Ohio Republican politician and businessman Bernie Moreno says that an indictment against former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump would be a “disastrous idea.”
According to a Fox News report, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office requested a meeting with law enforcement on Friday in anticipation of a potential indictment of Trump this week.
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Norfolk Southern Corp. Chief Executive Officer Alan Shaw told Pennsylvania lawmakers on Monday that the response to February’s Ohio train derailment “worked” and that state officials thoroughly backed it.
Shaw’s appearance before the state Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee came about as a result of a subpoena earlier this month after the rail-company executive initially declined to speak to the panel. Senators also subpoenaed the corporation’s internal communications related to the wreck, some of which committee Chair Doug Mastriano (R-Gettysburg) said have been turned over and others of which he says he still awaits.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has announced that Ohio is the latest Republican-led state to pull out of a national bipartisan voter registration initiative.
LaRose, a Republican who is actively considering running for U.S. Senate against U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024, sent a letter to the executive director of the Electronic Registration Information Center, also known as ERIC, announcing the decision following the bipartisan compact’s member states meeting on Friday.
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Ohio Republican politician and businessman Bernie Moreno says that an indictment against former President and 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump would be a “disastrous idea.”
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A bill that would stop Ohio law enforcement officers from enforcing federal gun regulations that are more restrictive than state law is drawing opposition from country prosecutors, chiefs of police and mayors.
State Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, called the proposed legislation a response to federal regulations she said infringes on Second Amendment rights.
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A bill in the Ohio Senate aims to stop diversity and equity training for faculty and students at state colleges and universities.
Senate Bill (SB) 83 known as the Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act introduced by state Senator Jerry Cirino, (R-Kirtland) would eliminate the need for professor, staff, or student participation in diversity, equity, or inclusion training or courses. It would also create transparency for all tasks, as well as compulsory and suggested reading.
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Republican lawmakers have reintroduced a plan to allow state education dollars to be used by every Ohio parent to pay for private school or other education expenses. House Bill (HB) 11, sponsored by State Representatives Riordan McClain (R-Upper Sandusky) and Marilyn John (R-Richland County), aims to make all public, nonpublic,…
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Ohio Governor Mike DeWine visited East Palestine, Ohio to receive remediation updates on Friday, exactly six weeks since a Norfolk Southern train derailed wreaking havoc on the environment and negatively impacting the health of residents.
Although soil is being removed in the area more swiftly than before, according to DeWine, “it’s never fast enough.” Despite the fact that 1,620 tons of earth were removed last week as opposed to 910 tons the week before, there is still a substantial amount.
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Alan Shaw, CEO of Norfolk Southern, drank a glass of East Palestine, Ohio, tap water in front of a group of reporters at a media round-table on Thursday while promising to clear the scene of a horrific train derailment and contribute to rebuilding the community.
According to Shaw, he is sorry for what happened and wants to make it right.
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday ordered states to stop preventing the transportation of contaminated debris from an Ohio train disaster that resulted in a fire from reaching hazardous waste storage facilities around the country.
This announcement follows Ohio Governor Mike DeWine calling on both the EPA and Norfolk Southern Railway to authorize more sites to take East Palestine’s contaminated soil due to some states with sites that are certified to take in hazardous materials not accepting it.
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After more than two years, Attorney General Dave Yost’s civil lawsuit against FirstEnergy, former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder, and others connected to the House Bill (HB) 6 scandal is once more being permitted to move forward.
Franklin County Common Pleas Court Judge Chris Brown has granted Yost’s motion to lift the stay on proceedings in the case.
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Cincinnati city officials have stalled its attempt to sell a city-owned rail line to Norfolk Southern, the same company that caused the toxic disaster in East Palestine last month.
The elements required for the proposed sale of the Cincinnati Southern Railway are no longer included in the state’s transportation budget, hence Norfolk Southern cannot currently purchase the city-owned railroad.
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Cleveland aimed to encourage increased rail safety in response to the February disaster of the East Palestine train derailment, particularly because the train that derailed also passed through the city.
Cleveland City Council Member Jenny Spencer sponsored a railroad safety resolution on Monday urging Congress to pass U.S. Senate Bill (SB) 576, the Federal Rail Safety Act of 2023, introduced in Congress by U.S. Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH).
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Republican Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Megan Shanahan has announced her bid for a seat on the Ohio Supreme Court in 2024. Shanahan is the first to announce her candidacy.
According to Shanahan, she is running for an Ohio Supreme Court Seat because she understands the proper role of the judiciary “interpreting the law, not legislating from the bench.”
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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost released a statement outlining the next steps in the House Bill (HB) 6 scandal following the guilty verdicts declared against Larry Householder and Matt Borges in federal court on March 9th.
According to Yost, with the completion of the federal prosecution the state’s racketeering lawsuit should be able to resume.
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An Ohio pro-woman and pro-parent group has released a $5 million ad buy to underscore the dangerous and extreme nature of a constitutional amendment championed by abortion and transgender industry giants, including Planned Parenthood.
In its 30-second spot, Protect Women Ohio (PWO), a statewide coalition, emphasizes the provisions of the radical constitutional amendment pushed by anti-life activists, including one to abolish parental rights and eradicate the basic health and safety standards that currently protect Ohio women and girls.
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The Ohio Supreme Court has formally accepted an appeal by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost in a case involving the state’s six-week abortion ban.
The court announced on Tuesday morning that it will only consider two of the three legal issues Yost asked the court to consider: whether he has the right to appeal a lower court’s decision to put the heartbeat law on hold and whether abortion clinics have “standing” or the legal authority to challenge the law in the first place.
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On Monday, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) pushed the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to transport dangerous waste to authorized facilities after seeing a pile of toxic waste in East Palestine, Ohio.
Vance visited the waste site after giving testimony at a March 9th U.S Senate railroad safety hearing regarding how the waste was still in East Palestine weeks after a railway catastrophe caused dangerous chemicals to contaminate the community.
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Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ordered rail company Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins following the catastrophic February 3rd train derailment, and says that East Palestine suggests a “low probability” of dioxin contamination a retired chemist told The Ohio Star that dioxins “were produced” during the burn “it’s not a question of maybe.”
The EPA has maintained there is a “low probability” that dioxins were released from the derailment based on its sampling for “indicator chemicals” that it says would signal the presence of dioxins in East Palestine.
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The cleanup at the toxic train derailment site in East Palestine last month has stalled because Ohio is having problems locating sites to accept the 24,400 tons of excavated contaminated soil. According to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office only 2,980 tons have actually been removed so far.
DeWine says that some states with sites that are certified to take in hazardous materials aren’t accepting the soil. He said that refusing the soil is unfair to the residents of East Palestine, which isn’t where it belongs.
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On Monday, the Ohio Ballot Board unanimously certified that the proposed constitutional amendment that would legalize abortion throughout the state called “The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety,” incorporates only one constitutional amendment and therefore advances.
The Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom, a coalition of radical pro-abortion activists that includes Planned Parenthood, Pro-Choice Ohio, the Abortion Fund of Ohio, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Ohio, along with the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights, must now gather over 413,000 signatures from registered voters in at least 44 counties, which equals 10 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election before July 5th. The amount of signatures must equal at least 5 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial race in each county.
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The state of Ohio this week announced a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern in connection with the February derailment of one of its trains near the town of East Palestine. Attorney General Dave Yost filed the suit on Tuesday, contending that the railroad violated state and federal laws, among them the Ohio Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), CNN reported. The Feb. 3 derailment saw toxic materials leak from the railcars and force an evacuation of the town. Authorities were later forced to implement a controlled release of the toxic materials to prevent an explosion.
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The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair said on Sunday that Norfolk Southern’s proposed “six-point strategy” safety plan is “not robust enough,” following multiple mishaps from the railroad giant that included the derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
Norfolk Southern’s CEO, Alan Shaw, testified before the U.S. Senate last week over a month after a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine creating a fiery catastrophe which jeopardized both the health of residents and the environment.
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The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio has attracted the ire and attention of the public and government officials. Unfortunately, train disasters are just one of many contributors to the threat posed by environmental contamination. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data analyzed by The Guardian, the U.S. is averaging one chemical accident every two days. Some of the top culprits are water treatment plants, which regularly use hazardous inputs such as chlorine and sulfur dioxide in their operations. (Mostly) government-owned plants fail to place proper safeguards on these chemicals, resulting in dangerous exposures to the public. Policymakers should consider alternative approaches that incentivize careful treatment operations at affordable prices for consumers.
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A new report shows Ohioans have some of the highest gas price increases in the nation from 2022 to 2023.
Zutobi, an online drivers ed organization, analyzed fuel prices in every state and more than 170 countries to create its “Global Gas Prices Report” for 2023. The report shows the states with the cheapest and most expensive gas prices, along states that showed the most significant changes.
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Ohio Republican lawmakers have reintroduced legislation that would ban providing minors puberty-blocking drugs and cross-sex hormones for “gender transitioning” which it’s sponsors postponed last November rather than rushing it through lame duck.
House Bill (HB) 68 known as the Save Adolescents from Experimentation (SAFE) Act sponsored by State Representative Gary Click (R-Vickery) aims to prohibit certain procedures from altering a minor child’s sex.
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The two-star commander of the Ohio National Guard is not facing charges despite the outcry generated by police body camera video that appeared to show the general shoving a journalist during a news conference last month.
Captain Jenna Walton, State Public Affairs officer for the Ohio National Guard told The Ohio Star that “there have been no charges, either civilian or military, filed against MG John Harris, Jr.”
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A recently proposed law that is now making its way through the Ohio Statehouse would lower the age requirement for an Ohioan to join the police department.
In Ohio, applicants must currently be 21 years old to become police officers, but Senate Bill (SB) 53 would lower that age limit to 18. Senators Michele Reynolds (R-Canal Winchester) and Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) have sponsored the legislation.
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Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy assigned Matthew Byrne, a Twelfth District Court of Appeals judge, this week to preside over a state appeal of a preliminary injunction on Ohio’s abortion law.
Byrne takes over for newly appointed Ohio Justice Joe Deters, who recused himself after the abortion clinic plaintiffs argued that he couldn’t rule on the state’s heartbeat bill ban because he was an original defendant on the case when serving as Hamilton County Prosecutor.
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Farmers from the East Palestine region met with officials from the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) on Thursday to discuss the potential effects of last month’s Norfolk Southern hazardous train crash on their crops and livestock.
The conference was held in order to address any worries local farmers might have regarding the forthcoming planting season, even though the ODA has stated it has no reason to believe crops cultivated in the area would be harmful.
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On Wednesday, health was a major topic of conversation during the second Ohio Senate Select Committee Hearing on Rail Safety, especially the health of the East Palestine community and the emergency personnel that responded to the wreck there.
The East Palestine incident in early February served as the catalyst for the hearing, which featured testimony and questions from the departments of transportation, health, and mental health and addiction services in Ohio.
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City officials in Cincinnati are attempting to sell a city-owned rail line to Norfolk Southern, the same company that caused the toxic disaster in East Palestine last month.
City leaders announced a plan to sell the line, the Cincinnati Southern Railway that runs to Chattanooga Tennesee, at the end of last year to Norfolk Southern for $1.6 billion.
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A federal jury found former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder and former state Republican Party leader Matt Borges guilty of racketeering conspiracy in what federal prosecutors have called the largest public corruption case in state history. The two each face up to 20 years in prison and will be sentenced in the coming months. Appeals could also be filed.
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Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw faced questions about who authorized the controlled burn at a Senate hearing on Thursday as Washington lawmakers held their first hearing on railroad safety about a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
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A middle school in Copley, Ohio, has eliminated a fifth-grade gender identity lesson from its health curriculum following exposure of the lesson at Libs of TikTok, a report Tuesday revealed.
At the outset of a letter sent to parents that was printed on the letterhead of Akron Children’s Hospital, Rachel O’Donnell, fifth-grade health teacher at Copley-Fairlawn Middle School, wrote the program would “cover the physical and emotional changes that can be expected during puberty” and would be taught in a way that was “age-appropriate, scientifically accurate, and non-judgmental.”
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After a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, and a number of other “significant accidents,” the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced Tuesday that it will begin an investigation into Norfolk Southern.
The organization declared that it would investigate the railroad’s safety procedures and culture.
Only a few hours earlier, the railroad had reported that a conductor had been fatally injured at a steel mill in Ohio.
A spokesperson for Norfolk Southern told The Ohio Star that the rail company will create a new training center in Ohio for first responders.
This follows Governor Mike DeWine’s announcement on Monday, that the state of Ohio needs more extensive train derailment response training for first responders and intends to invest almost $1 million on training programs.
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Ohio Republican Secretary of State Frank LaRose told The Ohio Star that he is actively considering running for U.S. Senate against Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in 2024.
“I’m giving it a lot of thought. No announcements yet,” LaRose told The Star.
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Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has alerted the chairman and board of a national bipartisan voter registration initiative that the state may withdraw, as three Republican-led states announced Monday.
Florida, Missouri, and West Virginia announced on Monday that they will no longer participate in the multi-state Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which election officials created to enable states to share voter registration information.
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Local activists in East Palestine, Ohio claimed on Monday that their activism has persuaded Norfolk Southern to accept a restricted relocation plan for some residents impacted by the train derailment last month. However, they added that they have no intention of abandoning their demand for justice for the thousands of residents in the area who are struggling as a result of the accident.
The company’s proposal to offer financial help to residents who live within a one-mile radius of the accident site “is not enough,” said River Valley Organizing (RVO), which last week produced a list of five requests for the people of East Palestine and the surrounding area.
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Alex Triantafilou, the newly elected head of the Ohio Republican Party, stopped in Lima for the Allen County Republican Party’s monthly luncheon to discuss his vision of what the party can anticipate this year.
According to Triantafilou, they will strive to keep Ohio a “red” state and will concentrate on removing U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and President Joe Biden from office.
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Norfolk Southern released a statement Tuesday after one of its employees was killed aboard one of the company’s trains that collided with a dump truck at a flat-rolled steel-producing facility in Cleveland, Ohio. A Norfolk Southern conductor identified as Louis Shuster was fatally injured early Tuesday morning at the Cleveland-Cliffs Cleveland Works property when a dump truck struck the train as it was moving through a crossing at the facility, according to a press release by the company.
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After its second train derailment in Ohio within a matter of weeks, Norfolk Southern on Monday unveiled a “six-point strategy” to increase safety.
Although Norfolk Southern claimed there were no dangerous commodities on the train, around 20 of a 212-car train derailed on Saturday in Springfield, Ohio. The incident happened about a month after a derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, which contained hazardous materials and required hundreds of nearby residents to evacuate for several days.
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The state of Ohio intends to invest almost $1 million on training small, rural first-responder teams to respond to train derailments.
On March 1st, Governor Mike DeWine announced that he had discussed the necessity of more extensive train derailment response training for first responders with the CEOs of both Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads.
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Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH-04) said Sunday he is determined to obtain transparency on the origins of the COVID-19 virus, specifically why Dr. Anthony Fauci insisted on a dismissal of the narrative that the virus originated from a lab leak in Wuhan, China.
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Two Republican state Representatives have introduced a bill that aims to reduce firearms regulations and expand Second Amendment rights in Ohio.
House Bill (HB) 51 known as the “Second Amendment Preservation Act” sponsored by state Representatives Mike Loychik (R-Bazetta) and Jean Schmidt (R-Loveland) takes several steps to protect the Second Amendment by adding further protections to the right to bear arms, and removing federal firearms law references from the state firearms control law.
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On Friday, a Columbus, Ohio-based think tank submitted a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court asking justices to allow states to enforce against water pollution, pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act (CWA).
The 1972 law set up a permitting system for corporate or infrastructural projects that result in the discharge of pollutant materials into rivers, streams or other bodies of water. Under the act, states may undertake their own permitting programs. But last July, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit issued a ruling that South Carolina’s program is not strong enough to supersede the federal permit process and therefore citizen lawsuits can effectively nullify the state program.
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Two Republican Ohio State Representatives have re-introduced legislation to revise child custody laws to support equal shared parenting in Ohio.
House Bill (HB) 14, known as the “Children Need Both Parents” bill sponsored by State Representatives Rodney Creech (R-West Alexandria) and Marilyn John (R-Richland County), looks to strengthen Ohio families and ensure the best outcome for the children involved with parents who are separated.
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President Joe Biden departed the White House Friday en route to Delaware for the 66th time since taking office this weekend, which drew criticism from the Republican National Committee (RNC). According to the RNC, Biden has spent approximately 40 percent of his presidency “on vacation,” with this weekend marking his 306th, 307th, and 308th total vacation days. Of that 40 percent, the RNC noted that Biden has spent 55 of 110 weekends in Delaware.
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A ballot measure that would amend the Ohio state Constitution to remove current health and safety protections for women and girls seeking abortion and parental consent requirements for minors seeking the procedure has advanced following certification by the state attorney general’s office.
Pro-life organizations are rallying to oppose the “The Right to Reproductive Freedom With Protections for Health and Safety” initiative that they say will endanger the lives of women and girls seeking abortions.
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