Latest news with #Heintz
Yahoo
08-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court ruling puts Ohio school vouchers in limbo
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Advocates for Ohio's School Voucher System said even families with high incomes deserve taxpayer support for private schools. And they'll get it in the new Ohio budget that contains more than $700 million for vouchers that will go to private and parochial schools. GOP deficit hawks list complaints on megabill ahead of vote Last week, a Franklin County judge declared Ed Choice vouchers to be unconstitutional, but the order was delayed pending an appeal. In 2024, the state of Ohio spent nearly $1 billion on private school vouchers, with leaders of School Choice Ohio saying it's money well spent, giving parents and students educational options. 'We've placed children in private schools using Ed Choice,' School Choice Ohio President Eric 'Yitz' Frank said. 'We find options in public schools that work best for them so we are kind of agnostic about where people go to school, but we do believe they should have the ability to take their tax dollars and go to a school of their choice, whether it's a private or a public school.' 'The only difference is who pays for it?' teacher and Cleveland Heights School Board Member Dan Heintz said. 'Ohio went very successfully for a century with great private schools and great public schools, and it's really only been about the last 20 years that the private schools started to expect their neighbors, citizens from around the state to underwrite their decision to send their children to a private school.' How to get your unclaimed Ohio funds before they go to the Cleveland Browns Heintz is part of the Vouchers Hurt Ohio group that is suing the state. Their first victory came in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. 'The 'why not' is the Ohio state constitution, and that's what we saw Judge Page here in Franklin County decide this week when she ruled that Ed Choice vouchers are a violation of the state constitution,' Heintz said. Page ruled that lawmakers are violating the Ohio constitution by creating a second system of schools that receive an unreasonably high level of per-student tax dollars. Critics also point out that vouchers were promised to pull poor students out of underperforming districts, but vouchers often go to affluent families in high-ranking public school districts who never intend to send their children to public schools. Project underway to help relieve I-270/71 congestion on North Side 'There are kids that thrive in really what we would call poor-performing schools and there are kids that struggle in really what we consider to be, objectively, affluent schools and so putting the parents in the driver's seat, we think, will ultimately get better outcomes,' Frank said. And, for now, parochial and private schools will continue to receive public dollars. The vouchers are in the budget signed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. The state is poised to appeal the finding in Franklin County Common Pleas Court that the vouchers are unconstitutional. It is expected that the case will go all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, where Republicans hold all but one seat. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Non-Alcoholic Wine Isn't Always Alcohol-Free—Here's How to Know What You're Getting
These days, just because you want to enjoy a glass of bubbly or open a bottle of red, white, or rosé, it doesn't mean you're necessarily pouring a traditional wine. The market for non-alcoholic wine is growing by leaps and bounds. "In the United States, non-alcoholic wine sales reached $89.9 million in 2024, marking a 27% increase from the previous year," says Emily Heintz, founder and CEO of Sèchey. But, just because these wines are more widely available, it doesn't mean that they're well-understood. In fact, some of the non-alcoholic wine on the market isn't actually alcohol-free. The amount of alcohol is tiny, but for people who want to avoid it completely, it's helpful to know what to look for on the label. To clarify matters, I asked a couple of experts to shed some light on these newly popular beverages. Related: 7 Mocktail Recipes for Sober October That Are So Good, You Won't Miss AlcoholEmily Heintz, founder and CEO of Sèchey, a purveyor of alcohol-free and alternative wine, beer and spirits, including non-alcoholic wines sold at Target Grant Hemingway, CEO and co-founder of Libby Non-Alcoholic Wines, which makes non-alcoholic sparkling white and sparkling roséNon-alcoholic wine is often used as an umbrella term, says Heintz. 'But technically, it refers to beverages with less than 0.5% ABV. In the US, this is the legal threshold set by the FDA to be considered 'non-alcoholic.'' Generally speaking, there are two ways to make non-alcoholic wine. The first is to craft a beverage from water, juices, tea, and/or other flavorings to make a drink that looks, smells, and tastes as much like wine as possible. These drinks are typically zero-alcohol. The second method is to start with real wine that has been made just like traditional vino—the grapes are harvested, crushed, and fermented, says Grant Hemingway, CEO and co-founder of Libby Non-Alcoholic Wines. 'Then the alcohol is gently removed using techniques like spinning cone columns or molecular extraction, which preserve aroma and flavor while reducing ethanol below 0.5% ABV.' This wine is often called 'dealcoholized' or 'alcohol-removed.' A lot of common beverages—not just non-alcoholic wines—clock in around 0.5% ABV and are still considered non-alcoholic. Think kombucha, for example. But, if you truly want wine without a trace of alcohol, look for one that says '0.0% ABV' on the front or back label, says Heintz. 'The ABV percentage is the clearest indicator of whether a wine is truly alcohol-free.' And remember, these drinks won't have started as actual wine. If you're choosing between a true zero-alcohol "wine" and a dealcoholized one, there are a few things to consider. If absolutely no alcohol is important to you, choose one of the wine-inspired bottles available. But, says Heintz, consumers should know that "many 0.0% 'wine-inspired' options on the market lean more toward sweet, flavored beverages.' Hemingway agrees that dealcoholized wines give a drinker the closest thing to a real wine experience. 'They begin as real wine, so you retain the structure, acidity, and nuance that's hard to fake. You can't easily recreate that complexity in a lab.' Read the original article on Real Simple
