OPN Feb 12 send: Feds blocked

• The story: U.S. District Court Judge Ana Reyes in Washington, D.C., has rejected the federal government’s request for a stay on her order that stopped certain immigrants from Haiti from losing their Temporary Protected Status in early February.

• The ruling: Judge Reyes in court on Thursday morning said allowing the termination to go into effect while the case is appealed would put Haitian TPS holders at risk of detention and removal. She noted the federal government has the names and addresses of TPS holders, including Haitian community members in Springfield.

• Targets?: Attorneys for the Trump administration in court said the Department of Homeland Security would not necessarily target Haitian nationals if TPS expired, but they would be subject to the same kind of immigration enforcement activities that other immigrants who are unlawfully in the country face. Counsel also said that some TPS holders may no longer live at the same addresses as when they registered for the program.

• Up the ladder: DHS officials previously said the federal government plans to appeal the decision all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. In a separate but similar case in California, the highest court in the nation allowed TPS for Venezuela to end as the federal government appeals a lower court’s ruling that the country’s designation was terminated unlawfully.

• Here’s the full story from Jessica Orozco and Cornelius Frolik.

• The story: The grassroots effort to eliminate all property taxes in Ohio is gathering steam, and elected officials — including the Ohio governor and others — say if it comes to fruition, it would be a crisis.

• Quote: “It would just be devastating to all kinds of local governments starting with schools but also police and fire and children services, mental retardation levies, all of those would go away,” Gov. Mike DeWine said recently, adding sales tax might have to be hiked to 20% to fill the void. “We would be in a huge crisis in the state of Ohio.”

• Report: His remarks stemmed from a memo by the Ohio Office of Budget and Management that said filling the $24 billion property tax void with income or sales taxes would be “fiscally impractical and economically harmful.” The OBM director wrote income tax rates “would need to quadruple or more reaching 11% to 15%” and the state sales tax would have to increase from 5.75% to 15% to 18% which “is significantly higher than any other state.”

• Perspective: To put things in perspective, the 5.75% rate adds $1,725 to the price of a $30,000 car and $5,400 if the sales tax rate jumped to 18%. For a $1,300 refrigerator the sales tax would jump from $75 to $234.

• Rebuttal: Beth Blackmarr, spokesperson for Citizens for Property Tax Reform, an organization advocating for voters to eliminate property taxes as soon as possible, told this outlet people shouldn’t be scared by DeWine’s warning about a 20% sales tax.

• Quote: “Bring it on,” she said. “I did the math and for me last year that would have saved me 65%. Last year, if I had to pay a 20% sales tax I would have saved 65% over what I would have paid in property tax.”

• Bomb threats: Some Springfield Haitians are reminded of dangerous conditions in Haiti after navigating the wave of hoax bomb threats faced by schools, houses of worship and government buildings since Monday. Jessica Orozco has the story.

• Election selections: Josh Sweigart and Greg Lynch compiled a rundown of the most important races Montgomery County voters are likely to see on their ballot for the May primary, with extensive further reporting on this year’s looming decisions. Read that story here.

• Hotspots: Investors and corporations are increasingly buying up single-family homes in parts of Montgomery County, creating concerns about property neglect and companies out-competing first-time homebuyers who would improve neighborhoods, a Dayton Daily News investigation found. Here’s what Thomas Gnau found.

• Disclaimer: Anti-abortion advocates were at the Ohio Statehouse Wednesday making their case for a bill that would require doctors to give patients a state-written disclaimer outlining their right to sue the manufacturers and medical providers of abortion-inducing drugs if they experience negative health consequences that they weren’t warned about. Read the proposed disclaimer in my story.

• Data centers: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and state lawmakers from both parties anticipate an increased focus on legislating resource-guzzling data centers, which have proliferated throughout much of the state in recent years as demand for computing power surges. Here’s my story.

• Corporate landlords: New federal data showing investors and corporations are increasingly buying up local homes — nearly a third of homes in some Dayton-area neighborhoods — comes as the issue is getting fresh national attention. Here’s Thomas Gnau.

• Brown: In a campaign visit to Dayton, former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown said federal policy — around tariffs, health insurance and more — is putting undue pressure on Ohio businesses. Sydney Dawes has the story.

• New ventures: Former Dayton Congressman Tony Hall has been working to spread the word about a problem new to many Americans: Forced child labor in the African mining of the cobalt used to power many of our electronic devices. Thomas Gnau has the story.

• DHS investigation: Ohio voting rights advocates say the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has no authority to investigate voter fraud after the department’s “unusual” visit to Ponitz Career Tech High School in Dayton as part of a criminal investigation last week. Eileen McClory and Cornelius Frolik have the story.