This week was chock full of news with big implications for the Dayton area, not the least of which being the sudden announcement of the state’s plans to build a 200-bed, state-run behavioral health hospital in the region. I’ll fill you in on what you need to know. If you have any tips, comments, or questions, I’d love to hear them. You can reach me at 614-981-1422, avery.kreemer@coxinc.com or @AveryKreemer on X. You can also follow our political coverage on our website and through our Ohio Politics Facebook page. Pending lawmaker approval, Dayton to land an expected $100M+ behavioral health hospital • The tip: The state unveiled a new spending bill this week that contained a surprise line item: $10 million for a “Dayton Behavioral Health Hospital.” Given that Dayton does not have a behavioral health hospital, nor have there been public talks to bring one here, you could say that my interest was piqued. • The story: It took a day or so, but I finally got confirmation that the $10 million is to complete phase one of an entirely new plan to build a state-run behavioral health hospital to serve Montgomery County and surrounding counties. There’s currently no concrete estimate of how much the project might cost the state, nor where the hospital will be located. • Why? Gov. Mike DeWine told me that Dayton was the next logical place to build a behavioral health hospital because the other population centers of the state already have one, and because the state is actively trying to increase its capacity in order to meet the needs of the mental health crisis. • Important note: The project isn’t a done deal yet. It’s part of a $3.5 billion spending bill that is expected to be passed with minimal revisions before the end of this month. DeWine said he fully expects this to go through. Text messages link DeWine to FirstEnergy dark money payment • The story: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine denies any wrongdoing after facing renewed questions regarding his connections to the FirstEnergy scandal after text messages have emerged between DeWine and the company’s CEO, who was indicted this year on bribery charges. • Texts with indicted parties: The newly surfaced texts, first reported and obtained by Cleveland.com, were exchanged in 2018, back when then-Attorney General DeWine was in a tight race for governor with Democrat Richard Cordray. In them, DeWine asked to chat with then-CEO of FirstEnergy Chuck Jones, who has since been indicted on bribery charges, after noting that an Ohio teachers union had just donated $1 million to Cordray. • The result: Soon thereafter, Jones was messaged by Michael Dowling, another company official who has since been indicted on bribery charges, confirming that DeWine will be the beneficiary of a $500,000 contribution to a dark money group. Local political news of the week • Centerville delays vote on Antani ouster: Centerville city council added and then removed plans to consider a resolution to demand the immediate resignation of sitting Ohio Sen. Niraj Antani, R-Miami Twp, for his decision not to meet with the city regarding public projects that could have garnered significant state funds. Antani called it a misunderstanding; the city’s mayor said the vote was delayed in order to give Antani a chance to address council. Here’s the story from Eric Schwartzberg. • Riverside flirts with state’s first ranked choice voting law: Riverside might give its citizens the chance to enact ranked choice voting this November, which would be the first in state history. The system allows voters to rank candidates based on preference instead of making a zero-sum pick. Cory Frolik has the story. • Judge accused of making employee do yardwork: Montgomery County judge Richard Skelton allegedly required a county employee to complete manual labor “such as mowing his lawn, landscaping, moving furniture,” according to a federal lawsuit that resulted in a settlement, uncovered during Dayton Daily News’ Payroll Project. Sydney Dawes has the story. State political news of the week • New effort to commemorate freed slaves denied their legal property: Columbus Democrat Rep. Dontavius Jarrells is behind a move to recognize the trials of the Randolph Freedpeople, a group of about 400 slaves who in the 1840s were violently turned away from their legally owned property in Mercer County before largely settling in Miami County. Here’s my story on the local history and modern efforts. • Slacking villages face new threat: The Ohio House moved to pass a regulatory bill that would create an automatic audit to ensure that village governments are providing critical services to their residents and to ensure that locals are actually partaking in village elections. If they aren’t, voters would automatically be given the option to dissolve the village’s government. Here’s my story. • Regularly schedule voter purge lists 159k Ohioans: The state is set to purge many Ohioans from the registered voter database after years of inactivity. You can check the state’s database to see if you’re on the list before the upcoming election. Lynn Hulsey has the story. National political news of the week • Potential new U.S. defense budget promises millions: Following the U.S. House’s passage of a defense bill, U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Dayton, boasted over $50 million out of a $884 million bill that would go toward Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. That total, still needing agreement from the Senate, includes $45 million to construct a new lab at Wright-Patterson and another $9 million to plan and design a new research lab. Tom Gnau has the full story. • Biden to announce immigration policy update: President Joe Biden is planning to announce a sweeping new policy that would lift the threat of deportation for about 490,000 people married to U.S. citizens, an aggressive election-year action on immigration that had been sought by many Democrats. The Associated Press has the story. | 
