Despite less traffic, impaired-driving wrecks and fatalities up on Ohio highways: Capitol

OVI on the rise: Crashes and deaths involving impaired driving on Ohio highways went up last year, even though fewer drivers were on the roads because of the coronavirus crisis. As Jeremy Pelzer reports, the Ohio State Highway Patrol – which has a new OVI data website – didn’t have an explanation for the increases, saying their job is just to enforce the law.

Suing Trump: Toledo Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur on Wednesday joined a group of U.S. Congress members in an NAACP lawsuit that seeks damages from former President Donald Trump, attorney Rudy Giuliani and the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers over their role in a Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill that temporarily kept Congress from recording electoral votes that awarded the presidency to Democrat Joe Biden, Sabrina Eaton reports. “There must be consequences for those who contributed to the coordinated attempt to overturn a free and fair election and harm our democracy,” said a statement from Kaptur.

From the bench: A judge has temporarily blocked the Ohio law that would ban medication abortions performed by telemedicine. A hearing later this month will determine whether it remains permanently blocked, Laura Hancock reports.

Neck-and-neck: The race between increased coronavirus vaccinations and the spread of new variants remains. A third of the state has received at least one shot, Hancock rewrites, but the positivity rate increased to 7.1%, a high not seen in two months.

Getting connected: As many as 2,000 low-income households in East Cleveland will have access to affordable high-speed internet service, thanks to a partnership announced in the suburb Wednesday by Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jon Husted. Peter Krouse has details on the $650,000 broadband expansion.

Elections case: A conservative activist’s Ohio Elections Commission case against a former Householder-aligned state legislative candidate is moving forward, with a hearing set for July. As Andrew Tobias reports, Chris Hicks issued subpoenas seeking evidence for his complaint, which he filed after Allen Freeman, a township trustee in Clermont County who lost in the 2020 Republican primary despite backing from ex-House Speaker Larry Householder, reported only $14,000 in campaign expenses despite public records showing more than $100,000 in TV ads aired on his behalf. A lawyer for Freeman says he never got a bill.

Loud and clear: Ohio lawmakers and advocates, in a news conference on Wednesday, advocated for House Bill 198, known as Madeline’s Law, which would require insurers to cover the cost of children’s hearing aids up to $2,500, or $5,000 per hearing impaired ear, Hancock reports. Hearing aids are considered by many health plans to be cosmetic, advocates said.

Food for thought: The Ohio Department of Aging announced that it’ll distribute over $6.1 million to agencies providing home-delivered meals to eligible older Ohioans. The money comes from the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which Congress passed in December. The department says the need for home meals has increased by 50%, from 40,044 people to 60,433, due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of meals served increased from just over 6 million to 7.9 million.

Senate Steve: U.S. Rep. Steve Stivers announced Wednesday that he’d raised $1.4 million during the first quarter of 2021, a number that puts him on track with other Ohio Republicans who are running for the U.S. Senate – even though Stivers hasn’t actually announced he’s running, Tobias reports. “It’s a huge statement that someone who’s not in the race can outraise announced candidates,” Stivers said. “I’ve got a long way to go to show this makes sense. I need to string together a couple solid quarters, but this is very encouraging to me, and I’m excited about it.”

Worth a thousand words: Former Ohio Republican Party Chairman Jane Timken tweeted photos on Wednesday showing her work to organize campaign volunteers that also shed some light on the lane she’s trying to fill. With a hat tip to NBC News’ Henry Gomez for noticing, DeWine/ Husted signs were visible in the background in one shot, and nearly all of those pictured were wearing masks. Other Republican candidates, namely former state treasurer Josh Mandel, have bashed DeWine and masks incessantly.

Working overtime: Sen. Sherrod Brown told reporters Wednesday that he’s renewing his longtime efforts to boost the salary threshold where employers have to pay workers overtime. He said former President Donald Trump abandoned Obama administration plans to increase the salary threshold to $47,476 in 2016. Instead, it was set at $35,568 per year in 2020 with no automatic increases, said Brown, who says he’s “very confident” that President Joe Biden will update the rule and hopeful “Congress can pass it and make it so that it can’t be undone by a future president who clearly is in corporate America’s pocket.”

Jordan at the border: At a Wednesday news conference in Texas, Champaign County’s Jim Jordan attributed problems at the U.S. border with Mexico to the Biden administration’s decision to get rid of its predecessor’s requirement that prospective immigrants remain in Mexico while their applications were processed. “You can’t get into your Capitol to exercise your first amendment liberties and petition your government … but anybody and everybody can get into your country,” said Jordan, who led a House Judiciary Committee Republican delegation on a border trip.

Five groups that lobbied on last legislative session’s House Bill 243, or Madeline’s Law, which would have required insurers cover part of the cost of hearing aids. A similar bill was recently introduced this year, HB 198. State lobbying forms do not require lobbyists to disclose whether they are for or against the bill.

1. Akron Children’s Hospital

2. America’s Health Insurance Plans

3. American Academy of Pediatrics, Ohio Chapter

4. National Federation of Independent Business/Ohio

5. Pfizer

Ebony Speakes-Hall has been elected president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. Speakes-Hall, an associate professor of social work at the University of Cincinnati and the first Black woman to lead the ACLU of Ohio, succeeds Hasan Kwame Jeffries, a history professor at Ohio State University.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Patricia Ross to serve as the Department of Veterans Affairs Assistant Secretary of Congressional and Legislative Affairs. A Cleveland native who grew up in Cincinnati and graduated from the College of Wooster, Ross currently works as a senior policy adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A statement from Pelosi praised Ross’ appointment, saying: “Her commitment to our veterans is ironclad and personal.”

“I don’t have much to say about any of the three of them except … they all look like kids on a playground that are sticking their tongue out and saying ‘Donald Trump loves me more than he loves you.’ And that seems to be the tenor of the Republican primary, is ‘Trump’s gonna endorse me,’ ‘I’m closer to Trump,’ ‘I’ve done more things with Trump,’ ‘Trump’s my hero,’ all those kinds of things. I wish they would talk about issues and talk about what they’re going to do in the state other than ‘Donald Trump’s my friend.’”

-U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, commenting on the GOP race for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by Sen. Rob Portman. Thus far, three people have entered, Republicans Jane Timken, Josh Mandel and Bernie Moreno, who have all reportedly met with the former president.

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