Thursday, October 1st, 2026

Welcome to Thursday’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 October 1919, the Cincinnati Reds beat the White Sox 9-1 in Game 1 of the World Series. Eight Chicago players were later accused of throwing it.

Top of the Fold: SNAP changes cost Ohio $38 million. Plus, kratom, an opioid-like drug found where two Ole Miss students died, faces Ohio scrutiny.

And why Garfield Heights outspends its peers but ranks near the bottom on test scores. Plus, our editorial covers the consequences of Ohio's data center backlash.

COLUMBUS — Starting today, the federal government covers 25% of SNAP administrative costs, down from 50%, costing Ohio about $38 million. 

A higher cost may come next year: states with payment error rates of 6% or higher must pay part of SNAP benefits. 

Ohio's rate was just over 6% last year. If it stays there, the state could owe about $161 million. The error rate counts over- and underpayments of $57 or more, not fraud.

COLUMBUS — Kratom, found where two Ole Miss students died, is under scrutiny in Ohio. 

The state banned synthetic versions in May. Its key compound, 7-OH, can be more potent than morphine. Gov. Mike DeWine, citing at least 200 Ohio kratom deaths from 2019 to 2024, first sought a ban on all kratom. 

Regulators are still weighing natural kratom. 

A Columbus mother is suing a shop she says sold her son kratom.

OHIO — Heavy rain produced a mixed pumpkin season across Ohio. Low-lying fields took the worst of it, as standing water rotted crops and fast growth split pumpkins. 

Some central Ohio patches were wiped out. Other farms fared better: one Springboro patch reported its second-best crop. 

Ohio has nearly 1,000 pumpkin farms and harvested about 4,300 acres in the latest farm census. Wet weather elsewhere could mean less selection and higher prices. 

The Circleville Pumpkin Show still runs Oct. 21-24.

GARFIELD HEIGHTS — Garfield Heights City Schools spends more per student than the districts Ohio considers its closest peers. This year, it slipped below the state's standard for meeting expectations.

The district spent $22,253 per student in fiscal year 2025, about 12% more than the average of its similar districts, according to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce's District Profile Report. Those are districts the state matches on factors like poverty, enrollment, and property wealth.

On the new 2025–26 report card, Garfield Heights fell from three stars to 2.5 overall. Three stars means a district meets state standards. It earned one star on gap closing, which measures how well a district serves groups like low-income students and students with disabilities, and one star on early literacy.

Its test scores ranked 601st of Ohio's 607 traditional school districts, according to the state's 2026 Performance Index rankings. Unlike several districts this year, Garfield Heights' results carry no state warning about testing irregularities.

Attendance is slipping, too. Chronic absenteeism rose from about 57% to 62% in the 2025–26 school year, according to state report card data, even as the statewide rate went down. That means more than six in ten students missed roughly 18 or more days of school.

The state classifies nearly all Garfield Heights students as economically disadvantaged, and about one in five has a disability. Serving those students costs more, and state and federal funding formulas send extra money for that reason. Much of the district's budget comes from the state and federal government, not local taxpayers.

Even so, the districts Ohio considers Garfield Heights' peers serve similar students, spend less, and, on average, score higher on 18 of 20 state tests.

The district has promoted attendance incentives through the Cleveland Browns' "Stay in the Game" program and federally funded reading and math support. The state's data doesn't show how many students those programs reach or what they cost.

Sources: Ohio Department of Education and Workforce FY2025 District Profile Report, 2025–26 district report cards and 2026 Performance Index Rankings.

After two days on Grove City, a look at the wider map.

Ohio's data center backlash is no longer a local squabble. Voters in 18 communities face data center measures on Nov. 3, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. Well over 125 communities have moratoriums, and at least 23 have effectively banned data centers. Nine of the November measures mirror a statewide ban that Conserve Ohio missed the deadline to put on this year's ballot. The group says it is organizing more communities.

Let's be fair. Residents have real grievances. Three in four Ohioans oppose construction in their own communities, according to a Bowling Green State University poll, and power bills are climbing. In Grove City, the campaign says residents learned of the 310-acre proposal more than a year after city talks with the developer began. Those complaints deserve real answers.

Some of these measures are explicit. Hubbard's is a straight ban. Urbana's targets anything over 7.5 megawatts. Nobody there will be surprised when data centers stay away. In those towns, that's the whole point.

Grove City is different.

Read the full editorial here.

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