Monday, July 6th, 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.

This Day in History: On this day in 1933, Major League Baseball played its first All-Star Game at Chicago's Comiskey Park, with the American League beating the National League 4-2.

Today’s edition looks a little different than normal. Find out why in our note to our readers below.

Also, Grove City has a problem. Read about what it is in our Editorial Section.

The Pennant staff took the Fourth of July weekend off, so our coverage is a little limited today. However, we wanted to dig into two subjects we think every Ohioan should be paying attention to.

The first is the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices closed out their term with a string of rulings that land squarely on Ohio — from elections to schools to the power of the state itself — and we think you deserve a plain-English look at what they actually mean for you.

The second is unfolding closer to home, in Grove City, where a ballot measure being sold as a fight over data centers is a good deal bigger than that. It's a story we believe needs far more reporting than it's gotten, and we intend to give it that attention.

Along with the Grove City measure, we're also going to start following several Ohio school districts that are heading back to voters for a levy increase. With the fight over property taxes and plain affordability squeezing millions of families, we think there needs to be more accountability for how districts spend their money and why they keep returning to the ballot. We'll dig into budgets and enrollment, cut through the sales pitch, and lay out the facts.

We hope you'll give it all a read, and we'll be back with your regular daily briefing tomorrow.

As always, questions, comments, and letters to the editor are welcome at [email protected].

— The Editors

SEATTLE — The U.S. men's national team meets Belgium tonight at 8 p.m. EDT in a World Cup round of 16 match in Seattle, with a place in the quarterfinals at stake.

The Americans advanced with a 2-0 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina last week and now face one of Europe's most experienced squads.

COLUMBUS — The heat that baked Ohio over the holiday weekend eases up a little this week, with highs in the mid-80s to around 90 and a better chance of scattered storms Monday and Tuesday.

Drier air moves in for the second half of the week, though it stays warm and humid into mid-July.

COLUMBUS — The Ohio State Fair runs July 29 through Aug. 9 at the Ohio Expo Center, with 11 days of midway rides, fair food, livestock, and a concert lineup that includes Styx, Alison Krauss, Nelly, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Admission is $9 if you buy before July 28, and the full schedule and tickets are on the Ohio State Fair website.

COLUMBUS — Mid-July is peak season for Ohio sweet corn, with local ears, tomatoes, and the first peaches showing up at roadside stands and farmers' markets across the state.

You can find a market near you through the state's Ohio Proud find-a-market directory.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court closed its term last week with several rulings that reach directly into Ohio.

In a case brought partly by Ohioans, the court struck down federal limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with their candidates. The challenge included the 2022 campaigns of now-Vice President JD Vance, then running for Ohio's U.S. Senate seat, and former U.S. Rep. Steve Chabot, R-Ohio. The ruling frees party committees to spend far more on Ohio races heading into the midterms.

The court also upheld state laws barring transgender girls from girls' and women's school sports, affirming the approach Ohio took with House Bill 68, its "Save Women's Sports" law.

On elections, the justices ruled 5-4 that states may count mail-in ballots that arrive after Election Day. Ohio eliminated its own grace period last year, leaving the state unable to count late-arriving ballots this November even though the court said such grace periods are lawful.

The court separately allowed the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for Haitians, a decision affecting thousands of residents in Springfield.

This fall, it looks like Grove City residents will face a referendum they've been told is about data centers. It isn't.

If you walk away believing this is only about the Headwaters Development south of Rensch Road, then the people behind it have done exactly what they set out to do.

You may have noticed people with clipboards at the farmers' market and other community events, asking for your signature. The pitch is friendly: sign here, stop the data center. But read the actual document, and you'll find it does much more than that.

Last week, in our America 250 essays, we explained how a republic works and how the United States is a democratic republic. The short version is that you elect people to make the hard calls, and if they get it wrong, you vote them out. Your city council and your mayor run Grove City that way every day.

This amendment takes that power away. Certain big decisions can no longer be made by the people you elected. Instead, every one of them has to go to a citywide vote.

Good luck with that.

Think about what that does to your city manager or development director. Their whole job is to bring in good projects and keep the city moving. Under these new rules, they're stuck. A company calls, wants to build, wants to hire — and the answer becomes, well, we'll get back to you sometime after the next election.

These rules aren't anti-data center. They're against the way business works, and that should worry everybody.

Continue reading the editorial here.

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]