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San Francisco Chronicle
3 days ago
- Health
- San Francisco Chronicle
AIDS/LifeCycle's final ride: Thousands hit road in Bay Area, ending 3 decades of fundraising
With a tinge of melancholy, more than 2,400 bicyclists gathered Sunday morning to kick off the last AIDS/LifeCycle, bringing to a close more than three decades of fundraising through the annual event for HIV and AIDS prevention, care and support services. Cyclists will travel 545 miles over seven days from the Cow Palace in Daly City to Santa Monica. 'We want to make HIV-AIDS a thing of the past,' said Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said Sunday before setting off for the first leg of the ride to Santa Cruz. 'I'm excited to suit up.' Each day, riders bike anywhere from 43 to 112 miles. Each cyclist raised at least $3,500 from friends, family and the community to support HIV and AIDS programs and services overseen by the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the Los Angeles LGBT Center. 'I can't think of a better way to honor those that we have lost and also to join the fight against HIV and AIDS,' said Brian Stewart, 32, a political strategist from Los Angeles readying for his inaugural ride. 'I'm really, really excited.' At least 800 volunteers known as 'roadies' turned out to help direct riders, provide medical services to the injured, serve meals and drive cyclists' gear from stop to stop. After the COVID shutdown in 2020, participation in the ride declined and the cost of fundraising rose, prompting organizers to end the annual event, which began in 1994. Over the years, the ride raised a total of more than $300 year, the ride raised $17.2 million, the highest total after 2022. 'Now more than ever, these funds are critical so we can respond to the needs of our communities, particularly when funding for HIV, DEI and transgender communities are under attack,' said Tyler TerMeer, CEO of the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, who has participated as a cyclist and organizer in the ride for 17 years. 'It's bittersweet that it's the last ride,' said Laura Chung, 39, a nurse at Kaiser Hospital embarking on her second ride. 'But they'll create something new.' Next year, a three-day cycling event will take riders from San Francisco to Sonoma and back. Then in 2027, the Big Gay 10K footrace will take place in San Francisco.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Appalachian Ohio's public schools face tough choices with potential state, federal funding cuts
Ohio school children in a classroom. (Photo by Morgan Trau.) Public school leaders in Appalachian Ohio say that state and federal funding cuts would cause suffering for schools and the students they serve. An analysis of the Ohio House Republican budget proposal shows it would result in more than $565 million in lost funds for Appalachian school districts over the next two years and a loss of $2.75 billion for public schools statewide, compared to the Fair School Funding Plan that's been in place the past two budget cycles. The Ohio Senate is currently working on a state operating budget draft that would spell out, among other things, how the chamber thinks public and private education should be funded by the state. The big question right now is whether Ohio Republican lawmakers will keep to the Fair School Funding Plan that was passed with bipartisan support four years ago and included a six-year phase-in, or whether they will abandon it before the third and final phase. Republicans control supermajorities in both chambers of the Ohio Statehouse. Ohio House Republicans have already laid out their proposal. It does not include a continuation of the Fair School Funding Plan, which distributes support based on a funding formula that takes into account individual district needs, student demographics, and poverty rates, among other categories. The House budget proposal gives schools an additional $226 million, which House Finance Chair Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, said would be an increase from 2025 funding. Democrats and Fair School Funding Plan advocates say that with inflation schools need much more than that to be fully funded, based on the needs identified as part of the funding plan's data. A fully-funded increase would be between $666 million and $800 million, they say. School board members from across the state signed on to a letter organized by advocacy group All In for Ohio Kids, asking that the legislature go back to the Fair School Funding plan. The members write that the funding formula 'is working as intended,' and that it 'provides an equitable and transparent foundation for a shared responsibility between the state and local communities to support public education for the nearly 90% of Ohio students attending public schools.' 'Alarmingly, provisions in the current state budget for (fiscal year) 2026-2027 threaten the integrity of the (fair funding plan), leaving many districts, especially those with limited local tax bases, struggling to meet rising costs and educational demands,' the letter stated. 'These changes risk stalling progress, undermining the formula's effectiveness and disrupting local school districts' ability to plan responsibly for the long term.' School districts from urban, suburban, and rural regions all stand to be impacted. But the Appalachian region's districts could face cuts that would dramatically change the way education is provided in an area with limited resources as it is. Tom Gibbs, Ph.D., superintendent of the Athens City School District, has spent two decades of his career in education working in Appalachian districts, and during that time, he's seen several 'funding mechanisms' put in place for public education, but he's also seen the different challenges schools and districts face, specifically Appalachian schools. 'Obviously, two of the biggest challenges are, one, poverty … and the other is that you're spread out, so everything is hindered by transportation (needs) and technology access,' Gibbs said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX He said Athens is unique with its location near and connection to Ohio University, but the district still has its share of needs. He's in favor of the Fair School Funding Plan because it's 'research-based,' and based in the local-level facts of each school district, he said. 'I do have some concerns that we're moving away from a formula again,' Gibbs said, adding that he's worried about plans to reduce taxes that help school districts, and talks of requiring schools to return carryover funds after a cap. An analysis by the Ohio River Valley Institute found that the Ohio House budget proposal would result in more than $565 million in lost funds over the next two years for Appalachian public schools, 'yielding the lowest state share of school funding in Ohio's history,' the institute said. Because it 'ignores inflation and eliminates targeted funding for districts with wealth disparities or districts that lose students to private schools,' the analysis found the Ohio House Republican plan would underfund public schools statewide by $2.75 billion. 'We're risking putting our students and teachers even further behind other states,' said the study's author, Nick Messenger, an economist and senior researcher for the Ohio River Valley Institute. Messenger used state budget data and funding projections from think tank Policy Matters Ohio to focus his analysis on counties in Ohio served by the Appalachian Regional Commission. The biggest change over fiscal years 2026 and 2027 would be seen in Mahoning County, according to Messenger's research. Using the Fair School Funding Plan, schools there would receive $262.5 million. Under the House proposal, the district would only see $166.6 million. Athens County would receive $72.45 million under the Fair School Funding Plan model, the analysis found. Under the House proposal, schools there would see $52.8 million. In addition to state uncertainty, Gibbs also said any change in funding on the federal level to public education, for which Athens receives about $1 million from 'various funding streams,' would impact their ability to provide tutoring and specialized programs, like special education. Policy Matters Ohio said the state's public schools receive $3 billion per year in federal funding, about 11.6% of public school revenue. Much of the federal funding schools like Athens receive is based on their participation in the free and reduced-lunch programs, eligibility for which is based on the income level of a student's household. Athens has higher levels of eligibility for the program than some other districts, therefore their funding can be used for 'school-wide' programs, according to Gibbs. 'We have some flexibility to implement programs, which means reading intervention, math intervention,' Gibbs said. 'Any reduction in that funding stream is going to have a negative impact on the additional tutoring support services we provide.' Seeing decreases in state aid and federal aid, along with possible limits in how districts can raise local funding would be challenging, he said, 'and we could be creating an environment where more schools have to go back to the ballot more often.' Ohio Statehouse lawmakers have until the end of June to develop a final budget draft to send to the governor for his signature. The Ohio Senate's Finance Committee, which leads the chamber's budget development, is hearing from not only school districts, but Ohioans speaking on behalf of topics like public libraries, disability rights, parks and recreation, and food banks throughout the week, with hearings currently scheduled through Friday. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opponents speak out for more than three hours against making changes to Ohio's marijuana law
Stock photo from Getty Images. More than 20 people spoke out against a bill that would change Ohio's marijuana law. Thirty-five people submitted opponent testimony against Ohio House Bill 160, which would reduce THC levels and redirect most of the tax revenue. State Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, introduced the bill two months ago and opponents testified against the bill for more than three hours during Wednesday's House Judiciary Committee meeting. 'H.B. 160 imposes a litany of negative changes on cannabis users, consumers, growers, and professionals to dismantle key parts of current Ohio law enacted by your constituents,' said Gary Daniels, ACLU of Ohio's legislative director. 'At worst, these changes can be interpreted as purposeful, designed to kneecap Issue 2. At the least, these changes fundamentally handicap the purchase, use, transportation, and sale of cannabis in the state.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Ohioans passed a citizen-initiated law to legalize recreational marijuana in 2023 with 57% of the vote, and sales started in August 2024. Ohio lawmakers can change the law since it passed as a citizen initiative. The state's total recreational marijuana sales were $479,219,877 as of April 26, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control. H.B. 160 would reduce the THC levels in marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90% down to a maximum of 70%, cap the number of marijuana dispensaries at 350, and reallocate the bulk of marijuana tax revenue to the state's General Revenue Fund. It would ban using marijuana in public spaces and offer expungement for prior convictions for marijuana related offenses. 'I think this bill represents the most thoughtful of the approaches we've seen from legislators,' said state Rep. Jamie Callender, R-Concord. 'If we could find some common ground, I think the sponsor has mentioned that he wants to have a fairly stripped down bill.' H.B. 160 would repeal the Cannabis Social Equity and Jobs Program, which was enacted through the passage of Issue 2. The bill also has an intoxicating hemp provision that would require every THC product to only be sold at Ohio's regulated marijuana dispensaries. During the committee meeting, Callender held up an intoxicating hemp product he recently purchased with the Hawaiian Punch logo on it. 'This is to show that there is some common ground,' Callender said. '1,000 milligrams of THC, 96.1% THC. … No ID required to purchase, no ID required to go into the location. … We don't want children having access. We don't want false labeling.' The bill would also make it illegal to purchase marijuana in another state and bring it back to Ohio. 'But Ohioans can still return home from their favorite out-of-state microbrewery with a can, six pack, or entire keg of beer,' Daniels. Many of the opponents were not shy about pointing this out. 'The Issue 2 campaign was called Regulate Cannabis Like Alcohol,'said Karen O'Keefe, Marijuana Policy Project's director of state policies. 'Yet H.B. 160's unnecessary and onerous restrictions on cannabis in no way resemble how alcohol is regulated. … Would you ban possessing bourbon purchased in Kentucky?' Opponents questioned where they would be legally allowed to use marijuana if the bill passed. 'If people can't consume at home-and sharing at a friend's house becomes illegal, where are they supposed to consume safely?' asked Anthony D. Riley, founder of Ohio Cannabis Live and the Ohio Cannabis Expo. Those opposed to the intoxicating hemp provisions are worried about the ramifications of limiting sales to only marijuana dispensaries. 'We have concerns that the language in S.B. 160 would ban most types of legal hemp products from retail sales, reducing access for consumers,' said Ohio Grocers Association President Kristin Mullins. Instead, she wants lawmakers to incorporate regulatory oversight such as age-restricting products and product labeling. The Ohio Senate passed their own version of a bill that would overhaul the state's marijuana law back in February — shortly before the House introduced their bill. There are some similarities between the bills such as lowering THC levels, requiring marijuana only be used in a private residence, and capping dispensaries at 350. One of the biggest differences with Senate Bill 56 is limiting Ohio's home grow from 12 plants down to six. The bill would also combine the state's medical and recreational marijuana programs under the Division of Cannabis Control. S.B. 56 has yet to have a hearing over in the House. Follow Capital Journal Reporter Megan Henry on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Proposed Ohio law would require age verification before viewing porn
Apr. 23—The Ohio Senate will soon consider a House-passed initiative that would add Ohio to a growing list of states that require porn sites to either verify the age of their users or face legal consequences. If it becomes law, Ohioans would be subject to uploading photos of themselves or personal transaction data before accessing content on pornographic websites. Other states that have passed similar legislation have seen popular sites like PornHub suspend service within state borders. The House-passed provision was folded into the chamber's draft of the state's operating budget, which sets about $60 billion in state spending over the next two years and includes hundreds of separate legislative provisions. A House document explains that the provision would require any organization "that sells, delivers, furnishes, disseminates, provides, exhibits, or presents any material or performance that is obscene or harmful to juveniles" to use "reasonable" age verification methods before users can access content. "(It's) a policy that I think has wide support in the caucus," Ohio House Finance Chair Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, told reporters earlier this month. "I think, frankly, a lot of people believe that if you're going to have obscene material on the internet, we should at least make sure that those who are not legally allowed to view it are not viewing it." In practice, "reasonable" methods of age verification could include photo identification or private or public "transactional data," which could include mortgage, educational and employment records, according to the bill text. Stewart said the House's provision differs slightly from other proposals that have stalled in the Statehouse, mainly in that the law wouldn't create private rights of action. Instead, it would empower the Ohio Attorney General to step in. "If we have websites in the state of Ohio that are egregiously violating the law, we're going to give the attorney general the ability to file for injunctive relief," Stewart said. Similar proposals, including the House Bill 84 currently in committee, have garnered levels of bipartisan support from Ohio lawmakers. The Ohio Senate will consider the provision and the rest of the House's draft budget when it begins budget deliberations later this month. Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, has not yet commented on the age-verification plan. ------ For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It's free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening. Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ohio House budget would eliminate independent campaign finance oversight
Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, testifying in the Ohio House. (Photo by Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal.) The Ohio House's version of the budget would eliminate the independent group charged with enforcing state campaign finance laws. With the Ohio Election Commission gone, those duties would fall to the Secretary of State and county boards of elections. Lawmakers slipped the provision into the 5,000-plus page bill as part of a wide-ranging amendment the day before the vote. But lawmakers' frustrations with the commission became apparent months ago. At a February hearing, state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, expressed 'grave concerns' about the commission and said its process is 'substantially broken.' 'I'm getting texts and calls here from other members saying, this is the time to make some reforms,' he said at the time, 'and I hope we do that as part of this process.' Stewart's irritation stems in part from his own case before the commission, which took roughly three years to resolve. The commission determined he made no violation; the challenger is appealing that decision. Even critics of the House plan acknowledge the commission's shortcomings. But they contend such drastic changes belong in a standalone bill with plenty of opportunity for public testimony. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX With a current annual budget of about $642,000, the Ohio Elections Commission is a rounding error in a budget spending more than $44.5 billion General Revenue Fund dollars a year. The governor's spending proposal pushed its annual budget north of $800,000. At that February hearing, OEC Executive Director Phil Richter showed up to explain how the extra funding would cover a new filing system and an additional employee to take over when he retires. Instead, lawmakers lit into the commission. In particular, Stewart and state Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Loveland, complained about cases dragging on. 'There are multiple committees over the last several years,' Schmidt said, 'who have been required to attend hearings, and the decisions go into a year, two years, delay, delay, delay, before a decision is rendered. Sir, that costs people time. It also costs people money.' Schmidt, like Stewart, has been on the receiving end of a multi-year OEC case. In an interview, Stewart argued lawmakers have been raising concerns about the commission for years. He pointed to a 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling invalidating an Ohio law against false campaign statements. That decision eliminated an entire class of OEC complaints, he argued, 'but of course, (the) government never sort of adjusted and kind of right-sized the operation.' Stewart also brushed off concerns about lawmakers who have faced OEC complaints leading the effort to eliminate the agency. 'The best people in the position to reform an agency,' he argued, 'are those who have spent years being drug through the mud and seeing how completely inefficient it is.' More important, Stewart stressed, lawmakers aren't changing campaign finance law — they're looking for better enforcement. 'Everything that's legal is still legal,' he said. 'Everything that's illegal is still illegal, and you will still have all the same appeal rights that you do today to take your matter to court.' Chris Hicks hates a liar. Talking with him for 10 minutes and it's obvious his skin crawls seeing powerful people get away with it. He's unabashedly conservative but has no problem going after members of his own party if they're breaking the law. He's filed numerous complaints with OEC, including the ones against Stewart and Schmidt. In Hicks' telling, it started with a different candidate named Allen Freeman. In 2020, he was one of several candidates backed by then-House Speaker Larry Householder. Freeman blanketed Cincinnati airwaves with ads, which struck Hicks as weird — the vast majority of that audience wasn't in his district, and he reported spending only about $15,000. Hicks found Federal Communications Commission reports of more than $100,000 in ad buys on Freeman's behalf, paid for by Householder-aligned groups. The OEC eventually fined Freeman $50,000, but his campaign wound up burning through its cash to pay for his defense. Hicks explained the Freeman case was just a starting point for him. 'Some of these invoices had a bunch of other candidates on them,' he said. Since then, he's driven back and forth more than a dozen times from his home outside Cincinnati to OEC hearings in Columbus, pursuing various campaign finance cases. 'I have no love for the OEC at all, as you can tell,' he said. 'But everything about what's happening right now is demonstrative of how f-ed up things in Ohio are.' He complained about lawmakers 'dumping' the changes into the budget to evade public hearings and can't believe Democrats aren't making a bigger issue of it. Hicks thinks maybe it's got to get worse before it gets better. 'The funny part is, if it stays in there, it's probably better than the OEC,' he said. 'Because it's going to create absolute chaos — absolute chaos.' Putting the process in the hands of county boards, whose members are often local party leaders, or a state hearing officer, hand-selected by the Secretary of State, will remove any semblance of neutrality, he contended. Catherine Turcer, who heads up the government watchdog group Common Cause Ohio, has her own frustrations with the OEC, but she's decidedly against the burn-it-all-down approach. She agrees the process takes too long and the results can be lackluster, but she argued lawmakers abolishing the commission is the wrong answer. 'As opposed to thinking about how they could create greater transparency,' she said, 'and how they could make an elections commission that would be functional and strong and robust, they're thinking about eliminating it.' Turcer criticized lawmakers for scrapping the commission as part of the budget, rather than in a standalone bill. And she rejected Stewart's suggestion that nothing's lost in handing off the commission's responsibilities. 'That doesn't take care of making sure that these, you know, traffic cops, essentially, that they're as independent as possible,' she argued. 'I think the problem is, by eliminating it, you're essentially setting up a system of cronyism.' Phil Richter understands the complaints about his agency and said he's open to working on improvements. But he insists the foundational idea — an independent body overseeing campaign finance — was a good one. 'For the state of Ohio to take this step, and step away from an independent, bipartisan organization reviewing these kinds of matters, I think that, to me, would be a black mark on the state,' he said. With oversight in the purview of partisan actors, he warned, any decision will be open to claims of partisanship. Beyond the optics, Richter argued devolving decisions to county boards could be a mess. He described explaining the House proposal to a former member recently who interrupted, 'wait a minute, that means there could be 88 different versions and 88 different interpretations of the statutes.' Richter added there's a conflict of interest in asking the same body to audit campaign filings and judge cases, too. 'Again,' he said, 'that's why this commission was created — was to separate those instances.' None of those concerns make an impact on Stewart. 'You have seven folks who don't even have to be lawyers, playing judge and trying to hear cases over a period of years,' he said. 'That's a silly system.' Follow Ohio Capital Journal Reporter Nick Evans on X or on Bluesky. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
