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As death sentences drop nationwide, Ohio and Pennsylvania are still serving them up. Michigan lawmakers are thinking about granting more whistleblower protections. And Wisconsin might have some buyers remorse over its deal with Foxconn.

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Til death: Only eight death sentences were handed out in 2019 across all the Flyover states, with all eight of those coming in either Ohio or Pennsylvania, per the Death Penalty Information Centers year end report. Pennsylvania, which has a governor-imposed moratorium, had two of the eight death sentences while Ohio had six, second most in the nation. Indiana, which has the death penalty on the books but hasnt executed a prisoner in 10 years, had zero sentences. Its worth noting that there wasnt a single execution in Flyover states in 2019.

Leading the way: Surprisingly, the county with the most death penalties handed down isnt in a stereotypical state like Texas. Instead, its in the Democratic stronghold of Cuyahoga County, Ohio where Cleveland is located per cleveland.coms Jeremy Pelzer. In the past two years, five people have been sentenced to death. Only one other county Riverside County, California in the nation had more than one.

The winning reform-ula: After abandoning a proposed criminal justice reform bill over fears it might actually lead to more incarceration, the ACLU of Ohio and Americans for Prosperity are back on the wagon, cleveland.coms Andrew Tobias reports. Lawmakers agreed to remove portions of the bill they added earlier this week that would have increased penalties for drug dealing near drug treatment facilities.

Whistle while you work: Michigan lawmakers, partially in response to the Flint water crisis, are seriously considering expanding whistleblower protections in the state, the Detroit News Craig Mauger reports. A pair of bills, one sponsored by a Republican and one by a Democrat, are gaining some bipartisan traction in the legislature.

Foxconn in the henhouse: When the state of Wisconsin pledged billions of dollars in tax credits and incentives to Foxconn to build an LCD panel factory in the state, it expected those credits to specifically benefit Wisconsin. But per the states nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau, the current deal allows the company to be rewarded for workers that dont live in the state, the Wisconsin State Journals Mitchell Schmidt reports. Its the latest in a line of problems the state has had with the deal.

Deal me in: Michigan is jumping on board with suing pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis, using a state law that is usually reserved for getting civil damages from drug dealers, MLives Emily Lawlor reports. Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said she hoped the suit filed Tuesday would bring north of $1 billion for treatment and recovery programs.

Hot air: It turns out satellite imaging of a 2018 methane leak in Ohio showed the damage was much worse than previously thought, the New York Times Hiroko Tabuchi reports. While the incident captured fairly little attention at the time, the Exxon Mobil fracking site in Belmont County actually released more methane into the atmosphere than countries like France and Norway.

Why-owa: Ever wonder why the Iowa caucuses are first in the nation? Theres some very interesting history there, dating back to the 1960s and 1970s. The Des Moines Registers Clare Ulmer lays out some of the history in her latest piece.

Flight PlanWith the holidays essentially here, Ill be taking a little bit of time off from our scheduled programming.Instead, Ill be featuring some insights (with the help of cleveland.com data guru Rich Exner) into each of the Flyover states starting Friday through the New Year. Well start this Friday with Indiana. The rest of the states are as follows:

Dec. 23 Wisconsin

Dec. 24 Ohio

Dec. 27 Illinois

Dec. 30 Pennsylvania

Dec. 31 Michigan

Jan. 3 Iowa

Arrivals/Departures

Trump campaign senior adviser Lara Trump, the presidents daughter-in-law, was in Sterling Heights, Michigan, on Tuesday, per MLive.

Republican President Donald Trump will be in Battle Creek, Michigan, on Wednesday for a Merry Christmas rally, per MLive.

Vice President Mike Pence will be in Saginaw, Michigan, on Wednesday, per MLive. Pence will join Trump in Battle Creek that evening.

Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey will be in Urbandale, Iowa, on Thursday, per the campaign.

Some of Santa Claus letters are going to Indiana, per the Indianapolis Star.

This Is Your Captain Speaking

If we really wanted a primary that would give Democrats an advantage and ultimately, in my view, a winning advantage, you would restructure the primaries so that the first state would be Wisconsin. Second state would be Michigan, third state would be Pennsylvania, the fourth state would be Florida.

-Kevin Sheekey, former New York Mayor Michael Bloombergs 2020 campaign manager, as quoted in a Washington Post column on the Democrats falling behind Republican President Donald Trump in the election. Bloomberg is notably skipping Iowa and the other early states to focus on Super Tuesday.

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Email Seth at SRichardson@cleveland.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SethARichardson.

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Ohio, Pennsylvania are the only Flyover states that handed out death sentences in 2019: The Flyover - cleveland.com