Breaking News

Columns

Carbon capture critical to Ohio’s energy future

Ohio has a long history of leading on energy development and emerging technology. In 1814, North America’s first oil-producing well was drilled in Noble County. Not long after, Ohio began commercially producing oil and natural gas continuously and is now one of the top energy-producing states in the U.S. Today, Ohio has a unique opportunity to build on this success and help secure American energy dominance. Considering Ohio’s prolific natural gas reserves and prevalence of ideal geologic formations, the state is a prime location for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) ...

Ohio Legislature searches for property tax answers

Though there are enough Republicans in the Ohio House to override vetoes from Gov. Mike DeWine, the legislative body fell short of its goal when it held a special session. The July 21 session was intended to override three of the vetoes from DeWine, who’s also a Republican. There was support for only one override, and it was for the least consequential of the three. An override needs at least 60 votes, and there are 65 House Republicans. Three Republicans didn’t attend the July 21 special session, announced July 8, and state Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-North Canton, voted against the ...

Could the GOP reunite Valley in one district?

With Republican leaders in Ohio seeking to draw congressional districts to give the party more seats in the U.S. House, the possibility exists that Mahoning and Trumbull counties could be reunited in a single district. Republicans currently hold 10 of the state’s congressional seats with the other five in the hands of Democrats. When Republicans drew the lines in 2022, the intention was to give Democrats two safe seats and have three tossup seats that slightly favored Democrats that could be won by GOP candidates. Democrats won those three tossup seats in 2022 and 2024. U.S. Rep. ...

Rulli’s loyalty to Trump on display in resolution

The 6th Congressional District is a Republican stronghold. In last year’s presidential election, Republican Donald Trump got 66.4% of the district’s vote to 32.8% for Democrat Kamala Harris with other candidates picking up 0.8%. So Trump beat Harris by 33.6%. In that same election, U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-Salem, got 66.7% of the vote to 33.4% for Democrat Michael L. Kripchak of Youngstown. Rulli won by 33.3%. Kripchak said he will again challenge Rulli in the 2026 election and Democrat Malcolm Ritchie of Dover has filed a statement with the Federal Election Commission to run ...

AI is upending the job market but this industry is hiring

Today’s college graduates face a startling reality. Many of the jobs they were hoping for are rapidly disappearing because of AI (artificial intelligence). As Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” fame recently observed, “We’ve been telling kids for 15 years to learn to code. Well, AI is coming for the coders.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg agrees. He predicts that most Meta code will be written by AI in the next 12-18 months. The great disruption is here. Many entry-level office jobs—from coders and analysts to researchers and writers—are being eaten by AI. The unemployment rate ...

Speaker of Ohio House endorsing Ramaswamy

In 2012, I was invited to a conference held by the Milton Friedman Institute in Indianapolis. The Institute invited 20 or so legislators from around the country to discuss school choice issues and how much progress had been made to that point. Like most conferences we heard from a variety of speakers, one of whom was Tony Bennett (not the singer and not the basketball coach), the Superintendent of Education from the State of Indiana. Bennett oversaw the institution of educational reforms including expanding School Choice options for then Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Bennett made a ...