Staff report

Summit County’s legislators expressed their sympathies on social media, some calling for action to end gun violence, after two children died and 21 people were wounded during a shooting on Aug. 27 in Minnesota. 

Fletcher Merkel, 8, and Harper Moyski, 10, were killed when the shooter fired through the  stained-glass windows of Annunciation Catholic Church and School during Mass. The 23-year-old shooter then fatally shot himself, according to national media reports.

Ohio Sen. Kristina Roegner (R-Hudson) shared a Fox News report about the shooting on X the same day. She added, “Praying for the families of these precious children, innocent victims of this horrific atrocity.”

Sen. Casey Weinstein (D-Hudson) relayed the news on his Facebook page with additional comments.

“It shouldn’t be normal to see 5th graders give TV interviews describing seeing their friends shot,” he wrote. “It shouldn’t be normal for distraught parents to wonder whether their children made it through their school day. None of this is normal. This is not inevitable. This is a policy choice. ENOUGH.”

U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes shared a CBS News post on X that quoted Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. 

“Don't just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,” the mayor said in a news conference. “These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.”  

Skyes on X added, “Heartbreaking isn’t strong enough and ‘thoughts and prayers’ aren’t good enough. We have to do better than this. We must ACT to protect our children.”

State Rep. Jack K. Daniels (R-New Franklin) and Rep. Brian Lorenz (R-Powell) were the primary sponsors of two bills introduced in early August.

House Bill 404 would provide a sales tax credit for the trade-in value of portable electronics and home appliances to be used toward purchasing a new item. House Bill 405 would exempt consumer goods service contracts, such as extended warranties for appliances, from home solicitation sales regulations. The regulations give consumers the right to cancel such sales within three business days.

Roegner introduced two bills in August. 

Senate Bill 244, which she cosponsored with Sen. Jane Timken (R-Jackson Township), would establish Aug. 26 as Abbey Gate Remembrance Day in Ohio. It would honor the 13 U.S. military members who died in a suicide bomb attack, which also killed more than 160 civilians, during evacuations at the Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Roegner also proposed designating April as Sikh Awareness Month with Senate Bill 248. The bill language does not provide any additional information. Sikhism is a religion founded in the Punjab region of India.

Weinstein on July 30 introduced Senate Bill 243, which would require the registrar of motor vehicles or deputy registrars to help customers locate and claim unclaimed funds upon request.

Sykes and state Reps. Derrick Hall (D-Akron), Veronica Sims (D-Akron) and Bill Roemer (R-Richfield) were not the primary sponsors of any legislation in the past month. 

Congress returned from an August recess and voted on a handful of measures in the first week of September.

On Sept. 2, Sykes voted in favor of the Stop Chinese Fentanyl Act of 2025, which passed the House with a vote tally of 407-4. The bill, sponsored by Kentucky Rep. Andy Barr, seeks to impose sanctions on Chinese producers of synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.

“The opioid epidemic has devastated individuals, families, and communities across Ohio’s 13th Congressional District, and the rise of fentanyl has only made this crisis worse,” Sykes said in a news release. “By holding Chinese individuals and organizations accountable for selling, financing, and transporting fentanyl to the United States, this legislation will improve law enforcement’s ability to pursue fentanyl-related offenses and help keep our community safe.”

Entities that don’t cooperate with the United States’ counternarcotics efforts would be designated as foreign opioid traffickers, according to the release. Ohio Department of Health data shows that unintentional drug overdose deaths have been decreasing since 2021, but opioids accounted for 82% of the 4,452 deaths in 2023.

 

Sykes also voted on Sept. 3 along with fellow Democrats and five Republicans to table a motion to censure Rep. LaMonica McIver. The Republican-led motion would have also removed the Democratic representative from New Jersey from the Homeland Security Committee. 

McIver has pleaded not guilty to federal charges of assaulting and interfering with immigrations officers that stem from a congressional visit to a new detention facility in Newark, New Jersey.

Weinstein presented a Senate commendation to Hudson Community Living — a community for adults with developmental disabilities — during its grand opening, spoke at a first responder worship service at New Franklin Global Church and made several other community appearances throughout August.

He hosted a town hall on Aug. 13 at the Akron-Summit County Public Library that was attended by Hall and Sims. They discussed statewide legislation and took questions from the audience at the nearly one-and-a-half-hour event, a recording of which was shared on Weinstein’s Facebook page. 

Sims announced three “community office hours” where constituents could meet with her to discuss community concerns.

Hall discussed the deployment of the Ohio National Guard to Washington D.C. and other issues relevant to veterans at the NEO Progressive Veterans meeting and participated in the Akron Pride Festival march, sharing photos from those events on his Facebook page. 

Sykes toured Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio’s first community pharmacy in Akron alongside the agency’s President and CEO Erica Wilson-Domer on Aug. 25. The visit highlighted recent challenges faced by Planned Parenthood and the importance of reproductive health care services, according to a news release from Sykes’ office.

“Planned Parenthood has been here for generations helping Ohioans make informed, responsible choices about their health and I will continue to use my platform in Congress to protect that care, fight for fair Medicaid reimbursements and Title X funding, and strengthen protections for patients and providers,” the congresswoman said in a prepared statement.

In the past month, several legislators have endorsed candidates within their party and shared their support online.

Hall shared Facebook posts in support of fellow Democrats Sherrod Brown, a former U.S. senator seeking to unseat Republican appointee Sen. Jon Husted, and Amy Acton, a previous director of the Ohio Department of Health, who is a gubernatorial candidate.  

“Get to an event to meet Dr. Amy Acton! She’s as tough and resilient as they come,” he posted on Aug. 25.  “Absolutely the best person for the job!”

Weinstein shared a Facebook post declaring that he is on “Team Amy” and predicted Ohio would “re-elect” Brown. He also shared posts in support of his wife Amanda Weinstein, who is running for a seat on Hudson City Council.

“Never met a harder working, more determined person than Amanda,” Weinstein posted on Aug. 10. “She’s going to be an amazing Councilwoman!” 

Roegner, likewise, has shared social media posts in support of Husted and Vivek Ramaswamy, a Republican candidate for governor. She also is a 2026 state treasurer candidate.

“Thank you @SenJonHusted for your leadership and service to our nation,” Roegner said on X while sharing a post from his official campaign account.