CLEVELAND, Ohio — Case Western Reserve University is awarding Dr. Anthony Fauci, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the Inamori Ethics Prize.

We’re talking about the physician, immunologist and infectious disease expert and the Inamori Prize, which been awarded to leaders whose actions and influence have greatly improved the condition of humankind since 2008 on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, politics editor Rick Rouan and reporter Courtney Astolfi.

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:

We haven’t had much chance to talk about Anthony Fauci on this podcast, as he was never a local or state story during all his controversy. But now he is. What’s the local angle on the famed Covid expert?

Cleveland leaders might love the idea of Dan Gilbert investing in downtown real estate, but that doesn’t mean he has a blank check. What did the Cleveland Planning Commission have to say about his plans?

We’re doing this story to help with this guy’s wish to spread the word about heart issues. What did a longtime Northeast Ohio lawmaker have to say after undergoing urgent heart surgery?

This is more disturbing that the Cleveland police story we talked about a few days ago. Where does the consent decree monitor say the department is failing the citizens in a key area?

First Ohio lawmakers declared natural gas – a fossil fuel – to be green energy. Do they now want to do the same for coal?

The big ballot issues this season are abortion and marijuana, but ballots are loaded with local issues, too. What are some of the notable ones in Northeast Ohio?

JD Vance is Ohio’s newest culture warrior, but he got one of his initiatives through on Thursday. What did he persuade enough of his colleagues to vote with him on?

Northeast Ohio’s most famous native son, LeBron James, is working in some rarified air on a new Netflix series. Who are his partners, and what is the series about?

Laura has overseen a 2023 continuing series about childcare, but it’s not just this podcast where she talks about it. Laura, what other podcast invited you to speak about this, and how can people listen?

Northeast Ohio has seen a mini-trend of golf courses being converted into parks. Two have been changing over for a decade now. How is it coming?

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

Chris (00:01.161)

So Dave Yost missed it. Frank Larose and the entire ballot board missed it. Former Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor missed it. And all of the people behind the initiative to end gerrymandering missed it. I never wanna hear anybody complain about our typos again. Amazing story, they have to start over because they had a typo. Funny that it happens in a week where I ask readers to stop showing such fury when they see a typo in our stories. Direct your fury at Dave Yost.

Leila (00:16.717)

I’m going to go.

Chris (00:30.873)

It’s Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Leila Attasi and Laura Johnston. I guess we were all kind of amazed that they all missed such a simple error in the language that was going to change the constitution and allow us to get rid of the bums that are destroying the state of Ohio. No?

Lisa (00:56.398)

I think they get

laura (00:56.424)

I think it’s proof that everyone needs an editor. But it actually reminds me that when I was doing my wedding programs, I wrote that my wedding date was 999, September 9th of 2009. And my sister was putting them together and pointed out, it’s 2006, Laura. You’re getting married this year, not in three years from now. So I guess we should all hire my sister to copy edit.

Lisa (01:08.994)

with putting them together and putting it out like it’s 2006, Laura. Getting married this year, not in three years now. So I guess we should all hire my sister to copy edit.

Chris (01:11.957)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Chris (01:18.165)

Oh yeah. Well, I just never want to hear anybody direct fury my way again, because this is like the most serious kind of government document, a constitutional amendment change. And for weeks and weeks, nobody said, uh, we got the date wrong. We got to start over. And they have to start from scratch. They got to go back to all the places before they can collect signatures. Truly mind boggling.

laura (01:42.528)

I mean, it should sail through because it’s already been approved. But yes, it’s, it, it doesn’t help your, your view with voters, right? Like that we’ve done all our homework. We know this is the best path forward and they could just be like, yep, yep. What about that date?

Lisa (01:42.734)

I mean, it should sail through, because it’s already been approved. But yes, and it doesn’t help your view with voters, right? That we’ve done all our homework, and we know this is the best path forward. And they can just be like, yep, that’s a good update.

Chris (01:45.845)

It doesn’t matter!

Chris (01:56.353)

No, no, I completely disagree with you. I think we all need to be very forgiving of typos.

laura (02:01.876)

Oh, I agree. I just, I mean, I don’t think somebody might take it up with them. I think we’re all human. We all make mistakes and we’re all rushing really fast in this world. So I get it.

Lisa (02:02.018)

Oh, I agree. I just, I mean, I don’t think somebody might take it up with that. I think we’re all human. We all make mistakes. And we’re all rushing really fast in this world. So I get it. All right. That’s fun. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk about Anthony Pabst on this talk show.

Chris (02:12.241)

All right, let’s move on. We haven’t had much of a chance to talk about Anthony Fauci on this podcast as he was never really a local or state story during all of his controversy. But now he is a local story. Lisa, what is the local angle on the famed COVID expert?

Lisa (02:29.006)

Yeah, Dr. Fauci is actually the 2024 winner of Case Western Reserve University’s Ina Mori Ethics Prize. It’s given to those leaders who have improved the human condition since 2008. And as we know, as director of the CDC, Fauci cared for the health of the nation and the world and his scientific discoveries and his long career as an immunologist and infectious disease expert.

in his leadership through the COVID pandemic and serve as a model for us all. Case president Eric Kaler says Fauci’s was an advocate for scientific reasoning to combat dangerous misinformation during the pandemic. The prize will be awarded September 19th of next year.

It will include a free public lecture at Case by Fauci about his work, and Fauci will also take part in an academic symposium panel discussion as part of the prize.

Chris (03:24.669)

What I love about this is that he became the target of culture warriors that just were roasting him for what he was saying that was based on science. It was kind of one of the ugliest chapters in the COVID history. Here you had a guy, long history, expert, trying to save us all, and the culture warriors just vilified him at every chance. And Cleveland is now going to be on the map for recognizing him for the great things he did. And that’s pretty cool.

Lisa (03:54.41)

That is very cool. And you know, he really, as you said, took a lot of flack, but if it weren’t for him, I think the misinformation would have been even worse. I mean, he, and he was very persistent, but very firm. He wasn’t angry. He kept saying, no, you can’t, you know, shine light in the body to get rid of COVID. You know? So yeah, he was a voice of reason, just like Amy Acton was for us in Ohio.

Chris (04:19.029)

I feel certain that history will be very kind to him. He did everything right. He was selfless about it. He was not about himself, not self-aggrandizement. He was truly trying to help America. And you got to think that one day, the Jim Jordans and all the culture warriors will fade away because they’re not doing the work they’re supposed to do, and people like him will rise. Maybe this kind of award and recognition helps that happen more quickly. It’ll be good.

great to see him in Cleveland. It’ll be great to hear what he has to say in his acceptance speech. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Cleveland leaders might love the idea of Dan Gilbert investing in downtown real estate the way he has in Detroit, but that doesn’t mean he gets a blank check. Wait, what did the Cleveland Planning Commission have to say about his plans along the Cuyahoga River?

Leila (05:03.101)

Thank you.

Leila (05:09.085)

The Planning Commission is very excited about the plan specifically to bring the Cavs practice facility from Independence to downtown and they’re stoked about the Cleveland Clinic Global Peak Performance Center proposed as part of the first phase of Bedrock’s Riverfront project. This facility will provide state-of-the-art diagnostics to help the Cavs and other athletes improve performance. It will also serve high school and college athletes and amateurs and non-athletes. But…

The planning commission members were a little disenchanted by the early rendering showing that the ground floor of this 250,000 square foot facility will line a waterfront promenade with 105 to 110 parking spaces enclosed by glass. Along the riverfront side of the structure, the public would be walking next to this long facade trimmed with trees and benches, but there are no entries.

this facility, nothing at all to activate the space. There’s nothing to do there. Sure, it’s beside the river, but you’re just walking along a building. So the commission approved early conceptual plans, but they encouraged Bedrock and the designers from the architecture firm Populous to think harder about how to bring life to the ground floor of that four-story riverfront facility.

Chris (06:28.465)

Yeah, I can’t imagine this being much worse. I mean, it has windows. Otherwise, it’d be like the big side of a Costco building right up against the river. Who wants that? I mean, you would it just sounds terrible. It sounds like we’ll be complaining about this in 20 years. Like, where was the vision and the foresight for the use of the river? So good for the Planning Commission to say, come on, we don’t want a monolith edging up to the to the river. So you got a little sidewalk and some trees. There ought to be some engagement there.

Leila (06:36.534)

Right.

Leila (06:58.421)

Yeah, right. And good for the Planning Commission to be safeguarding the this project in that way. And it sounded like at the end, the designers were like, Yeah, like maybe a coffee shop or something. So I don’t know how deeply they’re thinking about it just yet. But glad that they’re being said to the setback to the drawing table.

Chris (07:09.189)

Hahaha

laura (07:17.492)

Yeah, so it doesn’t look like the Cleveland Clinic, right? Like, that’s like the antithesis of what we want.

Leila (07:20.391)

Yeah, right!

Chris (07:20.997)

Yeah, yeah, I just I was kind of stunned that Dan Gilbert’s team would do this. The Dan Gilbert is pretty known for being very innovative and thinking about public spaces. So it was just a shock to hear that’s what they wanted to do. Let’s put up a bunch of mirrors right against the river and people can walk between the two. I hope they come back with something much more engaging. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

We’re doing this story to help with the guys wish to spread the word about heart issues. What did a longtime Northeast Ohio lawmaker have to say after undergoing some urgent heart surgery? Laura.

laura (07:59.108)

This is Mike Skindal, a Democrat from Lakewood, who has been in the state legislature back and forth between the House and the Senate for a very long time. And basically, he wants people to get help when they need help. Because he said he had symptoms riding his bike over the summer, and he didn’t go to a doctor for a while. And when they performed tests, the cardiologist said that Skindal needed to have this urgent open heart surgery.

So he expects to be released from the hospital soon, hopes to return to Columbus by November 15th, when that’s the next scheduled session for the Ohio house. But he wants his experience to serve as an example to the public about the need to seek medical care. So as soon as you feel any symptoms of heart disease, which chest pain, back or neck pain, nausea, dizziness or shortness of breath, go see someone about it.

Chris (08:47.593)

How many times have we heard this? People ignore the signs, ignore the signs, and then bad things happen. I don’t know what more you can do to ring the bell to say, hey, pay attention to your body. If you start to feel these things, go to a doctor immediately. It can save your life.

laura (09:04.8)

Yeah, he’s lucky in that he was able to get the help that he needed and he stopped ignoring it. But I guess maybe you think, you know, I’m active, I ride my bike all the time, I’m not that old, he’s 61, that it’s not going to happen to you, but it could happen to anyone.

Lisa (09:07.607)

that he was able to get the help that he needed and he stopped ignoring it. But I guess maybe you think, you know, I’m active, I ride my bike all the time, not that old, this is just one, that it’s not gonna happen to you, but it could happen to anyone.

Chris (09:22.705)

Lisa and I are examples of the opposite. We’ve gone to the doctor, we’ve gotten the tests, we want to know, are you in any danger? We just do not want to be in that situation. And we’ve known people, we work with people who’ve had the closest of calls. And it’s just, the doctors are great. If you explain your symptoms, they’re going to recognize what your needs are, it could save your life, keep you around for a while. Good for Skindel to turn his near tragedy into something good for the public.

Lisa (09:25.375)

Hehehehe

Chris (09:50.845)

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. This is more disturbing than the Cleveland police story we talked about a few days ago. Lisa, where does the consent decree monitor say the department is failing citizens in a very key area?

Lisa (10:03.682)

The monitor looked at 28 cases that were investigated by the force investigation team at the Cleveland police department. They found that this team failed to perform timely and unbiased investigations into police use of force cases. They said there was in eight cases, there were investigator bias, report language, cast the policeman in a positive light, but described the victims as resisting or irate.

Conclusory or biased descriptions of body camera footage were used. For the cases, the footage was missing completely. In 10 cases, there were old Cleveland Police Department policies used for evaluation of the use of force incident. They say that officers using force were not interviewed in a timely manner. In two instances, they weren’t interviewed at all. In 12 cases, they asked superficial, poor or leading questions of witnesses.

and no follow-up interviews. There were also two cases where they found inappropriate conduct on the subject of the officer’s force, or so the alleged victim, say that actually the police officers who used force conducted their own interview of the victim. Cleveland spokesman Tyler Sinclair says, the city actually has made demonstrable progress in the consent decree, and they say that the city has excelled in use of force incidents.

Chris (11:25.237)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Chris (11:31.609)

Look, I’m astounded. We’re eight years into this consent decree and this is the heart of it. This is the very basis of what’s going on. Police were beating the hell out of people. We had done entire projects about this that were used as evidence to get the consent decree. If you’re going to fix something, you have to fix this and they haven’t. Tyler Sinclair can yap all he wants. This is an abject failure.

of the police department in one of the central issues of this consent decree. I hope they never lift the consent decree. I mean, this is ridiculous. Was everybody as surprised by this as I was?

Lisa (12:12.91)

I thought we were making better progress in that. It sounds from what they found, there was no progress at all in use of force cases.

Chris (12:20.125)

I mean, Layla has talked repeatedly about the language police use and how that’s central to how these things get reported. They’re still doing it. They’re still using this phony language to try and make it look like, you know, they were forced to attack. They were forced to shoot. It’s like, what is going on, man? If I were Justin Biv, I would see this as a crisis and dive in and say, what is it going to take?

to finally fix this. The public has got to have confidence that if somebody accuses a police officer of using excessive force, a genuine and honest investigation will be done.

Lisa (13:00.175)

I don’t know what to tell you. I mean, it is, it’s a conundrum. It’s very head scratching.

Chris (13:01.786)

Yeah.

Chris (13:06.382)

Yeah, it really is.

Leila (13:06.837)

I don’t know if this is a training failure, a cultural failure within the department. It’s all of the above, right? You would think that with all the recruiting they’re doing from within the community and all their attempts to try to dismantle the culture of policing that has just had its grips in that department for so long that by now we would have reached at least the point where that problem that you just identified.

would have been resolving itself, but good lord.

Chris (13:37.937)

Well, I hope the Independent Police Commission, which remains very controversial, I hope they bring that third eye. They’re not going to blanket, try and say, oh, it’s all fine. I hope they get it together and start bringing rigor to this. That’s why the people of Cleveland voted for that. They don’t trust this system and they shouldn’t. It’s a joke. So maybe the civilian commission, if they get organized and pull themselves together, they can force change that we’re just not seeing.

eight years in. It’s today in Ohio. First, Ohio lawmakers and Mike DeWine declared natural gas, which is a fossil fuel, to be green energy. We’ve all made jokes about it. It’s a laughing stock. It’s ridiculous to say that that’s green energy. But, Leila, are they now doing something similar with coal?

Leila (14:28.321)

This is the most convoluted justification for issuing renewable energy credits, but here’s what’s going on here. At the heart of this story is a company called SunCoke Energy. They buy coal and process it into coke, which is an input used to make steel. SunCoke already claims renewable energy credits by recycling its excess heat created when it bakes the coal in these enormous ovens.

Lisa (14:32.846)

renewable energy credits. But here’s what’s going on here.

This is a company called SunCope Energy. They buy coal and process it into coke, which is an input used to make steam. SunCope already claims renewable energy credits by recycling its excess heat created when it makes all of these enormous ovens and using the heat to power steam turbines. And those turbines make electricity, which SunCope sells under the grid. But at its Scioto County facility, SunCope sells that steam for use

Leila (14:53.117)

and using the heat to power steam turbines and those turbines make electricity which Suncoke sells into the grid. But at its Scioto County facility, Suncoke sells that steam for use at a nearby petrochemical plant owned by Altivia Chemicals, which uses it to make products like acetone and a plastics product called phenol. The Republican lawmakers in

Lisa (15:06.796)

land owned by Altibea chemicals which uses it to make products like acetone and a plastics product called Phenol. The Republican lawmakers in Columbus say that SunCoke should get a renewable energy credit for someone reusing the waste heat it sells, given that it replaces the increase in natural gas. Ohio law, however, only lets the credits to come back.

Leila (15:18.073)

renewable energy credit for someone reusing the waste heat it sells, given that it replaces the use of natural gas. Ohio law, however, only allows credits for companies who reuse waste heat to generate electricity, not those who sell it elsewhere, and the Republicans want to change that.

Lisa (15:38.001)

And the Republicans want to change that for this company. They’re arguing that these facilities will displace internal electricity, which is the ultimate goal of the renewable energy portfolio standard. So they deserve the credit. They’re emphasizing that if they weren’t reselling the waste heat, they would turn the natural gas for power, which is a really ironic argument.

Leila (15:40.813)

for this company. They’re arguing that these facilities are displacing carbon emissions, which is the ultimate goal of the renewable energy portfolio standard, so they deserve the credit. And they’re emphasizing that if they weren’t reselling the waste heat, they would turn to natural gas for power, which is a really ironic argument, given that according to the Republicans, natural gas is green energy. So why should that be a problem, right?

Chris (16:00.829)

Ha ha ha.

The saddest part about this, there’s been a lot of reporting done on these renewable energy credits, and the whole program is a scam. It’s not doing anything to stop climate change. If it were, climate change would be in abeyance because they’ve given out gazillions of them. There are companies making lots of money trading in these things. And this is the clearest kind of example about why this is a joke program. You want to save the world? Stop pumping.

the gases that cause climate change into the atmosphere. This isn’t doing that. I mean, this is just, this shows how completely corrupted our legislature is by energy interests. They’re not representing the people. They’re not doing their job. It’s a mess. We have to pass the gerrymandering law so we throw all these folks out. Because if this is the kind of thing they’re doing, our children in Ohio are doomed.

Leila (16:34.834)

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Leila (16:58.873)

Right. And the Democrats in this case are arguing that this particular company is guilty of all kinds of environmental sins and that they should never get a renewable energy credit just for selling off a bit of their waste product while they’re spewing toxins into the air, as you said. So yeah, and it’s so, I was reading in the story just about how this renewable energy credit program works that, I mean, one company can earn them and then sell them to another that’s committing all kinds of atrocities. You know, it’s like…

Lisa (17:00.622)

case are arguing that this particular company is guilty of altering the requirements of this.

Chris (17:14.373)

Yeah, yeah, it’s…

Leila (17:28.722)

Ugh, it’s disgusting.

Chris (17:29.445)

Will a single Republican in the legislature stand up to stuff like this? I mean, all these people are down there. They’re elected. They take an oath and not one of them stands up with common sense. It says, what are we doing? This is ridiculous. Never. They just all go along working behind closed doors and doing crazy stuff. I mean, it just boggles the mind. Not one of them will stand up for the people of Ohio. They’re just going to give stuff to corporate interests and collect their campaign donations.

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The big ballot issues this season are abortion and marijuana, as we have discussed extensively on this podcast, but the ballots are loaded with local issues as well. Laura, what are some of the bigger ones in Northeast Ohio?

laura (18:14.132)

Yeah, there’s a bunch of tax issues that’ll be on the ballot. Some places like Fairview Park, they want to fix up their Gemini Center Pool that’s been talked about for years. Shaker Heights has got a big ballot issue. They want to fund $187 million plan to relocate the middle school, put fifth graders back in elementary buildings, explain the pre-K program, and then it’s also got a bond issue on that, so that adds up to a lot.

Lisa (18:18.414)

some places like Bearview Park, they want to fix up their Gemini Center rule that’s been talked about for years. Shaker Heights has got a big ballot issue. They want to fund a $187 million plan to relocate the middle school, the fifth graders back in elementary building, land and food tape program, and then it’s also got a bond issue on that, so that adds up to a lot for Shaker residents who already came very high taxed. A clip ticker, or overnight reporter, went through

laura (18:40.996)

for shaker residents who already pay really high taxes. Cliff Pinkard, our overnight reporter, went through and basically aggregated a lot of our Sun News stories so that you can find them all in one place, which is helpful if you just want to know what’s going on in the larger community. In Medina, they’re deciding whether to allow bow hunting to help control the deer population within the city limits. City council said you can, but residents said, I’m not sure about this, and put it on the ballot to actually get some opinions.

Lisa (18:48.508)

of our such a huge story so that you can find them all. This is how glorious we’ve been. We’ve been trying to reach larger communities in the diamond. They’re a lot exciting whether to allow both state council to control the peer population within the city limits, the city council says, and the residents said, I’m not sure about this, and put it on the ballot to actually get the opinion. Pepper Pike has a really big issue about the sidewalk. It’s a really hot topic.

laura (19:10.136)

Pepper Pike has a really big issue about sidewalks. This is a really hot topic in Pepper Pike. Well, a city survey showed that a lot of residents want more walking paths than sidewalks. Some people say it’s gonna change the appearance, their semi-rural feel of the community. They’re also voting in a new mayor for the first time in decades in Orange. Well, I guess that’s Orange. It’s right next door to Pepper Pike. That’s Kathy Mulcahy is stepping down. So.

Lisa (19:22.982)

to take the experience that the semi-world feels. Mm-hmm.

laura (19:36.872)

Uh, same Brexville is going to get a new mayor after Jerry Herubi announced in August that he’s not seeking reelection after 36 years. So that’s definitely going to change that city.

Chris (19:49.605)

Interesting. It’s a lot of for each of those cities. These are pretty resonating issues. And it’s good to kind of put them together so we can see what our sister cities are up to.

laura (20:01.368)

Yeah, there are school board races in a lot of places, city council races, municipal court races, and these are hot topics in the communities where people live. People are making decisions. And so something on your ballot, make sure you’re going to vote early or November 7th.

Chris (20:17.029)

And our Sun newspapers have been covering these in detail and anybody who subscribes to the Plain Dealer gets free access to the digital editions of the Sun newspapers so they can read about them there. Actually, they get access to all of them so they can read about theirs and their sister cities. It’s Today in Ohio. JD Vance is Ohio’s newest culture warrior, throwing all sorts of his culture war mud at the wall just to get headlines. But lo and behold.

laura (20:20.356)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (20:44.793)

He got one of his initiatives through on Thursday. Lisa, what did he persuade enough of his colleagues to vote with Amon?

Lisa (20:52.53)

Yeah, Wednesday, the US Senate approved Vance’s proposal to ban the Department of Transportation from using federal dollars to enforce mask mandates. That passed on a 59 to 38 vote in the Senate. This would be an amendment to the transportation spending bill. But surprise, his Democratic colleague, Sherrod Brown, supports it. He said, the pandemic’s over. I don’t think there should be mask mandates. So that was an interesting twist.

Vance says that this is a massive victory for personal freedom. He said we saw countless abuses of authority during the pandemic and people were enraged by unscientific mask mandates. And Vance last month in September, he introduced a bill, the Freedom to Breathe Act.

That would block the feds from requiring masks on public transit, domestic air travel, schools, and banning them from refusing service to people who don’t wear masks.

Chris (21:51.133)

This is only goes through the fiscal year, right? It’s not in perpetuity.

Lisa (21:56.201)

I don’t know.

Chris (21:57.181)

pretty sure that’s what the bill said. There were people that were arguing against it, basically saying that what Vance is doing is trying to handcuff public health officials. We talked about Fauci earlier in the podcast episode, and this would handcuff people like him from trying to help the public with what they’re trying to do, but there weren’t enough of those to overcome Vance’s train coming down the tracks, huh?

Lisa (22:09.07)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (22:21.846)

Well, no. And, you know, Senator Ed Maskey from Massachusetts, he said, just like you said, you know, this would hamstring health officials, undermine local control, you know, if cities wanted to pass their own mask mandates. He said this bill is not about freedom, as Vance says, and he says it’s attempt to dismantle the public health infrastructure.

Chris (22:42.737)

Well, to say there’s no science behind the efficacy of masks is preposterous, but you know, I don’t know, is Vance a flat earth or two? You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Northeast Ohio’s most famous native son and Layla’s favorite athlete, LeBron James is working in some rarefied air on a new Netflix series, Layla, who were his partners and what’s the series about?

Lisa (22:45.143)

Yeah.

Leila (23:00.907)

Thanks for watching!

Leila (23:06.061)

According to the Wall Street Journal, James is in talks with Peyton Manning and Barack and Michelle Obama to create a basketball documentary series for Netflix that’s similar to the NFL’s quarterback. That is an eight-episode documentary featuring three NFL quarterbacks, Patrick Mahomes, Kirk Cousins, and Marcus Mariota. All of the production companies representing LeBron, Manning, and the Obamas are fleshing out this project with the NBA.

Lisa (23:34.131)

So it’s unclear at this point which players.

Leila (23:35.405)

players would be featured in the series. According to our reporter Zach Mentz, Netflix hinted in its Q3 earnings call earlier this month that big sports programming is on the way for fans who are excited by the drama of the sport. So I’m sure this particular series will be pretty remarkable in the hands of those three production companies.

Lisa (23:39.494)

that Netflix hinted in its Q3 race card that big sports programming is on the way, with dancers cited by the drama of the sports. I’m sure this particular series will be pretty remarkable in the hands of those three production companies.

Chris (23:56.973)

Yeah, I just when you put him together with the Obamas, it’s like, OK, this must be pretty serious stuff. I mean, you don’t usually see the former president working with one of the legendary athletes. You know, he’s the oldest guy working in the NBA now. Not hard to believe.

Leila (24:03.817)

Yeah.

Leila (24:13.333)

Well, he’s stayed in impeccable condition. I mean, his physicality is just amazing. I can’t imagine he’s going to retire. He’s gonna go for years to come, don’t you think?

Lisa (24:14.35)

He’s stayed in impeccable condition. I mean, his physicality is just amazing. I can’t imagine he’s going to retire. He’s gonna go for years to come, don’t you think? Yeah.

Chris (24:26.449)

Well, he’s if he continues like he has, and as you said, he is an amazing athlete. He set to break some more records based on age. He’s going to do things people his age have never done before this season. Just a special guy. When he’s all finished with basketball, don’t you kind of wish he’d come back and run for governor or something, you know?

Lisa (24:46.232)

Right?

Leila (24:46.333)

Hahaha

Chris (24:47.293)

to bring some sense back to this state. You seem like he’s just such a smart business guy and he’s been so even keeled throughout his very high pressure career. We could use that in governing.

Leila (25:00.009)

and so altruistic and you know I love LeBron.

Chris (25:02.537)

I know, I know, I would love it and he would win in a heartbeat. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Laura has overseen a 2023 continuing series about childcare, but it’s not just this podcast where she gets to talk about it. Laura, what other podcast invited you to speak about it and how can people listen?

Leila (25:06.369)

That’s right.

laura (25:23.804)

So two dads in Lakewood have their own podcast called Better Off Dad, which I think is very clever. And they talk about things like family vacations and sorry, I’m going to cough here.

laura (25:44.262)

I need a second, sorry.

Chris (25:48.981)

We’ve all been there.

laura (25:58.5)

Sorry, I tried to get it all out on mute, but I have one. So, okay. So they talk about things like potty training and family vacations, and they emailed me and asked if I would like to come on and talk about childcare. And these dads are basically, they’re the stay at home dads and their wives have careers. It’s Matt Bixenstein and Tim DeWald. And actually I went to high school with Matt, although he wasn’t the one who asked me and I didn’t realize it till I clicked on their.

Chris (25:59.945)

Take your time. You want to go get a drink of water? Okay.

laura (26:27.956)

show and looked it up. But Matt says he left the lucrative world of nonprofits to stay at home with his kids. So we had like a 45 minute discussion about childcare, where it stands in Ohio and what we could do in the future. So I hope people listened to it. It was fun to talk about with them.

Chris (26:46.629)

And like today in Ohio, it’s available where anybody listens to podcasts. So it’s.

laura (26:51.244)

That’s right, anybody, wherever you get your podcast, check it out. I checked this morning, potty training was still the top one. So today, Thursday, is when the Better Off Dad, I don’t know what they’re calling this episode, is coming on. They told me I’m at the 43 mark, so I’m not sure how long the podcast is.

Chris (27:10.217)

All right. Look for better off dad in your podcast browser. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We are going to get to this story, Laura. Northeast Ohio has seen a mini trend of golf courses being converted into parks. Two have been changing over a decade now. How are they coming?

laura (27:26.572)

really well. You can’t tell that they used to be all clipped fairways and manicured bunkers. That Orchard Hills Golf Course next to Patterson Fruit Farming, Chesterland started converting in 2008. So it’s been 15 years. They think this had never been tackled, at least in Northeast Ohio, turning this golf course into a natural area. I haven’t been to Patterson’s lately, but the last time I was there, unless you knew it was a golf course, you weren’t automatically going to be like, oh yeah, there was definitely a hole there.

Lisa (27:27.382)

I can’t tell that they used to be all clipped fairways and manicured bunkers, but that Orchard Hills Golf Course next to Patterson’s Reparming Chesterland started converting in 2008. So it’s been 15 years, they think there’s never been cattle, at least in Northeast Ohio, turning the golf course into a natural area. And I haven’t been to Patterson’s lately, but the last time I was there, unless you knew it was a golf course, you weren’t automatically gonna be like, oh yeah, that was a, so there was definitely a hole there.

laura (27:56.98)

And it’s happening all over the place since 2010, around 20 defunct go off courses have been transferred transformed into public parks, according to the American Planning Association. They had a conference in San Francisco and it makes a lot of sense. I mean, there’s a huge swath of land. If you’re not going to turn them into, you know, big box stores or suburban developments housing, then it would be great to turn them in.

Lisa (28:00.13)

and around 20 defunct law enforcement have been transformed into public parks according to the American Planning Association and Conference in San Francisco. And they’ve done a lot of work. There’s a huge rock of land. You’re not going to throw it into, you know, big box stores.

laura (28:23.512)

to parks, waiting for trees to grow naturally could take up to 60 years. So they plant all these trees to help it along. But then, you know, nature takes over birds and other animals, they come and they spread the seeds. They’ve got tulip trees in the Acacia reservation in Lindhurst, I believe that they didn’t plant. So that’s been going on probably 10 years now. And they started with 200 species in 2013. And they had 460 now who live there.

Lisa (28:29.184)

to help it a lot.

Chris (28:52.805)

I’ve been going to those parks since the conversion. Patterson’s has been one of my favorite places on this planet since I moved here. I’ve always been jealous of our former colleague, Jane Cohoon. She got married there. And I’m amazed in walking through both of these parks and how quickly the transformation has come. In the beginning, there was no missing. These were former golf courses. But 10 years later, as you walk through them, you really don’t have the clue they were golf courses. They have grown.

Lisa (28:55.554)

Mm-hmm.

laura (29:03.103)

Oh really?

Chris (29:22.121)

very rapidly, lots of wildflowers. They’re just beautiful places to go for walks.

Lisa (29:28.43)

Yeah, Acacia is very, very popular with the dog walking set. They know it’s a girl. And I remember when I first moved here, it was open as a park, but they had to close it for a while because they had to dig up all the irrigation. And then, so they did that and they reshaped the ponds and then reopened it. But yeah, it’s, but you can still, you can still sign it, kind of see the pitch and roll of a golf course, but it’s beautiful.

laura (29:28.548)

Mm-hmm.

laura (29:32.696)

Ha ha ha!

laura (29:42.802)

you

laura (29:53.116)

And this is going to keep happening because more than 200 of golf courses have closed in the U.S. since 2017, 1,200 since 2005. The demand just isn’t there. So it’s nice to know that our work in Northeast Ohio is maybe modeling for other places.

Chris (29:53.246)

Yeah.

Chris (30:07.465)

The cool thing about Orchard Hills being next to Patterson’s, Patterson’s is a huge draw right about now because people all wanna go get their apple fritters and their pumpkins and their mums. I mean, it’s a mob scene. This weekend will be the high point of it. But as they get their stuff, a lot of them just walk over to the park because it’s connected and eat their fritters as they get their exercise. So I guess they’re walking it off.

laura (30:12.518)

Mm-hmm.

laura (30:31.016)

Apple fritters from Patterson’s are the best.

Chris (30:33.957)

See, I, with the last, I go there a lot. And when I was leaving last time, I had a couple of packs of my Jonathan apples and they said, you’re just getting apples. It’s like, you are an apple farm, right? Because almost nobody just buys the apples. Uh, great place. I’m a big fan of it. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the podcast for Thursday. Thanks Lisa. Thanks Laila. Thanks Laura. Thanks to everybody who listens. It’s finally Friday tomorrow. We’ll wrap up a week of news.

Lisa (30:42.497)

Hehehe