Thursday, April 16th, 2026

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

Forty years ago this week, newly announced 2026 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Phil Collins had "Take Me Home" sitting in the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Find the full list of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees below in the Top of The Fold.

Also, a new Ohio website now allows people to track kindergartners’ vaccination status. Read more about this in our Editorial.

Kalshi, an online prediction market, may soon be fined by the Ohio Casino Commission.

On Tuesday, the commission announced plans to fine Kalshi $5 million for operating unlicensed sports betting in Ohio, citing the company's refusal to stop offering sports wagering in the state.

Kalshi challenged the commission in October 2024, arguing that only the federal government can regulate monetary trading. A judge denied the injunction last month.

Read why Kalshi was denied here.

Fire officials say arson is responsible for a fire that damaged the first floor of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Cincinnati’s Mount Auburn neighborhood.

The clinic reopened, and leaders of the clinic say the attack will not force them to close or stop their work.

Find more on this story here.

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its 2026 class of inductees, which features one of the most genre-spanning groups in its 40-year history.

Performers being honored on November 14 in Los Angeles include Oasis, Iron Maiden, Luther Vandross, Wu-Tang Clan, Phil Collins (twice inducted), Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, and Sade, with the class heavily weighted toward 1980s acts.

Find the full list of inductees here.

They're called HALO students, High-Achieving, Low-Income, and Ohio has thousands of them. These are kids who demonstrate strong academic ability but lack access to advanced coursework and higher education opportunities due to their economic circumstances. Ohio-born Vice President J.D. Vance is a prime example: a high-potential Appalachian kid who beat the odds, attending Ohio State University and Yale Law School.  However, a report from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute finds that most HALO students in Ohio aren't so lucky.

Low-income high achievers are outnumbered 3-to-1 by their higher-income peers in third grade, but the gap widens 10-to-1 at top colleges. The Thomas Fordham Institute reports HALO students are passed over for gifted services, steered away from advanced coursework, and uninformed regarding financial aid opportunities.

Columbus City Schools has the largest concentration of HALO students in Ohio and one of the worst outcomes. Every year, roughly 40 high-achieving, low-income students in the district don't make it to college, kids who likely would have continued their education if they'd attended school somewhere else.

Wealthy kids have plenty of ways to get ahead — tutors, enrichment programs, and private counseling. For HALO students, AP classes and dual enrollment are often the only doors to higher education. 

Ohio does have bright spots. Schools like Walnut Hills in Cincinnati, Cleveland School of Science and Medicine, Dayton Early College Academy, and Metro High School in Columbus have shown that with the right structure, HALO students thrive.

Read the Thomas Fordham Institute report here.

Ohio's new interactive website tracking kindergarten immunization rates is being promoted as a tool for "informed decision-making." The Pennant editorial board sees it differently — as another step in the state's growing scrutiny of parental choices.

The numbers are worth noting. 

Only 85.4% of Ohio kindergartners were fully vaccinated for 2025-26, down from 89.5% in 2017-18. Non-medical exemptions nearly doubled over the same period, climbing from 2.3% to 5.4%.

That shift isn't ignorance. It's pushback. Heavy-handed COVID-19 mandates eroded public trust in ways that haven't healed. Parents who watched dissenting scientific voices get squashed or labeled "misinformation" during the pandemic didn't forget. That skepticism and cynicism linger in our souls — and no fancy dashboard will fix it.

Data transparency has value. But transparency paired with enforced school reporting and implied pressure for compliance isn't neutral information — it's a state-sponsored nudge with institutional weight behind it. There's a meaningful difference between giving parents information and using that information to signal who isn't getting in line.

The core question is simple: who decides? 

Parents are closest to their children and best positioned to weigh individual risks and benefits. Detached health bureaucrats are not. Science that gets tangled up with state power stops being just science, as the pandemic made painfully clear and unforgettable. 

Ohio should honor exemptions without shame or surveillance creep. Central planning of bodies, like central planning of economies, has a horrendous track record. Families make better decisions when government trusts them to do so – full stop. 

Parents deserve freedom and accurate information — not another tool for bureaucratic nudging.

The Pennant welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns from readers. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity, and AP style. The Pennant reserves the right to verify all information contained in submissions before publication.

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