Catching Our Eye News Roundup, April 9, 2026

Every morning in the Ohio Capital Journal’s free newsletter, The Eye-Opener, we round up the news and commentary from across Ohio and around the country and world that is catching our attention. We call this feature Catching Our Eye, republished here.

Please subscribe to our free daily newsletter to get all the Ohio news you need to know right to your inbox every weekday morning.

If you already subscribe, please share with your family and friends so they know about the Ohio Capital Journal too: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/subscribe/

Catching Our Eye

• Toss up to lean, and lean to likely. The Hill reports, “Cook Political Report shifts 5 House races toward Democrats.”

The Cook Political Report on Tuesday shifted five House races toward Democrats and one toward Republicans, as the minority party seeks to take back control of the House in the November midterms.

The report moved Rep. Greg Landsman’s (D-Ohio) race from “Toss Up” to “Lean Democrat,” Reps. Emilia Sykes’s (D-Ohio) and Nellie Pou’s (D-N.J.) races from “Lean Democrat” to “Likely Democrat,” Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s (R-Fla.) race from “Solid Republican” to “Likely Republican” and Rep. Rob Bresnahan’s (R-Pa.) race from “Lean Republican” to “Toss Up.”

• Athens County. The Athens County Independent reports, “County commissioner indicted in JFS theft case.”

As anticipated, an Athens County grand jury on Monday indicted former Athens County Job and Family Services Director Jean Demosky on numerous counts related to allegations of theft in office.

What was not expected was the accompanying indictment of Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins on a single count of intimidation in the case.

Demosky was arrested and arraigned on Friday, April 3, on a single charge of theft in office, a third-degree felony. During the arraignment, Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn said his office expected to file additional charges against her.

• Fiddling with college entrance exams now. The Statehouse News Bureau’s Karen Kasler reports, “Bill seeks to add college entrance exam favored by conservatives to SAT and ACT in Ohio.”

An alternative to the SAT and ACT college entrance exams that’s been favored by conservatives could be coming as an option in Ohio. A bill to add the Classic Learning Test as a college admissions exam offered by Ohio high schools is under consideration by the Senate, after passing the House earlier this year.

House Bill 326 would allow the CLT to be used along with the SAT and ACT, along with “any other valid, reliable, nationally norm-referenced exam used for college admission”. The CLT is similar to the ACT or SAT, but the reading sections of the CLT include works from Christian saints, philosophers and scholars.

• Lawsuits. The Toledo Blade’s Danny Eldredge reports, “Ohio law ending mailed ballot grace period could lead to lawsuits, election expert says.”

The new law eliminating Ohio’s four-day grace period for returning mailed absentee ballots could lead to increased litigation, according to election law expert David Becker…

While many other states require mailed ballots to arrive by Election Day, those states typically implemented their policies in a less hurried manner and provide more options for returning ballots than Ohio, said Mr. Becker, executive director of the organization.

• Redistricting. Signal Ohio’s Andrew Tobias reports, “Amy Acton says she’ll push for new redistricting amendment as Ohio governor.”

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Amy Acton said Monday she plans to help try again to pass a redistricting reform amendment in 2027.

Acton called the amendment that voters defeated in the November 2024 election a “very reasonable attempt” to change redistricting, the process of drawing state legislative and congressional district maps. She said the “lawless” way state Republicans wrote the ballot language describing the amendment “intentionally confused” Ohioans who otherwise would have supported it.