WOUB News & Culture

WOUB News & Culture WOUB News and Culture is a nonpartisan outlet that provides information across four states.

Many Ohioans can commiserate with former New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan, whose “the rent is too damn hi...
09/08/2025

Many Ohioans can commiserate with former New York gubernatorial candidate Jimmy McMillan, whose “the rent is too damn high” complaint in 2005 captured attention throughout the country.

But the problem isn’t confined to the Empire State. Ohio’s three largest cities were among the hottest real estate markets last year. The Ohio Housing Finance Agency said in 2021, the median home price was 2.6 times the median household income. The situation has worsened in recent years, and people at the lowest end of the economic scale are feeling it the most.

A report by anti-homelessness advocates showed many Ohioans cannot afford a basic two-bedroom apartment. The report also showed the gap between what the average renter earns and what they need to make for that basic unit of housing continues to grow. That has risen 148% since 2020.

The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio estimates a shortage of more than 264,000 rental units that are affordable and available to low-income householders.

State lawmakers have said they are hearing from Ohioans who are having problems being able to afford housing – regardless of whether they rent or own.

The Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio estimates a shortage of more than 264,000 units affordable to low-income householders.

Ohio lawmakers will be drawing a new congressional maps this fall, not because they’re choosing to but because they have...
09/06/2025

Ohio lawmakers will be drawing a new congressional maps this fall, not because they’re choosing to but because they have to. State law requires the redraw for 2026 because the 2022 map wasn’t agreed upon with bipartisan support.

And as was the case in 2021 and 2023, Ohioans are being invited to submit their proposed maps to Republican leaders who will decide the final one, at a time when Republican leaders from the White House are pushing down on several states to adopt maps to add to GOP seats in Congress ahead of the 2026 elections.

“We want Ohioans to participate,” said Jen Miller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Ohio. “They can propose their own maps, or they can provide their own maps to the mapmakers about how they wanted their communities represented.”

Miller said citizen-produced maps during previous redistricting sessions were fairer, more compact, and made common sense. But Republican legislative leaders favored their own. Miller said she hopes that GOP lawmakers who worked to defeat a 2024 constitutional amendment last year to change Ohio’s redistricting process will be more receptive to citizens’ maps this time around.

“Representation works better when districts are drawn that keep communities together, that do not unnecessarily slice and dice neighborhoods and towns, and ultimately that leads to better representation where lawmakers have a group of constituents that more or less have similar economic and policy needs,” Miller said.

Miller said her group will be holding an event later this month to draw attention to redistricting and maps.

Ohio lawmakers will be drawing a new congressional maps this fall, not because they're choosing to but because they have to.

A growing share of Ohio high school students are participating in career and technical education, according to a recent ...
09/06/2025

A growing share of Ohio high school students are participating in career and technical education, according to a recent report from the Fordham Institute.

The education policy think tank found about a quarter of the state’s high schoolers participated in career and technical education during the 2022-2023 school year — up from one in six students a decade ago.

Aaron Churchill, the organization’s Ohio research director, says the increase has been driven by continued state investment and growing student demand.

“For the students who aren’t planning to go to four-year college — which is the slight majority of our student population — they do need the skills to hop into a job that they can get a living wage and move up the ladder,” he said.

“So I think we’re seeing greater interest among students in pursuing these opportunities and getting themselves ready for a career. And I think some of it is also reflective of our state leadership recognizing the importance of career education and readying more students for the jobs of tomorrow.”

A growing share of Ohio high school students are participating in career and technical education, according to a Fordham Institute report.

Beginning Sept. 30, anyone under the age of 21 who get drivers licenses in Ohio will have to go through driver’s educati...
09/05/2025

Beginning Sept. 30, anyone under the age of 21 who get drivers licenses in Ohio will have to go through driver’s education classes first.

Currently, driver’s ed is required for 16 and 17-year-olds. But it is not required for anyone over 18. Gov. Mike DeWine said it should be.

“We know that the most dangerous group of drivers on the road, for themselves and for others, are 18 and 19 year olds,” DeWine said.

DeWine said it makes sense to expand that to require driver’s ed classes for anyone under the age of 21 because statistics show it leads to safer drivers. He said too many young drivers who initially fail the test to get a license use the strategy of taking it over and over again until they pass.

“Young people who go through driver’s training become safer drivers; safer for themselves and safer for everyone else on the road,” said DeWine.

Last year, 58% of fatal crashes caused by a teen driver involved 18- and 19-year-olds.

Beginning Sept. 30, anyone under the age of 21 who get drivers licenses in Ohio will have to go through driver’s education classes first.

An Ohio lawmaker wants to reintroduce an electricity peak demand program for small commercial and residential consumers,...
09/05/2025

An Ohio lawmaker wants to reintroduce an electricity peak demand program for small commercial and residential consumers, which would likely flatten their current bills and could create further financial incentives down the line, he said.

Under the peak demand program in House Bill 427, introduced by Rep. Roy Klopfenstein (R-Haviland), utilities might raise a consumer’s thermostat on the hotter days of the year or cycle their use of certain appliances, like laundry or dishwashing.

As Ohio is staring down eventual electric shortages from growing demand, and with new energy generation far off, Klopfenstein said he believes the bill is another tool in the state’s toolbox.

“If we want to attract more business to Ohio, if we want to have the data centers here, if we don’t want rolling blackouts, we’re going to have to look at a number of creative things,” he said in an interview Friday. “This is one of them we know works because the (large) commercials use it.”

Any participant in the proposed energy efficiency program would be able to override an individual effort to reduce usage, according to HB 427.

It comes about four months after Gov. Mike DeWine signed an extensive bill that lawmakers and lobbyists have said will prompt new energy generation and otherwise overhaul the system. This bill would serve as just one bridge until more baseload power is produced, Klopfenstein said.

An Ohio lawmaker wants to reintroduce an electricity peak demand program for small commercial and residential consumers.

Gov. Mike DeWine is pausing his call for a ban on kratom after a conversation with Health and Human Services Secretary R...
09/05/2025

Gov. Mike DeWine is pausing his call for a ban on kratom after a conversation with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. But DeWine’s office said he still wants to see kratom banned—both the botanical herb and synthetic versions of it.

Though it hasn’t been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, kratom is legal, virtually unregulated and marketed as a painkiller and a treatment for opioid addiction, anxiety, depression and other disorders. It’s sold in various forms in corner stores and gas stations across the state and country—often in places that also sell delta-8, which DeWine has called on lawmakers to regulate as well.

Last Tuesday DeWine had ordered the Ohio Board of Pharmacy to categorize kratom as an illegal drug.

An emergency meeting of the Ohio Board of Pharmacy was set for last Wednesday but was canceled. A spokesman for DeWine said the governor spoke with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has also announced he wants to crack down on kratom and regulate it as controlled substance.

Gov. Mike DeWine is pausing his call for a ban on kratom after a conversation with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

On Sept. 8, 2012, a total of 25,893 people entered Peden Stadium to watch Ohio University Football take on New Mexico St...
09/05/2025

On Sept. 8, 2012, a total of 25,893 people entered Peden Stadium to watch Ohio University Football take on New Mexico State. That group of fans not only watched the Bobcats defeat the Aggies 51-24, but they were also part of the largest crowd in stadium history.

Further back on Sept. 9, 2005, a then record crowd of 24,545 filed in to watch the first home game in the Frank Solich era.

Ohio (0-1) is now hoping that Sept. 6, 2025, will reset the record as the Bobcats welcome in West Virginia (1-0).

“It should be an electric experience,” Ohio head coach Brian Smith said. “We’re expecting it to be the largest capacity that we’ve had in the stadium.”

Saturday will be the first time since the 2001 season that the two teams have met. That meeting is part of a 16-game history between the two schools that dates all the way back to a Bobcats 12-0 win in 1897.

The action kicks off at 4 p.m. on Frank Solich Field and the game will be aired to a national audience on ESPNU.

On Sept. 8, 2012, a total of 25,893 people entered Peden Stadium to watch Ohio University Football take on New Mexico State.

The Athens County Board of Elections on Thursday denied the city of Nelsonville’s request to remove from the ballot cert...
09/05/2025

The Athens County Board of Elections on Thursday denied the city of Nelsonville’s request to remove from the ballot certain candidates running for office.

The city has already asked the Ohio Supreme Court to do the same thing, and the attorney representing the city acknowledged the awkwardness of the situation.

The Supreme Court will have the final say over whether candidates are removed from the November ballot, regardless of what the board does, attorney Thomas Spyker said at the start of the hearing.

Spyker said the reason the city did so is because the city has the right to challenge candidates and wanted to exercise this right while there was still time.

It was too late for the city to challenge all the candidates running under Issue 23, but the deadline for filing a protest against write-in candidates was last Friday.

Matthew Voltolini, an attorney representing one of the Issue 23 write-in candidates, argued the city was essentially asking the Board of Elections to agree the repeal was valid in an attempt to influence the Supreme Court.

Voltolini noted that Issue 23 passed with 70 percent of the vote. “The people of Nelsonville have already spoken,” he said. “The City Council didn’t like that.”

The board deliberated in executive session for several minutes then announced its decision to deny the city’s request.

Board member Sky Pettey said the board did not believe it had the authority to remove candidates at this point and wanted to wait for the Supreme Court to provide guidance.

The Athens County Board of Elections denied the city of Nelsonville’s request to remove from the ballot certain candidates running for office.

WOUB’s Now Playing column, written by film scholar Dr. Gordon Briggs, takes a closer look at "Caught Stealing," a new cr...
09/04/2025

WOUB’s Now Playing column, written by film scholar Dr. Gordon Briggs, takes a closer look at "Caught Stealing," a new crime thriller set in New York in 1998.�

The film follows Hank Thompson, a former baseball player turned bartender, whose week goes from bad to worse when he agrees to watch his neighbor’s cat.�

Soon, he finds himself pursued by cops, hitmen, and gangsters in a story that blends dark humor with bursts of violence.�Directed by Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan," "Mother!"), the film is more straightforward than his surreal past work, evoking gritty New York thrillers like "Good Time" and "After Hours."�

Briggs notes that the film’s first half feels uneven, introducing numerous eccentric characters and sudden tonal shifts.�However, the arrival of Matt Smith’s punk rock character injects fresh energy and helps the story threads cohere.�

Austin Butler anchors the film as Hank, portraying his growing guilt and vulnerability as the chaos intensifies.�By its third act, "Caught Stealing" emerges as a compelling crime thriller that Briggs recommends for fans of character-driven suspense.

Film expert Dr. Gordon Briggs reviews "Caught Stealing," the latest from "Black Swan" director Darren Aronofsky.

Regulators say a coal-fired power plant in southeast Ohio did not comply with federal rules on the safe storage of toxic...
09/04/2025

Regulators say a coal-fired power plant in southeast Ohio did not comply with federal rules on the safe storage of toxic waste, putting groundwater at risk of contamination.

The plant’s owners ended up suing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over the rules, arguing they were improperly applied to one of its waste storage units.

Last week, a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.

In his decision, the judge detailed the threats to people and wildlife should chemicals in the waste seep into the environment and said the plant’s storage unit is subject to the rules as interpreted and applied by the EPA.

The judge’s decision hinged in part on what is considered a liquid under the rules. Gavin argued that liquid did not include groundwater. The EPA argued it did.

At the center of the case is a 314-acre surface reservoir filled with coal ash at the James M. Gavin power plant in Cheshire, a tiny village in Gallia County.

Coal ash is a waste byproduct of burning coal to generate electricity and is typically stored on site in some kind of reservoir, known as a coal-residual unit.

Judge Michael Watson begins his decision detailing the dangers posed by coal ash, which he notes “contains high quantities of arsenic and other carcinogenic, neurotoxic, ecologically-devastating substances.”

Watson notes that liquids can seep into storage areas, mix with the chemicals in the coal ash and then seep back out “into the fish we eat and the water we drink.”

“Bluntly, coal ash disposal threatens perhaps our most precious natural resource: water,” Watson wrote.

At the center of the case is a 314-acre surface reservoir filled with coal ash at the James M. Gavin power plant in Cheshire.

WOUB’s Ian Saint reviewed Oasis' long-awaited return to the U.S. stage, which began with a sold-out reunion show at Chic...
09/04/2025

WOUB’s Ian Saint reviewed Oasis' long-awaited return to the U.S. stage, which began with a sold-out reunion show at Chicago’s Soldier Field on August 28.

Saint notes that the Gallaghers offered no explanation for reuniting and no preview of the setlist, a choice that heightened anticipation.

The performance leaned heavily on "Definitely Maybe" and "(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?," with original guitarist Paul “Bonehead” Arthurs joining Gem Archer for a poignant reunion.

Highlights included the opener "Hello," whose refrain of “it’s good to be back” carried added weight, and a powerful duet on "Acquiesce" that underscored the brothers’ renewed bond.

The 52,000-strong crowd proved central to the evening, roaring along to B-side "Half the World Away" and even attempting “The Poznań” at Liam’s urging.

Beyond the stadium, Saint observed Chicago’s embrace of the reunion through a Wicker Park pop-up shop, a fan collection in Old Town, and drones spelling the Oasis logo over Soldier Field.

He describes the emotional peak arriving with "Champagne Supernova," performed amid fireworks and images of Paris, the city where Oasis split in 2009.

For Saint, the reunion was more than nostalgia — it was a transformational experience with unexpected personal resonance.

WOUB's Ian Saint reports on Oasis' first U.S. stadium reunion show, which happened August 28 at Solder Field in Chicago.

Magician and comedian John van der Put, better known as Piff the Magic Dragon , became a household name after his 2015 r...
09/03/2025

Magician and comedian John van der Put, better known as Piff the Magic Dragon , became a household name after his 2015 run on America’s Got Talent.

Since then, he has built a popular Las Vegas residency at The Flamingo and toured worldwide with his unique blend of comedy, magic, and the help of his tiny canine sidekick, Mr. Piffles.

This fall, van der Put brings his All-Star Vegas variety show to Ohio audiences.

The production features fellow AGT alumni, Cirque du Soleil performers, comedians, and more in a high-energy, family-friendly spectacle.

The show will be staged at the Southern Theatre in Columbus on September 10 and the Taft Theatre in Cincinnati on September 13.

In advance of those performances, van der Put spoke with WOUB about his place in the long tradition of magicians and the differences between performing in Las Vegas and on the road.

He also reflected on the loss of his longtime companion Mr. Piffles, who passed away last year at 17, and the decision to bring a cloned Piffles into the act.

Piff the Magic Dragon brings his variety show to Columbus and Cincinnati, sharing magic, comedy, and even a clone of his dog, Mr. Piffles.

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