Ohio's wild week included dangerous storms, a record setting fair & a Flock camera controversy

The Ohio State Fair's numbers are more than fair.

They're record-breaking.

[upbeat music] From the Ohio Statehouse, the award-winning reporters at the Ohio Public Media Statehouse News Bureau bring you the latest in politics and public affairs in the Buckeye State.

Your host, Jo Ingles, along with Karen Kasler and Sarah Donaldson team up to tell you what's happening, why it's happening, and why it matters in The Ohio Statehouse Scoop.

Welcome to The Ohio Statehouse Scoop.

I'm Jo Ingles.

The Ohio State Fair is now in the record books, but not before setting a few new records.

The fair drew 1.025 million visitors, topping the all-time attendance record set in 2023, and that's not all.

Midway revenue at the fair was up 8.4% to $3.3 million.

And visitors must have been hungry and thirsty because food and drink sales were up 12.6% to $9.2 million.

There were about 80,000 rides on the Sky Glider at the fair, and more than 39,000 concert tickets were sold.

And the Sale of Champions on the final day of the fair brought in nearly $400,000.

But as fair numbers were coming in last week, so was bad weather.

Much of Ohio was hit with heavy thunderstorms.

Tornadoes, flash flooding, and winds approaching 100 miles an hour hit parts of Ohio, resulting in major power outages and water rescues.

Crooksville and Roseville were especially hard hit.

There was one death from the storms in Roseville.

In fact, Governor Mike DeWine said that part of Perry County was completely surrounded with water.

He called up the Ohio National Guard to help out with emergency rescue in those areas.