CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Republicans’ two-year budget plan would establish universal eligibility for some portion of publicly funded school vouchers for K-12 private schools and remove the House plan for $62 million for Cleveland’s proposed land bridge.

We’re talking about Senate priorities on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

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

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

Here’s what we’re asking about today:

The Ohio Senate has come up with its own proposed two year budget, which is quite a bit different from the House version, with some good news for those seeking universal vouchers for charter schools, big-time bad news for Cleveland and some investment in the future. What are the highlights?

When we had all those fun conversations about highway rest areas a few weeks back, we wondered how much science had gone into Gov. Mike DeWine’s proposal for overhauling them. Now we know. How much?

The story has concluded for that would-be charity that collected money in relation to the East Palestine train wreck, How did the story end?

The Cleveland Clinic has to pay a former patient $7.6 million in malpractice. What did the Clinic do to this woman?

We’ve set a record for how long we’ve gone without a U.S. Attorney in the Cleveland district. Do we finally have a nomination?

How much is Cleveland kicking in to support the grand vision Bedrock has for the riverfront?

How much longer will we be dealing with the smoke from Canada, and what are experts telling us about the health dangers? How much is Cleveland kicking in to support the grand vision Bedrock has for the riverfront?

How much is Cleveland kicking in to support the grand vision Bedrock has for the riverfront?

Has the bloom finally fallen from the rose on casinos and racinos in Ohio? They’ve been on a record run for a long while.

We have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here.

Do you get your podcasts on Spotify? Find us here.

If you use Stitcher, we are here.

RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here.

On Google Podcasts, we are here.

On PodParadise, find us here.

And on PlayerFM, we are here.

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

[00:00:00] Chris: The quality of the air continues to be the big story of the week in northeast Ohio. We’ve never seen anything like we’re seeing, and it’s supposed to get worse again. Today. It’s today in Ohio. The news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the plane dealer. I’m Chris Quinny here with Lisa Garvin, Leila Tassi, and Laura Johnston.

Let’s get going. Laura, the Ohio Senate has come up with its own proposed two year budget, which is quite a bit different from the house version with some good news for those seeking universal vouchers for charter schools, big time, bad news for Cleveland and some investment in the future. What are the highlights?

[00:00:36] Laura: So this is an 85.7 billion budget. That would establish the universal eligibility for some portion of the school vouchers for K to 12 private schools and make major cuts to state income tax and commercial activity tax rates. And they can do that because apparently we’re pretty flush in the state. I didn’t realize that we were in such good fiscal shape.

The tax revenues this so far this year. Fiscal year are more than 840 [00:01:00] million higher than anticipated. And they still have a big chunk of Covid money to spend, but they’re not gonna spend it on Cleveland, at least the Senate doesn’t want to. They removed a 62 million for the Landbridge connecting the downtown and lakefront.

And also they don’t wanna offer more sports gambling facilities in county. Even though there’s a, a whole bunch of people that wanna put in more sports books. Uh, they would provide 15 million for that August 8th special election for the. The proposal to make it harder to change the state constitution.

So they’re gonna stick the Board of Education with having the election, but at least they’re gonna give them a little bit of money. They also wanna strip the state Board of education of most of its powers. Give them, instead to the governor’s administration,

[00:01:42] Chris: the, the universal vouchers. It’s not completely universal, but it’s.

All but universal’s,

[00:01:47] Laura: it’s really high. I mean, so right now the income limits for the Ohio voucher program that gets the most students involved is 250% of the poverty line. That’s $75,000 per year for a family of four. So they [00:02:00] wanna up this to 450% of the federal poverty line. It’s $135,000 in annual income taxes for, or sorry, annual income for a family of four.

Then if you make more than that, you can get partial help. That is going to cost the state about one. Billion dollars. Think about what else you could do with that money. If you care about education, you could help out struggling school districts. You could, you know, provide childcare so that every kid is ready to, uh, enter kindergarten, but instead we’re gonna give it to people who probably could afford to go to private

[00:02:30] Chris: school anyway.

Yeah. What we’re demonstrating with our daycare series is what an economic generator having, having quality daycare at reasonable prices could mean for Ohio. We’ve done plenty of reporting about the importance of pre-K education and how that can get. Kids off on the right foot, and it’s too bad that we’re not investing heavily in that.

Mike DeWine has talked about, he’s the children’s governor, but this does follow the republican theory philosophy of getting kids into whatever [00:03:00] schools their parents think are best. I think it’s also a way of putting God back into the schools. If everybody’s using universal vouchers to go to religious schools, you’ve.

Brought back parent schools, something that they’ve long wanted. Uh, Mike DeWine has said it’s too expensive. He doesn’t like universal vouchers. Mm-hmm. But he’s also shown since his reelection that there’s nothing he’ll not do for his legislature. Right. So I would not expect him to remove that money. The Landbridge is interesting because you could make a strong argument.

That Ohio shouldn’t be paying for what is a luxury item in Cleveland, um, y but you’re also flush with cash. This is a signature project for the lakefront, uh, that a lot of people are looking for. Is there a little bit of anti city sentiment in there? I hope this isn’t Matt Huffman taking it out on.

Cleveland because we criticize them in the podcast. I hope

not

[00:03:49] Laura: either. There is a possibility of getting some money through like overall state highway money. So that’s possible. But you’re right. I mean there’s no favors to, to cities in this. [00:04:00] Um, they removed this house provision to allow Cuyahoga, Franklin and Hamilton counties to have seven sports gaming facilities rather than the five allowed.

So it doesn’t feel like they are especially helpful. Uh, they are going to. To increase that sales tax holiday. That’s always the first weekend in August, that back to school thing, not just two days, two full weeks starting August 1st, and anything less than $500 or less, which is a lot higher than I think that $75 threshold.

Now, they, they would be exempt from sales tax except for cars, watercraft, alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and vapor products. But there’s a whole lot of luxury items you could be buying and not paying that sales tax, which in Cuyahoga County is 8%. So, There are cuts here and obviously they’re gonna cut income taxes too and create a, uh, fewer brackets.

So

[00:04:47] Chris: I thought on the, on the sales tax holiday though, you had to be able to prove you’re getting it for educational purposes. I don’t think

[00:04:53] Laura: this new one is going to be just for education. I think it’s basically anything you wanna buy that’s not, you know, boozer. [00:05:00] A boat,

[00:05:01] Chris: uh, getting back to the vouchers. The one thing that I haven’t heard discussed, and maybe we’ll have to do a story on this, we’re flushed with cash right now, and so they’re putting this huge amount of money into vouchers, but as we know, they’ll be lean times ahead at some point.

But once all these kids get vouchers and go to private schools, if the budget gets tight, They’ll ha they’ll, they won’t wanna cut it. They won’t wanna tell the kids, oh, well, sorry, we can’t afford it. You’re in fourth grade next year, go to public school. What, what are they doing to build in long-term funding for this kind of thing?

It seems like you, you’re overspending when you’re flush instead of thinking about the long haul. Well,

[00:05:40] Laura: that’s a really good question. I don’t know the answer to that. I also don’t know if we’re still talking about giving money to schools that don’t have to meet any kind of standards for the state, including homeschooling, which is really worrisome.

[00:05:52] Chris: The legislature is just so outta control with these super majorities, and that’s why issue one is so important because they want to take away the last [00:06:00] check. We have to stop their wackiness. They’ll be even more outta control next year if issue one passes and you’re listening to today in Ohio. We had all those fun conversations about highway rust areas a few weeks back, Layla was hilarious.

We wondered how much science had gone into Governor Mike Dew wine’s proposal for overhauling them. Lela. Now we know how much I love the,

[00:06:21] Leila: uh, the, the, the, I love, including science in this conversation. This really just cracks me up. Reporter Jerry Pelzer tells us that it turns out. State officials selected the 33 rust areas for these renovations based on their age, size and traffic.

But they did no study or focus groups or anything like that on what amenities motorists would like to see at Rust stops or what they use while they’re there. So that means that. The storybook trails that they wanna install for families and the rocking chairs and the Ohio theme music and the focus on local attractions.

These things were all designed on a [00:07:00] whim, pretty much. And you know, Jeremy quotes Thomas Baller, the president of the Ohio Trucking Association, who says that he welcomes the overhauled rest stops because until now, Rest stops in A lot of states have been pretty much downgraded to a porta-potty and truckers are are required to take 30 minute breaks every eight hours.

So it’s nice to have a decent place to stop, but that really nails it. I mean, you need clean, safe rest stops, period. I’m still stunned. At this investment and the, the amount of fanfare around it, as if this is meeting one of Ohio’s most critical needs,

[00:07:31] Laura: I, I don’t think the truckers are gonna use this storybook truck.

No,

[00:07:35] Leila: I can’t see Thomas polls are doing

[00:07:37] Chris: that. But why not before you make this investment? Go visit areas to see what best practices are. We heard from people about this. This is a very talkable story, and we heard, you know, one person said, I changed my route when I drive west cuz I don’t want to go through Kansas.

Cuz the rest areas are, are gross, but so, so why not go see what works, what’s best and then [00:08:00] bring it in. I mean, Lisa was a strong advocate that we should have investment in rest areas, but we should at least base it on a model that works right.

[00:08:10] Leila: Sure. And I’m not saying don’t invest in rest areas to make them clean and safe, but that’s really all that they need.

I, I just think like millions of dollars into making these fancy, I mean, it just, I don’t know. I, I still think the whole thing’s laughable.

[00:08:25] Lisa: I. I feel like none of you have like driven CrossCountry, you know, rest stops. Yeah. It’s nice to have a rest stop, but you know, people picnic there, the rocking chairs I’m sure would get used.

The storybook trail is a little bit suspect, but I think, you know, there are a lot of people who don’t just go and go, you know, they kind of stick, stick around.

[00:08:43] Chris: Okay, well, good story. Good Enterprise by Jeremy Pelzer. You can find it on cleveland.com. And this is a conversation on today in Ohio. The story is concluded for that would-be charity that collected money in relation to the East Palestine train wreck.

Lisa, how did that [00:09:00] story end?

[00:09:01] Lisa: The Ohio Clean Water Fund, which turned out to be a fraudulent charity that raised $141,000 to provide bottled water and emergency supplies to East Palestine train wreck victims that they have agreed to donate. All but 10,000 of that. To the Second Harvest Food bank to settle a lawsuit that was filed by Attorney General Dave Yost.

So, uh, O C W F board member Michael Lee will have dissolved the organization and he has barred from any future charity board positions or charity fundraising activities. And O C W F founder Michael Peple litigation continues on him. So there’s, there’s a story brewing there and his attorney David Thomas had no comment at all.

So the Ohio Clean Water Fund Fund. Falsely claimed that it was raising money for Second Harvest, but it only gave them about $10,000 after they complained. Second Harvest officials said that, you know, the solicitation emails and texts that were advertising the partnership that didn’t exist, [00:10:00] and they asked Pep twice to cut it out, and that’s when he finally cut them a $10,000 check.

But he hung onto the $131,000 that is now going to this. Second Harvest food bank. So is

[00:10:11] Chris: there any evidence at all that this was ever legitimate as Dave’s instincts were, this is illegitimate. I’m going to stop it. And he did good work in bringing it down, but, but is there evidence that it started off with good intentions, or is this just a scam from the start?

I,

[00:10:26] Lisa: I don’t know. It sounds like a scam from the start, but they’re obviously digging into Michael Pepper, so we’ll see. But he, you know, he hung on to most of that money. He only shelled out $10,000,

[00:10:36] Chris: so. Hmm. Somebody sent capital letter a note. This morning asking if this Michael Peple is the same. Michael Peple who got in huge trouble involving a company back, uh, 10 years ago in Cincinnati.

So we’ll have to look at that too. He might have a long record of scams you’re listening to today in Ohio. Laura, the Cleveland Clinic has to pay a former patient 7.6 [00:11:00] million for malpractice. What did the clinic do to this woman?

[00:11:03] Laura: This is terrifying. She is paralyzed. So this came down to a jury decision following a two week medical malpractice trial and the statement, the statement the clinic gave said it respected the jury’s decision, but do not agree with the outcome in evaluating the options.

So according to court documents, attorneys for this Gates Mills woman said she suffered from syringe of Malia. And that involved the presence of fluid-filled cavity cavity within her spinal cord. But she was still really active. She, she hiked and biked and kayaked, and swam and rode horses. And she did this all through the pain.

And so she, according to these court records, she was going to have this surgery. That was, it wouldn’t have made it worse. It wasn’t guaranteed to make it better, but it wouldn’t have been better, so it wouldn’t have been worse. So, Dr. Ian Calfas performed the surgery on October 3rd, 2018. She was 68 years old.

And she has not walked since. So she said, I guess she was in pain, excruciating pain, unrelenting [00:12:00] pain, and lost as use of her legs. There tried to be a follow-up sur uh, surgery that apparently made it worse. And they claim in these filings that they allowed a foreign object to remain in her back after the surgery and failed to perform an MRI to determine what was caused the compression on the spine.

And this just reminds me of that Doctor Death series, you know, that. Tech doctor in Texas, that’s like really scary about what can happen in surgery.

[00:12:24] Chris: Yeah, I guess there’s always a risk when you go into surgery and I, I get that, that eventually they make mistakes. It’s just a shame that she has to go through this trial process to get the compensation that she’s due for being paralyzed by the surgery.

Uh, the clinic I guess, just fights vigorously against these cases, but juries do see the truth.

[00:12:46] Laura: Yeah, it’s just really unfortunate. She had, you know, climbed mountains and now she’s never gonna walk again.

[00:12:52] Chris: Okay, you’re listening to today in Ohio. I’m gonna go out of order here cuz Laura’s trying to get outta here.

She’s got an appointment. How long, much longer will we [00:13:00] be dealing with the smoke from Canada. And what are experts telling us about the health dangers? How much is Cleveland? Oh, that’s it. That’s the question.

[00:13:10] Laura: At least through today, but I think we’re gonna be dealing with it until we get rain. It’s gonna get worse before it gets better, and that’s because this dry, warm air being pushed up into Canada has created the perfect, you know, firestorm for fires.

Basically, a low pressure system from the southwest should move into northeast Ohio on Sunday. That should cause some wind out of the southeast can bring some release leaf and clear out the smoke. But according to a meteorologist, That Peter Kraus talked to, he says in 25 years he has not seen smoke this bad in Northeast Ohio.

He’s not attributing it to climate change because this is just one event, but the air quality index is in the unhealthy range and not just for sensitive groups. It’s, it’s peaked up there for everyone. And some doctors are saying it’s getting so bad that you should not be outside. And if you’re going outside, you should wear an N 95 mask.[00:14:00]

[00:14:00] Chris: Yeah, the New York Governor is about to give out a whole boatload of N 95 masks for people to breathe if they’re outside. I did see a reporting elsewhere that says, yeah, you cannot say these fires are directly the result of climate change, but what you can say is climate change greatly increases the danger of fires and that they are burning hotter.

In the air of climate change, I what? What we do know is we’ve never seen anything like this. I mean, the air has been bizarre. It seemed a little bit clear yesterday, but the story seems to say, look out today.

[00:14:32] Laura: Yeah. It says that that haze that was over New York City, and I think most people have seen those apocalyptic looking pictures of the skyline over Manhattan, that that is headed this way.

So, I mean, that looked like nighttime in the middle of the day. If we get that, we’re not seeing it yet, that’s gonna be really bad. And if you’ve noticed this, Um, kind of burning, uh, the fine particulate matter in your eyes or your throat. You can feel it. That’s the infor inflammation that could ex exacerbate asthma and C O [00:15:00] P D.

So you can, I mean, I think, Chris, you were telling me your eyes were watering and you didn’t know if it was allergies or this particulate matter. And it’s

[00:15:05] Chris: definitely particular matter. My allergies are over. They were burning in a way I hadn’t. Encountered before, and then it dawned on me it’s this, this stuff in the air.

Um, it, it’s, it’s just, I’ve never seen anything like it, none of us have, when you look around, especially from long distances, it becomes very noticeable. Um, I, I imagine that there’s some incredible sunset photos to be taken on Lake Erie. Yeah.

[00:15:29] Laura: If you, that haze accentuates the orange glow.

[00:15:34] Chris: You’re listening to today in Ohio.

Laura, check out. We’ll, uh, continue on without you. All right. We’ve set a record for how long we’ve gone without a US attorney in the Cleveland District. Lisa, do we finally, finally have a nomination from Joe Biden.

[00:15:49] Lisa: Yes. And hopefully this one will stick because the last one ran into a little bit of trouble.

But, uh, he chose Becky Lusko from the Hinckley area to head the US Attorney’s Office [00:16:00] in the Northern District of Ohio. She’s been a federal prosecutor since 2005, handling several high profile cases, including Akron Pill Mill doctor who got 10 years for prescribing hundreds of thousands of opioids, and the nationwide pill mill ring that sent.

13 people to prison. She has been the Appellate Division chief since 2017. She also served as a Hinckley Township trustee, 2018 to 2020. And the Northern District of Ohio has been without a permanent US attorney since Justin Herdman left in January, 2021, and that’s the longest in the 166 year history of the office.

Lusko, of course, must be confirmed by the Senate, but she, brown says he supports the outstanding nominee. He’s he. You know, um, so he’s ready to nominate her when we reached out to j d Vance for his comment, but we haven’t heard back yet. But Justin Herdman, the former US attorney, says he’s pleased with the nomination and says that Lutz Go’s outstanding [00:17:00] service as an assistant, US attorney and supervisor is unparalleled.

[00:17:05] Chris: Yeah, I, it, it seems like she’s more than qualified. Uh, I’m, I’m a little bit surprised they could find somebody to take this job so late in Biden’s term. Mm-hmm. Because, you know, you’ll be out in 18 months unless he’s reelected.

[00:17:20] Lisa: Well, uh, I don’t know how many presidents, like, you know, get new US attorneys in different districts.

I don’t know. That’s a good question.

[00:17:27] Chris: They generally, pretty much throw ‘em all out. That’s what happened to Herdman. It’s too bad that, that, that Biden wouldn’t let Herdman continue until he replaced them, because Herdman was doing a good job. And we, we have chronicled the effects of not having one. They haven’t been prosecuting cases.

Michael O’Malley has taken some of the FBI’s cases cuz the US Attorney’s office won’t do it like the East Cleveland Corrupt police. So hopefully they’ll quickly give her the confirmation so we can get somebody. Directing the office again, you’re listening [00:18:00] to today and, oh, hey, oh Layla, how much is Cleveland kicking in?

To support the Grand Vision Bedrock has for the Riverfront

[00:18:06] Leila: Cleveland will be kicking in 3 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for this effort. Council approved it this week during their final meeting before summer break. Specifically, this money will fund improvements to West Third Street. It’ll move sewer utilities and demolish Eagle Avenue ramp facilities from west third to Ontario streets, and that will set the stage for this grand vision of.

Of Bedrock, a company that’s headed by cabs owner Dan Gilbert. And the vision here is this massive expansion of the Tower City Center area. By adding 2000 housing units, 850,000 square feet of office space and a 12 acre park, the project would connect public square to the Kago River and, and give a, a purpose to land that is currently.

Unused and bedrock is also gonna contribute 4.2 million toward these improvements, uh, on the front end that [00:19:00] are necessary for this project. And this whole thing should take about 15 to 20 years to complete. So maybe when I’m a senior citizen, I will get to see a beautiful lakefront. Hope I have grandchildren who will wheel me down to see.

[00:19:16] Chris: Yeah. But you know, you think back to the Towpath trail, that was the same thing 20 years ago. This grand vision that would take two decades to get in place, but we have it. So it’s, uh, it’s good to invest in the future, even if. Some of us may not be around to experience it and look they’re flush with money.

It’s so bizarre how flush with money the governments are right now cuz we’ve lived through times when they have none. Frank Jackson spent most of his time as mayor with two pennies to scratch together. Right? They were always trying to find a couple extra bucks and Justin Bib is a role in an extra money.

I know. Um, and so they just keep spending it on on things. At least this is. A worthwhile project.

[00:19:56] Leila: Yeah, it’s visionary it, it will be cool.

[00:19:59] Chris: One day. [00:20:00] Much better investment than in a baseball stadium, a football stadium, or an arena you’re listening to Today in Ohio has the bloom finally fallen from the rose on casinos and casinos in Ohio.

They’ve been on a record run for a long while in raking in the dough. Lisa, has that finally changed?

[00:20:18] Lisa: I don’t know. It might be just a statistical blip, but we’ll see. Uh, revenue at the 11 casinos and casinos in Ohio dipped in April to 204.6 million. That’s 11 million less. Than April of last year. The April record for gambling revenue was set in 2021.

They raked in over 217 million that year. Uh, total revenue though has increased every year since 2012 when the first casino opened. Um, uh, and gambling totals because we had a really strong. January through March and gambling, and this doesn’t include sports betting, but gambling totals are still ahead of last year because of this strong first quarter of this year.

So [00:21:00] the four casinos ha made so far have made 86.5 million. That’s. Um, down from last year, but the RINOs, uh, made 118.1 million and, and I remind people that RINOs only have slot machines. And, you know, locally, MGM, Northfield, uh, actually made more in April than the year before. 26 and a half million Jack thistle down 16.7 million.

That’s down a bit. And also Jack Casino Cleveland was down a bit to 21.9 million. So yeah, we’re seeing a little bit of a slowdown. Not sure why, but it might be just a blip.

[00:21:36] Chris: It was kind of a lousy weather month too. Yeah. I wonder if that just discouraged people from wanting to go out. It was, remember it was cold and rainy and not all that pleasant.

And listening to today in Ohio, space Force sounds like a cheesy science fiction movie, but it’s the agency Donald Trump created as president to protect space. There’s an effort to base it in Ohio. Leila, who’s [00:22:00] behind that? Well,

[00:22:01] Leila: so the backstory, space Force Headquarters was initially supposed to go to Alabama.

But a 2022 general accounting office report found that improper selection criteria for the headquarters were used in, in an election year to favor strongly Republican, Alabama over more Democratic Colorado. So that prompted a reconsideration of the location, and it sounds like Ohio Republicans and Democrats.

Both want it here specifically they’re pitching the Wright Patterson Air Force base in Dayton as the ideal location with additional US Space Force outposts in, in Ohio. In partnership with the nasa John Glenn Research Center’s Neil Armstrong test facility in Sandusky, and in a letter signed by all the state’s, democratic US Congress members, as well as Republican US representatives, Dave Joyce of South Russell and Max Miller of Rocky River.

They said Ohio’s numerous industry and [00:23:00] university partners create a synergy around national security and space that is unmatched around the country. Uh, governor DeWine and, and other local officials tried to make their own pitch to put Space Force at Rice Patterson in 2020. They, that said, you know, back then they said the Dayton area’s ideally positioned to host the facility, given that it’s already home to.

The National Air and Space Center, air Force Research Laboratory, air Force Institute of Technology in the 18th Intelligence Squadron. But it was interesting that US Senator JD Vance says he’s not signing this letter because he doesn’t think Ohio stands a chance and he won’t put his name on anything that won’t move the needle.

So

[00:23:44] Lisa: well, it,

[00:23:45] Chris: it, it is odd. I mean, look, let’s face it right now, Ohio is a red state and we have a blue administration. Um, and we’re getting redder and more ridiculous as a state every day. Why would they think that the administration would put it here? I think [00:24:00] Vance is right. It doesn’t have a chance. I

[00:24:01] Leila: agree.

NBC News has said that, you know, Joe Biden wants to leave Space Force. In Colorado Springs, which was a its startup location because of Alabama’s very restrictive abortion laws. And that’s, that’s exactly why I think JD Vance is right. Ohio won’t be chosen for this cuz we’re Alabama light.

[00:24:20] Chris: Right. Right. I mean, I, JD Vance.

He’s interesting cuz he, he does the dog whistle stuff almost every week, but then he does things that make eminent sense. I mean, he’s, he’s right. This is a pointless waste of time and he doesn’t want to join something that he knows won’t work. On the other hand, yesterday, I don’t know if you saw, he put out a thing where he wants to limit.

The fees MasterCard and Visa get, which seems very anti-Republican, right? You’re interfering with commerce. He says it’s because they have a monopoly. They get 80% of the money. They’ve raised it to the point where it’s hurting [00:25:00] consumers and he wants to increase competition. Which would be good for consumers, but it’s also a Republican interfering with banking and business, which seems to run counter to Republicans say.

So interesting noise from JD Vance.

[00:25:15] Lisa: He’s an interesting person and I, I’ve said this on the podcast before, it’s kind of hard to figure him out because he’s done a lot of bipartisan things. He and she Brown have worked together and let’s not forget, he was a never Trumper until he started, you know, running for office.

So I wonder if this is about political expediency. I, I

[00:25:33] Chris: don’t know. I, I mean, and he’s done some really terrible things like, you know, I mean, use the, the mass killing to, you know, this is what happens when people are trans. I mean, he’s done some things that are truly outrageous and cruel. But like you said, he’s surprised you with where he’s come from, and I, I still don’t think we know what makes that guy tick if mm-hmm.

If anything makes that guy tick. Anyway, you’re listening to today in [00:26:00] Ohio, we’re gonna give you some time back. That’s it for Thursday. Come on back Friday when we wrap up the news. Thanks Lisa. Thanks Leila. Thanks Laura. Thank you for listening.