Latest news with #MartySchladen
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Many unaware of threats to Ohio Medicaid, advocates say
Dozens gathered at the Ohio Capitol to protect Medicaid benefits. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.) As threats build to Medicaid, the federal-state health program for the poor, even many Ohioans who stand to be affected don't know it, advocates said Saturday. Dozens gathered on the west lawn of the Ohio Statehouse to raise awareness that a massive spending bill passed by Republicans in Congress could end up ending health care for more than 750,000 Ohioans. 'People say, 'Oh, I'm not on Medicaid,'' said Bria Bennett of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative. 'But when they hear Caresource (Ohio's biggest Medicaid managed-care provider), they say 'Oh yeah, my kids are on Caresource.' That's a problem everywhere. People are so focused on 'How am I getting to work? Is my car going to get me to work? Is my uniform clean for work?' They're worried about all those things that trying to dip into the policy things that our politicians talk about is difficult.' The U.S. House-passed Republican reconciliation budget — President Donald Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' — would hand out $4.6 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years. The University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School estimated that 70% of the benefit would go to the richest 10% of Americans. Republicans, such as Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, have denied that the budget would cut health benefits for Americans. But then she undermined her own argument by saying 'We all are going to die.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Parts of the bill, including a strict new work requirement, led the independent, nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to conclude that it would cost about 10 million Americans their health insurance. That's nearly half of the 24.6 million Americans who are covered under the Medicaid expansion that was passed as part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act. Most Medicaid recipients have jobs, and a 2018 assessment in Ohio said that health coverage made it easier for those people to seek and keep employment. Meanwhile, work requirements have been shown to be ineffective for anything other than hassling people off of the system. Researchers at Harvard University and the Urban Institute found that Arkansas's work requirement did nothing to boost employment in the state. The federal government covers 90% of the cost of the Medicaid expansion. In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine proposed that if a significant portion of that funding were eliminated, the state would cut those people off — ending health coverage for 770,000 Ohioans. That's nearly 7% of the state. It might come as a surprise for many, but 26% of Ohioans are on Medicaid, and low-income residents are so numerous that 30% of households make 200% or less of the federal poverty level. Bennett of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative said it's jargon like that that obscures the dire reality in which millions of Ohioans live. 'I don't know what 200% of whatever is,' she said. 'That's just a number to me. We're trying to make things relatable because people don't necessarily know that it affects them.' For the record, for a family of four 200% of the federal poverty level is $62,400 a year. Bennett said such households would be devastated if they lost Medicaid benefits. 'I know folks who have four-plus kids. Because of what they make, all of their kids are on Medicaid,' she said. 'If that's taken away, there are no more doctor's appointments. There's no more dentist's appointments.' And, she said, those life-saving services shouldn't be axed to pad the pockets of the wealthy in an era of exploding income inequality. 'We should not be giving tax breaks to the wealthy when the poorest and most vulnerable of us cannot even afford health care,' Bennett said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Ohio's Geauga County sued to release contract for ICE detainees
Border Patrol officers detain two men in El Paso in late March. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal) The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is suing the Geauga County Sheriff's office over its refusal to provide copies of contracts it's signed with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Geauga is one of at least five counties in Ohio that have signed contracts to house migrants detained by ICE on the belief that they're undocumented. The ACLU on Tuesday afternoon filed a writ in the Ohio Supreme Court asking the court to mandate the release of the contracts. In a statement, the civil liberties group said that in April the sheriff's office claimed that releasing the records was ''prohibited by federal law' and therefore not public per the Ohio Revised Code. (The ACLU) was instructed to instead contact ICE for the records.' Under such contracts, the federal government pays counties to house detainees. During the first Trump administration, the Ohio counties that housed detainees faced complaints and lawsuits. The ACLU's statement said that the office didn't cite a valid reason not to release its ICE contract. Advocate: Ohio's county jails are no place for migrants 'None of the federal statutes (the county's lawyers) have cited, however, prohibit the disclosure of the requested records,' the writ said. 'Because (the county's lawyers) have refused to perform their clearly defined duty to provide the requested records, (the ACLU) respectfully submits this complaint for alternative and peremptory writs of mandamus to require (the sheriff's office) to provide her with the records she seeks.' Geauga County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Thomas Rowan said the county's attorneys are telling a different story — that only ICE can release the documents. 'It's in our attorneys' hands,' he said. 'Once the court rules, we'll definitively know which way to go. Our attorneys believe that they have to go through ICE to get copies of any of the paperwork.' As a general matter, government documents can usually only be withheld or redacted if they contain sensitive personal information, business secrets, or if their disclosure would endanger public safety or national security. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE A wave of state and national public records laws were passed in the wake of the Watergate scandal to crack down on government corruption. Documents relating to the expenditure of government dollars were a particular target of such laws. As Trump promises mass deportations, the ACLU said it would try to keep a close watch. 'The ACLU of Ohio is deeply committed to protecting immigrants' rights and our organization serves as a watchdog for government transparency and accountability,' Jocelyn Rosnick, Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer, said in a written statement. 'We know that Geauga County Jail has housed ICE detainees for years, some of whom we have previously defended in court. Our lawful demands for timely and accurate information must not be ignored.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Without funds from the feds, a third of Ohio's historic preservation office let go
The Ohio History Connection's Columbus museum and offices. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.) The Ohio History Connection last week laid off a third of the staff at the State Office of Historic Preservation. Even though many of its responsibilities are mandated by the federal government, the feds haven't provided funding that was appropriated in October, a spokesman said. The money is provided by the National Park Service, which has been hammered by staffing and funding cuts from Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency. The historic preservation office handles Ohio listings on the National Register of Historic Places, historic preservation tax incentives, and maintains a permanent record of Ohio's historic buildings and sites, in addition to many other responsibilities. The Ohio History Connection, which oversees the preservation office, laid off 12 of its employees because it hasn't received $1.448 million from the National Park Service despite the fact that the money was appropriated on Oct. 1, said Neil Thompson, the history connection's manager of media and public relations. In a note to history connection staff last week, Executive Director and CEO Megan Wood said the preservation office couldn't maintain its staffing without the money. 'As a reminder, roughly 60% of (the preservation office's) funding comes from the federal Historic Preservation Fund — administered by the National Park Service and supported by proceeds from offshore oil and gas leases,' Wood wrote. 'Although these funds were appropriated for the current federal fiscal year beginning October 1, 2024, they have not yet been released. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE 'We have been working tirelessly with the Governor's Office, our Board, and Ohio's Congressional Delegation to advocate for the timely release of these funds. However, with the majority of our (historic preservation) budget allocated to personnel, we are unable to sustain our current staffing levels without this federal support.' In 1966, Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act after years of mass demolition of historic sites and buildings. 'By the mid-1960s, federally-funded infrastructure and urban renewal projects had resulted in the rapid destruction of places significant in the nation's history,' the National Park Service says on its website. 'Congress recognized that the federal government's historic preservation program was inadequate to ensure that future generations could appreciate and enjoy the rich heritage of the nation. (The National Historic Preservation Act) was enacted in recognition that historic places were being lost or altered, and that preservation was in the public's interest.' Among the things created under the law was the National Register of Historic Places, on which Columbus's German Village has been listed since 1974. Workers in state preservation offices evaluate whether nominees make the register. Those decisions depend on how old they are, their historical significance, their architectural significance, and other factors, Thompson said. 'It's a federal program — a federal list that is ultimately put out by the Department of the Interior — but the State Historic Preservation Office is responsible for reviewing nominations to ensure all these factors are met,' Thompson said. A more complete description of the preservation office's responsibilities can be found here. Some developers and homeowners might balk at historic preservation requirements, but historic preservation is popular with the public. For example, a 2014 UCLA survey found that '88% of respondents believe that historic places should be treated as community assets… (and) 83% of respondents indicated that historic preservation is somewhat to very important.' The National Park Service didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. The agency has been buffeted with cuts and threats of more since Trump took office and put the world's richest man in charge of cutting government services. In February, 1,000 probationary employees were cut from the park service and another 700 took buyouts. Now the Trump administration is planning to cut 1,500 more. The cuts already are said to have sewn chaos at the agency. Despite the loss of personnel at Ohio's State Historic Preservation Office, officials plan to continue doing what the law requires. 'Despite this setback, we remain responsible for fulfilling our federally mandated duties, including the administration of the National Register of Historic Places, the Federal Historic Tax Credit program, and compliance reviews under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act,' Wood, CEO of the History Connection, told employees. 'We know the coming months will be challenging, and that extended processing times may occur as we adjust to these changes. Nonetheless, we remain committed to our mission and to serving the people and communities of Ohio through the preservation of our shared heritage.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Members on teachers' pension fund board could lose voting power
The entrance to the Ohio State Teachers Retirement System headquarters in Columbus. (Photo by Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal.) The Ohio Retirement Study Council leaders are evaluating whether or not to remove the voting rights of teachers on their retirement pension fund board. This comes after a year of controversy in which elected educators are accused of participating in a $65 billion corruption scheme. The board chair denies all allegations, and some retired educators are accusing the Statehouse Republicans of trying to stop transparency. 'It's not a radical idea to think about how other teacher retirement boards are comprised,' state Rep. Adam Bird (R-New Richmond) said. Bird, the chair of the Ohio Retirement Study Council, is considering all options when it comes to changing the makeup of the State Teachers Retirement System board. But for him, the timing of the change isn't due to the recent spending of $2 billion to restore a 1.5% cost-of-living adjustment. 'I'm concerned that the STRS current composition of seven teachers and four appointed investment experts appears to be imbalanced, which can lead to a perception of lack of fiduciary responsibility,' Bird said. For the past year, controversy has been swirling inside the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS), a roughly $100 billion pension fund for the more than 500,000 active and retired public educators in Ohio. In summary, there has been constant fighting, two board resignations, and allegations of both a public corruption scheme and mishandling of funds. There has been a senior staff dismissal and at least two senior staff resignations. The scandal centers around former board member Wade Steen, board chair Rudy Fichtenbaum, and their relationship with investment firm QED Technologies, run by former Ohio Deputy Treasurer Seth Metcalf and Jonathan (JD) Tremmel. In May 2024, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine received a 14-page anonymous whistleblower memo, alleging a massive public corruption scheme brewing and moving quickly within STRS. In 2020, Metcalf and Tremmel set their eyes on STRS, according to the document. The document claims that QED — despite having no clients and no track record — tried to convince STRS members to partner with them. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX They couldn't impress the board members, mainly because of their lack of experience and because QED was not registered as a broker-dealer or investment adviser. The men also didn't own the technology to 'facilitate the strategy,' the documents said. So what exactly are Steen and Fichtenbaum trying to change, and what would QED allegedly attempt to do? Revise the investment structure. The men are seen as the leaders of the 'reform movement.' This fight began from a debate on how STRS should invest money; through the current system of actively managed funds versus an index fund. Active funds try to outperform the stock market, have more advisors, and typically cost more. Index funds perform with the stock market, are seen as more passive, and typically cost less. In short, 'reformers' want to switch to index funding, while 'status quo' individuals want to keep actively managing the funds. Recent elections have allowed the 'reform-minded' members to have a majority of the board. Steen and Fichtenbaum had allegedly been bidding continuously, pitching QED's direct documents to board members and proclaiming the company's talking points to other staff. Attorney General Dave Yost later filed a lawsuit to remove Steen and Fichtenbaum from the board, stating they were participating in a contract-steering 'scheme' that could directly benefit them. Yost started the investigation after the memo – now known to have been prepared by STRS employees – alleged that Steen and Fichtenbaum had been doing the bidding of QED. Reporting by WEWS/OCJ has included the first time Yost and QED spoke about it, and continued with dozens of reports on the topic. A September investigation revealed that STRS was, once again, moving to hire a firm that allegedly lacked experience and personal ties to the board leaders, according to senior staff. After the reporting, the board chose not to move forward with the firm that has been the subject of the news investigations. Bird's move is the first step in changing state law. Other Republican leaders are arguing that, due to the scandal, the elected teachers on the board should be removed or they should be non-voting members. 'There's been an attempt to circumvent the long-standing evaluation process that STRS has for evaluating investment strategies,' the study council chair continued. Retired teacher Robin Rayfield is appalled by the idea of removing the elected members from the board. 'We're not in favor of them changing the board, except if they were eliminating appointed positions,' Rayfield said. 'As retired educators, we believe in democracy.' The educator runs the Ohio Retirement for Teachers Association, ORTA, an organization currently under investigation along with Rayfield. Due to his close relationships with both Steen, Fichtenbaum and QED, Rayfield's conversations have been subpoenaed by the attorney general. He was also reported to the Ohio Ethics Commission due to his financial donations to board members. He put together a fund in 2023 to pay Steen's legal fees, with additional funds being added to help both Steen and Fichtenbaum's litigation against Yost. ORTA has donated more than $163,000, according to financial forms. The STRS memo claims QED and ORTA had worked together, specifically when it came to elections, to get a more sympathetic — or willing — board. Rayfield said that the investigation is a sham and a way for the state to stop transparency. 'It's clear that the folks in Ohio in power — they want more power,' Rayfield said. 'They don't want people having the opportunity to represent themselves.' He said it isn't fair to use the argument that they don't trust the board to follow their fiduciary duty due to the board's alleged continued interest in QED. 'That's a straw man,' Rayfield said. 'The QED thing has been dead since '21.' The STRS chair was asked in August whether he was still considering QED. 'I don't know at this point,' Fichtenbaum responded. 'I think that the idea that they had about earning fees is not a bad idea.' Also, Rayfield allegedly called interim STRS Executive Director Aaron Hood in April to discuss QED, according to a public records request. In an email to the board, Hood wrote: 'Yesterday afternoon I received a telephone call from Robin Rayfield at ORTA. Robin offered to set up a meeting for me with representatives of QED (including Seth Metcalf) since there is so much 'controversy.' I was so taken aback that I stepped out of my office and asked him to acknowledge his request again on speakerphone so that other staff could hear his confirmation of the request. I informed him that I will not meet with anyone related to QED and encouraged him to read the AG's filings (including exhibits) involving communications from QED to a former board member. To be clear, no STRS staff will be meeting with representatives of QED and I would advise you all as board members to avoid any such meetings as well, especially in light of the pending outside litigation.' Despite all of this, Rayfield and the 'reformers' argue that there is nothing wrong with questioning the status quo — and that this is clearly a targeted attack at public education. 'It's more political talk; When they've spent a billion dollars on private education and ignored public education, reduced the budget for public education, attacked our pension — all of the forces of everything — the governor, the attorney general, all of the high ranking elected officials, it has been to diminish what our public service has been through — decades of neglect and abuse,' Rayfield said. The Ohio House Republicans passed a budget that dramatically slashed school funding. To be fully funded based on statistics from the Fair School Funding Plan from 2021, schools would need $666 million. The proposed budget only gives them about $226 million. Based on 2025 numbers and inflation, the amount of money to fund K-12 would be closer to $800 million, new data from public school advocates like former lawmaker John Patterson found. Retired educator Mary Binegar, who doesn't trust the 'reform' faction of the board, still says that removing the teachers' voices is a bad move. 'Whether we like the board members (that) are there or not, we do have the opportunity to vote for them,' Binegar. 'I think it's important for educators to have that sense that there are other educators watching out for them.' When Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, was asked about his interest in pension reform, he said he aims to pass some changes to the pension board by the end of June. 'I wanna see what those recommendations are going to be,' Huffman said. 'The problem, conceptually, with pensions… it's trying to solve a problem now that looms many years in the future, it's difficult for people to understand.' Senate President Rob McColley, R-Napoleon, shared similar sentiments when I asked him about pension reform. He said he has had a few conversations with the Retirement Study Council leaders. 'I do think it's worth reminding folks, whenever you're on a pension board, you are acting with fiduciary duties to the pensioners in that pension system,' McColley said. 'It's important that they remember that the decisions they make shouldn't just be based on a particular policy that they want to move forward or a particular message that they want to send, but rather it should be based on getting the best return at the appropriate profile for that pension system.' House Minority Leader Allison Russo slammed the Republicans when asked for her thoughts. 'You've got a pension system that represents retired workers, but you don't want to have workers represented on the board? I think (that) speaks to, again, lack of accountability in how individual retirement systems are run, the long-term stability of them.' Russo said. 'And if you don't want voices of those retired workers — I think that's wrong and that's hugely problematic.' No matter the scandal, and no matter the side, each educator who spoke on the matter said that removing their perspective from the board will hurt the fund and cause teachers to feel isolated and unheard. Follow WEWS statehouse reporter Morgan Trau on Twitter and YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Revised grocery tax credit bill advances in Idaho Legislature
Shoppers make their way through a store aisle at a Walmart. (Marty Schladen/Ohio Capital Journal) The Idaho House Revenue and Taxation Committee on Thursday recommended advancing a slightly revised version of a bill to increase the tax credit Idaho taxpayers receive for buying groceries. The new bill, House Bill 231, is a slightly modified version of House Bill 61, the original grocery tax credit bill that legislators introduced on Jan. 27. Both bills increase the annual tax credit that Idahoans receive each year from $120 to $155. The only difference is the new version inserts the word 'retail' before the word 'seller' on three different occasions. House Majority Leader Jason Monks, R-Meridian, sponsored both bills. On Thursday, the House Revenue and Taxation Committee voted to hold the original bill, House Bill 61. Committee members then voted to introduce the new bill, House Bill 231, and recommended sending it straight to the second reading calendar on the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives. Monks said the point of the bill is to provide an across-the-board increase in the tax credit for groceries to combat inflation. Idaho does charge sales tax on groceries, but all Idaho taxpayers and their dependents receive a tax credit intended to offset that tax. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Monks and other Republican legislative leaders said they prefer offering the tax credit to Idahoans rather than repealing the sales tax on food outright because it allows the state to still collect revenue from the sales tax that tourists and other out-of-state visitors pay. Currently, seniors 65 and older receive a grocery tax credit of $140 a year, while the rest of the population receives $120 a year. If the new bill is passed into law, everyone would receive the same $155 credit. CONTACT US 'We've seen a lot of increases in inflation over the last several years,' Monks said. 'Food has gotten much more expensive. The price of eggs, chicken eggs, has gotten much more expensive.' 'It's frustrating, and our constituents are demanding that they see some kind of relief,' Monks added. The nonpartisan Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy wrote that increasing the grocery tax credit to $155 per year would help working class families as grocery prices increase. For families making less than $31,100 per year – the lowest 20% of income groups in Idaho – the tax cut for increasing the grocery tax credit to $155 per year would correspond to about .22% of their annual income, according to the Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy. Like the original bill, House Bill 231 also includes a provision that allows Idahoans to save and scan all of their grocery receipts and claim an itemized credit of up to $250 per year if they pay more than $155 per year in sales tax for groceries, Monks said. On the other hand, Idahoans would not have to take any additional steps to claim the $155 credit under House Bill 231 – it would be applied automatically as a refundable credit, which means Idahoans can receive the benefit even if they don't owe any state income taxes. During Thursday's hearing, Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, made an unsuccessful effort to increase the amount of the grocery tax credit to $225 per year, but Monks called the change 'hostile' and Gannon's effort failed. The new, preferred grocery tax credit bill, House Bill 231, likely heads next to the full Idaho House of Representatives for consideration. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
