Pelosi may seek Jordan as a witness
Ohio GOP Congressman Jim Jordan could face a subpoena from the U.S. House panel investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi suggested to The 19th, an independent, nonprofit newsroom, that Jordan and Indiana GOP Rep. Jim Banks – both denied a place on the committee by the San Francisco Democrat – could face scrutiny from the group.
“I mean, they probably ...” Pelosi began, before adding, “Well, we’ll see what the committee finds out about them, but they weren’t going to be on the committee.”
She called Jordan and Banks “clowns” and “not serious” in the interview released Monday, and condemned their ongoing support of the “big lie” that Donald Trump’s 2020 loss stemmed from widespread election fraud.
Banks said Pelosi should be disciplined for the threat against him and Jordan.
“Speaker Pelosi threatened to investigate her political opponents without pretext. That is an abuse of power and if she follows through she needs to be held accountable. It is banana republic style politics that doesn’t belong in America.”
Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney has said that “Congressman Jordan may well be a material witness” to events that led to the Jan. 6 riot. Cheney is one of only two Republican members on the committee because other GOP appointees were withdrawn when Jordan and Banks were denied seats.
Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois, the other Republican on the panel, said he backs subpoenas for top House Republicans, including Jordan.
Jordan confirmed last month that he spoke with Trump on the day of the insurrection, although his recollection of details was sketchy in an interview with Spectrum News’ Taylor Popielarz.
“Yeah I mean – I spoke with the president last week, I speak with the president all of the time. I spoke with him on Jan. 6. I mean, I talked with President Trump all the time and that’s ... I don’t think that’s unusual. I would expect members of Congress to talk with the president of the United States when they’re trying to get done the things they told the voters in their district to do,” Jordan said.
“I spoke with him that day, after? I think after. I don’t know if I spoke with him in the morning or not. I just don’t know . ... I don’t know when those conversations happened.”
Transgender Ohioans have new route to change their birth certificate
In a little-noticed move Tuesday, the Ohio Supreme Court adopted a new standard probate form for Ohioans seeking to change their birth certificate.
The new form stemmed from a federal lawsuit filed because in 2016 the state health department under the administration of Gov. John Kasich stopped accepting probate court forms from transgender Ohioans seeking to change their sex designation.
The state lost that lawsuit, with a judge ordering the health department in December to again accept any court order to change the listed sex on the birth document. The new form comes in response to that ruling.
Democratic lawyer: Pass this voter suppression bill and Ohio will get sued
The proverbial shot across the bow was fired Monday by a prominent Democratic voting rights attorney over a new bill rolled out by Republicans in the Ohio legislature.
House Bill 387 would end no-excuse absentee voting – a practice allowed in Ohio for some 15 years – slash the number of days for early in-person voting, eliminate drop boxes where voters can deposit their ballot, and outlaw the use of a military ID or a current bill or paycheck for voters to identify themselves at the polls.
Marc Elias, who has filed lawsuits across the country against what Democrats label systematic voter suppression efforts by Republicans, tweeted: “If this passes Ohio will be sued.”
The measure is sponsored by GOP Rep. Bill Dean of Xenia, and has only six co-sponsors listed out of the 99-member House.
Nine Ohio hospitals on list of most expensive colonoscopies
Hospitals show a mixed record of compliance with a federal rule that took effect Jan. 1 requiring greater transparency in pricing.
For example, fewer than one out of every four U.S. general acute care hospitals had complied with the rule for disclosing colonoscopy prices more than seven months after the rule took effect.
But a new study used what new information was available to look at rates on colonoscopies, and found some Ohio hospitals charge among the highest prices in the nation.
Ohio had 9 of the 120 “high-price hospitals” among the 1,225 nationwide for which a median commercial negotiated price could be determined for a database compiled by Tourquoise Health. The price as of July 27 for the common procedure was at least $3,677 for the 120 expensive hospitals, about 4.6 times the national average Medicare reimbursement rate of $793.
Colonoscopies are the standard for colorectal cancer screening. In March, the American College of Gastroenterology lowered the recommended age to begin colonoscopies to 45.
Ohio was tied with California for the most hospitals with the priciest procedures, just one behind Illinois, which had 10. Researchers noted that hospitals with the highest prices could be among the 75% for which data are not available.
Ohio hospitals on the list of the most expensive facilities, and their price, for a routine colonoscopy:
h Holzer Health System, Gallipolis – $7,191
h Green Memorial Hospital, (Kettering Health Greene Memorial), Xenia – $5,561
h Promedica Defiance Regional Hospital, Defiance – $5,073
h Coshocton Regional Medical Center, Coshocton – $4,693
h Ohiohealth Hardin Memorial Hospital, Kenton – $4,185
h Soin Medical Center, (Kettering Health), Beavercreek – $4,007
h Kettering Memorial Hospital (Kettering Health Main Campus), Dayton – $3,814
h Ohiohealth Marion General Hospital, Marion – $3,739
h Ohiohealth Grady Memorial Hospital, Delaware – $3,733 drowland@dispatch.com @darreldrowland