Ohio Star Newspaper, Columbus OH State and Local News, Latest Business, Investigative and Political News & Headlines

July 11, 2020

Ohio State Professor Arrested for Allegedly Using $4.1 Million in American Grant Money to do Research for China

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has charged Son Guo Zheng, an Ohio State rheumatology professor and researcher, with alleged grant fraud and making false statements for not disclosing that he maintained employment in China while continuing to work at...

July 11, 2020

Commentary: Trump Tax Cases Highlight the Court as Servant of the Administrative State

The president was not whining when he tweeted about the continuing “political prosecution” permitted by the two tax returns cases issued Wednesday by the Supreme Court. These two cases, although short-term wins for Trump, illustrate the role of the federal and state courts in...

July 11, 2020

Turkey’s President Formally Makes Hagia Sophia a Mosque

The president of Turkey on Friday formally converted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum....

July 11, 2020

Commentary: Joe Biden’s Economic Plan and Type Two Socialism

Joe Biden revealed on Thursday the first part of “Build Back Better,” his plan for economic recovery from the COVID crisis.

July 11, 2020

AG Keith Ellison Faces Lawsuit Accusing Him of Coordinating with Bloomberg on Anti-Exxon Crusade

A Virginia-based law firm is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for access to records revealing his use of attorneys financed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to engage in a climate crusade targeting oil companies. The nonprofit...

July 11, 2020

Homeland Security Gets New Role Under Trump Monument Order

Protesters who have clashed with authorities in the Pacific Northwest are not just confronting local police. Some are also facing off against federal officers whose presence reflects President Donald Trump's decision to make cracking down on “violent mayhem” a federal priority....

July 11, 2020

Music Spotlight: Derek Jones

Even though Derek Jones’ dad was a drummer and his grandmother played piano, he never played music until later in life. “We always had music going on at the house at our supper table. If Dad was in charge of...

July 11, 2020

66 Percent of Americans Believe Civilians Should Have the Power to Sue Police for Using Excessive Force: Poll

More than 60% of Americans support allowing people to sue police officers for using excessive force against assailants, even if such a move makes the job of police work more difficult, according to a survey published Thursday. Two-thirds of the...

July 11, 2020

Trump Commutes Longtime Friend Roger Stone’s Prison Sentence

President Donald Trump commuted the sentence of his longtime political confidant Roger Stone on Friday, just days before he was set to report to prison. Democrats denounced the move as just another in a series of unprecedented interventions by the...

July 11, 2020

Judge Blocks Removal of More Confederate Statues in Richmond

A judge issued an injunction Thursday barring the city of Richmond from removing any more Confederate monuments, a process that began last week after Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the statues cleared away amid weeks of protests over police brutality and...

July 11, 2020

Steve Bannon Presents: Descent Into Hell

An all new LIVE STREAM of Descent Into Hell starts at 9 a.m. Central Time on Saturday. The two-hour special takes a closer look at the life of everyday Chinese citizens under the Chinese Communist Party and will air live...

July 11, 2020

DeWine’s Baseball Team’s Paycheck Protection Program Loan Nets Millionaire Governor $189K of Forgivable Taxpayer Handout

With news that Gov. Mike DeWine’s minor league baseball team cashed in on the Paycheck Protection Program, one may ask how Ohio’s top executive came to own a team in North Carolina or why he needed a taxpayer handout. DeWine...

July 10, 2020

George Floyd Protests Cause Nearly $158,000 in Ohio Statehouse Damages

Repairing damage to the Ohio Statehouse and surrounding Capitol Square that occurred during protests against racial injustice will cost about $158,000, according to the board that oversees the property. That tally from protests in Columbus between May 28 and...

July 10, 2020

Commentary: Taxpayers Need to Hold Public Schools Accountable

School districts around the country have been announcing reopening possibilities for the upcoming school year. The options often include full-time virtual learning, two or three in-person days at school, or a combination of the two. In a few districts, I’ve...

July 10, 2020

The Supreme Court Keeps Trump Taxes Private for Now

Rejecting President Donald Trump’s complaints that he's being harassed, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of a New York prosecutor’s demands for the billionaire president’s tax records. But in good political news for Trump, his taxes and other financial...

July 10, 2020

Commentary: Big Philanthropy and the Battle Against ‘Systemic Racism’

Who would have thought the Gates Foundation would endorse tearing down statues of Christopher Columbus, Ulysses S. Grant, George Washington, and other dead white men? Sure, you won’t find “mob violence,” “vandalism,” or “destruction of public property” in any grant...

July 10, 2020

US Sanctions Chinese Officials Over Repression of Minorities

The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party, including a member of the ruling Politburo, for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities that China has detained in the western...

July 10, 2020

Missing Seoul Mayor’s Body Found After Massive Search

The missing mayor of South Korea’s capital, reportedly embroiled in sexual harassment allegations, was found dead early Friday, more than half a day after giving his daughter a will-like message and then leaving home, police said. Police said they located...

July 10, 2020

USDA: Error Rate in National Food Stamp Program Increases in 2019

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is reporting an error rate of 7.36 percent for its Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for fiscal year 2019. Despite the error rate, and after state government shutdowns over the coronavirus, the federal government significantly extended...

July 10, 2020

Small Business Administration Gave Loans to Multi-Million Dollar Companies

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) and the U.S. Treasury Department this week released the names of 4.9 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan recipient businesses and nonprofits that received $150,000 or more. The mostly forgivable PPP loans were funded through...

July 10, 2020

Ohio’s New Unemployment Numbers Continue Slight Decline

New unemployment claims dropped slightly in Ohio last week, a trend also reflected in national numbers reported by the U.S. Department of Labor. The week-over-week numbers reported for Ohio the week ending July 4 show 33,176 new initial claims, a...

July 10, 2020

Buckeye Institute Sues Over Law Allowing Columbus to Collect Income Taxes From Commuters Despite Emergency Order Preventing Them from Working in the City

The Buckeye Institute said that it and three employees filed a lawsuit over the taxing of workers’ income in Columbus since they do not live in the city and were not allowed to work there during Ohio's Stay-at-Home order. The...

July 9, 2020

Weekly Jobless Claims Lower Than Expected at 1.3 Million

Jobless claims for the past week were lower than economists had predicted as workers begin returning to their jobs, according to data from the Labor Department shows. The total number for jobless claims for the week ending in July 4...

July 9, 2020

In a 7-2 Decision, Supreme Court Says Congress Can’t Get Trump Records – For Now

The Supreme Court on Thursday kept a hold on President Donald Trump’s financial records that Congress has been seeking for more than a year. The ruling returns the case to lower courts, with no clear prospect for when the case...

July 9, 2020

Harvard, MIT Sue to Block ICE Rule on International Students

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday challenging the Trump administration's decision to bar international students from staying in the U.S. if they take classes entirely online this fall. The lawsuit, filed in Boston's federal...

July 9, 2020

Commentary: A Reign of Error

At the end of The Unheavenly City: The Nature and the Future of Our Urban Crisis (1968), Edward Banfield presents a prospect regarding race relations that seems to have been fulfilled since his tumultuous years and ours: a reign of error. Let me...

July 9, 2020

Brooks Brothers Files for Bankruptcy After 202 Years of Business

Brooks Brothers, one of the United States’ oldest and most prestigious retailers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Wednesday after 202 years, CNBC reported. The retailer, credited with dressing 40 U.S. presidents since its founding in 1818, had already been burdened with rising...

July 9, 2020

Kanye Wests Says White Supremacists Doing ‘Devil’s Work’ Brought Planned Parenthoods in Cities

White supremacists placed Planned Parenthood clinics inside cities to “do the Devil’s work,” according to rapper and recently-declared presidential candidate Kanye West. West, who announced his presidential bid July 4, spoke out regarding his political beliefs in an interview with Forbes where...

July 9, 2020

SCOTUS Rules in Favor of Catholic Nuns, Upholds Conscience Exemptions for Birth Control Mandate

The United States Supreme Court ruled to uphold conscience exemptions from former President Barack Obama’s birth control mandate in a victory for the Little Sisters of the Poor. SCOTUS ruled 7-2 that the Catholic nuns are exempt from Obama’s contraceptive mandate.

July 9, 2020

Joe Biden Supports Redirecting Money from Police Departments into Mental Health Care Services and Affordable Housing

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden told NowThis' Ady Barkan that he supports redirecting money from police departments into other areas such as mental health care and affordable housing.

July 9, 2020

Exhausted Cities Face Another Challenge: A Surge in Violence

Still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic and street protests over the police killing of George Floyd, exhausted cities around the nation are facing yet another challenge: a surge in shootings that has left dozens dead, including young children. The spike defies...

July 9, 2020

All-Mail Voting Threatens Election Security, Study Finds

Mandatory voting by mail would undermine election security and endanger Americans’ right to have their votes counted, according to a report released Tuesday by the Honest Elections Project, a voter integrity group. The report comes on the heels of a vote-by-mail scandal...

July 9, 2020

Commentary: Dismantling America Without a Replacement

Calls to dismantle this group or that institution have become the topic du jour in American politics. It started with police departments and the criminal justice system, then it spread to museums, and now one Democratic congresswoman is raising the bar on a logarithmic...

July 9, 2020

United Will Warn 36,000 Workers They Could be Laid Off

United Airlines is warning 36,000 employees - nearly half its U.S. staff - they could be furloughed in October, the clearest signal yet of how deeply the virus pandemic is hurting the airline industry. The outlook for a recovery in...

July 9, 2020

Sen. Blackburn Says Rep. Ilhan Omar Should Resign After Calling for Dismantling of U.S. Economic, Political Systems

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) said U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) should resign after the representative called for the "dismantling" of the U.S. "economy and political systems.” Omar made the remark during a speech Tuesday to the Minnesota People of...

July 9, 2020

Gov. DeWine Determines Seven Ohio Counties Must Wear Face Coverings in Public

Gov. Mike DeWine announced this week seven counties in Ohio will start wearing face coverings in public as the coronavirus cases continue to surge in the state. Counties that need to follow this mandate are currently in Red Alert Level...

July 8, 2020

Ohio Town Announces It’s a ‘Sanctuary City’ for Historical Statues

The manager of a small town in Ohio has declared his municipality a “sanctuary city” for statues being toppled in other parts of the country. A proclamation signed July 4 by Newton Falls City Manager David Lynch declares that monuments of the Founding Fathers...

July 8, 2020

Commentary: Point of No Return

Donald Trump gave the greatest speech of his career on Friday night at Mount Rushmore, an address that will soon take on historic importance. The president has now forced his opponents out of their fetid hothouse of snobbery, humbug, and...

July 8, 2020

Protective Gear for Medical Workers Begins to Run Low Again

The personal protective gear that was in dangerously short supply during the early weeks of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S. is running low again as the virus resumes its rapid spread and the number of hospitalized patients climbs. A national...

July 8, 2020

After Over a Month of Violent Rioting in Portland, Border Patrol Called in to Restore Order

After violent antifa riots were allowed to rock downtown Portland, Oregon, for over a month, Border Patrol agents over the holiday weekend were finally deployed to restore order. Acting Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Commissioner Mark Morgan expressed frustration over...

July 8, 2020

Paycheck Protection Program Is Supporting More Than 51 Million Small Business Jobs, Trump Administration Announces

The $670 billion Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) has supported more than 51 million jobs since its launch in April, the Treasury Department and Small Business Administration announced Monday as it released information on 4.9 million loans disbursed by the program....

July 8, 2020

House Democrats’ Funding Bill Includes Provision to Remove Confederate Statues

Confederate statues would be removed from the Capitol under a provision included in the Democrat House Appropriations Committee’s 2021 draft budget bill released Monday. The nearly $4.2 billion funding proposal would mandate the removal of monuments to Confederate generals and would also...

July 8, 2020

Millions of Potential Coronavirus Vaccine Doses Already Being Made, NIH Director Says

Millions of coronavirus vaccine doses are being manufactured, even before testing has been completed, the National Institutes of Health director said in an interview recently. Doses of potential vaccines are being made to shorten the time it traditionally takes to...

July 8, 2020

Gov. Cuomo’s Order Sent More Than 6,000 Coronavirus Patients into Nursing Homes, Officials Say

Democratic New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s orders sent more than 6,300 coronavirus patients to nursing homes at the height of the pandemic, new numbers from state officials show. Thousands of elderly coronavirus patients died after Cuomo issued an order March 25 mandating assisted-living facilities...

July 8, 2020

Hiring Soared in May as Mass Layoffs Eased

The job market took a big step toward healing in May, though plenty of damage remains, as a record level of hiring followed record layoffs in March and April. The Labor Department reported Tuesday that the number of available jobs...

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
« Jun
			1	2	3	4
5	6	7	8	9	10	11
12	13	14	15	16	17	18
19	20	21	22	23	24	25
26	27	28	29	30	31