Ohio Senate

Small, inexpensive tracking devices including Apple AirTags and other GPS trackers can help you find your purse or keys but some criminals are using that technology to track people without their knowledge.

The "Backpack Bill" is being considered by Ohio lawmakers, and some supporters are hoping it gets included in the new two-year state budget.

Republicans say the bill will ensure more "intellectual diversity" on campus, but opponents have turned out by the hundreds over concerns about its language on controversial issues and its ban on most mandatory diversity training and faculty strikes.

A plan by some Republicans to put before voters in an August election a change in Ohio's constitution is being considered but lawmakers are running out of time to get it on that ballot.

Hundreds of peole spoke out or filed written testimony against the bill to make changes in higher education in Ohio. Its sponsor said some of their concerns will be addressed, but other provisions will remain.

Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima) said he's looking at changes to tax policy and education as his chamber gets the budget from the Ohio House.

Senate Bill 83, a Republican effort to eliminate "liberal bias" in Ohio's colleges and universities, has drawn enormous opposition, It may pass anyway.

Republicans in the Ohio House and Senate move measures to make it harder to amend the constitution and a plan to put a vote on that onto the August ballot, before a reproductive rights amendment comes to the ballot as expected in November.

One of the Republican-backed bills affects trans athletes participating in women's sports, and the other would ban hormone therapies or gender affirming treatments on Ohioans under 18 years old.

Republican Senator Jerry Cirino said he introduced the bill because he thinks liberal bias in Ohio's public universities is out of hand.