Starting next week, Cleveland Hopkins Airport is making big changes to where taxis, limos, rideshare services and shuttles can drop-off passengers – a reversal of changes that were implemented just a few weeks ago.

As of January 1, commercial vehicles were prohibited from dropping passengers at the upper departures terminal roadway. Instead, there were staging areas set up several hundred yards away.

A panel of transportation experts is telling Gov. Mike DeWine that the best way to increase funding for road projects is to increase the gas tax. But their report doesn’t get specific.

The committee appointed by DeWine tallied five reasons why an increase to the gas tax is the best way to fill a funding gap. For instance, they say it’s efficient, the money can only be used for highway construction and related activities, and it’s fair because only drivers pay it.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, the subject of much speculation for the 2020 presidential election, took time to chat with WKSU about some of his priorities this week.  The issues included relief for the middle class and healthcare access.

The 2018 Republican Tax Cuts
Legislation Brown is proposing would end the Trump administration’s tax cuts for higher-income Americans – because, Brown says, the tax policy just isn’t trickling down.

Researchers are saying a new poll shows increasing support for the development of renewable energy among conservative Ohioans. The poll doesn’t just focus on what conservative voters support, but why.

A poll released by the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum says more than two-thirds of conservative respondents support renewable energy development and favored fair wind turbine setback laws that allow a landowner to lease property for wind farm projects.

Gov. Mike DeWine has submitted to lawmakers what he hopes to see in the budget for a key agency – a budget that’s separate from the big statewide spending plan he’ll introduce next month. 

DeWine’s two year, $645 million dollar budget for the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation includes a proposed reduction of an average of 20 percent in premiums for private employers, which his office says is the largest cut in premiums in 60 years.

Planned Parenthood is suing the state over a new abortion law set to go into effect soon. 

The bill Ohio lawmakers passed and former Gov. John Kasich signed into law at the end of the lame duck session last year bans an abortion procedure that is commonly used after 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Lordstown school officials plan to hold quarterly financial meetings with the community as they anticipate a loss of funds when the GM plant shuts down in March. The situation could bring changes for students and staff.

Lordstown Local Schools Superintendent Terry Armstrong said the district could lose hundreds of thousands of dollars if General Motors' property tax is lowered due to the shutdown.