newsletter

Updated July 10 at 7:45 a.m. ET

Ohio state Rep. Nino Vitale is urging his constituents not to get tested for the coronavirus, flouting advice from health officials — and from another Republican lawmaker, Gov. Mike DeWine.

"This is what happens when people go crazy and get tested," Vitale wrote on Facebook this week. "STOP GETTING TESTED!"

A Black man's report of an assault by white men in an Indiana state park has triggered an FBI investigation. Vauhxx Booker, an activist and member of the Monroe County Human Rights Commission, says the men beat him and threatened him with a noose. The confrontation was partly recorded on video by witnesses whom Booker credits with saving him.

A group of voters and advocacy groups are suing to get Kentucky to continue offering mail-in voting to all eligible voters during the November General Election.

Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear and Republican Secretary of State Michael Adams expanded mail-in voting ahead of Kentucky’s June 23rd primary election in response to the coronavirus pandemic.

But no arrangements have been made to continue allowing all Kentucky voters to cast ballots by mail on November 3.

Professors’ unions at Wright State and Miami University are warning of problems to come when students return to campus this fall. 

More than a dozen chapters of the American Association of University Professors have signed an open letter to college administrators, warning of a potential “superspreader event” as campuses reopen.

Kentucky’s Senior U.S. Senator, Republican Mitch McConnell, was in Kentucky Monday to talk about the $12 billion in CARES Act funding received by the state. McConnell’s first stop was at the Dare to Care food bank in Louisville, a nonprofit that received a Payroll Protection Program loan, where he spoke with reporters and greeted workers.

McConnell pointed to the food bank as one of the 47,000 small businesses in the state to receive a PPP loan, totaling $5.2 billion in federal funds.  At the first press conference, McConnell said he expects another federal relief package to get approval sometime in July, as the pandemic is “clearly not over”, he said. COVID-19 has been surging in states like Arizona, Texas and Florida. The senate majority leader said he thinks the next aid bill must address issues like healthcare, jobs, getting kids back in school and liability protection.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced the Ohio Department of Health will issue a public health order requiring face masks in public in seven counties where the spread of COVID-19 is considered most severe.