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The wait continues for tighter rail regulations

For six months, politicians and railroad industry leaders — well, mostly Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw — have loudly proclaimed their desire to “make right” what happened in East Palestine. Since the February derailment, there have been hearings and meeting, promises and … almost no progress. According to a report by The Associated Press, major obstacles have been GOP leaders in Congress and the railroad industry. “These rail lines pass frequently through Republican areas, small towns with a lot of Republican voters,” Ohio’s Republican U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance said. “How ...

Special election posed challenges for some poll workers in Ohio

To their credit, poll workers in Ohio managed to pull off an August election despite the shortened timeline and issues ranging from hastily switched polling locations to machine malfunctions. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, those challenges did not turn into serious problems. But election watchers and the workers who held everything together have raised some alarms. “It’s more indicative of an election that boards of elections were not fully prepared for, and that poll workers were not adequately trained for,” Nazek Hapasha, policy affairs manager for the League ...

Another example of oversight needed over state officials

What a shame Ohio public officials continue to prove to state residents it is necessary to keep a close eye on them. Most recently, we learned the Office of the Ohio Inspector General has a long list of findings in reaching its conclusion that the Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission has failed to comply with procurement process requirements. It is a good thing an anonymous tipster let the OIG know what was happening. That led to an investigation into whether “the processes OTIC used for the soliciting, awarding, and payment for Construction Administration and Inspection, and ...

CVS executives have soul-searching to do

At least one corporate culprit in the opioid epidemic appears not to have learned its lesson, as CVS Pharmacies finds itself under scrutiny again. This time Ohio’s Board of Pharmacy has found a litany of challenges, including severe understaffing that seems to be creating a chain reaction of problems. A report by the Ohio Capital Journal says Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has deemed the findings “very concerning.” In inspections that took place between 2020 and 2022, rampant turnover was found to have created severe understaffing that may have then led to “hundreds of ...

Housing, quality of life a big part of drawing workers

Though a strong job market might sound like a good problem to have, Ohio faces a challenge. According to a report by the Dayton Daily News, the state has approximately twice as many job openings as unemployed people. “Ohio’s job market is robust, particularly for job seekers,” Bill Teets, director of communications with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, told the Daily News. “Unemployment claims remain low, and the number of job openings remain high.” For many public officials and employers, that means the focus must shift to recruitment and retention. Michael ...

Perhaps revisit the matter later but on Aug. 8 vote no on Issue 1

Effective April 7, August special elections in Ohio were mostly eliminated, according to House Bill 458. But Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose says that new law doesn’t count if legislators really want to set an election. “No, I’m not arguing that 458 was unconstitutional, but it didn’t apply to the circumstance (of the one set for this Aug. 8),” LaRose told Statehouse News Bureau last month. “458 was a smart piece of legislation … “That’s good public policy.” In approving HB 458, lawmakers agreed August special elections were too expensive to justify the often ...