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With the official start of legal adult recreational marijuana sales in Ohio, there are plenty of people eager to make a purchase. Wire service photos showed lines of potential customers wrapping around buildings in some cities. We ran some of those showing up early in East Liverpool — the county’s only outlet. While that may be good news for those business owners — and therefore the economies in which they operate — excitement could turn sour quickly for those who do not understand (and obey) the laws. First, there is a distinction between medical consumers and recreational ...

Financial management receives rating upgrade

It can be difficult to trust elected officials with our tax dollars, given how often we learn of instances of fraud, waste, abuse or simply poor decisions regarding our money. But in Ohio, residents have gotten some third-party confirmation that there is reason for confidence. Standard & Poor’s has upgraded its global ratings for Ohio’s Major New State Infrastructure Project Revenue Bonds to AA+. This comes after the ratings agency last year upgraded Ohio’s issuer default and general obligation bond ratings to AAA. These are important indications that at least some aspects of ...

Draft school religion mandates with care

Don’t look now, but another unfunded mandate from the state of Ohio is coming soon to a neighborhood school near you. That mandate comes in the form of the RED Act, approved by the Ohio Legislature recently and signed into law last week by Gov. Mike DeWine. The Religious Expression Days act requires boards of education throughout the state’s 600-plus school districts as well as charter schools, STEM schools and college-preparatory boarding schools to adopt a policy that reasonably accommodates the sincerely held religious beliefs and practices of all students. Those policies must ...

Head injuries to law officers overlooked

Awareness of the consequences of head injuries for athletes has grown considerably in recent years. We know now that their mental health and behavior can be dramatically affected by head injuries. A study by Ohio State University’s Chronic Brain Injury program, which was published Monday in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, says one group has been overlooked in the move toward better concussion surveillance. In surveying Ohio law enforcement officers, researchers discovered 74% reported a lifetime history of one or more head injuries — 30% of which reported to have ...

Head injuries to law officers overlooked

Awareness of the consequences of head injuries for athletes has grown considerably in recent years. We know now that their mental health and behavior can be dramatically affected by head injuries. A study by Ohio State University’s Chronic Brain Injury program, which was published Monday in the Journal of Head Trauma Rehabilitation, says one group has been overlooked in the move toward better concussion surveillance. In surveying Ohio law enforcement officers, researchers discovered 74% reported a lifetime history of one or more head injuries — 30% of which reported to have ...

Senate Bill 214 will assist human trafficking victims

For victims of human trafficking, the damage can continue long after their circumstances have changed. Among the challenges is the criminal record that can follow them because of crimes committed while they were still being trafficked. Ohio lawmakers decided to do something about that, and Gov. Mike DeWine has signed Senate Bill 214 into law. It will allow survivors of human trafficking to expunge certain criminal records. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, State Sen. Stephanie Kunze, R-Dublin, introduced Senate Bill 214. It reads: “Any person who is or was convicted ...