COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Former Ohio State Buckeyes football coach Jim Tressel was confirmed Wednesday as Ohio’s next lieutenant governor.
State senators and representatives affirmed Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine’s Monday nomination of Tressel in separate floor votes Wednesday: 31-1 in the Senate, 68-27 in the House.
Tressel, 72, succeeds Republican Jon Husted, who was appointed last month to the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Vice President JD Vance. DeWine has said that Tressel will remain involved in education and workforce development as lieutenant governor.
Tressel retired in 2023 as president of Youngstown State University, a position he had held since 2014. He also worked previously as executive vice president for student success at the University of Akron.
In an Associated Press interview on Wednesday, Tressel confirmed his party identification — it's Republican — and said he is a supporter of President Donald Trump inasmuch as he always supports the person who Americans elect to the nation's highest office.
Though he's not shared even those basic details publicly before, Tressel said he doesn't view himself entirely as a newcomer.
“When people ask you haven't been in politics, I say well I hope I've been in service my whole life,” he said. “I would like to believe that's what I've done, and I know that's what the folks that serve (in government) do.”
Tressel spent nearly a decade as head coach of Ohio State University’s football team, leading the Buckeyes to a national championship in 2002 and six Big Ten championships. He was pressured to resign his post there in May 2011 after a memorabilia-for-cash scandal rocked the team.
He said he's been involved in many projects since retiring from Youngstown State, including serving on the board of his alma mater, Baldwin Wallace University, and working to align education with Ohio's workforce development efforts.
He's also host of the podcast, “It's all about the Team,” that he said has been “a blast.”
“I said, you know, there's a million leadership podcasts, but I don't know if we talk about being part of a team enough, and how to become a better teammate and how do you build teams,” he said. Guests have included authors and people from the military, healthcare, business and other fields.
FILE - Former Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel watches a scoreboard tribute for the 2002 national championship team during the second quarter of an NCAA college football game between Notre Dame and Ohio State, Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/David Dermer, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street is heading toward the finish of a strong, potentially perfect week as U.S. stocks on Friday drift close to the all-time high they set just a few months earlier, though it may feel like an economic era ago.
The S&P 500 was up 0.1% in early trading and potentially on track for a fifth straight gain. It’s heading for a 4.6% rise for the week, which would be its third big winning week in the last four, as hopes build that President Donald Trump will lower his tariffs against other countries after reaching trade deals with them. Such hopes have driven the S&P 500 back within 3.6% of its record set in February, after the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts briefly dropped roughly 20% below the mark last month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 52 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.2% higher.
Trump’s trade war had sent financial markets reeling worldwide because of twin dangers. On one hand, tariffs could slow the economy and drive it into a recession. On the other, it could push inflation higher. A couple better-than-expected reports on inflation this past week helped soothe some those second worries.
But all the Trump’s on-and-off rollout of tariffs could by itself damage the economy by creating so much uncertainty that it causes U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending and long-term plans. A report coming later in the morning will offer the latest snapshot of sentiment among U.S. consumers, which has been souring sharply because of tariffs.
In the meantime, Treasury yields eased in the bond market following this week’s better-than-expected signals on inflation, which could give the Federal Reserve more leeway to cut interest rates later this year if high tariffs drag down the U.S. economy.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.39% from 4.45% late Thursday and from more than 4.50% the day before that. Lower bond yields can encourage investors to pay higher prices for stocks and other investments.
On Wall Street, Charter Communications rose 1.3% after it said it agreed to merge with Cox Communications in a deal that would combine two of the country’s largest cable companies. The resulting company will change its name to Cox Communications and keep Charter’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut.
Novo Nordisk’s stock that trades in the United States fell 1.8% after the Danish company behind the Wegovy drug for weight loss said that Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen will step down as CEO and that the board is looking for his successor. The company cited “recent market challenges” and how the stock has been performing recently.
In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid mostly modest movements across Europe and Asia.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 inched down by less than 0.1% after the government reported that Japan’s economy contracted at a faster rate than expected in the first quarter of the year.
AP Writers Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed.
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Currency traders work near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI), top left, and the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollar and South Korean won, top center, at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A currency trader talks on the phone near a screen showing the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) at the foreign exchange dealing room of the KEB Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Trader Edward Curran works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Jonathan Corpina works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader William Lawrence works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders Jonathan Mueller, right, and Michael Capolino work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Wednesday, May 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
