gerrymandering

A federal jury says CVS, Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies didn’t do enough to stop the flow of opioid pills into Lake and Trumbull counties in Northeast Ohio; Ohio will join a growing number of states whose highway troopers are equipped with body cameras; COVID cases remain high across Ohio heading into the Thanksgiving holiday; and more stories.

Summit County hospitals are seeing the most COVID-19 patients since January; a national Democratic organization has filed a lawsuit in the Ohio Supreme Court to challenge the newly signed Congressional district map; the Cleveland and Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority police departments are getting more than $4 million in federal grant money to hire more officers; and more stories.

Two of 17 members of a Holmes County-based missionary group who were kidnapped more than a month ago are safe and “in good spirits” after being freed in Haiti; Ohio enters the week with COVID-19 hospitalizations rising; Gov. Mike DeWine has signed a new map of congressional districts into law; and more stories.

Anti-gerrymandering advocates say the map was clearly drawn to give a lopsided advantage to Republicans over Democrats.

The House has approved the map by a vote of 55-36.

The Ohio House is set to vote Thursday on a new Congressional district map that could give Republicans as many as 13 of Ohio's 15 total Congressional seats.

The map, which reduces the number of districts from 16 to 15 and creates only two that strongly favor Democrats, now heads to the Ohio House.

The panel of House and Senate lawmakers is constitutionally required to have two hearings on a proposed district map.

The joint committee is the latest step toward reaching a deal before the next constitutional deadline.

They say the commission must follow new reforms in order to avoid gerrymandering.