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  • Cleveland Museum of Natural History Workers Vote to Unionize in Re-Run Election

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    Cleveland Museum of Natural History voted to form a union following years of complaints of a hostile work environment overshadowed by the museum’s glittery $150 million makeover.

    Employees at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History chose to unionize in a voted tallied this week, following months of what union leaderes called stalling by the museum over the apparent eligibility of supervisors to participate.

    Sixty-five workers voted in the second election, with 31 votes in favor and 22 against, sources told Scene. The results were validated Wednesday. They will be the latest major museum base in Ohio to join the American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees since Columbus Museum of Art workers unionized in 2022.

    “It’s well needed,” one employee who voted today told Scene. “I think that the vote today gives everyone who’s stuck it out over the years a voice. Now we don’t have the fear, if we disagree with leadership, we’re going to lose our jobs.”

    The origins of CMNH workers’ union drive lies in a massive, $150-million makeover championed by CEO Sonia Winner, a leader they painted as carrying a my-way-or-the-highway persona that has disgruntled employees who’ve worked for the institution for years.

    Three employees framed the pricey renovation, which debuted to museumgoers last December, as a symbol of the CMNH management’s navel-gazing.

    Since April, CMNH won Ohio Museums Association’s Institution of the Year award, won the esteemed Prix Versailles architecture prize, and was declared the “Best Museum to Visit with Your Family” by the Northeast Ohio Parent Choice Awards.

    Behind those accolades, at least 87 employees have left the museum since 2021, including four CFOs and three HR directors—attributed to, several employees told Scene, mismanagement and a toxic workplace culture. CMNH currently has four curators; a decade ago there were 15.

    “Great employees are being pushed out,” one employee told Scene in June. “They don’t want to be a science institution anymore, but a kind of community center.”

    “If you piss them off enough, they’ll just fire you,” they added. “That’s why we want a union.”

    CMNH workers successfully organizing marks off another plot point in a summer of unionizing across Northeast Ohio.

    Employees at the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center, Rising Star Coffee, University Hospitals, Signal Ohio all made strides towards unions in the past few months.

    For CMNH workers, grievances revolve around Winner’s decision to tilt the museum to being more a public attraction on Wade Oval rather than a pillar of academic research on the natural sciences. This year, CMNH was no longer included in the BioScience Alliance, a consortium of go-to research institutions spearheaded by Case Western, one source told Scene.

    “The leadership team, lacking an understanding or appreciation of science, has shifted the institution’s focus away from its core, community-based mission toward a corporate, profit-driven model,” a former employee wrote Scene in June.

    “This shift has compromised the institution’s integrity,” they said, “leading to the loss of talent, declining morale, and a reduced ability to serve the community.”

    In a statement to Scene, CMNH acknowledged both the re-run election and seemed welcoming for contract talks to come.

    “A portion of our Cleveland Museum of Natural History colleagues have voted in favor of unionization,” a spokesperson for CMNH wrote Scene in an email on Wednesday. “We respect our employees’ right to engage in these discussions and respect the process and its outcome.”

    “We will bargain collaboratively and in good faith with the union to develop a contract that supports the long-term success of both our employees and our organization,” they added. “We remain focused as always on continuing to inspire our visitors and our community to connect with science and nature.”

    And, assuming bargaining talks go well this fall, inspiring more fulfilled workers.

    “We want to get paid better—we’re incredibly understaffed. There’s not a department in the museum that’s staffed well,” one employee told Scene. “And we’re all incredible overworked.”

    “We all have ideas of how we can make the museum better,” they added. “But if they don’t go with the leadership’s view of the museum, we’ll get let go. And we don’t want that. We don’t want to work in fear.”

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    Mark Oprea

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  • ‘Not a National Emergency.’ Retired Military Oppose DeWine Deploying Ohio National Guard Troops to D.C.

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    Tourists pass by members of the National Guard stationed outside Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 18, 2025.

    Retired military and active-duty Ohio families spoke out against Gov. Mike DeWine recently deploying Ohio National Guard troops to Washington D.C. at the request of President Donald Trump. 

    Trump said earlier this month he would send National Guard troops to Washington D.C. to crackdown on crime and Ohio is one of six states that has so far sent troops to Washington D.C.

    Violent crime in Washington D.C. is at a thirty year low and Toledo, Dayton, and Cleveland all had a higher crime rate than Washington D.C. in 2024. 

    “This is not a national emergency,” said VALOR Media Network President Kenneth Harbaugh. “The impact on the morale of these soldiers on the ground is palpable when they are pulled away from their families, when they have to miss birthdays and graduations and the beginning of school and things like that to go guard a Shake Shack.”

    Trump has also talked about possibly sending troops to other cities including Chicago, New York, and Baltimore.  

    “The current deployments … and the ones that are being contemplated in other places throughout the country in the near future are unnecessary and disruptive to the lives of all these citizen soldiers,” said Christopher Dziubek, retired U.S. Army Brigadier General. 

    Secretary of the Army Daniel P. Driscoll asked DeWine on Aug. 15 to send 150 members from the Ohio National Guard to Washington D.C. and members of the Ohio National Guard are currently there on a 30-day deployment.

    Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Tennessee have also sent troops — all states with Republican governors. 

    “These deployments to D.C. are not an emergency and are an overstep in the use of our military,” said Ohio Army National Guard veteran Jermaine Collins. “It’s downright disrespectful to our citizen soldiers to pull them away from their families and their communities to police the unhoused population in D.C. and assist ICE in mass deportations.” 

    Part of Trump’s crackdown on crime comes from a recent executive order that forces those experiencing homelessness off the streets.

    “Our loved ones are being deployed, not for defense, not for disaster relief, not for emergencies, but for missions that are vague, polarizing, and even cosmetic,” said Brandi Jones, an Ohio military spouse and co-executive director of Secure Families Initiative. “Beautification of cities is not the job of the military.”

    The Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia has not asked for National Guard troops to be deployed, and Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has spoken out against the deployment.

    “Folks did not sign up for the National Guard to become political pawns,” Collins said. “If our citizen soldiers wanted to become Metro P.D. or ICE agents, they would have signed up for that instead of the National Guard. … National Guard troops shouldn’t be used as political pawns.”

    Trump does have the authority to request National Guard troops to Washington D.C.

    “But the trigger for using those legal authorities is in an emergency situation … where normal local authorities are hamstrung by lack of resources, or they’re utterly overrun by violent rioters, protesters, insurrectionists, (or) rebels,” said Dan Maurer, U.S. Army veteran and Ohio Northern University College of Law associate professor.

    Sixty cities have a higher violent crime rate than Washington D.C., he said. 

    “The governor should have asked questions … like, ‘Well, what exactly is the emergency we’re facing? … What are the facts on the ground that justify the extraordinary use of another state’s National Guard on the streets of American cities to do law enforcement?” Maurer said. 

    The Ohio National Guard is one of the largest in the country with around 17,000 soldiers and airmen, according to the 122nd Army National Guard Band. 

    Advocates are calling on DeWine to bring the deployed National Guards troops home.

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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    Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal

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  • Signal Ohio’s Newsrooms Are Unionizing

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    Signal Cleveland

    Staff at the civic-minded journalism nonprofit are forming a union

    Reporters at Signal Ohio’s three newsrooms today announced their union drive.

    The three-year old nonprofit journalism outfit, funded by millions of dollars from local and national foundations and organizations, operates locally in Cleveland and Akron with a statehouse bureau in Columbus. Plans have already been announced to open a fourth newsroom in Cincinnati.

    All 14 full-time reporters at the organization are backing a union drive, according to a release, in an effort to keep reporting strong. Signal’s newsrooms in Cleveland and Akron cover community-driven topics, write explainers on civic life, and report on local government, health and labor. Signal’s statewide coverage includes reporting on the Statehouse and higher education. It also operates local Documenter programs, where residents are paid to cover regular governmental meetings.

    Officially dubbed the Signal Ohio News Workers Guild, the group is joining the Northeast Ohio NewsGuild, Local 34001 of Communications Workers of America. If solidified, the union will also join four other Northeast Ohio newsrooms at Local 1, which includes the Canton Repository.

    In a statement to press, the union-eligible—about 80 percent of the company—framed the push as a natural part of growing up as a new media outlet. Signal Ohio has roughly 35 employees as of this month, with plans to expand to 50.

    “We care deeply about the communities we serve and the journalism we produce,” those employees said in a statement. “Many of us are founding members of our newsrooms, the first of which launched nearly three years ago, and all of us are committed to seeing them succeed.”

    The members are asking for Signal Ohio to voluntarily recognize the union and begin negotiating on a contract.

    “My role has led me to telling the stories of the working class citizens who are the heartbeat of the city,” Najee Hall, Signal Cleveland’s Community Reporter, said in a release. “Supporting unions means supporting the rights of people to stand together, negotiate fairly and build a future rooted in mutual respect and shared success.”

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    Mark Oprea

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  • Visible Voice Books to Relocate to Larger Space in Ohio City This November

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    Visible Voice Books, a Tremont mainstay since 2007, will be moving to a new, expanded storefront in Ohio City this November.

    When Dave Ferrante opened up Visible Voice Books in Tremont 18 years ago, he moved in with a belief that a bookstore, done well and sufficiently-stocked, would be a boon to a growing neighborhood.

    “I felt that the area, for what I was doing, would be supportive,” Ferrante told The Plain Dealer in 2007. “It’s a more artistic area, and I felt it had people who would ‘get it’ and enjoy the store.”

    This year, Ferrante’s making similar moves.

    In November, Ferrante will be relocating Visible Voice Books to the western fringe of Ohio City, on a part of Lorain Avenue experiencing a renaissance comparable to what Tremont witnessed in the late aughts.

    And the move is also to help the bookstore grow. Visible Voice’s new spot, a former theater at 4601 Lorain, will be spacious enough to accommodate a full café, three conference rooms for club meetings, 150 attendees for concerts or readings and a book selection “three times the size” of its current one.

    In Tremont, “I’m on the second floor, at just 1,100 square feet,” Ferrante told Scene. “So, I thought, ‘Let me see what’s out there.’ I’ve always envisioned a larger operation—I’m going to go to 6,000 square feet.”

    “I think it will be a win-win for everybody,” he added. “For me. For the store. For the city.”

    click to enlarge Visible Voice's new location will make use of a stage once used by the building's old tenants, the Lorain Theater. A mezzanine level will overlook shelves of used and new books. - AODK Architecture

    AODK Architecture

    Visible Voice’s new location will make use of a stage once used by the building’s old tenants, the Lorain Theater. A mezzanine level will overlook shelves of used and new books.

    Visible Voice’s move to a Lorain Avenue rehab comes along a trove of businesses helping to makeover the corridor, along with a refreshed streetscape in the coming years. Sartorial, a menswear store; The Judith Café; Cent’s Pizza, and others have already opened up shop with upcoming debuts including Noble Beast’s Biergarten and Soho Chicken + Whiskey’s new home.

    It’s also close to Ferrante’s other ventures. The business owner opened up Proof, a barbecue eatery three blocks east, last year, and Guitar Riot, a music instrument and equipment store situated next door to the future bookstore space.

    As for the store itself, Ferrante is eager to expand on all sectors. He’ll be hiring two new employees to run a café sporting a food menu—sandwiches, small plates, salads—designed by Melt founder Matt Fish. He’ll be booking local and national bands to play on a rehabbed stage in the back of the store.

    And more books. Visible Voice’s backstock of 3,000 mostly used books will be displayed on a ground and mezzanine level.

    The move will leave two-thirds of the building at 2258 Jefferson Ave. vacant come November. (Crust, the pizzeria downstairs, closed last Friday. Danny’s on Professor, a late-night bar, will stay open.) Which Ferrante said will soon bring a new asset to Tremont in a few months.

    “There are a couple irons in the fire; it won’t stay empty too long,” he said about the building. “It’s not going to be left in any worse situation than when I bought it” in 2007.

    Visible Voice is planning for a soft opening in its new location for Wednesday, November 12.

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    Mark Oprea

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  • Cuyahoga County Deputies Called ‘Cowboys’ for Pointing Assault Rifle Out of Window During High-Speed Chase

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    In a screenshot captured from bodycam footage, Cuyahoga County Deputy Isen Vajusi is shown pointing an assault rifle out of a cruiser’s window while chasing a stolen car in December 2024.

    Isen Vajusi, a Cuyahoga County sheriff’s deputy, pointed an assault rifle out of a moving cruiser’s window while speeding more than 100 mph at times during a December chase of a stolen car, bodycam footage shows.

    Once the fleeing car crashed and flipped into a telephone pole, Vajusi jumped out, pointed his rifle at one suspect and shouted numerous vulgarities. “We don’t want to kill people,” Vajusi yelled, according to a review of the footage by The Marshall Project – Cleveland and News 5 Cleveland.

    He later boasted about the arrest: “We got the dudes. We got the car. We didn’t shoot anybody. It can’t get any better than this. … I’m glad I didn’t have to use my gun this time.”

    Sheriff Harold Pretel declined an interview. He would not answer specific questions about the chase such as whether the chase violated the pursuit policy or whether he had viewed the video.

    “We stand behind our pursuit policy, which prioritizes the safety of both the public and our deputies,” department officials said in a statement. “This policy allows deputies to respond quickly to serious threats while minimizing risks. The policy also reflects our commitment to protecting our community in a responsible and effective manner.”

    Jeff Wenninger, a Cleveland-area expert on police tactics, called the bodycam footage troubling because deputies put bystanders at risk of being hit if an accidental discharge had occurred.

    “This was sloppy, unsafe, and shows a lack of discipline — real cowboys,” said Wenninger, the founder and CEO of Law Enforcement Consultants LLC. “Their crude language and unprofessional barking of commands made it clear they were operating with no discipline, no composure and no regard for proper tactics.”

    For months, The Marshall Project – Cleveland and News 5 Cleveland have been asking questions about how the downtown unit operates alongside Cleveland police — who are under different leadership and must follow strict rules under a federal consent decree to prevent abuses.

    The December 2024 chase was not Vajusi’s first controversial incident. It came two months after he shot a teenager in the leg and before he fired four rounds at another teenager on May 16 in Cleveland.

    The news outlets reported in June that Vajusi was forced off a suburban police force after he failed his field training and it was found that he lacked confidence, had “difficulty in stressful situations” and “hesitates because he is afraid of making a mistake.”

    Read more here.

    This article was first published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.

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    Mark Puente, The Marshall Project

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  • Cuyahoga County Debuts Loan Program to Boost Development Along Public Transit Lines

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    Mark Oprea

    The Quarter on Detroit Avenue. Cuyahoga County released a loan program for developers on Monday, one that would let them borrow up to $2.5 million to finish projects in transit-rich, dense areas.

    Cuyahoga County wants more Van Akens, more Little Italys, more Gordon Squares and more Larchmere Boulevards.

    Or to put it in city planner speak: more transit-oriented development.

    On Monday, the county debuted a program that will soon dole out loans to developers who need to round-off financing for projects on or close by train or bus lines. Those builders can get up to a $2.5 million loan at an interest rate as low as four percent, as long as their project in less than a half mile from a transit line.

    Those corridors — 22 in total — are where you’d expect, including near the Red, Blue, Green and Waterfront lines, the HealthLine, MetroHealth Line and about 10 highly-used other bus lines, from the 22 on Lorain Ave. to the 26 on Detroit and the 41 on Warrensville Road.

    The county’s idea is rooted in its annual transit-oriented development study that its been funding since 2022. (And reached an “all-time high” last year.) It’s an idea that, if done right, is mutually beneficial: more apartments and shops along dense areas, more people using transit to get to them.

    It “is smart growth in action,” County Executive Chris Ronayne said in a press release. TOD is “strengthening local ties, boosting our economic and transportation infrastructures and ensuring resources are within reach of all of our residents.”

    Such a boost pairs nicely with similar incentives at Cleveland City Hall, where city planners are moving forward with a Smart Code zoning pilot in three neighborhoods, representing Cleveland’s best bet to codify zoning law that automatically encourages dense, walkable development.

    Also, in 2023, the city put a perks system—transit-demand management—into law to encourage developers to build bike racks, pocket parks, shuttles, or more to go along with their apartment complexes.

    And the county’s program bears similarities.

    Loans awarded to developers can be used for new construction—parking lots, sidewalks, tree lines—or improvement to preexisting structures. Projects have to be at least a half-mile from one of 22 transit lines, include a non-housing element, and prove that at least one job will be created for every $150,000 borrowed.

    Building in front of an RTA station? You have to have an “active first floor use,” the program guide stipulates.

    But will developers buy in? Many often gripe about Cleveland’s relatively low tax abatement policy, about higher-than-usual federal interest rates and a tough housing market that leaves few guaranteed incentives for developers not swayed primarily by passion.

    Also, tax perks from the state—like for low-income projects—may not be the kicker.

    This “signals to the development community that we are listening,” Cuyahoga County Planning Commission Mary Cierebiej said in a statement.

    Those interested in more details can tune in to a Zoom webinar on September 9.

    Developers have until September 29 to submit a first round of eligibility applications. Final approvals, the county said, for loans will be doled out later this year and early 2026.

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    Mark Oprea

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  • Anti-Abortion Facilities Get Ohio Grants as Funding for Other Women’s Health Facilities Slashed

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    The Midtown Planned Parenthood in September of 2022, which has now closed

    As some Ohio women’s health facilities square with federal budget cuts and a new effort to cut funds at the state level, anti-abortion pregnancy resource centers are receiving million in state grants.

    Even in a state with a constitutional amendment that protects the right to abortion, the difference between the facilities receiving boosts in funding and those facing further cuts is largely their stance on abortion.

    A new Ohio bill introduced by Republican state Reps. Jean Schmidt and Adam Mathews seeks to bar Medicaid funds from going to any entities that provide abortion other than when the abortion is a result of rape or incest, or when the life of the pregnant person is endangered.

    The bill bases its language on the federal budget reconciliation bill passed and signed into law by President Donald Trump in July.

    The federal budget language was criticized for specifically impacting Planned Parenthood, which could lose hundreds of facilities if the loss of funding, on top of other budget cuts, goes through.

    The national Planned Parenthood Federation of America is suing to stop the cuts from being enforced. A federal judge temporarily stopped the cuts in July as the lawsuit continues.

    Meanwhile, Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel announced nearly $20 million in grants over the next two years, distributed through the Ohio Parenting and Pregnancy Program. The grants were announced as funding boosts to help improve Ohio’s infant health outcomes.

    The awards were provided to entities for “prenatal education, parenting classes, case management, referrals and material assistance tailored to the needs of their local communities.”

    “These efforts are part of the DeWine-Tressel Administration’s broader mission to reduce infant mortality and ensure every child in Ohio has the opportunity to live up to their God-given potential,” a release on the grant funding stated.

    The grant program is distributed by the Ohio Department of Children and Youth, which saw its own cuts in the most recent state operating budget, including millions of dollars cut from line items for “infant vitality.”

    The state department reported an infant mortality rate of 6.5 per 1,000 live births in 2024, a slight decrease from the year before.

    The annual March of Dimes Report Card for 2024 noted the decrease, but still gave Ohio a D+ for its preterm birth rate, ranking the state 32nd in the country. The report card also noted the infant mortality rate for Black individuals was 1.9 times higher than the overall state rate.

    Among the 21 recipients of the grantees are several religiously affiliated groups, including Heartbeat of Lima County, Inc., Elizabeth’s New Life Center, Inc., and the Family Life Center of Auglaize County.

    Grant recipients also included several pregnancy resource centers, a sector of services that are controversial and criticized for not being required to have the same medical license requirements as facilities like Planned Parenthood, and for providing medically debunked and inaccurate information to patients.

    The application details for the grants noted that the awards would only go to entities who promote “childbirth, parenting and alternatives to abortion.”

    State law establishing the Ohio Parenting and Pregnancy Program further specifies entities supported by the program can not be “involved in or associated with any abortion activities, including providing abortion counseling or referrals to abortion clinics, performing abortion-related medical procedures or engaging in pro-abortion advertising.”

    Funding future

    In the federal budget bill, the women’s health clinic funding prohibition targeted at abortion providers lasts for one year, but leaders of Ohio clinics say the state measure could mean more longterm cuts.

    The state-level Medicaid ban being proposed by conservative, anti-abortion legislators, along with federal-level cuts, would cut funds that don’t go toward abortion services in the first place.

    “By introducing all of these bills to cut Planned Parenthood out of Medicaid, it does not impact abortion at all, it impacts every other service that keeps people healthy,” said Erica Wilson-Domer, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio.

    Wilson-Domer said more than 40% of her affiliate’s patients are covered by Medicaid, and the “vast majority” of the services provided to those patients are office services. Those services include well visits, contraception services and infection checks, among other non-abortion care.

    Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio has already announced staffing reductions after “mounting attacks from the Trump administration, including the loss of Title X funding and Medicaid defunding through the federal reconciliation bill.”

    In announcing the reduction in force, the greater Ohio affiliate said the federal funding losses represent a $10 million drop in annual funds.

    “Without a reduction in force, PPGOH could cease to exist, leaving over 50,000 patients without access to birth control, gender affirming care, abortion and a myriad of other essential health care services,” Wilson-Domer said in the announcement on Aug. 4.

    Planned Parenthood Southwest Ohio Region also announced changes because of federal funding cuts, including the closure of a clinic in Springfield and another in Hamilton. Neither of the closed facilities provided abortion services.

    Wilson-Domer and her fellow Planned Parenthood affiliate leader Nan Whaley in Southwest Ohio both said federal funds have never paid for abortion services. But the services they do provide to low-income and underinsured patients make them “uniquely positioned to have a better impact on maternal and infant mortality,” Wilson-Domer said.

    “To take us out of Medicaid is just completely taking away any women’s health care options for those communities, and it will completely exacerbate this crisis,” Wilson-Domer said.

    Republicans who sponsor and support anti-abortion measures are missing the point of the care, and taking away other services while they attempt to stifle abortion services, according to abortion rights advocates in Ohio.

    “Our policies are not promotion of abortion, our policy is to make sure every person has bodily autonomy,” Wilson-Domer said. “We will do what we need to do to help you with whatever decision you’ve made.”

    Abortion rights advocacy group Abortion Forward said budget cuts on the state and federal level don’t show the prioritization of children, and in fact could create more infant and maternal mortality problems.

    The group’s deputy director, Jaime Miracle, said the state’s time would be better spent supporting all facilities who are working to address the problem, rather than cutting them down.

    “These actions speak louder than his words when (DeWine) continues to fund unproven, deceptive programs instead of real providers with a track record of success,” Miracle told the Capital Journal. “To really help families in our state, Ohio must invest in improvements to prenatal care, home visiting programs with a proven track record of success, and respect and support people seeking abortion care.”

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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    Susan Tebben, The Ohio Capital Journal

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  • East Cleveland Jail Closes After Inspections Detail Various Violations

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    East Cleveland City Hall in 2022.

    The East Cleveland Jail — made infamous in Season 3 of the podcast “Serial” and at the center of a $30 million court judgment — quietly closed in December after two inspections found dozens of violations.

    City officials discussed inspection findings and their failure to update the facility with Ohio Department of Rehabilitation & Correction officials and agreed to temporarily close the jail, spokesperson JoEllen Smith confirmed.

    City officials could not say exactly when the facility closed, but Cuyahoga County officials suggested it was around Christmas Eve, the day East Cleveland officials requested that the Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department start housing its prisoners while it repaired and remodeled the jail.

    “We don’t have an operable jail,” said a spokesperson for East Cleveland Police Chief Reginald Holcomb. “Our jail has been closed, and we haven’t had a jail here for a long time.”

    On Dec. 13, Cuyahoga County Board of Health inspectors found missing glass panels in several cells, exposed wiring, broken lighting in more than a dozen cells, plumbing failures in cells and the shower area, malfunctioning toilets, solid waste buildup in plumbing closets and dead roaches in the holding area. One cell was missing a lock; others had peeling paint and water damage. Three beds were ripped, and inspectors observed “debris buildup throughout the facility.”

    Five days later, state inspectors cited the jail for 147 violations of Ohio standards and recommended that the jail no longer house prisoners. Inspectors found all areas of the jail to be “unsafe,” “unsanitary” and “nonoperable.”

    Cells lacked seating, towels and clean bedding. Mattresses were ripped. Use-of-force reports were missing officers’ names or details of injuries. One officer told inspectors that he had never seen the jail’s medical policies. The jail failed to separate violent from nonviolent offenders. Men and women could converse between blocks due to the layout of the building. The jail had security issues, including broken cameras, unsecured perimeters and a corrections officer carrying a service weapon while inside the facility. Read the full extent of the inspection report here.

    Kelly Woodard, the county’s director of communications, said that since December, the county jail has housed 67 incarcerated people from East Cleveland, including six who are currently in custody. She said East Cleveland officials will pay $173 per day for each person held by the county since December once East Cleveland and Cuyahoga County officials negotiate a contract.

    Mayor Lateek Shabazz, who has been in office for three weeks, said he, too, is unsure when the jail closed.

    “The sheriff’s been taking them to the county jail,” he said. “That’s the information I have.”

    The jail’s closure comes years after “Serial” detailed the beating and incarceration of Arnold Black, who in 2012 was held for four days in a storage room in the jail that didn’t have a bed, toilet, window or running water. In July 2024, the Supreme Court of Ohio ordered the city to pay Black more than $30 million after city officials failed to pay a $20 million verdict awarded in 2019.

    This article was first published by The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization covering the U.S. criminal justice system. Sign up for their newsletters, and follow them on Instagram, TikTok, Reddit and Facebook.

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    Brittany Hailer, The Marshall Project

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  • ‘It Feels Like a Betrayal.’ Ohio College Students Experiencing Effects of New Higher Education Law

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    (Photo by David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.)

    Ohio college students and protesters rally at the Statehouse on March 19, 2025, against Senate Bill 1, a higher education overhaul that bans diversity efforts and faculty strikes, and sets rules around classroom discussion, among other things.

    Ohio college students are navigating the ramifications of the state’s new higher education law that bans diversity efforts, prohibits faculty strikes, and regulates classroom discussion. 

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed Senate Bill 1 into law on March 28 after it quickly passed the House and Senate earlier this year. Ohio S.B. 1 went into effect nearly two months ago. 

    S.B. 1 creates post-tenure reviews, puts diversity scholarships at risk, sets rules around classroom discussion, and creates a retrenchment provision that blocks unions from negotiating on tenure, among other things. The law affects Ohio’s public universities and community colleges.

    Diversity centers across Ohio’s public universities have closed because of the new higher education law.

    “I feel like it’s almost a grieving process where I know for a fact that the Pride Center is gone,” said Ohio University senior Audrey Ansel. “I know that that office space is empty — I helped empty it out — but it still just feels strange, and it’s not something I had ever imagined would happen.”

    Ohio University sunsetted the Division of Diversity and Inclusion which included the Pride Center, the Women’s Center and the Multicultural Center. Ansel lost her job at the Pride Center when it closed and has been unable to find a different job on campus. 

    “It is just frustrating having done all of that work and (having) put so much of myself into the Pride Center for three years,” Ansel said. “I will always be proud of that, but it’s hard when that physical representation of that work is gone.”

    The Pride Center was a big reason Ansel chose to go to OU. 

    “I don’t regret going to school here, and I’ll never regret going to school here. … But it feels like a betrayal,” she said.

    OU’s Pride Center served not only the campus community, but also the city of Athens.  

    “This (was) a hub for queer people in southern Ohio,” Ansel said. “I think that was something that was unique about the Pride Center, was that it wasn’t just exclusive to students, and I always appreciated that. … Community members are going to suffer without that resource.”

    Kent State University’s LBGTQ+ Living-Learning Community was one of the main reasons Chloe Ripoli chose to go to Kent State, but it now no longer exists because of the new law.

    “As someone who got to experience the LLC the last year that it was in place, knowing that no one else would have that experience was really heartbreaking to me,” said Ripoli, a 19-year-old sophomore.   

    Ripoli was planning on going to the LGBTQ+ Center more this year, but is unable to do so since the new law closed the center. 

    “I no longer have access to that safe space,” Ripoli said. 

    Nica Delgado, a graduate student at Kent State, said she previously found solace at the E. Timothy Moore Student Multicultural Center during her undergraduate years at Kent State. 

    “It gave me a community that I could lean on,” she said. “It also provided a space that I knew on campus was for me.”

    The center closed after S.B. 1 took effect this summer. 

    “It makes me fearful for the safety of students to not have that space that is for them,” Delgado said. 

    Members of Youngstown State University’s chapter of the Ohio Education Association tried unsuccessfully to get a referendum on the Nov. 4 ballot to stop S.B. 1., but fell about 53,000 signatures short.

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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  • Ohio U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno Brushes Off Boos at City Club of Cleveland

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    Ohio voters gave Republican U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno a harsh welcome Wednesday during an appearance at The City Club of Cleveland. Unruffled, Moreno defended Republican policy and painted the Trump administration in glowing terms.

    “He should, and probably will, end up getting the Nobel Peace Prize,” Moreno said of the president.

    “Those are just facts”

    In a discussion moderated by NBC News’ Henry Gomez, Moreno praised the Trump administration and its centerpiece budget legislation, The One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

    The measure makes permanent large tax breaks from Trump’s first administration and adds on temporary deductions for overtime pay and tips that expire in 2028. Opponents criticize Republicans for paying for those tax cuts by rolling back safety net programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

    But Moreno claimed there’s no cut.

    “The facts are, over the next 10 years, we will spend 20% more on Medicaid nationally than we’re spending now,” Moreno said. “Medicaid spending will be increased by 20%, that’s a fact.”

    Despite insisting throughout the event that “those are just facts” and encouraging people to “look it up,” Moreno’s math is fuzzy.

    Nonpartisan researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation note CBO forecasts predict a $911 billion cut to the program and an increase of 10 million uninsured Americans. Ohio Capital Journal asked Moreno’s office about the figure but got no response.

    One possibility? He could be comparing apples and oranges.

    In June, the GOP-controlled, U.S. House Budget Committee put out a press release claiming the Congressional Budget Office had “set the record straight.” But the committee argued Medicaid spending would climb more than 30% — not 20%.

    They arrived at that figure by comparing projected Medicaid costs in 2034 with the current ones. That, of course, ignores the likely increase in program spending if Trump’s legislation hadn’t passed.

    The CBO described that comparison in the very same paragraph, stating, “CBO estimates that enacting the Medicaid provisions of H.R. 1 would reduce Medicaid spending by $125.2 billion in 2034.”

    Moreno also defended the Trump administration’s approach to tariffs: “We need to make more things here in America so that we have good, high paying middle class jobs — that’s just a fact.”

    And he voiced support for the idea of taking an equity stake in Intel.

    “If a company is going to ask for help, if a company is going to ask for money, the taxpayer should get equity so we have the upside,” Moreno said.

    “As a company becomes successful, we can sell that equity and recoup the money for the taxpayer,” he added. “To me, that’s common sense.”

    Question and answer

    Moreno answers elicited jeers throughout the discussion with Gomez. When the event turned to audience questions, it didn’t get much friendlier.

    One person asked what he was doing to protect NASA following major job cuts and another sought his help with changes to the 529 education savings plan making it easier to donate left over money.

    Moreno assured the first that NASA is important for national security and the city of Cleveland.

    “A lot of that technology and knowledge lives here in Cleveland,” Moreno said before predicting a “big increase in funding.” He promised the other attendee he’d investigate the 529 issue and work on fitting it into upcoming legislation.

    Different speakers pressed him on his support for Israel’s war in Gaza and what he’s doing to protect Ukraine from Russia’s invasion.

    “This is a total problem caused by Hamas that could be fixed by Hamas, and Israel is defending itself and I support them unequivocally,” Moreno said of the war in Gaza.

    As for Ukraine, Moreno said, “We cannot allow 6,000, 7,000 innocent people to die every single week. It is a terrible, terrible situation what’s happening there, and I, for one, I’m on the side of peace.”

    One attendee asked about Trump’s recent flirtation with prohibiting mail-in voting. The senator argued the last time Congress proposed federal election laws, Democrats were in charge.

    “We’re on the side of states’ rights, and saying, hey, states should manage that,” Moreno said. “But at the same time, it is a federal obligation to make sure those states are doing a good job.”

    Notably, the Trump administration is leaning on GOP-led states to redraw maps mid-cycle to advantage the party. Among other changes, the Democratic legislation Moreno referenced would have required states to establish independent redistricting commissions.

    Another attendee asked Moreno about changing his tune about the 2020 election and Jan. 6.

    “What’s the truth about the 2020 election? Was it stolen, Senator?” the man asked. “And what’s the truth about Jan. 6, Senator? Were they patriots or felons?”

    Moreno pointed to Hunter Biden’s laptop.

    “That story was supposedly Russian misinformation, which it was clearly not, and did that alter the election? Absolutely it did,” he said.

    “I get the question,” Moreno added, “was Joe Biden the legitimate president of the United States for four years. He was legitimately the worst president of the United States for four years.”

    Moreno did not address Jan. 6.

    Pressing the flesh?

    Cleveland’s event is far from the first time Moreno has come home, but his visits have generally relied on private tours and press conferences. Critics have lobbed abuse at Moreno for failing to meet with constituents.

    When Ohio Capital Journal reached out to Moreno’s office about events with voters, a spokeswoman sent a press release describing a three-day, 18-county tour promoting the One Big Beautiful Bill earlier this month.

    Those visits included a dairy, a restaurant, a steel plant, and a factory. But the events weren’t widely publicized, and most appear to be made up of invited guests. Although the press release notes Moreno visited Ohio’s three most populous counties, it doesn’t mention coverage from any of the numerous news outlets in those areas.

    Frustrated with their lack of access, Moreno’s critics have have taken to hosting regular protests outside his Ohio offices. They showed up outside The City Club, as well. In a statement, organizer Ellen Brown said, “he doesn’t represent all of Ohio.”

    “He refuses to do a town hall with constituents of different points of view, he’s allowing the executive branch to take power from the Senate as he votes with the president 100%, and the budget bill hurts Ohioans in favor of billionaires,” Brown continued. “He’s allowing illegal deportations against immigrants and he’s an immigrant himself.”

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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    Nick Evans, Ohio Capital Journal

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  • Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio Employees Want Leadership to Take Pay Cuts to Avoid Layoffs, Staff Salary Reductions

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    Mark Oprea

    A sign posted on the former Planned Parenthood in Midtown blamed the Trump administration for its closure in June.

    A union representing Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio employees is pushing back against layoffs proposed earlier this month meant to keep the reproductive care mainstay afloat after cuts in President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill.

    Workers backed by the local arm of the Office and Professional Employees International Union want nine C-suite executives at Ohio’s Planned Parenthood branch to cut their own pay by a quarter, the union said in a press release on Thursday, to save other jobs.

    The request comes after the union met for a third time on Wednesday with PPGOH to try and handle fallout from about $10 million in federal funding cuts affecting 12 Ohio locations.

    In June, Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Midtown shut its doors due to those funding freezes. And a month later, in July, two more Ohio clinics, in Springfield and Hamilton, closed as well.

    More somber news followed. Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio would be forced to, the organization said, reduce their workforce through layoffs due to Trump. Other staffers would be forced to take salary cuts.

    The union asked, in the aftermath, why leadership didn’t take their own salary cuts.

    Leadership told Scene the math doesn’t work out.

    “The impacts of a total $10 million funding loss unfortunately cannot be solved entirely through cutting executive compensation,” Erica Wilson-Domer, president of PPGOH, told Scene in a statement.

    “Even with the reduction in force, PPGOH will continue to offer all of the services it currently does at our health centers,” she said. “This reduction does not include any health center closures.”

    Though it’s unclear exactly how many employees will be cut from the dozen remaining clinics and surgical centers, the pay drop for clinic workers that decide to stay could lead an overall drop in quality.

    Bee Grubbs, a patient navigator who helps with patient intake in one of Planned Parenthood’s Columbus clinics, worries that her own drop in salary—from $52,600 a year to $37,800—will lead to a kind of demotion of trained care in a line of work that’s already sensitive.

    As proposed to her, and others, in bargaining talks this month, Grubbs’ role in patient navigation would blend with two other departments, customer contact and centralized followup, into a newly-created Patient Access and Support Department, where new hires would make about $18 an hour.

    Not exactly what she feels her bachelor’s degree amounts to.

    “I in good faith don’t expect someone to stay and take a $15,000 pay cut,” Grubbs, 23, told Scene. “I mean, a 20-percent pay cut means I can’t pay my mortgage. For them? I don’t know.”

    Brian Pearson, the head of North Shore branch of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, told Scene it’s “disappointing” to have to witness a back-and-forth fight over pay cuts and layoffs, specifically for an organization rife with employees passionate about reproductive rights in general.

    Pearson, whose organization oversees the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 98, which is bargaining on PPGOH employees’ behalf, frames the current impasse between PPGOH and its unionized workers as part of a growing trend.

    “It’s this common theme of workers, even those that are unionized, not having a seat at the table,” Pearson said. “And I’m definitely fed up about it.”

    No Planned Parenthood leaders, including Wilson-Domer, have agreed to take any pay cuts as of Thursday. Wilson-Domer’s predecessor made roughly $318,000 a year, according to a 2023 tax filing.

    About $2 million in “director-level and above” spending was however cut, PPGOH said in a statement, “in an effort to reduce overall costs” concerning patient care.

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  • Fans of Lower Shaker Lake Balk at Sewer District’s Plan to Drain the Body of Water

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    Mark Oprea

    This month, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District released recommendations for the future of Lower Shaker Lake: forget about building a $43 million dam and just restore the body of water to its natural state—a brook.

    For two centuries, the Lower Shaker Lake has served a number of purposes.

    For most of the 1800s, its waters helped power a sawmill, thanks to a dam, operated by large Shaker family. In the 1920s, it was home base to competitive swimmers and the Shaker Lakes Canoe Club. And in the 1960s, at the height of the U.S. environmental movement, it played host to the newly-born Shaker Nature Center.

    Today, there’s a real possibility that the Lower Shaker Lake will soon no longer exist.

    For the past four years, a team at the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has been studying the lake and its dam to see whether its placidity and beauty outweighs what is a very real risk: a rare flood event that could, if Lower Lake Dam isn’t rebuilt, flood a large swath of University Circle, bringing about widespread damage and the threat to human lives.

    The problem? NEOSRD’s watershed team has come to the conclusion that the dam is way, way too old for today’s waters.

    “It’s very wildly out of compliance. It’s not remotely close to being in compliance,” Donna Friedman, a manager with NEOSRD’s watershed program, told Scene at a public meeting at the Lee Road Library on Wednesday.

    “I’ll put it this way: the Lower Shaker dam can pass two percent of the storm events that it’s supposed to pass safety,” she said. “Two percent. That’s it.”

    In 2021, Friedman and her team, which analyze the Doan Brook Watershed and streams running from Bratenahl to the edge of Beachwood, recommended to the two cities that operate the dam—Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights—that it be replaced. Construction would cost, NEORSD calculated, in the ballpark of $43 million.

    This month, NEORSD reneged a bit on their suggestion. Even if a new dam was built, along with a new underground culvert in University Circle, only four fewer properties would be saved in the event of a 100-year flood.

    “So, we just can’t pay for that,” Matt Scharver, the director of NEORSD’s watershed program that studies Doan Brook, said. “Because there’s just not a return on the investment for flood control.”

    “But,” he added, “we can remove the dam and restore the brook.”

    Flood events, like the lethal ones as seen in Central Texas or Asheville, carry the weight of risk and high-dollar property damage that put pressure on cities to keep up the infrastructure intended to prevent those tragedies up-to-date.

    But returning Lower Shaker Lake into its pre-19th century form, a large stream, brings with it a kind of forlorn feeling for those who’ve come to admire its natural beauty, who visit to photograph its herons, to jog on its paths, or tend to its gardens.

    The alternative — eight-foot-high concrete barriers around the lake topped off by a 30-foot-wide “gravity” dam that looks as if designed by a contractor in Star Wars — isn’t what they have in mind.

    “I don’t like concrete,” Pat Chokel said. “I want it to be what it is right now.”

    click to enlarge Eric and Rachael Wahl, who moved nearby Lower Shaker Lake in December, were upset by NEOSRD's recommendation to restore the lake to its original stream. "I guess we'll have to sell the house," Rachael joked. - Mark Oprea

    Mark Oprea

    Eric and Rachael Wahl, who moved nearby Lower Shaker Lake in December, were upset by NEOSRD’s recommendation to restore the lake to its original stream. “I guess we’ll have to sell the house,” Rachael joked.

    Chokel, who raised her kids around the Shaker Lakes, helped helm a garden club that still tends to natural plant species around Lower Shaker Lake and its neighbor, Horseshoe Lake.

    Chokel offered a kind of shoulder shrug went it came to the plausible reality that Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights, currently undecided, may opt to have Lower Lake drained. Horseshoe Lake, after all, is slated to be converted into a park by 2028.

    “I have totally mixed feelings,” Chokel said. “I used to live just up the block. I walked around the lake forever. But, you know, when you have a failing dam, there’s risk—and you need to do something about it.”

    Nearby, Michael Collins and his son were eyeing plans for Horseshoe Park, which showed off a potential sensory garden, new overlook and lounge swings.

    Collins, who’s owned a house near Lower Shaker Lake for decades, sighed envisioning the same future for his go-to spot for birdwatching.

    “It won’t be as beautiful, definitely not,” Collins said about the possible draining. “I think it’s a devaluation of the property.”

    Friedman said that it’s likely, once designs are finalized and submitted to the city, that a tunnel culvert underneath University Circle’s Wade Lagoon will be built for several million opposed to $43 million for a new dam down the road.

    But is it worth the loss of the lake?

    On Wednesday afternoon, as they do often during work breaks, Eric and Rachael Wahl were out on a walk on the dam-side of Lower Shaker Lake. As they passed over the dam, blue herons perched on both sides.

    A sight the Wahls don’t want messed up. After all, they relocated from Indianapolis to a home within walking distance of the lake last December in part due to its nearby scenery.

    “I mean, I guess we’ll have to sell the house,” Rachael joked, as she walked by.

    “You think of all these people moving here to Cleveland,” Eric added. “California is too expensive. Arizona’s too hot. And that’s why people are moving here, and will be moving here in the future—because there’s water here.”

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  • Ohio Gov. DeWine Sending Guard Troops to D.C. Makes Him Complicit in Trump’s Military Occupation

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    (Photo by Graham Stokes for the Ohio Capital Journal )

    Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine talks with the press.

    What Pandora’s Box has Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine opened by joining other Republican-led states in sending hundreds of reinforcement National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to join the 800 military already mobilized on the streets of the nation’s capital?

    Whatever possessed the lame duck Republican governor to become complicit in Donald Trump’s authoritarian power grab to seize control of an American city with a manufactured “crime emergency” and boots on the ground? 

    DeWine must know the bizarre, militarized occupation of D.C. is based on fallacies about rising Washington crime debunked by data that proves otherwise.

    To be sure, violent crime is a serious, ongoing problem in D.C. — as it is in other major U.S. cities — but Trump’s hostile takeover of the capital city is not about effective crime-fighting and prevention. It is a distraction. A stunt. Trump has to change the subject about the Epstein coverup with something surreal.

    But deployment of National Guard troops in iconic Washington — whose number will nearly double in size after the out-of-state reinforcements arrive — is a gross abuse of power by a would-be autocrat whose favorite tactic is to assert fake emergencies (with no acute crisis) as cover for extreme action.

    Trump has declared 11 of them since January to justify everything from turning the southern border into a military zone (and soldiers into de facto border police) to setting tariffs on every country in the world, promoting fossil fuel production and exerting police power (deploying National Guard troops, federal agents and actual military) in an appalling show of force and weaponry meant to strike fear first in Los Angeles and now in the District.

    Tourists on the National Mall are greeted by active-duty soldiers on a domestic mission to surveil Americans and keep them law-abiding.

    The troops have their marching orders from a charlatan drunk on power to look tough on crime as they sightsee in combat fatigues.

    Many will soon be armed against enemy civilians who cross the line — a reversal of initial deployment directives that Guard troops would wear body armor but leave their weapons at the armory.

    Tactical armored vehicles, developed for troops in Afghanistan, are parked throughout D.C. on apparent standby to combat falling crime. Newly erected barricades and random checkpoints conducted by masked federal law enforcement appear out of nowhere.

    Outraged local residents have erupted into spontaneous “Free D.C.” demonstrations to protest the insane federal surge of law enforcement flexing its muscle and stopping people for no apparent reason.

    The militarized patrols have had a chilling effect on free speech and the exercise of assembly, but that’s right out of the authoritarian’s playbook.

    Trump uses his unchecked power as a weapon to crush the vulnerable into submission. His stated rationale for excessive use of force in D.C. is to rehabilitate “conditions of law and order,” which is rich coming from a convicted felon who praised and pardoned lawbreakers who violently assaulted police officers, rampaged through the U.S. Capitol and hunted the vice president to hang.  

    The performative theatrics of Trump’s military policing of Americans — in the ostensible land of the free — would almost be comical if the unprecedented siege of armed combatants against fellow citizens wasn’t so scary.

    Trump has made no secret of his intentions to squash self-rule elsewhere, too. He has indicated troops could be deployed to other Americans cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Baltimore where, coincidentally, the mayors are all Black Democrats.

    This is the dystopian hellscape we feared under construction. Trump is desperate to distract his base from his years-long relationship with an infamous pedophile accused of victimizing hundreds of teenage girls, so why not normalize military occupations in America with Republican enablers like Ohio’s governor?

    “We’ve been asked by the Secretary of the Army to send 150 military police from the Ohio National Guard to support the District of Columbia National Guard,” read a brief statement from DeWine’s office Saturday night.

    Ohio guard members will “carry out presence patrols and serve as added security,” the press release explained with an odd asterisk that none of the military police from Ohio were “currently serving as law enforcement officers in the state of Ohio.” 

    Wait, what? DeWine just dispatched Ohio soldiers to play cops on the beat in Washington but it’s okay?! My friends, we are deep down the rabbit hole.

    Would the governor also welcome hundreds of troops to carry out presence patrols in Ohio cities with higher crime rates than D.C., as a few do?

    Would that also warrant hostile federal takeovers by armed military rolling from Toledo to Dayton to restore “law and order” under Trump’s selective application of justice?

    When word spread about DeWine’s decision to send military reinforcements — to be deployed against a nation’s own people — demonstrators gathered at the Ohio Statehouse to protest his offering of homegrown troops “to further militarize D.C.”

    What if Columbus is next?

    Could Ohioans count on their governor to be a bulwark against an authoritarian regime leveraging the military for control of Ohio’s “big three” cities, or would DeWine follow orders as a partisan invertebrate to the end and reinforce the takeover with more troops to suppress dissent, maintain power and project strength?

    Ask the 150 Ohio soldiers on their way to D.C.

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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    Marilou Johanek, Ohio Capital Journal

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  • Cleveland Power Alliance, New Local Coalition, Aims to Boost Democratic Participation and Working Class Policies

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    Mark Oprea

    Erika Anthony, a co-founder of Cleveland VOTES, kicked off the announcement at City Hall on Tuesday of the Cleveland Power Alliance, a coalition of 21 local nonprofits hoping to influence City Council with a massive democracy-focused policy agenda.

    Nearly two dozeh community-driven organizations, from immigrant advocates to members of Legad Aid, have banded together to fine-tune a policy wishlist a month before the September primary election and possible shakeup of City Council.

    The Cleveland Power Alliance, a diverse coalition of 21 nonprofits, announced its presence on the steps of City Hall on Tuesday morning, in a bid to see if a collective bastion of leftist values—equality, workers rights, pure democracy—can rouse a new set of voters in the next few months and push for change in the future.

    The alliance includes Cleveland Votes, the Northeast Ohio Workers Center, NEOCH, All Voting is Local Ohio and many others.

    Because CPA is a nonprofit, it is barred from publicly endorsing candidates. Instead, as six members explained from the podium, the alliance will act as a unifying body that puts pressure on City Council, and whoever fills those seats, to try and inch toward more community-focused policies in 2026.

    Which all begins with actually getting people motivated to get to the polls. It’s reasonable and long-standing concern. Last November was the lowest turnout for a presidential election — at 48 percent — since President Obama’s first bid in 2008, Cleveland.com found.

    “We know that get-out-the-vote is often tied to education,” Kayla Griffin, president of the Cleveland branch of the NAACP, said from behind the podium on Tuesday.

    “We have been struggling in this city to really get voters engaged over the last decade,” she said. “We want voters to feel empowered in their democracy. We want them to know that they have a place in this government. That this is their City Hall.”

    Months after a Republican-majority Congress passed Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, which slashed Medicaid and SNAP, Democrats have been organizing to rethink how to pitch voters. Especially those moderates and former Democratic strongholds that shifted to Trump.

    What’s emerged — whether out of a July Democratic mayor’s conference downtown, the campaign of New York City hopeful (and Democratic Socialist) Zohran Mamdan, or the myriad conversations happening within and about the party in the aftermath of Trump’s election — is a call to focus on policies that actually help the working class, rather than lambasting the president’s endless controversies.

    click to enlarge Nia Gatewood, a Rising Star barista and organizer, spoke alongside colleagues at Tuesday's press conference. She and her colleagues, Clay Reid and Caleb Reese, said they joined the Cleveland Power Alliance as a kind of fortification as they unionize. - Mark Oprea

    Mark Oprea

    Nia Gatewood, a Rising Star barista and organizer, spoke alongside colleagues at Tuesday’s press conference. She and her colleagues, Clay Reid and Caleb Reese, said they joined the Cleveland Power Alliance as a kind of fortification as they unionize.

    Which is what CPA seems to be serious about. In a 22-page policy packet handed out after the press conference, the group is calling for a wide range of legislative policies. A list so long that it’s indicative of how far a Democratic city like Cleveland still has to go.

    There’s a call for Council to aid voter registration and 2030 Census turnout; a call for guaranteed paid family leave; a push for grocery co-ops and city-owned grocers; a nod for more mental health specialists and policies like Tanisha’s Law; a call for universal language access ordinance, which would guarantee brochures and translators to any immigrant in a public facility that may need one.

    And also calls for second tries at policies Clevelanders weren’t sold on the first go-around—from re-doing the redraw of City Council’s new 15, to getting participatory budgeting (letting Clevelanders have a say in “at least” $500,000 of the general fund) on the ballot again.

    Many of those decisions lie with those 15 people who will occupy Council. (Ward 12 Councilwoman Rebecca Maurer and Ward 4 candidate Rehan Waheed were present at CPA’s announcement.)

    An underlying political philosophy pervaded the press conference: that local governments need to ramp up their support of the marginalized in an era when the federal administration surely isn’t.

    “This is about ensuring that every single resident, regardless of their religion, culture, nationality or identity,” Melaak Rashid, a director with Smart Development, said, “can feel as though they are finally a part of the Cleveland that we all aspire to have.”

    Nia Gatewood, who helped organize fellow baristas at Rising Star Coffee in Lakewood, told Scene that joining CPA gave her and her coworkers more confidence to unionize in the face of intimidation.

    What leaders can do, she said, is push legislation clearly in-line with workers’ rights.

    “The only way workers can have rights, have their concerns addressed,” Gatewood said at the podium, “is only if you hear it from the workers themselves. Because only the workers are able—are truly able to know what we need.”

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  • Huge Numbers of Ohioans to See Big Increases in Insurance Costs

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    Experts are warning that more than 500,000 Ohioans are poised to lose insurance subsidies starting next year. In many cases, the increased costs they’ll face will be so big that more than 100,000 will lose their coverage, they warn.

    However, Ohio U.S. Sens. Jon Husted and Bernie Moreno, both Republicans, won’t say whether they’ll act to renew the program.

    The subsidy is known as the “enhanced premium tax credit.” It was created during the coronavirus pandemic to make insurance purchased on the marketplace created by the Affordable Care Act more affordable. 

    It’s available to people making between 100% and 400% of federal poverty guidelines. For a family of three, that’s between $26,650 and $106,600 a year. Nearly 20 million Americans and 530,000 Ohioans receive it.

    More than 90% of those who get insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace receive the subsidies, and they’re set to expire at the end of the year. 

    The average recipient saves about $700 a year because of them, the Center for American Progress reported. But some save much more, meaning they have a lot more to lose.

    “A typical 60-year-old couple making $82,000 … would see monthly marketplace premiums more than triple, from $581 to $2,111 — an annual increase of roughly $18,400,” the group reported late last year.

    The subsidies are credited with helping to push the percentage of uninsured Americans to an all-time low. That might be why, after initially being skeptical of the Affordable Care Act, 66% of Americans had favorable views of the law by June 2025.

    After attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act in his first term, President Donald Trump has undertaken several other measures that some experts say will push the number of uninsured Americans up — a lot.

    One is by cutting nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending over 10 years as part of his One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The law gives roughly the same amount in tax cuts to the richest 1% of Americans, and it adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit.

    The Medicaid cuts are expected to add greatly to the ranks of the uninsured. KFF, an independent nonprofit, in June estimated that 11 million Americans would lose insurance because of them. In Ohio, 310,000 would lose insurance, increasing the rate of uninsured Ohioans by 3%, the organization estimated.

    Emergency physicians have warned that creating huge numbers of newly uninsured people will strain hospital services for all patients — especially in rural areas where hospitals are already struggling.

    ERs have to treat people regardless of their ability to pay. To cover those costs, hospitals will have to cut staff, leading to longer wait times, fewer services and negative health outcomes, the doctors say.

    Expiration of the marketplace subsidies would make the numbers even more dire, experts warn. KFF estimates that between the loss of subsidies and the Trump Medicaid cuts, 16 million Americans will lose insurance, including 440,000 Ohioans.

    If Congress allows the subsidies to expire at the end of 2025, those who receive them will feel the pain before those facing Medicaid cuts do. Medicaid work requirements — the biggest single way cuts to that program will be financed — don’t kick in until after next year’s midterm elections.

    Americans for Healthy Communities, a nonprofit advocacy group, urged Congress to renew the insurance subsidies.

    “By failing to renew the ACA’s premium tax credits, Republicans in Congress are jeopardizing the health of more than 500,000 Ohioans who rely on these credits to receive the care they need,” it said in a written statement. “We urge Congress, especially Ohio’s delegation, to quickly come to the table and work together on passing an extension of these tax credits before it’s too late. Congress still has a chance to renew the tax credits when they return in September — however, if they once again refuse to, millions will lose their coverage and millions more will face unaffordable, high premiums. The time to act is now.”

    The offices of Husted and Moreno didn’t respond when asked whether they believed the insurance subsidies should be allowed to expire.

    Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

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    Marty Schladen, The Ohio Capital Journal

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  • With Opening of Agora Lofts, Midtown Adds to Its Residential Neighborhood Credentials

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    Mark Oprea

    Forty-eight new apartments opened up next door to the Agora last week. It’s a good sign Midtown is a step closer to resurrecting its long-since-gone town square.

    When Emma Croft learned she scored a nursing job at the Cleveland Clinic, she decided two things about what that meant for her living situation: She would live without a car, and she would pick an apartment both close to work and the rest of what the city offered.

    Last week, Croft didn’t move into a luxury mid-rise in Ohio City or Tremont. She didn’t pick the pool-topped Skyline 776 or Waterford Bluffs. Croft chose a brick-walled loft apartment a stone’s throw from the Salvation Army and the East 55th rail bridge.

    Or to use the oh-so-fitting title those 48 apartments are now called: Life At Agora.

    What used to be an industrial ghost town isn’t so much anymore, with more promise of residential and neighborhood life in the shade of Cleveland’s historic concert venue.

    “I think that’s kind of what drew me in,” Croft, 22, told Scene near a fire escape staircase in the shadowed courtyard outside her apartment.

    “There were videos on TikTok and I was like, just looking at places in Cleveland,” she said. “I was like, Oh, that’s cute. And then there was the theater. I love music, so I was like, Okay, this could definitely work.”

    Life At Agora, the latest complex to open up on Euclid Avenue, is another notch in MidTown Cleveland’s argument that it too has neighborhood credentials like its neighbors to the east and west in downtown and University Circle.

    And that argument is gradually getting more sound.

    Earlier this year, Black Frog, Ohio’s second Black-owned brewery, opened up alongside a jazz club, Sixty6 Lounge, in the MidTown Collaboration Center two blocks east of the Agora. Also, the Warner Swasey Building, a block south off Carnegie, received the city’s go-ahead to begin demolition.

    Many who believe that Midtown is no longer that drive-through-and-miss-it spot on the map point to the Foundry Lofts, a black-and-grey complex of some 300 apartment units, off Carnegie as reason to think Life At Agora was a reasonable investment decision. (Alike to the makeover of the Agora itself in 2017.)

    Ashley Shaw is probably its main cheerleader. Since before the pandemic, Shaw and her team at MidTown Cleveland, the area’s community development corporation, have been funding designs and rallying support for a renovation of Penn Square, the historical name for the southwestern block off East 55th and Euclid Ave.

    click to enlarge For the past decade or so, Ashley Shaw, the director of MidTown Cleveland, has been spearheading a potentially multi-million-dollar investment in making the neighborhood epicenter into, once again, a place people want to be. - Mark Oprea

    Mark Oprea

    For the past decade or so, Ashley Shaw, the director of MidTown Cleveland, has been spearheading a potentially multi-million-dollar investment in making the neighborhood epicenter into, once again, a place people want to be.

    Before it was demolished in 1976, the square was home to the Euclid Avenue stop of the Pennsylvania Railroad, a once massive building abutted by restaurants, cabarets and music halls, like Babe’s Baby and Leo’s Casino. And the Metropolitan Theater, where the Agora is housed today.

    “And then, like we do in cities, we demolish all of that and just erase history,” Shaw said. “And you know, Penn was one.”

    Shaw and her team have calculated that a true revival of Penn Square will take millions. About $700,000 alone will be needed to restore the railroad bridge, which today is peeling and neglected since it was repainted in 2017.

    Life At Agora, and about a hundred new residents, will help Shaw and her team write grants, and convince donors, that Penn Square can once again become Midtown’s epicenter.

    “It’s art, it’s gathering spaces, it’s small businesses, it’s dense activity, it’s transit,” Shaw said, leaning against a standing table outside the Agora’s lobby.

    “And so we basically took all these ingredients of what these other historic squares have done to become now one the most vibrant places in our city again,” she added. “And that’s what we’re proposing for Penn Square.”

    But will money, specifically about $1 million for the park alone, bring the same vibrancy you can find elsewhere?

    Maybe that spark rests in the Agora itself, where Shaw and others hope to attract a pizza parlor on par with Edison’s and Il Rione. (A “Cleveland mainstay,” Shaw said.)

    As she speculated on Penn Square’s future, Shaw repeatedly recalled her teenage years, when she would spend hours after concerts congregating with friends on the sidewalk outside.

    An image best used to highlight Shaw’s goal—and major lift: to make Midtown that place to be once again.

    “I keep telling people,” Shaw said. “If I was in my twenties again, I would totally live here. How exciting would that be?”

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  • Ohio City Car Crash Shuts Down Jaja and Pioneer ‘Until Further Notice’

    Ohio City Car Crash Shuts Down Jaja and Pioneer ‘Until Further Notice’

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    Mark Oprea

    Construction workers had already started repairing the entrance to Jaja Thursday afternoon. Both Jaja and Pioneer will be closed, statements read, “until further notice.”

    Two of Ohio City’s newest restaurants will be closed until “further notice” as they undergo repairs following a fiery car crash Thursday morning.

    Around 3 a.m. on October 31, a black Audi speeding west on Abbey Road lost control, hit a fire hydrant and slammed straight into the main entrance of Jajaon the eastern side of the INTRO building. Part of an entrance to its sister restaurant, Pioneer, was destroyed as well.

    Cleveland Police said that a 24-year-old man was hospitalized in “serious condition” on Thursday. They’ve not released whether or not the driver was drunk or impaired as the Audi slammed into the building.

    No one was hurt besides the driver, Cassandra Luz, property manager at INTRO, told Scene on Thursday.

    “We were very lucky that there was nobody else involved,” she told Scene from her office. “I mean, it was very tragic that that had even happened to begin with.”

    Shortly after the Audi crashed, INTRO’s concierge alerted tenants via the building’s app notification system. Fire and smoke from the car set off several alarms. Some residents on the opposite side of the building were skeptical, however, minding recent car-related incidents in Ohio City.

    “I’d like some evidence that something actually happened,” one resident said on the app’s message board. “I’m started to get desensitized to these two to three a.m. fire alarms and people doing donuts outside.”

    “Yes, there was a car that ran into the building,” another responded, “and I believe it was on fire.”

    click to enlarge A 24-year-old speeding in a black Audi slammed into Jaja's entrance around three a.m. Thursday morning. CPD said they're investigating possible criminal implications. - Mark Oprea

    Mark Oprea

    A 24-year-old speeding in a black Audi slammed into Jaja’s entrance around three a.m. Thursday morning. CPD said they’re investigating possible criminal implications.

    One resident, who wished not to be named, recalled being woken up to fire alarms and messages from nearby friends. “It’s good no one was hurt,” he told Scene in INTRO’s lobby.

    Both Jaja and Pioneer announced on Instagram that their restaurants will be closed “until further notice.” Both suggested supporting Edda Coffee nearby to make up for lost revenue in the coming weeks.

    “Please know we are working hard to reopen our doors as quickly as possible,” a statement on Pioneer’s page read, “and can’t wait to welcome you back soon.”

    Scene reached out to Cleveland Police for further information, yet did not receive a call back Thursday afternoon.

    In an interview with WKYC, Sgt. Freddy Diaz said they will be looking into the cause as more details are available.

    “We’re gonna investigate it,” he said. “Whatever the factors are, [whatever] the investigation reveals, and we can handle it from there.”

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  • Nosotros Rock Climbing Gym Closing in Lakewood, But Owner Hopes to Relocate With Community Help

    Nosotros Rock Climbing Gym Closing in Lakewood, But Owner Hopes to Relocate With Community Help

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    Nosotros

    Peter Stancato’s climbing gym has been a fixture in Lakewood since opening in 2017. It’s now trying to raise tens of thousands to reopen in Lakewood’s Screw Factory down the street.

    What many climbing enthusiasts seem to love, almost as much as surmounting walls, is that climbing is always much more than just climbing.

    For some, it’s an affordable alternative to the American West. A strategic, rewarding way to building hand strength and muscle mass. A full-body exercise. A mental struggle as much as a physical one.

    But for Peter Stancato, like it is for many, climbing culture always has deep ties with a local community that seems to have each other’s backs.

    “When you do a climbing route, you can fail a million times,” Stancato, the owner of Nosotros Rock Climbing Gym in Lakewood, told Scene. “And then you finally do it, and everybody has the same face: Nice job. And that’s really cool.”

    A vibe that is currently under threat for Stancato and his hundreds of regulars. The 36-year-old gym founder said that the owner of Nosotros’ sole space, the basement of a church on Detroit Avenue, is selling the building. Stancato has to be out of the building by the end of October.

    Starting this week, Stancato has kicked off a fundraising campaign in an attempt to relocate Nosotros from the church basement where it’s been since 2017 to a slightly larger spot in Lakewood’s Screw Factory. All for a fraction of the cost it takes to build your typical climbing gym—$50,000, Stancato said.

    Not millions?

    “Well, because we’re building it ourselves,” he said. “I’m the general manager. I’m the builder. And we don’t need to depend on loans or investors.”

    Whether or not Stancato is successful in what he predicted will be a sixty-day campaign, Nosotros’ possible closure puts a dent in an already fractured climbing scene here in Cleveland.

    In 2023, a series of miffed investors sued Cleveland Rocks owner Kevin Wojton, alleging that he lied about the gym’s value and had defrauded them out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Both gyms’ absences—including two failed Nosotros expansions, in Downtown and Crocker Park—would leave only Climb Cleveland in Tremont and Shaker Rocks in Shaker Heights.

    It’s hard to find the sort of community he built at Nosotros, however.

    “Some have said that Nosotros saved their life,” its website reads. “How do you help someone with a bad addiction? By learning their name, asking questions, and making introductions.”

    Maureen Murphy, 34, included. A regular since 2018, Murphy said that scaling all the colorful routes at Nosotros led inevitably to her signing up for a 24/7 membership. (And donating $100 this week to keeping her favorite gym afloat.)

    “I’m a mother of one, I’m a small business owner,” Murphy said. “And there’s no other place in the world I can walk in and just be alone and at peace. Where nothing else seems to matter.”

    A kind of drink-the-Kool Aid feeling Stancato gets. After climbing with a wedding party in 2011, the Parma native decided to start Nosotros, a named recommended to him by his wife, after just “climbing three times.” He played rugby at Kent State, but seemed to adore climbing’s lack of big ego: “People in climbing, they’re vested,” he said. “They take actual pleasure in your success.”

    Jonathan Glass Riley, the pastor that owns the building on Detroit did not respond to a call for comment. Stancato suggested that the new owner will be putting a nursing home in Nosotros’ place.

    To raise the money needed to build new walls and buy new pads, Stancato is offering tickets to obstacle courses, movie nights and “team-building clubs,” which he said are par for the course for his usual fans.

    “I mean, you have some people that just embody this attitude: ‘Nosotros or nowhere,’” he added. “Who knows if that’s actually true, if we were to close for good. But that’s kind of how it’s been for the past seven years.”

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  • Bibb: Browns Move to Brook Park Will Economically Harm Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

    Bibb: Browns Move to Brook Park Will Economically Harm Cleveland, Cuyahoga County

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    Mark Oprea

    Mayor Justin Bibb announced that Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have decided to move the Browns to a soon-to-be-built $2 billion stadium village in Brook Park.

    In an alternately solemn and feisty speech in front of a packed Red Room at City Hall on Thursday, Mayor Justin Bibb announced that Jimmy and Dee Haslam intend to officially move the Cleveland Browns to Brook Park in a new domed stadium.

    The decision, apparently conveyed to Bibb in a phone call Wednesday night, put the mayor on the defensive as he outlined a laundry list of moves he and City Hall deployed to convince the Haslams that keeping the team in their namesake city, on a lakefront the owners had implored/demanded the city improve, was the right thing to do. Absconding to Brook Park will create an annual $30 million economic hit to downtown, he reported a recent impact study found, and detract from and compete with public infrastructure that the city and county have already poured hundreds of millions of dollars into.

    Noting that Cleveland’s offer and attendant lakefront moves — $461 million in subsidies to the Haslams, state and federal grants collected to convert the Shoreway to a pedestrian-friendly boulevard and build a landbridge connector, the formation of a waterfront development corporation to guide projects — met all of the Haslams’ suggested demands when the two sides first talked after he entered office, Bibb said their desire for a dome came later. This, he said, wasted precious time.

    And when it became clear a dome was the only option the Haslams would consider, the city quickly moved to find other options downtown, including the offer of land at Burke. This, he said, simply didn’t meet their timeline or financial plans.

    “This is a deliberate choice—one driven by a desire to maximize profits rather than positive impact. They had the opportunity to reinvest in Cleveland, transform the current stadium into a world-class facility, enhance the fan experience and remain highly profitable,” Bibb said from the Red Room podium days after Cavs owner Dan Gilbert’s company cut the ribbon on a new riverfront development that will include the team’s new training facilities.

    Both the financial strife and the emotional weight of losing the negotiations brought out a heavy-hearted Bibb on Thursday, who often bit his lip or raised his hands when recalling the city’s two years of work.

    From the start, Bibb and the city sought to address the Browns’ concerns — “fan experience,” “traffic” and ensuring Cleveland “would really accelerate lakefront development.”

    “Every milestone they’ve asked for, we hit,” Bibb said. “We created a new waterfront development authority. We got state support for the land bridge. We got federal support—with more on the way.”

    Compared to the Brook Park plan, “We believe the renovation was a competitive deal,” he said.

    Bibb’s sentiment has been mirrored by a swath of public officials, from U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown to County Executive Chris Ronayne, the latter who reiterated succinctly in a press release during Bibb’s speech that, “the Browns stadium should remain downtown.”

    In a short statement Thursday afternoon, the Haslams said: “We’ve learned through our exhaustive work that renovating our current stadium will simply not solve many operational issues and would be a short-term approach. With more time to reflect, we have also realized that without a dome, we will not attract the type of large-scale events and year-round activity to justify the magnitude of this public-private partnership. The transformational economic opportunities created by a dome far outweigh what a renovated stadium could produce with around ten events per year.”

    The Haslams have previously said they would pay for half of the $2.4 billion dome. Ronayne, again, has said the county is not interested in forking over dough. The sin tax, legally speaking, can only be used to fund the current lakefront stadium. And so far Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been silent on how much the state could possibly contribute, though the Haslams appear to hope for around $600 million. The team has explored a variety of other novel financing concepts involving that public-private partnership to come up with the rest.

    92.3 The Fan reported that Bibb has asked the Haslams for three things given their decision to leave for Brook Park: “The first was that the Browns pay for the demolition of the current stadium, which should cost between $15-25 million. Bibb also sought financial support for small business owners impacted by the team’s departure to Brook Park as well as support from the Haslam Sports Group and Browns for the development of the lakefront.”

    In closing, Bibb said that if the Brook Park plan turns out not to be viable, he stands willing and with open arms to continue talks about keeping the Browns downtown.

    “It’s the wrong time not to choose Cleveland,” he said. “And the wrong time not to choose our lakefront downtown.”

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  • NAACP Maintains 2019 Cleveland ‘Water Lien’ Case is Worthy of Class Action Suit With Thousands Affected

    NAACP Maintains 2019 Cleveland ‘Water Lien’ Case is Worthy of Class Action Suit With Thousands Affected

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    Cleveland Water HQ

    Lawyers working for an affiliate of the NAACP argued earlier this month that an ongoing suit against Cleveland Water should be classified as a class-action case.

    That suit, Pickett v. City of Cleveland, which was originally filed in 2019, contends that tens of thousands of mostly Black Clevelanders had been discriminated against when the city’s water department overbilled them, shut off their water line unjustly or placed liens on their homes for, in some cases, as little as $300 in  overdue bills.

    Although the city has twice tried to appeal (and have the case dismissed), a trio of lawyers for the NAACP’s Legal Defense Fund have argued since last year that, as assistant attorney to the plaintiffs Arielle Humphries said, “thousands of complaints” against Cleveland Water clearly amount to a suit greater than on a person-by-person basis.

    “We have shown that this is a widespread issue,” Humphries told Scene in a phone call on Wednesday. “And that there are a lot of Black Clevelanders that have been subject to the discriminatory lien policy and the discriminatory unfair billing policy.”

    “The policy needs to change,” she added.

    A brief filed in the Northern District of Ohio Court on October 4 supports the NAACP’s position that the case is worthy of class action status, which the court agreed with in a ruling late last year. Cleveland has since appealed.

    The subject at hand: From 2012 to 2020, there were 17,000 liens on Clevelanders’ homes placed due to unpaid bills, the lawyers for the plaintiffs argue.

    And unfairly so, they argue: 18 percent of those liens were on homes in majority-white neighborhoods, they say; about 70 percent of those liens were placed on homes in majority-Black neighborhoods, mostly those in Central, Lee-Miles, Fairfax and Slavic Village.

    Which is, the lawyers argue, a matter of color and race, not just financial status—a clear violation, they say, of the Federal Housing Act, along with the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that no state “can take away a person’s life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

    “Even when controlling for median household income, the higher percentage of Black residents in any given neighborhood,” the October 4 brief reads, “the higher the number and proportion of all water liens are placed in that neighborhood.”

    “Cleveland Water will not be commenting on this particular case, as it is an ongoing legal matter,” a spokesperson told Scene via email.

    In a message to News 5, who covered the story in 2019, Cleveland Water said that they’re “currently working through the court system with outside counsel.”

    The city, they also found, had spent $1.4 million in attorneys fees up to 2023 arguging the case.

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