Mayor from Ohio. (Getty image file photo.)
Each morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio, the country and the world that catches our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye and have published it here.
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Catching our eyes
• Toss to lose weight and bend over to probable. “Wzgórze” reports: “Cook Political Report Shifts 5 House Races Towards Democrats“
In Tuesday’s Cook Political Report, five House races shifted toward Democrats and one toward Republicans as the minority party seeks to take control of the House in November.
The report moved Rep. Greg Landsman’s (R-Ohio) race from Toss Up to Lean Democrat, Reps. Emilia Sykes’ (D-Ohio) and Nellie Pou’s (D-J.) race from Lean Democrat to Likely Democrat, and Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s (R-Fla.) race from Solid Republican to Likely Republican. and Rep. Rob Bresnahan’s (R-Pa.) Race from Lean Republican to Toss Up.
• Athens County. The Athens County Independent reports: “County commissioner charged in JFS theft case.“
As expected, an Athens County grand jury on Monday indicted former Athens County Job and Family Services Director Jean Demosky on multiple charges related to allegations of theft in office.
The accompanying indictment of Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins on one count of intimidation in the case was not expected.
Demosky was arrested and arraigned on Friday, April 3, on one count of grand larceny in office, a third-degree felony. At the arraignment, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said his office expected to file additional charges against her.
• Now I’m playing with college entrance exams. Karen Kasler of the Statehouse News Bureau reports: “Bill is seeking to add a conservative-favored college entrance exam to Ohio’s SAT and ACT exams“
An alternative to the SAT and ACT college entrance exams favored by conservatives may appear in Ohio. A bill to add a classical learning test to the Ohio high school entrance exam is moving forward in the Senate after passing the House earlier this year.
House Bill 326 would allow the CLT to be used alongside the SAT and ACT exams, as well as “any other valid, reliable, nationally-standards exam used for college admissions.” The CLT is similar to the ACT or SAT, but the CLT reading sections include works by Christian saints, philosophers, and scholars.
• Court cases. Danny Eldredge of the Toledo Blade reports: “Ohio law ending grace period for mail-in voting could lead to lawsuits, elections expert says“
A fresh law eliminating Ohio’s four-day grace period for returning mailed absentee ballots could lead to an enhance in lawsuits, according to election law expert David Becker…
While many other states require mailed ballots to be received by Election Day, those states have generally implemented their policies in a less rushed manner and provide more options for returning ballots than Ohio, said Becker, the organization’s executive director.
• Redistricting. Andrew Tobias of Signal Ohio reports: “Amy Acton says she will push for a fresh redistricting amendment as Ohio’s governor“
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton said Monday she plans to again support pass the redistricting reform amendment in 2027.
Acton called the amendment, which voters rejected in the November 2024 election, “a very reasonable attempt” to change redistricting, the process of drawing state legislative and congressional district maps. She said the “illegitimate” way state Republicans wrote the ballot language describing the amendment “intentionally confused” Ohioans who would otherwise support it.
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