Ohio officials to vote on opening 23,000 acres of public lands to fracking
State officials are scheduled to vote Monday to open or select a winning bid on about 23,000 acres of publicly owned wildlife preserves. This would significantly expand oil and gas exploration on Ohio’s public lands.
LATEST NEWS FROM SIGNAL STATEWIDE
Election 2026
Ohio will again send all voters absentee ballot applications as mail voting continues to plunge
A state spending panel voted Monday to approve spending $2.5 million on the universal absentee ballot application mailing, which Ohio has done in every even-year, general election since 2012.
Ohio property tax abolition campaign drops 2026 ballot bid
A leader with the Committee to Abolish Ohio Property Taxes said they’re instead targeting the November 2027 election after falling short of their signature gathering goals.
Sherrod Brown reprises an anti-war message in Ohio’s U.S. Senate race
The Democratic former senator is tying the war in Iran to rising gas and fertilizer prices as he challenges Republican Sen. Jon Husted in November. The tack resembles Brown’s approach in 2006, when he spoke against the then-war in Iraq and won a seat in the U. S. Senate.
GOVERNMENT
Ohio colleges face increasing maintenance challenges as campuses age
The recent capital budget offers a look at what campus updates the state’s 14 universities and 22 community colleges are making.
EDUCATION
It’s been nearly a year since Senate Bill 1 became law. Tell us if it’s changed your college experience in Ohio
The law, passed in June 2025, overhauled how public higher education works in the state.
HEALTH
The rise of super-potent synthetic opioids: How nitazenes hit Ohio hard
Nitazenes — synthetic drugs that can be far stronger than fentanyl — are turning up across the state. In 2020, there were just four fatalities linked to the drug; in 2021 that number rose to 90. Between 2022 and 2024, according to government data, there were 200 more deaths.
STATE SIGNALS NEWSLETTER
In Ohio gubernatorial race, Amy Acton outraises Vivek Ramaswamy in 2026; death penalty divides governor and attorney general
Ohio politics news and insights from the State Signals newsletter. Plus, where Ohio’s Secretary of State candidates stand on new voter ID measures.
PUBLIC SAFETY
What to know about the Ohio Organizing Collaborative after FBI searches
The Ohio Organizing Collaborative is a key part of the state’s progressive political infrastructure, playing leading roles in voter registration drives and ballot issue campaigns.
NEWS FROM NOTUS
The Supreme Court Clears the Way for Trump to Dismantle TPS
The conservative majority’s opinion blocks federal courts from intervening in temporary protected status determination and could put temporary legal status for 12,000-plus Haitian immigrants in Springfield at risk.
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