Editorial

State Sen. Jerry Cirino of Kirtland, prime sponsor of Senate Bill 83 — the so-called Ohio Higher Education Enhancement Act — says the bill is a product of extensive research and the need to create more intellectual diversity in the state’s colleges and universities. He calls it “an urgently needed course correction for higher education in Ohio.”

There’s something to be said for having Ohio’s capital city being in the geographic middle of the state, particularly when it comes to economic development.

The Ohio Gen­eral As­sem­bly has put on the bal­lot for Au­gust as Is­sue 1 a ref­er­en­dum that, if passed, would weaken the peo­ple’s power to con­trol their gov­ern­ment.

Ohio has a pressing need for more affordable housing for low-income families and mothers with children. A shocking 25% of Ohio renters are “severely cost burdened,” cleveland.com’s Jake Zuckerman reports, citing state data. What that means in plain English is that more than half what they earn goes to put a roof over their heads and pay utilities. Even worse, there are not enough affordable and available rentals for low-income Ohioans — less than one-third of what’s needed by the state’s extremely low-income renters and slightly more than three-quarters of what low-income renters need.

The residue of corruption from the FirstEnergy bribery scandal raises significant questions regarding proposed legislation purportedly devoted to encouraging energy efficiency and environmental protection.

In one of the most shameless power grabs in Ohio history, Statehouse Republicans — evidently, including Gov. Mike DeWine — are aiming to make it harder for Ohio voters to amend the state’s constitution.

As an exercise in cynicism, it’s bad enough that GOP lawmakers contend proposed House Joint Resolution 1 is just to keep the Ohio Constitution from being cluttered up with all sorts of special-interest nonsense.

The stain upon Ohio government created by the conduct of Larry Householder and Matt Borges will not be soon or easily erased.

Three cheers for Republican Maureen O’Connor, the recently retired chief justice of Ohio’s Supreme Court: She said earlier this month she wants to take part in an effort to remove partisan politics from the way Ohio draws its General Assembly and congressional districts — a reform that Ohio sorely needs.

Despite juicy headlines declaring Ohio No. 1 when it comes to corruption, it is understandable that most are not yet engrossed in the untelevised and unrecorded pay-to-play federal case against former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio Republican Party chairman Matt Borges.