Monday, July 20th, 2026

Welcome to Monday’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: July 20, 1969 — Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, a Wapakoneta, Ohio native, became the first human to walk on the moon.

Lettuce is one of the vegetables consumers have been warned to avoid as the Cyclospora Outbreak continues. Is Ohio-grown lettuce among those contaminated? Find out in the Top of The Fold.

Also, Airlines are saying permanent Daylight Saving Time could take two years to set up. Read why in our Travel section.

COLUMBUS — The cyclosporiasis outbreak sickening thousands across five states, including Ohio, has been traced to imported iceberg lettuce from a single Mexico-based supplier, not any lettuce grown in Ohio. 

Ohio's traditional lettuce season runs in the cooler spring and fall months, though local hydroponic growers now supply fresh lettuce year-round.

CLEVELAND — Cleveland is now under a three-month moratorium on new standalone data center projects, giving City Hall time to write zoning rules that don't currently exist for the facilities. 

Council passed the pause 14-1, with the option to extend it another three months while a newly formed working group studies how to regulate size, location, and environmental impact.

OHIO - Franklin, Warren, and Crawford county fairs all kick off today, packing in rides, livestock shows, tractor pulls, and fair food across the state through the weekend. 

It's the leading edge of Ohio's busiest fair stretch, with dozens more county fairs opening over the next two weeks ahead of the Ohio State Fair, which runs July 29 through Aug. 9 in Columbus.

WASHINGTON — Airlines say switching to permanent daylight saving time could take up to two years, after the U.S. House passed a bill July 14 to keep clocks shifted ahead year-round. Ohio lawmakers have pushed for the change for years, passing a resolution in 2023 urging Congress to act. 

Airlines for America, a trade group for major carriers, warns the shift would disrupt crew scheduling, aircraft positioning, and flight connections nationwide. Supporters say permanent daylight saving time would cut winter energy use, while critics warn of darker, colder mornings. The bill now heads to the Senate.

China doesn't need an army to shape how Americans think. It uses money, and that money is showing up in more places than most people realize.

Start with Hollywood. To play their movies in China, American studios have to keep China's government happy, so they quietly cut scenes and soften stories to avoid making the country look bad. Wall Street Journal reporter Erich Schwartzel, in his book "Red Carpet," and a report from the free-speech group PEN America both describe how filmmakers now censor themselves to protect their profits.

Our elections are a target, too. Foreign money is banned from American campaigns, but it still slips through. In 2024, a Chinese businessman named Hui Qin pleaded guilty in federal court to a scheme that hid the source of money funneled into campaigns in New York and Rhode Island, according to the Justice Department. Newsweek has reported that groups tied to China's government moved money into New York politics for years, reaching candidates in both parties.

Now the fight may be landing closer to home. Some members of Congress believe China is quietly bankrolling opposition to new data centers — the same projects bringing jobs and investment to Ohio. The Bitcoin Policy Institute traced much of that effort to a network funded by Neville Roy Singham, a U.S.-born tech mogul who now lives in Shanghai, and its think tank Tricontinental. House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith says his committee "tracked down Chinese money" going to groups organizing the protests, and its report names Ohio among the states where that activity has surfaced.

We've reached a point in our history where we need an honest conversation about who is influencing us, our neighbors, and our children. It's a talk a lot of people would rather skip, especially those who benefit from the money and depend on it to keep flowing. When the check gets big enough, loyalty and conviction seem to go up for sale.

Ohioans deserve to know who is paying to influence the votes they cast and the projects rising in their own backyard.

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