🏠 Property tax reform: Ohio lawmakers are finalizing proposals to curb rapidly rising real estate taxes, including measures to cap tax bill growth and allow counties to reduce voter-approved levies.
🌲Holiday pet safety: While cats and dogs playing around Christmas trees may seem funny in videos, it can pose serious risks, making safety precautions essential for pet owners during the holiday season.
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Hundreds of Ohio prisoners could lose access to education under House-passed prison reform bill
Several hundred inmates in Ohio’s high security prisons would lose access to Sinclair Community College’s educational offerings if a GOP prison reform bill makes its way into law.
• House Bill 338: Drafted after correctional officer Andy Lansing was beat to death by an inmate a year ago in Ross Correctional Institution, it passed by an 82-3 vote in the Ohio House.
• What the bill would do: Among many other things, it would require the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to implement reforms, one of which calls for “the elimination of all higher education programs at high security state correctional institutions.”
• What bill sponsor Reps. Mark Johnson is saying: “The premise of this bill is to try to get the drugs out of our prison, reward good behavior, and if you behave and you learn to be a man and behave yourself, you can be reduced down to a Level 2 prison,” Johnson said. “At Level 2, you get all these benefits, you get your tablet back, you get your higher education, and so forth.”
• By the numbers: A Dayton Daily News analysis of Sinclair’s prison education headcount found that 262, or 10%, of the college’s 2,611 incarcerated students in FY2024-2025 are in facilities that would automatically lose access to education programs under H.B. 338.
‘Fragmented government’ drives property tax reform, Ohio House speaker tells Dayton audience
Ohio property tax reform stands at a crossroads, with the General Assembly finalizing reform proposals to rein in fast-rising real estate taxes, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman told a Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce audience Tuesday morning.
• The reforms: They generally seek to let counties reduce levies previously approved by voters and cap the growth of tax bills, among other steps.
• Fragmented government: Ohio has some 6,500 local taxing authorities across the state hungry for taxpayer revenue — four times as many taxing authorities as California has, a state which is nearly four times as populous as Ohio.
• House Bill 186: As one of the reform measures, it would limit the tax rate for homeowners in school districts to the rate of inflation instead of growth in the real estate market.
• Threat of a ballot initiative: Citizens for Property Tax Reform has gathered signatures to amend the state constitution to eliminate property taxes. The group says it has collected well over 100,000 voter signatures to get a proposed amendment to ballots.
What to know today
• One big takeaway: Ohio spends $50M a year subsidizing movies, theater: Critics give the program a thumbs down.
• Big move of the day: L.L. Bean has announced an expansion of eight new brick-and-mortar stores, including one coming to Beavercreek.
• Person to know today: For local comedian Mike Shea, performing on stage is just one tool in the comic’s toolbox.
• Dayton Food & Dining: Patrick Parin is opening 5 Frenchies Old North Dayton Bakery in the former space of Baker Benji’s on Troy Street.
• Inside Ohio Politics: Sen. Bernie Moreno is urging his party to back a health care compromise to avoid steep insurance cost hikes for millions.
• Happening today: The fifth annual Holly Days at the Dayton Arcade starts today.
• Featured column: MARCANO: Grief is the price we pay for love. Over time, I hope to realize it’s a worthy cost.
• Thing to do: 5 million holiday lights at Historic Clifton Mill now glowing: Here’s what is new this year.
• Dayton Dragons: How Ben Stiller got the Dayton Dragons jacket he wore at a New York Knicks game.