The move comes at the hands of Mayor Justin Bibb, who, some hours after the shooting occurred at 6:12 p.m. Sunday, directed officials to “immediately shut down and board up” Play Bar & Grill as authorities collected shell casings around the block. Six people, including an alleged shooter, were injured.

“We will hold everyone accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Bibb said in a statement.

The order prompted Play Bar & Grill’s owners to speak out in protest.

“You can’t make this up, y’all—the only Black-owned business in the Flats,” he said. “Black Mayor Justin Bibb made the decision [to close Play] without no investigation, no paperwork!”

Hill contended nothing happened in his bar that precipitated the shooting and that the gunfire erupted after Play had already closed for the day due to excessive crowds.

No suspects have been named in Sunday’s incident, although Cleveland Police said in a statement to Scene that one is amongst the victims taken to the hospital by EMS.

Roughly 40 shell casings from four guns, a city spokesperson told Scene, were found around Front Ave. and West 10th.

“This is still an active investigation,” CPD said. “We will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

The city can close a business by emergency order. Play’s ownership will have a chance to contest the move, though Hill told media on Monday he wasn’t informed of how or when.

A representative for Flats East Bank did not return a message for comment. Its website does not list Play Bar & Grill as of Monday afternoon.

Online, many seemed to support Hill’s business and balk at Bibb’s choice to put up plywood as the investigation is carried out.

“People did the shooting,” one commented. “Why is the bar being punished for it?”

“That is like charging a driver to fill a pothole,” another wrote, “because they drove over it.”

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The post Co-Owner of Flats Bar Boarded Up by Bibb Says Establishment Had Nothing to Do With Mass Shooting appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Ohio state Rep. Gary Click is joining the chorus of Ohio officials floating ideas to rein in property taxes.

The Vickery Republican recently introduced a “trilogy” of property tax reforms restricting what levies are available, potentially requiring more of them to go to the voters and imposing higher thresholds to pass more expensive levies.

“I know that our constituents are demanding a response, and this is me saying, ‘I’m listening,’” Click said.

His ideas join several others up for debate. A handful of proposals would cap the growth in property taxes — either to a specific percentage, the rate of inflation or based on a homeowner’s wealth. Others would expand the homestead exemption.

After vetoing several property tax measures in the state budget, Gov. Mike DeWine put together a new working group to come up with suggestions as well. The group continues to meet and is tasked with sharing their ideas at the end of the month.

The first bill Click filed, House Bill 420, would eliminate continuing levies. In short, every property tax proposal on the ballot after 2030 would need to have an end date.

“We’re not saying that these are bad levies that are out there,” Click said. “But it’s saying, okay, each generation should have a voice in saying ‘I understand what I’m paying this tax for, I agree, or I disagree.’ I think that’s too much, or not enough, or whatever it is, but that each generation gets to have their voice heard.”

Continuing levies filed prior to that cutoff would expire unless they were approved to pay for bonds. Any taxes that did expire as a result of the bill would be eligible for renewal, but taxing authorities would have to take the proposal to the ballot.

Click’s second measure allows local organizers to reduce what’s known as “inside millage.” The Ohio Constitution allows local authorities to levy up to 10 mills (or 1%) in property taxes without going to the voters. Anything beyond that amount requires voter approval. House Bill 421 would allow petitioners to go to the ballot to lower that 10-mill ceiling further.

Organizers would need to gather signatures from 15% of the area’s voters in the most recent gubernatorial election to get the question on the ballot. The bill also requires two-thirds approval from local taxing authorities to put the question of restoring the 10-mill ceiling on the ballot.

“What works in Sandusky County might not work in Seneca County; what works in Seneca County might not work in Crawford County or Marion County,” Click argued. “And so each county gets to assess and look at the situation, and what works for their community, rather than imposing a statewide assessment on property.”

His last proposal, House Bill 422, would require supermajority support for proposals with higher millage rates. Levies of less than one mill (or 0.1%) could pass with a simple majority, but those of one mill to 1.9 mills would need at least 60% approval and those of two mills or more would have to clear 66%.

“The more you want, the more you ask for, the higher the bar is going to be,” Click said.

His second and third proposals, however, could test the boundaries within the state constitution. The Ohio Constitution sets the terms, barring local authorities from taxing property “in excess of one per cent of its true value” unless those levies are “approved by at least a majority of the electors.”

Whether courts would interpret that section as guaranteeing 10 mills of unvoted property tax or a simple majority standard for additional levies is an open question. So far, Click said, he hasn’t heard any warning about constitutional conflicts.

Working group check in

The governor’s working group continues to wrestle with recommendations for lawmakers. At its most recent hearing, the group debated a pair of delay tactics.

First, the working group considered offering some kind of deferral for homeowners hit with eye-popping property tax bills. But even that simple idea raises a host of other questions. Should it be one-time or renewable? Should the state charge interest? What about minimum requirements — do homeowners need a certain amount of equity or ownership history?

The group largely settled on capping deferrals at a dollar amount whether they run once or consecutively. It also nixed the idea of charging interest, while leaving the door open for charging an administrative fee. In terms of minimum requirements, a home equity benchmark was popular, but Warren County Auditor Matt Nolan explained it would be difficult to assess.

“You know, I can pull your mortgage to see what you took a mortgage out for,” he said, “but I can’t see how much you’ve paid down on that or not, and are there other outstanding liens that aren’t recorded?”

Instead, the group landed on a 10-year home ownership minimum as a decent proxy. The members also seemed open to making ownership transferrable, so seniors who downsize don’t wind up resetting the clock.

But not everyone was on board with deferrals. Lake County Auditor Chris Galloway likened pushing off payment amounts to kicking the can down the road.

“It doesn’t change what somebody’s tax liability is,” Galloway said. “All we’re doing is changing the taking — collecting those taxes from grandma or her corpse, right?”

Instead, Galloway suggested lawmakers pause property tax increases temporarily while they come up with a comprehensive response.

“The idea behind it is to, like, hit the pause button somehow,” he said. “To stop the outrage, to stop the bleeding, to be able to say, let’s give ourselves some time to fix this problem right.”

Auditors would still go forward with assessing properties and updating valuations, but tax bills would hold steady. That delay might give lawmakers time to pass legislation like House Bill 186 — an idea popular with working group members that would limit tax increases to the rate of inflation.

But other working group members, particularly Chair Bill Seitz, seemed skeptical of the idea. Those paused tax increases would eventually come due, and in the meantime, the benefits would land unevenly. For instance, Galloway acknowledged taxpayers who saw spikes after last year’s reassessments, including those in his county, wouldn’t get any immediate relief.

The post Ohio Lawmaker Proposes Three Bills to Rein in Property Taxes, Working Group Debates Deferrals appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

The Arkansas-based company also recently shuttered its other venues in Columbus; Peoria, Illinois; Wichita, Kansas; and Fort-Worth, Texas.

In the first public statements since the news, Lance Beaty, the CEO of TempleLive owner Beaty Capital, told Talk Business & Politics that industry pressures stemming from the consolidation of online ticketing, venue ownership and management were to blame.

“We are simply an outsider in an insider’s business,” he told the outlet. “No matter how much money you throw at it or how creative you think you are, if you’re not on the inside, you’re not in.”

One likely contributing factor in the closures: Partners Bank in Arkansas last week filed a complaint against the company over repayment of a $1.5 million credit line.

Beaty said they’re in the process of trying to sell assets, individually or as a package, or come up with another solution to satisfy Partners Bank and other creditors.

“We’re having discussions with other national operators with respect to either a sale or a joint venture of some kind where we would be a passive minority holder in a newly capitalized company. We’ll see what happens,” he told the outlet. “Look, this is likely a $50 million to $60 million transaction that has to be worked through. … But solutions have to be found.”

The company first acquired an historic Masonic Temple in Fort Worth in 2014, pumping millions into renovations. It grew with acquisitions of other Masonic Temples and buildings in the following years, including in Cleveland, where it spent a reported $8.1 million on upgrades.

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The post TempleLive Owner Blames Consolidation in Online Ticketing and Venue Management for Closures appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Ohioans could soon be able to sign up for programs that reduce their energy bills in exchange for allowing the utility to dial back their consumption. These demand response programs already exist for big energy consumers like factories, but state Rep. Roy Klopfenstein, R-Haviland, thinks residential consumers should have the opportunity as well.

“This is one more tool in the toolbox that gives the distribution folks, the ability to manage the power so those that need it the most — and you can put whatever you want in there — that they are never without power,” he said.

In a press release describing the measure, House Bill 427, Klopfenstein offers a few examples. Utilities might roll back your smart thermostat on a really hot day, or cycle home appliances like your water heater.

Klopfenstein’s measure doesn’t specify the exact terms of a program. Instead, it directs state regulators to consider proposals from utilities so long as the programs are voluntary and open to everyone. It also requires that customers can override the power reductions. The Public Utility Commission of Ohio gets tasked with weighing whether programs are cost-effective for consumers and offer long-term savings to the energy grid.

Many states offer demand response programs for residential customers, with varying incentive or rebate structures. In California, for instance, PG&E’s Power Saver Rewards Program notifies customers that demand is high and then gives them a dollar per kWh of power they save.

“My rural cooperative has had a radio control on my electric hot water heater probably for 40 years,” Klopfenstein said. “This gives them the ability to shut the hot water heater off to limit demand during peak times. And in 40 years, I have never recognized when it was shut off.”

Although he got paid up-front to participate, Klopfenstein said he doesn’t get a monthly incentive on his bill. Because he gets power through a co-op, though, he said the better they manage demand the lower his bills are overall.

“Now, I will tell you what I believe consumers will want today, they’re going to want to be rewarded probably more than I am — and that’s OK.” Klopfenstein said. “Somewhere in there there’s a balance, but we need to give them a tool to manage the power distribution.”

Supply and demand

Klopfenstein sponsored a sweeping energy measure known as House Bill 15 earlier this year. That measure aimed to encourage new energy generation by offering tax incentives to new facilities and streamlining the regulatory process. The bill also ended a controversial coal plant bailout tied to the House Bill 6 scandal.

Notably, that bill got broad bipartisan support and Rob Kelter, managing attorney with the Environmental Law & Policy Center, sees Klopfenstein’s newest proposal as a continuation.

“Good energy policy manages both supply and demand. Ohio lawmakers took measures in HB 15 to increase supply, and we commend Rep. Klopfenstein and Chair (Rep. Adam) Holmes for moving quickly to lower demand,” Kelter said. “Republicans and Democrats worked together on HB 15, and we know there will be similar cooperation here.”

In a press release, the Environmental Law & Policy Center estimates residential demand response could “create estimated net savings of between $34.5 million and $104 million for the utility system, depending on participation rate.” The group added that companies can roll out programs to reduce demand far faster than they can increase supply by standing up new power plants — even with HB 15 greasing the skids.

Klopfenstein explained residential demand response almost made it into HB 15 itself. But it showed up as an amendment late in the process, and lawmakers stripped it out so they could debate it further.

Still, the idea appears to have supporters on both sides of the aisle. Nolan Rutschilling from the Ohio Environmental Council said demand response is “crucial to addressing skyrocketing energy costs.”

“This legislation allows utilities and retail energy providers to establish programs that save customers money, reduce strain on our electric grid, and create more capacity in the PJM market, lessening the burden on all energy customers,” he added.

Ohio Conservative Energy Forum Executive Director Shayna Fritz said, “providing demand response solutions will ensure we are helping our energy remain reliable during peak times. We worked with Ohio lawmakers on critical energy legislation such as House Bill 15 and look forward to working with them again to develop the best solutions for all residents.”

The post Ohio Lawmaker Wants Utilities to Give Customers Rebates for Reducing Power Use appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

In early August, Hines picked out The Collins, a new apartment complex that opened its doors in January on the southwestern part of the Scranton Peninsula. During a recent tour, Hines told Scene its location was one of the reasons he ended up leasing there.

“I love the fact that it’s in the Flats, its adjacent to Ohio City and Tremont and Downtown,” Hines, an events producer in his fifties, said in mid-August in the complex’s courtyard. “Really, we’re right here, in the center of everything.”

Hines is pretty much right. The Collins, and its soon-to-open neighbor across Carter Road to the west, Silver Hills, is the first official notch forward in a master plan for the peninsula going back to at least 2018. And the first residential property ever built there.

The blossoming neighborhood will boast more than 600 units of housing for about a thousand people by the end of the decade.

Living at The Collins, where rents start around $2,000 a month, comes with standard luxury perks: An outdoor pool flanked by flatscreen TVs and grills. A gym stocked with all-black equipment. Ritzy coffee machines and garage of complimentary bikes.

It certainly seems like the latest master plan, released by Geis and JRoc Development, in 2021, is beginning to come to fruition. One imagined with blocks of taprooms, happy cyclists, boutique offices and coffee shops.

“You can start to see some vision of that,” Aaron Pechota, vice president of develop at the NRP Group, the developers behind The Collins, told Scene. “It’s a really cool residential neighborhood with some commercial uses.”

But go up Carter Road, past BrewDog and a stunning sight of Downtown, and another world appears. Overgrown grass lots fenced in with barbed wire. Construction companies and riverfront yacht services. Marine workers lugging orange cones. Yards of idled cars waiting to be repaired or junked. And, further down Scranton Road, rows of faceless brick buildings abutting brownstones that haven’t been touched in decades.

Since 2023, the Bibb administration has touted its interest in reshaping Cleveland in the image of the 15-minute city, a city with everything a resident may need—groceries, meds, groceries, coffee, hardware—within the span of a 15-minute walk or quick bike ride. Cleveland City Planning’s pursuit of testing out Smart Code, the planning code embedded with this philosophy, could boost this citywide if passed.

The Collins’ three buildings have no retail spaces; neither does Silver Hills’ buildings. So far, the only for-sure commercial uses with neighborhood benefits are BrewDog, a Scottish brewery which opened up on the peninsula’s north side in 2021; and Great Lakes Brewing Co.’s possible site for a brew garden and new facility, situated directly south of The Collins.

Pechota said the decision not to include storefronts along Carter was admittedly a conservative one, based on high interest rates and a city tax abatement policy tons of developers like him balk at.

“It’s just not a high-traffic area,” Pechota said. “I mean, to try and convince Giant Eagle or Kroger to move down there? There’s just not enough traffic.”

“Seeing glass is nice and it’s pretty,” he added. “But unless it’s in a dense area, a lot of times they sit vacant.”

As brokers love to gab about, retail is a numbers game: grocers or Chipotles decide to lease out storefronts based mostly on how many live in and around that storefront. About 60 percent of The Collins’ 314 apartments—about 190 units—is leased up as of early September, a spokesperson for NRP told Scene.

And the area itself is still clearly growing. Carter Road, which was resurfaced this year, has sidewalks that seem bare and almost purposeless with no one walking on them. Even The Collins has yet to complete its sky lounge and kick off its bike rental program.

“It may just be one of those things—if you get the people first, then the rest will follow,” Michael Mitro, the community manager of The Collins, told Scene on a recent tour. “And I hope it does.”

If Scranton is to get its own grocer, dog grooming shop or bakery, then it’s most likely going to happen outside of the apartment complexes on its western edge. That is, on some of the 70 acres or so that lie around it, built on those grassy lots, or converted from those vacant buildings. (Like BrewDog itself, from a century-old sawmill.)

The problem is that, at least from the perspective of the hopeful developer, that land in and around The Collins and Silver Hills isn’t set to be sold anytime soon.

“We don’t have any intentions of selling anything,” Dennis Troyan, a realtor who’s helped broker with Realty Professional since the late 1970s, said in a phone call. “When we do decide to do something, we’ll do it.”

Troyan, whose name is splattered across a handful of signs that look like they were designed in the 1990s, is the broker for Scranton Averell, Inc., an inscrutable group of investors situated across the globe that own control of every single lot outside of what’s been recently developed. Land that hosts truck terminals or junk yards.

To put it simply: if those 70 or so acres are going to one day host a Constantino’s, a bike co-op or a new bookstore, then Troyan and Scranton Averell are probably going to be involved in that transition. And that transaction, Troyan confirmed with an air of acerbic tone, doesn’t seem to be tilted towards apartment living.

“I think the bloom is off the rose,” Troyan said. “I don’t think they’re renting as fast. I don’t think multifamily has the attraction it does years ago.”

Scene reached out to Scranton Averell to gauge their opinion on Scranton as a neighborhood. “There is no one here you can talk to,” they said in a phone call. “This is law firm. This is a law firm you’re calling. Thank you. Bye.”

Scranton Peninsula may fall short, at least for the next decade or so, of its neighborhood concept envisioned by JRoc years ago.

Even as the land nearby develops — whether that be the Metroparks’ park plans for the former Cantanese Classics to the west, or the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center to the northeast, the Bedrock “Rock Block” neighborhood straight across to the north.

And after all, maybe that’s just what the Flats is? A tug-of-war identity pull between the maritime and city living.

“What’s one of the attractive things about the riverfront? You have freighters making there way 300 times a year to Cleveland Cliffs,” Jim Haviland, head of Flats Forward, said. “There’s nothing like seeing these vessels passing by—whether you’re living there or not.”

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The post With Residential Units Rising on Part of the Scranton Peninsula, Will Retail and Development Follow on Its Industrial Half? appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

That district, the boundaries of which stretch from East 17th to the Cuyahoga River, will provide Downtown some $43 million in funding through at least 2032.

This year is also the first year that both the city and the county signed on to help fund the district, a handshake that didn’t come without tension. Cuyahoga County Council met with representatives from Downtown Cleveland, Inc., the nonprofit that runs the district, four times since its renewal was first proposed last year.

County Executive Chris Ronayne, who often argued with Council members in favor of the county’s buy-in to the district, reasserted on Wednesday the importance of the $1.3 million total from county taxpayers over the next seven years.

And for a logical reason, Ronayne said: Downtown is Cuyahoga; Cuyahoga is Downtown.

“A strong Downtown drives growth throughout Cuyahoga County,” he said in a release. “We’re proud to partner with Downtown Cleveland, Inc. on this initiative. Together, we’re helping ensure downtown remains a hub of opportunity, innovation and vitality for the entire region.”

That money, doled out by DCI, will help fund yellow-shirted Ambassadors, host concerts, keep sidewalks clean and handle lower-level conflicts. It could also be used for pretty much anything, from hiring security guards to buying Christmas decorations on Public Square. (Or for more AI cameras, as DCI plans to do.)

Much of the delay came from the County’s Economic, Development & Planning Committee, who grilled DCI across multiple meetings on why exactly the County Headquarters Building off East 9th and Euclid needed to be included in DCI’s quota—60 percent of property owners in the district opting in.

DCI collects roughly $5 million a year from a district tax. Each fee is determined on building size and land value.

That’s to say, County Headquarters has more chips to toss into the pot than Rebol. The rub is that, according to state law, any city or county properties are only included in that buy-in if they choose to be included.

Cleveland City Council opted in this summer.

“Cleveland is at its best when our downtown is thriving, and this reauthorization of the improvement district will only accelerate that progress,” Mayor Bibb wrote in a statement. “We are committed to building a downtown that’s more welcoming, more vibrant and a place where people and businesses want to invest their time and money.”

Jason Beudert, the head of Hangry Brands, which runs five businesses in and around East 4th—Jolene’s, Society Lounge, Geraci’s Slice Shop, Lionheart Coffee and, soon, The DugOut—told Scene he’s happy to hear about the district’s renewal.

“As a lessee, we’re proud to be there,” he said in a phone call. “Any investment into the city, to make it safer and more inviting and welcoming to, not only residents but visitors, is a huge win for not only my businesses, but every other business around me.”

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The post Downtown Cleveland Special Improvement District Renewed Until 2032 With City and County Buy-In appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

LifeWise Academy, a controversial Hilliard-based religious instruction program, will be in almost half of Ohio’s public school districts this school year. 

The academy will now be in 613 Ohio schools in 303 school districts for the 2025-26 school year, said Christine Czernejewski, a spokesperson for LifeWise. 

Back in January, LifeWise was in about 160 Ohio school districts — a nearly 90% increase since the start of the calendar year.

The academy’s new count comes after a new law took effect in April that requires Ohio school districts to have a religious-release time policy. The previous law merely permitted a policy. 

“While the recent clarification in Ohio law has helped reinforce districts’ ability to offer release-time religious instruction, the growth is primarily driven by increased demand from families across the state,” Czernejewski said. “Communities have been proactively bringing LifeWise to their local schools because they understand the positive impact of Bible education during school hours.”

LifeWise operates in 34 states and plans to enroll nearly 100,000 students this year, according to its website. 

“Demand for LifeWise is surging, and we couldn’t be more excited to see families taking advantage of our programming, from urban areas to remote towns,” said CEO Joel Penton.  

But LifeWise has many critics and parents have said their students have been ostracized and bullied for not taking part in LifeWise.  

“These kids are affected when they don’t go,” said Zachary Parrish, a parent who had LifeWise file a lawsuit against him for copyright infringement. “They feel left out. They don’t understand why their parents aren’t letting them go.” 

Parrish now lives in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but his daughter was a second-grader in Defiance City Schools in 2021 and he is not surprised Ohio has seen such an uptick in districts offering the religious classes.  

“They’ve been in Ohio the longest,” he said. “They’ve got the most connections in Ohio. It’s where the organization is from. It’s where all the leadership is from. So it doesn’t surprise me that Ohio is the hotbed for it.”

Religious instruction under the law

The United States Supreme Court upheld release time laws during the 1952 Zorach v. Clauson case, which allowed a school district to have students leave school for part of the day to receive religious instruction.

Religious release time instruction must meet three criteria: the courses must take place off school property, be privately funded and students must have parental permission.

Tina Sobo, a rabbi at Temple Israel Dayton and mom of two students in Miamisburg Schools, said students in her congregation have heard antisemitic comments from their classmates when they return from LifeWise. 

“The curriculum teaches that because my kids are Jewish and don’t believe in Jesus, we’re going to hell … And touching on just some of the low-level antisemitism, just really more ignorant type comments,” she said. “It’s a very specific version of Christianity that, I think, goes against, in my opinion, goals of creating an inclusive, positive religious environment in America.”

LifeWise, which started in Miamisburg in January, “unequivocally condemns antisemitism or any form of harassment or discrimination,” Czernejewski said. 

“Our mission is to provide Bible-based character education,” she said. “If any student were to make inappropriate or hurtful remarks toward their peers, whether inside or outside of school, that behavior would be inconsistent with what LifeWise teaches.”

Rachel Evans, a mom of a student in Centerville City Schools, does not want to send her son to LifeWise because their family is Jewish. LifeWise is launching in Centerville this month. 

“You have these kids who are taught that they need to save people because they’re taught that hell is just the worst place you could go,” she said. “And they’re really trying to help their friends, but that can be really damaging to a kid.” 

Hearing LifeWise is in almost half of Ohio’s school districts makes Evans scared for her son’s future. 

“I have had past experiences where I was proselytized to at a very young age and it’s not a good feeling,” she said. “… The whole point of it is to disrupt the school day. … There are so many other times when this would be appropriate, and I think during the school day is not it.” 

The post LifeWise Academy Will Be in Nearly Half of Ohio School Districts This School Year appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

More than 30 National Institutes of Health grants in Ohio have been impacted by recent cuts at the federal level. 

Thirty-two NIH grants are currently being impacted and eight NIH grants have been reinstated for an estimated loss of $16.75 million, according to Grant Witness, a project that tracks the termination of grants of scientific research agencies under President Donald Trump’s administration. 

More than 5,110 NIH grants have been impacted, totaling $4.52 billion lost, according to Grant Witness. 1,290 grants have been reinstated. 

The United States Supreme Court recently allowed NIH to terminate $783 million in grants tied to diversity initiatives.

NIH ended hundreds of grants linked to DEI studies earlier this year after a series of Trump executive orders. Two separate groups of plaintiffs went to federal court in Massachusetts to challenge the termination of the NIH grants and a federal judge ruled in their favor, but U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court to intervene. 

Ohio’s affected grants, according to Grant Witness.

• Case Western Reserve University has nine grants affected, including one that could be possibly reinstated.
• Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center has two grants affected.
• Kent State University has one grant affected.
• Ohio State University has 18 grants, including six that could be possibly reinstated and one with frozen funding.
• The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital has three grants affected.
• The University of Cincinnati has six grants affected, including one that could be possibly reinstated.
• The University of Toledo has one grant affected.

The Ohio Capital Journal reached out to all affected universities and hospitals, but most of them did not respond by deadline. 

“We have not experienced the sweeping reductions in funding that have been proposed for some other institutions,” Ohio State University Spokesperson Ben Johnson said in an email. “When you look across our entire portfolio, we have not had a significant number of grants canceled. However, each cancellation is significant to the researchers involved and we are working to support those individuals.”

Ohio State’s research portfolio totaled $1.6 billion last year and about $775 million of that was federal funding, he said. 

The University of Toledo acknowledged a NIH grant was terminated and university spokesperson Tyrel Linkhorn said there were no layoffs associated with the termination. 

In addition, Ohio University has been notified of two NIH sub-awards totaling $13,040 that have received stop-work orders, university spokesperson Dan Pittman said. 

“Ohio University leaders will continue to assess evolving guidance from federal agencies and provide additional details and guidance as needed; during this time, we encourage all (OU) researchers to continue their efforts to explore research opportunities and to pursue funding,” he said in an email.

The types of NIH grants affected in Ohio range from studying the long-term effects of COVID, vaccine hesitancy in rural communities, inflammatory bowel disease, bisexual adolescents’ and young adults’ risk for depression and suicidal ideation, minority women’s mental health and creating healthy habits for heart health, among others. 

“The cuts to the NIH funding … are going to severely reduce the amount of research that universities in Ohio are able to engage in,” Sara Kilpatrick, executive director of the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors. “And this, of course, is a problem nationwide, but this is a great concern for our research institutions in the state of Ohio.” 

This will hurt local economies and Ohio’s economy as a whole, she said. 

“I think that anybody who understands the kind of economic engines that our universities are has to be able to see the way that this is going to severely undermine the research missions of our universities,” Kilpatrick said. 

Originally published by the Ohio Capital Journal. Republished here with permission.

The post Trump Science and Medical Grant Cuts Impact Ohio Universities and Children’s Hospitals appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

Tom McNair will replace Epstein as Chief of Integrated Development and Joevrose Bourdeau Small will take McNair’s role as Director of the Department of Economic Development. Small was most recently the assistant director in the department.

In a statement on Tuesday, Bibb sold the two as proponents of the ERA agenda—actually building good, affordable homes across the city and nursing widespread development—the kind represented by Bedrock’s $2 billion neighborhood lined up along the Cuyahoga River and Bibb’s Shore-To-Core-to-Shore tax increment financing strategy designed to catapult more developer interest in the city’s core.

Both new hires “will carry the Cleveland ERA forward with fresh energy and a steadfast commitment to the communities we serve,” Bibb wrote. “Both bring deep experience, a strong commitment to public service, and the kind of collaborative spirit we need to keep Cleveland moving forward.”

McNair’s main task at hand will undeniably be tied to water: attracting and maintaining private interest and developer intrigue in Bedrock’s plans for the riverfront, along with the hundreds of millions of dollars surrounding the land north of Huntington Bank Field.

All while ensuring other city projects in the pipeline go as designed, from the $60 million renovation of the West Side Market to the $1.6 billion planned makeover of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.

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The post Cleveland City Hall’s Economic Development Department Gets New Leadership appeared first on Cleveland Scene.

In light of an opinion issued Tuesday by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, the American Civil Liberties Union said that eight Ohio counties don’t have legal contracts with U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement. That being the case, the ACLU of Ohio said, those detainees must be released.

However, one Ohio sheriff’s office said its contract with the feds meets the legal standards Yost laid out. Another said he’ll fix any problems, but he’s not releasing anybody.

For its part, Yost’s office declined to answer questions.

After taking office in January, President Donald Trump swiftly began implementing his policy of mass deportation. It was sold on promises that he would throw out violent criminals, but only 7% of those deported have been convicted of violent crimes.

Meanwhile, stories are accumulating of dodgy cases against beloved asylum seekers. Claims of human rights abuses are mounting. And some economists predict that removing so many from the workforce will make already-high inflation even worse.

Once a strong issue for Trump, by mid-July, just 35% of Americans approved of his handling of immigration, according to a Gallup Poll.

But regardless of the issue’s popularity, Ohio sheriffs have an incentive to take in ICE detainees. They get $125 per-person, per-day, while the feds cover most of their non-food expenses. That revenue has helped fill gaps in their budgets, one Ohio sheriff said.

In an opinion published Tuesday, Yost seemed to raise doubts about the legality of at least some of the arrangements. In response to a query from the Butler County Prosecutor’s Office, the attorney general said county jails could hold ICE detainees longer than 48 hours, and they could provide services such as transport — but only under contracts between the feds and the county commissioners.

“The board of county commissioners may enter into an agreement with federal immigration authorities, on behalf of the sheriff, to detain aliens subject to removal in the county jail,” the opinion said. “The sheriff, however, does not have independent contracting authority for this purpose.” 

At least two of the eight Ohio counties contracting to hold ICE detainees — Butler and Mahoning — are doing so after modifying contracts to hold prisoners on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service. The ACLU of Ohio on Wednesday said that wasn’t sufficient.

“Attorney General Yost has made abundantly clear that all county agreements with ICE must be authorized by the board of county commissioners,” Freda Levenson, the group’s legal director, said in a written statement. “County sheriffs cannot bootstrap themselves into having this authority. Striking these agreements means there is no legal authority to hold the immigrants currently incarcerated in our county jails. The people detained under these invalid agreements are being held unconstitutionally and must be released immediately.” 

The attorney general’s office was asked if the ACLU was correct in saying that Yost’s ruling meant that hundreds of detainees were being held in Ohio illegally. It declined to answer.

“Your question is different than the specific question asked by the Butler County Prosecuting Attorney and we offer no answer in response — our office does not issue legal opinions or guidance to nonclients,” Steven Irwin, a spokesman, said in an email. “The opinion issued to the Butler County Prosecuting Attorney addressed a specific, narrow question on a positive power of government. We have nothing more to say at this time.”

The ACLU said eight county sheriffs offices had improper ICE agreements: Those in Butler, Fairfield, Fayette, Geauga, Lake, Portage, Mahoning and Seneca counties.

However, Butler County Chief Sheriff’s Deputy Anthony E. Dwyer on Thursday said county commissioners there had signed off on his department’s arrangement with the feds. He sent along the commissioners’ resolution approving the modification of a contract to take in prisoners of the Marshals Service to also allow the jail to take ICE detainees. 

“We got that agreement signed off on by the county commissioners,” Dwyer said in an interview. “The ACLU is a little mistaken about what they’re saying about Butler County.”

He added, “People have regularly come to commissioners meetings and talked about it, so it’s shocking that they’re that far behind that they don’t know that.”

Butler County housed 303 ICE detainees on Thursday. Mahoning County Jail in Northeast Ohio houses around 100 on a normal day. 

Sheriff Jerry Greene was asked whether Yost’s opinion affected the legality of their detention.

“The answer is I don’t know at this point,” he said in an interview Thursday. “I’m not sure if the commissioners would be considered as officially parties to the contract. When we put it together, they were definitely in the know and we informed them every step of the way.”

As for the ACLU’s call to release the detainees, Greene was adamant.

“The answer is absolutely not,” he said. “I am doing this to support the federal government. We have housed federal inmates for years. We’re definitely going to make sure we’re constitutional and following the law… but I’m not releasing anybody. We’ll remedy it as soon as possible.”

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