Friday, June 12th, 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 date in 1987 — Standing near the Berlin Wall, President Ronald Reagan challenged the Soviet leader: "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall."

Ohio's first broad data center rules stalled in the Statehouse, but that doesn’t seem to be the end of it. Read why in the Top of The Fold.

Also, it’s officially strawberry season. Find the best places to pick some of your own in the Peach Section.

COLUMBUS — Ohio's first broad data center rules stalled in the Statehouse, but lawmakers say a vote on Substitute House Bill 646, which would halve the sales tax break for new projects, is still coming.

For more, see our story below or go here for more.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio House voted 85-10 to pass Senate Bill 315, which would move SNAP benefits to chip-enabled cards, after the Finance Committee amended Medicaid provider regulations and tougher fraud penalties, sending the measure back to the Senate.

See what the amended SNAP and Medicaid bill would do.

COLUMBUS — Ohio lawmakers approved an $875 million package to settle Medicaid underpayments to nursing homes after the state Supreme Court ruled officials used the wrong reimbursement formula, sending the fix to Gov. Mike DeWine.

Read how Ohio's nursing home payment fix came together.

In 1976, America turned 200, and the country threw itself a party worth remembering. Tall ships sailed into New York Harbor, fireworks lit up the skies from the big cities to the smallest towns, and people hung flags on their porches and meant it.

Picture the country that summer. Gerald Ford was in the White House, having taken the oath two years earlier when Richard Nixon resigned. Families gathered around the television for "All in the Family" and "Happy Days," and the radio was all disco and Wings.

On the Fourth itself, much of the country tuned to the same channel, where Walter Cronkite anchored an all-day CBS broadcast called "In Celebration of Us," carrying viewers from one celebration to the next from morning until long after dark. Between the programs ran Coca-Cola's "Look Up America" ads, a sunny, flag-waving campaign built to lift the spirits of a nation that had spent a decade getting kicked in the backside.

Ohio had a quiet claim on the celebration. The "Spirit of '76," that famous image of the three musicians marching with fife and drum, came from the brush of Archibald Willard, a painter who grew up in Wellington, Ohio. That summer, his work turned up on everything from postage stamps to dinner plates.

Continue reading the editorial here.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio's locally grown strawberries are hitting their juicy, sun-ripened peak now through the end of June, and farmers swear these homegrown gems run circles around the bland berries trucked in from out of state. Find out where your closest place to pick is located.

COLUMBUS— Ohio's first broad set of data center rules is stuck in the Statehouse, but lawmakers say they aren't finished.

The Senate Energy Committee advanced Substitute House Bill 646 on Wednesday, and the Senate informally passed it hours later — a procedural step that keeps the bill alive for a vote at a later date. It still needs full Senate passage and then House agreement on the changes.

The bill would cut the state's 100% sales tax break for new data centers in half, cap local property tax breaks at 50%, set water-use standards, and create an electric rate class so the companies, not regular customers, pay for the power they demand.

Critics say it falls short. It leaves untouched the billions already promised to Amazon, Google, and Meta, and doesn't address the non-disclosure deals that keep residents in the dark. The Ohio Manufacturers Association opposes it, too, warning that singling out one industry sets a bad precedent.

The bill follows weeks of testimony and Gov. Mike DeWine's May 27 pause on new tax breaks. Meanwhile, a grassroots group, Conserve Ohio, is gathering signatures for a November ballot measure to ban large data centers.

See what's in Ohio's data center bill and why lawmakers fell short.

Should Data Centers receive tax breaks?
- Yes - 33%
- No - 67%

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