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
• The Browns. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “DeWine joins groundbreaking for Cleveland Browns’ stadium, saying Ohio ‘needed this’“
The Cleveland Browns broke ground on Thursday for their $2.6 billion domed stadium project in Brook Park, which is set to open for the 2029 NFL season. Gov. Mike DeWine joined team owner Jimmy Haslam, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and others to celebrate construction on the project, which actually began last month.
• The Cleveland lakefront after the Browns leave. Ideastream’s Steven Litt reports, “Analysis: Cleveland engages a new lakefront planning team to see what’s possible after Browns leave.”
Cleveland’s nonprofit North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation has hired a new team of planners to create a fresh vision for the Downtown Cleveland lakefront.
|Their mission includes revising an earlier lakefront plan to capitalize on opportunities made possible by the planned departure of the NFL Browns from the city’s lakefront stadium to a new covered stadium in suburban Brook Park in 2029.
• Browns stadium funding. Cleveland.com’s Rich Exner reports, “Browns stadium funding: Gov. DeWine reveals Plan B amid court battle over unclaimed funds.”
While the transfer of $600 million in Ohio’s unclaimed funds for the Cleveland Browns indoor stadium project is held up in court, Gov. Mike DeWine stands firm in his opinion that the project should get the money.
His Plan B, if necessary, is to return to the funding method he first proposed more than a year ago – increase the tax on sports gambling companies operating in Ohio.
• Gas prices. The Columbus Dispatch’s Haley BeMiller reports, “Ohio gas tax suspension proposed as prices near $5 a gallon.”
A state lawmaker wants to give Ohioans tax relief at the pump.
Rep. Ty Mathews, R-Findlay, is finalizing legislation that would temporarily suspend Ohio’s gas tax. The move comes as motorists nationwide contend with high prices driven by the U.S.-Iran war, including nearly $5 per gallon in parts of Ohio.
Mathews said his plan is still taking shape, but he hopes to pitch a three-month gas tax holiday that would overlap with the busy summer travel season.
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