Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is mucking around again — with a live election: Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose purged thousands of inactive Ohio voters from the state’s voter rolls last month — after some voters had already begun casting ballots in the November election.

We’re talking about why 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:

Why did Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose for voting to begin in the November election to order boards of election to purge inactive voters after delaying that purge early in the year? What happens if one of those to be purged has already voted in recent weeks?

Let’s stick with the election, with two huge issues on the ballot in abortion and legalized marijuana. How does early voting compare to the August special election?

We have more details on the charges against Bob Young, who had to resign from the Ohio House after he was accused to assault. What did we hear from his wife and daughter?

Ohio has a lot of issues that need attention, but the Ohio House Speaker has put his focus on a smaller one. What’s his beef about high school football playoff games?

The Cuyahoga County jail clearly fits the definition of embattled, and now we have yet another issue. Why is the new jail warden already gone from the job?

Many American cities were doing this more than a decade ago, but can we finally pay for parking on downtown Cleveland streets with a credit card?

How significant is it that Akron has been named one of 31 federal tech hubs by President Joe Biden?

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?

Art critic Steve Litt offered some terrific perspective on the Cleveland Art Museum’s fighting back against a rogue New York prosecutor who has become a nationwide crusader for repatriating antiquities. What did he report?

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

Chris (00:00.75)

It’s less than two weeks from election day and we have a couple of fairly big election stories to discuss on Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Laura Johnston, Courtney Astoffi and Lisa Garvin. Let’s go right to it Lisa. You’re back in your first. Why did Ohio Secretary of State, Frank Larose choose now with voting already underway?

to order boards of elections to purge inactive voters. He delayed the purge earlier this year, and now he’s doing it in the middle of voting. What happens if one of those to be purged has already voted in this election?

Lisa (00:44.685)

That’s a very good question, Chris. Yeah, this voter purge was originally scheduled for July, but Secretary of State Frank LaRose postponed it until September 28th due to that illegal August special election that we had. Usually these purges are publicized well before they occur so people can do what they can to make their voter registration right.

But League of Women Voters of Ohio’s Jen Miller says there was no notice sent this time. And she said it happened one week after military and overseas voting began. Now in Franklin County, elections officials there did remove about 4,694 voters from their rolls in response to this purge. But here in Cuyahoga County, we haven’t removed anybody from the voter rolls just yet. And this kind of came to light. Representative Bride Rose Sweeney, the Democrat from Westlake, sure had a letter to her.

LaRose on Friday demanding answers. She said, this purge came as officials are preparing for the November election. It’s amidst staff turnover in the secretary of state’s office. She had questions. Did the purge actually occur? When did it occur? How many voters were removed? We don’t have answers to any of those questions just yet.

Chris (01:54.03)

Can we just all agree right now that he is the worst Secretary of State in the history of Ohio? Everything he does is counter to what his duties are. He’s supposed to be a guardian of elections. There’s no reason to do this in the middle of an election except that he’s trying to muck with the election, which he’s not supposed to do. This isn’t a debate about the purging either. We’ve talked about this in the past.

Chris (02:24.442)

the list so that you get an accurate view of what the turnout is if you’ve got lots of people who are not really Voting anymore on the list. It makes the turnouts look lower. The state has a notification system That’s pretty well developed. You really have to work to be on the purge list It’s not a debate about that the timing he postponed it because of an election and what did he do? He did it in the middle of an election. That’s complete hypocrisy. He’s mucking with the election

Lisa (02:43.583)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (02:53.49)

I guess he thinks somehow it’ll help the abortion vote, which he’s so-

Lisa (02:56.649)

Well, yeah. And based on his prior actions, I think that this feels a whole lot like a thumb on the scale, as you like to say. You know, no, this, why? And, you know, apparently there was no news on his website about it. Bride Rose Sweeney said, this is a stunning order buried in a confusing directive on your website. So they weren’t even forthcoming about it. And when Cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer approached LaRose’s office, a spokeswoman says they have no response to the

Chris (03:07.435)

Yeah.

Chris (03:25.458)

No, right. They’re completely refusing to be accountable to the public. It’s just this is the job. This is the one job in Ohio that’s about preserving the sanctity of elections. And this guy has done everything possible to wreck elections, including this. This is inexcusable. And I mean, his Senate campaign is in tatters unless he gets his out of state billionaire to give him money. He doesn’t have enough money to make a serious run. And of course, you know, then he’ll be taking out of state money, which he campaigns against.

But he shouldn’t be senator. He shouldn’t be secretary of state. He has proven himself wholly incapable of this job. I just, I wonder what happens if somebody votes who is now being purged. If you voted two weeks ago and then they purge you, what does that mean for your vote? Does it count? Do you count? Do you stay on the rolls?

laura (04:14.062)

Well, voting is supposed to be one of the reasons you get off of the purge list, right? So you think if you voted it would count, but… Right, yeah.

Chris (04:20.246)

But they already have the list. So, you know, they have a list, they didn’t purge. So if somebody votes, what does it mean? This is just completely either sinister or incompetent. The guy should not be in this job. You’re listening, go ahead.

Lisa (04:22.169)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (04:34.613)

I wonder, oh, no, just one thing. I wonder if we’re veering into illegal territory here because, you know, has anyone ever done a voter purge after voting has begun? This might be a whole new precedent.

Chris (04:48.642)

There’s no reason to do it. You can wait until November 8th. Do it then. Look, he postponed it because there was an election and now he’s doing it during an election. How do you begin to explain that? You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Let’s stick with the election for a minute with two huge issues on the ballot in abortion and legalized marijuana. How does early voting compare, Laura, to the August special election?

laura (05:17.438)

Well, we’re less than two weeks from election day and we’re counting from last Friday, which is about two weeks of full early voting. 212,000 Ohioans cast early ballots, either in person and by mail. That’s about 3,600 fewer votes than during that same two-week period in August. But we’ve requested more ballots. We just haven’t gotten them back in time. 291,722 absentee ballots. That’s a 50% increase over…

what we had requested in August. So that could mean more early voting in the long run. We’re just not in a rush to turn them in. And Andrew Tobias looked at what this means for issue one and issue two, which obviously are the big statewide issues, protecting the right of abortion, legalizing recreational marijuana. And early voting has actually increased in rural areas and dropped, sorry, increased in rural areas, dropped in urban areas. That’s generally a favorable sign for both issues to…

to fail since rural counties tend to vote more Republican. But remember.

Chris (06:19.754)

Yeah, but I don’t buy that because I don’t think abortion is a Republican Democrat issue as much as other issues are. I mean, there are women Republicans that feel strongly about abortion rights, so I’m not sure the rural vote speaks against abortion.

laura (06:23.551)

Okay.

laura (06:38.45)

Well, it’s funny because JD Vance, Republicans are less likely to vote early. They just have been and Democrats are more likely to. But JD Vance and a collection of Republican leaders in September announced his Bank Your Vote effort and they’re encouraging Republicans to vote early. So it’ll be interesting to see when that first dump comes in on election night at 8 o’clock what the numbers look like.

Chris (07:02.41)

Well, the other thing I suspect, one of the reasons that early voting was so high in August is people had plans in August. It’s summer. People have fun. They’re going to be away. And I think they were worried that if they didn’t vote early, what would happen if on election day they suddenly had some summer type plans? Nobody really has plans in November, so I think they can figure they got plenty of time. I’m not sure that this speaks to anything. I think the strong…

laura (07:10.951)

Yeah.

Chris (07:31.362)

feeling about abortion is going to bring people to the polls and the polls show it’ll probably win handily.

laura (07:37.398)

Yeah, and in Cuyahoga County, 76,241 voters have requested the absentee ballots, and that’s compared to 60,000 before issue one in August. So those are up and we’ll see what the total turnout is. But you’re right, people are very used to a November election. This is not a surprise. There’s a lot of things on the ballot from issues to suburban school board races and mayoral and municipal judges. So a lot of people will go for their regular.

Vote in person too.

Chris (08:08.91)

I voted early in August, but my plan right now is to vote on Election Day. I wonder if there are a lot of people that feel the same way. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We have some additional details on the charges against Bob Young, who had to resign from the Ohio house after he was accused of assault. Courtney, what did we hear from his wife and daughter?

courtney (08:30.551)

Yes, so Bob Young, the former legislator’s wife, testified at trial yesterday. She was the first witness in this case on the domestic violence and assault charges levied against Young in green. It ties back to an incident that is said to have happened at his home following a political fundraiser there back in July. And we heard yesterday from Tina Young. She she told us the incident involved.

an issue with her friend who was a bartender at this fundraiser. Apparently, she said Young had started insulting the bartender, upset about how the bartender had treated his political friend from Columbus that night at the event. And his wife said she tried to intervene, and that she put her hand up to her husband’s face to kind of stop the tirade. And then he went and hit her on her ear.

Chris (09:27.09)

Yeah, this is the first time that they’ve publicly come out. So up until now, it has been some unknown victim. But now both his wife and daughter have weighed in saying, yeah, we were there, which doesn’t speak well for him.

courtney (09:41.679)

Yeah. And like you said, their 16 year old daughter also took the stand in Barberton, Munich court yesterday. She testified she saw her dad hit her mom. And, and we also heard a little bit more from the wife about what happened later that night after the incident where she said young hit her at their home. She said she took her kids and went to her brother in law’s house. Young apparently showed up there later.

And at some point the brother went out to talk to Young and Young allegedly bull rushed the brother and sent them both flying through a glass door. Now, of course, you know, Bob Young’s attorney, they’re putting up the defense for their client. They said his client and others around that night had been drinking. The scene was chaotic. And he said everyone was kind of up in each other’s faces. And then the attorney also kind of dismissed what the 16 year old child had said about what she witnessed said that.

The kid was just sticking up for her mother here in her testimony.

laura (10:41.595)

What the testimony from the 16-year-old that really broke my heart was saying, this had happened three years before. She didn’t call police this time because she called police last time and she got scolded for it. And you’re like, she was only 13 then. It’s just, it’s heartbreaking to read this.

Lisa (10:48.091)

police this time because she called police last night and she got scolded for it. And you’re like, she’s over 13 then. It’s just, it’s heartbreaking to read that. It’s always an effective tactic to discredit your daughter and her boyfriend.

Chris (10:57.762)

It’s always an effective tactic to discredit your daughter in court, right? To have your lawyer attack the credibility of your child. This whole thing has painted a picture of Young as unhinged. And the wise move here would be to suck it up, take the penalty, and not forever harm the psyche of his daughter. How would you feel if your dad was doing that to you? Yeah, don’t believe her. She’s lying. She’s just sticking up for her mother. How would that make you feel as a teenager?

Lisa (11:24.811)

Mm-hmm.

laura (11:26.71)

It’s going to obviously cause a lot of mental distress.

Chris (11:30.066)

Right. So he continues this bad path instead of doing the right thing. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Ohio has a lot of issues that need attention, but the Ohio house speaker has put his focus on a smaller one. Lisa, what is his beef about high school football playoff games?

Lisa (11:48.021)

Yeah. And this comes as football playoffs begin Friday across Ohio in high schools, but house speaker Jason Stevens in extemporaneous remarks to reporters says that ticket prices at these football games are an undue burden on students. And he’s kind of talking about legislation. There’s nothing yet, but he said, you know, he would like to do something to rein in these prices.

So the Ohio High School Athletic Association charges $9 to students for online tickets, $12 for adults online. But if you go to the gate, you pay cash and it’s 15 bucks. Spokesman for the Athletic Association, Tim Stride says, they’re not responding to Stephen’s remarks right now. They say the increased cost is due to the increased security and longer accounting, reconciliation and auditing time that’s necessary for cash sales.

which was made, you know, in the state budget, they have language that requires that schools allow people to pay cash at the door for school affiliated events. When I went to school, I don’t remember paying for football games or hockey games. So this is kind of new to me, the old lady.

Chris (12:57.398)

Well, I’m so removed from this that I really don’t have a feel for what’s appropriate. But we have somebody on this podcast who attends a lot of kids sporting events. Laura, do you find $15 or $9 to be out of whack with what you generally pay to attend things?

laura (13:05.994)

Hehehehehehe

laura (13:15.518)

Well, if you’re going to go with your family, say you have a family of four, that’s 60 bucks. That’s a lot to go for two and a half hours of supporting your school. So I did see that price and thought that was expensive. Luckily, my school district, you pay, I think, $30 for kids up to grade five and 50 for anyone grade six to 12, and then they can go to all the varsity events all season long without paying any more. And then I’m the cheapskate that goes at halftime.

Lisa (13:22.038)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (13:39.429)

without paying any more. And then I’m the chief of chief, it goes at half time. A lot of times, I’m like, oh, this just happened to get here at half time. And just, and.

laura (13:43.974)

a lot of times. So I’m like, oh, just happened to get here at halftime and didn’t and didn’t pay the $8. But it’s normally if you go in at halftime, you generally don’t have to pay. I when I obviously if I go to the full game, I and I have time to go to the full game, I pay my $8 at the gate. But because of the playoffs, those booster passes that my kids have, they don’t work because it’s goes through the state system. It’s not just run by the district.

Chris (13:49.438)

You don’t have to pay if you go at halftime.

Lisa (13:56.837)

I have time to go before game. I pay my $8 at the gate. But because of the playoffs, those booster passes that my kids have, they don’t work because it goes through the state system. It’s not just run by the district. So, I mean, $15 is a lot if your whole family is going. I understand it’s a big deal for these teams to get here. It’s not like every team goes. You don’t go every year. So, I mean, it’s a special event, but I can see how…

laura (14:10.738)

So I mean, 15 bucks is a lot if your whole family is going. I understand it’s a big deal for these teams to get here. It’s not like every team goes, you don’t go every year. So I mean, it’s a special event, but I can see how that adds up.

Chris (14:23.874)

But if you take your kids out for any kind of recreational event, which you do frequently take them skiing or whatever, how does that price compare? That doesn’t seem that unreasonable compared to the competing of activities that you would go to.

laura (14:38.678)

Well, like a movie ticket is what? 10 or 10 bucks for a kid? Literally, I’ve taken my kids to like one movie in the last couple of years. I don’t know. I feel like when you get those passes, it ends up you just pay once and then you don’t have to think about it. Like for skiing, my kids have season’s passes. But I don’t know. I just think that it is, that’s double what you’re paying for a regular game though.

Lisa (14:43.17)

I literally, I’ve taken my kids to like one movie in the last couple of years. I don’t know.

Chris (15:05.782)

What does it cost if you go to Cedar Point? $100 or something.

laura (15:10.162)

Well, $100 for the whole season. We’ve talked about this. That is why that’s a deal.

courtney (15:10.927)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (15:12.97)

Okay. All right. All right. Well, maybe this is a good issue for the House speaker to raise hell about. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The Cuyahoga County Jail clearly fits the definition of the word embattled, and we have yet another issue with it. Laura, why is the new warden already gone from the job?

Lisa (15:20.838)

you’re listening to this today in Ohio. County and county jail clearly fits the definition of the word and battle. We have yet another issue with it. Otherwise, it would work. Always done from the job. Well, I thought people would be able to hear. You know, most folks don’t know that. We just don’t really have.

laura (15:32.862)

Well, I’d love to be able to give you the details, but we don’t really know them. We just know he was asked to resign. And his name is Jeremy Everett. He began his tenure at the jail on September 11th. He worked in corrections more than 25 years, all sorts of things on his resume. In his resignation letter, he said he was surprised when the jail’s chief, Dale Solstice, informed him on Saturday that county officials had requested his resignation. He wrote in his letter that it had nothing to do with my performance during my tenure, but the county is changing directions.

Lisa (15:39.589)

His name is Jeremy Everett. He began his tenure at the Dale on September 11th. He worked in corrections more than 25 years. All sorts of things on his resume. In his resignation letter, he said he was surprised when the Dale’s chief, Dale Soltan, informed him on Saturday that county officials had requested his resignation. He wrote in his letter that it had nothing to do with my performance during my tenure, but the county’s changing direction. Then in a separate letter from the county, officials said they were accepting Everett’s quote, voluntary resignation.

laura (16:02.622)

Then in a separate letter from the county, officials said they were accepting Everett’s quote, voluntary resignation.

Chris (16:09.146)

Yeah, we’ll have another story coming on this. It sounds like the county might not have done the deep background check, but should have. But it’s at some point, he’s been here six weeks, the his fellow officers were saying good things about him. He was doing good things. So it’s a little bit surprising. It’s almost like they’re, they’re covering themselves because they failed to look at everything in his background. And they’re worried about scandal developing. On the other hand, with

Lisa (16:17.326)

At some point, he’s been in her six weeks, his fellow officers were saying good things about him, he was doing good things. So it’s a little bit surprising. It’s almost like they’re covering themselves because they failed to live.

and they’re worried about scandal development. On the other hand, with the number of people you had in and out of that place.

Chris (16:37.282)

The number of people you’ve had in and out of that place. If you get somebody who’s doing a good job, should maybe you keep them around. We’ll know more, we’re working on it. It’s very fishy what’s going on. And again, the county not being transparent.

Lisa (16:46.965)

And again, the county law is being threatened. Right, and they weren’t giving us answers. This went on all day long, trying to figure out what was going on and why they’re cheating. And they’ve been looking for a second warden since last December’s split duty report in Michelle Henry. Obviously, we know the jail is under staff. We can’t get people in there to work with regular officers. So they’ve been looking for a good nine months to show us the good thing. I can’t believe these words are going to come out of my mouth. But this has been a good one.

laura (16:49.074)

Right, and they weren’t giving us answers. This went on all day long, us trying to figure out what was going on and why they were leaving. And they’ve been looking for a second warden since last December to split duties with warden Michelle Henry. Obviously, we know the jail is understaffed. They can’t get people in there to work, just regular officers. So they’ve been looking for good nine months to fill this position.

Chris (17:12.042)

I can’t believe these words are going to come out of my mouth, but this administration is actually worse about transparency than the Armin Budish administration. If we had asked the Budish administration, hey, what happened to your warden? They would have been curt, but they would have told us something. The Chris Ronanian administration is not transparent. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

laura (17:20.005)

Oh gosh.

courtney (17:21.023)

Hehehe

Lisa (17:21.069)

If we had asked the footage of the incident, hey, what happened to your work? They wouldn’t have told me, but they would have told us something.

Chris (17:34.57)

Many American cities were doing this more than a decade ago, but can we finally pay for parking on downtown Cleveland streets with a credit card? Courtney.

courtney (17:44.447)

Yes, we absolutely can. I think a lot of people are going to be excited about this development. It finally went into effect downtown Cleveland on Monday. And this is part we’ve been hearing from Mayor Justin Bibb since he started that he wanted to modernize Cleveland’s parking payment systems. You know, people are still relying on and toting around bags of coins to be able to pay to park in downtown Cleveland, but no more. Starting Monday, some parts of downtown Cleveland now have

Lisa (17:44.537)

Yes, we absolutely can. I think a lot of people are going to be excited about this development. It finally went into effect downtown Cleveland on Monday. And this is part we’ve been hearing from Mayor Justin Debb since he started that he wanted to modernize Cleveland’s parking payment systems. You know, people are still relying on towed around bags of coins to be able to pay to park in downtown Cleveland, but no more. Starting Monday, some parts of downtown Cleveland

courtney (18:14.575)

mobile payment options through the app ParkMobile. If you’ve been to other cities around the US, this is a pretty common thing that’s out there, so you may already even have the app on your phone. But this is going to be a little bit of a, it’s gonna take some time to roll this system out across the city, and it’s gonna take some time to roll it out even across all of downtown. This is a phased approach, and this is kind of being done in advance of next year when new physical machines are expected to also go up in different.

Lisa (18:14.611)

mobile payment options through the app, hardmobile, which you find in other cities around the west. This is a pretty common thing out there, so you may have the app on your phone. But, you know, this is going to be a little bit of a, it’s gonna take some time to roll this system out across the city, and it’s gonna take you time to roll it out even across all of downtown.

This is a phased approach and this is kind of being done in advance of next year when new physical machines are expected to also go up in different places around the city to just make payment easier, except credit cards, pay by phone options, and drivers in Cleveland still have the option to use coins, so if you’re relying on those still, the other machines will be in place for a while now.

courtney (18:44.223)

places around the city to just make payment easier, accept credit cards, pay by phone options. And drivers in Cleveland still have the option to use coins. So if you’re relying on those still, the old machines will be in place for a while now as this transition continues in the coming months.

Chris (19:01.098)

Eventually, the parking meters, as we know them, will be taken down. I imagine they might even sell them as souvenirs. But what will we have? Will we have those pay stations like you have down on the near Voinovich Park where you get your you put in your license plate number and pay for your time? Or will there be some sort of parking meter that you work with?

courtney (19:24.907)

It is going to be kind of like Vojnovic Park, except I believe the idea is you won’t have to put your receipt back in the window, if that’s what that system looks like down there.

Chris (19:35.358)

No, you’re not required to put their C on the window. They just they come and see which plates are in there. So so but so in those pay, that’s it. I got to tell you, Greenwich Park is a pain because there’s only a couple of pay stations. And so when there are a lot of people there, you’re waiting a long line to pay. It’s stupid. Will those pay stations also take coins then?

courtney (19:38.354)

Okay.

courtney (19:53.991)

Yes, that is the plan. Cleveland didn’t want to shut out people still relying on real currency in that category. So the new machines, you will have to probably walk further in places where the new machines are up. They won’t, it won’t be a station at every parking spot. You’ll have to walk down the street a bit, kind of like you have to do around West 6th now. But these two systems kind of go hand in hand. There’s the options for the non-machine parking payments.

Lisa (20:02.233)

The new machines, you will have to probably walk further in places where the new machines are off. They won’t be a station at every parking spot. You’ll have to walk down the street a bit, kind of like you have to do around West 6th now. But these two systems kind of go hand in hand. There’s the option for the 9-2 parking system, which is more mobile, but it’s getting rolled out now.

courtney (20:23.007)

through ParkMobile like we see getting rolled out now, but then those physical boxes will still be there. I think, you know, depending on the geography and territory, they’ll make those decisions about which system is good, where in town. Though I do wanna talk a little bit about the ParkMobile system. I went out and took it for a test drive on Monday afternoon to kind of see how it worked downtown. One thing I did notice, and this was expected, we just didn’t know how much, but one thing I noticed is that parking rates have gone up.

Lisa (20:32.013)

decision about which system is for dinner in town. So if you want to talk a little bit about the park mobile system, I went out and took it for a test drive on Monday afternoon to see how it worked downtown. One thing I did notice, and this was expected, we just didn’t know how much, but one thing I noticed is that parking rates have gone up now with this new system. I don’t know how long, but I’m parking on East 9th Street, where it would have cost a buck with the quarters.

courtney (20:52.995)

now with this new system. That was the plan all along, but I’m parking on East 9th Street, where it would have cost a buck with the quarters. It costs a dollar 35 now if you’re going to be using your card. There’s dynamic pricing, so those numbers are subject to change over time. But I also cracked up because I also found issues where there were parking zones east of East 9th Street that City Hall said weren’t activated yet, but they were still available on the app for you

So just to caution to drivers, really only rely on ParkMobile when you’re seeing the green signs posted where you’re at downtown. If you just go in the app and kind of move around the map to see where you want to park, you may be paying for parts that aren’t activated yet. And from as far as I can tell, wasting your money, I put eight bucks into the system yesterday and I think, or on Monday, and I think I still technically could have gotten a ticket. So keep an eye out. This could have some bumps in the rollout as people get used to it.

and new areas come online.

Chris (21:54.206)

Yeah, I’ve used that app and it’s easy to use and it’s fast and everything else. I hope that when they set up these pay stations, you also have the option of using the app. There’s nothing worse than standing in line at a pay station with a couple who don’t know their license plate number. And so then one of them has to walk over, look at their car, yell it back to the other person. It’s maddening. You stand there, you have minutes flying away and all you want to do is pay for a parking space.

Lisa (22:00.933)

they set up this aid station. You also have the option to use the app. There’s nothing worse.

Chris (22:21.034)

So you’ll have the dual option, is that what you’re saying? Even if there is one of those pay machines, you’ll also be able to do it through the app.

courtney (22:29.144)

That’s my understanding from everything I’ve heard so far, but we’ll have to see exactly how it rolls out, perhaps in some areas not, but the ParkMobile is really low overhead cost, so it should be easy to roll that out, really wherever you want it.

Chris (22:46.546)

Alright, one more question. If they’re going to have dynamic pricing, are they going to have transparency? Will there be a place on the City Hall website where you can see what the rates are right now?

courtney (22:59.231)

That’s a good question that I really ought to find the answer out to. I would imagine no, because like if they’re making calls, well, if they’re making calls like day of there’s a Taylor Swift concert in town, I don’t know if they’re going to be seeking to update the website every day, but then I also wonder some of that info should be available through the park mobile app. So folks should have some kind of view on what they would be paid.

Lisa (22:59.937)

question and I’m really not a time in the answer out to like, I would imagine no. Because like if they’re making calls, well if they’re making calls like day of, there’s a team on screen answering how, I don’t know if they’re going to be seeking to update their website, everything. But then I also wonder, some of that info should be available through the ParkMover app. So folks should get some if you want to help them get through.

Chris (23:06.39)

Boy, there should be. That shouldn’t be secret.

Chris (23:23.754)

Look, if you have to update the meters to or the pay stations or whatever to change the rate, you could just as easily feed that data into a publicly accessible dashboard so you can see it. This shouldn’t be done secretly. There shouldn’t be some cave in City Hall where they’re creepily examine, oh, it’s gouge here, let’s gouge here. There ought to be open views of what they’re charging and where and City Council ought to insist on that. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Hey Lisa, how significant is it that Akron has been named one of 31 federal tech hubs by President Joe Biden?

Lisa (23:58.72)

This is very significant and it frees up millions of dollars in possible federal grants for the Akron area. So Akron was named by the Biden administration as one of 31 regional innovation and technology hubs. There’s about 10 billion dollars in grants available from the Chips and Science Act.

And this is meant to spur investment in technology for growth, national security and job creation. So Akron is being named a sustainable polymers tech hub. Obviously Goodyear is there in Akron. It’s being led by the Akron Chamber of Commerce. So what this hub will do is leverage the largest concentration of plastics, rubber manufacturing, plants, machines and materials in North America to address climate and environmental impacts from fossil fuel based polymers.

So they would accelerate sustainable manufacture and commercialization of things with a lower carbon footprint. And the hubs include industry, academia, local and state governments are involved, economic development groups, labor, and workforce partners as well. So each hub will be eligible from $50 million to $75 million in competitive implementation grants.

And Senator Sherrod Brown says that Akron already got $400,000 in a sustainable polymers strategy development grant. And that will be led by the Akron Chamber.

Chris (25:24.962)

All right, good news for Akron. Check out Sabrina Eaton’s story about this on cleveland.com. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Let’s skip ahead. Art critic Steve Lit offered some terrific perspective on the Cleveland Art Museum’s fighting back against a rogue New York prosecutor who has become a nationwide crusader for repatriating antiquities. Courtney, what did Steve report?

courtney (25:48.311)

Yeah, so this is going to be a sticky case, but it sounds like, you know, Steve is arguing that really the heart of this lawsuit that Cleveland that the Cleveland Museum of Art has filed against New York, New York’s Alvin Bragg, it’s really come gonna come down to making Bragg prove that the statue that he seized at CMA is stolen. So so

Bragg went to a judge and got the order to sign off on the seizure of this statue from CMA. The statue is a bronze statue of an ancient Roman. At one point, it was believed to be of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. And basically, CMA is saying, you know, we’ve done the work. We haven’t been able to fair it out that there was any issues with how we acquired it. So Alvin Bragg’s office.

Lisa (26:36.825)

to fair it out that there was any issues with how he acquired it. So, Alvin Bragg’s office, please show us why you think this was worthy of seizure, why show us proof that this was stolen in any trial. Like you said, Bragg has kind of been in the heart of this trafficking of antiquities. Antiquities often move through New York City, and his office has kind of been

courtney (26:42.015)

Please show us why you think this was worthy of seizure. Why show us proof that this was stolen and trafficked. And like you said, Bragg has kind of been in the heart of this, this trafficking of antiquities. Antiquities often move through New York City and his office has kind of been leading the charge on attempting to repatriate these statues.

Chris (27:04.438)

You get the feeling that the museum feels like this is a rigged game, that Bragg and the New York courts are having a high old time looking like the heroes. They have big press conferences and they do all sorts of things to celebrate their wins. So the museum is trying to move the venue. They’re saying, no, the statue is in Cleveland. We’re asking the Cleveland court to declare this is our property and that Bragg has not shown that it came from the site he says it came from.

That’s the problem is that so far, there is really no strong evidence at all that this statue came from where Bragg says it does. He has not shown it. And getting a different court, one that doesn’t seem to be in the bag for Bragg to examine it, you might get a more honest verdict on that issue.

Lisa (27:53.829)

I think it’s interesting that, you know, in that article, you know, the museum was saying, you know, they’re almost shaming museums into giving this stuff up. It looks bad. They get a ton of bad press for having allegedly looted stuff. And the museum is saying, hold on, wait a minute.

Chris (28:10.738)

Yeah, I mean, at some point it goes too far. I said this last week, who appointed Bragg, the guy that is in charge of this, if this is a significant problem in the country, the Justice Department should handle this out of Washington in a organized, measured fashion. This is somebody that’s just making a good career out of this and that’s prosecuting Donald Trump. So it’ll be interesting to see how it goes. Steve’s piece was very well considered, well sourced.

worth reading. You’ll find it on cleveland.com. This is Today in Ohio. That’s it for Wednesday. Thanks, Laura. Thanks, Courtney. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, everybody who listens. We’ll be back on Thursday talking about the news.