Rotunda Rumblings
Driving up costs:
It’s about to become more expensive to title and register a vehicle in Ohio, as well as conduct just about any other transaction with the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles.
Jeremy Pelzer has more
on how much more Ohio motorists will pay, as well as a list of other fee increases passed in the new state budget (along with a handful of fee eliminations, too).
Video evidence:
A newly released video shows the interaction on Interstate 90 between an Ohio congressman and a Westlake doctor who was later charged with ethnic intimidation,
Lucas Daprile writes
. The cell phone footage shows Feras Hamdan recording U.S. Rep. Max Miller, R-Bay Village, making a homophobic slur
and calling him racist. Miller told police Hamdan, 36, threatened him and his family while swerving toward his car and showing a picture of the Palestinian flag during the incident last month.
Fighting fibroids
: It’s been more than two decades since former U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Cleveland first sought legislation to fund research on uterine fibroids. On Tuesday, her successors in Congress joined uterine health advocates to make clear that they’re done waiting,
Sabrina Eaton reports
. Joined by Academy Award-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o, a coalition of African American lawmakers including U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown of Warrensville Heights announced that they’re introducing a package of four bills aimed at fighting the painful condition that affects an estimated two-thirds of women.
Booze on the ballot
: A bipartisan Ohio bill would let local governments approve Sunday liquor sales without a public vote, marking the latest effort to modernize the state’s lingering blue laws.
Anna Staver reports
that one of the sponsors is Rep. Jack Daniels. Yes, really. Supporters say House Bill 387 would cut red tape and help businesses.
Church and state:
The IRS has relaxed enforcement of a federal tax code provision stating houses of worship can’t make political endorsements without losing their tax-exempt status. But
when Jo Ingles of Ohio Public Radio talked
to a couple religious leaders in the state, they didn’t indicate an eagerness to bring politics to the pulpit. “For most, it won’t change how they are engaging in the political process very much,” said Ohio Jewish Communities President and CEO Howie Beigelman.
General request:
As U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth moves to eliminate at least 20% of the U.S. Air Force’s active-duty four-star general positions, three Ohio Republican congressmen are pushing to ensure that the next commander of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base isn’t a lower-level general.
As London Bishop of the Dayton Daily News reports
, U.S. Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, as well as U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, urged Hegseth in a letter that the successor to Wright-Patt commander Duke Z. Richardson, a four-star general who announced his retirement earlier this month, should be someone of equal rank.
Read more Ohio politics stories
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Ohio’s two paths to fix the unemployment fund: One sticks it to those who lose their jobs
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The Great Unclaimed Funds Heist: Lawmakers are stealing $1.7 billion from Ohioans to build Browns stadium
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Ohio bill could eliminate local votes for Sunday liquor sales
Full Disclosure
Here are five things we learned from the May 6, 2025, ethics disclosure form filed by state Sen. George Lang, a Cincinnati-area Republican, about his 2024 finances:
Birthdays
Ex-state Rep. Mary Lightbody
Straight From The Source
“Fried ice cream.”
– Vivek Ramaswamy, the frontrunner for the 2026 Republican gubernatorial nomination, when asked Wednesday what his favorite dessert is during an Ohio Innovation Technology Association summit in Columbus.
Questions were modeled on “Saturday Night Live” sketches where Will Ferrell plays “Inside The Actor’s Studio” host James Lipton. Ramaswamy was also asked for his favorite noise (“the sound of my kids laughing”), a sound or noise he hates (“political media speaking”) and a profession he would not like to do (“Be a surgeon. My wife’s got that covered, and I don’t do blood well.”)
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