The Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court ruled in favor of The Buckeye Institute’s client Dr. Manal Morsy in Morsy v. Dumas. The court denied Cleveland’s motion to dismiss the case and ordered Cleveland to refund all withholdings or payments collected on income Dr. Morsy earned during the pandemic shutdown. The court further ordered the city to pay Dr. Morsy’s court costs. Morsy v. Dumas is one of five similar cases Buckeye has brought challenging Ohio’s municipal income tax system since the pandemic. 

The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in Tyler v. Hennepin County, asking the court to hear the case and protect the rights of people who have their property seized by the government from home equity theft. Buckeye was joined on the brief by the Competitive Enterprise Institute. “By pocketing $25,000 in profits from the sale of Ms. Tyler’s home, Hennepin County has robbed Ms. Tyler of her home’s equity, plain and simple.”

The Buckeye Institute joined an amicus brief urging the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama Northern Division to quash a Department of Justice subpoena served on the Eagle Forum of Alabama, which the Biden Administration issued in an effort to weaponize the civil litigation process “against organizations with whom the United States Government disagrees.” Buckeye urges the court to “not only quash the subpoena but make clear that using the civil litigation process to chill and intimidate those who may disagree on important political issues is categorically unacceptable.”

The Buckeye Institute commented on the newly released jobs report from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, saying, “Despite the mixed bag of good and bad news, this jobs report is only one month of data and does not present a worrying trend alone. The bigger story is that Ohio’s job market is not growing as fast as it was in the spring. But opportunities are on the horizon. With Intel breaking ground on its new manufacturing plant, there should be greater job growth in the future, and policymakers must take action now to ensure that Ohio has enough workers to fill these new jobs.”

The Buckeye Institute announced on Thursday that David C. Tryon has joined its Legal Center as director of litigation. Tryon will oversee and manage Buckeye’s litigation and filings, legal team including its outside counsel, and actively participate in Buckeye’s cases in both state and federal court. “Even though he graduated from That School Up North, The Buckeye Institute is nonetheless extraordinarily pleased to have Dave Tryon join our busy legal team and bring his tremendous legal expertise back home to Ohio.”

In a new policy report, #StudentsFirst: Empowering Parents to Help Students Regain Lost Learning, The Buckeye Institute outlines how empowering parents, funding students first, and enhancing school choice can counteract the ill effects the pandemic had on learning loss for Ohio’s K-12 students. “Families deserve these reforms as their students struggle to overcome the negative long-term effects of the pandemic protocols that cost them valuable years of learning.”

On RealClearPolicy, The Buckeye Institute celebrates the hardworking men and women who get the job done and urges Ohio’s policymakers to “continue preparing today’s labor force for tomorrow’s economic opportunities.” “More than half of Ohio manufacturers already lament the skilled-worker shortage that has hindered growth, disrupted supply chains, and exacerbated order backlogs. Policymakers can help—and they must help if Ohio is going to revive manufacturing, shift into the new economy, and take full advantage of Intel’s promise and opportunity.”
 

In The Lima News, The Buckeye Institute criticizes a recent decision by the Ohio State Teachers’ Retirement System to award millions of dollars in bonuses to investment managers following a year when the retirement fund lost $3 billion. The ill-advised decision highlights the need for pension reform. “Taxpayers should not shoulder the rising, long-term costs of underfunded pensions, and public retirees should not be made to choose between their retirement funds and pursuing career opportunities in the private sector.”

The Buckeye Institute commented on the Biden Administration’s “poorly conceived” decision to forgive student loan debt, which will help “those who need it least—college graduates who can expect to make more money in the future as a reward for their investment.” The decision will negatively impact nearly everyone who “will pay the price through higher inflation and higher taxes.” “Student loans can be forgiven, but the negative consequences certainly will not be forgotten.”

The Buckeye Institute commented on Ohio’s newly released jobs report, saying, “July’s report is positive, if not overwhelming. Ohio added jobs for the first time since the spring, but job growth continues to disappoint, with the state lagging behind the nation. Like many other states, Ohio has not seen workers re-enter the labor force since the start of the pandemic, and some policies…discouraged workers from returning to their jobs. To reverse this trend, state lawmakers need to adopt policies that encourage Ohioans to return to the workforce...”