ADDICTION/SUBSTANCE ABUSE
The Joint Committee on
Agency Rule Review (JCARR) cleared all rules on its Monday agenda, including
the addition of rule 3701-3-16 to the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) that will
require emergency departments to report non-fatal overdoses to the Ohio
Department of Health (ODH). The new rule will give state officials a more
accurate and current view of non-fatal overdoses in the state. It will also improve
ODH's ability to identify trends like repeat overdoses and could allow for
faster identification of populations or geographic areas disproportionately
affected by non-fatal overdoses.
Gov. Mike DeWine
announced Tuesday that the state has distributed one million fentanyl test
strips in an initiative to combat the opioid crisis. According to his release,
"The strips serve as crucial tools in harm reduction efforts, allowing
users to test substances for the presence of fentanyl, a potent synthetic
opioid that has been increasingly found laced in various street drugs,
contributing significantly to overdose fatalities." Unintentional drug
overdose fatalities among Ohio residents decreased by 5 percent in 2022,
totaling 4,915 deaths, while nationwide there was a marginal 1 percent rise in
overdose deaths during the same period. Fentanyl was involved in 81 percent of
those deaths, often in combination with other drugs, DeWine's office explained.
"We're not going
to think of the Legislature as getting rid of remedies unless they're very
clear in saying so." Lake and Trumbull counties' comment came during
Tuesday's oral arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court. They say the state's
watershed opioid case -- an offshoot of National Prescription Opiate Litigation
-- cannot rest on the claim state lawmakers or courts would upend centuries of
common law to prevent governments from "abating" pharmacies'
dispensing practices. CVS, Walgreen, Walmart and Purdue Pharma counter that the
counties' $651 million public nuisance award is precisely the sort of "end
run" around the Ohio Product Liability Act's (OPLA) ban on cash damages
that the General Assembly moved to halt in 2007.
The Ohio State Highway
Patrol (OSHP) says irregular traffic maneuvers alerted troopers to an
out-of-state moving truck Friday that ultimately yielded 110 pounds of cocaine
worth an estimated $1.75 million.
AGRICULTURE
More than 1.8 million
acres are now enrolled in water quality initiative H2Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine and
the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODAg) announced Thursday. The results of
the most recent sign-up period show a 32 percent increase in enrolled acres
when compared to previous sign-ups, the governor's office said.
APPALACHIA
More than $64 million
will be awarded to the Appalachian Children Coalition to fund dozens of
projects that are expected to significantly improve health care access across
the region, Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted announced Friday. The
funding -- which was provided as part of the new Appalachian Children's Health
Initiative and which was approved Monday by the Controlling Board -- will
support the creation or expansion of community- and school-based health clinics
and the launch of health care-focused workforce development programs, among
other items, the governor's office said. Funding for the Appalachian Children's
Health Initiative is being awarded through the larger Appalachian Community
Grant Program, which is investing $500 million into Ohio's 32-county
Appalachian region.
ARTS, SPORTS AND
ENTERTAINMENT
The Ohio Arts Council
(OAC) Board announced the approval of 122 grants totaling $343,922. The funding
will support Ohio artists, arts/cultural organizations, students, educators and
public arts programming, according to a news release from the agency.
The Ohio State
University (OSU) spring football game will be televised nationally on FOX, the
university announced Tuesday. The game is scheduled for Saturday, April 13 at
noon in Ohio Stadium.
ATTORNEY GENERAL
Austin Master Services
should be ordered to stop storing illegal excess quantities of brine and
drilling waste at its facility in Martins Ferry, Attorney General Dave Yost's
office said in a court filing. As part of a complaint filed in Belmont County
Common Pleas Court, Yost requested a temporary restraining order against the
Pennsylvania-based oil and gas waste services company.
Yost said registration
is now open for the 23rd annual Emerging Trends in Fraud Investigation &
Prevention Conference set for Monday-Tuesday, May 6-7. The attorney general,
Ohio Auditor's Office, Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) and Institute
of Internal Auditors are partnering on the conference. The registration portal
and additional conference information, including the two-day agenda, can be
found at tinyurl.com/km8ws7tk.
One of the co-owners
of a shuttered robocall business is facing contempt charges for defying a court
order prohibiting him from placing or facilitating robocalls, the attorney general
announced Thursday. Yost and seven other attorneys general are asking a federal
judge in Texas to find John Spiller in contempt and impose the strictest
penalty possible -- a complete ban from the telecommunications industry.
Spiller co-owned Rising Eagle Capital Group and several other business entities
in Texas that provided dialer and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services
to telemarketers. Despite knowing the illegal nature of the robocalls, Spiller
and his companies were responsible for facilitating billions of deceptive
robocalls, according to Yost's office.
Attorney General Dave Yost
is rebranding his office's Law Enforcement Conference as the Law Enforcement
Training Symposium (LETS) and refreshing annual awards with several changes.
The conference will take place Sunday, Sept. 29 - Tuesday, Oct. 1 at Kalahari
Resorts & Conventions in Sandusky, where the AG will present Distinguished
Law Enforcement Awards.
BALLOT ISSUES
Having had their
proposed summary language rejected by Attorney General Dave Yost eight times,
backers of a proposed constitutional amendment that would end qualified
immunity for police officers and other government employees have gone to the
Ohio Supreme Court, the second ballot group to take the attorney general to
court over his rejections. Plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed this week include
Cynthia Brown, Carlos Buford and Jenny Sue Rowe, who the lawsuit says are
supporters of the proposed amendment who intend to vote and organize in its
favor. Yost, in his official capacity, is the named defendant. Yost had
rejected the proposal, which would repeal constitutional immunities and
defenses in cases alleging a civil rights violation by government actors, for
the eighth time earlier this month, saying that his office had "identified
omissions and misstatements that would mislead a potential signer as to the
actual scope and effect of the proposed amendment." Yost also wrote that
the petitioners had submitted a summary that had repeated the misstatements
and/or omissions that he had identified in previous rejections. Then on Tuesday,
the Ohio Supreme Court denied a motion by backers that would have expedited
their lawsuit.
CITIES
Cleveland Mayor Justin
Bibb conceded that many of the problems that his city faces have built up over
generations before outlining steps he's taken to tackle some of those challenges
during Thursday's "State of the City" address presented by the City
Club of Cleveland. Bibb pointed to steps that Cleveland City Hall has taken to
modernize and digitize some public services, including payment processes for
vendors, a rebuilt city website that Bibb described as mobile-friendly and
"built with residents in mind" and digitizing the procurement process
of documents like birth and death certificates. Bibb also discussed
improvements to the city's parking infrastructure and the human resources (HR)
policies for maternity and vacation leave for city employees as problems his
administration has been able to solve during his first two years in office.
CORONAVIRUS
Ohio Department of
Health (ODH) Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff told reporters Thursday COVID
vaccination remains "an important consideration" and noted the CDC
recommended adults age 65 and older receive an additional dose of the updated
vaccine released in September 2023. Gov. Mike DeWine and First Lady Fran DeWine
received their latest dose of that vaccine on Wednesday along with the
diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus vaccine.
The Ohio Department of
Health (ODH) released its usual weekly data on COVID-19 trends. Specific
numbers included the following, compared to Feb. 29 data:
- 2,291 cases,
compared to 5,665.
- 96 hospitalizations,
compared to 270.
- Three ICU
admissions, compared to 12.
- 37 deaths, compared
to 35.
Since the pandemic
began, there have been 3.74 million total cases, 150,963 hospitalizations,
15,782 ICU admissions and 43,859 deaths reported by ODH. Other ODH data showed
at least 1.33 million people have received the updated vaccine released in
September, with the note that data is now being voluntarily reported to ODH.
That includes a weekly increase of 5,000 and represents 11.37 percent of the
state population.
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Former House Speaker
Larry Householder (R-Glenford) -- who is already serving a 20-year prison
sentence after being convicted of federal racketeering charges -- has been
indicted on 10 state felony charges, Attorney General Dave Yost announced
Monday. The state grand jury indictment, filed Monday in Cuyahoga County,
accuses Householder of the following 10 felony charges:
- One count of theft
in office (F1)
- Two counts of
aggravated theft (F2)
- One count of
telecommunications fraud (F2)
- One count of money
laundering (F3)
- Five counts of
tampering with records (F3)
DISASTERS
Honda is donating
$350,000 to the United Way and American Red Cross to aid community relief
efforts in areas affected by the March 14 tornadoes in Ohio, the automobile
company announced this week. The company is donating $250,000 to the United Way
of Logan County and $100,000 to the American Red Cross, Honda said.
ECONOMY
The Ohio Department of
Job and Family Services (ODJFS) announced Friday that Ohio's unemployment rate was
3.7 percent for February, unchanged from January, as the state added 2,900
jobs. OJDFS said Ohio's nonagricultural wage and salary employment went from a
revised 5,629,800 in January to 5,632,700 in February. The number of workers
unemployed in Ohio in February was 214,000, up from 212,000 in January. The
number of unemployed has increased by 3,000 in the past 12 months from 211,000.
The February unemployment rate for Ohio in both 2023 and 2024 was 3.7 percent.
In February 2024, the labor force participation rate in Ohio was 61.8 percent,
unchanged from 61.8 percent in January 2024 and up from 61.7 percent in
February 2023. During the same period, the national labor force participation
rate was 62.5 percent, unchanged from 62.5 percent in both January 2024 and
February 2023. The U.S. unemployment rate for February 2024 was 3.9 percent, up
from 3.7 percent in January 2024 and up from 3.6 percent in February 2023.
EDUCATION
State Board of
Education (SBOE) elected member John Hagan was named chair of the new Dropout
Prevention and Recovery Advisory Committee during the group's inaugural meeting
on Tuesday. Hagan, a former state lawmaker, previously led the State Board of
Education's workgroup on dropout prevention and recovery (DOPR) schools. The
new committee was included in the biennial budget, HB33 (Edwards), which
incorporated language from SB79 (Reynolds) that called for establishment of the
panel. It is the latest in a series of advisory and study groups that have
looked at ways to fund and measure the performance of DOPR schools. The SBOE
and the General Assembly separately have established councils to study the area
in recent years.
ELECTIONS 2024
The Pickaway County
Board of Elections said this weekend that there is a discrepancy in its
unofficial election results, but it does not change the unofficial outcome of
any contests. The board posted on its website that the discrepancy added more
mail absentee vote totals than were cast for all candidates. It will change the
totals of all races when the official election results are certified. The board
said that the discrepancy was caused after a USB drive containing "test
data" used during the pre-election logic and accuracy testing process was
inserted into the ballot tabulation computer so it could be cleared for use
later on election night. The test data was imported by the tabulation program
before the drive was cleared, with the additional votes reflected in the
results that were generated at 7:58 p.m. on election night.
Robert Kennedy Jr. on
Tuesday announced Nicole Shanahan, an attorney, tech entrepreneur and
philanthropist, as his running mate for his independent bid for president. The
announcement was made in Oakland, CA. Kennedy said he "wanted a VP who
will speak for millennials and Gen Z. Someone who cares about healing our
children, protecting our environment, restoring our soils, and getting the
chemicals out of our food, and who understands how technology will either
enslave us or give us a path back to freedom and prosperity." The
38-year-old Shanahan has never held elected office. She said there is "one
moment in time and one candidate that I would step into this capacity for. That
time is now and that candidate is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr."
The following
endorsements were made over the week:
- Americans for
Prosperity Action endorsed Bernie Moreno for U.S. Senate and Derek Merrin and
Kevin Coughlin for the U.S. House of Representatives.
ENERGY/UTILITIES
The Public Utilities
Commission of Ohio (PUCO) has handed commercial and industrial customers of
American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio and FirstEnergy an apparent victory over 3.4
million residential consumers by shifting the cost of federal transmission charges
to household ratepayers represented by the Office of Ohio Consumers' Counsel
(OCC), according to the regulatory watchdog. Commissioners recently ruled in
two cases involving AEP and FirstEnergy's customer billing for
"non-market-based transmission costs" ordered by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) and assessed by the 13-state regional transmission
organization (RTO) encompassing Ohio, PJM Interconnection, which include
controversial "supplemental" transmission charges under review at the
FERC and Ohio General Assembly. The transmission report commissioned by
134-HB128 (Hoops-Stein) states that, while initially deferring to FERC and PJM
investigations, it is ultimately the Legislature's job to determine state
policy for all electric transmission charges.
FEDERAL
The federal government
once again narrowly avoided a shutdown after Congress and President Joe Biden
approved a continuing appropriations bill over the weekend. The bill passed
74-24 in the U.S. Senate and 286-134 in the U.S. House. U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown
(D-OH) voted in favor of the bill, while U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) voted
against it. Most of Ohio's congressional delegation supported the spending
bill, with U.S. Reps. Joyce Beatty (D-Columbus), Shontel Brown (D-Warrensville
Heights), Mike Carey (R-Columbus), Dave Joyce (R-Novelty), Marcy Kaptur
(D-Toledo), Greg Landsman (D-Cincinnati), Bob Latta (R-Bowling Green), Max
Miller (R-Rocky River), Emilia Sykes (D-Akron), Mike Turner (R-Centerville) and
Brad Wenstrup (R-Cincinnati) voting for it. U.S. Reps. Troy Balderson
(R-Zanesville), Warren Davidson (RTroy) and Jim Jordan (R-Urbana) voted against
it.
GAMING/GAMBLING
Seven of the largest
mobile sportsbooks in the U.S. are launching a new responsible gambling
organization. The Responsible Online Gaming Association (ROGA) will promote a
new industry-wide best practices charter overseen by one of the most prominent
experts in the field of responsible gambling, ROGA said. Jennifer Shatley, who
has more than 25 years of experience in the industry, will serve as ROGA's
executive director.
HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Ohio Department of
Health (ODH) Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff told reporters Thursday that
respiratory viruses are trending down, though flu activity remains at a high
level after previously being classified as "very high" by the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He said this was in line with
typical changes for spring, and that there have been dramatic decreases in
COVID-19 and RSV cases in recent weeks. People with the flu should avoid being
around others until 24 hours after they are fever free and see other symptoms
improving.
Vanderhoff also
discussed a new ODH dashboard which summarizes data on infectious diseases,
saying it "greatly" increases information available to the public
regarding over 100 diseases or illnesses such as measles, legionellosis and
Lyme disease. The dashboard is interactive and can be filtered by county, time
frame and demographics such as age or ethnicity. It extends back to 2001 and
will be updated weekly. This replaces an annual report on diseases that had not
been available until 18 months after the end of the year. COVID-19 and the flu
are not included, as they have dedicated ODH dashboards. The dashboard is
available at https://tinyurl.com/2cs6vf67. Click on the "Visualize" tab once on the page.
HIGHER EDUCATION
The presidents of the
University of Findlay and Bluffton University announced that they have signed a
memorandum of understanding (MOU) declaring their intention to pursue a merger
of operations. Findlay and Bluffton would become one higher education community
on two campuses. The decision was made by votes of each institution's board of
trustees. It was announced during a recent press conference on the University
of Findlay's campus. Pending all regulatory approvals, the merger is
anticipated to be completed by Fall 2025.
Butler Tech and Miami
University -- in collaboration with the Butler County Board of Commissioners
and the city of Hamilton -- announced plans to establish a new advanced
manufacturing hub in Butler County. Miami plans to acquire the Vora Technology
Park to house the new hub. Butler Tech, which will sign a 40-year lease on the
space, has secured $8 million in federal ARPA funds from the Butler County
Board of Commissioners to establish the hub. Additionally, the city of Hamilton
has contributed $2.5 million for this effort. Hub partners continue to seek
additional federal, state, and corporate grants to finance this ongoing
project.
The Biden administration
announced the approval of $5.8 billion in additional student loan debt
forgiveness for 77,700 borrowers after fixes made by the administration to
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). The debt relief includes borrowers who
have benefitted from the limited PSLF waiver as well as regulatory changes.
Total forgiveness through PSLF now stands at $62.5 billion for 871,000
borrowers since October 2021. Prior to the fixes to the PSLF program, only
about 7,000 borrowers had ever received forgiveness, according to Biden
administration. An additional nearly 380,000 borrowers who are within two
years, or 24 qualifying payments, of receiving forgiveness under PSLF will also
receive an email from President Joe Biden starting this week thanking them for their
service and notifying them that if they continue in their public service work,
they will be eligible for forgiveness within that time frame. In Ohio, 38,310
borrowers so far have received forgiveness under the PSLF.
JUDICIAL
The American Civil
Liberties Union (ACLU), ACLU of Ohio and the Goodwin law firm have filed a
lawsuit in the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas challenging HB68 (Click),
which bans gender-affirming medical care for transgender minors. The lawsuit,
filed on behalf of two families whose children are at risk of losing their
health care, asks the court to strike down HB68 before its scheduled effective
date on Wednesday, April 24. According to the lawsuit, HB68 violates four
sections of the Ohio Constitution, including the single-subject rule, the
health care provision, the equal protection clause, and the due course of law
provision.
In a unanimous
opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court set rules for when a public official can be
sued for blocking people or deleting comments on social media. "A public
official's social media activity constitutes state action under Section 1983
only if the official (1) possessed actual authority to speak on the state's
behalf and (2) purported to exercise that authority when he spoke on social
media," Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the Court in Lindke v.
Freed.
Attorneys for a Union
County property owner and Marysville Schools debated statutory construction at
length this week in arguments before Ohio Supreme Court justices about just
when schools lost appeal rights in property valuation disputes. The Supreme
Court's Tuesday oral argument session included Marysville Exempted Village
Schools Board of Education v. Union County Board of Revision et al, which
addresses the timing of restrictions on local governments' participation in
property valuation disputes enacted in 134-HB126 (Merrin). Owners of The
Residence at Cooks Pointe are challenging a Third District Court of Appeals
ruling that a prohibition on appeals of board of revision decisions only
applies to complaints filed after the law took effect in summer of 2022.
Justices have accepted other cases on the same subject but held those matters
for the outcome of Marysville. Steven Smiseck, the attorney for Cooks
Pointe arguing before justices Tuesday, said 200-plus property owners are
awaiting a resolution in the case.
A month after asking
the Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM) and three nursing home trade groups to
work out their differences in mediation, the Ohio Supreme Court recently
decided to restore the rate dispute to its regular docket. LeadingAge Ohio, the
Ohio Health Care Association and the Academy of Senior Health Services sued ODM
in February, alleging it misconstrued budget bill language on quality incentive
payments.
LOBBYISTS
Business consulting
firm Hicks Partners, LLC has joined with seven other government and public
affairs firms nationally to form Advocus Partners, according to the firm
Monday. Other companies joining Advocus include the following: Capital Advocacy
(California), Capital City Consulting (Florida), The Herald Group (Virginia), Hilltop
Public Solutions (Washington, D.C.), Stateside Associates (Virginia), The
Tarrance Group (Virginia) and BGR Group (Washington, D.C.).
MARIJUANA/HEMP
If they aren't doing
so already, businesses should start treating medical cannabis patients like any
other worker using prescription medications, attorney Adele Abrams told
attendees of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation (BWC) Ohio Safety
Congress & Expo on Wednesday. "Make sure that you view your medical
cannabis patients as employees with medical conditions, and not as drug
abusers," said Abrams, who is an associate safety professional (ASP),
certified mine safety professional (CMSP) and president of a multi-state law
office that represents employers in litigation involving the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA).
MEDICAID/MEDICAID REFORM
A new report from
Auditor of State Keith Faber finds more than 124,000 people were concurrently
enrolled in Ohio Medicaid and the Medicaid program of another state from 2019
through 2022, with more than $1 billion total and $209 million in state-share
costs expended. The Ohio Department of Medicaid (ODM), however, prepared a
lengthy response that raises questions about audit methodology and emphasizes
that the audit timeline overlaps with the COVID public health emergency, when
states were greatly restricted in their ability to remove people from Medicaid.
The audit report, "The Cost of Concurrent Enrollment," used
capitation payment data from the Office of Audit Services within the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Inspector General.
MENTAL HEALTH
In advance of Mental
Health Awareness Month in May, national nonprofit Mental Health America (MHA)
is offering a shareable toolkit with tips on how individuals can manage their
mental health during rapidly changing times. The organization says that as
society is getting more comfortable discussing mental health, it can still be
hard to know where to start in evaluating one's own well-being and how external
factors may be affecting everyday life. The organization has made the toolkit
available as a resource for personal use or for sharing. It includes
factsheets, worksheets, sample communication materials, sample social media and
other items to help build up one's own coping toolbox or to advocate for
improved mental health in the community.
NATURAL RESOURCES
Indian Lake State Park
reopened Friday, March 29 following damage from the tornado and severe storms
that struck Logan County earlier this month on Thursday, March 14, Gov. Mike
DeWine announced Wednesday. "Ohioans are resilient, and we have been
diligent in assuring the health and safety of residents in the weeks following
the tornadoes and severe storms in Western Ohio," said DeWine.
"Indian Lake State Park is a wonderful destination for Ohioans and
visitors to enjoy fishing and outdoor recreation, and its reopening is a step
towards rebuilding our communities." The tornado, which was 1,000 yards
wide and on the ground for 31 miles, left three people dead and inflicted
widespread damage to the state park and neighboring communities.
PENSIONS
Appellate judges
quizzed special counsel for the state Tuesday on Gov. Mike DeWine's power to
remove a State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) trustee when the law specifies
the term of office, while the attorney for the ousted trustee asserted DeWine
ran afoul of due process protections involved in unseating public officials.
Judges Kristin Boggs, Carly Edelstein and David Leland of the 10th District
Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Wade Steen, who held an
investment expert seat on the STRS board until DeWine removed him, citing his
attendance record and perceived advocacy for specific investments. Magistrate
Thomas Scholl III recently issued a report recommending Steen's restoration, to
which the state objected. DeWine initially replaced Steen with G. Brent Bishop,
but Bishop later stepped down; DeWine then appointed Brian Perera, the former
Ohio State University lobbyist and Ohio Senate budget director. At issue in the
case is whether, as Steen suggests, he was appointed to a fixed term and cannot
be removed at the governor's pleasure.
PEOPLE
Former Rep. Brigid
Kelly (D-Cincinnati) passed away on Tuesday evening, her family announced in a
statement. She was 40 years old. "We sadly report that our dear one,
Brigid Kelly, passed on Tuesday evening at her home. She was surrounded by love
and peace after waging a two-year battle with cancer. Brigid's failing health
necessitated her recent resignation as Hamilton County auditor. She was a
treasured wife, daughter and a sister, a valued friend and a true public
servant. Funeral services are pending," Kelly's family wrote. Kelly
announced her resignation as Hamilton County auditor last week. Gov. Mike
DeWine on Wednesday ordered that all U.S. and Ohio flags be flown at half-staff
on all public buildings and grounds throughout Hamilton County, the Ohio
Statehouse, Vern Riffe Center and Rhodes State Office Tower from sunrise to
sunset on the day of her funeral.
The Ohio Housing
Finance Agency (OHFA) announced this week that Sean Campbell has joined the
board representing labor in the construction industry. Additionally, OHFA said
Kellie Wolfe, Paul Brooks Jr., Grant Miller, DeHavlyn Wainwright, Barbara
Richards and James Kohlberg have joined the agency's staff.
SOLAR ECLIPSE
The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce (DEW) sent
a notice to schools this week responding to peculiar circumstances brought on
by the Monday, April 8 solar eclipse. Many Ohio schools have decided to close
their doors for eclipse day, given strong interest in viewing it and the
likelihood of mass traffic disruptions as people travel to and from the path of
totality. However, DEW notes, some charter and private schools are staying open
that day, creating an issue for the local districts that are obligated to
transport the other schools' students under state law.
Ohioans planning to view the upcoming solar eclipse should
do so using properly rated ISO 12312-2 glasses from reputable sources, Ohio
Department of Health (ODH) Director Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff and Ohio State
University (OSU) College of Optometry Acting Dean Dr. Jeffrey Walline said
Thursday. They also advised against reusing glasses from the 2017 solar
eclipse. The two held a virtual press conference with reporters, with
Vanderhoff saying the solar eclipse poses a "monumental event" for
the state. The path of totality covers all or part of 55 counties, he
continued, and the other 33 will experience a partial eclipse. ODH's main
concern is eye safety.
TECHNOLOGY/AEROSPACE
The fourth
"GovTech Summit" will be held at the Statehouse on Wednesday, April 3
by OhioX, featuring "keynote guests" Lt. Gov. Jon Husted and JobsOhio
President and CEO J.P. Nauseef. There will also be roundtable events with state
legislators and other officials. A policy roundtable at 2 p.m. includes Reps.
Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson), Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus) and Bride Rose
Sweeney (D-Cleveland), along with Spencer Gross, partner at High Bridge
Consulting. There will be an additional 3 p.m. policy roundtable with Reps.
Nick Santucci (R-Warren) and Thad Claggett (R-Newark) and Sen. Michele Reynolds
(R-Columbus), along with Jan Bans, senior director of legislative and
regulatory affairs at AT&T.
VETERANS
In America, less than
one percent of the population serves in the military. To honor veterans,
specifically women veterans during Women's History Month, the Ohio Department
of Veterans Services (ODVS) held a forum Wednesday at the Rhodes Tower
moderated by ODVS Director Deborah Ashenhurst, with Air Force veteran Kimber L.
Heim, Marine Corps veteran Lisa Martinez, Army veterans Jackie Masters and
Tiffany Meeks. All four panelists are state employees: Heims with the Ohio
Department of Transportation, Martinez with the Ohio Department of Job and
Family Services, Masters with the Ohio Department of Administrative Services
and Meeks with the Ohio Department of Public Safety. Many of these veterans
said that they joined the military for the financial benefits they could use
for a college education. Martinez, Meeks, and Heim said they enlisted in the
military to gain an education.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
The Bureau of Workers'
Compensation (BWC) Board of Directors heard reports Friday from
Administrator/CEO John Logue on the agency's continued response to a
cyberattack against Change Healthcare that affected pharmacy operations
nationwide, as well as BWC's "soft launch" of the OH|ID project.
Logue previously discussed the cyberattack at the BWC's February board meeting,
days after it occurred. On Friday, he said Change Healthcare's systems remain
affected at a national level. BWC acted quickly to enable injured workers to be
reimbursed if they had to pay for medication out of pocket as a result, with
around 1,400 requests totaling $150,000 so far. Many pharmacies have also been
holding their bills until the system can come back online. Logue said that he hopes
that will happen in the next two weeks and that Gov. Mike DeWine's office
facilitated discussions between BWC and pharmacy chains' leadership.