CLEVELAND, Ohio — When the Ohio House Finance Committee met to consider changing the recreational marijuana rules voters just approved, critics had a reaction.

We’re talking about how lawmakers want to change the weed law — including not letting home growers share — on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.

You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.

Here’s what else we’re asking about today:

The Ohio Senate and Mike DeWine have come up with seemingly sensible amendments to Ohio’s legalized marijuana law, but the Ohio House heard some criticism Tuesday about it’s proposed changes. What did the critics say?

How does Ohio define an affordable home in the just announced program to help developers rehab affordable homes for lower-income people who want to live in them?

Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne spent last week in Dubai for a climate change conference, and now Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is putting a big focus on it. What is Bibb’s role, and why are these guys making such a priority of climate change, with all the big problems they face?

What’s going to happen the self-described Joe Biden of the Ohio prison system, after he agreed to what amounts to a life sentence for running a major drug operation from behind bars?

We did a lot of talking in the 90s and following decade about investing hundreds of millions of dollars in our sewage and sewer systems, to stop the flow of untreated sewage into Lake Erie. All that planning came before climate change blasted us with unprecedented downpours. Is the sewer project already obsolete?

Cuyahoga County’s microgrid project has taken a serious step forward. How will a 10-year-contract help build in some energy independence in specific parts of the county?

The beloved Corky and Lenny’s has closed its doors. What made this eatery such a legend, and is it closed for good?

An Ohio State football coach on a recruiting trip in Cleveland got carjacked in the latest frightening example of gun-toting Cleveland youth creating a reign of terror in 2023. What happened, and what do we know about the accused carjackers?

The amount of money Ohioans have put into sports betting this year is staggering, but we’re apparently not done. How many companies hold sports betting licenses that have yet to get into the game?

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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.

Chris (00:01.355)

We are counting down the days left in the year for this podcast today in Ohio, it’s the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Laura Johnston, and for her Wednesday duty, Courtney Astolfi, welcome all. Let’s get to it. The Ohio Senate and Mike DeWine have come up with seemingly sensible amendments to Ohio’s legalized marijuana law, as we have discussed.

But the Ohio House heard some pretty stiff criticism Tuesday about its proposed changes. Lisa, what do the critics have to say?

Lisa (00:36.914)

Basically, their arguments are focusing on how the 10% tax revenues are going to be allocated, and that’s changed many times in the last week. At one point they were saying 45% will go to the general fund. But the House Finance Committee yesterday looked at House Bill 354, which would change tax revenue allocations, shifting money away from local governments, substance abuse treatment and programs, and jobs and social equity to law enforcement officer training and county

It would also ban people from sharing any marijuana or plants that they have. There were a lot of people who testified yesterday. One of them was Kat Packer. She’s with the Drug Policy Alliance. She says, we really need to ask if voters who passed issue two wanted revenues going to law enforcement. She says it goes from puff, puff pass to puff, puff police.

She said, we really need to keep equity and fairness at the forefront here. And there were a lot of other people there that testified against House Bill 354. But interestingly enough, a lot of people were seeking a cut of the revenues. Some organizations that testified asking for a cut were the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland to help people with expungements.

the Tuscarawas County Anti-Drug Coalition, they wanna use it for substance abuse prevention, and the El Cataway wants wage increases at the 39 certified addiction treatment centers in Ohio.

Chris (02:02.607)

You would think they would use the money to deal with whatever issues this might create, kind of like we do with some of the gambling money. It goes to gambling addiction. But the legislature is money-grubbing, and when they see money, they want to play with it. I’m a little bit more concerned about the idea people could not share their product. I’ve brewed beer for many, many years, and when I became Celiac 20-plus years ago, I learned to do gluten-free beer.

Lisa (02:20.606)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (02:30.111)

And one of the big things with home brewing, which Jimmy Carter signed into law, legalizing it way back in the day, is people like to share it. They like to say, hey, look, I brewed this IPA, give it a taste, and it’s a kind of a social thing. I would imagine that the same thing would happen with people growing the different strains, that for people that are into growing it, they’d wanna do that the same way you do with tomatoes or whatever else is in your garden.

Lisa (02:38.785)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (02:44.776)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (02:57.521)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (02:59.219)

What is the reasoning behind halting people from having that kind of sharing? I just don’t see it.

Lisa (03:06.07)

I think that people freaked out over the numbers because they said, oh, six plants yields one and a half pounds of marijuana, 1,300 joints. I think people thought no one person can consume that and probably not, you know, but yeah, that’s just silly. And how do you police that?

laura (03:21.155)

Here’s, my thought is they can’t tax it if you give it away for free.

Chris (03:22.848)

Well, let’s face it.

Chris (03:27.567)

But let’s face it, if you grow six plants and all six plants are healthy and you do everything right, that’s what you get. But how many people are going to have that level of success? How many people have that level of success with tomatoes? I mean, you know, at some point, it just seems like this is, the Republicans are the ones that say, big government, get out of my life. But when it comes to issues like this.

Lisa (03:27.773)

Ah, mm-hmm.

Lisa (03:39.029)

Yeah.

Right.

Chris (03:52.215)

they’re the big government. They’re trying to get into everybody’s lives and tell them what to do. And it’s like, stop telling people what to do. It’s just, it doesn’t make sense to me. They can battle over how they parse out the taxes is all they want, but the voters were pretty clear about what they think should happen with marijuana and meddling with those elements is a bad idea. I don’t know why they don’t just take the Senate version at this point, because that one makes sense.

Lisa (04:00.512)

Yeah.

Lisa (04:17.686)

Well, in the legislature, as the article states, you know, that they probably won’t mess with the law enforcement training funding in this bill because they’ve been looking for a permanent source for law enforcement officer training for a while. But, you know, it just makes it makes it look like marijuana is a crime. Oh, we need more training because when marijuana is legal, all hell breaks loose. I don’t know. It’s just a bad analogy.

Chris (04:40.883)

Yeah, it’s the reefer madness argument, even though it’s legal. I should mention since we’re talking about marijuana, we have a new podcast called Dine Drink CLE in which our food team talks about different food trends. It’s delightful. They’re loaded with energy. It’s a lot of fun. If you ever watch or listen to it in the episode they published yesterday, looks at how legalized marijuana could impact the food scene. You know, do restaurants start to.

adopt it? Do you start to get THC infused drinks? They have a great discussion. There’s a lot not to know, but it opens your minds on what the possibilities are. You can find it anywhere you listen to podcasts. It’s called Dying Drink CLE. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. How does Ohio define an affordable home in the Just Announce program to help developers rehab affordable homes for lower income people who want to live in them? Or are this number?

jumped out at me, but our state house editor and politics editor, Rick Ryan, said, I’m out of touch.

laura (05:46.297)

Yeah

going to have to start doing like what is the cost of milk at a grocery store? $180,000 for a single family home. That’s the threshold. These have to be single family homes or condos or town homes. They cannot be apartment buildings. The idea is this is called the Welcome Home Ohio program. Land bags can get these grants to buy buildings outright to rehabilitate them or build new homes. They can get tax credits for building or rehabbing the units.

They want to tap into $150 million from the state to deliver about 2,150 affordable living units. And that threshold there is they have to be sold for $180,000. They have to be sold to modest earners. They have to live there, not rent or sell for at least five years. And they can’t earn more than 80% of the annual median income. For a family of four in Cuyahoga County, that’s about $72,000 a year.

And what they hope to do is address the housing gap because as housing prices have skyrocketed and inflation has grown and wages haven’t grown with them, it’s going increasingly hard to buy a house. Like we just talked about yesterday, Ohio’s home buying savings program. So they’re doing some things to address, hoping that lower and middle income people can have a single family home and own it.

Chris (07:10.683)

I just was surprised at this number because I wouldn’t have thought 180,000 is affordable. Rick pointed out that the average home sale in Ohio now is about 230, I think he said. But 180,000 seems like a pretty big amount for people earning minimum wage or a little bit more to be able to pay for.

laura (07:31.043)

I agree. I mean, when I bought my first house, but when I bought my first house, that was 17 years ago, right? It was like $150,000 and that was a nice house. I mean, I think you can still get a pretty nice house in a lot of places in Ohio for $180,000. Now, you’re not going to be able to buy on the lake in Rocky River, but that’s not what this program is for. But I agree. It’s a pretty generous threshold to call it affordable.

Lisa (07:50.388)

Now, you’re not going to be able to buy on the latest.

laura (07:59.919)

And hopefully there are a lot of units that are less expensive, especially in places with, Cleveland doesn’t have nearly the expensive housing that some place in Beechwood does.

Chris (08:11.123)

I guess that’s the right way to look at it. That’s the outer limit. There’ll be a whole lot of houses that cost less than that, and they had to send a cap on it.

courtney (08:18.249)

You know, I’m curious about excluding apartments from this. That’s the most affordable option out there. Do we know why by chance?

laura (08:26.415)

Well, you can do condos, but the point is you can’t build an apartment unit and then rent it to people. You have to sell this to people to live in so they can own it. And so, I mean, you can have a condo building. You just can’t have apartments.

Lisa (08:36.238)

Thank you.

courtney (08:40.617)

Gotcha.

Chris (08:40.807)

Interesting. It’s the second thing we’re talking about this week where the state’s trying to make it attractive to home buyers. It’s a good, good initiative. Good to see them doing something positive as they try and destroy democracy in Ohio. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronane spent last week in Dubai for a climate change conference. Now Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb is putting a big focus on the same topic.

Lisa (08:44.174)

Mm-hmm.

laura (08:52.88)

Yeah

Chris (09:08.023)

Courtney, what is bibs rolling? Why are these guys making such a priority of climate change with all the kind of big problems they face right here at home?

courtney (09:16.273)

Yeah, well, let’s start with Justin Bibb’s role. Yesterday, we learned that he was named chair of climate mayors. And that’s a group of US mayors who are focused on climate change at the city level, you know, addressing it through local policymaking and advocacy work. And last year, Bibb was chosen as a co-vice chair for this national group. And this year they put him up in the top position to kind of guide.

this group of mayors as they kind of put their heads together and figure out what works on climate change at the local level. As for why local leaders are focusing on climate, you know, I think they would say that this is a huge crisis that’s facing everybody and needs at all hands on deck kind of an approach. You know, Bibb at this announcement yesterday with climate mayors talked about how

Lisa (09:47.742)

As for why local leaders are focusing on climate, I think they just say that this is a huge crisis that’s taking everybody at all hands on deck. So you know, BID has announced yesterday was the time that they talked about how

courtney (10:06.701)

It’s important for cities to act on climate change and some other folks who were in the Zoom meeting, you know, talked about cities as kind of a place to test and scale up climate solutions that work at this local level. So we think of states as being the laboratories of democracy. The thought here is that cities and local areas are kind of the laboratories of good climate policy that we’re going to need going forward.

Chris (10:34.395)

Layla sent me a note this morning from a friend that was quoting the New York Times and added her own to it about Dubai. The New York Times had a story about all the special interests that were there and I just cannot let this one go. Nearly 70,000 people have shown up roaming through the venue or doctors and pesticide makers, venture capitalists, battery entrepreneurs, mining executives, real estate developers.

former frost scientist policy wonk streaming up new sources of climate finance, at least 1200 lobbyists for the oil and gas industry and Chris Ronane.

courtney (11:09.329)

You know, yeah, so Chris Ronane was part of this Cleveland contingent that went to Dubai for several days last week for the COP 28 United Nations, you know, annual climate change summit and there was a local contingent that went that went last year as well. I believe, I believe Ronane attended right as he was getting up and running in office. So this has drawn local leaders, you know, they, they take part in panel discussions and.

Lisa (11:33.166)

they take part in panel discussions and I guess, you know, chat with others about climate policies. It’s good to know that the local contingent, which included Romaine, and two of their staffers, and development teams.

courtney (11:36.441)

and I guess, you know, chat with others about climate policies. It’s good to know that the local contingent, which included Ronane and two of Bibb’s staffers, his development chief and his sustainability chief, along with Greater Cleveland Partnership Head Bai-Zhu Sha and some other local folks, went and kind of represented Cleveland in the Cleveland area at this summit. The trip was paid for by, I believe, the Gund and Cleveland Foundations.

And yeah, you know, the County told me that Ronane took part in some panel discussions over there and was kind of representing action here in Northeast Ohio. And, and one of the lines that the Ronane spokesman told me was that, you know, Cuyahoga County’s been a leader on the environment, go back to the Clean Water Act, you know, we’re kind of carrying that, that torch forward.

Lisa (12:12.262)

representing campus in Ohio. One of the lines that is most important for me is that, very important environment for the environment. We’re actually seeing water apps and all kinds of things that are going to be kind of a blessing in the world. Chris, I know you’ll be checking Ronane’s social media feeds for sunsets from Dubai.

Chris (12:27.731)

and our plastic bag band. We can’t forget the plastic bag band.

Chris (12:35.939)

He sent him. Oh, no, he had plenty of pictures on there. Look, you know, the jail problem continues to not be solved. Even five years later, we have a bunch of the kids still sleeping in county buildings. You do wonder if it’s spending a week in Dubai is the best use of the county executive’s time. I get it. I get it. You’re going to say, well, it’s for the long term future. We’re looking at what’s ahead. And working on a micro level adds up to an aggregate difference, which is what everybody’s going to say about it. But

We still have a festering sore in the jail. I would rather see that get fixed before we raise our gaze. You are listening to Today in Ohio. Lisa, what’s going to happen to the self-described Joe Biden of the Ohio prison system after he agreed to what amounts to a life sentence for running a major drug operation from behind bars?

Lisa (13:27.83)

Yeah, still kind of to be determined, but 45 year old Charles Daniels of Cleveland did plead guilty to running a really big drug operation from the Ohio State Supermax Security Prison in Youngstown. The operation was between October 2020 and February of last year. His crew supplied fentanyl to Worcester Street dealers. He was getting them from two Cleveland suppliers. The plea does carry a sentence of 17 and a half years of prison. But

Federal Judge Dan Polster has to decide if that’s fair, and he will formalize it if he thinks it’s fair at a hearing in March. And if not, Daniels can withdraw his plea and then the trial would go forward. Now, Daniels got a cut from his crew. He used the money at the prison commissary and for phone calls. He boasted about his power behind bars. He said, just call me Joe Biden. I’m Mr. Get It Done. He’s currently in the prison for eight years

Lisa (14:27.951)

conviction of dealing heroin and fentanyl in Wayne County, which is where Worcester is. According to law enforcement officers, he was the main supplier of drugs in Wayne County.

Chris (14:39.059)

I was glad to see way down at the bottom of this story that they’ve created a task force to figure out how to stop people who are behind bars from running drug operations. It does boggle the mind that can happen. You’re behind bars where everything you do is prescribed. They tell you when to eat, when to shower, everything. And yet, despite all that, you’re able to run a massive drug operation.

Lisa (14:45.066)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (15:03.467)

And part of his charges were like using a phone, you know, so, you know, once if you can get a phone smuggled into prison, you can probably do just about anything.

Chris (15:12.031)

Yeah, just it’s one of those shockers. It’s that because we talked about another one of these cases a few weeks ago, I hope their task force comes up with some ways to stop it, you would think that the one controlled environment you could stop a drug operation in is a prison. It was sending to today in Ohio, we did a lot of talking in the 90s in the following decade about investing hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in our sewage and sewer system to stop the flow of all that untreated sewage into Lake Erie.

where Lara Johnston likes to swim. All that planning came before climate change blasted us with this unprecedented level of downpour. So Lara, is our sewer project, which we’re all paying gigantic bills for now, already obsolete or can it handle this extra blast of water we get from climate change?

laura (15:44.377)

I’m sorry.

laura (16:03.131)

They say that it can handle it, that they’ve built some slack into the system. They’ve expanded tunnels where they were able. They’ve added green infrastructure. So even though they didn’t have to go back and renegotiate with the federal EPA on new data, they say that they’ll be able to handle this. So they use 30 years of rain data that ended in 1993 as their baseline. And think about how climate change has changed. What we’re used to in the weather.

since 1993, as I look out in my completely green, sunny backyard, right? It’s been raining a lot more since 93, 25% higher annual precipitation now than in the mid 1950s. And when you talk about that one in a hundred year storm that you used to say, like, you know, there’s a 1% chance every year you get a storm this bad, that’s one in 26 now. So every year you have a 4% chance. By 2050, you’ll have a 5% chance. But the sewer district says that they agreed to an…

capturing 98% of overflows with the EPA, but they actually designed it for 99% of overflows. So they think we’ll be okay, and they’ll be, they’re still working to capture as much of that as they can. That doesn’t mean we’ll never have an edge water overflow like we do. We had three times this summer where the beach is closed because there were millions of gallons of raw sewage that spewed into Lake Erie. So yes, it’s not a good idea to swim the lake the day after a big rain.

Chris (17:31.463)

Well, like you said, they were never going to get 100 percent because the cost of that is prohibitive. Each percent, once you get over a certain level, just becomes exponentially more expensive. What I was really glad to see in this story was that they had been quietly expanding their capacity in all of their projects without any attention, that they knew this was a problem. And so, Pete…

laura (17:34.175)

No.

Chris (17:56.219)

His story is loaded with the detail, but this tunnel is being expanded by two feet and this tunnel has been extended because they could drill easier. They focused on it. We talk about the failure of government on this podcast all the time, but ever since its corruption days, whatever it was 15, 20 years ago, clean them out of their corrupt people. The leadership at the Northeast Ohio Sewer District really has been tremendous.

laura (17:58.501)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (18:23.427)

in being forward thinking. And this was a heartening story about government working, government recognizing a problem and working to solve it.

laura (18:34.187)

Yeah, I think so too. And they talked about the different things like when they build new buildings and it’s a big project like Metro Health or something like that, they’re no longer dumping all of their excess sewage into the combined stormwater, wastewater tunnels anymore. They have to have their own dedicated tunnels. So they’re going to limit some of the supply of the sewage into these shared tunnels too, which is good. And any, every little bit helps. Like…

If you can put up a rain barrel, if you can, when you’re designing a project, not have so much asphalt and use that permeable pavement, if you want to put in a rain garden, every little bit of that, I mean, it’s very small each piece, but if we all work together, we can make a big difference for the lake.

Chris (19:21.079)

And a salute to Pete Cross. He lays this out very, very simply. You can see all of the things that are happening. It’s a terrific story to get people up to date on where we stand. It’s on cleveland.com, and you’re listening to Today in Ohio. Cuyahoga County’s microgrid project has taken a serious step forward. Courtney, how will a 10-year contract help build in some energy independence in specific regions of the county?

courtney (19:47.493)

Yeah, so this 10 year contract that County Council has signed off on now is with Compass Energy Platform. It’s a business out in L.A. and they’re looking to design and finance Cuyahoga County’s microgrid plans. I think the fact that we reached an agreement potentially with a company to actually do this, I think it’s fair to say that signifies we’re at a new level of viability with this idea that it started under the former county executive and Ronane has kind of picked up and run with it.

Lisa (19:56.142)

They’re looking to design and finance.

Lisa (20:01.206)

that we reached an agreement potentially with the company to ask for interest. I think it’s good to say that signifies we’re at a new level of viability with this idea that started under the former council executive and now we’re in the executive. They brought it in. So basically these microgrid projects would be through the authority that the county has when they need it in the community. And basically microgrid is a small electricity producing system.

courtney (20:16.957)

So basically these microgrid projects would be through the authority that the county has when it created a new utility. And basically microgrids are small electricity producing systems that are connected to the larger grid, but they can operate on their own independently. The appeal and the marketing kind of idea behind this microgrid is that they can continue providing energy when the power goes down on the normal grid.

And this is supposed to be appealing to people like manufacturers and healthcare operations who really need to be up and running 24 seven. So these first micro grid projects at the county is looking to do with this compass energy platform company are in Euclid in Brooklyn and in what they call the arrow zone around Cleveland Hopkins international airport in Euclid. This would be around the kind of that hubbub intersection at East 222nd street and Lake shore.

In Brooklyn, they would look to put more solar panels onto that existing solar farm on an old landfill down there. And in the Aero zone, they want to use these micro grid, this micro grid service to potentially serve businesses kind of clustered there in Fairview Park, Berea, Cleveland, Brook Park and Middleburg Heights.

Chris (21:33.407)

Yeah, I wonder, you know, were our offices in Brooklyn, our printing plants in Brooklyn, I wonder if this is something that we would have access to or were in the zone. We should find out, because that would be a conflict as we discuss it and we’d want to disclose that conflict.

courtney (21:48.817)

From what I remember of my time at the county, I think it’s pretty limited areas where these would be. There has to be, if plans haven’t changed, I believe there has to be separate physical infrastructure. So they will have to keep an eye in and focus these projects where there’s dense areas of potential users. The Cuyahoga County utility is called Cuyahoga Green Energy. And there is, we’ve still got a ways to go on these microgrid projects. I don’t wanna give people the impression that they’re gonna be

Lisa (21:50.21)

I think it’s pretty limited areas where they would be of good use. There has to be, it’s fantastic, I believe there has to be a separate fiscal infrastructure. So they will have to keep an eye on anything to focus these projects where there’s dense area from potential users. The Cuyahoga County utility is called Cuyahoga Green Energy. And there is, you know, we’ve still got a ways to go with these micro-grid projects. I don’t want to give people the impression that they’re going to be…

courtney (22:18.357)

totally up and running, but they do expect construction to hopefully begin by early 2025. The thing is, and what they’ll be working on in the meantime is the utility has yet to really obtain commitments from potential buyers of this power. So they’ve got to find customers to really make this viable. But when the time does come, the county’s planning that they’ll be able to offer rates at or below what First Energy’s charging.

Chris (22:43.891)

Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. The beloved Corky and Lenny’s has closed its doors. Lisa, you were around for the heyday of this place. What made it such a legend? And is it closed for good?

Lisa (22:56.702)

Well, my father would tell you that it was the malteds that they made. He loved their chocolate malteds. And I lived, you know, my childhood home was just like a mile away from Village Square. But the Woodmere location is not the original one. Uh, Corky and Lenny’s got started at the Cedar Warnsville Cedar Center shopping center in 1956. That closed in 94, but the Woodmere location opened in 1973 and it kept going until just a few days ago.

And owner Amanda Kurland says, it’s not declining business because they’re always busy. It’s a lack of employees. She actually went on Facebook with a plea to save Corky and Lenny. She says, we still have a loyal following. I can attest to that. It’s always busy, but they’re struggling to get enough staff or have an exit plan. You know, I was there about a month ago and she’s always there like sitting like at the counter and talking to customers. And she was complaining. She was saying, you know,

I’m getting tired of this, it’s hard to run this business. And so she says, we just need the right chef, manager, partner, or owner to take over. She is, you know, I don’t know if she’s the daughter of Sanford Corky Curlin, one of the founders, and Lenny Caden was the other. But I mean, they had great food. I’m going to miss their rugelah. They had the best rugelah in town. And it became a Jewish community gathering place. I mean, when I go there, I always see the same people.

They drew a lot of celebrities in their heyday, Jackie Mason, Norm Crosby, Milton Berle, Zero Mostel, David Letterman, among others. It’s gonna be missed.

Chris (24:27.999)

The description in the story that we did of back in the day when it was at Cedar Center, that they’d have a line out the door at midnight, that was the gathering place for people at the end of their nighttime carousal. It’s fascinating because I think a Cedar Center is at its day. You can’t imagine a line out the door anywhere at midnight. But that was it. This was the place to be. It’s sad. A lot of people paying attention to that story. A lot of people remembering it.

Lisa (24:41.576)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (24:46.542)

Right.

Lisa (24:55.118)

Yeah, I’m gonna have to find a new place for my rugla. Ha ha ha.

Chris (24:59.031)

Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. An Ohio State football coach on a recruiting trip in Cleveland got carjacked in the middle of the afternoon at a school in the latest frightening example of gun toting Cleveland youth creating a reign of terror this year. Laura what happened and what do we know about the accused carjackers?

laura (25:21.455)

This is a terrifying story and I don’t really understand the motivation of the carjackers. That’s one of the lingering questions here, but this is tight ends coach Keenan Bailey from Ohio State. He was recruiting at gin Academy. Did I say that right? Or is it gin? It’s again, right? Again. Okay. So this Monday and he was carjacked in the middle of the school day, like 2 PM, four teenagers ages 15 to 18, according to the police, those kids.

Chris (25:37.375)

in.

Lisa (25:38.259)

It’s good.

laura (25:51.111)

Teenagers were arrested near East 107th Street in St. Clair Avenue after a chase that involved a police helicopter So obviously like big deal. They said the police said that the teenagers robbed Bailey at gunpoint They stole his Dodge Durango. He is fine, which is a relief But later that day in two different incidents these four teenagers attempted to carjack two different women who both got away

and they all have serious criminal histories. They showed up apparently in a stolen Lexus they had gotten the day before. So like I said, I don’t understand why they’re doing these crimes if they’re just going to leave another carjacked car behind.

Chris (26:33.715)

Well, right. I mean, they’ve been caught before. One of them was wearing the ankle bracelet for home monitoring. He wasn’t at home. Another one, they had tried to carjack a 61 year old who had a kid in the car and a guy pulled out a gun and shot him. So he’s got a colostomy bag. So he’s doing a carjacking while hauling around his colostomy bag. I mean, this is this is why so many youths are being adjudicated as adults. They you can’t stop the terror.

Lisa (26:38.734)

bracelet for home monitoring. He wasn’t at home. Another one, they tried to carjack a 61 year old who had a kid in the car and a guy pulled out a gun and shot him. So he had a colossal effect. So he was carjacking while all in the room was colossal effect.

laura (26:40.635)

Mm-hmm.

laura (26:49.605)

Yeah.

Chris (27:03.183)

And the only way to stop it is to lock them up. I mean, would you want any of these guys living in your neighborhood or coming near your family? This is seriously dangerous.

laura (27:13.543)

It’s seriously dangerous and because it’s a carjacking, it’s not just my neighborhood or my kid’s school or something. They can go anywhere with these stolen vehicles. I think that’s what makes carjacking so scary, that and the fact that they’re pistol whipping people and shoving guns in people’s faces and it just happens out of the blue. I’m so glad the other two women got away safely. But it’s just so…

I don’t know, frustrating that they’re trying to do a good thing, recruit football players to one of the best schools in the state and he gets carjacked while he’s there.

Chris (27:40.953)

I just…

Chris (27:48.583)

I thought that the system had been changed where if you’re a juvenile and you use a gun in a crime, you weren’t getting released. You were being locked up because you’re a threat to society. We’ve had no end of this kind of violence this year. And so I’m just surprised that these guys were out. I mean, he got shot while trying to carjack a guy at gunpoint to the point where his system’s not working and he’s out running around doing it again. And like you said,

I mean, they did it the day before they had done it in the previous week and they tried to do three that day. Scary stuff. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The amount of money Ohioans have put into sports betting this year is staggering, but we’re apparently not done. Courtney, how many companies hold sports betting licenses that have yet to get into the game?

courtney (28:42.449)

You know, there’s several and they’re right here in Northeast Ohio. The Cleveland Cavaliers are sitting on an unused license. So are the Browns. So is the Hall of Fame Village in Canton, Jack Thistle down casino and. Phantom fireworks and Spire Institute and Academy and athletic campus. They’re out East and, and so here’s how it works in Ohio. Ohio sports betting rules basically lay out the licensing, like use it or, or lose it.

Lisa (28:42.766)

There are several in there, straight in the north of Ohio. This is a campus news. I should be coming on your phone.

courtney (29:10.801)

So these people have been sitting on these licenses, they haven’t put them into effect yet. And while the Ohio Casino Control Commission kind of extended the window by which you have to use it or lose it, and the Control Commission could extend that window again, in the meantime, we have all these entities sitting there with unused licenses. So in the Cavs case, for instance, they’ve opened in-person gambling at their facility right after sports betting went online in January.

But they also hold a mobile license. They were going to partner with a sports book that went out of business right before gambling was legalized. And there’s really no update on what they plan to do with that mobile license now. Browns is kind of different. They’ve started their mobile wages, but their physical location hasn’t opened yet. We know Bobby George and the Browns plan to build a lounge on East 4th Street for their physical location, but we don’t really have an opening date. So that license is just sitting there.

similar for the Hall of Fame Village in Canton. They are using their mobile license. And in a November call, their CEO said the village could be a good place for a physical location for which they also hold a license that’s unused. But he kind of made it seem that they weren’t super interested in quickly jumping on that option because he was emphasizing how most bedding is done on mobile phones. So we’ve got a few different.

licenses just sitting out there and it’s not really clear what one they’ll have

Chris (30:42.827)

I just wonder how high the betting can go. The number is enormous already. But what will it be in 2024? Time will tell. That’s it for the Wednesday episode of Today in Ohio. Thank you, Courtney. Thanks, Laura. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, everybody who listens. We will return on Thursday.