Reproductive rights symposium: A free public symposium on the legal issues surrounding reproductive rights in Ohio will be held Monday at the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association Conference Center, reports Gretchen Kroen. The aim of the event is to educate the public on the post-Roe v. Wade legal landscape.
METRO
Fired officer: The team overseeing reform of the Cleveland police department urged the city Tuesday to challenge a recent arbitrator’s decision that gave a fired police officer his job back, reports Adam Ferrise. The officer was fired last year after he admitted to internal affairs investigators that he had 10 to 12 alcoholic drinks while off-duty before he crashed his car into an RTA bus. His firing was reduced to a 25-day suspension and was awarded back pay.
Leadership initiative: Mayor Justin Bibb is one of 40 mayors participating in a leadership and management program put on by the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative that’s intended to teach mayors and top City Hall staffers how to address complex challenges and improve quality-of-life for residents. Courtney Astolfi reports Bibb traveled to New York City earlier this week to attend the first round of classes with other mayors from around the U.S. and abroad.
Reserves: Thanks to an infusion of federal pandemic aid, Cleveland officials are setting aside $110 million in reserves that could help the city weather a recession or other emergency. Courtney Astolfi reports the transfer is the maximum amount of money that state law allows Cleveland to squirrel away for the future via two types of reserve accounts.
Sale re-bid: Amid community protest over plans to sell the former East Cleveland Adult Activity Center to a company with ties to a liquor store, Cuyahoga County officials stopped the process Tuesday and will rebid the contract. Kaitlin Durbin reports County Council President Pernel Jones, Jr., said he asked Executive Armond Budish to issue a new request for proposal that “considers the proposed uses of this facility through a stronger economic and community development lens.
Overdose deaths: CDC data says overdose death rates increased 44% in Black communities and 39% for American Indian and Alaska Native communities from 2019 to 2020. Zachary Smith reports white communities have also experienced a 22% increase in overdose deaths, and Hispanic communities 21%.
Toxic sites: A quarter of Ohioans live near a facility that emitted toxic chemicals. Zachary Smith reports Lake County hosts 47 facilities that reported toxic releases, with a total of 948,444 pounds of 52 separate toxic chemicals in 2020.
COVID & HEALTHCARE
UH loss: The mayors of Bedford and Richmond Heights are calming residents’ fears and calculating the loss of city income in the wake of University Hospitals’ announcement that inpatient services are leaving community hospitals. Julie Washington reports that UH blamed a lack of healthcare workers, especially nurses, for the moves. The closings in Bedford and Richmond Heights come as UH is spending $236 million on an expansion of its Ahuja Medical Center in Beachwood.
Cigarettes: A Case Western Reserve University study found that legislation raising the legal age to purchase tobacco nearly a decade ago in Cleveland from 18 to 21 substantially reduced tobacco use among teens, reports Julie Washington. There was a decline in youth-reported tobacco use across every tobacco product category from 2013 to 2019
BUSINESS
Sportsbook: Plans are underway to build a sportsbook in the Harry Buffalo on East 4th Street just steps from the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, although Ohio’s sports gambling laws make it a longshot. Sean McDonnell reports Ohio rules allow five sportsbooks in one county and give casinos, racinos and sports teams preference. The JACK Casino, JACK Thistledown racino, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers and Cleveland Guardians have all applied for the same Type-B licenses.
Starbucks union: A second and third Starbucks voted to unionize in the Cleveland area on Tuesday, joining a downtown café that voted to unionize in May. Votes for Cleveland Heights store on Mayfield Road and the Cleveland store on Clifton Boulevard on the West Side were counted by the National Labor Relations Board Tuesday afternoon in separate proceedings, reports Sean McDonnell.
CRIME
Details withheld: Akron police have declined to release details about threats made against the eight officers involved in the shooting death of Jayland Walker. Kaylee Remington reports the department has said officers have been threatened, but police officials have offered few details to support those claims.
2-year-old’s death: A judge has refused to let a man withdraw his guilty plea to charges related to the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son. Cory Shaffer reports Ronald Hicks Jr. claims he is innocent and has witnesses who will testify to seeing other people abuse the boy in the weeks before his death, his attorney wrote in a brief filed earlier this month.
Second opinion: The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office and the Court of Common Pleas will each use $75,000 from their annual budgets to pay for an updated review of conditions in the jail to help determine if the county needs to build a new one or renovate in place, reports Kaitlin Durbin.
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Hot dog: Since it’s National Hot Dog Month -- and cleveland.com is in the midst of searching for the tastiest hot dog in Northeast Ohio -- the Best Of Cleveland team of Yadi Rodriguez and Brenda Cain got curious about which fast food emporium served up the better frankfurter. They visited 9 different fast-food chains around town that offered some form of hot dogs or corn dogs.
Art takes center stage: The BorderLight International Theatre + Fringe Festival will take place July 20-24 in downtown Cleveland. Annie Nickoloff reports that more than 45 different performances are set to take place in 12 venues, featuring many Playhouse Square stages along with less conventional spaces like the Old Stone Church and a Wizbang Circus Theatre Tent.
