Durable medical equipment has long been exempt from trade tariffs, but President Trump’s decision to include medical devices in new tariff policies is sparking concern among healthcare experts, who warn that rural hospitals, clinics, and medical equipment suppliers could face sharp cost increases as a result.

“The overarching concern from all kinds of hospitals, but in particular rural hospitals, is that the tariffs, if implemented fully, could potentially impact both the costs of delivering care and the availability of certain supplies to meet the needs of patients,” said Akin Demehin, vice president of quality and safety policy at the American Hospital Association (AHA). 

Demehin said that tariffs could touch a large spectrum of medical equipment. 

“We’re talking about things as complex as MRI machines or as simple as masks,” Demehin said. 

Rapidly shifting tariff policies have made it difficult to track their full impact, but experts warn that the tariffs could disrupt supply chains, drive up costs, and place added financial strain on hospitals—especially in rural and underserved areas. Increased expenses may also hinder innovation, limit access to care, and worsen treatment delays.

Anticipating Strains in Rural Medical Supply Chains

“Given the important role of our work in making America healthy, we are concerned that tariffs placed on medical and dental equipment threaten to disrupt the supply chain and raise costs for these critical items,” ten healthcare organizations said in an April letter to US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “This ultimately places further financial pressure on providers, hospitals, and health systems, particularly those located in rural and medically underserved areas.” 

A February 2025 survey of 200 healthcare professionals by Black Book Market Research, a healthcare market research company, found that 82% expected hospital and health system costs to rise by at least 15% within six months due to increased import expenses. Additionally, 90% of supply chain professionals anticipated significant disruptions in procurement and contract negotiations. Among the 21 hospital finance executives surveyed, 90% planned to shift rising costs to insurers and patients through higher service charges. Meanwhile, 84% of payers anticipate increased claims costs driven by higher prices for medical treatments and drugs.

Demehin said independent rural hospitals and clinics face unique challenges due to limited storage space and the short shelf life of critical supplies like IV solutions and medications. While they can collaborate closely with purchasing groups to source efficiently, stockpiling is often constrained, making it harder for smaller centers to navigate price hikes and strained supply chains compared to larger providers.

“Independent rural facilities are continuously working to make their supply chains more resilient,” Demehin said. “Working through both price increases and supply disruptions for smaller facilities can look a bit more complex and in some ways, a little bit more challenging than for other kinds of facilities.” 

The AHA said the consequences of these disruptions could be severe. 

“Disruption in the availability of these instruments would curtail hospitals’ ability to perform life-saving surgeries and keep patients safe from contagion and greatly reduce our ability to effectively diagnose and monitor patient conditions,” said Richard Pollack, president and chief executive officer of the AHA, in a February letter to President Trump. 

Allen Hunt, president of Hart Medical Equipment, a medical supplies company serving Michigan and Ohio, expressed concern about the growing challenges suppliers face in maintaining patient services, especially in rural areas. He highlighted that logistical difficulties and economic pressures—like tariffs and financial uncertainty—are making it harder to provide essential, often unprofitable services that are still crucial to communities. 

“I am worried about the ability of not just Hart, but suppliers in general, to continue to provide any level of service at all to these patients, particularly in the rural communities where it’s further away,” Hunt said. “There are some things we will not do for people in some of our farming communities because it’s just too far to drive. If we can do it via UPS, we’ll do that. But some of these products require specialized instruction and training for people to make sure they’re using them right.” 

These strains are limiting their ability to offer in-person support for complex products, reducing access for patients who need specialized training. Additionally, financial constraints are making it difficult to retain staff, which further impacts patient care and timely product delivery.

“At the end of the day, if these tariffs hit, you will likely have suppliers that will close. And then a lot of suppliers that are left will shrink their product offerings to only those things that are most profitable,” Hunt said. 

Wheelchair Accessibility Is at Stake

Marc Krizack, CEO of RoughRider America, a company that provides all-terrain wheelchairs to people domestically and abroad is experiencing first-hand the uncertainty of tariffs. 

Krizack said that rural communities have unique accessibility needs and RoughRiders wheelchairs are designed to offer rural users as much mobility as possible. 

“In rural communities, there’s different needs. Some people are farmers and they want to be able to get into their field,” Krizack said. “Or it’s just the road between their house and and their mailbox is all gravel and difficult to cross with standard wheelchairs.”

“Getting around outside the house is a bigger hurdle in rural communities. It requires traveling further distances,” said Dr. Carrie Henning-Smith, co-director of the Rural Health Research Center at the University of Minnesota. “You might not have a walkway from your home. You might not have a sidewalk in front of your home. You might have a lot of land that you’re on or that you’re near and getting around that can be really tricky.”

As supplies run low in his California warehouse, Krizack faces mounting uncertainty and expense due to looming tariffs. RoughRider’s Chinese manufacturer requires a 90-day lead time for production, so Krizack must place orders months in advance, gambling on future costs and navigating an increasingly unpredictable pricing landscape.

“I have to kind of be able to figure out 90 days, plus another three or four weeks for shipping, in advance what’s going to be happening with the tariffs. I have to guess the tariff policy, but I have no idea,” Krizack said. “And the other big problem is, I’m so small that a little change (in tariffs) is significant for me.” 

Trump’s sweeping tariffs sparked a trade clash with China, leading to escalating duties on both sides. A May agreement cut U.S. tariffs from 145% to 30% and set a 90-day deadline for a broader deal, with China agreeing to ease key export restrictions.

As of June 2025, the Trump administration said they would impose a total 55% tariff on Chinese imports by combining a 10% baseline tariff, a 20% China-specific duty, and existing 25% tariffs from Trump’s first term.

Krizack said that if he had to move all his manufacturing to the US, his costs would triple, making the wheelchairs prohibitively expensive for customers. 

As he faces the uncertainty of the future, Krizack said he is committed to the RoughRider mission but also can only bear so much financial loss. 

“I have been involved in this field since 1977 really, and it’s what I’m committed to doing. It’s a good thing to do, and I like to do it,” Krizack said. “But at the same time, it’s got to be worth it. There’s some point at which I don’t want to be a volunteer.”

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The post Trump’s Tariffs Will Hurt Rural Healthcare Centers and Medical Suppliers, Experts Warn appeared first on The Daily Yonder.

Two years ago, Wadsworth, Ohio, saw armed Nazis descend on a drag storytelling hour. Now, the small Medina County town will see its first out nonbinary candidate on the November ballot.

Angela “Gie” May is running for the Ward 4 seat on Wadsworth City Council. It’s their first run for office, but they have been a presence in the town’s politics for some time and have volunteered with multiple organizations such as Medina County Parks.

May described themselves as not just a problem-solver, but an example of how queer people bring a unique perspective and are just as capable as their straight counterparts.

“If they can see a queer person giving back to the community and being an active member, that will have an influence on them,” May said.

Becoming part of a community

Wadsworth was not the most welcoming environment when May first moved there in 2019, they said. Seeing all the Trump flags and “God and country” rhetoric made them prepare to move to Lakewood.

But as they prepared to move, May got involved in politics. They restarted the Wadsworth Democrats Club and began to feel a sense of community – and they stayed.

“It was the first time probably since high school that I had that group of people that felt like a community, that had people I could rely on,” May said.

May helped the organizer of the drag story hour and warned the organizer as discussions started to heat up. When the event started to lose support from the community and gain controversy, May backed away as people involved became uncomfortable by the incoming backlash.

But the controversy is not a good representation of Wadsworth’s neighborly community, they said. If someone posts online about needing new shoes, May said, 20 people will offer to drop a pair off at their door.

“We have that community feel of support and loving each other,” May said.

Bringing a different perspective

If elected, May wants to address the price of EV charging stations, implementing curbside recycling citywide, and creating infrastructure improvements like more crosswalks. Their queerness also brings a perspective that “is greatly lacking on the current council,” they said. For example, they said, every City Council meeting still starts with a prayer, which can make LGBTQ+ attendees feel uncomfortable due to religious trauma.

“Being plugged into the fears and the concerns the queer community has gives me a perspective that I don’t think anybody else on council has even thought about,” May said.

May has not begun their campaign just yet. They plan to march in the Blue Tip Parade, a parade referencing Wadsworth’s ties to the matchstick industry. There, they will wear a campaign shirt and hand out paraphernalia.

But May is hopeful that they will receive a positive response from the community. When the Wadsworth Democrats Club first marched in the Blue Tip Parade with progressive flags, there was a subtle, but real, response.

“I remember seeing someone crying,” May recalled. “Even though we got a little bit of pushback, there were a few people quietly in the corner giving us a thumbs up or quietly applauding because they don’t feel safe yet.”

May has met with Wadsworth Mayor Robin Laubaugh and their Republican opponent David Parish, both of whom applauded May’s commitment to the community, May said.

“I feel like there is a lot that could be done to make Wadsworth feel like a safe place,” May said. “Hopefully, I’m going to start to do that.”

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IGNITE ACTION

• Angela “Gie” May’s campaign website can be found here.
• To register to vote or to check your voter eligibility status in the state of Ohio, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio state representative, click here.
• To find contact information for your Ohio senator, click here.

The post Wadsworth, Ohio’s first out nonbinary candidate runs for City Council appeared first on The Buckeye Flame.

Clermont County may be the eighth oldest county in Ohio, but it is the newest to host a Pride celebration.

The inaugural Clermont County Pride promises a full day of exciting activities and community building on Saturday, June 14 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at Riverside Park in Milford, Ohio.

Located just 30 minutes east of downtown Cincinnati, the suburban and rural county encompasses the cities of Milford and Loveland, the village of Batavia, and a number of smaller communities.

Several passionate residents of this politically conservative locale felt compelled to organize their own grassroots Pride celebration this year – one that’s highly communal in nature and geared specifically toward the lived experiences of local LGBTQ+ individuals.

The event will host various food trucks, over 55 vendors, energetic music, face painting and several drag shows throughout the day.

Organizers of this inaugural event are aiming to establish Clermont County’s unique foothold in the Greater Cincinnati LGBTQ+ community, serving as a distinct and exciting addition to existing parades and festivals. Ashli Sheldon has spearheaded these efforts, with the assistance and support of her mother, Melanie.

Ashli Sheldon’s collegiate years spent at Brescia University allowed her to develop a broader, more inclusive perspective on love. “I got to see how love can be in so many different ways, with so many different people – it’s beautiful,” she reflects.

Though this perspective has become standard thinking in her own life, she is attentive to Clermont County’s past and present limitations in embracing and celebrating LGBTQ+ individuals.

With the help of other like-minded county constituents, Sheldon hopes that this inaugural Pride event sparks an era of greater acceptance in Clermont County. The event aims to develop a stronger sense of hope and unity in the area, serving as a direct representation of love’s many beautiful forms.

Drawing contrast to the larger and more densely populated Pride celebrations taking place in downtown Cincinnati this June, Clermont County’s event is intended to be more intimate. The event will take place rain or shine.

“It’ll just be at a little park. It’s not streets and streets citywide,” Sheldon said. “It’s going to be fun and carefree, and there will be lots of things for all ages.”

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IGNITE ACTION

• Learn more about Clermont County Pride by visiting their Facebook event page here.
• The Buckeye Flame’s 2025 Ohio Pride Guide is available here.

The post Ohio’s Clermont County to host inaugural Pride celebration appeared first on The Buckeye Flame.

A rural Ohio fairgrounds has canceled the contract to host a “conference” that LGBTQ+ advocates say was a conversion therapy bootcamp. 

A group called the Pastors Action Coalition signed a contract to rent the Market Hall at the Mercer County Fairgrounds on the western edge of Ohio. The rental was part of a two-day event called “Come, Let’s Reason Together.” The gathering consisted of three separate parts:

• “Understanding the Journey Out of Homosexuality”
• “Ministering Truth to Those Who Identify as LGBTQ”
• “Come, Let’s Reason Together: We cordially invite members of the LGBTQ+ community to come and respectfully dialogue with us. Our aim will be for those of all beliefs to listen and move toward truth and understanding, recognizing Jesus’ desire for us to experience the life that is found only in Him. This session is for a mature audience.”

“Conversion therapy … with a fresh coat of paint”

The guest speaker for the event was announced as Daren Mehl, associate director of Agape First Ministries in Minnesota. According to the ministry’s website, Mehl is in favor of conversion therapy and signed an open letter that decries New South Wales, Australia’s law prohibiting prayer-based conversion efforts.

On the Agape website, Mehl describes himself and his wife as “coming out of the LGBTQ+ community” 20 years ago. His blog posts cite discredited studies that suggest conversion therapy works, including one denounced by its own author, psychiatrist Robert Spitzer, after anti-LBGTQ+ activists used it to legitimize conversion therapy. Spitzer was also a leading figure in declassifying homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Arienne Childrey, who  serves as the first out transgender city council member of St. Marys, Ohio, said the event was “little more than a conversion therapy seminar with a new coat of paint.” Childrey ran unsuccessfully for state representative in District 84, which includes Mercer County.

The praying model of conversion therapy can put additional pressures on the victim, Childrey said. When victims do not respond to the therapy, they receive the blame because they did not “pray hard enough, weren’t faithful enough, or just didn’t love God the right way.”

“My concern is with those who don’t get a choice—LGBTQ+ youth, family members, or community members who end up suffering because someone close to them took this message to heart and turned it into a weapon,” she told The Buckeye Flame.

Contract: canceled

Visibility for – and opposition to – “Come, Let’s Reason Together” skyrocketed on April 8, when Have a Gay Day, a Dayton-based nonprofit supporting the LGBTQ+ community, shared a post about the event on its Facebook page. The page has 1.6 million followers. 

Michael Knote, executive director of Have a Gay Day, said he shared the post to bring visibility to what was happening in the community. 

“We looked at how the event was worded and had some concerns,” Knote said. “While the narrative overtone was ‘come sit with us,’ there were undertones also that could be seen as far less than kind. The audience agreed with us and our concerns, and many local residents reached out, sharing their concerns locally.”

Two days later, the rental contract had been canceled. 

In a press release on April 10, the Mercer County Fairgrounds said that “the event was initially presented to be a pastoral conference” but had “evolved into a highly controversial demonstration, which is not what was discussed.” 

“After consulting with our legal counsel, it was determined to rescind the rental,” the release stated. 

The next day, the fairgrounds released a different statement about the cancellation: 

“The event was canceled due to security and safety concerns, not because of anything that was represented, or not represented, by the rental applicant. The rental applicant did not misrepresent the purpose of the event, or any other related details, in its rental application or through other information provided to the Mercer County Fairgrounds.”

When reached for comment, Mercer County Fairground Manager Cara Muhlenkam told The Buckeye Flame that the event had been “evolving into more” but that she couldn’t comment further as the fairgrounds had been approached by Meyer’s attorneys. 

Muhlenkam clarified that the group received a discounted rate because they were not using the space for the full day, not because of “who was renting it.” 

The man behind the curtain

Aletheia Christian Church Pastor Shawn Meyer rented the fairgrounds with an organization called the Pastors Action Coalition, according to a rental agreement.

Meyer uses an online pseudonym, “Hanz Meyer,” and has harassed Pride organizers through social media. He is listed as an administrator in anti-LGBTQ+ Facebook groups like “Protect Celina’s Children.” and has previously stated that LGBTQ+ people are “enslaved by [the devil],” and that drag performances at Pride “appeal to abnormal unhealthy interests.”

When the first posts appeared online about the event, Meyer labeled people against the event as “homosexual activists.”

“Please pray that the intolerance of a small segment of our population does not prevail in the attempt to silence the message of the gospel,” he said.

Childrey defended the rights of people to protest the event.

“It’s more than a little ironic to see folks who regularly organize protests of local Pride events suddenly screaming foul when the LGBTQ+ community dares to exercise that same right in response to theirs,” Childrey said.

Conversion therapy on minors is currently banned in 13 municipalities in Ohio. There are no municipalities in Mercer County that have banned the widely discredited practice.

A bill to end conversion therapy on minors statewide was introduced in the Ohio Senate earlier this year.

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IGNITE ACTION

• The Buckeye Flame’s 2025-26 guide to Ohio’s LGBTQ+ legislation can be found here.

The post After community pushback, rural Ohio fairgrounds cancels conversion therapy event appeared first on The Buckeye Flame.

Months of proactive community engagement appeared to be paying off for the developer of the Grange Solar Grazing Center agrivoltaics project in central Ohio. Open Road Renewables knew it faced an uphill battle before the state energy-siting board, whose recent deference to local opponents has helped make Ohio one of…

MARIETTA, Ohio — Most Sunday afternoons, Glenn Newman hosts church in his living room. It’s much cozier than a typical religious space, with stuffed leather recliners and gas logs glowing in the fireplace. More a grandparent’s den than a sanctuary.

A half-dozen attendees watch a sermon from a California pastor and follow along with a study guide. Afterward, they make small talk between bites of homemade nachos and chocolate cake prepared by Newman’s next-door neighbors.

Quietly, over the past 15 years, these small group Bible-study-style gatherings have been the foundation for a movement that appears to punch above its weight in terms of political influence.

It started in 2009 when Newman invited his neighbors over for dinner. Like him, they were angered by the Great Recession of 2008 and the ensuing $800 billion American Recovery and Rescue Act.

“I realized that my grandchildren would never enjoy the lifestyle I’ve had,” Newman said.

This was the Tea Party era of U.S. politics, when a populist social movement — animated by a backlash to the George W. Bush administration’s bailout of banks deemed “too big to fail,” along with the election and policies of Barack Obama — was catapulted into the national spotlight.

Small groups like Newman’s popped up all over the country, amplified and supported by a pre-existing political advocacy infrastructure powered by Big Oil.

In southeast Ohio, Newman’s early gatherings evolved into the Marietta 9-12 group, which aligned with the Tea Party and prominent Fox News personality Glenn Beck. Throughout the 2010s, the 9-12 group hosted a range of events, including candidate forums and presentations from organizations like Turning Point USA.

Newman and the 9-12 group also unequivocally supported President Donald Trump. Several members attended the “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C. — a galvanizing moment for Newman.

“We had a bunch of people there,” Newman said (he rejects the term “insurrection”). 100 Days and the Independent confirmed that multiple people affiliated with his group attended the rally at the U.S. Capitol, although they did not enter the Capitol building.

“After January 6, I told my wife, ‘We can’t continue this meet, greet, eat, retreat, so we are going to become a citizens action coalition,’” he said.

For Newman, it was time for a renewed push for lasting political change in the country. The Mid-Ohio Valley Citizens Action Coalition, or MOVCAC, launched in June 2021 and has grown to include chapters across West Virginia and in Meigs and Washington counties in southeast Ohio.

MOVCAC’s influence on local and state politics reflects the nation’s current moment: a time when right-wing politics has fused with a version of Christianity that calls for a strict interpretation of Old Testament biblical law.

Mixing politics and religion in the Mid-Ohio Valley

MOVCAC holds its public meetings every other Monday in the sanctuary of Freedom Gate Church in Marietta, Ohio. While some attendees are also regulars at Newman’s home church, the crowd has grown beyond the confines of his living room, with dozens of people regularly attending MOVCAC’s meetings.

At the public meetings, members welcome newcomers with open arms; they laugh and cry together, and catch up on life’s goings-on. Discussions range from local school board races to presidential politics, alternative medicine, community news and homemade pickles.

They also pray together — for each other and for the nation’s spiritual redemption.

Newman runs the meetings from behind a lectern at the front of the church’s sanctuary. Freedom Gate Senior Pastor Rodney Lord is often there too, offering opening prayers and running the soundboard.

While Lord claims no “official role” in MOVCAC, he says that most members “are very encouraged that I’m a pastor who will show up to a meeting like this, or even speak out on an issue, that kind of thing.”

Lord and Newman, who have known each other for years, both say their conservative political activism is informed by their Christianity. This has manifested itself in legislative pushes, like collaborating with other faith leaders and anti-abortion groups to lobby Ohio lawmakers to eventually pass the Heartbeat Bill in 2019. It was one of the strictest abortion laws in the country before being declared unconstitutional in 2024.

That bill, Newman said, “reflects my commitment to protecting life.”

For Lord, the bill reflects dominion theology, a system of religious belief that seeks a society whose laws are based on an extremely conservative interpretation of Christianity. Lord is a “church ambassador” for Center for Christian Virtue, an Ohio-based lobbying group, which has pushed anti-LGBTQ policy in that state.

Mainline Christian leaders criticized Gov. Mike DeWine’s office for including CCV in discussions with the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, citing the Southern Poverty Law Center’s 2015-16 designation of CCV as a hate group for their extreme anti-LGBTQ agenda.

“The message of his (Christ’s) kingdom throughout the New Testament was, it would influence every mountain of culture, every sphere,” said Lord.

There are seven major spheres — or “mountains” — of influence, he added, including government, family, arts and entertainment, media, education, and business. It’s a belief system, he said, that hearkens back to when the church was the “predominant influence on culture” in the U.S.

Dominionism advocates for a society transformed by a far-right version of Christianity.

And religion scholars have said that taken to its extreme, dominion theology erases the boundary between church and state.

The goal is the complete transformation of the country by taking control of its political and cultural institutions, according to Fred Clarkson, a senior research analyst at Political Research Associates, a Boston-based think tank.

That transformation, across the “Seven Mountains” of society, is a guiding principle of the New Apostolic Reformation, one of the fastest-growing religio-political movements in the U.S. and abroad.

“The NAR celebrates Christian nationalism, in that they believe that the United States once was, and should once again be a Christian nation,” said Clarkson.

And just as MOVCAC has expanded its influence in Ohio and West Virginia, NAR has gained powerful allies. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump tapped longtime adviser Paula White-Cain, an NAR apostle, to lead the new White House Faith Office.

Extremism experts also worry that some of the Trump administration’s early moves — including the formation of the White House Faith Office — reflect the goals of Project 2025, a 900-page blueprint for radical government change published by the Heritage Foundation in 2023. That document outlines hard-right policies, described by critics as “very clearly on a path to Christian nationalism as well as authoritarianism.”

For Freedom Gate pastor Rodney Lord, these religion-infused hard-right political successes are 15 years in the making.

“You’re seeing the zenith of Make America Great Again,” he said. “It kind of flows out of that same heart as the Tea Party, basically saying, ‘We want change.’”

Fusion, contradiction and identity in Tea Party, MAGA movements

Most of MOVCAC’s positions reflect a mix of libertarian politics and hardline conservative Christian values: small government, lower taxes, opposition to abortion and the civil rights of transgender people. The group supports the diversion of public funds to private schools through “school choice” programs and the elimination of vaccine requirements for school-age children.

Conspiracy theories about immigrants were also a frequent topic of conversation at the group’s meetings this past presidential election cycle, including false accusations that Haitian immigrants in Ohio were eating pets.

Pepperdine University professor Christina Littlefield said the current anti-immigrant rhetoric popular with the Christian right is an outgrowth from the Tea Party movement, when “we saw the quiet part said out loud, the racism and anti-immigrant language as a reaction to the country’s first Black president.”

Littlefield says these positions are also a fusion of small government libertarian ideas with the culture war positions of the Christian right. The Tea Party, she said, is a recent historical example.

“The Tea Party takes on the Christian right’s restriction of liberties, particularly when it comes to issues like abortion rights, but also now LGBTQ rights,” she said.

Another element of populist movements like the Tea Party and its evolution to the MAGA movement is probing the culture to see what sticks. “They are always asking, ‘What’s going to get the most public outrage to get them to vote for us?’” said Littlefield. That’s what happened with the right’s focus on transgender issues, she said.

Within MOVCAC, however, members appear to deviate from right-wing positions in some areas.

For example, the group opposes some natural gas fracking practices, including the use of injection wells to store waste underground. Newman said that he has spoken to left-leaning environmental groups and said that they share common concerns.

“I want my grandchildren to have clean water,” he said.

William Callison, a researcher at Harvard University focused on climate change politics and far-right political movements, said that in the “post-COVID era,” leftwing movements are increasingly “being grafted onto far-right projects.” Callison said that is an “increasingly common and quite effective” tactic for bringing political communities together.

Traditional left politics showing up in right-wing spaces include vaccine conspiracies, an emphasis on health and wellness, and environmentalism, as reflected by the ascendence of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. within the Trump administration, Callison said. (MOVCAC has shared RFK Jr. videos on their website.)

Political change happening ‘in God’s time.’

True to its name, MOVCAC members have engaged in “citizens action,” including political activism and outreach. And they are in it for the long haul.

One example is the group’s fight against public libraries with collections that include LGBTQ-themed books.

In 2022, MOVCAC members lobbied the Parkersburg City Council to censure the Parkersburg & Wood County Public Library over the placement of the book “Gender Queer” in a Banned Books Week display.

The following year, MOVCAC members got West Virginia lawmakers to introduce a bill that would have kept books deemed “obscene material” from being in or near state public schools. A similar bill got some traction in 2024. The measure would have made public library and public school employees vulnerable to prosecution for displaying “obscene materials” where minors could easily view them; several MOVCAC members supported it at a public hearing, but the bill ultimately failed in the state senate.

While these efforts were unsuccessful, this year’s political landscape is different. West Virginia House members have already introduced an identical library bill. And Gov. Patrick Morrisey has signaled support for another MOVCAC policy push: religious and moral exemptions for childhood vaccinations in schools.

For pastor Rodney Lord, this political momentum is happening in God’s time. “We see the Kingdom of God increasing,” he said. “Does that take 25 generations or 100 years, we don’t know.”

Working to usher in that kingdom requires a generational mindset. “We’re hard at work pouring ourselves into the things that matter. Government matters,” he said.

“I want to change this nation because I see where it’s going, and I don’t like it.”

Disclosure: Laura Harbert Allen serves on the board of the Southeast Ohio Independent News, which operates the Athens County Independent.

Please share your thoughts on this reporting by taking a short survey.

This reporting is a collaboration with 100 Days in Appalachia and was made possible by grant funding from the Poynter Institute and Joyce Foundation.

The post Mid-Ohio Valley group blends religion, politics to affect policy in Ohio and West Virginia appeared first on Athens County Independent.

ATHENS, Ohio — Housing was a major topic at a Monday night’s Athens City Council meeting, with discussion of a new affordable housing project; news that a planned project is on hold; and a pitch from a local real estate developer to build more affordable housing.

At a combined regular and committee meeting, the council heard first reading of an ordinance that would authorize an agreement with Community Building Partners, LLC, to develop and build 14 single-family homes in the city.

The project is underwritten by a $2 million grant the city received in November 2024 from the state’s Welcome Home Ohio program. Community Building Partners will receive a developer fee of $10,000 per unit, according to the agreement. 

The project description attached to the grant award calls for construction of eight three-bedroom homes on the site of the former West Elementary on Central Avenue by Nov. 1, 2026. A future second phase would see construction of an additional six units on Grosvenor Street and Hudson Avenue. 

However, council member Alan Swank, 4th Ward said that those sites weren’t set in stone.

“The state got a little ahead of the ball game and identified the spots they wanted,” Swank said. “I’m not sure if they drove down here or talked to anybody, but that’s fine — we’re not bound to what they suggested.”

Athens City Service-Safety Director Andy Stone did not immediately respond to request for comment regarding the accuracy of Swank’s statement.

Each unit would cost approximately $250,000 to build and would sell for $130,000 to $150,000, Swank said. The proceeds of the sales would fund further construction, he added.

According to the multi-property listing service realtor.com, the median home sale price in the city of Athens was $287,500 in December 2024. 

Under the program terms, each home would have a deed restriction barring sale to anyone who earns more than 80% of the county’s annual median income as determined by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

“These have to be homes that are going to be homes for many, many, many years — not turned into rentals in the next three, five, 10 or even 15 years,” Swank said.

However, the Welcome Home Ohio guidelines say that the homeowner can rent out the property after five years.

The ordinance will have its second reading at the council’s next regular meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 21.

Other housing projects

Meanwhile, a proposed housing project near Monticello Village apartments on Hooper Street has stalled.

Hill Tide Partners of South Carolina had asked the city to rezone the area from R-1, single family residential, to R-3, multi-family residential for the project.. During the meeting of the Planning and Development Committee Monday, Swank said Hill Tide had withdrawn its request pending upcoming changes to Ohio’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program.

The project involves construction of 50 to 80 apartments on 18 acres at 111 Hooper Street. 

Hill Tide Partners may bring its proposal back sometime between February and April, Swank said.

Use of LIHTCs also was the subject of a presentation by David Funk of Capstone Property Management. 

LIHTC projects offer developers a dollar-for-dollar reduction in federal taxes for building affordable housing projects. Developers front the costs of construction in exchange for tax credits of 4% or 9% of the project cost. In addition, the developer earns project fees and reaps the profits from leasing or selling the housing units.

And projects in Athens County are especially attractive to developers using LIHTC, Funk said, because the state and federal governments offer additional incentives to encourage projects in Appalachia.

“There’s a reason why all of these developers are chasing these projects in Athens County — they’re lucrative,” Funk said. 

A LIHTC project underway in The Plains, Funk noted, will earn Woda Construction of Columbus nearly $6.6 million in developer fees and construction profit — none of which will be spent in Athens County.

Big development firms like Woda, Hill Tide and Spire Development have an edge in obtaining tax credits from the Ohio Housing Finance Agency, Funk said, because they have more experience in such projects.

“LIHTC is very much a closed house of developers,” he said. “It’s a pretty small group, and it’s not a club that wants to have other people come in and compete against them.”

In the past eight years, 12 LIHTC projects have created 595 housing units in Athens County — “probably the highest number of LIHTC projects per capita in the state of Ohio,” Funk said. But none of them had local participation, so the county has lost an estimated $282 million in local economic impact, he said.

“The affordable housing that’s being created is fantastic, but it’s tended to take jobs away from the local builders,” he said. 

“But what if all this work had gone to them?” Funk asked. “We’d probably have a vibrant community of builders, a vibrant community of local suppliers.”

Funk suggested that the city create a public-private partnership to support local developers in pursuing LIHTC projects. 

“If done right, there’s enough resources here, enough income coming off these projects, to create an endowment fund,” he said. “Imagine what one could do with $6 million off one single project, in terms of furthering other affordable housing initiatives in Athens County.”

There are no models for such an initiative, he said.

“This would be really creative, to put forth this kind of partnership,” he said.

Patterson said he and Service Safety Director Andy Stone had met previously with Funk and seen the same presentation.

“I think that this would be really interesting, to be able to pull together various entities that might be interested in trying to apply for LIHTC themselves,” he said.

The Athens County Foundation could bring stakeholders together, he added. 

Solveig Spjeldnes, 1st Ward, chairs Affordable Housing Commission and said it could become involved in supporting such a partnership, including through identifying site locations. She suggested a land trust could potentially be used for projects, too.

Athens City Council’s next regular meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 21, in Athens City Hall, Council Chambers, third floor, 8 E. Washington St. Meetings are also available online. Regular sessions are on the first and third Mondays of the month; committee meetings are on the second and fourth Mondays.

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