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Ohio lawmakers looking to get the lead out

“Everybody wants lead lines to be replaced, especially the mayors in our cities, but it’s a lot of money,” Sarah Biehl, policy director at Ohio Mayors Alliance, told the Ohio Capital Journal last week. Her comment came as state lawmakers take a look at House Bill 307, to “Enact the Lead Line Replacement Act.” Sponsored by state Reps. Dontavius Jarrels, D-Columbus, and Monica Robb Blasdel, R-New Waterford, the measure would mandate state replacement of all lead service lines. It’s an important project. According to the Capital Journal, there are 745,000 lead service lines ...

How to think about affordability

“Affordability” is the word grabbing the headlines in public discourse these days. However, if affordability is a problem, it’s important to be clear about what exactly the problem is and what can be done. Gallup has new polling data noting that the “high cost of living continues to top Americans’ list of the most important financial problems facing their families.” Per Gallup’s new data, 31% say “high cost of living/inflation” is the most important problem,” 13% say energy costs/oil and gas prices, 13% say “cost of owning or renting a home” and 8% say ...

King Charles III, a guest in our house

The king came to town for tea, dinner and a little chat with Congress and the president. By the time you read this, Charles III’s state visit may be a little piece of history. The “special relationship” between the United States and the United Kingdom could undergo a stress test. For one thing, Charles is probably horrified and mystified at the shooting at the White House Correspondents’ dinner but probably too polite to say so. The British disapprove of making scenes in public, with gunfire interrupting dinner parties. The king rode in on American waves of Anglophile ...

Reading between the lines on Ohio employment stats

February job loss numbers tell a complex tale in Ohio, as despite the loss of 5,400 jobs, the unemployment rate actually went down. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, that is because 2,000 Buckeye State residents simply left the workforce. On top of that, Molly Bryden, a Policy Matters Ohio researcher, said the state’s economy is also more vulnerable to economic turbulence because of federal policy decisions; and is STILL dealing with the changes in the employment landscape wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuts to federal and state government services (and, ...

Trump, cult of MAGA take sudden anti-Christian turn

The past few days have featured the vice president of the United States lecturing the pope on morality and church doctrine; Sean Hannity making it official that he worships at the Church of Trump; Pete Hegseth quoting made-up verses from “Pulp Fiction” as if they were actual Scripture; and Trump styling himself as Jesus Christ. A few years ago, one might have wondered how these acts of contempt toward Christianity would go down with the religious right, but after 10 years of cultishness, it would be foolish to expect many defections. Still, as someone who came up in the ...

Why would Ohio nursing homes abandon patients at homeless shelters?

Public officials well aware of Ohio’s problems with a shortage of accessible, affordable housing might not be aware of a growing problem related to that challenge. Nursing homes are sending patients to homeless shelters at a growing rate. A Signal Ohio report earlier this month looked at nursing homes transferring “older, poorer and medically fragile” patients to homeless shelters. In fact, seven nursing homes in Ohio have been faulted in the past few years for efforts to dump patients into homeless shelters. Eastland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Columbus caught one ...