney accused of illegally voting in the last two general elections should be acquitted, in part, because he cast ballots in two states by accident, his attorney argued to a judge. James Saunders, a 56-year-old former lawyer for the Internal Revenue Service, did not mean to commit a crime when he cast ballots in both …

Columbus’s PBS affiliate reports: A Licking County man was given a 25-year prison sentence Tuesday in federal court after he was convicted on charges of child sexual exploitation and soliciting child pornography. According to the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, 27-year-old Matthew Reif, of Newark, victimized at least 52 boys between October 2020 and July 2022. He …

The Associated Press reports: Ohio lobbyist Matt Borges was sentenced Friday to five years in prison and three years of probation for his part in the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history, a sentence the former Ohio Republican Party chair vowed to appeal. The punishment by U.S. District Judge Timothy Black came just a day after former Republican Ohio House …

The Associated Press reports: Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Thursday for his role in the largest corruption scandal in state history. Householder had pleaded for mercy ahead of the sentencing — not on behalf of himself, but his wife of 40 years, sons and friends. The 64-year-old Republican appeared before U.S. …

Cleveland’s Fox affiliate reports: A Geauga County pastor has pleaded guilty to sex crimes relating to the abuse of minors. Under a plea agreement reached Wednesday, Dennis W. Laferty, 37, of Tiro, in Crawford County, could face up to 10 years in prison on the two felony counts of gross sexual imposition to which he pleaded Wednesday, as well as …

The New Castle News reports: A New Castle man accused of child sex trafficking and corrupting children in Ohio has been found guilty by a jury in Mahoning County Court. The Ohio jury’s verdict was delivered Wednesday against 35-year-old Jarod Mills of West Terrace Ave. of unlawful attempted sexual contact with a minor. Mill was arrested in Mahoning County in …

Columbus’s NBC affiliate reports: Ohio lawmakers are advancing a bill allowing parents to opt their child of out school “sexuality” lessons, legislation opponents said is anti-LGBTQ+ and will force educators to out students. House Bill 8 — the “Parents’ Bill of Rights” — would require teachers to notify parents before teaching “sexuality content” and of any change in a student’s …

Toledo’s ABC affiliate reports: A former Monroe pastor was sentenced Monday after he was convicted of sex crimes. Judge Bruce Winters of Ottawa County sentenced Robert Auxter to six years in prison after pleading guilty to two counts of Gross Sexual Imposition, which are third-degree felonies, in April. Auxter is required to register as a tier 2 sex offender. Court …

The Mansfield News Journal reports: Guilty on all five counts was the verdict Friday in the federal sex-trafficking trial of the Rev. Michael Jude Zacharias, a Roman Catholic priest who has led parishes in Mansfield and Fremont. The jury’s decision was announced a little before 5 p.m. Friday. Zacharias, 56, was found guilty of all five counts of sex trafficking, …

The Associated Press reports: An effort by a Republican faction in Ohio to make it harder to change the state constitution faces a critical juncture this week, with action needed in the politically fractured Ohio House where the undertaking has so far stalled. Potentially at stake are the future of abortion access in the state, as well as the legality …

From the website of the host brewery: Kaleidoscope Youth Center (KYC) and Land-Grant Brewing Company are back for the 2nd Annual Land-Grant Drag Brunch on Saturday, April 29th, benefiting KYC and LGBTQIA+ youth in our community! Hosted by Anisa Love and Virginia West, this is a FREE admission event, but this year we are introducing very limited VIP seating where …

Dayton’s NBC affiliate reports: An attorney from Ohio is indicted for voter fraud, accused of casting a ballot twice in both the 2020 and 2022 elections. Prosecutors say Shaker Heights Attorney James Saunders voted in Cuyahoga County and Broward County, Florida. An indictment accuses the 56-year-old Saunders of two counts of election fraud, both fourth degree felonies. Saunders is accused …

Columbus’s NBC affiliate reports: As one Ohio House committee heard dozens of opponents speak against a bill to ban transgender athletes from all levels of female sports, another committee heard from supporters of a second bill targeting transgender youth: A bill to ban gender-affirming care for minors entirely. Its sponsor, Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery), did not testify Wednesday and instead …

The New York Times reports: Voters pushed back decisively after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, approving ballot measures that established or upheld abortion rights in all six states where they appeared. Now, with abortion rights groups pushing for similar citizen-led ballot initiatives in at least six other states, Republican-controlled legislatures and anti-abortion groups are trying to …

The Associated Press reports: A freshman state lawmaker in Ohio falsely claimed to have graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to the prestigious university, and he has stepped down from a House committee leadership post after that revelation. Rep. Dave Dobos, a Columbus-area Republican, attended MIT in the 1970s and 1980 and studied economics but did not receive …