Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee Sue SEC to Stop New Climate Rule

Dave Yost

Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee sued the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission to stop a rule that requires publicly traded companies to report climate-related information.

The suit, filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on behalf of the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit in Cincinnati to stop the SEC from “overstepping its authority by meddling in environmental policy,” according to a news release.

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More than 15,000 New Concealed Carry Permits Issued in Ohio in 2023

More than 15,000 new concealed handgun licenses were issued in Ohio in 2023, even though the state stopped requiring concealed carry permits.

Attorney General Dave Yost on Friday issued the state’s annual report on concealed handgun licensing that showed a total of 90,582 permits were issued last year.

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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost Spearheading Effort Urging Congress to Stabilize Funding for the Federal Crime Victims Fund

Dave Yost Congress

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost led a bipartisan coalition of 41 other state attorneys general in sending a letter to congressional leaders urging the authorization of bridge funding for the federal Crime Victims Fund, also known as the VOCA Fund.

Created by Congress in 1984, the VOCA Fund provides federal support to state and local programs that assist victims of crime.

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Ohio AG Dave Yost Sees No Need to Expedite Voter Rights Lawsuit

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost does not believe a lawsuit challenging how he ruled on a potential ballot issue that would expand voting rights deserves an expedited trial.

Yost’s recent filing related to the suit dealt only with the time element and not about any legal challenges after he rejected a proposed constitutional amendment for an Ohio Voters Bill of Rights.

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Chinese Man Illegally in the U.S. Indicted on 309 Felony Charges in Ohio for Role in Gift Card Counterfeiting Scheme

Gift Cards

A Chinese man who entered the U.S. illegally has been indicted by a Coshocton County grand jury on 309 felony charges related to a gift card counterfeiting scheme, according to Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.

Ming Xue, 32, of Hunan, Fujian – a province on the southeastern coast of China – faces 308 counts of counterfeiting and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, according to Yost’s office.

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DOJ, Three More States Join Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s Lawsuit Against the NCAA

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Thursday the Department of Justice (DOJ), three states, and the District of Columbia all joined his antitrust lawsuit against the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s (NCAA) Transfer Eligibility Rule this week.

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Another Petition to Rewrite State’s Election Rules Submitted to Attorney General Yost’s Office

A proposed constitutional amendment that would amend Ohio’s constitution by rewriting election rules was filed with Attorney General Dave Yost’s Office on Tuesday.

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Six Members of a South Columbus Violent Crime Ring Indicted on 124 Felony Charges

An investigation conducted by the Central Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force has resulted in six alleged members of a violent crime ring in south Columbus being indicted on a combined 124 felony charges, according to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.

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Ohio’s Concealed Carry Law Resulted in Less Gun Crime Last Year, Study Shows

concealed carry

A study published this week by Center for Justice Research, a partnership between the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Bowling Green State University, revealed gun crime decreased in six of Ohio’s eight largest cities following the implementation of the Constitutional Carry law.

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More Than $63 Million in Illegal Drugs Seized in Ohio Last Year

Drug task forces organized under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission (OOCIC) across the state confiscated more than $63 million in illegal drugs in 2023, according to Attorney General Dave Yost’s office.

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Ohio Secretary of State Denounces New ‘Assault on the Integrity of Our Voting Process’

Ohio Sec. of State Frank LaRose

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has denounced a proposed constitutional amendment recently filed with the state’s Attorney General’s Office that would amend Ohio’s constitution by rewriting election rules.

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Ohio Attorney General Announces ‘Huge Win’ in Lawsuit Challenging NCAA Transfer Rule

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced Friday the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has agreed to terms that would allow college athletes who have transferred more than once to be immediately eligible to play with “no retaliation” as part of an antitrust lawsuit filed by Yost.

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Amendment to Change Ohio Redistricting Process Moves Ahead

A plan to change who draws legislative districts for the second time in five years waits on word from the Ohio Ballot Board before moving forward.

The Ballot Board has yet to schedule a meeting to address a proposed constitutional amendment that would create a 15-member citizen commission to draw district lines.

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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost Says Public Facilities Can Separate Restroom Use According to Biological Sex

In an official opinion from the Ohio Attorney General’s office, Attorney General Dave Yost says that the Ohio Revised Code allows managers of public restrooms to separate restroom use according to biological sex.

In December, Green County Prosecutor David Hayes requested the opinion from Yost on whether Ohio civil rights law requires local governments to permit individuals to use public restrooms according to their stated gender identity rather than their biological sex.

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Pro-Life Activists Warn Ohio Ballot Initiative Would Eliminate Health and Safety Regulations and Parental Consent for Minor Abortions

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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Anti-Life Groups Propose Amendment to Enshrine Abortion in Ohio Constitution

Two anti-life organizations submitted language for a new ballot initiative Tuesday that would enshrine abortion in the Ohio Constitution despite existing pro-life laws. Ohioans for Reproductive Freedom and Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights (OPRR) filed the language for their ballot initiative, titled The Right to Reproductive Freedom with Protections for Health and Safety amendment, with Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R), according to a press release.

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Biden’s Federal Contractor Vaccine Mandate Loses in Court Again

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost applauded a federal appeals court decision to block the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for federal contractors.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based in Cincinnati agreed late Thursday with a lower court ruling that imposed a preliminary injunction on the proposed mandate that would have also required tens of millions of Americans to wear face masks at work.

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Franklin County, Ohio Court Soon to Decide Whether to Continue Voucher Case

In the next few weeks, Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Jaiza Page (D) is poised to decide whether a lawsuit against Ohio’s private-school choice program will go forward. 

Litigation against private school choice in the Buckeye State has been in the works since last year when dozens of school districts under the aegis of Ohio Coalition for Equity and Adequacy of School Funding posited that the state’s EdChoice program harms the state’s ability to properly fund its public schools. The districts suing the state, which now number more than 130, filed their action in January. 

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Ohio Attorney General Yost to Host Anti-Trafficking Summit in January

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) will host his Fourth Annual Human Trafficking Summit next January 26 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. 

Seventeen workshops will take place at the event, including examination of the trauma inflicted on trafficking survivors, best practices for serving those who have endured such crimes, discussion of why individuals solicit sex and review of state policies to reduce the demand for labor trafficking.

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Ohio Attorney General Announces Preliminary Agreement with Walmart on Opioid Addiction Liability

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) announced on Tuesday that he and 15 other state attorneys general have negotiated a preliminary deal with the multinational retailer Walmart, from which Ohio would get $114 million for opioid recovery programs.

The $3.1 billion national agreement comes after Yost and other prosecutors sought accountability for what they characterize as the superstore’s failure to safely and securely dispense high-strength prescription pain relievers through its more than 5,100 pharmacies across America. Other state prosecutor’s offices who worked alongside him include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Texas.
The agreement comes after Yost and other prosecutors sought accountability for what they characterize as the superstore’s failure to safely and securely dispense high-strength prescription pain relievers through its more than 5,100 pharmacies across America. Other state prosecutor’s offices who worked alongside him include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, New York, Tennessee and Texas.

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Ohio Election Day Roundup: Results for National Elected Offices, State Offices, and Statewide Ballot Issues

After a long campaign season for the Ohio midterm election, voting numbers from county boards of elections are pouring in and being added to the unofficial results on the Ohio Secretary of State’s Website.

According to the Ohio Secretary of State, results are unofficial until they have been reviewed and certified once the official canvass has been completed by November 29th.

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Cygnal Ohio Poll Shows Vance and DeWine Getting Bigger Leads

A poll released this weekend by the data company Cygnal shows Ohio Republican candidates for governor and U.S. Senate widening their leads against their Democratic opponents. 

The survey of 1,776 likely voters shows J.D. Vance, the author, attorney and venture capitalist running to succeed retiring Republican Senator Rob Portman, with a 4.6-percent lead over Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH-13). Among those polled, 9.2 percent said they were undecided. 

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Two New Polls Widen Vance’s Lead in Ohio Senate Race

JD Vance

Data from two new surveys have contributed to a slightly widening lead for Republican J.D. Vance in his Ohio Senate campaign against U.S. Representative Tim Ryan (D-OH-13). 

One of the polls comes from the Democrat-aligned group Data for Progress, which finds that Vance has garnered 49 percent of the 1,016 likely voters with whom the organization spoke. 

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AG Yost Rejects Proposal to Raise Ohio’s Minimum Wage

A citizen group trying to use a constitutional amendment to raise Ohio’s minimum wage eventually to $15 doesn’t need to start over but it does need to make changes to its plan if it hopes to eventually get it on the ballot.

Attorney General Dave Yost rejected the group’s proposal, calling it misleading to a potential signer. He also said it had numerous omissions.

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Ohio Will Appeal Hold on ‘Heartbeat Law’

The state will appeal a court’s decision to stop Ohio’s heartbeat law while abortion-rights groups challenge it in state court, Attorney General Dave Yost announced.

As expected, the state filed its notice of appeal of Hamilton County Common Pleas Court Judge Christian Jenkins’ temporary restraining order that stopped the law from going into effect while a lawsuit challenging it continues.

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Republicans Poised to Run the Table in Ohio as Vance, DeWine, Yost, and LaRose All Lead in New Poll

by Debra Heine   Republican author and lawyer J.D. Vance leads Democrat Rep. Tim Ryan 46 percent to 44 percent in the U.S. Senate race in Ohio, according to GOP polling firm Cygnal. The survey of likely general election voters in Ohio also gave Republican Governor Mike DeWine a strong…

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Ohio AG Moves to Cut Attorneys’ Fees in FirstEnergy Settlement

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost wants a judge to cut attorneys’ fees by $10 million as ratepayers near a settlement in a class action lawsuit with FirstEnergy.

Yost filed an objection in U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Ohio against the lawyers’ plan to receive a third of the $49 million settlement that still needs final approval from Judge Edmund Sargus.

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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost: No Evidence of Raped and Pregnant 10-Year-Old Girl Traveling to Indiana for Abortion

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost told Fox News Monday night there is no evidence of a 10-year-old girl in his state who was raped, became pregnant, and traveled to Indiana for an abortion, as Joe Biden claimed during his remarks justifying his executive order that attempts to undermine the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

“Not a whisper,” Yost told Fox News’ Jesse Watters on Primetime. “We have a decentralized law enforcement system in Ohio, but we have regular contact with prosecutors and local police and sheriffs. Not a whisper anywhere.”

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Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost Calls on Congress to Pass Microchip Production Legislation

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, joined by a bipartisan group of his counterparts in other states, urged action from Congressional leaders on legislation to encourage the production of microchips.

Because of the technological reliance on the product, Yost argued that microchips should become a national priority in order to reduce foreign reliance.

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Ohio Abortion Clinics Remain Open After Heartbeat Abortion Law in Effect

Ohio’s heartbeat abortion law that bans the procedure once a fetal heartbeat can be detected was in effect soon after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade.

The state’s nine abortion clinics, six of which perform surgical abortions, are still open, however, according to a report Monday at WKSU public radio.

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House Passes Bill Allowing Ohio Election Officials Limited Connection to Private Groups

Confusion for some Ohio boards of election forced a new bill that walks back at least part of a law stopping election officials from working with nongovernmental entities.

The Ohio General Assembly tacked the legislation onto its budget last year. Despite assurances from lawmakers and Secretary of State Frank LaRose the ban would not create an issue for local election officials, Attorney General Dave Yost issued an opinion in January that said the new law criminalizes partnerships with private groups, but most routine work is OK.

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Judge Orders Ohio Home-Improvement Contractor That Deceived Dozens of Customers to ‘Stop Operating His Business Immediately’

Dave Yost

Neil Wolfe, a longtime home-improvement contractor who deceived dozens of his customers and then repeatedly flouted a judge’s injunction, has been held in civil contempt and ordered to stop operating his business immediately, according to a press release by Attorney General Dave Yosts’s office.

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Attorney General Yost Announces $80 Million Settlement Reached with Company That Caused Environmental Damage Through PCB Contamination

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced an $80 million settlement with the Monsanto Company Thursday that “forces the company to pay for the long-standing environmental damage it knowingly caused in Ohio with its toxic products.”

“Ohio has been absorbing the health and environmental costs of PCB contamination for decades, and the cleanup will likely continue for even longer,” Attorney General Dave Yost said. “This settlement not only holds Monsanto accountable for its actions but also provides significant financial resources to assist in environmental cleanup.”

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More Than 300 People Turn Out for Educational Forum on Elder Abuse Presented by the Ohio Attorney General

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost

More than 300 people joined an online educational forum presented this week by the Ohio Attorney General’s Elder Abuse Commission aimed at helping older Ohioans avoid financial exploitation, a common form of elder abuse, according to a press release by the Attorney General’s office.

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Ohio Study Links Stimulus Checks with Spike in Opioid Deaths

Republican Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost released a study Thursday and suggested there is a link between the distribution of COVID-19 pandemic-related stimulus checks and high rates of opioid-related overdoses in his state.

The pandemic and the epidemic of drug overdoses in the U.S. have created a “perfect storm” for high rates of overdose deaths, the authors of the study wrote.

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Ohio Man Sentenced to 42 Years in Prison for Human Trafficking

An Ohio man, Grant Rose, has been convicted on 15 different charges relating to his role in a human trafficking scheme with his girlfriend, according to a release from Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Rose and his girlfriend, Susan Walendzik, trafficked a minor and controlled her by getting her addicted to narcotics and fueling her addiction.

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Petition to Ban Ohio Vaccination Mandates Turned Away for Third Time

Another attempt by a grassroots group to create an Ohio law that would ban vaccination mandates was turned away by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Yost rejected the summary of a petition for the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Choice and Anti-Discrimination Act, a proposed statue that would require the state to protect the privacy and freedom of Ohioans to abstain from vaccinations or gene therapy without being discriminated against.

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Volkswagen Settles Lawsuit with Ohio over Environmental Claims

Volkswagen will pay the state of Ohio $3.5 million in a lawsuit settlement over claims the company violated state environmental laws by manipulating computer software in its cars to hide carbon dioxide emissions, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced.

The settlement ends a lawsuit filed in 2016 by the attorney general’s office. It is separate from a lawsuit filed the same year by the attorney general’s office on behalf of consumers who claim they were misled by Volkswagen’s assertions of vehicle performance.

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Ohio Attorney General Yost Sues Facebook for Securities Fraud After Alleged Misleading Disclosures

Dave Yost

Ohio Attorney Dave Yost has taken social media behemoth Facebook to federal court for misleading investors on how the negative effects of its content management algorithms in an effort to boost its stock performance while deceiving shareholders.

The civil lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Northern California on behalf of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS) and other Facebook investors, charged Facebook and its senior executives violated securities laws  by purposely withholding information about the negative effects its products have on the health and well-being of children and the steps the company claimed it had taken to protect the public.

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Ohio AG’s Office Freezes $3 Million in Sam Randazzo’s Assets in Case Related to House Bill 6 Probe

Sam Randazzo and Dave Yost

The office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has frozen more than $3 million in assets of former Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Sam Randazzo as part of a state civil lawsuit tied to the ongoing federal criminal probe of a Statehouse corruption scheme.
Yost’s office also has sought a court order to appoint a receiver to go after another $3 million in assets Randazzo allegedly had transferred to accounts his attorneys control immediately after Yost had announced he had a court order to seize up to $8 million in assets in a mid-August.

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States, Not Congress, Could Pose the Biggest Threat to Tech Companies

Despite calls for increased regulation of the tech industry, Congress has yet to pass any major legislation, leaving it up to the states to take action curbing tech companies’ power and influence.

Meanwhile, state legislatures have introduced and enacted legislation on data privacy, antitrust, and content moderation, while state attorneys general have issued a number of legal challenges alleging anticompetitive business practices.

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Second Push to Legalize Marijuana in Ohio Moves Ahead

The same week an Ohio group announced its plans to start the formal process to put marijuana legalization in front of the General Assembly, two lawmakers introduced legislation to legalize its recreational use.

“It’s time to lead Ohio forward,” Rep. Casey Weinstein, D-Hudson, said. “This is a big step for criminal justice reform, for our veterans, for economic opportunity, and for our individual liberties.”

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