Report. Reflect. Respond.
Wednesday, May 27th, 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.
On this day in 1935, the first night baseball game in Major League history is played in Cincinnati, with the Reds beating the Philadelphia Phillies under the lights at Crosley Field.
A proposed Ohio bill that would have forced low-performing public and charter schools to close has been scaled back. Find out how and why in the Top of The Fold.
Also, we read an end-of-year letter from an Ohio city’s school board member and were shocked at what we found. Read about it in our editorial section.
Top of The Fold
Ohio Bill Narrowed to Target Only Low-Performing Charter Schools
A proposed Ohio bill that would have forced low-performing public and charter schools to close has been scaled back to apply only to charter schools, after the Senate Education Committee removed public schools from Senate Bill 127.
The measure continues to draw opposition from the Ohio Education Association.
Read about the measure here.
Ohio Data Center Tax Break Hits $1.57B
Ohio gave up nearly $1.57 billion in sales-tax revenue last year through its data center incentive — nearly 12 times what state officials had projected.
State Sen. Kent Smith, D-Euclid, is renewing his call to end the exemption.
Live Nation and Ticketmaster Want a Do-Over
Ohio joined more than 30 states in asking a federal judge to break up Live Nation and Ticketmaster following a winning antitrust verdict over inflated ticket prices.
The verdict came despite the DOJ reaching a heavily criticized $280 million settlement with Live Nation in March.
Both companies are pushing for a new trial, calling the breakup request "performative and political."
For more on this story, go here.
Page One
National
DC - President Trump visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Tuesday for his yearly checkup. At 79, Trump is the oldest person to serve as president. (Trump)
Health - A prominent physician says Kyle Busch's death was "totally preventable." Dr. Jesse Morse believes Busch should have been hospitalized rather than being allowed to keep racing through a case of severe pneumonia that progressed into sepsis. (Busch)
Statewide
Columbus - Ke-Juan Harris, 24, faces charges of tampering with evidence and negligent assault after his young son found an unattended gun and unintentionally shot himself in the foot. (More)
Statewide - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Ohio $201.7 million to find and replace lead service lines, aiming to reduce lead levels in the state's drinking water. (Lead)
Southwestern Ohio - Butler County deputies fanned out May 20 to check on the county's 530 registered sex offenders, verifying 66 addresses and opening seven investigations into offenders whose locations couldn't be confirmed. (Sex offenders)
Statewide - Ohio Reps. Munira Abdullahi, D-Columbus, and Tristan Rader, D-Lakewood, have introduced a bill to offer free tuition at Ohio's public colleges and universities, funded by a new tax on residents earning more than $500,000 a year. (tuition)
Granville - Denison University, in partnership with Amazon Web Services, is preparing to open its new $35 million Center for Data Reasoning & Visualization this fall, as the university integrates artificial intelligence and data science into a liberal arts education. (More)
Oberlin - Lauren Bannick, a seventh grader at Oberlin's Langston Middle School, is heading to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., after winning the Lorain County Spelling Bee in March. (Spelling Bee)
Business/Government
Two Ohio Republicans Side with Unions on Contract Bill
By Edward Griffin
Last week, seven House Republicans crossed the aisle to help Democrats advance a labor bill that would give unions more leverage in contract talks with employers.
The Faster Labor Contracts Act requires companies and newly certified unions to reach a deal within 90 days. If they can't, the dispute moves to government mediation and then binding arbitration. An arbitrator's decision would hold for two years.
Ohio lawmakers are playing a key role on both sides of the Capitol. In the House, Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, was among the seven Republicans who signed the discharge petition forcing the bill to the floor. The other signers were Riley Moore of West Virginia, Nick LaLota and Mike Lawler of New York, Don Bacon of Nebraska, and Rob Bresnahan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
In the Senate, Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, is one of just two Republicans cosponsoring the companion bill, along with Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas. The bill is sponsored by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and is part of the PRO Act, a union-backed package that failed under President Biden.
A successful House discharge petition does not mean the Senate is more likely to pass the bill. The 60-vote threshold remains a major hurdle, and the employer community is actively opposing the legislation in both chambers.
Editorial Section
Did You Get This Letter, Too?
By The Pennant Editorial Board
One fun thing about running The Pennant — we are only a few months old — is watching the mailbox fill up. We run about fifty-fifty fans to haters. Most of the haters hate us because we have opinions about data centers. Fair enough.
Sadly, today is not about data centers. Education was a stated focus when we launched, and we hired an education editor, a former teacher and reading specialist.
Last week, several of you forwarded the same letter that was sent out in an Ohio school district. Not from a principal. Not from a superintendent. Not from a PTA president. It was from a sitting school board member. We read it cold, and trust us, it was something.
Here is the question we cannot shake: Did the rest of you get this letter, too? Not literally the same one, but one like it, from some person of perceived authority in your district. We started to wonder if this is a trend playing out across Ohio.
If it is, we all lose in the classroom. We will, however, be exquisitely prepared to discuss the relevance of Indigenous Peoples' Day. So, there is that.
Here are some of the highlights.
The Back Page
Previous Poll Results
Should the requirement to present an ID to vote become a constitutional amendment?
- Yes - 83%
- No - 17%
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.
Please send all submissions to [email protected]