What to know about the Amy Acton Canfield Fair incident
News and insights from the State Signals newsletter. Plus, what data centers say they want Ohio to do about tax breaks they receive; a Republican mayor criticizes President Trump’s immigration policy.
LATEST NEWS FROM SIGNAL STATEWIDE
Election 2026
Ohio absentee ballot applications are in the mail: What you need to know
Ohio sends all voters absentee ballot request forms during presidential and midterm election years. But this cycle, the state’s forms are hitting mailboxes amid President Trump’s push to overhaul mail-in voting.
How did Amy Acton handle Ohio’s early days of COVID? Just like Texas
A Signal Statewide review of health orders from the spring of 2020 show that despite claims from Vivek Ramaswamy and the Ohio Republican Party, Ohio’s COVID-19 response under Amy Acton roughly aligned with Texas, Florida and most other states navigating the same crisis.
What is Issue 3? Ohio’s voter ID amendment, explained
The measure, which voters will decide in the November 2026 election, would enshrine Ohio’s existing photo ID law for in-person voting in the state constitution. Here’s what’s in it and what’s not.
GOVERNMENT
An Ohio judge was kicked off the bench and suspended. He’s still on the November ballot
The Ohio Supreme Court kicked Jon Ickes off the bench and suspended his law license. But the board of elections kept him on the ballot, and his opponent has asked the Supreme Court to intervene.
EDUCATION
Ohio universities spend tens of thousands on new syllabus rule, records show
For the first time this fall, institutions must publicly share details about undergraduate classes to comply with Senate Bill 1.
HEALTH
More Ohio kindergarteners are skipping vaccines
The percentage of Ohio kindergarteners showing up for school without required vaccines has been creeping up for years before spiking with the COVID-19 pandemic.
STATE SIGNALS NEWSLETTER
Amy Acton refuses to debate Vivek Ramaswamy in Ohio governor’s race
Ohio politics news and insights from the State Signals newsletter. Plus, new regulatory filings reveal just how massive the Piketon AI data center project will be.
PUBLIC SAFETY
Millions of addictive, opioid-like kratom drinks have flown off gas station shelves in Ohio
Company data filed in court shows nearly 59,000 addictive kratom drinks were sold each day in Ohio before a recent ban took hold. One doctor said he’s treating as many patients for kratom withdrawal as for fentanyl.
NEWS FROM NOTUS
DOGE Cut Off Small Town America’s 250th Birthday Money
Ohio Humanities was planning history projects for the 250th when DOGE axed its funding last year. Then Trump redirected federal money for his own beautification projects.
Local Newsrooms
Signal Ohio is a nonprofit statewide network of local newsrooms.
Why Local News
Local news is in crisis. Across the country, including here in Ohio, the commercial news industry has been on the decline, leading to the loss of nearly three-quarters of journalism jobs since 2005, leading to less accountability, more polarization, and more government waste. With the volume of original reporting in Ohio communities reduced to a small fraction of what it once was, nonprofit news offers a path forward