Welcome to the Sound of Ideas Reporters' Roundtable from Ideastream Public Media.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thanks so much for joining us.

The tragic death of a Haitian college student whose temporary protected status expired has added more fuel to Governor Mike DeWine's criticism of federal immigration actions here.

Republican Vivek Ramaswamy agreed this week to two gubernatorial debates.

Democrat Amy Acton said no thanks.

After years of conflict and legal wrangling, the proposal to place a drop-in center for homeless youth in an Ohio City neighborhood has been scrapped.

There's been more opposition to data center development in Ohio, and the state Supreme Court has again said local residents should have a say.

And if you want to watch all the Cavs games on TV this season, You'll have to pay a new monthly fee.

Joining me for today's conversation is Zaria Johnson, Ideastream's environment reporter.

Hello to you.

Morning.

Good to have you here.

And also with us, our old friend Abbey Marshall, now a reporter for Crain's.

Good to have you back.

Hi, happy to be back.

I thought you were just on PTO for a long time.

Yeah, it's a long stretch of PTO, Mike.

But very good to have you back in studio and good to have you working with Crain's and still in the Cleveland journalism community.

In the Columbus journalism community, a woman who will act out Cavs games for you for a one-time payment with no subscription required.

Ideastreams Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler.

Hey, Karen.

Hey, there'll be a trial offer and we'll see what happens.

Okay.

Let me ask you, for those watching on TV or streaming on the Ohio Channel, can you show me a Spider Mitchell reverse layup, please?

No, I'm sorry.

I got paid.

You'd have to pay for that.

Yeah.

Fair enough.

All right.

We would love to have your input via email during the program.

You can send email to soi@Ideastream.org.

And let's get ready to roundtable.

Governor Mike DeWine this week again criticized federal immigration enforcement actions after the apparent suicide of a young Haitian immigrant this week.

Since the Trump administration let temporary protected status for Haitians expire in July, many immigrants have been ordered to wear a GPS ankle monitor while they await their asylum cases.

Some have been detained or deported.

Wright State University student Pierre Damas Bel, 20, died Monday after exiting his car and jumping in front of a semi-truck on I-70, according to a 911 call from the truck driver.

Bel had been fitted with an ankle monitor and said on social media he never committed a crime or hurt anyone, but was now carrying a feeling of shame and humiliation.

And Karen, what a tragedy.

Yeah, I, I, when we heard about this, you know, obviously the stations, our station in Yellow Springs, WYSO, and stations in Springfield, news outlets in Springfield had been reporting this, and it's just, it's, it's almost unimaginable.

What is in this story.

I mean, it's, it's just, it's awful.

You can't ever predict exactly what leads someone to do something as, as serious as die by suicide, but he apparently yeah.

So, and we were hearing, uh, from the community there, the number of people who have been detained, they've been brought to, um, to a jail facility, the number of people who have been fitted with these ankle monitors.

Till they have their, their hearing and some comparing it to just, as we mentioned, the shame, the humiliation, some comparing it to slavery itself.

What's happening there is it has much more impact really than just the idea of someone being deported.

Yeah.

And I mean, Governor Mike DeWine has talked about this and this is where we have been kind of covering the story from in terms of what DeWine has said, because he has said all along that he disagreed with the ending of temporary protected status for Haitians.

He said it would have a terrible impact on the economy of the Springfield area because so many of those folks are employed in businesses that say they need those workers.

But now we have this, this human cost here.

And he spoke about this a little bit on Monday, and my Statehouse News Bureau colleague Sarah Donaldson was there.

He talked about how the death of an 18-year-old child is always horribly, horribly tragic.

And tragic.

And then he said that he feels this is a misguided and wrong policy that's being enacted.

And he also said that he feels that Americans need to ask whether they want this done in their name.

And he says he doesn't think that most people want this kind of action done in their name and that it hurts not only Ohio, but it hurts everybody.

We heard from U.S.

Senator Bernie Moreno as well after this incident.

Clearly everyone being rocked by it and saying what a tragedy it is.

But he had a different point of view than the governor in regards to the actions that were being conducted.

Yeah, and Marino was in town for a couple of events this week, but my Statehouse News Bureau colleague Jo Ingles caught up with him on this, and he has spoken out in favor of ending TPS.

And he had said that this was a good idea, that people should have self-deported when they realized that their temporary status in this country, which he stresses and others have stressed that it's temporary, was ending.

And so this week he said that no matter your nationality or immigration status, for somebody to die by suicide, he said he can't imagine the trauma that the family is suffering.

But more broadly, he said, we welcome immigrants into this country, a million immigrants a year, he said, but we need them to come here the legal way.

And that's what he and a lot of supporters of this policy from the Trump administration have been pulling back on and saying this is a temporary status.

They always knew this.

And even though Haiti is a country that still has a travel advisory against it, and DeWine has said its, its a more dangerous country now than it used to be, than it ever has been.

There are still those who say that folks who are from Haiti either need to go back to Haiti or go to another country.

Karen, though, when you say the legal way, it has to be noted that these this is the legal way.

They were here under temporary protected status.

That's been lifted, but there are asylum cases that are being heard.

And so the government's position is they should wear ankle bracelets or be jailed until that time comes.

But the fact of the matter is, it is a legal process to go through an asylum process in America.

Yeah, and it takes so long and it's so complicated to gain citizenship when you come here from another country through you're trying to get asylum, you're trying to find the legal path to get there.

And that's been something that's been going on for a very, very long time.

And TPS was seen especially by people who are coming from dangerous places like Haiti, who are coming from situations where there was conflict, there was war, there were drug, drug cartel battles, that sort of thing.

And, and they looked at this as an opportunity to be in this country and start to go through the process of how to become an American.

And it's, it's really, really sad for those who are in process to be removed at the time that they're trying to follow the legal route.

And we said it earlier, but just to make sure you're connecting the initials to the act, TPS being Temporary Protected Status.

There was also another issue.

So there are folks who are chronicling what's happening to their neighbors.

I see these videos on social media all the time where they're following ICE agents and they will, they will just record what's happening.

In one instance in Springfield, there's a resident, Sean Moorman.

He says that he's being harassed, has filed suit over it.

First Amendment issues.

Yeah, and I do want to mention real quick that there is the suicide crisis line, the 988 suicide crisis line, if you or somebody you know, is in any sort of crisis situation.

That's kind of important to get out there.

But also in this case in Springfield, you've got the ACLU jumping into this lawsuit filed by a man.

This man, David Carey's his attorney from the ACLU.

This man is Sean Moorman.

He says that, you know, there's a motivation of compassion here on the part of Sean Moorman in terms of trying to monitor ICE and see what they're doing, make sure that the folks who are being potentially taken by ICE, there's communication communication with their family members and that sort of thing.

And, uh, in his lawsuit, he said his actions have sparked repeated menacing and intimidating retaliation from masked agents.

And I think we've seen some of these lawsuits in other parts of the country, but this is an interesting development here where you've got people who are trying, they say, to just document what's happening, trying to reach out to family members, make sure that people who are taken are okay, and, and they're not they feel that they're being intimidated.

Right.

Well, we'll continue to cover this story.

The head of the Ohio ACLU, Freda Levinson, will be discussing the lawsuit on The Sound of Ideas coming up on Wednesday.

And as Karen mentioned, before we move on, if you or someone you know needs support, call or text the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

It's available 24/7, or you can visit 988lifeline.org.

988lifeline.org.

Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP candidate for Ohio governor, agreed this week to two debates with Democrat Dr.

Amy Acton, but Acton isn't interested, saying she won't give him a platform for what she called his false personal attacks and misleading ads.

There hasn't been an Ohio gubernatorial debate since 2018, but Karen, wouldn't it be good to see the candidates for the state's top executive position state their cases, call out inaccuracies?

Debates are always good, in my opinion.

Now, when you say 2018, I moderated the debate between Mike DeWine and Richard Cordray that happened at Cleveland State.

So obviously I'm a big believer in debates.

I feel that they're an opportunity for people to see candidates go face to face with their opponents, take questions right there on the fly from reporters, get away from the talking points and the Uh, the rallies and the speeches and the teleprompters and all that stuff and really talk directly to voters through reporters who are asking questions that voters deserve the answers to.

Her point being that the ads are so misleading on television, she just doesn't want to reward him with another place to spout what she would call lies.

What does Ramaswamy say?

I know you just talked to him yesterday, uh, for an interview for an upcoming, uh, episode of State of Ohio?

Yeah, actually for this weekend's episode.

And we, we spoke at an office here in Columbus and we talked for about 23 minutes.

And I didn't have a question prepared about the debate announcement because I knew he was gonna bring it up, which he did in the very first question, which was actually about property taxes.

But yeah, he said that he does think that debates are important.

I think he said he thinks candidates should be shoulder to shoulder on a stage answering to their constituents.

And he said he thinks it's a basic part of the job interview.

And then he said later on he feels that it would show greater respect to the voters if we could just contrast our views respectfully in front of the voters in the way that you traditionally do it.

And he said it's sad that she hasn't shown up.

And it's not just him that's really going after her.

And he's done it on social media.

He was on Fox News the day that he made this announcement.

But Republicans all along the spectrum have said they really feel that she should be debating him.

And it's an interesting turn for Republicans from 2022 when Mike DeWine refused to debate to debate Nan Whaley, and it was Democrats who were calling for a debate saying that Mike DeWine was not being respectful to voters.

Well, in this election alone, you see in Ohio where the Republicans are saying, hey, you should debate, the voters deserve it.

In Texas, in the Senate race, you see Ken Paxton not debating against James Talarico.

This, I guess it depends on who gets the advantage.

Right.

And I think that's part of it too.

The calculus becomes if you've got a candidate who is very, very far ahead of another candidate, and we saw that in 2020 2014 when John Kasich refused to debate Ed Fitzgerald in, in Kasich's reelection campaign for governor, and then again in, uh, 2022 with DeWine and Whaley.

Kasich and DeWine were far ahead of their Democratic opponents.

T the race is a lot closer, and I think that that may be why Ramaswamy is, is putting the, the, the announcement out there that he wants to debate.

But again, Acton is saying that she feels like that this is a platform for a scam artist if we put, uh, put him on debates, and she doesn't want to do She criticized him for the ads that he's been airing and said that this is, this is not something she's going to participate in.

Got an email from Susan in Willowick who says, I can understand why Amy Acton didn't want to debate based on the false ads that Ramaswamy and McCauley and their allies are broadcasting.

So she agrees with that point of view based on those ads.

Moving on, Ohio farmers are speaking out against the US-Canada trade war, which could inflict a lot of pain on the agriculture sector.

As President Trump put 50% tariffs on most goods from Canada last month, Canada's retaliatory tariffs start on Tuesday.

So Karen, let's talk a little bit about that.

You interviewed Jack Irvin with the Ohio Farm Bureau this week.

What were his concerns about the tariffs?

I think tariffs are an interesting topic for farmers because the Ohio Farm Bureau does support the idea of leveling the playing field and tariffs do do that.

But there's a real concern about what the effect of tariffs is on farmers.

This particular one really hits cattle farmers because they have been trying to rebuild their herds.

A lot of them sold off part of their herd last year when we were in a drought.

And so they're trying to rebuild their herds.

But like Irvin told me, when there's this kind of action taking place, it's a disincentive for farmers to do that because the price is depressed through this action.

So there's a real concern on the part of farmers, a lot of whom had supported Trump in various ways, who say that this is really a policy they're very concerned about, and farmers groups have really pushed back on this.

The Ohio the American Farm Bureau Federation wrote a letter to Trump saying that this whole idea brings chaos and uncertainty into the cattle markets overall.

So there's a real concern here and a real pushback from farmers.

Yeah, and it's been tough for farmers overall.

You mentioned cattle farmers, and this particularly is hurtful to them if you're bringing in cheap beef or, you know, whatever the policies are that might affect them.

But farmers in general are having lots of issues.

Yeah, absolutely.

I mean, the idea was to do this to lower the record high food prices, beef prices that people are paying at the grocery store.

But yeah, that does create cheaper beef.

And that does create a problem for farmers who are trying to sell beef and rebuild their herds.

And you've got farmers who have been suffering with tariffs with regard to fertilizer costs and fuel costs and equipment costs and all of these things.

There was even at one point, a circumstance where Ohio, you know, sells soybeans around the world, and their biggest customer was China.

And at one point, Ohio couldn't sell any soybeans to China because of the tariff situation.

That's changed now, but it's dramatically dropped.

And so it's a really tough situation for farmers to be in right now.

As it relates to Canada, we talked about farmers, but Abbey, business people all across Ohio are concerned because in Ohio, we have our number one international trade partner is our neighbor Canada.

And I know that you had done a story recently about the U.S.

to Canada being here to talk to those business people.

What was that all about?

Yeah, so he was here this week, U.S.

Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.

I was supposed to do more than report on it.

I actually had an interview scheduled, was there, then 5 minutes before was told by the U.S.

Embassy that they added additional layers of review and that interview was canceled.

So unfortunately, I didn't get to speak to him about I don't know how those conversations went and get any firm answers on what's happening with Canada.

But I did speak to Matt Dolan, who is the CEO of Team NEO, which is the jobs incentive and business retention JobsOhio partner here.

And he said that the businesses were really concerned about these tariffs incoming because they're trying to make decisions years ahead of where they are right now.

And these tariffs really impact things for years to come.

So he his organization invited Hoekstra here to kind of talked through those fears.

He visited the port.

As you mentioned, a lot of that trade happens in the Great Lakes region, which is especially susceptible.

40% of cross-border trade between Canada and the US actually comes through the Great Lakes.

And Ohio, roughly a third, $17.5 billion comes, is exported to Canada annually.

So it is a really big deal that businesses are rightfully very concerned about.

You would think that they would give him an earful and that obviously you tried to dig into what was it that they said?

What are they concerned about?

And when you asked Matt Dolan, I thought this was almost masterful in terms of the response.

Were they I think you asked, were they pleased with Hoekstra's responses?

And his answer was they were uniformly pleased with the fact that they got a chance to talk with him.

Right.

Yes.

Dolan did say that both of the both Dolan and Team NEO Team NEO says, you know, we're not advocating for or against any policies.

That's not what they do.

But both Timio and Hoekstra were very aware that they weren't going to give an answer that was satisfactory to everyone.

So he said that these business leaders were just happy that they had the chance to talk to someone about it.

But again, without me having the chance to sit down and talk through what those conversations were like, it's hard for me to say what promises or things were made to these businesses going forward.

Okay.

After years of legal battles, Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry has abandoned plans for a drop-in center for young people experiencing homelessness at its Franklin Boulevard building in Ohio City.

Neighbors led by Cleveland's former housing court judge pushed back an LMM proposal saying the neighborhood location was inappropriate for a drop-in center.

They've been battling in court since 2022.

And Zaria, remind us what the facility was supposed to be used for.

It's not it wasn't overnight stays.

It was literally a drop-in center.

Yeah, some people thought it was going to be a homeless center, but like you said, it's overnight stays where people can come in, they can take a shower, they can be connected with social services in a space that's safe, judgment-free, comfortable.

And this site was selected.

It was one of 7 other sites that were considered for the project.

But LMM said they picked this one because it was close to those social services and it was in an LGBTQ-friendly neighborhood.

So again, they're trying to foster a judgment-free kind of safe space for these folks.

Right.

And again, it was not overnight.

It was drop in, have a shower, that kind of thing.

Neighbors, though, said they were concerned that it might bring more crime, it might bring more trash, those types of things.

Yeah.

And the opposition hasn't been unanimous.

The Franklin Clinton Block Club approved the drop-in center in 2023, but those who do oppose it say that the supporters don't live as close to the drop-in, to the center as they do, and they won't be as affected by things like crime or trash that they expect to be in the area.

So the latest ruling by a judge is kind of what prompted this.

What was that?

So the court found that LMM isn't allowed to make changes to the building, alter the building.

They wanted to add those showers.

They wanted to add laundry facilities, but if they can't change the building, they can't necessarily do that.

So LMM is saying that their plan is to move forward with the project, but it's not yet clear where that will be or what the timeline is.

So they're saying somewhere, somewhere else.

Somewhere, yeah.

This is a necessity for people.

In fact, the neighbors who are opposed to it have said they agree it's a necessity, it's just not a necessity here.

And LMM is saying that there are about 500 young people between the ages of 16 to 24 who experience homelessness every year.

So they're saying the need is great and they're going to move forward with it, but they'll just have to figure out where, if not here where it will be.

Okay.

A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers is calling for stronger safeguards on Flock license plate reading cameras, arguing they amount to a statewide tracking system without rules.

The lawmakers, two Democrats and two Republicans, sent a letter to the Ohio Department of Transportation asking it to stop issuing new permits for Flock.

State Representative Tristan Rader, a Lakewood Democrat, said cameras shouldn't be able to track people everywhere.

Karen, what are lawmakers concerned about in this letter?

It's the tracking, but it's, it's more than that, right?

They're concerned that there aren't really any regulations on these cameras, and really it's the use of the data of these cameras that also has people concerned.

And without any sort of rules or regulations, Tristan Rader and the others there's another Democrat and 2 Republicans who've signed this letter they say that this is kind of creating a statewide surveillance network, and they're very they want their fellow lawmakers to come up with rules for how flock cameras should be used, how cities that put them up should use those cameras and should share that data.

They want those, those guidelines in place.

And the legislature won't come back until after the November election, so they're running out of time to do something this legislative session.

But obviously this is a hugely hot topic.

You've got cities Columbus just yesterday announced that they're going to suspend their use of flock cameras.

So you've got cities taking these actions, but again, there's no real regulations at the state level that governs how these cameras should be used.

And Abbey, we just heard that about Columbus, that they're going to suspend use.

In Cleveland, that's not the case, but they have had lots of debates and sort of pared down what they're agreeing to in terms of in the future.

Just heard a conversation, by the way, on the Ohio Newsrooms today from the Ohio Newsroom with Matt Richmond here and a reporter as well in Cincinnati, just talking about how those things are, are being handled differently.

But There's controversy all over suburbs, big cities, suburban, rural areas everywhere.

Yeah, everywhere.

And here in Cleveland, again, there was an expiration of that contract in June and they extended it for 6 months.

And there was kind of a promise because of how much pushback it was and how close the vote was that they would revisit that contract instead of a year from now, 6 months from now, and consider potential vendors.

There's a group of concerned citizens called Flock No.

It's a campaign to cut ties with Flock Safety the way some other suburbs have.

And it's really interesting.

And again, to plug my own reporting, I talked about this.

I did a story about increasing contracts with these third-party companies that have all this private data and what happens when cities do those partnerships.

And I used the city's parking app as an example, but I spoke a lot about Flock Safety.

And whereas you can kind of opt out of not using a parking app by simply not using the parking app, Flock is an example where you can't, as a private citizen, opt out about a private company owning and controlling your data.

So it is a really hot-button topic.

There is that idea about being tracked and about all the information that can be shared.

On the other hand, I talked to folks, I talked to somebody that's on a grand jury at the moment who said, listen, if there weren't flock cameras, there wouldn't be indictments.

Like, this is the first thing police do when there's a crime is to be able to track somebody using the flock cameras.

And they are getting a whole lot of results based on the fact that they have this as a tool.

Law enforcement says without that tool, you're going to have a whole lot more crimes not be solved.

Yeah, and I think that there is some of that acknowledgement locally, which is why that contract was extended and why they're going to pursue other options.

But there are lots of ideas from folks.

Again, how plausible those are, who's to say?

But I've talked to council members that have said, you know, maybe we can make our, our security cameras that are owned by the city better, that we can do this like internally, or, or maybe not just offload it to a private company.

Um, I think that that's what the real concern is, is that, you know, a company can say anything and then change their policy the next day.

And so I think that that's where that concern really lies.

But I think those I think that is a big acknowledgment and how to do what you're saying and do that work without upsetting as many people as there are right now is going to be key going forward.

Right.

Cleveland Orchestra musicians called a press conference yesterday to express frustration as they work toward a new union contract.

The union said members unanimously authorized a strike if a deal isn't reached Their contract expired August 30th but was extended this week to September 23rd as negotiations continue.

So what are they saying about first of all, it's not one of those things where you've been hearing all kinds of labor discord.

It's suddenly there was this press conference, at least for me.

Maybe other folks in the community have been hearing more closely about this, but what are we hearing?

Yeah, so their contract expired last week and that has been extended through roughly the end of September, but They unanimously approved a strike authorization based on how these negotiations go.

Essentially, these musicians, they want more compensation.

They have complaints about repetitive stress injuries.

They want a voice in the artistic direction of the company.

And so it's just one of those things where the contract expires, it's time to visit those things.

And they say that there's big gaps between management and what they want.

So we'll just see how that goes.

And we saw how it went in 2010.

There was a strike then.

Yeah, and those lasted 2 days at a time.

They were facing a $2 million deficit and a dwindling endowment, but based on financial records that Kabir Bhatia here at Ideastream reported on last year, the orchestra said that they had actually a small surplus and that the endowment was pretty strong.

So they're not facing those same headwinds this year.

Okay.

Let's share a little bit of feedback from the discussions we've been having on a variety of topics at the beginning of the show today.

From KC, she says, "I recall an ICE official remarking of the temporary protected status Haitians in and around Springfield that they could just self-deport, and if they chose not to, quote, we will make their lives hell."

In the case of the young man driven to suicide, I guess one could say it's mission accomplished.

They obviously succeeded in making his life hell.

We lift our lamp beside the golden door.

That is what KC has to say.

Love to have your thoughts, by the way.

SOI@Ideastream.org.

And Stephen says, I understand Amy Acton's position, but simply dismissing a debate is very disappointing.

Could she perhaps offer an alternative, maybe a town hall style event where she can answer questions directly from constituents?

And Karen, I would say she's been doing a lot of those.

And in fact, one other alternative would be to get each of the candidates to state their positions and answer questions from a journalist independently, which is what's happening.

You're having Vivek Ramaswamy on the air this weekend, just interviewed him yesterday.

You've got plans for Amy Acton as well.

Yeah, actually Amy Acton is coming up for next week's show.

And I, I think that, you know, the, the idea of sitting down with a journalist one-on-one is obviously something I support.

But I, I think the whole idea of getting out there in public where everybody can access, and that's really important with debates in general, is that they shouldn't be just confined to one TV station or one other TV station.

They should be available statewide so everybody can see them.

And, uh, this really goes again, this really goes up to, um, what Republicans have been saying about Acton, that she's running a very insulated campaign and she's not taking questions from voters, where Ramaswamy puts out videos of him at county fairs and all that stuff.

It's 2 very different campaigns going on.

I mean, I've seen her at events and answering questions locally.

There was one in West Park, I think, last week.

So it's not as though she's not on the campaign trail.

Right.

I mean, they're both out there.

we're getting to this part of the season where it's going to step up dramatically, which is why I'm glad I'm having an opportunity to talk to them now.

But yeah, these are the candidates are really I think the campaigns are really going after each other in some very almost personal ways here.

Isn't Labor Day the unofficial kickoff, right?

So we're there.

I don't even know, does it ever end?

I mean, you know, so how does it kick off if it never ends?

Good point.

All right, we got plenty more to talk about, including a new program to improve the environment by encouraging Clevelanders to purchase bicycles with an electric power boost.

And we'll reflect on the death of Ohio-born trailblazing journalist and feminist icon Gloria Steinem.

Now here's Ideastream's coordinating producer Drew Maziasz with a look at next week on The Sound of Ideas on 89.7 WKSU.

Hey Mike, here's a look at what's ahead for The Sound of Ideas next week.

The team is off for the Labor Day holiday on Monday, so in our stead we're bringing you a special from NPR all about the 4-day workweek and how some countries are moving to that model.

Next for the United States.

On Tuesday, we're bringing you a conversation from the Akron Press Club that recently looked at the future of professional golf in Akron.

That is after the announcement that a major tournament is pulling out of the Firestone Country Club.

Wednesday, we're talking about sexual assault on college campuses and what some colleges are doing in order to provide more safety for their student body.

On Thursday, in honor of the Labor Day holiday next week, we're looking at the labor movement in Northeast Ohio and we're talking to some workers who were recently involved in organizing in their workplaces.

And on Thursday, we'll also bring you another episode of our music podcast, Shuffle.

Of course, all those stories are subject to change based on breaking news.

And now back to you in the studio.

Thank you, Drew.

You're back with the Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable from Ideastream Public Media.

I'm Ideastream's executive editor, Mike McIntyre, along with Ideastream environment reporter Zaria Johnson and Abbey Marshall, reporter at Crain's Cleveland Business.

And of course, in Columbus, Ideastream Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler is with us.

And a reminder, before we get back to the show, take our Ideastream news quiz.

You can find it on our website at ideastream.org/quiz.

Ohio foodbank visitors are struggling to afford both food and other basic services.

More than 50% of households surveyed said they had to choose between buying medicine or food in the past year.

Karen, let's talk about that study.

Who conducted it and, and what did we find out?

Out?

Well, it was done by the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, and it wasn't a poll.

It was an actual survey of people who visit foodbanks to try to find out more about their individual economic situations, why they were needing to come to a foodbank or accessing a foodbank.

And the findings, I think, are really interesting because 53% of households with a family member living with a chronic condition said that they had to choose between buying medicine or buying food in the last year.

And in terms of utility costs, we've all seen utility bills go up.

57% said that they had to choose between paying the utility bills or buying food.

That went to 65% when you talk about families with kids.

So these are some really big numbers showing that there are people who are accessing foodbanks.

So they're struggling and they have these serious choices that they're having to make because there's just not enough money to cover all the bills.

And older Ohioans are particularly vulnerable.

Yeah.

And when I talked to Joree Novotny who's the executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, she said that you've got a high number, 1 in 5 people who visit foodbanks are over 60.

And the problem there specifically is that pretty much once somebody in that age group starts accessing a food pantry, they're going to stay in the, in the lines for the food pantry because they don't have the opportunity to go out and get more work or earn more money.

And, you know, that sort of thing, and especially folks who are in chronic illness or disability.

So there's a real concern about how this is affecting older Ohioans.

Okay.

City of Cleveland has launched an e-bike rebate program.

E-bikes are the bicycles with electric-powered motors.

Officials say more e-bikes could improve the environment, offer transportation options to Clevelanders who don't have other options.

Qualifying residents can get $500 or up to $1,500 for lower-income residents, which could cover most of the cost of an e-bike.

And Zaria, why did the city launch this program?

How are they paying for it?

What do they hope it does?

So the goal is to make e-bikes more accessible to Cleveland residents.

E-bikes are more expensive than the traditional pedal bike typically, and city officials are saying that using an e-bike can help reduce the amount of time residents spend in cars, especially for shorter car trips.

Like if you have to run to the grocery store really quick, it might be too much, too heavy to carry your groceries back, but an e-bike might help you pop those groceries in a basket, ride the e-bike home, and the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for the city overall.

The city put out its climate action plan, its updated climate action plan last year, and in it reports that about 20% of the city's greenhouse gas emissions come from vehicles.

So the idea is that more residents on e-bikes is less greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, which would improve Cleveland's air quality, improve, improve the city's environment, things like that.

So when we talk about an e-bike, Just stepping back, a lot of people know what these are.

Some people may not.

So it's not a moped.

It's not a motorcycle.

You do pedal it, but it gives you an assist, and you can sort of let the motor take over.

So if I'm bringing groceries home, it'd be hard to pedal my Schwinn and get up the hill.

But now if I've got a hill ahead of me, that's not a barrier because the electronics can kick in and it can get me up that hill.

Yeah.

And I should say there were some I saw some concern on social media about like having these super fast bikes in the street.

You know, now vehicles are trying to dodge these people on these super fast e-bikes, but only Class 1 and Class 2 e-bikes are eligible in the program.

And I think those only go up to like 25 miles per hour maximum.

So it's not like a bike in the street going the speed of a car necessarily down the road.

It's capped at a certain speed limit as well.

And so how do people qualify?

What's the story?

Yeah, so any resident, Cleveland resident who doesn't work for the city above the age of 18 qualifies for at the very least that $500 rebate.

But there is that $1,500 rebate for residents who are low income.

And so if you, if your income is at below 80% of the Cleveland area median income established by HUD, then you might qualify for that $1,500 rebate.

So if you are eligible for things like SNAP or WIC, programs like that, or you have other documents to prove that your income is below that threshold, then you might be able to qualify for that $1,500 rebate as well.

And do the people just apply now?

Do they buy the bike first and try to get a rebate?

How does that work?

So apply now.

Applications are open through September 22nd.

And it's not first come, first serve.

The city found out that that's not the best way to go about the program.

So apply whenever you want.

Applicants or recipients will be chosen randomly, and then the voucher will be sent directly to one of 4 participating bike stores.

So you'll be able to go there, they'll already have your rebate in hand, and it should cover some, if not most, of the cost of the bike.

And then you can either pay the rest out of pocket, or if you have money left over, you can put that toward a bike lock or a bike helmet.

Okay.

Let me share a little bit of feedback on the flock camera comment.

Getting a lot of comments there.

The flock camera discussion, we're getting a lot of comments on it.

One was from John in Hudson who says, the comment on the effectiveness of flock cameras was very interesting.

However, there are other crime-fighting measures that are even more effective and can reduce crime to zero.

Those include searches of homes indiscriminately, checkpoints where cars are searched, monthly mandatory check-ins at police stations for phone data scraping.

Just because tactics are effective at catching criminals doesn't They should be part of a free society, and that's John's point of view.

We had another thought too from Tom.

He says, "Let's do a thought experiment.

Would it be okay for a company to assign a drone to follow every citizen 24 hours a day to track and compile a database of all their movements and behaviors?

No.

Well, that's exactly what flock cameras do, just with a different method.

The effect is the same: constant surveillance of American citizens."

That's Tom's point of view, and highlighting again what Abby said, which is this is a controversial issue whether.

Whether it's on the law enforcement side of it or the civil liberties side of it.

That's a discussion we're going to continue to have in our communities.

JobsOhio and its regional partner Team NEO are launching an incentive program to help train technicians while they work.

Eligible companies could receive up to $10,000 per employee who completes the training.

And Abbey, so when we say technicians, we mean what?

Yeah, so there are a couple qualifying things for this to be eligible as a business owner.

The business needs to be located in Ohio.

They have to operate in a JobsOhio targeted industry and pay participating workers at least $20 an hour.

And those targeted industries include I have the list advanced manufacturing, aerospace and defense, automotive, energy and chemicals, financial services, food and agribusiness, healthcare, logistics and distribution, and technology.

And that's according to the jobs.

So everything, everything, pretty much basically the technicians being people that do things like get stuff done.

Yeah.

You know, I something since I've started this job, I've talked to a lot of economic development development leaders, and a lot of them say Cleveland makes stuff that goes into stuff.

So that's something that we're very strong for here in Northeast Ohio.

Matt Dolan again said that we have the 7th largest manufacturing workforce in the country.

So this is something that will help bolster that.

But in the rest of Ohio, JobsOhio says that for every, for every 1 qualified technician in Ohio, there are 5 open technician positions.

So they're trying to fill that gap.

Yeah, and, and the incentive to do that is to give the company cash if they hire an employee, train them, and, and pay them decently.

Exactly.

And then the, the employee gets that training benefit.

All right.

Yep.

Residents in Trenton near Cincinnati turned to the Ohio Supreme Court after their petition to place on the November ballot a ban on data centers was rejected by their city council.

There are two proposed data centers planned there, and possibly a third, possibly a third coming.

The court has ordered Trenton to let voters decide.

It's the second time the court said people should be able to vote on data centers in their own community.

Karen, why did Trenton City Council reject the petition in the first place and not want to hear from its residents at the polls?

Well, there was this whole dispute over a line in the city charter that talked about how many signatures this group of residents needed to get.

The group of residents thought the 10% of electors line meant 10% of the people who voted in the last election, where the city council said no, 10% of electors means 10% of registered voters at the time of the last election.

So the number of signatures that were submitted by the residents was well beyond what they thought they needed, but not enough for city council with what they thought that was needed.

Well, the Supreme Court sided with the residents and said that this should go to the ballot.

Now the question is whether it's going to make the November ballot or whether it's going to have to be a special election, because the court specifically said that this needs to happen within 120 days after this petition is certified.

And if it happens in November, I think that's really interesting because data centers are such a hot topic.

It would really be interesting to see a community's vote on a ban on data centers, not just how the vote goes out, but how many people actually show up to vote on that and, and really cast their ballots.

And we've seen this happen.

We talked, I think, just last week about Ohio Supreme Court also demanding that a community gets a chance to vote.

Yeah, and that was in Pickaway County, which is south of Columbus.

And that was a question of whether a particular piece of legislation was emergency legislation that voters can't vote on or whether it was something else.

But you're seeing these kind of technical arguments because data center deals come through communities, come through elected representatives in communities.

And residents are saying when they find out that they are concerned about these things.

And so, you know, the idea of coming up with some sort sort of statewide regulations on data centers.

Lawmakers tried to do some of that before they left for their summer break, but that didn't get through.

So now you've got residents really pushing back and saying we don't want especially these large hyperscale data centers in our communities.

All right, more data center developments.

Residents in Stark County have sued the Perry Township Board of Trustees and others because of what they say is a lack of transparency over a 100-acre data center that broke ground earlier this year.

Zaria, you did some reporting on this and on the lawsuit that was filed this week.

What are the residents saying, that basically this was done in the dark?

Yeah, they're saying that the board violated the Ohio Revised Code and the state's Open Meetings Act when it voted to approve an updated noise ordinance last year and a tax exemption consent resolution in March.

According to the lawsuit, residents weren't informed of the details about that tax exemption in particular before the board voted on it, and they're saying that the board voted on the item after executive session, but that wasn't on the agenda, so a lot of residents had already left the meeting.

They weren't given an opportunity to comment on it, and the Ohio Open Meetings Act requires that all public business be communicated to the public and also that the public be or the public is allowed to weigh in on it and comment on it, and residents are saying they didn't have the opportunity to do that.

And also, according to the lawsuit, there are some discrepancies about that updated noise ordinance in terms of whether or not it will even be enforceable on the data center property in particular.

And as we know, noise pollution is a big concern for a lot of people when it comes to this data center project.

And some people are already reporting that the site is pretty noisy before the data center is even there.

So they want to make sure that there's actually something that the township can do when it comes to the noise from the data center.

And it's noise.

They're also concerned about water usage.

They're concerned about electrical usage, air pollution, all of those types of things.

100 acres.

This is a huge data center.

It would be one of those hyperscalers that Karen mentioned.

It'd be a 240-megawatt data center on that 100-acre property.

Several buildings, several generators.

And like I mentioned, I talked to a resident, Keith Brown, who lives in Perry about 2,000 feet from the property, and he says already he's hearing construction noise.

He says there's already generators on the site that are pretty noisy, and he told me that there are residents who live even closer to the property than he does, and so it's on their radar and they're not backing down at this point.

Are they saying they want it stopped, or what is it that the lawsuit's asking?

Right now they are not trying to get the project stopped.

The goal is for the court to declare that noise ordinance and that tax exemption invalid so that the township has to go back to the drawing board and give residents at least an opportunity to comment on it in the way that they're looking for.

But it's already started.

It's already started, yes.

And then finally, what does the data center company have to say about it?

Yeah, the company, they told me that they, in a statement, they said that they hadn't been aware of any sort of lawsuit, but that they've been working with local officials and with residents directly to address concerns, follow the appropriate regulations, answer questions.

And I covered a town hall with the developer in April.

I think Jeff St.Clair covered one in August.

So they have been engaging and they said that they're going to continue doing that process throughout the process.

Okay, thank you.

Governor DeWine and the Ohio Department of Health announced this week a new statewide tool for families facing childhood cancer, the Pediatric Complex Care Navigation Program.

Karen, how does this program work?

How is it expected to help families?

Well, this is something I think also speaks to DeWine's programs that he wants to do for children.

And he's getting ready to leave office, of course.

And so he kind of took some took advantage of some federal money that was available to kind of create this, but it's not fully funded into perpetuity.

So I think that that's something that's interesting to note here.

But this is an existing complex medical program, complex medical health program that happened that already is in the Ohio Department of Health.

And it adds new staff to connect families with resources on pediatric cancer, with doctors, trials, insurance, all that.

Because when you're a family dealing with cancer, obviously it consumes you.

But when it's pediatric cancer, when it's your child, it potentially is even more consuming.

And so this is a way to kind of connect those people who are dealing with this with people who could potentially help.

Yeah, you get a navigator, and that's really what you need if you've ever had a child with a serious illness, the confusion that you have and the worry that you have, but the idea that you have a navigator that can help get you through that, key.

Yeah, absolutely.

And, and again, the question of course is how do you keep it going long-term?

Um, DeWine has also uh, has talked about increasing funding for pediatric cancer because a lot of research happens at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus.

And so the idea of keeping that going to, to prevent the need for navigators into the future.

So that we don't have as many pediatric cancer patients.

But obviously those families do need help in navigating and, and sorting through all the, all the, the help that's out there and, and the, the, you know, making sure that everything moves forward as best it can.

All right.

More feedback on our conversation today.

This one about Amy Acton's refusal to debate Vivek Ramaswamy.

This is from Carol who says, leaders do not back away from difficult confrontations with those who hold opposing viewpoints.

If she's unable to face her opponent in this format, what else will she fail to do in a role that will surely require similar distasteful actions?

That's Carol's point of view.

Lots of thoughts about that on either side.

We'll continue to cover, obviously, everything involving the governor's race, including the state of Ohio, having an interview with Vivek Ramaswamy this weekend and Amy Acton next weekend.

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport is beginning a $2 billion renovation project that will reshape the airport over the next several years.

The effort comes as local business and tourism leaders push for improved improvements to the airport experience.

And man, they got nowhere to go but up sometimes, it seems.

Yeah, surveys don't look good for a midsize airport like Hopkins.

It's always at or near the bottom.

Yeah, 2024 J.D.

Power customer satisfaction survey, Hopkins was dead last, and then this year they improved to second to last, right?

Uh, yeah, people are critical of various facilities, various amenities, which is really what this survey looks at.

And it's just a small glimpse into some of the frustrations that business leaders and economic development organizers say is difficult.

It's not only just about tourism, but it's also about business attraction, like getting people to come work here or getting investors to come when they show up.

And this is the front door.

And for whatever reason, it's distasteful, as you said.

So they're redoing the front door.

They are redoing the front door.

They released a master plan in 2021, and that's kind of changed over the years.

But the current iteration of this Clevelution Clevelution, I don't know what the pronunciation is.

But that's what they're branding it as.

It's this big terminal modernization.

They're going to redo the terminal.

It's going to be open in 2032.

And they're also doing a landside redevelopment.

So they're going to change some traffic flow stuff.

There's going to be lots of new parking.

The bathrooms, which I know that you're we talked about on this show many times, those.

But it seems like small things, but they're working to fix them.

And that's something that David Gilbert at Destination Cleveland told me, that those things actually do matter.

It sounds silly to complain about bathrooms, But when you go into a bathroom at a really nice airport and it has like all that light or big mirrors or space where you can carry your suitcase if you're traveling alone, like those things really do matter to travelers.

And it is just important to have a good first impression.

Right.

They also want more nonstop flights.

The business leaders do.

We've got one internationally now to Dublin.

Yeah.

That's it.

Be great for business if you had more flights to go places.

I know my daughter needs to go Milwaukee for business and you have to go to Chicago first and wait for an hour and a half, by the way.

On the tarmac at O'Hare.

But aside from that, the idea is let's get there directly.

And is that possible?

Is that something they're pushing for?

That is something that they are pushing for.

And actually, you mentioned the Dublin flight, so I will say Matt Dolan at Team NEO I'm plugging him so much today but he told me that they have seen, you know, increased looks at Cleveland for sites of Irish business, and they're hoping to make announcements on that soon.

But having that that direct flight and that direct relationship is really important, being able to travel efficiently.

So just t gap here, Cleveland has 39 nonstop destinations and the J.D.

Power's highest rating similarly sized airport in the last 4 years, Indianapolis, flies to 57 destinations nonstop.

So that is really something that they want more of.

For sure.

Just wanna, as a public service announcement, quickly note that Labor Day weekend is upon us.

It's one of the deadliest times of the year on the road.

So there's a lot of good things about Labor Day.

A lot of things that are worrisome too.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Ohio Turnpike are warning drivers to be safe.

Nearing the end of 100 deadliest days of summer, they say, between Memorial Day and Labor Day.

So what are they saying?

How should drivers be safe, Abbey?

Yeah, all the usual things.

Just slow down, wear your seatbelt, make sure you're not driving distracted, not just on your phone, but just being extra aware.

Motorists can also call 677 to report impaired or reckless drivers and stranded Okay.

And the air show is actually at Burke, although I just watch it from the parking garage here.

And I'll watch it today before the air show while they're practicing.

But tell me a little bit about Burke.

There's been some more development about that.

The mayor has been pushing for it to be closed, but the opposition's getting a little bit louder.

Yeah.

And of course, this is like a big weekend where they can show off this massive air show that brings in a lot of money via tourism and things like that.

And we have Crain's, again, to plug where I am working.

My colleague did a great story yesterday about Burke, and I have one coming Monday about the future of Burke and that, that push to close and how it's affected by the midterm and the politics of it.

But yes, this is a great weekend for the air show and for the proponents of Burke to say, look, this is actually why we need it.

And, and city officials that are pushing for Burke's closure say, hey, it actually doesn't need to be at Burke.

We can fly out of some other airports and still have this great air show.

But the air show folks themselves say that's not possible.

They need to fly out of Burke.

Okay.

If you're hoping to watch Cleveland Cavaliers games this fall, you'll have to get another streaming service.

So we already have it.

You have to get one other service and then it's on it and then it isn't.

Is it on your Fubo?

Is it on your YouTube TV?

Now it's DAZN.

Yep.

And you have to subscribe to it.

Yes.

Apparently 15 Cavs games during this upcoming season will be available for free, but DAZN will also stream all of the Cavs regular season games that aren't on the national broadcast, preseason games, and some original team programming.

I'm not the biggest sports person, so I don't know exactly what that means.

Yeah, but you're not paying.

I'm not paying, but I might be mooching from time to time.

So $20 a month if you want it with two streams in one location and downloads.

You can have $25 a month with some better locations, better camera angles, those kind of things.

There's a season pass.

But basically, in the old days when you could turn on the TV and go to 3, 5, 8, 43, and 61 that's how old I am now there's so much choice, but you're going to have to pay for baseball.

Basically anything you want.

Yeah.

And those tiers come with like some incentives, like you can get different camera angles or you can like set up multi-views if you want to be able I don't know what like, again, this isnt my thing, but if you want to watch this guy do one thing and this other guy do a different thing on the court, then you might want to get one of the ultimate packages.

But some things won't be changing.

So the broadcast team will be the same.

We'll still have play-by-play announcer John Michael, analyst Brad Daugherty, Serena Winters, and Cayleigh Griffin.

And will still be.

Brad Daughert by the way.

Daugherty.

I'm more baffled by the spelling of this.

I would have never known that it's pronounced DA-ZONE.

It's D-A-Z-N.

It looks like days in.

Days in.

Exactly.

It's DAZN.

Okay.

We're going to round the show out now by talking about Toledo-born journalist and activist Gloria Steinem, who died on Wednesday at the age of 92.

She spent decades fighting for women's rights and challenging gender stereotypes, became an icon of the feminist movement, and really, that's the name that's associated with the feminist movement.

All of my friends that I've seen on, on social media, women friends, are, are talking about the, the strides she made for them, for working women.

Yeah, her magazine Ms.

really launched women from this place of being pigeonholed in their reporting, or what they were able to write about, from just being food, makeup, babies, or celebrities, to things like abortion, domestic abuse, gender roles, LGBTQ identity, And she helped expand the narratives for women outside of just being wives or mothers to like full people with opinions and experiences and ideas.

And she published a cover story in 1977 on sexual harassment that was the basis of the 9 to 5 movie with Dolly Parton.

So just coming full circle here.

By the way, we just watched that last week.

Oh, I just watched Steel Magnolias.

Beautiful.

So, Karen, let me ask you a little bit.

She changed journalism with the magazine, but also politics.

Started the National Women's Political caucus.

Yeah, when she started it, there were 15 women elected to Congress, and now about 28% of Congress is women.

Now, that's still a lot less than is representative in American society and the population, but it's, it's an improvement.

You've got about the same number of mayors across the country, about 25% of mayors are women.

And we have 14 women governors.

One of one woman is actually running for governor in Ohio.

And so there are in the state legislature 47 women serving in the Ohio General Assembly, which is higher as a percentage than other states.

So Ohio is, is making strides.

All right.

Thank you, Karen.

Appreciate that insight.

Appreciate yours as well, Zaria.

Welcome back.

Good to see you too, Abbey.

Good to be here.

All right.

And that's all for today.

My thanks to each of you.

And if you missed any part of today's show, you can hear a rebroadcast tonight at 9 on 89.7 WKSU.

Find it on any podcast app and on the Ideastream Public Media YouTube page.

Watch the TV version tonight at 5 on WVIZ PBS of this very show.

And to get the last word on today's topic, send an email to soi@Ideastream.org.

Monday on The Sound of Ideas, we'll be off for Labor Day.

We'll bring you an NPR special called Is America Ready for the 4-Day Workweek?

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thanks for listening and watching and stay safe.

And now our closing song for today in honor of activist Gloria Steinem.

Item.

Here's “I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy.

I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers too big to ignore.

And I know too much to go back and pretend, 'cause I've heard it all before, and I've been down there on the floor.