All information is current as of The Scoop’s production on Tuesday morning. Click the links for the most up-to-date information. The Athens County Independent believes the cited sources of information are reliable; however, these sources are responsible for the accuracy of their own reporting.
Submit news and information to info@athensindependent.com by noon on Mondays for inclusion in Tuesday’s issue of The Scoop.
Local
Chauncey residents will pay nothing toward the village’s $13 million sewer replacement project. The construction, which is under way, is publicly funded by grants. Such basic infrastructure fixes will allow development, boosting housing and economic growth potential and advancing Mayor Amy Renner’s vision for Chauncey’s future. (WOUB)
The Tablertown People of Color Museum received an over $40,000 grant from Appalachian Regional Commission to research the Underground Railroad’s history in the region and preserve Black history in Southeast Ohio. David Butcher, the museum’s founder, soon hopes to hire a researcher. (WOUB)
Athens Middle School students, in collaboration with Tantrum Theater and Invisible Ground, held a historic walking tour of West State Street Cemetery on Nov. 16. The tour provided an immersive experience to preserve and share the diverse stories of the approximately 200-year-old cemetery and those buried there. (Ohio University)
Regional
An Ohio University professor studied military enlistment rates and found a slightly disproportionate death rate for Appalachian soldiers in the Iraq War. His work examines “spatial inequality” and why “place matters.” (Daily Yonder)
State
Less than a dozen Neo-Nazis, dressed in black, carrying swastika flags, and wearing masks, participated in a march through Columbus on Saturday, chanting racist and anti-Semitic hate speech. Many were detained by police, but none arrested. Columbus mayor Andrew Ginther and Gov. Mike DeWine condemned the marchers as “cowardly,” “vile” and “racist.” (CNN)
A bill set to restrict access to school bathrooms based on gender assigned at birth awaits Gov. Mike DeWine’s signature. Ohio lawmakers passed the legislation by attaching it to an unrelated bill, bypassing the standard legislative process. (Buckeye Flame)
With bipartisan support, the Fairness Act was reintroduced to the Ohio legislature, aiming to expand Ohio’s definition of sex discrimination to include sexual orientation and gender identity. The act’s future faces uncertainty as the legislative session nears its end. (Buckeye Flame)
- Indy context: The village of Chauncey established its own anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ people earlier this year.
Supporters of a proposed constitutional amendment on voting rights can begin collecting signatures to place the initiative on the ballot. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost twice rejected the proposal on grounds that its title — originally Secure and Fair Elections and then the Ohio Voters Bill of Rights — was misleading. The Ohio Supreme Court disagreed and ordered Yost to let the initiative proceed. (Ohio Capital Journal)
In related news, the court’s decision means Yost now has 10 days to review and make a decision on a group’s proposed ballot issue to end qualified immunity for government employees, including police officers. (Statehouse News Bureau)
Ohio cities that use state funds to assist low-income women seeking abortions will be penalized, if a bill introduced by lawmakers passes. The bill aims instead to redirect these funds to anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers. (Statehouse News Bureau)
Lawmakers have allocated budget surplus funds to expand and renovate religious schools in Ohio. Critics argue this move, which benefits the Center for Christian Virtue, violates the separation of church and state by directly funding religious education. (AP News)
