CLEVELAND, Ohio — A judge rejected an attempt by the Cleveland-based steel giant Cleveland-Cliffs to force Yahoo Inc. to reveal the identity of an anonymous online critic.

We’re talking about the First Amendment and statements of opinion 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.

You can now join the conversation. Call 833-648-6329 (833-OHTODAY) if you’d like to leave a message we can play on the podcast.

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

We’re big defenders of the First Amendment at Today in Ohio, so we start today with the righteous slam dunk of the very thin-skinned Cleveland Cliffs CEO for going against the First Amendment in trying to unmask an anonymous critic. What did the judge have to say about this effort?

Score one for Dave Yost and college athletes all over Ohio. Yost says he has won a settlement that will let the athletes have greater control over their fates. What is the case?

Even though the National Democratic Party is taking the steps needed to put Joe Biden on the ballot, the humiliated Republican Ohio lawmakers who pushed this to the brink seem to be trying to save face. Where do we stand with a legislative effort to ensure Biden is on the ballot, and what other election law does it come with?

Dave Yost might have won on his college athlete front, but he unexpectedly lost in an appeals court over his objections to ballot language for an effort to make it easier to sue police. Why did a three-judge federal panel order Yost to approve the language even though the title does not say what the law is about?

Settlements for hundreds of millions of dollars have been happening in litigation over the East Palestine train wreck last year, but some Ohio Congress members want more. What are they seeking for the residents there?

Here’s one you don’t see happen often. In this age of serious nursing shortages, why is University Hospitals cutting the wages for a bunch of its nurses?

We have one more week to go in our six-week Delinquent series, examining Cuyahoga County’s juvenile justice system. This week, Leila, we examined the serious harm juvenile crime does to the victims. Why was it important to include them in this series.

It’s Friday, so let’s do a dumb criminal story. What stupid crime are three guys accused of committing against the city of Parma?

Finally, it is island season on Lake Erie, and travel writer Susan Glaser tells us that Put-in-Bay has come up with a solution to the kind of problem you might only expect in someplace like the Villages retirement community in Florida. What’s the problem, and what is Put-in-Bay doing about it?

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

Chris (00:01.219)

Donald Trump is everywhere, but not here. Welcome to a Trump free episode of Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland .com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Leila Tassi and Laura Johnston. We focus on local and state news and we’re also big defenders of the first amendment at Today in Ohio. So we’re starting with the righteous slam dunk of the very thin skinned CEO of Cleveland Cliffs.

for going against the First Amendment in trying to unmask an anonymous critic. What did the judge have to say about this CEO’s pretty sleazy effort to violate the First Amendment?

Leila (00:41.548)

The judge in this case, who is Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Deborah Turner, ruled that the Cleveland Cliffs being a publicly traded corporation amounts to a public figure. And that means that the comments that the anonymous user posted on a Yahoo message board concerning the company’s stock prices were largely statements of opinion. The only statement that Judge Turner concluded

Lisa (00:56.477)

anonymous user posted on Yahoo message board concerning the companies and staff prices were largely statements of opinion. The only statement that Judge Turner concluded could have possibly amended the defamation or libel was one in which the user wrote that.

Leila (01:07.724)

could have possibly amounted to defamation or libel was one in which the user wrote that basically CEO Larenko Goncalves drove down stock prices when he took over as CEO. But even that, the judge determined, is pretty substantially true. So with that said, Yahoo does not have to reveal the identity of the online critic. And without that identity, Cleveland Cliffs can’t pursue its defamation case. The company is figuring out whether to appeal.

Lisa (01:12.701)

basically, the CEO of the record firm, what we call this, drove down site stock prices when he took over as CEO. But even that, the judge determined is pretty substantially true. So with that said, Yahoo does not have to reveal the identity of the online critic. And without that identity, Google clips can’t pursue its defamation case. The company is a figurehead.

Chris (01:37.795)

This has been gross for years. This, this, the CEO just has a thin skin done like anybody criticizing him. We haven’t discussed this in our editorial board, but he is going up against the first amendment. First amendment protects anonymous speech. People are allowed to criticize big companies for things that they disagree with and they’re allowed to do it anonymously and they just keep going after it like children. They’re in the middle of this international battle over a U S steel.

And they’re paying attention to nonsense like this. We should throw this before the editorial board, because I don’t think we’ve come out and said, stop it. You’re embarrassing Cleveland. You’re headquartered here. Behave yourself.

Leila (02:17.964)

Yeah, I’m very surprised that one of these lawsuits actually succeeded at some point and they did manage to get the identity of the poster and that ended up ending in a settlement, right? I’m surprised that any judge would rule on the side of Cleveland Cliffs in these cases. This is completely inappropriate.

Lisa (02:29.725)

in a settlement, right? I’m surprised that any job group

Chris (02:37.571)

Yeah, I know. Look, because we’re so public and because I’m the leader of the newsroom, I get pounded all the time. It’s nonstop. I mean, you should see my email today and it’s part of the job. It rolls off your back. Okay. I mean, at least people care enough about you to say something and you put on your big boy pants and you walk through. You don’t let this stuff get under your skin. This company…

is ridiculous in the way it’s trying to squelch anybody saying anything negative. I’m just grateful that Turner kind of slammed him and she she wasn’t even nice about it. She was pretty disparaging in her own way about how anti First Amendment this is. Shame, shame, shame on Cleveland Cliffs. It’s another mark on Cleveland because it’s headquartered here and it’s behaving abominably. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Square one for Dave Yost and college athletes all over Ohio. Yost says he has won a settlement that will let athletes have greater control over their fates. Lisa, what is the case?

Lisa (03:41.501)

Ohio was among nine states, the District of Columbia and the Department of Justice, that entered into a proposed settlement with the NCAA in a lawsuit over the transfer rule for athletes that requires them to sit out one year of play when they’re transferring between Division I schools unless a waiver is granted. So this rule remains, but in 2021, the NCAA allowed first -time transfers.

but denied additional transfers and waivers. So you could transfer one time, but you couldn’t transfer again. So AG Dave Yost says, a settlement removes unfair control that the NCAA has over college athletes. It’s illegal restraint on their economic opportunities. And of course, in a punny way, he said, we’ve leveled the playing field. This ruling also prevents retaliation against schools and athletes who challenge this rule.

and grants an additional year of eligibility to those athletes who were previously ineligible under the law since the 2019 -2020 school year. And it prevents future actions to undermine or circumvent the ruling and establish continuing oversight and enforcement by the court. So this still has to be approved. The final approval is up to federal judge John Preston Bailey in the North District of West Virginia. So athletes can now,

Transfer more than once between Division I schools.

Chris (05:06.211)

What’s amazing is just how fast things have turned around in college sports forever. The NCAA and the colleges really were in charge and the athletes had very little they could do about it. And almost overnight, the athletes are getting paid. They’re no longer considered amateurs. They can decide where to go. They can pick up and go wherever they want. It’s the players who are the ones that are on the fields of battle that do all the hard work.

that suddenly now are in charge. And I don’t know how the colleges and the NCAA are going to deal with it because this is all new territory and it’s going to create a huge imbalance for, you know, the level of Ohio State and Michigan’s versus tiny schools. But the athletes should have control over their fates. It shouldn’t be the colleges that lord it over them.

Lisa (05:55.933)

Absolutely. And for decades, you know, some of these big schools like Ohio State and others have made billions off of their players. So yeah, it’s time, as he said, to level the playing field.

Chris (06:10.563)

They make billions and they say, but the but the athletes get education, education that’s worth, you know, thousands or tens of thousands compared to the billions that the colleges rake in. It’s all changed. And it’s it’ll be fascinating to watch this evolve over in the next five, six years. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Even though the National Democratic Party is taking the steps needed to put Joe Biden on the ballot, the humiliated Republican Ohio lawmakers who push this to the brink.

Lisa (06:14.301)

Yeah.

Chris (06:39.171)

seem to be working feverishly now to save face. Laura, where do we stand with a legislative effort to ensure Biden is on the ballot? And what other election law comes with that?

laura (06:50.478)

So the House passed their version. That was the hardest part since the Senate had already passed a version, although with a poison pill that the House Democrats didn’t want. So the Senate meets at noon today, we think, that was the plan yesterday to take up the House version of this. They actually passed two different bills. So there’s House Bill 1 that would extend the state’s existing ban on political donations by non -U .S. citizens to candidates and political parties.

that also it would include state ballot issue campaigns and dark money groups. This is what the Democrats have said they don’t like. And they’re saying they’re not against foreign money necessarily. They just don’t want Dave Yost to have extra incentive to go after any kind of ballot issue he doesn’t like. That’s what they say they’re afraid of. And then there’s House Bill 2. That’s specifically about Biden making the 2024 general election ballot in November. All the no votes came from Republicans. It passed 63 to 31.

Although a slight majority, obviously, of the Republicans voted with the Democrats. No poison pill in that particular thing. It’s pretty straightforward.

Chris (07:55.075)

I got to say, I don’t understand the resistance of the Democrats to this foreign money idea. That’s going to cut both ways. Eventually, foreign money would want to support the Republicans and they won’t be allowed to do that either. It doesn’t feel like it should be a partisan issue. And I don’t think any of us are comfortable with what Russia has done over the last 10 years to influence elections. So blocking that money…

doesn’t seem like we should oppose it. America should decide American issues. Why is this such a hot issue for Democrats?

laura (08:32.046)

So there’s two things here. One is what I mentioned about Davyos because it gives him extra powers to investigate any possibility of this. And so there’s the Democrats are saying if Davyos, although, you know, they’re thinking it’s always going to be Davyos. It’s not always going to be Davyos. It could be a Democrat in that position at some point. And you’re right, it could flip flop. But they’re saying they don’t want extra incentive to investigate ballot issues that the Republicans in power don’t like. There’s one other thing here that they just added that they amended this ban to include lawful permanent residents.

known as green card holders. So if you were a lawful permanent resident, you have your alien number, you’re allowed to be here, you wouldn’t be allowed to give to these campaigns. I’m saying this as someone who had a green card for 21 years, I wouldn’t be able to give money, which there might be a Supreme Court issue with that.

Chris (09:15.959)

Yeah, they would lose that. I think even who has a guys even said we’re going to lose that. That’s a stupid thing because because these are people who are in this country. It’s not foreign money. That’s a dumb ad. If that goes to court, they’ll lose. But the general principle, they don’t want people from the oligarchs in Russia contributing huge money to affect our our politics.

laura (09:21.774)

Sights, sights at it. Yeah.

Chris (09:42.979)

doesn’t seem like a bad idea. So I just don’t know why that’s considered a poison pill. If they, I mean, if they get rid of the dopey green card thing and you know, the attorney general’s the attorney general who else is going to investigate and all he can do is investigate whether there’s foreign money. So either there’s foreign money and he would do what he needs to do to stop it or there’s not. I don’t understand why they’re so worried about Dave Yost. I mean, he’s the chief.

laura (09:47.63)

Right.

laura (10:08.654)

Right. And it does give Republicans a reason to say, we’re doing the right thing here. And look, the Dems are doing the bad thing. Republicans want to win. They want to say they’re standing up for the people. And this is giving them a little bit of a ledge.

Chris (10:17.603)

Yeah.

Chris (10:22.467)

Well, remember, they’re only in Columbus this week because they’re childish. They refuse to do the right thing. So daddy, Mike DeWine, had to force them back to Columbus to do their job. They’re doing it and they’re adding this so that you’re right, they can claim a win. But give it to them, who cares? It’s not that big a deal. It’s not going to affect the political system.

laura (10:27.79)

Well, true.

laura (10:44.75)

Well, and the Democrats wanted to actually permanently change this deadline so that we don’t have to do this again. I mean, does any Ohioan want to listen to this again? But the Republicans are like, nope, nope, we’re not going to do that.

Chris (10:52.415)

No, because they want to hear from that scholar of Frank LaRose and what he thinks. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Davios might have won on his college athlete front, but he unexpectedly lost in an appeals court over his objections to ballot language for an effort that would make it easier to sue police. Lela, why did a three -judge

laura (10:58.83)

Ha ha!

Chris (11:16.963)

federal panel order use to approve the language even though the title does not say what the laws about it seems like he owes was right on this one I don’t get the court’s ruling.

Leila (11:26.636)

The federal court ruled that Yost’s repeated objections to the petition language violated the First Amendment rights of the group seeking to get the protecting Ohioans constitutional rights amendment proposal on the ballot. He rejected their petition language six times. So now he’s being ordered to certify the petition so this group can begin collecting signatures. He plans to appeal the decision by asking for a new review by a larger group of judges on the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals.

That could further delay when this group can start gathering signatures. If his attempt fails, then the group also faces another regulatory step before it can start circulating petitions. They have to get past the Ohio ballot board. And that’s a panel that’s chaired by Republican Secretary of State, Frank LaRose. The ballot board would then have 10 days to decide whether the proposed amendment contains a single subject or multiple subjects that have to be split into multiple amendments.

And that means the group can’t really begin collecting signatures until mid -June. And they only have until July 3rd to get it done in time to appear on the November ballot. They need more than 400 ‚000 signatures. So unfortunately, you know, it’s not looking good for this initiative’s chances of making the ballot this fall.

Chris (12:39.459)

What I didn’t get is the judges seem to say they didn’t consider Yoast’s objections that it doesn’t say what it’s about, which is required. They basically said if they don’t get this, they don’t they can’t collect signatures. But that’s like saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, we don’t care if it’s illegal. Time’s running out and they deserve the chance. And Yoast is saying, wait, though, you’ve got to follow the law. It’s a bizarre ruling. He should appeal it to the full court. I don’t I still don’t get it. I’ve read this.

a couple of times and I’m just shaking my head. They’re basically saying they’re not ruling on whether it’s illegal or not. They’re just saying.

Leila (13:13.324)

Right. On the substance of his objections, no, they’re not. It’s more or less saying that he has too much power to stand in the way of this petition or any petition that he might object to.

Chris (13:27.747)

But that’s his job. I mean, the job is to look at it and say and he’s approved things that he doesn’t agree with. He has shown that politics is not part of it. That the title does not reflect what it’s about. He’s completely correct. And the judges don’t address it. They’re like, Yeah, but but you know, they need to collect signatures. Okay, that won’t stand up. But it would seem very lazy to me. And we’ll see what happens when it goes to a bigger body. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Settlements for hundreds of millions of dollars have been happening in the litigation over the East Palestine train wreck last year, but some Ohio Congress members want more. Lisa, what are they seeking for the residents there?

Lisa (14:08.637)

It’s called the East Palestine Health Impact Monitoring Act and it’s a bill that passed through a Senate committee with overwhelming bipartisan support. It authorizes funding from fiscal year 2024 through 2028 to study the long -term health effects of that February 2023 train derailment and toxic chemical spill.

The Department of Health and Human Services must award grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements to public and private higher education institutions to conduct these studies with a preference being given to local institutions. So the Environmental Protection Agency and its Ohio counterpart have been testing soil, air, and water since the wreck, and they have shown no unsafe toxin levels, but residents report weird symptoms like rashes and upper respiratory issues and nosebleeds.

Norfolk Southern Railroad settled the Department of Justice lawsuit for $310 million just last week. They’re required to pay for the health and mental health monitoring and pay the feds for cleanup costs. Another class action suit was settled for $600 million earlier this month to resolve personal injury claims within 10 miles radius for residents and business claims within a 20 mile radius.

Chris (15:25.507)

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a cause celeb like this with legislative and other leaders. This is getting more attention than any disaster I can remember. It’s piling on more and more. The amount of money is extraordinary and yet it’s not enough. We have to keep adding and adding. I guess this is all for campaigning. It’s an election year, but it just seems like this is covered already, but they want more.

Lisa (15:52.669)

Well, and I have to think, I have to hope that this is the end of it because we’re doing everything that needs to be done. We’re getting the long -term health effects tested. They’ve been remediating that toxic air and water and soil. So yeah, but they’re still suspicious. I mean, we have reported in the past that people don’t even want to go to these health clinics because they’re suspicious. So hopefully this will mollify them.

Chris (16:18.339)

Yeah, they don’t trust Ohio government. How about that? You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Here’s one you don’t see happen often, if at all in this age of serious nursing shortages. Why is University hospitals cutting the wages for a bunch of its nurses, Laura?

laura (16:35.246)

Because it’s broke, basically. So this isn’t every nurse. This is 350 staffing service nurses who get paid nearly twice as much as regular nurses. And it’s interesting that created its own staffing service. Basically, those traveling nurses that you hear about that just fill in the gaps of they don’t have a regular schedule, they don’t have a regular department, but the hospital is willing to pay them more because they will plug them in where needed. But they’re going to cut their pay.

$10 an hour for the night shift and I believe about $5 an hour for the day shift because they can’t afford to pay them that much. They are dire financial straits. They’re asking the county for a $500 ‚000 handout for their eye department. They lost $256 million in 2023, $302 million in 2022. And they said this isn’t a long, you know, this was never sustainable. We tried to do this during COVID and we had to cut back now.

Chris (17:31.203)

I still don’t get it. The nursing shortage is huge. I mean, hospitals are struggling. That’s why these visiting nurses makes, or these temporary nurses make so much money. If you cut their pay, it seems to me you’re going to heighten your nursing shortage.

Lisa (17:48.765)

but they’re not temporary nurses. A lot of them are employees that chose to be traveling nurses because they make more money. So they’re gaming the system.

Chris (17:55.587)

Yeah, but they can leave and go be a traveling nurse and make the same money. I think is going to find itself having more of a crisis than it had before.

laura (17:59.694)

and go work somewhere else.

laura (18:08.59)

They point to labor costs as one of the reasons they’ve been losing so much money. And I can understand that. But you’re right. They have to cover these shifts. So if those people decide to walk, then what happens? And they’ve got to go find a staffing service that they don’t own to fill in the gaps?

Chris (18:17.091)

Right.

Chris (18:26.467)

Yeah.

Lisa (18:26.525)

I may be misinterpreting, but a lot of traveling nurses were already employees of and then stepped out into the traveling nurse realm because of the money.

laura (18:36.206)

Right, right, that this is their own service.

Chris (18:36.259)

Right, but the clinic, the clinic in Metro Health still use traveling nurses. They need more. And so if you can’t get the money at you might just leave. We’ll see what happens. I just was surprised they’re cutting wages to nurses, given how dire the need is. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We have one more week to go in our six week.

delinquent series examining Cuyahoga County’s juvenile justice system. I’ve been in Cleveland for more than 28 years and I don’t think anybody has ever done this effect of a look at criminal justice in Northeast Ohio. It is a high water mark of Cleveland journalism. Layla, this week we examine the serious harm juvenile crime does to its victims. Why do you think it was important to include them in the series?

Leila (19:23.116)

Well, Chris, we set out to take readers inside the juvenile justice system to explain how it works, but also to show the far reaching impact of the decisions that are made there. And you just can’t leave victims out of that discussion. Every violent crime has a victim, every carjacking, robbery, assault, they all change lives. And the juvenile justice system was built on this promise of redemption for young offenders. But the sentences that are handed down there also

have to be balanced against what delivers justice for the victims. So this entire week of content, we devoted to victims or their families who were willing to share their stories with us. And what reporters, Caitlin Durbin and John Tucker found was an astonishing and often complex array of feelings about the system. Some believe that the juvenile justice system is too lenient. They would have liked to see their perpetrator serve more time. Others,

grieve what they’ve lost on account of having been victimized, but they’re also grappling with a sense of sympathy for this broken kid who did this awful thing to them and robbed them of their sense of security and in some cases took from them a beloved family member. There’s an understanding among many victims of the trauma that gives rise to criminal behavior in youth. And in those cases, the victims say, justice is only truly served if that kid comes out of the system.

better off than when they went in. And that sentiment really speaks to the fact that the juvenile justice system sits at this nexus between rehabilitation and punishment. In each case, those considerations have to be carefully weighed. And that’s really been the overall thesis of this project.

Chris (21:07.363)

Yeah, it’s also for people that have suffered at the hands of the juvenile criminals. We’ve done a lot of work that puts them in a sympathetic light. The whole goal was view them as children. Don’t view them as what you see on TV news, the so -called thugs, their kids. And not long ago, they were little kids. And we’ve, I think, very effectively gotten people to think of it that way. But for people that have been harmed, physically harmed…

mentally harmed by juvenile criminals. It’s important to show that. But like you said, it’s important to show it because if we do a better job with juvenile justice, there’d be fewer of these victims. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. It’s Friday, so let’s do a dumb criminal story. Lisa, what stupid crime are three guys accused of committing against the city of Parma and they’re not juveniles?

Lisa (22:00.061)

No, no, they’re not. This was this story has been gaining traction all week. Three men were arrested and charged with vandalism and the removal and damage of a seven foot pink flamingo that sat next to the Parma script sign in Anthony Zelinski Park. That’s a fifth degree felony. The perps are 25 year old Taylor Pupkowitz, 25 year old Marcus Ballew and 24 year old David Burack. And they were charged Wednesday in Parma Municipal Court.

They were caught on a neighbor surveillance camera early Saturday morning, and this video was later posted on YouTube. So two of the guys got out of the car, they walked across this grassy field and then came back and then they approached the flamingo and returned with it. They opened the trunk, they had to throw something out of the trunk to make it fit, but it still didn’t fit.

So when it didn’t fit, they threw it into the roadway and they drove off and left it in the road. It was recovered just a couple hours later by Parma Police Department. And of course, they had to break the legs off when it was removed from its concrete pad.

Chris (23:03.331)

Yeah, they really look like idiots in this thing. They when they’re trying to put it into the car and then, I can’t get it into the car. And I guess there were people in the rear seats, they couldn’t put it in the rear seats. They just dump it on the street. Look, people laugh about the pink flamingo and Parma because it used to, there was a day when they were, they dotted the yards. So to play on that with their Parma sign, they, they put this out there. It’s building community spirit.

Lisa (23:10.621)

Right.

Chris (23:30.723)

and these knuckleheads go and what are they going to do? Ransom it? It was just a idiotic ploy. And of course they’re now caught and we’ll pay the price.

Lisa (23:39.133)

Well, and I wonder if it’s just kind of a drunken, you know, impromptu thing. They’re like, let’s steal the pink flamingo. Oops.

Chris (23:46.722)

Yeah, they just look like knuckleheads. This is what they’ll be known for. This is their legacy. Way to go, guys. And the flamingo will be restored. Isn’t a Congressman Max Miller helping with that?

Lisa (23:58.525)

I think you may be right.

Chris (24:00.771)

All right. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Finally, it’s the island this season in Lake Erie, on Lake Erie, and travel writer Susan Glazo tells us that Put -in -Bay has come up with a solution to the kind of bizarre problem you might only expect in some place like the Village’s retirement community in Florida. Laura, what’s the problem and what is Put -in -Bay doing about it?

laura (24:23.982)

I love that you mentioned the villages. My aunt and uncle spend like a month down there every year, and I’d never heard of it till recently. But the problem is too many golf carts. That’s half the fun of Put -in -Bay. You get there on your ferry and then you drive around in golf carts. But there are tons of them, about 900 registered inside the village, which is the small actual town of Put -in -Bay. And then the rest of South Bass Island has about the same number. And so they are going to cap that limit at

what there is now. So no more golf carts added and they’re going to add a $5 per hour fee for drivers who park their golf carts downtown. There’s lots of golf cart parking all over the streets and around the square, but it can get really congested. At one point last summer, they had to get sheriff’s deputies and other police off of the mainland to help break up the traffic jams in the middle of the island.

Chris (25:17.635)

I died the of traffic jam of golf carts seems cartoonish it’s and you know there’s drinking so drunks hot rotting in their golf carts it’s just preposterous but now they have so many golf carts they have traffic jams it just seems like the kind of thing that is made to be made fun of.

Leila (25:23.756)

Hahaha.

laura (25:23.906)

There is drinking.

laura (25:39.502)

I don’t disagree, but I think that’s why people go to Put -in -Bay, because they like to cruise around and it feels like you’re in an amusement park, right? You’re like driving a bumper car around, except it’s a golf cart. I personally keep throwing around this idea that when my kids turn 16, I’m not going to get them a car. Well, I’m definitely not getting them a car, but that we should get a golf cart so that we can just run around to sports practices at a store and load up our golf cart.

Chris (26:04.931)

I grew up on a golf course when I was a kid in another state and one of my proudest moments is I hotwired a golf cart and tooled around the golf course.

laura (26:12.366)

I just…

Lisa (26:14.333)

You know, 900 golf carts sounds like an awful lot. So yeah, they’re going to cap it, but jeez, is that going to solve the problem?

laura (26:21.806)

Well, maybe they will end up reducing it. I think they’re starting there so they don’t completely anger all the business owners. Although obviously, the people who own businesses on Put -in -Bay, they make all their money in the summer. This is the hot time for it. Then they got to survive the rest of the year. So anything that threatens their livelihood is going to be met with resistance. But if it gets better, maybe a little bit every year.

Chris (26:47.075)

The mayor said something that really is the solution. She said she loves her golf cart, but when things get crowded, she gives up on it and rides her bike. So why not rely on that for the most part and leave the golf carts to those who might not have the capacity to ride bikes? I would feel ridiculous riding around in my little vacation villa in a golf cart. I mean, it would just mark you, I think, as a joke.

laura (26:54.35)

rides her rides her bike.

Leila (27:15.884)

I think Put -in -Bay is definitely best experienced on a bike. There’s no question. When I was a teenager, my friends and I would make an annual pilgrimage to Put -in -Bay and we would rent tandem bicycles. And it was one of the best memories of being young. And I don’t understand why. I can’t imagine 900 golf carts just jammed up on that island.

laura (27:16.334)

Sorry.

laura (27:27.822)

super fun.

Chris (27:35.491)

No!

laura (27:35.854)

I mean, we’re talking about 1 ‚800, really. The whole island has like 1 ,800. You get off the Miller Ferry and there’s golf carts right there. I agree, the biking is great. It’s not a big island. I think it’s maybe three miles long. And it’s flat. It’s not like you’re, you know, and maybe you need to get some of the e -bikes so that people can’t even complain that they don’t want to sweat while they’re, you know, vacationing on the island. I…

Lisa (27:36.029)

Really? It’s crazy. Yeah, that’s crazy.

Chris (27:43.107)

Yeah.

Chris (27:58.179)

I don’t know, with that many golf carts, that’s the place that ought to have the pink flamingos. You’re listening to…

Lisa (28:03.293)

Hahaha!

laura (28:03.35)

Well, they do call themselves the Key West of the North, so yeah.

Chris (28:08.547)

I don’t use golf carts in Key West. It’s just you’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Friday episode. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, Laila. Thanks, Laura. Thank you for listening. We will return Monday with another discussion of the news.

laura (28:11.758)

That’s true, that’s too crowded.

Tickets will soon be available for the final SmackDown before WWE SummerSlam 2024!

Returning to Cleveland, Ohio for the first time since 1996, the 37th iteration of SummerSlam will be broadcast live on August 3rd from the Cleveland Browns Stadium. Tickets for the blockbuster event went on sale on May 9th, and WWE have now announced plans for the edition of SmackDown the previous night.

When Do Tickets Go On Sale For The August 2nd Edition Of SmackDown In Cleveland, OH?

WWE issued the following press release in regards to the go-home SmackDown, also taking place in Cleveland.

TICKETS FOR FRIDAY NIGHT SMACKDOWN^® ON AUGUST 2
IN CLEVELAND ON SALE FRIDAY, JUNE 7

SmackDown to Emanate from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse Ahead of SummerSlam on Saturday, August 3

Tickets Available Via SeatGeek Starting Friday, June 7 at 10 a.m. ET

STAMFORD, Conn., May 31, 2024 – WWE^®, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), today announced that tickets for Friday Night SmackDown on August 2 from Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland will go on sale starting Friday, June 7 at 10 a.m. ET as part of SummerSlam Weekend. Tickets will be available via SeatGeek.com.

SummerSlam takes place Saturday, August 3 from Cleveland Browns Stadium, marking the first time since August of 1996 that the premium live event will be held in Cleveland.

Additionally, SummerSlam Priority Pass ticket packages are now available from On Location, offering fans the chance to be ringside for every exhilarating moment including premium seating, pre-show hospitality with WWE Superstar appearances, ringside photo opportunities and more. To learn more, please visit https://onlocationexp.com/summerslam.

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SummerSlam streams live in the U.S. exclusively on Peacock beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

WWE is already looking ahead to SummerSlam in 2026, when the event will take place over two nights for the first time ever.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—A bipartisan group of Ohio lawmakers are again pushing one of their pet issues: getting the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles to issue a “Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland” license plate.

House Bill 586, introduced earlier this month, would allow Ohio motorists to pay an extra $25 to get one of the plates. Of that extra $25, $15 would go to the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland, a Northeast Ohio nonprofit that traps and neuters feral cats to control their population in the area, as well as helps cat owners pay for food, water, and emergency veterinary care. The other $10 would pay for BMV costs.

Ohio already offers dozens of “specialty license plates,” with logos representing sports franchises, nonprofit organizations, the military, colleges and universities, and others.

Though the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland has an offbeat name, the work they do to help cats in Northeast Ohio is no joke, said state Rep. Phil Robinson, a Solon Democrat co-sponsoring the bill, in an interview.

Robinson first introduced a license plate bill to help the group last session, after one of his constituents – one of the group’s nearly 19,000 members – approached him with the idea.

“It seemed like a great cause, and they do some really great work,” he said.

It’s not yet clear how much money would be raised for the cat lovers group if his license plate bill passes, though Robinson said it could be a fair amount of scratch. Ohio law requires that before a new organizational license plate is issued, at least 150 people have to sign a petition pledging to purchase one of the new plates; issuing 150 plates would provide a total of $2,250 for the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland.

“They believe it’s something that could catch on pretty quickly, and every dollar would go to a great cause to help those in need,” Robinson said of the group’s leaders.

Robinson first introduced the Weirdo Cat Lovers of Cleveland license plate bill in 2021, but it failed to pass. This time around, he said, he’s more optimistic the measure will be approved – if not as a standalone bill, then as one of a number of proposed license-plate ideas that are bunched together in a single bill and passed as a group, as lawmakers did with several other proposed license plates toward the end of last session.

Besides Robinson, HB586′s co-sponsors include Republican state Rep. Jim Hoops of Henry County and Democratic state Reps. Sean Brennan of Parma, Darnell Brewer of Cleveland, and Michele Grim of Toledo.

Jeremy Pelzer covers state politics and policy for Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.