Rotunda Rumblings
When they go low, we get high: Laura Hancock visited a marijuana dispensary in Monroe, Michigan, 25 minutes from Toledo, to get a picture of how recreational sales will look in Ohio. Michigan’s market is more mature than Ohio’s, which will give it a price advantage, at least in the beginning. Monroe only has 21,000 residents yet there are 18 dispensaries, and it’s a question how many will survive over the long term. Michigan’s regulations allow for a better customer experience because people can examine marijuana before buying it. Ohio only allows smells of sample in jars.
Wanting out: Lobbyist and former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Matt Borges made arguments to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals seeking his release from a five-year prison sentence. As Jake Zuckerman reports, Borges argued he was a private actor who did nothing wrong, as opposed to some of the public officials accused of taking bribes from FirstEnergy Corp.
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Not backing down: U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, a Champaign County Republican, suffered a setback when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to halt the Biden administration’s efforts to tamp down on misinformation by pressing social media platforms, a case to which Jordan and other lawmakers submitted a brief. But Sabrina Eaton reports that Jordan vows to continue his fight against what he characterizes as government agencies censoring information such as alleged vaccine harms or unproven election fraud.
Court-delivered bling: The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that a Henry County jeweler can sue the Napoleon, Ohio, police department, several of its officers and the city for throwing him in jail for four days, on what jeweler Jascha Chiaverini says were baseless charges, The Blade’s David Patch reports. Chiaverini was eventually released and the charges against him were dropped, but he feels he wasn’t able to clear his name in a case involving alleged stolen jewelry purchased by Chiaverini’s store.
Financial aid: The federal government’s botched FAFSA rollout has put a strain on many Ohio colleges in getting financial aid packages ready for students. At many schools, the number of completed FASFAs are down. Schools are trying to fix errors on students’ applications, worried the lack of financial clarity could discourage some students from going to college altogether, the Columbus Dispatch’s Sheridan Hendrix reports.
Lobbying Lineup
Five organizations lobbying on House Bill 92, which would allow the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to develop a program to import drugs from Canada.
1. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals
2. Bristol-Myers Squibb
3. Johnson & Johnson
4. Pfizer Inc.
5. CVS Health
Birthdays
Mehek Cooke, attorney and Ohio Republican strategist and commentator
Straight From The Source
“Stay out of my district, bigots.”
-State Rep. Casey Weinstein, a Hudson Democrat, on X, criticizing Libs of TikTok, an account that frequently trolls liberals, which attacked a Stow councilman for his dress during a Fourth of July parade.
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