Local
Several area residents spoke about environmental and health concerns regarding a plastic manufacturing plant planned for The Plains at last week’s Athens County Commissioners meeting. (WOUB)
Greg Corn of Athens is among the latest graduates of the Ohio Fire Academy. (Ohio Fire Academy)
Purple Chopstix will reopen July 15 after it closed due to flood damage. (Purple Chopstix)
Regional
The judge presiding over the criminal case involving 16 children removed from a Vinton County home granted the prosecutor’s motion to modify a defendant’s bond conditions to release him with a GPS tracker. The children’s grandfather requires specialized medical care, and the Vinton County Prosecutor said he didn’t want the county to pay for the man’s care. The man also showed signs of mental confusion. (WOUB)
State
After cuts to the Affordable Care Act, the number of Ohioans enrolled in ACA plans dropped by nearly a third. Ohio saw the biggest drop in enrollment in the country. (Ohio Capital Journal)
Meanwhile, about 100,000 fewer Ohioans have access to food assistance since federal cuts, with the state bracing for financial impacts. (Ohio Capital Journal)
Ohio will become the second state to require embedded chips in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefit cards. The move is intended to reduce benefits theft. (Statehouse News Bureau)
Among other bills Gov. Mike DeWine signed last week, one requires teaching sixth graders the ‘Success Sequence.’ The conservative-backed formula encourages graduating high school, getting a job, marrying and then having children. (Statehouse News Bureau)
A new bill in the Ohio Senate would require students at universities with civics centers to complete the American civics literacy course, required by the Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, at those centers. Enrollment at the centers, created in 2023, has so far been low. The senator behind the bill helped create the centers and was the primary sponsor of the previous higher ed law. (Statehouse News Bureau)
