Friday, May 29th, 2026

Welcome to Friday’s edition of The Pennant. To listen to this newsletter, click the “Listen Online” link in the top right corner of this email.

On this day ten years ago, people gathered at the Cincinnati Zoo to mourn the fatal shooting of a gorilla named Harambe after a small child fell into his enclosure.

Gov. Mike DeWine has put a pause on data center tax breaks. Find out why in the Top of The Fold.

Also, A group of U.S. senators rolled out a new bill Wednesday that would shake up the way college sports operate. Read how in our Sports section.

Gov. Mike DeWine has directed the Ohio Tax Credit Authority to stop accepting new data center tax exemption requests after Monday, pausing the program while the General Assembly studies the industry's growth.

He called it a temporary suspension, not a ban.

Find out more about the suspension here.

An 18-year-old Oregon man, Nathan Hayes, has been charged with making dozens of hoax bomb threats to at least 17 Ohio high schools, including in Lucas and Lake counties, forcing multiple school lockdowns and facing up to 10 years in prison if convicted.

Ohio Sens. Bill Blessing (R) and Kent Smith (D) have introduced the "Take The Dough, We Gotta Know Act," which would require private schools receiving state voucher money to undergo yearly audits, report attendance, and disclose admission procedures.

Go here for more on this story.

A group of U.S. senators rolled out a new bill Wednesday that would shake up the way college sports operate.

The Protect College Sports Act came together after months of talks between Republican Ted Cruz and Democrat Maria Cantwell. It would hand the NCAA more power to make rules and actually enforce them. Players could only transfer schools once without a penalty. They would get five years to play, and no more. And schools could not steal another team's coach midseason.

The bill also goes after money. Schools are supposed to cap player pay at about $20 million a year, but some of the richest programs have found ways around it. For a top-tier football team, the real cost of a roster is now closer to $40 million, with Ohio State projected at more than $43M.

Cantwell thinks the timing might finally be right. "I think America is hungry for bipartisan legislation," she said.

Getting it passed is another story. Congress has tried to fix college sports for years and has very little to show for it.

By the time you read this, somewhere in Ohio, a bell is ringing for the last time this year, and a herd of elementary school kids is stampeding toward summer like it's the last helicopter out of Saigon. They're not thinking about their teachers right now. They're thinking about not having a reason to get up in the morning and the glorious nothingness of June.

The high schoolers are walking out toward whatever comes next. The middle schoolers are walking out with an attitude and the dangerous realization that every passing year unlocks new ways to explore things they shouldn't.

Frankly, a sixth grader with a smartphone is a disturbing thought — just saying.

However, elementary school is a different thing entirely. For most of those kids, the whole year happened in one room, with one teacher and maybe an aide. One person, deciding every day to believe in them. That leaves a mark — mostly a good one.

Want proof? Ask almost any adult to name their second, third, or fourth-grade teacher. Watch the face. Outcomes, something like Mrs. Hartley. Miss Donovan. Oh, and Mr. Pruitt, who let us keep the class hamster over Christmas break. Most of us can't remember where we put our keys and phone this morning, but we can name the woman who taught us cursive in 1987.

And it isn't just the teacher; it's the whole crew that makes a school run. It's the office staff who can find a missing kid, a forgotten lunch, and a spare pair of pants in ninety seconds. It's the safety officer, who, sadly, we now need, and who still high-fives a kindergartner on the way in. It's the gym teacher, who has the best job on the planet and still believes in dodgeball even though it's been banned.

Nobody does this for the money or the legendary "summers off," which are mostly spent on mental recovery and buying classroom supplies with their own money. The teacher manages two kinds of parents at once — the ones who know their child is gifted no matter what the test scores reveal, and the ones just trying to get their kid through the week in one piece.

Then there's the crew almost nobody mentions — the maintenance and cleaning staff. You don't notice them when things work. But miss a day, and the whole place feels hollow. That quiet hum you heard was doing more than anyone knew.

So to all of them — thank you. You touched more lives this year than you'll ever get credit for.

Go rest. We'll see you in the fall.

NBC's new comedy "The Paper" is set at a made-up Toledo newspaper called "The Truth Teller," and it hits Peacock in September with real local roots.

The crew leaned on FilmToledo to nail the city's culture, and Toledo staples like the Mud Hens, the Walleye, and clothing company Jupmode show up throughout the series.

See more on this here.

Grab your stretchy pants. The fourth annual Cheese Fest takes over Austin Landing in Miamisburg at 4 p.m. Saturday, May 30, with all the gooey cheese you can handle, plus craft beer, fireworks, and an AC/DC tribute band called Dirty Deeds.

Should Live Nation be forced to sell Ticketmaster?
- Yes - 84%
- No - 8%
- Unsure - 8%

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