Sam Randazzo

Recreational cannabis is legal in the state of Ohio, but legislators are determined to make changes to the law that was overwhelmingly approved by voters. Republican State Rep. Jaime Callender joins the show.

Randazzo, 74, was charged with 11 counts, including one count of conspiring to commit travel act bribery and honest services wire fraud, two counts of travel act bribery, two counts of honest services wire fraud, one count of wire fraud and five counts of making illegal monetary transactions.

FirstEnergy figured they could get their customers to subsidize their poorly performing nuclear power plants. To do so, they paid a $4 million bribe to Sam Randazzo just before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him as the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

FirstEnergy figured they could get their customers to subsidize their poorly performing nuclear power plants. To do so, they paid a $4 million bribe to Sam Randazzo just before Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine appointed him as the chair of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.

Ohio’s governor and lieutenant governor have been drawn into a FirstEnergy Corp. investors lawsuit connected to the $60 million bribery scheme concocted by the energy giant and a now-incarcerated House speaker.

Lawyers disagreed sharply in arguments before the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday over whether $8 million in assets belonging to the state's former top utility regulator should have been frozen after he was caught up in a sweeping Statehouse bribery investigation.

The Ohio Supreme Court announced Tuesday that it will take up a dispute over the freezing of $8 million in assets belonging to a former top utility regulator caught up in the sweeping Statehouse bribery scheme alleged by federal prosecutors.

A three-judge panel on the 10th District Court of Appeals ruled today that a Columbus judge improperly froze $8 million of assets of Sam Randazzo.

Documents produced at the end of July shed light on Sam Randazzo’s role at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. But more documents before and after his tenure still haven’t been produced.

The Statehouse News Bureau takes a look back at 2021 and the fallout of what’s been called the largest corruption scandal in Ohio history.