‘Deadline’ May Pass As Ohio House and Senate Hit Impasse on HB 6

  First Energy Solutions, a subsidiary of First Energy, told legislators that June 30 was their deadline for getting House Bill 6 passed. The company insists it will need time to purchase fuel rods and after June it will be too late. They are threatening to close the Davis-Besse nuclear…

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AFP-OH Joins Nationwide Campaign Against Ex-Im Bank, Tax Extenders – Targets 3 Congressmen

  A national campaign called “Unrig the Economy” was just launched by Americans for Prosperity (AFP). The campaign seeks to inform voters about two issues: the Export-Import Bank and tax extenders. AFP-OH has joined the fight and is targeting three Ohio congressmen: Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH-15), Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH-02), and…

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Commentary: For Liberal CEOs, Abortion Is Good for Business

by Doreen Denny   As more states pass restrictions on abortion, companies are coming out of the woodwork to oppose them. Recently, some 180 companies “employing more than 108,000 workers” purchased a full-page ad in The New York Times under the banner “Don’t Ban Equality: It’s time for companies to…

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Biden Says Race ‘Shouldn’t Be About the Past,’ Defends His Civil Rights Record

by Shelby Talcott   Former Vice President Joe Biden said the 2020 presidential race “shouldn’t be about the past” Friday before defending his civil rights record. “I want to be absolutely clear about my … position on racial justice, including busing. I never, never, never ever opposed voluntary busing,” Biden…

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Federal Judge Blocks Billions of Dollars for Border Wall Funding

by Kevin Daley   A federal judge in California barred the Trump administration Friday night from reallocating $2.5 billion to construct border barriers. U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam, an Obama appointee, expanded an earlier order and forbade the government from moving forward with specific border wall projects in Arizona, California,…

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NYT Op-Ed Calls for Public Shaming of Border Protection Agents

by Chuck Ross   The New York Times published an op-ed Saturday that calls for border protection agents to face “serious social costs” and public shaming over their work at facilities housing migrant children. “The identities of the individual Customs and Border Protection agents who are physically separating children from…

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Concerns Arise About Whether Ohio Will Pass Budget by June 30 Deadline: ‘We Are Stuck’

  The Ohio House of Representatives and the Ohio Senate are still negotiating the biennium budget, House Bill 166. Conference Committee members continued meeting Friday and Saturday before the looming Sunday deadline. One state representative who wished to remain anonymous told The Ohio Star that the House is planning to meet…

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Ohio’s Joyce Beatty Leads Protest to Get Harriet Tubman on $20 Bill

  Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH-03) is leading the movement to replace President Andrew Jackson with abolitionist Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. In May, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that the Trump administration wouldn’t be able to meet a 2020 deadline for unveiling the Tubman-themed bill, citing “counterfeiting issues” and…

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Commentary: Why Doesn’t the Supreme Court Want to Know How Many Illegal Aliens America Has?

by Robert Romano   The Supreme Court unanimously ruled that a citizenship question can be included in a Census under the U.S. Constitution, however a narrower 5 to 4 majority threw out the specific rationale used by the Trump administration for the 2020 Census, remanding the case to lower courts…

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What (Other) Economists Think About Democrats’ Education Plans

by Kerry McDonald   A recent NPR article, titled “What Economists Think About Democrats’ New Education Proposals,” caught my eye. FEE, after all, is an economic education organization that looks at how free markets and individual liberty lead to more progress, greater prosperity, and better outcomes for all than any…

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DHS Expects Border Apprehensions to Decrease By 25%, Credits Trump’s Deal With Mexico

by Jason Hopkins   The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) expects apprehensions of illegal aliens to decline by 25% along the U.S. southern border in June and directly credited President Donald Trump’s immigration deal with Mexico for the change. “It’s become clear that over the past three weeks, since the…

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Michigan Workers Prepare for Another Factory Close Next Month As Dems Set Sights on Key Voters

by Audrey Conklin   Another auto plant in Warren, Michigan, that has been operating since 1958 is preparing to close in a little over a month, ending 261 jobs. The 261 hourly workers who will lose their jobs at the 2.1-million-square-foot General Motors factory build car transmissions. GM announced the…

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DHS Chief Adamantly Denies He Leaked ICE Raid Details to the Media

by Jason Hopkins   Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan vehemently denied that he was the source of a leak that led to the White House canceling its plan for mass deportation raids. “Absolutely not,” McAleenan said Thursday night when Fox News’s Laura Ingraham asked if he was the leaker.…

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The Supreme Court Will Determine the DACA Program’s Future Next Term

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court will decide whether President Donald Trump can rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program during its next term, the justices announced Friday. DACA is an Obama-era amnesty initiative that extends temporary legal status to 700,000 foreign nationals who came to the…

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2020 Election Meddling by China, Iran, N. Korea Likely, Administration Officials Warn

by Fred Lucas   Russia isn’t the only threat to election security going into 2020, as Trump administration officials say they are preparing for meddling from Iran, China, and North Korea. The federal government anticipates that Russia will again meddle in the U.S. election in 2020 through “Russian-controlled or influenced…

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Ohio Farmers Looking for Options with ‘Unprecedented Lack of Planting’

  Farmers throughout Ohio are struggling to plant their crops due to the excessively wet spring. Ty Higgins from the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation posted notice on their Facebook page about an important meeting being held at Ohio Northern University to help Ohio farmers.   “The unprecedented lack of corn…

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Commentary: How Romney and the Anti-Trump GOP Fueled the Border Crisis

by Julie Kelly   The crisis at the southern U.S. border proves at least one thing to be true: Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) is more honest than Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and his fellow anti-Trump Republicans. Ocasio-Cortez, to her credit, has never tried to fool the American people or her…

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The Battleground State Report: Democrats Say, ‘Come On In! We’ll Pay for Your Healthcare!’

  The Battleground State Report, airing Fridays at 8 am CST with Steve Gill, Michael Patrick Leahy, and Doug Kellett is a one-hour radio show from Star News Digital Media in the early stages of a national weekend syndication roll out. The three men dissected the Democratic debates from the past Wednesday and Thursday night noting…

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Jon Husted Wants Taxpayer-Funded Resources to Expand Internet, But Free-Market Solutions Could Be Coming

  Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted wants to use taxpayer-funded resources to expand broadband access to rural parts of the state. But free-market forces will reportedly offer the service to rural areas in coming years, thanks to new technologies. According to the Kent-based WKSU, Husted is “tired of waiting for…

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Cincinnati Church Celebrates Pride Month with Drag Queen Story Hour During Sunday Worship

  A Cincinnati church celebrated LGBT Pride month by hosting one of their own, caretaker Dan Davidson, dressed in drag. Davidson, called Sparkle Leigh in costume, greeted church attendees and read to the children during the service. His story of choice? Pride: the Story of Harvey Milk and the Rainbow…

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Jimmy Carter Says Donald Trump an Illegitimate President, ‘Didn’t Actually Win’ the 2016 Election

by Chuck Ross   Former president Jimmy Carter asserted Friday that President Trump is an “illegitimate” president, and that a full investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 election would show that he did not actually defeat Hillary Clinton. “I think that the interference, though not yet quantified, if fully…

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Commentary: Reddit Bans Largest Trump Subreddit as Trump Announces Social media Summit to Address Censorship

by Robert Romano   In the latest round of social media censorship, Reddit has quarantined the largest subreddit in favor of President Donald Trump, r/The_Donald, with over 750,000 followers, restricting access. The move comes amid a crackdown of conservative content on social media platforms, with users on Facebook, Twitter and…

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Ohio Budget Currently Includes $550 Million for ‘Student Wellness and Success’

  Ohio House and Senate members are up against a hard deadline – the biennial budget must be passed before July 1. One significant provision that has been written into every version of the budget so far includes hundreds of millions of dollars for “student wellness and success.” The current…

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School Choice Gets a Boost in Ohio State Budget

  With a vote on House Bill 166, the state budget bill, occurring within days, school choice supporters may have something to cheer about. One big winner appears to be the EdChoice Scholarship program that provides state dollars to students who wish to attend private schools. The program is capped,…

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Supreme Court Justice Roberts Joins Open-Border Liberals to Block the Census Citizenship Question, For Now

by Kevin Daley   The Supreme Court ordered further proceedings in the dispute over a citizenship question on the 2020 census form Thursday, saying the Trump administration apparently concealed its true reason for adding the query. Chief Justice John Roberts delivered the Court’s opinion, portions of which were unanimous. “It…

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Trump Quietly Signs Executive Order to Launch New Council on Affordable Housing to Battle Homeless Crisis

by Audrey Conklin   President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to establish a new council for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that focuses on affordable housing. The White House Council on Eliminating Barriers to Affordable Housing, chaired by HUD Secretary Ben Carson, will work with…

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Ohio House Approves Criteria to Ease College Transfers, Grant Associate Degrees

  The Ohio House passed a bill to make transferring colleges easier, but not without first adding more details on the criteria for doing so. Substitute House Bill 9 also adds provisions for determining if students who have left school without a bachelor’s degree are eligible for an associate’s degree…

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Brings Anti-Vaccination Crusade to Ohio

  Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, has been recognized by Time Magazine as a “hero for the planet” for his environmental activism, but he’s also become one of the most recognizable faces of the anti-vaccination movement. On Wednesday, Kennedy took his anti-vaxxer message to…

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Independence Day Across America: Fun and Festivities to Join in Ohio

  Check out these Ohio Independence Day events near you. Colombus Events: Dooh Dah Parade+ Party: Colombus is hosting its 36th annual Doo Dah Parade this Independence Day. “Dare to join irreverent self-styled satirists, partygoers, exhibitionists and overall lost souls in the 36th Annual Doo Dah Parade on the Fourth…

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Report: Trump Insiders Want DHS Chief to Step Down

by Jason Hopkins   Several Trump administration officials and other immigration hawks outside the White House are pushing to remove Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan amid accusations of disloyalty, according to sources familiar with the matter. Immigration hardliners within President Donald Trump’s orbit want McAleenan ousted, according to several…

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Supreme Court Rules Judges Can’t Block Partisan Gerrymandering

by Tyler Arnold   A narrowly divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that federal judges have no authority to block politically gerrymandered maps. The 5-4 decision fell along ideological lines with the five conservative judges signing onto the decision and the liberal judges dissenting. “We conclude that partisan gerrymandering claims present…

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Ohio’s Tim Ryan Claims He Was ‘Interrupted’ During 9/11 Gaffe, Told Reporters After Debate: ‘I’m Right’

  Rep. Tim Ryan’s (D-OH-13) presidential campaign is pushing back on claims that he didn’t know who was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks during Wednesday night’s first debate. As The Ohio Star reported, one of the most memorable exchanges of the evening came towards the end of the debate…

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Jim Jordan Says Dems Are Targeting Kellyanne Conway Because ‘She’s Good at What She Does’

  Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) said Wednesday that White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is being targeted by Democrats because she’s “effective” as the House Oversight Committee voted to subpoena her for testimony. The vote to subpoena Conway, which passed 25 to 16, comes amid a recommendation from the Office of…

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As Ohio’s Constitutional Carry Bill Is Approved by the House Federalism Committee, Its Survival Remains Dubious

  COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Chairman of the House Federalism Committee, State Representative John Becker (R-Union Township), scheduled another “possible vote” on House Bill 178 this week. Last Wednesday, after hours of testimony and multiple amendments, Speaker Larry Householder (R-Glenford) “pushed the pause button” and the vote was postponed. The concern was…

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9/11 Gaffe, Technical Difficulties, Spanish Responses: Highlights from ‘BORING’ First Debate

  Ten Democratic presidential candidates took to the debate stage in Miami, Florida Wednesday night for the first of a two-night event. President Donald Trump weighed in on the debate with just one word: “BORING!” BORING! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 27, 2019 He later criticized NBC News after…

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Bill Passed to Ensure Students’ Rights to Exercise Freedom of Religion in Public Schools

  COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Ohio House Primary and Secondary Education Committee passed a bill reaffirming the First Amendment right of children to the free exercise of religion in public schools Wednesday. It passed 9 to 4 on a party line vote. “House Bill 164 will simply codify into Ohio…

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Wayfair Workers Protest at Company’s Headquarters Over Selling Furniture to Immigrant Detention Centers

  Wayfair employees and their supporters gathered to protest outside the company’s Boston headquarters Wednesday after learning the online retailer sold bedroom furniture to detention centers housing migrant children. According to NBC News, people protesting shouted “this is what democracy looks like” and “Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho, ICE contracts have got to…

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