If you had $350 million to build projects around Ohio, how would you spend it? The Ohio House compiled a long list of projects to support with its half of $700 million in surplus state revenue set aside for one-time projects in last year’s main operating budget. The Senate has its own $350 million to spend. And both pots of money are separate from $600 million set aside for K-12 school buildings, $400 million for construction and renovation at public colleges, $400 million to improve state facilities and $250 million to improve county jails. From the House, Northeast Ohio is slated to receive about $70 million, including $5 million for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, $3.5 million for the Flats East Bank development project, $1 million for a pro women’s soccer stadium in Cleveland and $750,000 for Public Square. Wednesday was a good day for Cleveland. In a separate state award, Cleveland’s Carter Street bridge is getting $20 million for repairs. — Laura |
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This rendering from the fall of 2023 shows a proposed land bridge that would connect downtown Cleveland to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, Cleveland Browns Stadium, and other lakefront attractions. The Ohio House voted on Wednesday to appropriate $20 million toward the project's estimated cost of around $230 million. (City of Cleveland) |
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Land bridge: The Ohio House rushed through a $2 billion appropriations bill Wednesday, including $20 million for a land bridge connecting downtown Cleveland with the lakefront. House Bill 2 includes $350 million for one-time projects around the state and another $1.6 billion for county jail and school construction and renovation projects, reports Jeremy Pelzer. The appropriations bill is separate from the biennial capital budget, which is expected later this year. Carter bridge: Gov. Mike DeWine announced $59.5 million of funding for local bridges across the state, and Cleveland’s Carter Road bridge is getting a huge chunk of it. Sean McDonnell reports the state announced that $20 million will go toward repairing the mechanical and electrical systems on the Carter Road lift bridge, which connects downtown Cleveland to the Scranton Peninsula. Today in Ohio: State regulators fined a Canton CVS pharmacy $250,000 after discovering it was over a month behind in filling prescriptions, didn’t have properly working phones and couldn’t check the temperature in cold storage. We’re talking about the horrendous conditions at the height of the pandemic on Today in Ohio, cleveland.com’s daily half-hour news podcast. |
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Republican ads: Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies have booked a massive quantity of TV ads for Ohio this fall as part of Republicans’ attempt to defeat longtime Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown and retake control of the U.S. Senate. The Senate Leadership Fund, closely tied with McConnell, and an allied group, American Crossroads, reserved $82.5 million in ads on Thursday, Andrew Tobias reports. VA loans: U.S. military veterans and service members who are in danger of losing homes with Veterans Administration loans would get help exiting the VA’s loan forbearance program, getting their payments back on track and keeping their homes under legislation that U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown introduced last week with the chair of Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Sabrina Eaton reports the Cleveland Democrat told reporters that tens of thousands of VA loan holders around the country are in danger of losing their homes this year after facing financial difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic and temporarily pausing their loan payments without penalty through a process called forbearance. Senate ads: Ohio’s Republican U.S. Senate election has reached a major milestone with the election just under six weeks away: the emergence of the first outside national group to buy ads aimed at influencing the outcome. Andrew Tobias reports the Club for Growth, a deep-pocketed anti-tax group based in Washington, D.C., has reserved ads boosting Cleveland businessman Bernie Moreno that will air in Cleveland, Cincinnati and Columbus. Speaker battle: A legal fight over a $1.6 million lease backed by imprisoned ex-Speaker Larry Householder’s political operation could reverberate in the expensive political battle for control of the Ohio House next year. Jeremy Pelzer and Jake Zuckerman report that just before Householder’s 2020 arrest, his political operation signed a seven-year lease for an entire floor of the Chase Tower, and now creditors are trying to collect from current House Speaker Jason Stephens’ political arm. Transgender care: Gov. Mike DeWine released revisions Wednesday to proposed rules that would mandate how transgender Ohioans receive health care – with a key change to exempt adults from some of the standards, Laura Hancock reports. Required course: The Ohio House sent Gov. Mike DeWine a bill Wednesday that, if he signs it, will require high school teachers to add free-market capitalism content to their courses on financial literacy and entrepreneurship. Laura Hancock reports Senate Bill 17 passed 64 to 26, largely along party lines. DEI: House Republicans are taking the culture wars to some of the lesser-traveled corners of state government: the boards that oversee architects, car mechanics, police, and other trades. Jake Zuckerman reports that under House Bill 238, occupational licensing boards would not be allowed to adopt or require as continuing education so-called “prohibited topics.” |
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Euclid Beach: Two years after the Western Reserve Land Conservancy purchased the Euclid Beach mobile home park, residents are starting to vacate for what eventually is to become an expansion of the Cleveland Metroparks. By August, everyone must be gone from the park along the Cleveland/Euclid border and next to Euclid Beach, closing the books on a chapter that began just over two years ago, Megan Sims reports. Soccer stadium: Plans are underway to build a new stadium near downtown Cleveland designed to help bring a professional women’s soccer team to the city, according to one of the developers behind the project. Should the National Women’s Soccer League award Cleveland an expansion team, the stadium could be completed as early as 2026, Michael Murphy, co-founder and CEO of Cleveland Soccer Group LLC, tells Jeremy Pelzer. Civil discourse: Starting in fall 2024, all freshmen entering Baldwin Wallace University will be required to take a course that includes lessons on how to have civil conversations with people who hold opposing political views. The mandatory first-year course will include several lessons derived from Braver Angels, a nonpartisan nonprofit that seeks to reduce America’s political polarization by improving peoples’ communication skills, reports Lucas Daprile. Pickleball: The city of Cleveland is considering a grant from the city’s remaining federal stimulus money that would help bring a pickleball facility to the West Side, reports Courtney Astolfi. The grant would provide $100,000 to Euerle Group LLC for building renovations in the Bellaire-Puritas neighborhood, just north of Interstate 480. Flower arranging: Valentine’s Day is responsible for about one-third of all floral sales in a year, including 250 million roses, reports Susan Brownstein in her weekly gardening column. Brownstein visited BigHearted Blooms in downtown Cleveland to see how they turn cut flower arrangements into a gift that keeps on giving. Black History: As a Pastor of the Second Baptist Church, Arthur A. Ruffin doesn’t take his work in Medina lightly. Zachary Smith reports that he’s a trusted resource and liaison for the Black community in a county that is over 95% white. Kindland: 100 Women Strong Ohio’s co-presidents Mary Jo Clark and Jen Yozwiak operate a local “giving circle” organization comprised entirely of women from across Northeast Ohio. Peter Chakerian reports in his weekly Kindland series, “The idea is that our giving circle, which keeps on growing, helps bring people full circle.” JumpStart: JumpStart is entering its 20th year and, to celebrate, it’s doubling down on efforts for its yearly small-business accelerator, reports Sean McDonnell. The economic-development focused nonprofit announced the contestants for its 20th Small Business Impact Program and is upping the final prize to $20,000. |
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Syphilis: The number of babies born with syphilis increased more than tenfold from 2012 to 2022, putting moms and infants at risk for miscarriage and stillbirth, reports Julie Washington. More than 3,700 babies were born with syphilis nationally in 2022. |
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Art Schlichter: Former Ohio State quarterback Art Schlichter was arrested Friday in Columbus after a state trooper found cocaine in his car, reports Molly Walsh. The arrest marks the latest drug case against Schlichter, 63, who has struggled with addiction for years. Fugitives caught: Two men accused of committing violent crimes in Northeast Ohio were arrested Tuesday near Washington, D.C., reports Adam Ferrise. Deadly crash: A retired IRS agent who was speeding in his Bentley and caused a crash that left a 22-year-old woman dead last year is headed to jail. Cory Shaffer reports Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge David Matia on Tuesday sentenced James Farley, 59, to spend 30 days in the county jail for the collision that killed Samantha Nelson. Scammed: A Northeast Ohio man who tried to get a $2.80 rebate online ended up getting scammed out of $40,000 by a New York man with a history of fleecing the elderly, reports Adam Ferrise. Mazharul Islam, 23, of Queens, N.Y., was charged last week in federal court in Akron with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud. |
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Valentine’s Day: Greater Cleveland knows how to celebrate Valentine’s Day in a way to make everyone happy. From traditional prix fixe dinners to vampire-themed concerts, Alex Darus lists 25 ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day in Northeast Ohio this year. Malley’s: Mike Malley and his staff at Malley’s Chocolates are gearing up for their big game: Valentine’s Day. Marc Bona reports that years ago Malley’s hit on what has become a Cleveland tradition: chocolate-covered strawberries. Fat Tuesday: Paczki, the heavy, doughnutlike Fat Tuesday treat, is available throughout Greater Cleveland. Marc Bona and Paris Wolfe compile a guide of more than 20 places in Northeast Ohio that sell paczki (pronounced PUNCH-kee). Christian McBride: Celebrated jazz bassist Christian McBride wrote “The Movement: Revisited: A Musical Portrait of Four Icons,” his magnum opus, a four-part suite dedicated to four icons of the Civil Rights Movement: Rosa Parks, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz aka Malcolm X, Muhammed Ali and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. In 2008, McBride updated the suite with an additional movement inspired by the election of Barack Obama. McBride, an eight-time Grammy Award winner, will perform Saturday at Case Western Reserve University, Malcolm X Abram reports. Cutting cable: ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery are trying to make it easier for sports fans, reports Joey Morona. The rival companies are teaming up to launch a sports streaming service that will aggregate their sports programming into one app. |
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