Ohio State News

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio’s race for governor has developed into a closely contested election, with recent polling showing Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton separated by only a few percentage points as data center development becomes an increasingly prominent campaign issue. The latest polling shows neither candidate with a clear advantage. A New York Times and Siena College poll fielded from June 15 through June 28 found Acton and Ramaswamy tied at 47 percent amo

The Ohio Supreme Court has ordered an Ashville official to move forward with a citizen referendum petition challenging a village resolution connected to a proposed EdgeConneX data center development. The decision comes after Ashville residents Laura V. McNamara-Smith, Brian Thomas Meyers and Allison G. Meade filed an original action for a writ of mandamus on July 14 against Village Fiscal Officer April Grube. The residents argued Grube improperly rejected their referendum pet

PUCO Opens Audit of $245 Million in FirstEnergy Storm Costs Included in Customer Rates The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has begun the process of hiring an independent auditor to review approximately $245 million in deferred storm restoration expenses associated with three FirstEnergy electric utilities. PUCO issued Request for Proposal RA26-SCD-1 on August 5, 2026. The audit is being conducted under Case No. 26-798-EL-UNC and will examine the reasonableness of storm re

The U.S. House Committee on Ethics announced Tuesday that it is reviewing allegations involving Ohio Congressman Max Miller. According to an official statement released August 4, the committee is reviewing allegations of domestic violence and abuse or illegal drug use in violation of the House Code of Official Conduct or another applicable conduct standard. Miller has denied the allegations and has said he will cooperate with the review. He has also said the accusations are f

The next Ohio election may have some of the most significant implications from an Ohio governor election in recent memory. The next Ohio Governor will navigate potential land use, farm land preservation, and the infrastructure that supports Ohio's citizens. As large companies such as Anduril and Eli Lilly, along with data centers, start to expand in the state, the next govenor will have a large role in what the future of Ohio looks like. Both candidates say companies should

Ohio voters will not decide this November whether to abolish property taxes across the state, but the campaign behind the proposed constitutional amendment says the effort is continuing toward a possible vote in 2027. The Committee to Abolish Ohio Property Taxes, also known as Ax Ohio Tax, decided not to submit its petitions before Ohio’s July 1 deadline. Campaign leaders said they had not collected the 620,000 signatures they wanted before attempting to qualify the proposal.

Drivers across Stark County are facing one of Ohio’s sharpest recent gasoline price increases after the average price for regular gasoline in the Canton and Massillon area climbed nearly 38 cents in one week. AAA reported that the Canton and Massillon average reached $4.241 per gallon on Monday, August 3. That was up from $3.865 one week earlier, an increase of 37.6 cents per gallon. The local average was also 69 cents higher than one month earlier and slightly more than $1 a

Timken Creates Two Executive Positions, Offers New COO At Least $4.25 Million First Year Package The Timken Company is restructuring its senior leadership and offering its incoming chief operating officer a first year target compensation package worth at least $4.25 million, including salary, incentive compensation, stock awards and signing benefits. The North Canton headquartered manufacturer announced July 31 that it created two companywide executive positions, chief operat

Canton Approves New Data Center Zoning Canton has approved new development rules for data centers as a Dubai based company advances plans for a project exceeding $1 billion near Trump Avenue SE and Orchard View Drive SE. The legislation creates additional 200 foot setbacks, sound studies, landscaping requirements and limits on testing loud equipment, but it does not prohibit data centers, halt the proposed Trump Avenue project or require council to hold a separate public vote

Ohio Expansion Will Increase Production of Lilly Injection Pens Eli Lilly and pharmaceutical manufacturer Resilience have announced a $750 million investment in the Cincinnati region that will expand production of injection devices used with diabetes and obesity medicines and create at least 400 jobs. The expansion will add production of Lilly’s KwikPen injection device at Resilience’s manufacturing operations in West Chester Township. Site preparation is underway, and the co

Anduril begins building autonomous military aircraft as Ohio bets heavily on defense technology Anduril Industries is a privately held American defense technology company that combines artificial intelligence, software, sensors and robotics with military hardware. The company builds uncrewed aircraft, counter-drone defenses, missiles, surveillance systems, underwater vehicles and software intended to connect those systems into a common operating network. Its importance to Ohi

Anthropic, who owns Claude AI, physically cut apart millions of purchased books while building a private digital library and other major AI companies are tied primarily to digital collections obtained from shadow libraries, research datasets or earlier scanning programs. Court records confirm that at least one major artificial-intelligence company purchased millions of physical books, removed their bindings, cut apart their pages, scanned them and discarded the paper original

Large, mostly windowless buildings are appearing on development plans across Ohio. Inside them are thousands of computers that store information, run websites, process business records and increasingly power artificial-intelligence systems. ​ Commercial project tracking currently identifies more than 100 planned data-center facilities in Ohio, although exact totals vary because one campus may contain several separately counted buildings and some proposals may never be complet