Rotunda Rumblings
Weed my lips: State Sen. Steve Huffman wants new taxes on adult use marijuana. The Tipp City Republican introduced a bill that would make sweeping changes to how Ohio regulates recreational cannabis—including halving the number of home grow plants and eliminating all the social equity programs. Anna Staver breaks down what is and isn’t in the legislation like provisions for intoxicating hemp.
Discrimination allegation: Sarah Cherry, who worked for a decade as the Ohio House Democrats’ legal counsel, has filed a federal anti-discrimination report claiming House Minority Leader Allison Russo forced her out of her job in 2023 for complaining about gender discrimination among House employees. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, Cherry revealed the months-old complaint – a possible step toward a federal civil-rights lawsuit — late last month in an unsuccessful attempt to convince House Democrats not to reelect Russo as minority leader. Russo and a lawyer representing the Ohio House have each denied Cherry’s accusations, and an independent investigation concluded her claims were unsubstantiated.
Falling flat: The Nation’s Report Cards, a metric by the U.S. Department of Education, showed that Ohio fourth graders last year had not improved scores in math and reading, likely because they were in kindergarten when the pandemic hit. Eighth graders’ scores had improved, but there are gaps among Black, low-income and male students that have persisted for decades, Laura Hancock reports.
Nepo baby? Newly minted Vice President JD Vance has hired the son of conservative commentator Tucker Carlson – Buckley Carlson – as his deputy press secretary, Sabrina Eaton writes. Vance has been a regular guest on Tucker Carlson’s talk shows, and Carlson reportedly lobbied President Donald Trump to pick Vance as his running mate. Vance’s disparagement of “childless cat ladies” in a 2021 Fox News appearance with Carlson became a campaign issue after Trump selected him. Buckley Carlson has worked as an aide to U.S. Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana since 2019. Banks was recently elected to the U.S. Senate.
Getting up to speed: Ohio’s newest U.S. senator has been assigned to serve on four committees and says he’s eager to start work supporting President Donald Trump’s agenda, Eaton reports. Former Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, a Columbus-area Republican who was sworn in last week as Vance’s Senate replacement, has been named to serve on the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, its Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, its Committee on Environment and Public Works, and its Special Committee on Aging, an aide said.
Chiming in: President Trump’s Monday order to temporarily pause a variety of federal disbursements prompted former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, to take to the “X” social media platform with his first post since leaving office: “Six days from the 2nd anniversary of the East Palestine train derailment, the new Administration has potentially put the community’s new fire station in doubt. This is not the kind of change Ohioans voted for.” By Tuesday, the Trump Administration had rescinded the memo.
Twin bill: A bipartisan group of state lawmakers is again introducing legislation to stop the death penalty in Ohio – but this time, there’s a twist. As Haley BeMiller of the Columbus Dispatch reports, identically written House and Senate bills would each end executions in the state while also reaffirming that state money can’t be used for abortions or suicide. Senate Minority Leader Nickie Antonio, a Lakewood Democrat sponsoring the Senate version of the to-be-introduced bill, argues that the bill wouldn’t infringe on the Ohio Constitution’s protection of abortion rights, though abortion-rights advocates condemned the proposal (and House Democrats refused to support it).
RIP: Lee Leonard, who covered the Ohio Statehouse for more than three decades as a reporter for UPI and the Columbus Dispatch, died Tuesday at the age of 85, according to his obituary.
Full Disclosure
Five things we learned from the Feb. 13, 2024, ethics disclosure form filed by state Rep. Heidi Workman, a Portage County Republican, about her 2023 finances:
1. Workman was an investor/manager at Barrel Run Brewery and Spring Lain Livery Stables, worked in management at Group Management Services, and reported both rental income and investment income (the latter from Charles Schwab).
2. Besides Spring Lain and Barrel Run, other names under which Workman or a member of her immediate family did business included: RJ Corporate Leasing, LLC; Old Forge Leasing, LLC; Landman Leasing, LLC; Olea Partners; Workman Industrial Services, Inc.; Annevar Namkrow Limited; Fenton, Hullin, LLC; and MQP Construction, LLC.
3. Workman reported owning five properties, all in Portage County – three in Kent, two in Rootstown.
4. At some point in 2023, Workman owed at least $1,000 each to two student-loan servicers, as well as PenFed Credit Union and Sutton Bank.
5. Workman is licensed as a registered nurse in Ohio.
Birthdays
State Rep. Mark Johnson
Mary Mertz, Ohio Department of Natural Resources director
Straight from the Source
“Speaking last week at the March for Life, Vice President JD Vance said, ‘Let me say, very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America.’ I guess that’s easy to say when you don’t have to fly commercial.”
– NBC Late Night host Seth Meyers, in his January 28 monologue, joking about the Cincinnati Republican’s first public address as vice president.
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This article was originally published by a www.cleveland.com . Read the Original article here. .