The Ohio burgee. (Getty images file photo.)
Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.
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Catching Our Eye
• Ohio public schools stressed. The Columbus Dispatch’s Cole Behrens reports, “Ohio public schools ‘under tremendous stress,’ with growing number facing cash deficits.”
More than 120 public schools in Ohio are projected to have negative cash balances by 2029. This is the highest rate of projected negative balances since the Great Recession.
Districts are cutting staff and programs to address multi-million dollar budget shortfalls. Experts and officials disagree on whether state funding levels or district spending is the primary cause.
• Big Data’s Big PR Pitch. Signal Ohio’s Jake Zuckerman reports, “As political pressure mounts, Ohio’s data centers buy $10,000 in ads and lobby up.”
As data centers face increasing political and public scrutiny, the industry in Ohio has built up a lobbying and PR apparatus to punch back.
At the statehouse, the Data Center Coalition, a trade association, and its individual members have hired a fleet at least 51 lobbyists, according to a review of state lobbying disclosures. The bulk of them work for either Google (19 registered agents) or Meta (14).
• Guns for perpetrators of domestic violence. Laura A. Bischoff reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer, “Ohio Supreme Court says people convicted of domestic violence can get guns back.”
In a case closely watched by domestic violence groups, the Ohio Supreme Court on June 2 said a man with a criminal history of domestic violence can petition a state court to get his gun rights restored.
Justice Pat DeWine authored the 6-1 majority opinion. Justice Jennifer Brunner dissented.
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