I am about 10 days out from having knee surgery. It was supposed to be a simple knee scope, but much like your typical home improvement project, once they got in there, things were a lot worse than they had thought. It’s definitely put a damper on my spring activity plans, but maybe 6 weeks in a knee brace without being weight bearing will finally allow me to catch up on the Tamil films I haven’t watched yet. - Kumar

“‘H.B. 68 categorically prevents parents from following the recommendations of qualified medical professionals and choosing to treat their children’s gender dysphoria with puberty blockers and hormone therapy,’ the judges wrote.” [Statehouse News Bureau]

An earlier ruling by the Tenth District Court of Appeals was appealed by Ohio Attorney General, David Yost, to the Ohio Supreme Court, which allowed HB 68 to go into effect while the appeal progresses. The appeal process, which is underway and heard arguments a week ago, included some alarming testimony from Ohio’s Solicitor General, Mathura Sridharan. She argued that, the general assembly should be vested with the power to determine whether or not something is healthcare, not “experts in current research, which can result in conclusions that change over time.”

Justice Jennifer Brunner pressed Sridharan on the arbitrary way in which the general assembly may change their definition of healthcare. Sridharan avoided a direct response, instead saying that if elected representatives make a decision that voters dislike, those voters can elect new representatives. It is a terrifying dismissal of the already far reaching implications of allowing healthcare to be decided by a largely misinformed and politically antagonist legislature. The legal approach is, of course, about continuing to concentrate power in the legislature and not about ensuring parents and children are able to make safe, informed, and self-affirming healthcare decisions for themselves. [WYSO]

Ohio House Bill 347, requiring a 24-hour waiting period for a person seeking an abortion in Ohio and House Bill 754, requiring a “certificate of life” be created, filed with the local records office, and that a copy by shared with the pregnant person both progressed in the Ohio House this past week.

Both bills are attempts by Republicans to chip away at the expansive rights conferred by the Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment. That amendment, which among other things, says that, “The State shall not, directly or indirectly, burden, penalize, prohibit, interfere with, or discriminate against” the “voluntary exercise of the right to abortion.” [Ohio Capital Journal]

HB 347 is likely to face a similar fate as an earlier 24-hour waiting period law which was blocked by a Franklin County Court of Common Pleas judge. Opponents of the bill argue it violates numerous sections of the constitution. HB 754 faces a less certain future as because, “the state’s requirement for a fetal death certificate after 20 weeks of gestation remains.” [NBC4]

The massive steel manufacturer in Middletown, OH, which can produce 3 million tons of raw steel a year, was slated under a Biden-era grant, to forge (pun intended) ahead with a billion dollar plus upgrade to their facility to test out, among other things, using green hydrogen to power its blast furnaces. The $500 million grant was part of a $6 billion government push to create heavy industry demonstration projects for decarbonization across different sectors. Once Trump was elected, he swiftly rescinded and cancelled many of those programs.

However, the $500 million grant to Cleveland-Cliffs was left intact. The company, it appears, has been allowed to revise their plan to invest in a green hydrogen process and is instead being allowed, according to a permit filed with the Ohio EPA, to use the funding to repair and replace major equipment at one of their 70+ year old blast furnaces.

The decision by the steel manufacturer, which has facilities in other states including Indiana, could result in an increase in air pollution for the facility in Middletown. Once their facility is renovated, even if it is more efficient, it will likely see an increase in use which would lead to an overall increase in particulate pollution such as “ NOx, PM2.5 and other pollutants” [Canary Media]