Here are your morning headlines for Wednesday, April 14:
- Mass clinics, colleges suspend J&J vaccine
- House GOP budget plan includes personal income tax cut
- Columbus officers pepper spray protesters who broke into police HQ
- US court lifts hold on Ohio's Down syndrome abortion law
- Gibbons enters GOP Senate primary
- Group recommends discipline for police involved in deadly 2019 chase
Mass clinics, colleges suspend J&J vaccine
Ohio providers and some college campuses suspended using the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine Tuesday while federal officials investigate reports of potentially dangerous blood clots, which are extremely rare. Kent State University and the University of Akron both cancelled distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine and encouraged students to schedule shots at other locations. Summit County Public Health says the drive-thru clinic at the county fairgrounds will now offer the two-dose Pfizer vaccine. The mass vaccination site at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center was scheduled to switch to giving Johnson & Johnson doses for its final two weeks, and may switch to a two-dose shot. More than 260,000 doses of the J&J vaccine have been administered in Ohio. The vast majority have caused no or mild side effects.
House GOP budget plan includes personal income tax cut
House Republicans have proposed a 2% personal income tax cut in their version of the state budget. Lawmakers say that amounts to $380 million in reduced taxes over two years beginning July 1. The plan unveiled Tuesday also includes an overhaul of the way the state funds schools to make it more equitable. The nearly $2 billion proposal calls for the changes to take place over the next six years and says no school district will lose funding during the phase-in. The budget also provides previously announced $155 million in grants to help industries negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Columbus officers pepper spray protesters who broke into police HQ
Columbus police used pepper spray Tuesday night after protestors broke into the police headquarters building. The Columbus Dispatch reports the crowd of about 100 marched through downtown to police headquarters to protest the police killing of Myles Jackson, 27, on Monday. Jackson was shot by police in the emergency department of Mount Carmel St. Ann's following an altercation. He was taken there after being found passed out in a car. He was wanted on several warrants and was being transferred to police custody when the shooting occurred.
US court lifts hold on Ohio's Down syndrome abortion law
A federal court has upheld an Ohio law prohibiting doctors from performing abortions based on a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The ruling Tuesday by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned lower court rulings in a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union against the state health department, state medical board, and county prosecutors in 2018 on behalf of Planned Parenthood and several abortion providers. Lower courts ruled the ACLU's argument that the law infringes on a woman's constitutional right to make "the ultimate decision" about an abortion would likely succeed. A divided 6th Circuit disagreed.
Gibbons enters GOP Senate primary
Pro-Trump Republican Mike Gibbons has officially entered the race for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Rob Portman. Gibbons is a former Cleveland investment banker who lost the 2018 GOP primary to Jim Renacci in the race to unseat Sherrod Brown. He joins a Republican field that includes former Ohio GOP chair Jane Timken, former Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel, and Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno. Several others are still considering.
Group recommends discipline for police involved in deadly 2019 chase
The civilian group that hears complaints against Cleveland police is recommending disciplinary action in the 2019 car chase that ended with the death of 13-year-old Tamia Chappman. Ideastream reports The Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) found that the officer who initiated the chase, Christian Stipkovich, and the sergeant overseeing it, Michael Chapman, allowed a dangerous pursuit to continue. The Office of Professional Standards (OPS), which investigates citizen complaints, had recommended disciplinary action against nine officers, but ultimately approved the lowest level of discipline, likely to come without suspensions, for Stipkovich, Chapman, Lt. Gregory Farmer, who was found to have failed to stop the pursuit, and Officer Dustin Miller, for joining the pursuit without approval.
