Cleveland
Cleveland pilot project provides rooftop solar for low-income residents
CLEVELAND – The new year is bringing energy bill savings to Kassy Allen and others in Cleveland’s first rooftop solar program designed specifically for low- and moderate-income families. City leaders and others joined Allen’s family for an official switch-throwing ceremony at her year-old home on Dec. 16. Despite gray skies and chilly temperatures, newly installed […]
Inconsistencies in Ohio’s home rule authority highlighted by tobacco legislation
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. State lawmakers in Ohio have been able to pick and choose which local […]
Cleveland judge accused of 100+ misconduct counts blames menopause, sleep apnea
The following article was originally published on News5Cleveland.com and is published in the Ohio Capital Journal under a content-sharing agreement. Unlike other OCJ articles, it is not available for free republication by other news outlets as it is owned by WEWS in Cleveland. A Cleveland judge is accused of more than 100 serious incidents […]
Energy efficiency scorecard shows slight improvement and notable drops for large Ohio cities
A recent scorecard tracking energy policies among 100 of the country’s biggest cities offers a mixed bag for Ohio. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy reviewed six cities — the three Cs plus Dayton, Toledo and Akron. Columbus and Toledo improved slightly, but the others held steady or slipped. The ACEEE formed in […]
Public calls for fair districts in first redistricting commission meetings
A week of double-header public hearings on redistricting began Monday in Cleveland and Youngstown, with members of the public calling for more fair districts. Ohioans shared with the Ohio Redistricting Commission stories of unrepresentative and oddly-drawn districts (including the “snake on the lake” of Ohio’s 9th district, so-called because of it’s long, skinny appearance on […]
It’s raining ‘forever chemicals’ in Cleveland. What’s being done to make Ohio water safe?
In April of this year, scientists decided to measure the healthiness of the rainwater falling over the Midwest. One of the places they measured was Cleveland, Ohio. The rain that fell on Cleveland this spring contained a surprisingly high amount of toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS, according to scientists at the Integrated Atmospheric Deposition […]
Reliance on community block grants formula leads to uneven rescue plan funds for cities
During the past few decades in Ohio, as the population of Columbus has surpassed Cleveland as the largest city in the state, there have been comparisons made between the two cities on many levels. Which is better, which is worse, which is moving up, which is moving down. Many of those questions surfaced when the […]
With ‘Amtrak Joe’ in the White House, states hope for a passenger rail renaissance
Stu Nicholson has been trying for decades without success to get Amtrak — or any other passenger rail service — to come to Columbus, Ohio. As director of All Aboard Ohio, a passenger rail advocacy group, Nicholson helped explore possibilities, like creating a new route from Chicago to Pittsburgh, with Columbus in the middle. But […]
Dontavius Jarrells is ready for the Ohio Statehouse
Dontavius Jarrells believes every person has a defining moment in their life that makes them who they are. His own moment came in middle school. Back then, Jarrells rode along three public bus routes to get from his Hough neighborhood in East Cleveland to the Garrett Morgan School of Science across town. Jarrells dragged his […]
Homelessness already a struggle, but curfew could add complications
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine emphasized the fact that a new curfew order seeking to stop the spread of COVID-19 would not be perfect. But advocates for the homeless say the order could complicate things for the unsheltered people without homes across the state. The order itself, signed by Ohio Department of Health director Stephanie McCloud […]
Why aren’t Ohio’s city budgets collapsing under COVID-19?
In March of this year, the Brookings Institution had a blog post that pegged four Ohio cities — Columbus, Cincinnati, Toledo, and Cleveland — in the top five “cities with the most immediate fiscal impacts from COVID-19” in the entire country. Yet this gloom and doom about Ohio fiscal prospects did not materialize. Columbus cut […]
Trump tells far-right group to ‘stand back and stand by’ in presidential debate
President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Tuesday night’s chaotic and messy presidential debate were each asked how they would deal with the nation’s institutional racism. Trump directly addressed a far-right group, the Proud Boys, telling them to “stand back and stand by,” and failed to answer a question about why Americans should […]