American Rescue Plan Act

Ohio to Award over $23 Million in COVID-19 Funding to Support Arts Organizations Statewide

May 18, 2023May 17, 2023 Hannah Poling

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, Lt. Governor Jon Husted, and Ohio Department of Development Director Lydia Mihalik have announced that the state of Ohio is awarding more than $23 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding to support arts organizations statewide.

One hundred thirty-nine organizations based in 35 counties will receive grant funding totaling $23,252,605.78 as part of the first round of the Ohio Arts Economic Relief Grant Program. The grant program was created in partnership with the Ohio General Assembly as part of a bill sponsored by State Senator George Lang (R-West Chester), which was later merged into House Bill (HB) 45. Over 400 groups applied for grants.

Ohio to Award over $42 Million for Safety Upgrades for More than 600 K-12 Schools

April 26, 2023April 25, 2023 Hannah Poling

Governor Mike DeWine announced Tuesday that Ohio is providing over $42 million in new grants to support physical safety and security upgrades at hundreds of local schools across the state.

According to DeWine, “Our educators care deeply about the safety of Ohio students, as evidenced by the thousands of schools that came forward with solid security improvement plans that they intend to carry out with this funding.”

Toledo Catholic Diocese Speaks Out Against City Council Proposal to Use Federal Relief Money to Transport Women Out of State to Have Abortions

December 22, 2022December 21, 2022 Hannah Poling

The Toledo Diocese took a stand against a proposed Toledo city ordinance that would provide funds to transport women seeking abortions out of state.

The resolution, sponsored by Councilmembers Nick Komives, Theresa Gadus, and Michele Grim, calls for the appropriation of $100,000 from the COVID relief money provided to the city through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) taxpayer dollars intended to address the public health and negative economic impacts of COVID-19.

Toledo City Council Proposes Use of Federal Relief Money to Transport Women Out of State to Have Abortions

December 14, 2022December 13, 2022 Hannah Poling

The Toledo City Council plans to consider a resolution to co-opt COVID relief funds to transport women out of the state to have abortions.

Ohio’s Buckeye Institute Urges Circuit Court to Kill Biden Tax Mandate

November 2, 2022November 1, 2022 Bradley Vasoli

The Columbus-based Buckeye Institute this week filed an amicus brief in the federal court case challenging the authority the Biden administration has asserted to limit state tax-reduction efforts.

Opponents of the White House policy are urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit to rule in Texas v. Yellen that a provision of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) cannot condition states’ receipt of federal aid on accepting “ambiguous” federally prescribed tax policy. Plaintiffs and their supporters further argue that President Joe Biden and his Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cannot invoke their regulatory power to fix ARPA’s lack of clarity.

Cleveland Area Gets Nearly $8 Million in State Grants for Anti-Crime Efforts

October 5, 2022October 4, 2022 Bradley Vasoli

Governor Mike DeWine (R) announced this week that a new $12.3 million funding package would go to local law enforcement agencies to address violent crime, with Cleveland and Cuyahoga County getting two-thirds of those funds.

Nearly $1 million will go to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office, mainly to hire three new staff attorneys to help the jurisdiction make headway in its backlog of sexual and domestic violence cases. The Cleveland Division of police, the Cleveland State University Police Department and the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office will meanwhile receive an approximate total of $6.5 million, largely to enhance police-officer pay. Euclid’s Police Department will also get $107,000, for technological improvements.

Commentary: Enormous Amounts of Money Flow into the Bottomless Education Pit

August 23, 2022August 22, 2022 Admin

Spurred by COVID panic, schools have been the recipient of ungodly sums of money. And it’s not as if the beast was starving before. To put things into perspective, the United States spends about $800 billion on national defense, more than China, Russia, India, the UK, France, Saudi Arabia, Germany, and Japan combined, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. America now spends even more on K-12 education, with an outlay of about $900 billion dollars a year, which includes an additional $122 billion from the COVID-related American Rescue Plan.

Ohio Republican Senator Introduces Gun Control Legislation

August 21, 2022August 20, 2022 The Center Square

An Ohio Republican state senator introduced gun-control legislation that would require a co-signer for 18- to 21-year-olds to buy any gun other than a single-round rifle or shotgun.

State Sen. Matt Dolan, R-Chagrin Falls, who lost a U.S. Senate primary earlier this year to J.D. Vance, said Senate Bill 357 protects both Second Amendment rights and the public.

Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Funds Raised to $100 Million

August 17, 2022August 16, 2022 Bradley Vasoli

During a visit to the Whitehall Police Department this week, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) indicated he will expand funding for the Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant Program from $58 million to $100 million, citing a nationwide spike in violence.

According to data from the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s 2011 and 2020 Uniform Crime Reports, homicides in the Buckeye State rose sharply in the decade between those years. Five hundred murders occurred in Ohio in 2011 and 820 took place in 2020. Regional figures also show violence worsening, with one poll of Franklin County police chiefs showing that aggravated assault increased by 36 percent in that jurisdiction between 2020 and 2021.

Iowa Leaders React to Biden Administration’s $1 Billion for Expanding Independent Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity

January 5, 2022January 4, 2022 The Center Square

Inside of a butcher shop with meat hanging up

The Biden Administration announced Monday it will spend $1 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds to increase independent meat and poultry processing capacity.

The administration will invest $375 million on independent processing plant projects that fill a need for diversified processing capacity, spend up to $275 million in working with lenders to increase availability of loans, particularly to underserved communities, for independent processors, and spend $100 million to back private lenders investing in independently owned food processing and distribution infrastructure to move product through supply chain.

It will spend and additional $100 million to support training, safe workplaces and jobs in meat and poultry processing facilities, $100 million in reducing overtime and holiday inspection costs for small and very small processing plants, and $50 million to provide independent business owners and producers with technical assistance and research and development.

Senate Democrats Publicly Release $3.5 Trillion Filibuster-Proof Budget Reconciliation Resolution

August 10, 2021August 9, 2021 Ohio Star Staff

Senate Democrats have publicly released their $3.5 trillion, filibuster-proof budget reconciliation resolution.

The draft of the legislation released on Monday includes new spending programs that the White House has labeled “human infrastructure,” such as universal pre-K, childcare support and tuition free community college.

The spending total is estimated over a 10-year period. Using budget reconciliation allows the Democrats to pass the measure without votes from Republicans in the 50-50 Senate. Democrats used the same process in March to pass President Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic stimulus package called the American Rescue Plan Act.