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Local
Voting on a proposed faculty union at Ohio University likely will not happen until spring 2025 because of disputes pending before the State Employment Relations Board. OU’s administration wants to hold a secret ballot because it doesn’t believe a majority of faculty want a union; it also wants to exclude many medical and health sciences faculty from the organization. (WOUB)
- Indy context: Faculty have organized around issues such as pay, staffing cuts and workloads. Ohio University challenged organizers’ proposed bargaining unit in May, kicking off the disputes now before the SERB.
The Southeastern Ohio Center for Independent Living provides athletic opportunities featuring free specialized equipment so people with disabilities can play sports such as wheelchair basketball and football. (WOUB)
Extreme heat and lack of rain have left Southeast Ohio in a drought since June. Most of Athens County is categorized in moderate drought; the county’s far eastern edge is in a severe drought. Six other counties, mostly in southeast and eastern Ohio, are in a severe drought. (WOUB)
Athens City School District is installing solar panels on elementary schools and the district office to cut electricity costs. The $1.3 million project, funded from permanent improvement funds in the district’s reserves, includes 1,051 panels by Kokosing Solar. Expected savings are around $38,000 in the first year. (WOUB)
Region
Zahn’s Corner Middle School in Piketon closed in 2019 due to radioactive contamination from a nearby uranium enrichment plant. Facing high maintenance costs, the school is now up for auction starting at $275,000. Pike Christian Academy is considering bidding on the property, prompting a protest over concerns about safety and environmental hazards. (WOUB)
State
Ohio Republican lawmakers are working to regulate use and availability of hemp products containing delta-8 THC. (Ohio Capital Journal)
A recent report from the Federal Trade Commission blames the closure of small pharmacies in rural areas — including in Ohio — on pharmacy benefit managers such as ExpressScripts. Nearly 80% of U.S. prescriptions are controlled by three PBMs, which can set prices and reimbursements that favor their corporate owners’ pharmacies over other options. (Ohio Capital Journal)
- Indy context: The Plains lost its pharmacy as part of a wave of closures.
An Ohio law restricting transgender healthcare for minors and transgender girls’ participation in school sports went on trial last week in a Franklin County court. The case is likely to end up in the Ohio Supreme Court, regardless of the outcome. (Statehouse News Bureau)
