Rotunda Rumblings

Field of dreams: The Cleveland Browns are looking for state and local governments to cover half the cost of either a new $2.4 billion domed stadium in suburban Brook Park or $1 billion in renovations to their current lakefront stadium. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, team representatives held meetings with state lawmakers last week to make their initial pitch, which included showing them not-yet-public renderings of what the Brook Park stadium would look like.

A matter of degrees: Ohio Senate Bill 168 would allow unlicensed people with master’s degrees to become teachers, if they passed a state-sanctioned content exam. It would also allow teachers with bachelor’s degrees to become principals or superintendents. A minimum of a master’s is required to be an administrator under current law. While groups that run schools, such as the Ohio School Boards Association and the Buckeye Association of School Administrators, believe these ideas and others in the bill will help with educator shortages and regulatory burdens, educator groups say that quality will diminish if without these requirements, Laura Hancock reports.

Order extended: Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Michael Holbrook on Wednesday extended until May 20 a temporary restraining order that blocks the state from enforcing provisions in House Bill 68, a bill that prohibits gender-affirming care for Ohio minors. Holbrook’s previous 14-day temporary restraining order, issued on April 16, was due to expire. However, the ACLU of Ohio requested extra time because they don’t have another hearing until May 16-17, when Holbrook will listen to arguments over whether he needs to issue an indefinite hold on the law while its constitutionality is argued in his courtroom over the next year. Meantime, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost is challenging the temporary restraining order before the Ohio Supreme Court as overly broad.

Going to pot: After Ohio and more than a dozen other states have legalized marijuana, the federal government is reportedly taking steps to take cannabis off its list of the nation’s most dangerous drugs, Sabrina Eaton reports. An upcoming policy proposal from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will recognize that cannabis has legitimate medical uses and shift it to a less restricted status under federal law without legalizing it.

Jail threat: A magistrate overseeing former state Treasurer Josh Mandel’s increasingly contentious, years-old divorce case has threatened to throw him in jail for violating orders related to the case. Andrew Tobias writes the magistrate sentenced both Mandel and his ex-wife, Ilana Mandel, to seven days in jail for violating previous orders related to the case, although the sentence won’t be carried out if each complies with the court’s orders, a court filing says. The Mandels’ disputes have to do with relatively routine co-parenting issues, with the magistrate faulting each for entering the other’s home without permission, and each for refusing to pay for bills related to their three children.

Space case: Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III on Tuesday assured U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, a South Russell Republican, that transferring existing Air Force reservists and Air National Guard personnel with space-related duties to Space Force won’t result in major changes. Speaking at a House Appropriations Committee hearing on the Air Force and Space Force budgets, Kendall told Joyce “there are some things on the margin that might change,” but that the proposal was more of an effort to ensure the military has structures in place “that will keep us competitive over time.” Governors including Ohio’s Mike DeWine have protested the proposed switch, contending it undermines their gubernatorial command authority.

In the money: Ohio’s casino and lottery commissions reported that gamblers bet $809 million on sports in March, up from $739 million the same month last year, Sean McDonnell reports. In February, bets increased from $639 million in 2023 to $672 million in 2024.

Into the weeds: Ohio Department of Transportation crews are removing invasive honeysuckle and other trees that encroach on highways and reduce visibility through June. Honeysuckle blocks sunlight for other plants, repots the Columbus Dispatch’s Nathan Hart.

RIP: A new bill in the Ohio House would require crews doing work on Ohio roadways or rights of way to scan dead dogs and cats within 24 hours after finding them, in case the animal has an internal chip identifying their owner. Ohio Public Radio’s Jo Ingles reports that the bill’s sponsor is unsure whether it’ll pass by the end of the legislative session, in December, but is nonetheless sponsoring it because she believes the bill would help many people with missing pets.

Campus centered: National Senate Republicans are trying to make hay out of recent protests at universities that have erupted in response to Israel’s military action in Gaza. A new digital ad from the National Republican Senatorial Committee ties the protests, which it refers to as “anti-Semitic mobs,” to Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown’s past support of President Joe Biden’s student-loan forgiveness plans. “Your tax dollars fund this mayhem,” the ad says.

Lobbying Lineup

Five organizations lobbying on state House Bill 79, a bipartisan bill that would encourage electric distribution utilities to develop portfolios of energy-savings programs for customers in areas such as overall energy efficiency and peak demand reduction. The utilities would apply to the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio for approval of the portfolio of programs.

1. Columbia Gas of Ohio

2. Ohio Conservative Energy Forum

3. Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund

4. Retail Energy Supply Association

5. Duke Energy Business Services

On The Move

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has been named chair of the Republican Secretaries of State Committee, a part of the Republican State Leadership Committee.

Birthdays

Brad Young, Ohio House clerk

Straight From The Source

“Anytime nurse staffing legislation is brought up anywhere around the country, including in the state of Ohio, you’re going to get a big backlash — especially from the hospitals.”

-Ohio House Minority Leader Allison Russo speaking about House Bill 285, which would establish nurse-to-patient ratios, with the Ohio Capital Journal’s Nick Evans. The Ohio Hospital Association told Evans it was wary of mandates, but the family of an Ohio registered nurse who died by suicide last year when she felt frustrated and powerless in her job continues to push for the bill.

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