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Some Ohioans are indicted for illegal voting.

But there's a very serious problem with one of those cases.

State lawmakers could consider property tax changes as those tax bills ballooned.

And the North Coast was rocking last weekend with a concert that brought in millions of dollars.

That's this weekend.

The state of Ohio.

Welcome to the state of Ohio.

I'm Karen Kasler.

Six Ohioans were indicted last week for illegal voting between 2008 and 2020.

Out of the millions of ballots cast in those dozen years, and it turns out one of those who was indicted has actually been dead for two years.

The indictments, announced by Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, came from around 600 cases of potential voter irregularities referred by Secretary of State Frank Larose, also a Republican.

138 of those cases were thought to involve illegal voting.

Improper voter registration was suspected in the other cases.

And Yost does not have jurisdiction over those.

The indicted individuals are accused of voting at least once, even though they were not U.S. citizens during that period.

But five were permanent residents with green cards.

Yost noted that illegal voting is very rare.

Voting irregularities like this are rare.

There are small number, and you should rest assured your Secretary of State flagged these cases and sent them to me.

I took a look at them and I'm taking appropriate actions and enforcement.

But Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley, a Democrat, said the next day that one indicted Ohioan died in December 2022.

And he added, quote, this is one of the greatest examples of prosecutorial overreach I have ever witnessed.

The practice of indicting the deceased is draconian, end quote.

O'Malley called on Yost to dismiss the indictment, which the AG says he will.

Ohio's 88 county boards of elections are managing early voting and getting prepared for election night.

Less than two weeks away.

But they're also dealing with residents who are using a state law to challenge other Ohioans right to vote.

In some cases, they're questioning thousands of those registrations as duplicates from voters registered elsewhere.

Would County has gotten challenges to 16,000 voter registrations.

Other counties have challenges in smaller numbers.

Elections workers have to review the rolls and may hold hearings on the merits of those challenges.

The requests are coming from people using public data from conservative groups to try to find errors.

But it's not clear if they are targeting Democratic voters.

Many Ohio homeowners are in that period between just having paid property taxes and the next property tax bill coming due.

And for many, the bill is a lot bigger than it was not long ago.

State lawmakers are expected to return to work after next month's election.

And one topic likely on the lame duck agenda is property tax changes and reform.

A bipartisan joint committee was supposed to have put out recommendations for legislation after a series of meetings earlier this year, but has not.

So minority Democrats are trying to push the issue.

I talked with Senator Hershel Craig of Columbus, the assistant minority leader in the Senate, and a member of that committee.

And we have to recognize that there is a housing crisis.

You know, homeowners and families are struggling, trying to make their monthly payments, peak, families are on fixed incomes.

You know, our seniors, we have calls in our office where seniors are literally crying, worried about staying in their homes.

So we don't really have a choice of doing nothing is not a choice.

And so we have to look at that seriously, as you know, in Franklin County and in central Ohio particularly, it was a perfect storm because at the same time, these property tax assets wrong.

Precipitously.

At that same time, our children, we had a, a levy for our schools.

And so it was very, very difficult, for families during that period to make a decision on supporting our children.

At the same time they were struggling with this tax.

You know, the property tax increase.

But whatever you do, you could potentially exacerbate the problem if you try to do a quick fix just to solve it.

Now, couldn't there be an effect down the road?

Well, you know, there needs to obviously be, some long term solutions to this.

We've got to be very thoughtful about this issue.

You're absolutely right.

But but there has to be something that we can do.

It may be, increasing, expanding the, some of the, the home stay at homestead exemption to the other things that we can do that is practical, that is reasonable, that we can do more immediately, but, we have families right now that are struggling significantly, regarding this issue.

And we must be able to do something.

This is our we have a great state, good minds.

And if folks are walking on the moon, then we've got to be able to do something that can help families.

I think the, bill that would temporarily expand the homestead exemption, house Bill 187 is probably the closest one to actually getting passed, but there's about a dozen bills that are out there that talked about capping property tax increases.

Creating a circuit breaker for property taxes.

Tell me about what your proposals have been.

Well, you know, again, you mentioned some of them, you know, and they're bipartisan bills.

And we are they ought to be, because it affects all of our families.

It's not a Republican or Democrat issue.

It's a human issue.

I have six bills that they're a bipartisan bills working with.

Senator, little blessing, working with Senator Reynolds.

These are they're important.

But it's not just introducing the bills that does not do a lot for families.

It's getting them passed and getting them moved.

You know, again, we need to be thoughtful about this.

I certainly you mentioned, the House bill, 187.

I think we can get that done.

And so, obviously, I'm extremely hopeful.

I'm talking to our colleagues all of the time.

We can get this done.

What about the 5% cap on property taxes?

That's one you're involved in.

Well, you know, we call that the circuit breaker.

Where where, you know, in fact, working.

I've had that bill, introduced that bill.

Senator Blessing said let's let's go together on this.

You know, I'm also yes, you know, I'm serving on this, property tax reform committee, and, he is the vice vice chair of that committee.

And so, I think it is reasonable.

I think that's one of the bills I think that we can get done.

I've been working with the auditor, with the Franklin County auditor, Mr.. Sensational.

When I introduced that bill some years ago, I think there's real possibilities in getting getting some movement.

That movement there, it won't please everyone.

But the simple truth is, we've we've got to look at where we can find some short term goals and then, more longer term goals, because property taxes is a complicated issue, but that does not negate our responsibility to really find a fair and equitable way, to, work through our property tax challenges.

You mentioned that you proposed this, several years ago, this is a problem that's been building for a while.

This didn't happen overnight just because of one event.

This has been yeah, multiple factors that have been involved here.

Well, yeah.

And it has.

And I think working with the auditor, we were seeing some things that's going to be happening.

the other part of this, in addition to homeowners, is this issue around renters that has grown exponentially.

And we want to make sure that we're able to retain young people.

They're young college students.

They're graduated.

We want them to stay in Ohio.

And but but that issue around affordability, we have all these wonderful things with Intel and Google and all of this.

That's business.

But we've got to make sure that that we have they can afford the properties to live in Ohio.

This is an issue.

But the Chamber of Commerce and they're excited and they know that the chamber that we've got to be able to do something regarding housing, that is one of their prime initiatives.

And so we have work to do.

Senator blessing has talked on this show about the Joint Committee on Property Tax Review and Reform that you're on.

And one of the things he's talked about is tax abatements and how tax abatements basically make it so that there's less revenue coming in.

So that's more of a burden on homeowners and agriculture owners.

But tax abatements are used by cities like Columbus to encourage development, to bring people and, businesses into communities.

How do you balance that?

Well, let's it has to be a case by case basis.

Garrett has, you know, the reason why Columbus has has had this enormous growth is public and private partnerships.

But you've got to hold the and make sure that they're good corporate partners, that you hold them accountable and responsible.

It can't create development.

But but that's got to be measured as well.

We've got to look at it very carefully on a case by case basis.

And what's the obviously we got to look at the outcome of what we doing, but we're going to look at I think we responsibly have got to look at everything.

Everything is on the table so that we're able to support business, support our families that are our children to support our schools.

And that's sometimes a delicate balance, but it's one in which we've got to look at clearly.

Is there anything that can be done about corporations buying up homes?

Because that's another thing we're seeing in Ohio is companies that are buying up homes that go up for sale, that drives up the cost of homes because there now is less inventory for people to look at.

Listen, I appreciate you raising that issue.

I know, Senator Blessing, I we're on one accord on that one because they're LLCs and they're not good corporate partners, and we difficult to find them.

And so we're looking at that issue too.

Now we want to continue to have development.

Make no mistake about it.

We need to continue to have good corporate partners, in terms as we look at how we do this.

But we've got to make certain that there is accountability across the board, with regard to this matter.

And that's one of those issues we've got to look at very carefully.

Senator blessing says that whatever is recommended that comes out of that committee needs to be completely state funded and means tested.

Now, the, homestead exemption, the temporary expansion of that would not be completely state funded.

But do you think that your colleagues on the Republican and Democratic side would go along with making sure it's completely state funded and means tested?

Well, look, I think the accountability issue needs to be there.

I mean, in terms of the state funding, I mean, it's the people's money.

Whatever we do, we have to be extremely careful that we're doing it efficiently, effectively and thoughtfully, and that there is equity and accountability across the board.

So to that extent, I say, yes.

But again, working in my caucus, I won't get ahead of them.

But but I think it is reasonable to think that if we can find a way mutually respecting way, and across the board, 99 members in the House, 33 members in the Senate, let's come up with a solution that is that is fair.

And that works for all of our families, whether it's an urban center or a suburban center or a rural area where families are struggling that we come up with with solutions that that, effectively impact all of our residents in a positive way.

The panel that you're on was supposed to issue a report this summer, and I've been in touch with Senator Blessing about when that report would come out.

And he said that, the staff is still waiting on the house.

And what they want to do, so is why is this in limbo?

Is this more of the struggle between the leadership in the House and Senate, or what's the holdup?

Listen, I can't say, you know, with you with all of the reasons why, but here's here's what I want to have happen.

We know that people are struggling and they're hurting.

And and I would just encourage all of us, the House and the Senate to come together around common sense.

Common goals to do the work that we've been called to do.

That's my answer to this and my hope, to all of them, we have work to do that's find some common ground that that's done.

The November vote is looming and it's serious business.

But there was also serious business.

And one of the biggest events regularly scheduled in Ohio that blasted away on the North coast last weekend.

The Rock n Roll Hall of Fame welcomed 16 inductees, ranging from Cher to Cool in the gang to Ozzy Osborne to Big Mama Thornton.

The induction ceremony and concert, set for every other year in Cleveland, brings in not only rock stars and other celebrities, but also millions of dollars.

This week, I sat down with Jack Marchbank, who is the recently retired director of the Ohio Department of Transportation and is also a respected expert in music and culture who has been covering the Rock Hall inductions in Cleveland since 2005.

Well, let's talk about this year's class, which, as people can see right behind you is, the t shirt, the official t shirt there.

Which performance was your favorite?

The best.

Which one would you want?

People, if they only could have seen these.

Wow, there's so many.

That's like, who's your favorite child?

And all your kids are looking at you.

Oh, it just started with a bang with, you know, Dua Lipa and Cher with Billy, you know, that.

Just got it off to a stop and start, you know, with Dua Lipa and Cher and of course, also, the gang, even though I didn't get to see, much of that at all.

The other is, Dionne Warwick and, Jennifer Hudson.

Jennifer Hudson has such a fantastic voice of what people may not know is that she actually auditioned for American Idol.

Never made the final cut on a on a Dionne Warwick song.

So she's she's loved Dionne.

I think the song was The Empty Place, one of Dion's more obscure songs.

And, she's loved Dionne Warwick ever since she was a child.

So those were the ones I know, of course.

Peter Frampton, Keith Urban and Roger Daltrey.

It doesn't get any better than that.

And that brings up that it's not just these folks who are there, it's also other celebrities and musical artists who come in to perform with them and introduce them.

So you get you get a whole gamut of really star studded performances.

In many cases, some of the induction ceremony, some of the comments and the intros are actually better than the performances you had.

Dave Chappelle, he showed up, for some induction.

And, of course, Chuck D is always poignant.

He says these days people listen too much with their eyes.

They need to listen with their ears, hearts and minds.

And I said, oh, let me write that down.

Now.

Cher said something kind of interesting about how it was harder to get divorced from two men than it was to get into the Rock n Roll Hall shows.

You did.

And she basically backstage said she forgave everybody.

And, that was good to know.

And, it's really I learned something I didn't know.

I didn't know that Robert cool.

Bill was from Youngstown.

I always thought that the cool in a gang where is new Jersey is where they rose to fame.

I thought he was from new Jersey.

And he said, no, no, you know.

No, we're from Youngstown.

You were like The Beverly Hillbillies.

We got in our in our, station wagon and drove to new Jersey.

You know, I said, okay, so very, very exciting.

Now, it was 5.5 hours.

That's an awful long time.

Why is it 5.5 hours?

First of all, it's a party, you know, and, you have industry types who mix and chat and, you know, they talk to each other and, again, they know they're going to edit it for TV.

So they're not really watching the clock like you usually do in production.

So you want people to really express themselves.

So you get those nuggets like from Chuck D or some of the great things from Dionne Warwick, like when she heard she was being inducted, she said, why, why, why be a good doctor, you know?

And she said, I never thought of myself as a rock n roll her.

But when she got backstage rage with, Jennifer Hudson, she said she realized how much her music meant to all these people.

And you can you can see the connection is all.

Enter mash, this one tapestry.

All of music.

And there was no super jam this time.

There hasn't been one for a while.

Why not?

Well, you would think with a Dave Matthews Band there, it would have been a super jam.

Again, I, I don't know who rules the production, but it is Disney, that, you know, runs the thing now.

So I suppose they have their reasons.

I think the performers get most of the attention.

Do you think there's enough attention paid to the people who are being inducted?

Not as performers?

People?

The musical excellence Award, the Musical influence award?

Oh, definitely.

Definitely.

And this year they had two that were really exciting.

Norman Whitfield, who's responsible for some of the temptations greatest hits and, responsible for it.

When Stars War, which became an anthem in the late 60s, early 70s.

Of course, Papa was a rolling Stone.

That's that's a chestnut.

And I've always been impressed with the professionalism and elegance and intelligence of Susan de Paz, she said.

I have one talent is that she says, my talent is I can identify people who have it and I know what to do with it.

Once I identified she, she basically discovered the Jackson five.

Although Diana Ross kind of took credit for it.

She discovered the Jackson five, she discovered DeBarge, she signed Rick James, she signed the Commodores.

Really powering Motown and its latter years.

Now it gets a little bittersweet sometimes, I think, because you have performers who can't make it, performers who literally can't make it, like Jimmy Buffett, who passed away, performers who are there but can't perform like Ozzy Osborne.

So it's it's kind of a bittersweet thing as you're watching some of these artists get older and be unable to do what they did to rise to fame.

Well, yeah, it's always, you know, painful to see them get frail.

You know, Peter Frampton, everybody's vision of him as this guy with flowing blond locks, you know, on the cover of Frampton Comes Alive and he had a cane.

I'm like, oh, you know that that wasn't, you know, pleasant to see.

But it really is always good to know that their music lives on in their music.

That's eternally young.

Somebody said something.

I think it might have been, Greg Harris.

Somebody said, you know, rock and roll is not just, you know, the music.

It's it's a spirit, an attitude.

And, that's really great.

I thought that was a great statement.

My, my biggest disappointment is that nobody did a big Mama Thornton song.

She I was hoping that somebody would do a hound dog, but they didn't.

And Greg Harris would be the CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall.

Yes, yes.

Music.

Let me ask you, in 2022, Dolly Parton was inducted into the hall, and there were some people saying that.

Oh 21 2121 in 2021, Dolly Parton was inducted into the hall.

There were folks who were saying she didn't belong there.

And it really started this debate over what is rock music.

Where does that debate stand right now?

Do you think?

Again, the very wise Chuck D says it's rock and roll of rock is all the guitar stuff.

Roll is everything from gospel to blues to country to soul music, to world music.

That's the roll.

That's the expansive part of it.

So I really so I stole that from Chuck.

That's, That's why I think it works.

There are nearly 400 inductees in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum.

You could see in Cleveland the whole hall that's there.

Do you think induction into the Rock Hall is still as big a deal as it always was in music, or what do you think of it now?

Oh, it is still was a big deal.

You have people who, are in a Grammy museum.

You have people who are in the Blues Hall of Fame, the Soul Music Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Like Dolly.

And it's still an honor.

It's it's the highest honor in popular music.

And I and I say that with some trepidation because I personally am a jazz fan as well.

And I love the NEA Jazz Masters.

The only thing that competes with it in my mind is NEA Jazz Master, so I do, in which Miles Davis happens to be both.

He happens to be in NEA Jazz Master and and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

So I think, to answer your question, Karen, yes, it still has that gravitas.

It still has a lot of importance.

The let you know that London now wants them to stage the Rock Hall induction ceremony in London, and Nashville wants it, so that's good and bad.

That means that the cycle will elongate.

I did some research is the Rock Hall induction ceremony has occurred pretty regularly every three years in Cleveland.

But if you at London and you at Nashville that that's five years.

So we're looking at goodness gracious we're looking at 2029 before it's back in Cleveland.

You know, I can only do this so long.

I was just going to ask, do you feel like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is still Ohio centric?

It's still Ohio gets the attention or is it become New York centric?

Or now we're talking about potentially international.

It's around the world.

It's always been an international, because of the artists that is brought in.

But I still think it's Ohio centric.

And the point of fact is that they're expanding 50,000ft², $150 million expansion that's occurring.

It's already started.

Greg Harris and company got the money.

I think they announced it back in April of 2023.

They have the money.

They're under construction.

If you're anybody, you know, your listeners familiar with Cleveland and Rock Hall, it's to the west.

And between Cleveland and between the Rock Hall and that science, building.

So it'll be kind of like a harbor thing.

So the Great Lakes Science Museum.

Yeah, the Great Lakes Science museum, that's it.

And it's, they're they're expecting that to be open in 2026.

So that's exciting.

So you're certainly we're looking at 30.

It'll be 30 years next year.

I actually was there with, George Voinovich.

God bless his soul.

And, stood on line with Mike Tirico, when we were waiting to get in for the actual inaugural, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum opening back in September of 1995.

So this upcoming September of next year will mark 30 years.

So they have 30 years worth of stuff they've gotten from these rock.

So I'm sure they're they're ready to, declutter and spread some of that stuff out.

With the new space, I remember a sound bite from, Governor George Voinovich around that time.

Somebody was asking him about, you know, this museum opening, and he said, I don't know anything about rock roll.

You know, he was into, polka.

So.

So.

Yeah.

But but he was visionary.

He knew he knew a good thing when he saw it.

And so that was a very wise investment.

$2.3 billion since it's open has come to Cleveland in terms of economic benefit, $50 million every time they host the ceremony, and about $240 million a year, from people who travel in and out of that museum every day.

And yeah, this year sold out concert at the same time as the Guardians were doing their playoff run.

So a lot it's still it's still sold out.

Absolutely.

It's still sold out.

This is an interesting museum in that it's not, the inductees, they're not there because they've sold the most records or they're not there because of a specific metric.

And fans also can help get their favorite artists into the Rock hall.

So it's really a a bigger it's not like, like the Grammy Museum is about how many Grammys you've won.

And and there's a connection to success there.

And there's a nice rejoinder to that.

Peter Frampton actually got in because of fans.

And he actually backstage.

Thank everybody for the fans who voted him in.

And my I think my wife voted many, many times for Janet Jackson back in 2018 or 2021.

Whatever.

She got it.

You got a dog that so fans can, vote.

And unlike regular politics, I think they can vote more than once.

And it's actually allowed.

An edited version of the sold out concert will air on ABC on New Year's Day.

And that is it for this week for my colleagues at the Statehouse News Bureau of Ohio Public Media.

Thanks for watching.

Please check out our website at State News Talk or find us online by searching.

State of Ohio show.

You can also hear more from the Bureau on our podcast, The Ohio State House scoop.

Look for it every Monday morning wherever you get your podcasts.

And please join us again next time for the State of Ohio.

A.

Support for the Statehouse News Bureau comes from Medical Mutual, dedicated to the health and well-being of Ohioans, offering health insurance plans, as well as dental, vision and wellness programs to help people achieve their goals and remain healthy.

More at Med mutual.com.

The law offices of Porter, right, Morris and Arthur LLP.

Porter Wright is dedicated to bringing inspired legal outcomes to the Ohio business community.

More at porterwright.com.

Porter Wright inspired Every day in Ohio Education Association, representing 120,000 educators who are united in their mission to create the excellent public schools.

Every child deserves more at OHEA.org.