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Crooked River Cast Show 16
17 Plays4 days ago
Email us at crookedrivercast@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction to Crooked Rivercast
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to the Crooked Rivercast. I'm your host, Robert. And joining me every week is my friend Tom to give, to help give, a bird's eye view of what is going on in Northeast Ohio. This is show 16, recorded on July 5th, 2025. Let's see what we have to talk about today.
00:00:21
Speaker
Yo. It's been a good week, man. couple late nights, though, so I'm feeling a little... A little tired, but
4th of July Celebrations
00:00:29
Speaker
it's okay. We celebrated fourth of July two and two days in a row, so it was good.
00:00:34
Speaker
Happy 4th.
00:00:38
Speaker
But, I mean, I hope you didn't celebrate. you hey Wait, you celebrate? I'm sorry. I'm not sure you're allowed to celebrate. You're not allowed to celebrate. We celebrated one night with fireworks, and the second night, all the neighbors had a...
00:00:52
Speaker
I was surprised because I was thinking it was going to come down in volume and on how much activity there was with fireworks, but we were surrounded by it last night, so it was it was really cool to see.
00:01:03
Speaker
Yes, good point. We looked out on onto under the skyline of the city from where we were at, and we could see fireworks everywhere.
00:01:14
Speaker
That's awesome. It was kind of cool. That's awesome. neighbors were doing it. I was blowing off fireworks, but um I don't think we were supposed to. No, and we're not allowed to around here, but I, you know.
00:01:26
Speaker
um love Let's listen. but Can we just listen to the expert? Oh, yes, please. yeah She's going to tell us why we should. There you go.
Political Commentary: A Satirical Take
00:01:35
Speaker
If you support Donald Trump, I better not see you wearing red, white, and blue, flying a flag, eating apple pie, or even taking the day off work on the 4th of July.
00:01:45
Speaker
Okay. I can't even take off work on the 4th July. i can't have apple pie. I did not know this. i I'm so sorry. Where can I repent? Because I celebrated the shit out of 4th July this weekend. so And I'm still still celebrating. I still got some fireworks left.
00:02:02
Speaker
i guess i I guess I can't. You must go to the house of TDS sufferers and repent.
00:02:12
Speaker
Oh, I saw that that. thought that was pretty good. Oh, I had family family members that blacked out their profile pictures and said they're not celebrating the fourth this year because of ah the one big bill. article one what is the What is it called? The one one big beautiful
Discussion on 'Big Beautiful Bill'
00:02:29
Speaker
big bill. beautiful bill. Yeah, big beautiful bill.
00:02:32
Speaker
I'm sorry, but... Suck it! You've got some issues. Yeah. you've got got some issues um um But, ah you know, i in in some ways, I mean, it is one big, moderately attractive bill.
00:02:48
Speaker
So I'd give them that much, at least. I'm not sure how beautiful it is anymore after they after they ran it through the House and the Senate and then back through the House and then this whatever they've done back and forth. And then it's just like a, we're just getting sloppy six.
00:03:01
Speaker
They kind of. She's not that pretty anymore. Yeah, I wouldn't call it Big Beautiful Bill anymore, but there's like there's good things in it. there is there is yeah theres There's some good great things in it, and there's a lot of things that that they took out that were really good.
00:03:16
Speaker
I might actually want to work overtime now. Yes, no tax on tips, no tax on overtimes. On overtime, correct? Social security, too. Yeah. yeah Both tips and overtime, up to $10,000 you can write off. So um you won't be taxed for like $10,000 worth of tips in overtime. So that's kind of good.
00:03:38
Speaker
Right, so your servers can actually be somewhat legit. ah Yeah, and overtime, don't feel like you're getting bent over because ah you get, you know, it seems like you're getting railed a little bit more with ah when you get overtime
Impact of Tax Policies
00:03:51
Speaker
pay.
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. And it definitely can people get their overtime bail. Wait, How did I not get more money? Well, it's it's weird. Once you hit like a certain amount of hours, you know, I generally don't ever get a chance to hit that many hours. But I did a couple of times where you're getting near that 65, 70 hours ah week, work week. And you're like like looking at your check going, why did I do this?
00:04:19
Speaker
Yeah, it didn't seem like it was enough. I didn't seem like it made enough to make make it worthwhile. Right. Right. 10, 15 hours of overtime is nice. you know i don't That feels like a ah good, ah really a nice bump. But after that, it's kind of like, oh, don't know. Was it worth it?
00:04:35
Speaker
Yeah, it's not funny, actually. It's somewhat sickening that you know I've heard over the years family members or friends who've improved their lives, gotten you know them and their wives have gotten raises, let's say, in the same year, and then it pushes them up into the next tax bracket, and they actually um making slightly less than they were before. Yeah.
00:04:53
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Sometimes you just get into that next tax bracket just enough. You actually will actually have a less take home. Maybe get more um as a return or, you know, but. It also works.
00:05:05
Speaker
It also works with like the the people that are receiving like benefits from the government. This is the messed up part. You know, they they get a promotion at work and they refuse it because they'll take him They'll lose their benefits and they're kind of.
00:05:18
Speaker
ah you know, they're going backwards if they actually take a promotion. It's messed up. Right. And I'm, but you know, this, there's, have a little clip we could talk about the on a big, beautiful bill. I thought it was, it was, it kind of somewhat amusing because there's so much BS in this clip, but it's, it's, there's some language that I'm hearing um that maybe we can pick up in the next few clips because I've got this one from CNN. This is a representative Pramila.
00:05:49
Speaker
I think Jayapal. a Oh, I know who you're talking about. J-A-Y-A-P-A-L. Yeah. She's a hyperbolic little. Yeah. She's a Democrat in the House. And I know that because she was wearing blue in this and this interview. And she's on CNN. so ah two But um here's what she has to say about this about the big, beautiful bill. Let's see if we can start putting together some of this talking points that they've put out. Seems like.
00:06:13
Speaker
Here you go. I just can't emphasize how, I mean, I'm getting calls and in the airports people come up to me when they recognize me and they're sobbing on my shoulder because they know that so many people, whether it's people who are delivering babies, 60% of births in Mike Johnson's home state of Louisiana paid for by Medicaid, or whether it's, you know, seniors in nursing homes or whether it's folks with disabilities, those are the people that are going to be so incredibly hurt by this cruel betrayal of a bill.
Critique of New Bill
00:06:44
Speaker
It's fictional storytelling hour. ah So wait a minute. So first of all, First of all, we're off to nobody recognizes you in the airport. Come on. Let's just be clear about that. Nobody recognizes recognizes you in the airport.
00:06:57
Speaker
And if somebody actually came and nobody's coming up to sob on your shoulder, because if they actually did, you're telling me nobody in your staff and your entourage recorded that?
00:07:08
Speaker
Come on. That's just horrible PR, people. Get some recording of that. But it's just a cruel bill, Tom. It's such a cruel bill. I'm devastated.
00:07:20
Speaker
When people recognized me in the airport, I was like, wait a minute. Nobody, come on. Come on. Yeah, it's just a storytelling time there. So we go from one, that big, beautiful bill to another big, beautiful bill in Ohio.
Ohio State Budget Analysis
00:07:35
Speaker
they also got passed and signed.
00:07:37
Speaker
Most of it. Most of it got signed. Is it most of it? there's There's quite a few vetoes there. like Quite a few vetoes. Quite a few vetoes. um well Let's start with what's in the budget and some of the things that are in the budget.
00:07:51
Speaker
And then we'll get we'll get to we'll get to the vetoes. So a couple of things that stick out, which we'll go over first. um Well, there's a couple of small things. that that' Not small things, but and some of the problems that people have with this, which which we'll get into.
00:08:09
Speaker
Public school cell phone ban. is in the budget. So that is going through. um Another interesting little line that was in there, um they are now exempting emails and texts from record requests for state legislature until the end of the legislation session.
00:08:34
Speaker
I thought they vetoed that. He did not veto that. That I can see. Yeah. yeah Let me know if if i need to be stand if i if I need to be corrected. But as far as I know, it's still in there.
00:08:46
Speaker
Okay. um And actually, the article is... Yeah, of course.
00:08:59
Speaker
There it is, text. I knew I'd find it sooner later. Sometimes these tabs get so small. um Yeah, this is...
00:09:08
Speaker
yeah As far as I'm looking at this article, it's still in there. I mean, it could be, he could have thrown it out, but all the vetoes that I was looking at, I didn't see any of that in there. A couple of the the large items that he left in, one, Medicaid cuts, he left those in, and also the ability for the state auditor to audit Medicaid, and they gave him $5 million dollars budget to do so.
00:09:33
Speaker
That's awesome. um And that that is actually one of the um one of the complaints about the bill is it cuts Medicaid. Get into that too. The other thing that they left that he left in was the $600 million dollars
00:09:47
Speaker
loan from the unclaimed funds for the Dome Stadium. Yeah, I was a little surprised about that. So we did take out and in that, in this specifically was there was a provision in it to, the project had to be $500 million dollars or more in order to pull from the sports fund that they're making out it. So they're given 600 million, borrow letting they're borrowing 600 million to put it towards the project in Brook Park.
00:10:13
Speaker
And then out of, from a $1.7 billion dollars fund that they're, are creating from the unclaims fund. And,
00:10:25
Speaker
This fund was supposedly but in anything, he had to be $500 million dollars or more to be able to pull from the fund. He did take that out. So it really could even go for smaller projects. I think that had a lot to do with the, the, the, the Bengals stadium. Cause I think that's going to be under 500 million.
00:10:39
Speaker
Right. And that's because it's just a renovation. So it may have helped that. So it's not just for the Browns, it's for all sports facilities, but you know, Not that there's not problems with that because there is. So that was left in.
00:10:52
Speaker
um and I believe there's going to be a lawsuit.
Legal Challenges to Ohio Budget
00:10:57
Speaker
Attorney Dave Yost is already saying he's not a big fan of what they did. said poor policy. ah Former Democrat lawmaker, um I think he was Attorney General, maybe um one of these guys was Mark Dan and Jeff Crossman are threatening a lawsuit, ah calling calling it the use of the unclaims fund and unconstitutional taking of private property.
00:11:22
Speaker
Dave Bios is doing this? No, Dave Bios didn't say that. This is Mark Dan and Jeff Crossman, ah Democrats, former Democrat lawmakers who are proposing the lawsuit, class action lawsuit, saying it's a ah unconstitutional, taking a private property, which I don't necessarily disagree. I'm not sure if it's unconstitutional.
00:11:42
Speaker
It is a, they are taking, you know, private funds. I don't like that they're giving 600 million. i just don't know in any other situation why you wouldn't because it does benefit the state.
00:11:57
Speaker
I don't want to give a billionaire any money, any more money than we need to. I don't see how it hurts anybody. it it is a loan, right? It is a loan. Yeah. So that that fund will get paid back.
00:12:11
Speaker
I just, yes, it's going to get paid back. I supposedly, you know, obviously they actually have do it. and So there's always, there's always a question in that, right? They're promising it. And you know, some, lot of times down the line, you figure, oh yeah, they didn't actually do it, but that's the whole plan is to, uh,
00:12:27
Speaker
is to use funds from that project or for us tax revenue from there to repay it and to keep the fund at like a billion and a half dollars or something like that. They want to keep it there for future ah future plans.
00:12:39
Speaker
I just don't know if he would disagree so hard if it was, say, don't know, funding some other welfare program, abortions, LGBTQ health care, this kind of stuff.
00:12:51
Speaker
um i I don't think you'd have such a problem with it. And I think there's actually some precedent for that. But let's hear. I'd like to hear about the other side or the opposition but of this.
00:13:03
Speaker
So, of course, I went to our friends and at Today in Ohio. Oh, God. And went through. and You know what? I mean, it's not as bad as you as the last one. There are some things I can I can we can agree on. So what is some of the opposition and where can we agree? So let's listen to what we just got couple clips here. So bear with us.
00:13:23
Speaker
Why is Dave Yost, the Ohio attorney general, opposed to this plan to help the Browns finance their covered stadium in Brook Park? um He says, i oppose the funding mechanism and its intent.
00:13:36
Speaker
He says, Ohio taxpayers can't be left on the sidelines while the wealthiest score with public money using game puns, as we see. And he says the taking of public funds without clear benefit is just poor policy.
00:13:49
Speaker
He says also, we had some questions. He says, is this fund going to remain solvent when other professional teams seek their cut from that billions of dollars of funds? And he says, what happens if it runs dry? That funding mechanism disappears.
00:14:03
Speaker
He says a handout to a single facility raises serious concerns about fiscal sustainability and fairness. He did say, though. Hold on. it's It's not to a single facility.
00:14:14
Speaker
It's A, it's going to be the Browns and the Bengals already asking for some and they're going to keep money in there. So for next time this happens, you can do a similar thing.
00:14:26
Speaker
I don't know. The reason when I picked this is because i' I am kind of torn on and and this whole thing. But it's not for just for the Browns. Well, it is the lesser of two evils. Exactly. I think that's why I'm hesitant on it, because it's still...
00:14:44
Speaker
Lesser of Two Viewtles is still evil. so Well, you don't have to be rah-rah for it. You just have to accept that this is probably probably a better option. And before I forget to bring it up, there's also a hidden little advantage to this, is it does tie the Browns to staying in Ohio.
00:15:04
Speaker
because they are they they they they did change the model law, but they didn't change it enough to make it, they just changed it to basically if you're staying in the same county, it's okay. We want to talk about you leaving the state or moving into a completely different part of the state.
00:15:19
Speaker
So what this would do is still tie the Browns to a publicly funded facility, which means they could not leave without going through the Modell law. Obviously, saw how well how will that works now.
00:15:32
Speaker
You know, it can be changed and all that stuff, but really didn't make, i mean, they were they're moving a few miles away. So the law was really not intended for that. was intended to keep the teams in Ohio.
00:15:44
Speaker
So this would actually tie them to Ohio because if they privately funded it all, the only thing time tying them to Ohio is whether they want to abandon this facility and sell it.
00:15:55
Speaker
Now, by law, theyre they are yeah tied to this location. Right. so that The taking of that money from the unclaimed property fund is not unconstitutional, as some have claimed.
00:16:08
Speaker
There is precedent. There's about $1.3 billion that's been taken from the unclaimed property fund since it was established in 1967.
00:16:18
Speaker
Well, there's precedent only because nobody challenged it. Nobody came back and said, you can't use that money because it's not yours. This time around, the former Attorney General Mark Dan says he plans to challenge it in the class action.
00:16:32
Speaker
So I'm not sure what he's talking about. this There's precedent for them raiding this fund previously, but we do not have a court precedent saying it's constitutional, we should point out too, it's a loan. It's not that they're taking 600 million out. It's never coming back. It's supposed to come back with, I forget, some amount of interest that the stadium would generate in taxes. It's surprising to see Yost taking the stand because he's been a pretty party-line Republican and the Republicans are all lining up behind this.
00:17:06
Speaker
um His argument that there's no public purpose or public benefit, I think there are people in Cuyahoga County that support this that would argue the public benefit is it's a gigantic economic development project. I mean, if they spend $2.4 billion dollars building it, that's a whole lot of jobs.
00:17:24
Speaker
So I'm not sure about the ah public benefit part. Stop it. Fair point. Perfect. Cause I already had it clipped. I got another one too. Okay. You know what? That is the first time I heard that guy say anything sensible.
00:17:35
Speaker
Exactly. i was actually going here for not that. I went, I went to this, this well and expecting to get, I mean, there's plenty of other stuff. Um, you know, I've listened to on their podcast, but this, that's why said, I mean, where can we, where can we agree?
00:17:50
Speaker
And, and I, this is one of those things I'm like, I don't like it, but it is a lesser of two evils. And know the only thing I didn't have time to do is where did they pull, what did they pull from this account in the past?
00:18:02
Speaker
Maybe we can look up that. If it goes into a lawsuit, I'm sure
Debate on Budget Bill's Constitutionality
00:18:05
Speaker
we'll find out. What I liked is that he didn't say they're taking it. He did say it was a loan, which I haven't heard any, ums let's say, left-leaning resource say that.
00:18:17
Speaker
True. I have not either. And so that's that the other thing I was like, oh, hey, ah fair a point. and um And onto my question is, how would they feel how would if they were pulling this money out for something else, for a social program, how would they feel about it?
00:18:33
Speaker
And we'll into the next clip. They'll tell us. and that His point is taken that there are a whole lot of people that are crushed by this budget.
00:18:45
Speaker
They're giving an enormous tax cut to the wealthy while sticking it to crushed people of lesser means. Medicaid is going to get cut for a lot of people in Ohio, both by this and the federal government.
00:18:58
Speaker
And meanwhile, billionaires get 600 million in help. And that was his point that what are we doing here? Is that really what we should be focusing on in a state budget?
00:19:12
Speaker
ah And that's an interesting point of view. Tom Suttis, what did Tom Suttis call the budget this time? the The Billionaire Rescue Act or the jimmy D and Jimmy Haslam something fun. mean, he made a ah joke about how this budget is all about helping the the Browns and nobody else. I mean, they this really does give wealthy people ah giant portion of the state money.
00:19:38
Speaker
Hold on, pausing it for a second to ask. he's he's He's leaning back into stupid right now. Oh, yeah. I didn't say it would last long. um there is There is glimpses of of ah something good there. But um do you think...
00:19:52
Speaker
It kind occurred to me, why are the Browns asking for this money? Why is the Haslams asking? do they Do they need it? Or what what what is the purpose? Because it's a $3.5 to $4 billion dollars project that ah right now, as of right now, they have half of it funded privately from Haslam and his investors.
00:20:13
Speaker
Right. They want $600 million from the state. Couldn't they just finance the rest over, you know, like, I don't understand. A, why they, it feels like there's something else.
00:20:26
Speaker
Like I think I said in ah in the last show, the show before that, it's almost like they want the state to have some skin in the game when it comes to these big projects. Right. Which I can understand if I'm ah big and developer.
00:20:39
Speaker
doesn't seem like the $600 million dollars would be a hurdle they couldn't overcome. we At least with a little bit of time. Because, you know, these projects will go up in phases, three phases, I think. Two or three phases this project's going to be.
00:20:52
Speaker
um pretty quick too well the first phase is going to go up in two years it's by 2029 they'll be they'll have the the dome and immediately surrounding the dome up and then then phase two at least right now is i think there's also phase three but phase two is shopping and more shopping around the area and some residential stuff phase three is even more of that but i occurred to me why why are they asking for the money from the state i don't have an answer for it i'm just curious like because it like i said they're he's worth way more than he's putting into this project. He could just tap into his, he could just ask more from his investors or get more investors.
00:21:29
Speaker
Well, I, I, I think as a, I, I think as a, as a good businessman, you're always looking for others to invest Or have have some skin in the game, as you put it.
00:21:43
Speaker
Yeah, I think that may come down to a lot of it, at least. But also, I think in this, like I said, we're loaning them this money or loaning the money to the project. And it's going to lock them into ah to Ohio so they can't leave because this will be a a publicly funded facility.
00:21:59
Speaker
We shall continue because it only gets better from here.
00:22:05
Speaker
while taking money away from everybody else. And for Mike DeWine, a giant portion of the state money while taking money away from everybody else. And for Mike DeWine to say, a great budget, it's unprecedented. It is unprecedented. It's unprecedented in how cruel it is.
00:22:21
Speaker
Yeah. And know, Stephen said he was sounding like a moderate. He says, honestly, that money could have been used to lower childcare costs, property tax relief, boosting workforce participation subjects that we've hammered on repeatedly in this podcast.
00:22:35
Speaker
And he said, if DeWine had vetoed this, it would have given them time to discover better funding options like, hey, maybe doubling the gambling tax on sports gambling. so He's right.
00:22:47
Speaker
I mean, everything he says there is right. This should have been more thoroughly vetted. But of course, everything the legislature did, it did in secret. or It wasn't public like discussion. It's just we keep harping on it, saying, what are they thinking?
00:23:01
Speaker
But the legislature has done everything they can to do this all behind closed doors, such that I heard. from people who were voting on this didn't know what was in it. They did not know some of the things that were shoved into this thing at the 11th hour.
00:23:15
Speaker
And it's no way to to do legislating. But butpoint the legislature violated the Constitution repeatedly by putting legislation into this thing. Mike DeWine, by signing it, is complicit in violating the Constitution. And if anybody challenges it to the Supreme Court, which is in the bag for the Republican Party, they'll be complicit in violating the Constitution. This is a very, very dark day for Ohio. This may be the most abusive budget ever passed in this state.
00:23:44
Speaker
Abusive, cruel budget. Wow, I went from going, oh, maybe I can respect this guy to like going, oh, shit, this guy doesn't know what he's talking about. In a lot of ways, no. I will give him a couple of points. And there is a provision in this House state constitution I'm learning. I'm just learning pretty recently that ah it states that has to be a single subject bill.
00:24:09
Speaker
means it has to be about financing the state. And it looks like there's a whole bunch of legislation in this bill. That's the things I kept going through this over the last few weeks going, this is a budget bill. Why is this in there? Why is that in there? Why is there public ah school cell phone ban in the budget?
00:24:25
Speaker
Why isn't it just about money? ah This is... Oh, this is the one big, beautiful bill for Ohio, really. yeah you know i I heard an interesting thing from a you know somebody Congress that said there there will never be a single issue bill anymore.
00:24:46
Speaker
Because nobody wants to put their name on ah it. It's been 25 years since we've balanced the budget in Washington. And I feel Ohio is going the same way.
00:24:57
Speaker
Because this is a similar, business they they are cramming everything in this bill. this The Republicans have massive control over legislature in Ohio. Why can't they put these bills separately? Because they want to get reelected.
00:25:11
Speaker
Yeah, they want to squeeze this stuff in, and and and I think because they don't feel, my only thing is they don't feel it's going to pass. So the only way to do it, and that's why they do one big, beautiful bill in Washington and why they've been doing it for 20 years, is because they can force people to say, if you don't vote for this, you're voting against X, Y, and z Right.
00:25:28
Speaker
Well, you they don't want to put their names on an individual bill. Yes. Because then their constituents can come back to them and say, hey, why did you do this? Yeah.
00:25:40
Speaker
Yes, for or against. Right. And this gives them a but this gives him an out and says, well, if I didn't, then the whole bill didn't pass. Exactly. If I didn't vote for this crap in here, the good stuff didn't pass. Unless you're two-view-bills.
00:25:51
Speaker
Yeah, it's just playing a game. And that this is this is one argument for um term limits. you know so there's there's You know, I'm about 50-50 on it. Sometimes I'm like, yeah, it's a good idea. And other times I'm like, i don't know. I kind of want that guy to be around for a while.
00:26:06
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I mean, we have term limits in Ohio. And don't we? Yeah, because there's a couple of people that I heard there were term limited out on certain, maybe not legislature, but in, there was somebody ah it was on the Democrat side that,
00:26:22
Speaker
I was just talking about running for governor. um Not acting. Who's the other guy? I can't remember his name, but he's term limited. Governors are. Yeah, okay. But I'm not sure if the lawmakers are.
00:26:34
Speaker
I don't im know no state literature, but I did remember reading an article on one of the Democratic candidates. I was thinking about, ah we you know who I know his name. I just can't think of it. and They had said he's pretty much term limited out of everything else in the state.
00:26:47
Speaker
um And governors only, but like I think they said he was term limited out because he spent so much time as a state auditor or one know secretary of Secretary State, I don't know.
00:26:59
Speaker
Anyway. I think that's something we have to look into. Yeah. So there are term limits, i just not everywhere. I don't think it's like like you're saying. And where where I think we need a lot of it is in the legislature. Well, i was I was talking more about the Fed, but yeah, ah yeah okay. All around though, in my opinion.
00:27:15
Speaker
Right. but can use terms everywhere. It's going the same direction as just doing these big bills and it's not, it's not a good thing. Right. and and And that's the fair point I had with him was like, okay, so it states in the constitution that this bill, the budget needs to be a single issue bill. Again, I want to go look at that and see what it actually says, the wording and all that stuff, but taking him for his word, at his word,
00:27:37
Speaker
This bill is not that. This bill is not that. And I don't like the fact that it's going that way. And there's a lot of stuff I like in it. Cutting Medicaid. um You know, let's he's he's complaining about cutting Medicaid.
00:27:50
Speaker
Can we just go over um what ah what your I think is your congressman, Michael Duvall or Duvall? They're looking for Duvall, I think. Right.
00:28:02
Speaker
don't have his name yeah ge but anyways l a yeah duvela yeah something like that what they've come across is possible six billion dollars yearly in overpayments Yeah, there's... To Medicaid.
00:28:18
Speaker
There's a well indictments for, what, 13 people in Ohio. This is kind of... They're working with the feds. Yes. I think the feds just announced, which do you can' can't be surprised the news didn't really cover it, but they ah found...
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah, here's a couple examples. on um Okay, yeah, go ahead. So this is on the Attorney General's site, OhioAttorneyGeneral.gov. And it runs through, so basically it is 13 Medicaid providers are accused of defrauding the government health care program for the needy.
00:28:55
Speaker
So here's a couple examples. Donna Deaver, 63 of Cleveland, charged with Medicaid fraud, a fourth degree felony. She allegedly billed for services while the service recipient was in Jamaica for six months, prompting a $64,316 loss for Medicaid.
00:29:13
Speaker
Evidence shows that Deaver submitted the claims using the names of two family members, who were also Medicaid providers. um There's another one. There's a cut there's a bunch of here. $2,000. They're all like alleging services rendered that they actually do.
00:29:31
Speaker
ah Here's one. Tara Patterson, 46 of Akron, is charged with Medicaid fraud and theft, both fourth-degree felonies. ah She billed... Billing showed multiple instances where she claimed reimbursement for services while out of state.
00:29:48
Speaker
$15,210 lost to Medicaid.
Medicaid Fraud in Ohio
00:29:49
Speaker
Most those involving something like that. Yeah. But here's another one. $33,000, $2,000, $13,000, $4,000, $3,000, And that's $26,000. scratching surface, people. Mm-hmm. From all that I'm looking at in... two thousand thirteen thousand four thousand three thousand twenty six thousand and that's just scratching the surface people from all that i'm looking at in the state of Ohio heavily relies on the federal government to help them find this fraud.
00:30:15
Speaker
And that's why i brought up that they kept the Medicaid ah cuts, possible cuts, depending on funding from the, it's really depending on a lot of it, depending on funding from Washington, how much we get, which we'll get into in a second.
00:30:27
Speaker
It's pretty interesting what I found. Also, um, a bop the train of thought just went out the window. So anyway, so there's plenty of plenty of cuts to be made in Medicaid.
00:30:41
Speaker
So I got a story, and ah in I don't know if you can really, there's ah there was a story that I had pulled up for UH, no, metro Metro Hospital nurses taking a pause on healthcare to protest Medicaid cuts.
00:30:55
Speaker
Save Medicaid. You know how you save Medicaid? Finding the fraud. finding the fraud. So what, um so yeah, quit complaining about cutting but Medicaid. There's plenty of fat to cut on Medicaid. There's so much fraud.
00:31:14
Speaker
Americans are the best at fraud. And the easiest thing to do is, you know, rip off the government. Well, it's easy when the government's constantly looking the other way.
00:31:28
Speaker
you know, I get so many people, working people going, why don't these, how can how can people survive without working? Because there are so many people that don't work. I mean, there's so many jobs in America that go unfilled because people just don't work.
00:31:43
Speaker
And there's lot of people don't understand how this happens. And here's a lot how it happens. you're still getting that ah social security check from a dead relative, you know, you're you're you're you're collecting Medicaid checks or, you know, there's all kinds of ways to do it.
00:31:59
Speaker
And what I've, last week, so that's a lot of what was in the bill, they kept in the bills. And last week I'd mentioned that and I said something like this is a $90 billion dollars bill and then corrected myself, said, no, it's a $60 billion bill.
00:32:13
Speaker
I'm wrong on both. so So check this out. I think the nationally they found, i think it was, they have 320 some indicted people that are, you know, making fraud, whatever you would call it. yeah Anyways, they um they seized $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, and other assets.
00:32:36
Speaker
this is And I think, yeah like you said, I think they're just touching the surface right now. Right. And from what um Michael Duvilla was pointing out in some of the interviews I heard a couple weeks ago, is when he pushed the...
00:32:51
Speaker
Oh, I forget it's oh Ohio Department of Medicaid, ODM. They blamed Nexus Lexus, Lexus Nexus on, you know, well, that's, that's their, you know, that's, that's their, because that's what some of the stats you pull. Lexus Nexus found 29% of verified Ohio Medicaid beneficiaries in the AIDS blind and disabled category were ineligible. 30%.
00:33:15
Speaker
thirty percent according to LexisNexis, and they blamed, they're like, oh, well, that's they um that's that place. And Davila ah du villa ah yeah, that's one of the third parties you guys pay to give you this information.
00:33:29
Speaker
And they're, well, um they they're blaming, do they say? They're blaming, yeah, they're blaming ah Social Security on it because really they rely on Social Security to help investigate these things.
00:33:42
Speaker
Right. So that's pushed him to look even further into this. And that's when he started looking up, running some of the numbers and going, okay, if if this is just true on the surface, we're looking at possible $6 billion dollars a year that we're wasting.
00:33:55
Speaker
there's food but I don't think that's $6 billion. But even if it's half that, a third of that, That's a huge number. Yeah. Not all of it's from Ohio taxpayers. A lot of it's federal money.
00:34:07
Speaker
No, but look at, I mean, okay, I just mentioned 320, this is 324 defendants. And just in submissions to Medicaid, this is federally, but it's 14.6 billion in false billings and 15.6 million in pills of ah illegally diverted controlled substance substances. Wow.
00:34:29
Speaker
It's crazy. Wow. Yeah, it is it is out of control and they've done none done nothing but expand it over the last few years. And I think a lot of the cuts they're talking about in this budget are um are for the expansion that happened. I mean, there's hundreds hundreds of thousands over the last four or five years that have been put on onto to Medicaid in Ohio and the the and and federally.
00:34:53
Speaker
but Well, that was that was something that was something from the Obama era? ah yeah I think yes but I also think Biden did something too I thought I heard that he okay expanded it maybe made it easier to get on it yeah Yeah, made a wider, lessen the threshold to get onto it, it sounds like. Cast a wider net.
00:35:14
Speaker
And, lot you know, there's a lot of games being played. you can you can You can take your funds and move it to a relative, and then you have, you know, you have to have a certain amount under a certain amount of money in in your bank account, all those kind of stuff. They they kind of do look into it.
00:35:28
Speaker
One of the things that... um one of the things that he vetoed was the, I think, no, not the one he didn't, this was in it. They want to randomly assign caseworkers to Medicaid recipients, almost like a spot check. see You know, not just waiting for somebody to to be called on or to to have some sort of sign of fraud, but they just want to randomly appoint people to just check on your case.
00:35:55
Speaker
How you doing? What's going on?
00:35:58
Speaker
Are they going to be like visits? Because that's probably the best way to. it sounded that way. it and The details were kind of vague, but they basically, they would them a caseworker to look at their, right look look at their case and and then go from there. Who knows?
00:36:12
Speaker
But it's it's something because now there's nothing. and And to have random checks would be huge because then as as ah as somebody who's trying to defraud Medicaid, you never know when you're going to get that call. I mean, it may still be worth taking the chance to see how often they do it.
00:36:25
Speaker
And if they actually do it. Right. So what why this federal and state is important um in this case, in this budget, because like I said, last week I mentioned this, this is like a 90 bill, almost a hundred billion dollar budget. And I was like, wait, no, it's 60 billion. And I was kind of confused with that. But like I said, I was wrong on both.
00:36:46
Speaker
This budget is $30 billion dollars per year from state funds. But total budget for the state is $108 billion for fiscal year 2026 and $110 billion for fiscal year 27.
Reliance on Federal Funding
00:37:02
Speaker
Why are these things? I see $60 billion tossed around. um About $40 billion, 50% to 60% of that funding every year comes from the federal government.
00:37:15
Speaker
Oh, okay. I see. And I'm still looking into this, so some of these numbers could be off, um but that's where the $100 billion dollar number comes from, $90 billion number comes from. Because the federal government actually gives Ohio more money than we put in ourselves.
00:37:33
Speaker
ah There's a lot for for education, a lot for roads, a lot for all kinds of stuff, EPA our epa stuff, all this other stuff. right But it what it really focuses, what it really opened my eyes to is how in the pocket for the federal government the state is.
00:37:53
Speaker
Every state, it's probably. If Ohio is this, if Ohio is this way, I mean, look at the clip. think some the some of the worst states are probably probably like the low-income states like Louisiana and... was just going to say, that that's Mike Johnson's state.
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like yeah this rep said in the clip from CNN, which I don't know how... I mean, mostly everything shut she said was crap, so this might be crap too, but 60% of the births in Louisiana in his state are paid for by Medicaid.
00:38:22
Speaker
It could be because of the rural areas. Yes, I get that. um I'm not saying that, you know, that it shouldn't have the help. I'm just one. I first thing that pops in my head is if you need government help to pay for your baby, the birth of your baby,
00:38:38
Speaker
thinking maybe you're not financially stable enough to have a baby. Just the same. you know Well, you can't always say that because if they're going to... People are going to try to apply for whatever they can get. that's a good point.
00:38:49
Speaker
There's a lot of that. there's It's there, I'm going to take the money anyway. Right. ah just if If your government has to pay for the birth of your baby... there's some There's some portion of that that maybe maybe maybe should think twice about it.
00:39:03
Speaker
I don't Anyway, um but all this there's all this that comes into play here, and it and there's so there's just soul i didn't I did not realize that it was so lopsided with federal funding.
00:39:18
Speaker
Right. I didn't think so either. Not in Ohio. i i i't I kind of get that with some of the, like Louisiana and other states that are... Don't have a lot of jobs, I guess.
00:39:30
Speaker
So we also have $30 billion dollars budget in Ohio. State funded, state portion is $30 billion, and it'll be slightly more than $30 billion in 27. $10 billion of that $30 is education funding.
00:39:47
Speaker
Just a huge, so it's a third, 33, 34% of our budget is education. yes There's got to be a better way, right? It just seems way too high.
00:39:59
Speaker
Well, yeah, so and when we get into some of the vetoes,
00:40:05
Speaker
he vetoed ah the 40% cap that the state ah local school districts can carry over.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, that was that and was one of the crappers. um He vetoed... um
00:40:24
Speaker
so the Oh, the expansion of the voucher program. So in that this goes to, well, so he'd rather instead of paying seven or $8,000 per student, he'd rather it be $19,000 per student because that's what the voucher program actually comes out to be.
00:40:41
Speaker
Six, seven, $8,000 student. and as opposed to the state average was like 17 to 19,000 per student, which would come into $10 billion dollars in state funding for local school
Ohio's Education Budget
00:40:55
Speaker
districts.
00:40:55
Speaker
And that's not even half of what it costs. Cause there's another, I think 20% comes from the federal and the rest comes from the local. right Maybe, maybe because of this, this could be part of it. And we'll get into a little bit of this. I got, I got a couple of clips on property tax.
00:41:14
Speaker
um that we, we'll just get into it now, i guess. So we capped the 40% cap that as we've talked about over and over again, and I get, and and the reason I started with $10 billion, dollars one of the reasons I keep going back to education because it is one of the largest single things in our budget that we are dealing with, whether it's local or state or, let me not have to federal, but definitely local state.
00:41:41
Speaker
So it is a huge part. You may not have kids and in school, but you're getting charged for it and a lot. So it's extremely important that we keep track of it because its it seems to be out of control.
00:41:54
Speaker
so he So why did he fund? Why did he why did why did Elmer Fudd veto?
00:42:01
Speaker
veto this. um I mean, he has his own plan. Let's hear what what we have property tax reform. This from WCPO ABC9. I believe this is a Cincinnati local, but i fear I like to go around the state. It's not really in our area, but it's all from the same thing. And they will pull up a couple of things. We'll go through some numbers here.
00:42:26
Speaker
Signing the state's massive $60 billion dollars budget bill, Governor Mike DeWine nixed several provisions about property taxes. These ideas were thoughtful, but I was also concerned that imposing them now, all of them at once, on our local schools would create a a huge, huge problem.
00:42:45
Speaker
One would have capped school districts' carryover revenue at 40 percent. The rest of that money would have had to be returned to taxpayers. This just is a one-time tax relief to community members that structurally and and financially destroys the financial systems of schools. Jennifer Burke is the treasurer for the Community City School District. I was very relieved when when I saw that they were removing that. I spoke with her and Superintendent Damon Davis following the vetoes. Financially, we're in a very strong operating position and that would have forced us into fiscal emergency as a result in returning back to the ballot really in the next two years.
00:43:40
Speaker
A separate provision would have required certain types of levies be included in the 20 mil floor school funding calculation. While another looked to make changes to county budget commissions, allowing them to unilaterally shrink school levies passed by voters.
00:43:53
Speaker
Hamilton County Auditor Jessica Miranda strongly opposed the measure. kelly audit but be scrambling to try to figure out how to insert their authority, like reducing millage and the potential of superseding what voters have said in any given community for any given levy Lastly, Dwayne vetoed restrictions on putting emergency levies on the ballot or requesting an increase to a current levy.
00:44:20
Speaker
While doing so, he made it clear property tax relief is a priority of his administration. These vetoes does not lessen our obligation and does not lessen our obligation to deal with this problem.
00:44:33
Speaker
Be very, very quiet. i'm hunting wabbits. Ha ha ha ha. DeWine did announce today he will convene a working group soon. who will be tasked with making property tax relief recommendations to the state legislature while still funding Ohio schools. In the newsroom, Connor Stephan, WCP9 News.
00:44:52
Speaker
Oh, he wants a working group. Well... I really, I mean, this working group sounds very interesting to me. And i was looking around where, where, like, what, what working group?
00:45:03
Speaker
what What are they going to do? Where are they going to meet? Can we see them? And, and oddly enough, me and my wife were out. we We just happened to be in Columbus. Magically, we appeared in Columbus and we opened this we and we we found the group here. I got, I got some audio from the group here.
00:45:27
Speaker
a how that Yep, that's about all we've done.
00:45:35
Speaker
So he wants a working group. Oh, thanks. Thanks, Governor. Thanks, we appreciate that.
Property Tax Reform Challenges
00:45:41
Speaker
Because, you know, we haven't had committees and working groups for like 15 years that have done nothing.
00:45:48
Speaker
Nothing. saying That's the point. Right. That's the point. Take the can down the road a little bit more. and And then she brings up, they bring up, well, the auditors and they the auditors wouldn't know when to it apply their authority against the will of the people.
00:46:06
Speaker
So when you voted for it, when you vote for a levy and you say the levy is going to be this many millage and you're going to get an increase of $23 per month per $100,000 on your home, that's the will of the people. That's the people looking at it going, okay, I can afford that.
00:46:20
Speaker
I'm going to vote for that. Not me, of course, but some people do. And then five years down the line, that $23, $26 is now $40.
00:46:30
Speaker
Is that the will of the people still? So the auditors could go in and and and turn the volume, turn the knob down back to closer or or match what the original levy should have been.
00:46:41
Speaker
But no, that that would be against the will of the people. I disagree. agree i think I think if you buy a house, your house at $100,000, or when they put a levy and your your house is worth $100,000 and it goes up to $300,000, I think you still get taxed on $100,000. That's the way it should be.
00:46:59
Speaker
I mean, besides no property tax, period. It's unrealized, what do they call it? Unrealized gains. Yeah. Unrealized gains. Yeah. So...
00:47:11
Speaker
Yeah, just drives me crazy. Trump was a saying he wants property taxes ended. Yep. There are some rumors on Twitter. don't think I've seen anything directly from him. Yeah, I've seen that. I've people his administration and people saying that behind the scenes he's talking about you know And he can't do a whole lot except pressure governors.
00:47:35
Speaker
there not all I mean, he I guess they could. He can say he wants it ended. And that that could, he might maybe he's saying that to just push a push are yeah let me Let me correct myself.
00:47:45
Speaker
um Ohio gets more than half of their budget from the state from the federal government. The federal government could dictate almost anything. Yeah, that's true. that's And that's why they do that.
00:47:56
Speaker
That's one of the things they do with that money is. Well, you don't have to have a seatbelt law, but we're not going to give you any of roads, funding for your roads. Oh, seatbelt law.
00:48:05
Speaker
So yeah, I did hear, and and all the, they had, I think they had some um cuts for seniors in there that they're not going to get, um but but we're going get a committee.
00:48:19
Speaker
All right, more vetoes. um Education savings accounts was another thing. Yeah, what the hell, man?
00:48:30
Speaker
School vouchers, education savings. I think the education savings account was more like, hey, here's an account for you. If you're um ah underprivileged, here's some money for clothes and and pens and stuff.
00:48:41
Speaker
But also and also, a part of that was a school voucher expansion that he cut. So my question was, all right, so they they put this bill together, $30 billion dollars a year, and $500 million dollars increase was supposed to be for a voucher program, I believe.
00:48:56
Speaker
Where does that money go? Does it still get, but is so does that money go somewhere else? Does it to get taken off the budget? Is it now a $29.5 billion dollar budget? Where does that $500 million dollars go? So that's, and there's one more thing that, well, sugar, here's the other one, sugary um SNAP program restrictions on sugar drinks.
00:49:21
Speaker
yeah yeah He vetoed that. Because he wants to do it in his own way. Well, and he that is like one of those, how does it, oh, it takes it off the snap thing. Yeah, it takes it off welfare, basically, if you're getting food stamps, which is snap.
00:49:36
Speaker
I'm good with that. Yeah, but he vetoed it. Because he wants to go, then and ah in in his defense, they are looking at ah putting a waiver together. I kept talking about a waiver, like but filling out a legal waiver to give to the federal government because the federal government is saying, no, you have to give them, you have to put these on SNAP.
00:49:57
Speaker
So they need to get permission from the federal government. But in this case, it was going to be a bill that took it away. I think all those things are going to start coming off here. Yeah. They also vetoed.
00:50:11
Speaker
Where do go to next here? Well, we'll go to the RAINS Act. He vetoed the RAINS Act. What's the RAINS Act? I don't know. And why is it important? Let's hear from our friends at Windsor report on, oh shoot, I forgot who he has on here.
00:50:26
Speaker
yeah Well, maybe he'll say, but he's interviewing a state representative, I think. So let's see what he says. They kind of give a little explanation of the RAINS Act and we'll probably figure out why in a second, why he vetoed it.
RAINS Act Explanation and Veto
00:50:40
Speaker
Yeah. So the RAINS Act, what that stands for is regulations from the executive in need of scrutiny. What that means is, in practicality, is ah we want increased legislative oversight on rules and regulations that have an outsized economic impact on our economy.
00:50:58
Speaker
And what I mean but in the state of Ohio, what that would look like is a million dollars. So if you know the way this works, the legislature proposes laws and bills, gives the governor, the executive branch, authorities to go enact those rules and laws.
00:51:10
Speaker
The bureaucrats and lawyers in the executive branch draft rules and laws to enforce or enact legislation. And in Ohio, we have a great committee known as JCAR, the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, made up members of the House and the Senate.
00:51:24
Speaker
They review every one of the rules the executive does. So every rule already gets some layer level of scrutiny by the legislature to ensure that this aligns with legislative intent. It is an appropriate rule.
00:51:36
Speaker
It has a fiscal analysis. So we we understand what it's going to do. But um what the provisions in the budget that the governor vetoed would have done would have said for rules that have an economic impact over a million dollars, economic drag, so it's going to slow Ohio's economy by a million dollars if this rule goes into effect, that those rules would get a little extra scrutiny.
00:51:57
Speaker
JCAR has to review them through that lens and question them through that lens. ah They have to notify all members of the General Assembly that they're currently viewing a rule that has a high economic impact on the state of Ohio.
00:52:09
Speaker
And then they have an option, if they wish, JCAR can send that rule onto two processes. One, to invalidate, to approve the rule, but give the legislature the ability to invalidate the rule if they so choose.
00:52:21
Speaker
Or, more importantly, ah approve the rule. The rule would not go into effect unless the legislature affirmatively approves that rule. This is critical. These are critical Rains Act-style provisions that would strengthen legislative oversight,
00:52:35
Speaker
on the rules and regulations that have the greatest economic impact. Unfortunately, though, Governor DeWine, among his 67 vetoes, saw fit to put all of this, and among among some other red tape reduction ah legislative language, on the cutting room floor with his vetoes late Monday evening.
00:52:53
Speaker
There's something awfully screwy going on around here. ah So can we figure out why maybe he vetoed this? Because this is a a more a check on the executive branch in the state.
00:53:08
Speaker
yeah Why wouldn't you veto it? Yeah. I mean, if if you're if you want last word. Yeah, so he he is is an extra check. on So if if the state legislature makes a law, and then it's up to the executive to create committee or or to make the rules for the law and and and enforce the law, or come up with a way to enforce the law at legislature.
00:53:37
Speaker
So in the case of EPA regulations or something like that, where it's it's going to be an undue burden on the economy or a certain industry, that it goes back to the legislature.
00:53:49
Speaker
legislature And the legislature has to approve it to make sure it's not overbearing. Right. Right. That's cut. um He cut, let's see here, he cut so many things, 67 vetoes of 57 pages of ah vetoes.
00:54:09
Speaker
One was he um he vetoed tying higher education funding limits ah to... the funding for higher education to um to topics related to gender identity, sexual orientation, or critical race theory.
00:54:25
Speaker
um Also, lgpd LGBT book separation in the in the public libraries. yeah yeah he He took that out, which also includes ah the limit. They had banned pride flags or any political flags like that at state funded buildings or state buildings.
00:54:45
Speaker
That's. Yeah. You know, he basically said ah that our obscenity laws kind of cover all this. Yeah. I started thinking, maybe like, I do want that content, you know, put behind but you know, behind closed doors so adults can only see it.
00:55:06
Speaker
But um it seemed like the wording wasn't good. Well, it like, the bill wasn't well written for that. That was his his criticism.
00:55:18
Speaker
Yeah. It was vague. And and kind of, the we talked about it last week in the
00:55:24
Speaker
whatchamacallit, the people were saying, well, you could, the opponents of the bill or or this were saying, well, you could get Anne Frank because it says woman in it. No, it's it clearly said ah so um sexual identity or gender identity and that kind of stuff. I don't think it was as vague as DeWine's thing. Okay.
00:55:46
Speaker
I don't disagree. I don't like a lot of this, but I'm not sure, like we said last week, what what else we're supposed to do? Because obscenity laws don't cover this.
00:55:58
Speaker
lot of this. Because if you're talking about a child's book, a cartoonish book, If it doesn't have any graphic body parts in it, would it be covered under obscenity law?
00:56:11
Speaker
But a lot of them do. A lot of them do. And that that here's the thing. does Does the obscenity law actually cover it? Because yeah they can argue that it's educational. but Yes. But, you know, you're educating... i mean, there are books that actually teach kids...
00:56:30
Speaker
You know, how to, um, they're, they're, uh, the best way to put it is to be trans. Well, not only how to be trans, but so and let's say, you know, there's a, you know, it's a, it's a book on how, you know, basically on how to be gay. Well, how do gay men have sex? And they're actually teaching that in the books.
00:56:48
Speaker
Yeah. And now that is obscene. You're basically teaching kids on not reproductive stuff. You're teaching them how to have kink sex. yeah And that's that's just cor gross.
00:57:05
Speaker
And they, I think they argue it as it's just education. You know, they need, you know, they need to know how to, I guess you could, you know, let's put it harshly, lube themselves up so they hurt themselves. I mean, yes, that's a lot of the, and and what we found out last from last week's clip was they already have a mechanism for this. They already do this via the cards, the the actual, your account. You can flag, you can have a child's account or or a child's account can't,
00:57:34
Speaker
take out certain books. Right. So all all they're saying is now include this in when they're in the library. Right. It needs to be somewhere out of their site and somewhere where you need to ask so you can check who's who's getting these books.
00:57:50
Speaker
You know, it's not just not just Playboys. Yeah, that's nothing. mean... No, that would be nothing compared to what... Compared to what some of these books are teaching, it's nothing.
00:58:01
Speaker
I'm sorry to say it, and maybe this is offensive or ah hyperbolic, whatever you want, but it's a form of grooming. When you're making it it a child's book and you're telling them it's okay it's okay to trans transition to a boy.
00:58:15
Speaker
It's okay, you can do it. it like you're You're feeding their mental... It's even like an obscene version of... like Remember when we ah the band... and Band, what what, Camel, Joe Camel?
00:58:30
Speaker
Yes. Remember that? Yes. they They were saying it was, you know, they were grooming minors to think smoking is cool. Because it was they were using cartoon characters. Because they were. Yeah, they were.
00:58:43
Speaker
it worked on me. Yeah, a same. was teenager at that time. Exactly. And and and and this is even this is a hundred times worse. And, you know, somehow they... are You say, no, this won't affect them. Yes, it will. It tells them it tells ah a six or seven or eight, nine-year-old, somebody who's already, you know, at times could want to be a frog or unicorn.
00:59:03
Speaker
Hey, I wanted to be Batman. it's It's not all fun and games, though, because because they did we did push a story from last week. on this topic that they tried to remove the SB1 law that went into earlier this year on higher education, getting rid of DEI and the LGBTQ centers and all that stuff.
00:59:24
Speaker
um I think there's one of yours. Yeah. So they they, they sent a petition around to get a new constitutional constitutional amendment to keep LGBTQ and DEI in, in Ohio colleges. And it fell way short.
00:59:40
Speaker
and they aren't going to be able to do it this time. And all I could say to that is sorry. Sorry. um So they're failing on that. i don't know if they're going continue to try again, but they came up way short.
00:59:56
Speaker
They were way short. i I think they're going to keep trying. I mean, those not yeah out they always will, but but I don't think they're going to get much luck with that. Yeah, there is there is a there is a foot in the door, and that's they're they're leaning towards, in this bill or in this amendment, was going to be, I can't remember now. Oh, ah yeah, legalizing gay marriage in Ohio.
01:00:22
Speaker
or taking away because there's amendment to bar in, in, on the Ohio constitution that bars, it says only men and women can get married. They want to and eliminate that and quantify it in state. And you know, they want I think that's where they would get some, some support.
01:00:38
Speaker
Right. And, and then sneak in not just men and women, but men in and men who think they're women and women who think they're men can get married all that kind of stuff.
01:00:51
Speaker
The other one... oh the other veto was... ah
01:00:56
Speaker
You had a story for H2 Ohio? Yeah, it's pointless now. Pointless to cut it. Yeah, there was some business. no, he vetoed this. It's not pointless. He vetoed this cut.
01:01:07
Speaker
He vetoed. Okay, so DeWine proposed $270 million, and the legislature agreed to about $165 million. This is for the H2 Ohio Water Quality Program.
01:01:19
Speaker
um It started in 2019, 2020.
01:01:22
Speaker
The cuts to Ohio, H2Ohio also reduced the amount of money going to Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and which helps improve water quality and Lake Erie and rivers and wetlands.
01:01:39
Speaker
Also, let's see, the Ohio EPA is going to, was, they were proposing a 73% cut to what DeWine proposed. It was, it was a big cut and it should have happened, but he, he vetoed it.
01:01:52
Speaker
And I don't think that's going to come back. And it might. don't know.
Overriding Governor Vetoes in Ohio
01:02:00
Speaker
the The state legislature has, as far as I can see, up until the end of December of 2026.
01:02:06
Speaker
Oh, really? I thought it was 90 days before it becomes law, but they can, even after that, they can change it? Yeah, from what I'm seeing was um override for budget bills can be attempted at any time during the current two-year legislative session, which runs through December 2026 the
01:02:26
Speaker
They need 60 votes in the House and 20 votes, I think, in the Senate. The problem with that was they had, just to pass the bill, they only had 59 votes, which is a good amount.
01:02:40
Speaker
But um to override a veto, they need 60. So that's going to be dependent on the... and This is, again, going to get back to does a ah lawmaker want to...
01:02:55
Speaker
put their name on that particular bill. So ah I think, although I'd like him to overrule lot of these, I almost cheered a little bit when they, when he vetoed the, the property tax stuff.
01:03:11
Speaker
Why is that? Because I don't want half measures at this point. Yeah. I feel they're going to give us a half measure here and there to quiet everybody down and to kill this, this reformed property tax stuff. And i think people are fed up.
01:03:25
Speaker
And if we, if we get, if they give a little bit, then maybe you it doesn't tip, you know, tip the scale enough. I get it passed. That's what I, I, I don't like it.
01:03:37
Speaker
But the group that was the the biggest, the strongest group that's trying to um get rid of ah property taxes. They're pretty upset thats a yeah past that passed that.
01:03:49
Speaker
Yeah. They spent a lot of time and did a lot of studies on what was going to happen. and And they, it sounded like, you know, DeWine said, I cut these because I don't want it all to happen at once. There's going to be a huge problem for schools.
01:04:00
Speaker
Yeah. And what they said was, no, we already looked at this and and we had it all laid out. We did the studies, we looked at everything. And this to me sounded like, although good, it's it's it's a half measure.
01:04:15
Speaker
But it's it's a start. That group was upset because he he um
01:04:24
Speaker
approved the three point, ah the flat tax basically. Yeah. He approved that and then cut that other stuff out. So they're, they're upset because they think it's going to make property taxes actually go up with that flat tax without having other provisions in there. You know, didn't even mention that in the, the kept a flat tax.
01:04:46
Speaker
That was the other thing we were talking about. Oh, it's good. Your taxes, tax for the rich. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that, that, that was in the clip you played anyway. So yeah. Yeah. Um, so they still have time. like you said, ah i didn't realize it was only 59 votes.
01:04:59
Speaker
Uh, makes sense that they would have problems, but we'll see. We'll see what they're going to do. Uh, all you can is. The last time something I think got overridden was the constitutional carry.
01:05:10
Speaker
I think he vote vetoed that. and then the But that was a single-issue bill. It wasn't part of a you know a big bill, big, beautiful bill or whatever. All right. All right. You know what?
01:05:23
Speaker
Enough of that. I need i need a break. Thank you. this legislation talk. Here's a little blast from the past, little fake ad break. little fake ad break. See if you remember this one.
01:05:37
Speaker
Budweiser presents Real Men of Genius. Real Men of Genius. Today we salute you, Mr. Footlong Hot Dog Inventor.
01:05:49
Speaker
Mr. Footlong Hot Dog Inventor. When conventional wisdom said no one could make a hot dog longer than six inches, you dared to dream. You knew the limitations of regular-sized hot dog bun, and you ignored them. your but now You made a 10-inch wiener, and people cheered. But you weren't satisfied.
01:06:12
Speaker
You said, wait, I think I can still give you two more inches. You gotta want it. So this Bud's for you, Mr. Hot Dog Hero, because you gave every single one of us our fondest wish, a bigger wiener.
01:06:28
Speaker
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
01:06:35
Speaker
ah tell you what, man. I miss those creative commercials, man. ah Some of the best commercials of all time. Yeah. Of all time. they what game ten What came, i think that, did that come before the what's up?
01:06:50
Speaker
I believe so. Cause the, yeah, I think it was, I think it was his late eighties. I'd have to look at the timeframe. I was going to say late eighties, early nineties. And then, cause what's ah WhatsApp was like around early nineties, I think. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. True.
01:07:03
Speaker
Yeah. definitely was. I'm pretty sure it was before then. And there are just so many good ones. thats That's just one of the, that's, there'll be more, trust me. it These are the literally, what i've every once a while i run into these on YouTube or something like that. And I just, man, sometimes it's,
01:07:18
Speaker
it It gets me to tears sometimes. It's awesome. So I feel better. That lightens the mood up a little bit little bit. A little bit. little bit. Good, because the next next little thing is not so light. and Not that bad. But we had pushed this story from last week. yeah We have a bill in the House HB 346, which, if I remember correctly, is something to do with children, isn't it?
01:07:44
Speaker
Yeah, it's Bill, you said 346. I think it's in it's it's in Public Safety Committee right now, so it's just getting started. Introduced by Matthew Kishman, a Republican from Minerva.
01:07:59
Speaker
And Josh Williams, a Republican from Sylvania Township. And it's but it's what they're asking to do is require those ah mandated to report in instance since i can't even do report instances of child abuse, ah which is teachers, physicians, and a ton of other people that are in that you know work with children.
01:08:22
Speaker
but to report them sooner and to law enforcement and child protective workers. Right now, they just need to either report to law enforcement or child protective workers.
01:08:34
Speaker
And they had, right now they have seven days. This is going to drop it down to two days to report it. And it's dubbed the VJ's Law, named after an Ohio four-month-old girl who suffered severe abuse that was not...
01:08:51
Speaker
Reported quick enough. Yeah, in time. Yeah. I don't see anything wrong with this. No, that's a good bill. Yeah. I just thought there was, for some reason, what I was thinking there was, ah there a penalty if you don't report it?
01:09:08
Speaker
I don't see anything. anything. I don't see anything anything either. I don't see anything that there's a penalty. I mean, I'm not saying this should be a penalty, like go to jail, but i there's got to be some sort of, oh, if you don't do this, you're basically going to lose your job or something, maybe. But other than that, I mean, this is good because, yeah, I think this story was something like they, because they waited of a they waited a few extra days. By time they got to him, the kid was already gone. Yeah, it was on the four-month-old kid.
01:09:38
Speaker
A VJ, they don't say the four months old's name, but it's a a four month old who so ah suffered severe abuse and was not adequately they reported and the father actually ended up going to jail for rape.
01:09:58
Speaker
Not good. Oh, wow. I'm glad we had that comedic interlude after this one. Yeah. for Before this one, I should say. ah start kind good show and Stark County Children's Services um workers didn't follow up on the hospital report until days later, allowing the girl to be left with their father, who was later convicted of rape and sentenced to life in prison.
01:10:20
Speaker
Yeah. Terrible. Yeah. Yeah. Terrible stuff. Let's see. What else we have? Winding down here. Last couple things. Oh, here's a good one. So the appeals court in Ohio has ruled that but the state, Mike DeWine, must seek the COVID relief funds, the extra $300 per week for unemployment recipients that he turned down during 2021.
01:10:51
Speaker
nine $900 million in special federal coronavirus unemployment benefits.
01:10:59
Speaker
So the lawsuit states that the governor, the state test to has to at least ask for the money. Right.
01:11:10
Speaker
Now the good news...
01:11:14
Speaker
What is the chance he's going to get anything? and He's not going to get anything. Nothing. This happened last year. i think yeah that money would probably be funneling in. But some of the people are pissed. There's just some people like, no, you owe this money to me. Like, ah no, he doesn't.
01:11:30
Speaker
ah No, he doesn't. He turned it down and in a...
01:11:35
Speaker
a a In an effort to bring people back to work. Yeah, to say in a plus for DeWine, this is on the plus side for DeWine, which we don't say very often, but he he felt that this discouraged people from going back to work.
01:11:49
Speaker
Really? You think so? and Give him free money. Nobody's going back to work. give them I give him credit where credit's due, right? I mean, that does yeah exactly what it was. I bet at the time this was, when did that come up? 2021? You know what? I was going to say, i thought maybe um he was getting a push from the president, but obviously not.
01:12:09
Speaker
No, he's actually probably going to push the other way from Biden administration to take the money. Yeah. I thought there was a quote in here that I wanted. course, I didn't pull it, but you know, there it's, you owe it this to me. DeWine owes it to me. um Get it.
01:12:25
Speaker
Cause I, um it's owed to me. All this other stuff is a lot hurt. Yeah. That I don't want to hear anything about that. um And I think, I think it's about all the, all the budget talk we can handle for today, Tom.
01:12:41
Speaker
I think so. I think we're way over our limits.
01:12:45
Speaker
But let's let's end this show on um the good stuff.
Incarcerated Women Making Flags
01:12:56
Speaker
Eventually I'll get to it's good things, not good stuff. What do you got here? We got a story that you had, because I i had too much time on the budget this week. i didn't even pull any good stuff. You got to. Yeah, this was. I i found this. story I found this earlier this week, and it goes along with Fourth of July, I guess.
01:13:14
Speaker
um Women incarcerated at Ohio prison find purpose through flag making program. And but you could actually order flags made by women that are incarcerated in prison.
01:13:26
Speaker
It's ah from Marysville. And. um therere They're making flags. They mean they make American flags, POW flags, and Ohio flags. And it's kind of heartwarming in a way. I don't know heartwarming is the right word, but it's making a is giving purpose to these women that are incarcerated. Some are finding out that they actually like to work hard.
01:13:49
Speaker
there was ah That told a reporter to 3 News she never knew that she liked to work hard. So this is this is a cool program. You could actually go to...
01:14:00
Speaker
a, let me, oh, opi.ohio.gov. And there's a, there's a video there that shows how they make it. They're handmade. None of the flags are, so none of the flags are actually like um exactly the same. Each, each flag you get is oh going to be unique that they're handmade.
01:14:18
Speaker
And you can, or you can order it. They have a catalog you can order and you can order directly from the reformatory. I'm going to order one. I want to see what these are. Yeah. I'm going check it out too.
01:14:30
Speaker
It's amazing. Check that out too. It's amazing um what you can do. These flags that I'm making, i can take that out and actually make a career out of it. Yeah. even Even owning my own business, say Kimberly Wesley.
01:14:46
Speaker
Mm-hmm. This is what this is what what correction facility is' supposed to be doing. It's actual. Yeah. Actual reform. you know youre That's great. lot of lot of people get into into trouble because they don't have any talents. They don't know what, I mean, and then showing them what it's like to make something and create something and have that satisfaction.
01:15:08
Speaker
<unk>s It's life change. Many of these people have never had that. They've never had a purpose, you know. A purpose, perfect, exactly. They've never had really had a purpose in life, and that's a lot of how you get in trouble.
01:15:20
Speaker
Well, yeah, your purpose is basically distributing drugs or, or you know, helping somebody do it, oftentimes, and that's that that's part of their, that's how they were raised, that's how, you know, or I should say may have been raised, and that might be just, you know, so lot is a this is actually really kind of cool.
01:15:40
Speaker
Another quote's good. She says, ah we don't get out we don't get to see them fly right now, but I watch the news and I see one of our flags and I'm just like, we made that. That's awesome.
01:15:51
Speaker
That's pretty cool. Yeah. And on those, ending on a happy note, as always, we try to do. And, but you know, wow, I almost forgot. What's that?
01:16:04
Speaker
CricketRiverCast.com. Oh, my gosh.
Show Notes and Listener Engagement
01:16:07
Speaker
We're supposed to say that twice a show. Two to three times a show. and And you know why? i didn't i'm I was so in this budget. I was so up the budget.
01:16:18
Speaker
oh never mind um that i didn't even put it in my so crooked rivercast.com i put it in the show notes actually yes put that in the show notes but you know we got this new way of kind of uh organizing our topics and you can put that right in between the on the bullet point list there yeah good idea A good reminder.
01:16:42
Speaker
ah So give us give us a um give us a helping hand and share share this with your friends. Tell your family members, anybody who think would be interested in hearing about what's going on in Ohio.
01:16:54
Speaker
CrookedRiverCast.com tells you where we can find us all, email, X, and anything else that comes up from here on out as we get it built. We'll have more up there. We'll put all these links in the show notes that we talked about, and can check it out there.
01:17:08
Speaker
And on that note, thank you everybody for listening and we'll talk you next week. Peace.