Five things to know for Monday, Dec. 15
In December 2025, Gov. Mike DeWine met with Ohio’s Catholic school leaders to discuss the successes they've seen in bringing the Science of Reading to classrooms across the state.
DeWine: Don’t blame Acton for painful COVID shutdowns
Republican Gov. Mike DeWine sounds like someone who is trying to help the Democratic gubernatorial candidate. In an interview with WCMH-TV, the governor said Acton, the former state health director who left her post months into the COVID-19 pandemic, shouldn’t be blamed for the costly shutdowns.
“The decisions that were made during COVID, they were my decisions, so no one should blame someone else if they don’t like it. The buck stops with me,” DeWine told the station.
Ohio maintains 35th place ranking for economic freedom. Ohio maintained its 35th place ranking in the Economic Freedom of North America 2025 report, marking the second year in a row it has achieved the ranking. The report from The Buckeye Institute, in partnership with Canada’s Fraser Institute, ranked all 50 states, provinces in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico based on economic freedom, using metrics that included government spending.
Columbus schools spend on consulting amid budget cuts. Columbus City Schools spent more than $97,600 since July on “consulting” expenses, even as the school just cut more than $50 million from its budget, WCMH-TV reported. School spokesperson Michael Brown told the television station that consultants allow the system to bring in experts and can help lower costs by avoiding the hiring of full-time employees.
Are data centers dangerous? A new story from Rolling Stone has linked Amazon data centers to rare cancers and miscarriages, raising questions about their impact on Ohio, WCMH-TV reported. “It’s been clear to me that there is a lack of understanding and a need for education,” Dublin resident and data center activist Amy Swank told WCMH-TV. “What these really do, how they really impact our electricity, our water, our community noise pollution level, light pollution level, and then what are the economic benefits to having one? I don’t think people truly grasp that.”
Another moratorium on data centers. Trustees in Washington Township voted 3-0 last week to place a 90-day ban on data centers in unincorporated areas of the township in Delaware, Franklin and Union counties, The Columbus Dispatch reported.
