Jo Ingles

Child enticement charges against a convicted sex offender in central Ohio were recently dropped because an Ohio Supreme Court ruling had thrown out part of the statute. Now state lawmakers are trying to fix that part of the law.

Democrats in the state Legislature are supporting a new bill that would officially denounce white nationalists and neo-Nazis. 

Facebook plans to build its tenth data center in New Albany in Central Ohio, to open in 2019. The huge $750 million project in Central Ohio comes with a mixture of local and state funding incentives. 

Starting next month, the Ohio Democratic Party will hold as many as six debates in the upcoming months to introduce voters its candidates for governor next year. 

Investors who want a license to grow medical marijuana for Ohio’s new program will have to wait until November to find out whether they will receive one. 

A social media giant is developing a huge data center in Central Ohio. 

The state’s new medical marijuana program is supposed to begin a little more than a year from now. But there are still lots of questions, such as who will grow the plants, what conditions they’ll be grown under, and who will do lab testing on the cannabis before patients get access to it. 

Bars and restaurants that have patios statewide have been welcoming canines and their human friends to sit down to have dinner and drinks in those outdoor spaces finding themselves in a quandary. That’s because those dog owners, rescue groups, and businesses are at odds with health departments over a current state law that prohibits dogs on patios of businesses that serve food and drinks. Now there’s a movement…..and legislation…..that seeks to change that.

The U.S. Justice Department has taken an unusual move. It reversed its position on a high-profile US Supreme Court case involving Ohio’s process for maintaining voter rolls. 

Ohio’s opioid crisis is causing problems for the state’s crime lab. The Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which processes chemical evidence for cases throughout Ohio, is having a hard time getting everything done on a timely basis. So, the lab has come up with a solution.

If you need to buy some school supplies for the kids or even some new clothes for yourself, this might be the weekend to do it. You won’t pay sales tax on many items purchased in Ohio because of the state’s sales tax holiday. 

The failure of the U.S. Senate’s proposed plans to repeal and replace the Affordable Health Care Act leaves the program intact. But most Senators, on both sides of the aisle, say if the program is kept, changes must be made to make it function on a long term basis. 

The candidates in next year's race for governor have filed their fundraising reports. 

About 11,000 enrollees in the Affordable Health Care Act program in nineteen Ohio counties who recently found themselves without a single health insurance company to cover them are now getting some options. 

Ohio’s jobless rate for last month creeped up again, but the state maintains there’s still good news in the numbers. 

Candidates for political office in Ohio who want to be endorsed by the state’s largest organization opposing abortion will have to meet new criteria. 

After a three-year break, Ohio is set to execute a death row inmate later this month. Ronald Phillips was convicted of raping and killing his girlfriend’s three-year-old daughter in Akron in 1993. He’s scheduled to receive a lethal injection on July 26th now that courts have given the state’s execution method a green light. Now, death penalty opponents are making a last minute appeal to Gov. John Kasich to spare Phillips and others.

Both of Ohio’s U.S. Senators say they still think it’s possible for lawmakers in Washington to come up with a plan to fix problems with the Affordable Health Care Act. U.S. Senator Rob Portman says he’s concerned there are not enough insurers available. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports.

The newest version of the U.S. Senate’s plan to reform the Affordable Care Act is out, and it’s creating a rift between the Vice President and Gov. John Kasich. And the state’s Republican Senator may be caught in the middle.

Ohioans will be voting on an issue this fall that, if passed, would add what backers call a victim’s bill of rights to the Ohio constitution. 

Ohio’s largest group representing abortion opponents is cheering news that two clinics that offered abortions in the Buckeye State have closed their doors.  

(A more comprehensive version of this story is also on this week's "The State of Ohio" show on Ohio Public Television. You can find that story by looking under the State of Ohio tab at the top of the homepage.)

School districts who are building new schools with state money are sometimes surprised by one of the rules. Those dollars cannot be used for something that is in many of the older buildings being replaced….auditoriums. That creates some tough decisions for school districts as they decide how to move forward with their building plans. Take a look at how some districts are doing it.

As Senators in Washington continue to grapple with how to reform the Affordable Care Act, Ohio’s two members explain why they have not embraced plans that have been introduced so far. They talk about what needs to be done to it to win their support.

Ohio is set to execute a death row inmate later this month. If it happens, it will be the first execution in the state in three and a half years. Death penalty opponents are trying to stop it.

The Ohio House of Representatives overrode 11 of the 47 vetoes Gov. John Kasich made recently to the state’s proposed budget. But the House didn’t override the most controversial one.

Representatives in the Ohio House have a session scheduled for tomorrow morning. They will take up a bill that would make changes to rules for constructing new schools and a bill to change gun laws. But there’s no word yet on whether lawmakers will try to override Gov. John Kasich’s line item vetoes in the state budget.

Fourth of July celebrations are taking place throughout the state but Ohio lawmakers are likely not finding this summer holiday to be carefree. That's because Gov. John Kasich vetoed 47 items when he signed the budget Friday. One of those is the controversial plan to freeze the Medicaid expansion program in Ohio in July of next year. Some former state lawmakers say they know what it’s like to walk a mile in the shoes of legislators who can’t get work off their minds.

Gov. John Kasich used his pen to veto 47 items in the new state budget. Among those vetoes was a plan to freeze expansion of Medicaid in 2018. 

The vice chairman of President Trump’s Commission on Election Integrity has sent a letter to all 50 states, asking for registered voters’ names, birthdays, political affiliations, voting history and last four digits of social security numbers. Here is how Ohio’s Secretary of State is handling this.

Along with the overall $65 million budget, this week the state legislature also passed a $581 million budget for the Bureau of Workers' Compensation.