Your WYSO Evening News Update for May 19, 2022, with Jerry Kenney:
- Discrimination in healthcare for LGBTQ+ community
(WYSO) — The Ohio Alzheimer’s Association held a forum this week to discuss disparities in health care for the LGBTQ+ community. And experts there say when it comes to Alzheimer’s disease, discrimination from healthcare providers affects both patients in those communities and their caregivers.
- Bipartisan bill championed by Portman, Duckworth signed into Law
(WYSO) — The Safe Sleep for Babies Act has been signed into law. It bans the sale of padded crib bumpers. Those are bumpers that have been shown to suffocate sleeping infants. It also makes it illegal nationwide to manufacture or import crib bumpers. Ohio banned the sale of crib bumpers in 2017. Senator Rob Portman championed the new law.
- Vaccines could've Saved 16,000 Ohioans
(Axios, Columbus) — A new analysis by the Brown University School of Public Health says that higher vaccination rates in Ohio could have prevented around 16,000 COVID-19 deaths. That’s roughly half of the deaths from COVID-19 recorded by the department of health. The study created a model examining what could have happened if 100% of adults in the U.S. were fully vaccinated. Ohio is ranked fourth in the nation in terms of vaccine-preventable deaths according to the study. 68% of adults are fully vaccinated in Ohio, with only 56% of that group having received a booster. That is below the national average.
- Ohio GOP non-citizen voting amendment
(Columbus Dispatch) — Republicans in Ohio want to add an amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit non-citizens from voting in local elections. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Ohio GOP aims to place a ballot measure before voters this November. It is already illegal for non-US citizens to vote in state and federal elections. However New York City does allow non-citizens to vote in local races. Yellow Springs attempted to put a measure on the ballot in 2020 to allow non-citizens to vote in Village elections. But Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered Greene County to reject voter registrations from non-citizens in Yellow Springs. Republican State Senator Bill Blessing of Colerain Twp. said the effort by the state GOP is a “preventative measure.” While the ACLU of Ohio calls it political maneuver that fuels "fanatical xenophobia.”
