WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28, 2022 |
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In fall 2009, when I covered Cuyahoga County government, commissioners cut the payroll to 8,500 workers — the lowest level in two decades, after a year of layoffs, buyouts and a hiring freeze eliminated 1,000 positions throughout county departments and courts. In 2019, the county was down to 4,800 employees in just the executive branch. Now the county is assessing whether its staff is still too big. Why start a study months before a new executive takes over? We want to know, too. - Laura |
Overnight Scores and Weather |
Guardians vs. Tampa Bay Rays: Guardians’ win streak halted at seven as Tampa Bay prevails in extra innings Northeast Ohio Wednesday weather forecast: Rain expected to end |
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Cuyahoga County wants to know if it can do more with less employees. (Courtesy of Cuyahoga County) |
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County staffing: Is Cuyahoga County’s payroll larger than it needs to be? Kaitlin Durbin reports the county is evaluating its operational and organizational structure amid significant, and in some cases long-standing, staffing shortages -- and right before a transition of power. The assessment will consider the number of employees in each department, the supervisor-to-staff ratio, and other operational functions and recommend changes to improve efficiency. Income taxes: The Buckeye Institute, which challenged Ohio’s pandemic municipal tax rules to permit taxing people where they were neither working nor living, has won a case involving the city of Cleveland. A Cuyahoga County judge on Monday ordered Cleveland to refund tax withholdings to a doctor who was working out of state, in one of five cases brought by the Buckeye Institute. Today in Ohio: That long-anticipated overhaul of Ohio’s 18-year-old unemployment computer system? It’s on hold after federal officials indicted top officials with the company hired to replace it. We’re wondering what comes next on Today in Ohio, cleveland.com’s daily half-hour news podcast. |
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Abortion ruling: A judge extended a temporary block Tuesday on an Ohio law banning virtually all abortions for an additional 14 days, further pausing a law that had taken effect after federal abortion protections were overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in June. The Associated Press reports the decision by Hamilton County Judge Christian Jenkins means pregnancy terminations through 20 weeks’ gestation may continue in Ohio through Oct. 12. |
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Cleveland’s Promise: After Sophia’s parents were arrested in a SWAT raid, she and her sister moved in with their Aunt Lynn. Their life has been stable and safe since that day, but it’s clear that Sophia feels uprooted and the impact is starting to affect relationships with her classmates, too. Hannah Drown checks in as part of the education series. Myles Garrett: Authorities on Tuesday released a video of the Browns’ Myles Garrett after he crashed his car in rural Medina County a day earlier. Garrett lost control of his car on the way home to Medina from Browns practice in Berea and flipped it several times, Mary Kay Cabot and Olivia Mitchell report. Garrett and a female passenger were taken to a nearby hospital for injuries and later released. Hurricane Ian: Once Hurricane Ian finishes pummeling the South, could it hit Northeast Ohio and further dampen areas that have seen heavy rains in recent days? Not likely, Peter Krouse reports. The storm likely will travel north but stall out over Tennessee, Kentucky and the Carolinas. Strike vote: Over 200 teachers in the Garfield Heights Teachers' Association unanimously voted Monday to authorize a 10-day strike notice. Alexis Oatman reports the decision comes after nearly five months of negotiations between the teachers association, the district’s administration and the board of education. Hispanic population: More than half of Hispanic people in Cuyahoga County live in Cleveland, reports Zachary Smith. Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 is National Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States, to acknowledge the 1-in-10 people who live here that identify as Hispanic or Latinx. |
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Ford plant: Ford will receive $205 million in incentives to expand its Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake, where it plans to make electric vehicles. Sean McDonnell reports that the automaker was approved for a 30-year tax credit worth $70 million Monday. JobsOhio is planning a $135 million in grants for Ford. |
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Life sentence: A 19-year-old woman who carried out a string of armed robberies and carjackings that culminated in the slaying of off-duty Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison, Cory Shaffer reports. Tamara McLoyd, whom a jury found shot Bartek after he lunged for the revolver she used to carjack him outside his apartment on New Year’s Eve, will not be eligible for parole until she spends at least 50 years behind bars. Police response: Attorneys and the family of a woman who was killed last month demanded transparency and accountability from Cleveland police over what they say was the delayed response to help her. Olivia Mitchell reports the family of Carly Capek, 38, and their attorneys said they believe that Capek’s death could have been prevented if police responded faster. Acquittal: A jury on Tuesday found two men not guilty of a series of shootings, including one at a Cleveland police officer, crimes for which they spent nearly 15 years in prison. Cory Shaffer reports the trial saw defense attorneys accuse the officers who testified that they had witnessed the shooting, Daniel Lentz and Michael Keane, of lying on the stand. Misconduct hearing: The fate of longtime Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Daniel Gaul is being considered by a three-commissioner panel after an eight-hour hearing Tuesday about the Democratic jurist’s courtroom conduct. Laura Hancock reports Gaul, who is white, allegedly referred to Black men who appeared in his courtroom as “brother;” called a woman in a relationship with a man getting a divorce a “mistress;” and offered plea deals to criminal defendants even though he’s not a prosecutor, among other charges. Supreme Court: A man’s lawsuit against Parma police for wrongfully arresting and charging him over a parody Facebook account that mocked the department is headed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Adam Ferrise reports that Anthony Novak’s attorneys filed their appeal Monday to try to reverse an appeals court decision that found Parma officers’ qualified immunity shielded them from the lawsuit. Tax scheme: A former top official at an Independence wealth-management company pleaded guilty Monday to his role in a scheme that provided a tax shelter for wealthy clients. Adam Ferrise reports Cullen Fischel, the former chief financial officer of Associated Concepts Agency, entered the plea in federal court in Cleveland to conspiring to defraud the IRS. Execution: The Ohio Supreme Court has scheduled Northeast Ohio murderer George Brinkman Jr.’s execution date for Sept. 23, 2026. Andrew Tobias reports it remains to be seen whether Brinkman will be put to death on that date – or at all – given Ohio’s years-long difficulties with obtaining lethal-injection drugs. Mover charged: A Euclid man who worked for a moving company stole a safe with two guns from a home in Columbia Station and is suspected of stealing jewelry from a woman in Strongsville, according to federal agents. Adam Ferrise reports Eddie Hereford, 23, is charged in federal court with possessing a gun with a felony record and possessing a stolen gun. |
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Guardians on TV: There’s good news if you haven’t been able to watch but a handful of Guardians game this season, reports Joey Morona. The team’s postseason games will be nationally televised on either ESPN, ESPN2, TBS, and, if they get to the World Series, WJW Channel 8. Browns ratings: Very few things can compete with the NFL when it comes to TV ratings. When the Browns took on the Pittsburgh Steelers, it drew an average audience of 11.03 million viewers on Amazon Prime: 1.18 million viewers came from local simulcasts in Cleveland (631,000) and Pittsburgh (549,000), Troy Smith reports. CMA: The Cleveland Museum of Art appointed Alexander J. Noelle, a former curatorial fellow at the Frick Collection in New York, as its new assistant curator of European paintings and sculpture, 1500–1800, reports Steven Litt. Katharine Lee Reid: Katharine Lee Reid, director of the Cleveland Museum of Art from 2000 to 2005, died Thursday in Chapel Hill, N.C., from complications following heart surgery, Steven Litt reports. She was 80. Cleveland Orchestra: Mahler’s “Resurrection” Symphony No. 2 is the Cleveland Orchestra’s season opener. The reason? Steven Litt reports that the orchestra now owns the lone autograph manuscript of the work in existence, the only complete edition handwritten by Mahler himself between 1888 and 1894. |
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Lakewood man fatally shot in Cleveland’s Detroit-Shoreway neighborhood, police say Read more Ohio girl, ‘tired of being picked on,’ brings gun onto school bus, reports say Read more Akron City Council approves creation of Citizen Oversight Board Read more Why the lazy way is better for the environment: This fall, try leaving the leaves in your garden Read more Opponents of Medina deer culling turn focus on voters Read more Possible accord reached between Cleveland Heights mayor, council on sharing information, department heads Read more Strongsville Schools commit substitute teachers to one year of service exclusively in Strongsville Read more Bay Village Councilman David Tadych donating ‘script’ sign for Cahoon Park Read more Cuyahoga Valley National Park to receive $14M to stabilize sites along Cuyahoga River Read more Old Park Synagogue site offers rare development, preservation opportunity for Cleveland Heights Read more Summit County to commemorate North American First People’s Day with events, exhibits, walk Oct. 1-7 Read more |
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