Friday, April 10th, 2026

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Big News from The Pennant!

Starting Monday, we're delivering to your inbox five days a week — Monday through Friday! We've been blown away by your letters to the editor and the incredible sharing of our articles, and this is our way of keeping the momentum going. Thank you for trusting us to bring you the stories that matter — the best is yet to come!

Three Ohio lawmakers want new rules on sports betting to protect people from addiction and financial ruin, including banning phone betting and credit card wagers.

They say gambling is as dangerous as drugs, and Ohio needs guardrails before more people get hurt.

More on this story here.

A Columbus man named James Strahler II, 37, has become the first person in the United States convicted under the Take It Down Act, a 2025 federal law championed by First Lady Melania Trump that makes it a crime to post AI-generated sexually explicit images of someone without their consent.

Strahler pleaded guilty to cyberstalking and producing hundreds of disturbing AI-generated images targeting at least six women and multiple children.

To read the full story, go here.

Samuel Ronan was removed from Ohio's Republican primary ballot when Secretary of State Frank LaRose waited nearly two weeks before casting a surprise tie-breaking vote to kick him off, doing so just hours before military ballots were finalized and without even notifying Ronan directly.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh granted an emergency stay and put Ronan back on the ballot, ruling that LaRose created the mess himself by blowing up the status quo at the last possible second.

For more on this, check out The Pennant Editorial below.

Every April, something happens in Augusta, Georgia that doesn't feel like a sports event. It feels like a ceremony.

The Masters is golf's most prestigious tournament, but calling it just a golf tournament is like calling the Sistine Chapel just a ceiling. The azaleas are always in bloom. The course is always perfect. The patrons — they don't call them fans at Augusta — are always respectful. There are no sponsors' names plastered on every surface. No loud music between shots. No obnoxious scoreboards blocking your view. Just golf, played the way golf was meant to be played on the most beautiful piece of ground in American sports.

It is the only major played on the same course every single year, which means history stacks on top of itself like nowhere else. You watch the same holes that broke hearts and made legends for nearly a century. Amen Corner isn't just three holes. It's a gauntlet that has humbled the greatest players who have ever lived.

And Ohio has had a front row seat to that history.

Jack Nicklaus, the kid from Columbus, the Ohio State Buckeye, maintains a place in The Masters folklore like no one else. Six green jackets. Six times the greatest golfer who ever lived walked up the 18th fairway at Augusta and won. 

But nothing tops the 1986 Masters.

Forty years ago, at age 46, Nicklaus delivered what remains the greatest final round in Masters history. On that Sunday afternoon, he shot a 30 on the back nine, finished 9-under, and overtook Greg Norman and Tom Kite as the crowd roared with every birdie. It was, simply put, remarkable.

If you haven’t seen it, stop reading and find it on YouTube. At minimum, fast forward to his 18-foot birdie putt on No. 17 that gave him the lead and the Green Jacket.

You can make a strong argument that Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer who has ever lived. His five green jackets, his dominance, his reinvention of what the sport could look like — all of it is undeniable. But when it comes to The Masters specifically, Augusta belongs to Jack. Nobody has ever owned one tournament the way Nicklaus owned this one.

Ohio has also been represented by the likes of Tom Weiskopf and, more recently, by players who grew up idolizing Nicklaus on those same central Ohio courses.

The Masters is more than a golf tournament. It is a reminder that some things in sports are still done with class, and in 1986, it delivered a moment that remains unmatched.

Project Hail Mary, the new science fiction film starring Ryan Gosling as a teacher who wakes up alone on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there, has taken the world by storm since opening on March 20. The production budget was approximately $200 million, with earnings at $430 million and rising. 

The film is based on Andy Weir's 2021 bestselling novel. The film has earned a near-perfect audience score and the kind of word of mouth that keeps people going back for a second viewing. Speaking of “word of mouth,” many fans insist the only way to truly experience Project Hail Mary is on a CinemaMax screen.

Samuel Ronan wants you to think he's a Republican. He's not.

Nine years ago, Samuel Ronan was running to be the boss of the entire Democratic Party. Now he's decided he's a Republican, and he wants a seat in Congress. He’s running against Rep. Mike Carey, the Republican incumbent in Ohio's 15th Congressional District, in the May 5 Republican primary. 

Ronan says his values "match the Republican Party of yesterday." However, he can't find a Republican he agrees with today. 

Perhaps the more revealing, Ronan posted on Facebook that leftists should infiltrate Republican spaces and run in their primaries. He said it loud and clear on the record. And then he turned around and tried to do exactly that. That's not a plot twist. That's an admission. It’s evidence. 

But this story has a second rogue actor.

Continue reading here.

Do you plan to visit the new Buc-ee's in Dayton?

- Yes - 75%
- No - 0%
- Maybe - 15%
- I already have - 0%

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