Cleveland, OH
Quotes From Koby Altman’s End-Of-Season Cavs Press Conference
Cleveland Cavaliers president Koby Altman addressed the media on Friday morning to discuss a number of topics around the team, including a heartfelt parting statement for J.B. Bickerstaff, what the organization is looking for in its head coach, Donovan Mitchell‘s contract, the Core Four, optimism in-house and more.
Watch the full press conference courtesy of Cavs Insider on X:
Koby Altman End Of Season Press Conference | May 24, 2024 https://t.co/cSzMTc1Ewv
— Cavs Insider (@CavsInsider_FN) May 24, 2024
Here is the press conference in its entirety transcribed:
Opening statement on J.B. Bickerstaff and the Cavs parting ways
Obviously we made an announcement yesterday regarding J.B.’s future here with us. We would like to thank J.B. for all his contributions to this franchise, this organization. I think it’s undeniable the amount of success he’s had with us pushing us from a rebuild to where we are now. What makes this even more difficult is he was an incredible partner and personally a friend of mine, and we love him as a human being, so that makes it even more difficult.
I want to send a special thank you to Nikki Bickerstaff, his wife and their kids and their family. They dove into this community like none other. They’re a fabric of the community. They gave tremendous contributions to Cleveland, and so we just want to thank them for their time here. I wish them obviously nothing but the best. We will move forward, but they’ll always be a big part of our story.
What changed from last year to this year that made you go in this direction?
So I’ll say again, tremendously difficult decision. I’m not going to go into sort of any shortcomings or negatives about J.B. It’s not something that he did specifically. I think for us it’s, with this group, finding someone with a new approach, someone with a different voice, a fresh set of eyes to help us move forward. We’ve accomplished a lot in the last few years getting to a conference semifinals and we don’t want to be complacent. We don’t want to be content with that.
And so, what are the levers that we can push and pull to get to that next level? We feel we’re not far off. We feel we have a tremendous amount of talent in-house. We have players that believe in each other, believe in this organization and think they’re pretty close. And so it’s not one singular thing that J.B. did wrong. It’s how do we continue to move this thing forward because we don’t think we’re far off.
At this point, have you gotten assurances from Donovan Mitchell that he’s going to sign long-term with you guys?
One, we can’t talk to Donovan now about the contract until July. I’ll say that my exit interview with him was really good in that he was talking about the future and how excited he was about the team, the organization. This is a player that has had two of the best years of his career here, has had a lot of success here, understands the infrastructure, I think has a lot of trust in what we’re doing and understands that our goal is to win a championship. And again, when we’re talking to him about the future here, getting his feedback, it’s all about, ‘How do we make this thing better? How do we achieve this together? How do we win in the future?’
And so, I take those as very positive things. From his own words, he says he’s happy here, he likes it here. He’s always been very genuine. He’s always been very intentional. He’s been a great teammate, and we have to take all that at face value and say, ‘Okay, we feel good about where we are with Donovan.’ Obviously things could change. In terms of his contract future, it’s nothing we can talk about until July.
How much influence does Donovan have on the team and coaching decisions?
So, last summer, he had a lot of influence in terms of how much he helped us recruit free agents to be here. Listen, you’ve talked to him. He’s a highly intellectual basketball junkie, and so I would love to have some of his input in terms of what we want to do in the future. And yeah, I absolutely would love his feedback in how we continue to build this thing. I think he’s been very influential in helping us land some free agents. That conversation will come for sure.
Do you think that Donovan and Darius [Garland] work together as well as you thought they would, or do you see an issue there?
I don’t. I think that’s overblown. I’ll say this. I think there’s way more data that speaks to it works than doesn’t. In the last two years combined — because they’ve been together for two years — there’s a lot of data that we can look at. And so, over the last two years, including the playoffs, they’re a net positive plus-five together on the floor. Everyone wants to throw out the first year together when Darius actually had one of the best years of his career; he wasn’t an All-Star, but he actually had more efficiency and that was with Donovan. They have a great relationship on and off the court. I think the other thing that we have to realize is that this is just Year 2 of this iteration of this team. Zooming out a little bit, when you look at some of the most successful teams over the past decade that had real success in the playoffs, they’ve had a long run at this thing.
Going back to Golden State, that’s been together for 12 years that core. You look at Milwaukee, that’s been together almost 11 years; Giannis [Antetokounmpo] and Khris Middleton and their run together, right? That’s 11 years. Boston, I want to say seven years together and they’re still knocking at the door for that championship. But that’s been a core that’s been together for seven years, had a lot of success together. Obviously Denver, when you look at [Nikola] Jokic and Jamal Murray for eight years.
We’re just in Year 2 of this iteration and we got to a conference semis; we’re not content with that, but there’s a lot of runway left and there’s a lot of learning left to be with this core. And listen, I think this pairing has a chance to be really successful together and the data speaks to that over the last two years.
Do you anticipate not breaking that pairing of Mitchell and Garland up?
I don’t see why we should, and the same thing goes to the fit of the Evan Mobley–Jarrett Allen (duo); that fit actually has a higher net rating than our guards. I think the other thing too, there’s a depth of talent here that’s really, really good. And when you look at the landscape of the league and how long (the season is), like 82 games, we can’t discount injuries. It’s a part of our game. It’s a horrible part of the playoffs this year. When Darius and Evan went down, it was really nice to have Donovan and Jarrett keep us at a really competitive level. Same thing when Jarrett goes down in this playoffs with a broken rib, it’s really nice to flex Evan into that 5 spot. We don’t compete without Evan being in that 5 spot. And so, I know people want to talk about the fit. I push back on that in terms of just the net ratings, but I also want to talk about the depth of talent here. That’s really good. That keeps us alive when we have to go through some injury spells.
What were your expectations for this season and did all of this match what you expected?
I wanted to be highly competitive in the playoffs. We had a taste of the playoffs last year, fell short with a young roster and inexperienced. This year, I wanted to be highly competitive in the playoffs. I think we were. Obviously, we weren’t whole. I’m not going to make excuses; I think a lot of teams are going through what we went through, so we can’t just say this is a Cavaliers thing in terms of the injuries. Look, it’s hard to say this season wasn’t a success when you look at (being in) our first conference semifinals since 2018. We were disappointed with how it ended, but certainly through a lot of adversity this year got to a point where we can look back and say, ‘Okay, we’re going in the right direction. We’re having success in the playoffs and we’re setting ourselves up in the future for a real run.’
And that’s the key. That’s the key is really diving deep into, ‘What are the levers we can pull where we can clean up some things?’ How do we maximize some talent in-house to give ourselves a chance to make a run like some of the teams I talked about that are seven, eight, nine years into this thing and really knocking at the door of championships, if not won a championship. We’re just in Year 2 of this thing.
How high do you rate that you need to get an experienced head coach? With John Beilein, when you had to make a change, you had J.B. there. There’s high expectations for your team. So in terms of that, describe the profile of your next head coach.
I’d be lying to you if I said I’ve already dove into a list of people and criteria. We’re going to take the weekend, decompress, come back Tuesday and really sit down with the staff and go over those questions. It’s a massive undertaking. First of all, when you had a person, a man as good as J.B. to get to the conclusion of, ‘Okay, we need to go in different directions.’ That has taken up all my mind capacity along with the (NBA Draft) Combine and LA draft workouts. We’re going to take the weekend and come back and really map out what that is.
We haven’t had a search for five years. We’ve had real continuity here — front office, bench —and so we haven’t had a search in five years. That search five years ago is completely different than this one. This is a very highly-specific job requirement in terms of the questions we’re going to ask. Very, very specific to the talent level, very specific to how we can achieve even more than we have and obviously some characteristics that we talk about from a cultural standpoint. But they’re gonna be very highly-specific questions that I think I’ll have, but I can answer you more next week in terms of criteria, experience and starting to compile a list.
This time last year you were very adamant there was no real need to look at major roster alterations and you were true to your word. Do you have that same thought process right now that you don’t need to make any major decisions/alterations? Is that something you would be open to this offseason if the opportunity presented itself?
Yeah, I don’t see a major sweeping changes. I just don’t. Like I said, more data speaks to ‘this works’ than ‘it doesn’t.’ You can’t win 99 games over the regular season, make it to a conference semis and be like, ‘This doesn’t work.’ Again, this just being Year 2 of this iteration of this core being together, I have a lot of excitement for the future for this group and belief in this group. The other piece that the outside doesn’t see — you meet with every player and they have a really strong belief in the core of the group, their fellow teammates; they think they can win here. There’s a lot of camaraderie and belief, and they like each other. So it’s hard for me to glean anything other than, How do we pour more into the group that we have?’ Sure, there’s some moves you can make around the peripheral, but what are the levers we can pull? What can we tighten up? Where’s our upside? Where’s the low hanging fruit in-house to elevate this thing?
And like I said, way more data speaks to how much more success we’ve had with this group than it does — I think the outside perception of — fit. We’ve won too many games, we’ve had playoff success and we’re still young. I mean, we haven’t even talked about Evan Mobley and his ascension. He’s continuing to get better. He’s only known postseason basketball since he’s been drafted. And to see him elevate in Game 5 vs. Boston on the road and be the best player on the floor that night leads me to believe we have so much more to grow with him. And so, there’s a lot more in-house than I need to find outside of this building. There’s a lot of belief in our players and each other in this organization, and so, I don’t see the need to make sweeping changes.
There’s a lot of conversation about floor spacing and this year, that 18-2 run really showed a lot. So how do you create that floor spacing with the two bigs? Where’s the balance there and how do you create that while maintaining the continuity of this Core Four?
I think, one, the net ratings with both of them on the floor together is positive, from Jarrett and Evan and from Darius and Donovan. Both positive to almost the tune of plus-five when they’re both on the floor together. I think it speaks to the depth of what we can do from an offensive standpoint. Why can’t we do both, you know what I mean? Could it get a little clunky with two bigs on the floor? Guess what, on the other side, we’re really good defensively. That’s been true since we’ve had these two together. It’s been an incredible defensive group and that helps us win games in the fourth quarter as well.
Do we need to look at diversifying the offense? Sure, that’s something that we need to do. Evan continues to space the floor and we want him to shoot more threes. He was in the thirties this year and that’s something that we’re going to continue to elevate in his game and again, continue to get better. This is not the end of the story for this group. It’d be one thing if we just maximized everything, put everything into this group and just kept falling short. Again, this is just Year 2, Evan’s just 22 years old. Jarrett’s the oldest 26-year-old I’ve ever been around. And so, I just think we have a runway here to figure it out and give ’em a chance at it.
How much does the development of Evan and Darius weigh into offseason decisions, the head coaching and even some of the roster positions you guys will address?
So the Evan piece is a really fascinating study because the balance of developing a top-three pick and the talent that he has with us trying to win big is really difficult. That’s difficult for a head coach. That’s difficult for an organization because if we weren’t trying to win big, I’m sure we could have rolled the ball out and had Evan scoring 20 points a game. But that means Evan Mobley’s probably not in the conference semifinals either, competing at the highest level. And so when you look at a top-three pick like Evan, it’s very rare that they played postseason basketball since the day they were drafted. He played in two Play-in tournament games his first year, played in the first round last year. into the conference semis this year. We feel that’s a huge part of his development, just playing meaningful games as part of it. Did we get away from unlocking his potential fully? A little bit this year, and I think that needs to be a focal point into the summer of how we can unlock him only because it’s going to make our team even better and give us a chance to elevate to a higher level. It’s going to unlock not just him but this organization. So that’s certainly a focal point.
Darius knows he needs to have a major offseason. Him seeing the physicality of that series, of both series really, is something that I think he’s going to grow from. He had a tough year in terms of the injury piece, losing all that weight from the jaw injury, never regaining that. Trying to (reintegrate) himself to a team that was rolling as well was hard for him. And I think he knows this needs to be a big offseason for him. But I love the experience we’re giving our young guys. It’s invaluable when you’re playing in a high-level playoff series, playing against the No. 1 team in the NBA from a record standpoint in the Boston Celtics, going up against that experience. Evan by far is the youngest guy on the floor, the next was Darius. And so that’s a core we’re really excited about going into the future and giving them that experience in the playoffs was huge this year.
You mentioned the Boston’s, the Denver’s, Milwaukee’s, Golden State’s. It seems like increasingly those teams are the outliers. A lot of the league changes around every summer. So how do you balance your “long runway” idea with maintaining urgency?
I think when you speak to the urgency, it went into the decision to dismiss J.B. It’s part of it. It’s not being complacent, it’s not saying, ‘You know what, we know we’re going to get back here next year, so let’s just roll it out again. We know that we have a 22-year-old Evan who’s going to continue to get better, so we’ve got time at this thing.’ That’s not the task at hand. The task is looking at every part of our organization and having that urgency, not being complacent. Going into this offseason, look, it’s, it’s a major decision to let go of your head coach. It is, after a half decade with him. It’s a major, massive undertaking to do a coaching search. And we’re going to embark on that and find the right leader to help push us forward. And yes, I think there’s a long runway in terms of the talent, the guys that are under contract, that’s exciting. But from a man, in my office on the way out, every player said, ‘We’re right there. We want to win this thing. We think we’re very close,’ which is exciting for me. And now, I have to find different levers to figure out how we can realize that potential.
How do you feel you guys have done as a front office pulling the levers? How do you feel about your place in the organization right now?
Listen, I think that’s for you guys to decide. What we’ve done, I think, in a relatively short amount of time, we’ve rebuilt this thing to where it is now. Not so long ago we were at 22 wins, and if we stayed like that, I wouldn’t be here. So I think we’ve had a tremendous amount of success, but I would leave that to you guys to decide the job we do.
Did you expect more from Max Strus and Georges Niang, especially Niang in playoffs?
Yeah. I think Georges would tell you, and he told me in the office, he knows he can be better in the playoffs. He knows he could have been better in the playoffs just in terms of shot-making. What he gave us over the regular season was 82 games. He’s one of the only guys that played all 82 games. He brought a toughness, competitiveness. He was serious, but also so lighthearted that… we went through a lot of adversity this year. The projected starting five only played 28 games together. When they did, we were 18-10, so it was pretty good. I think he would tell you that from a shot-making standpoint, he could have been a lot better in the playoffs. He did bring a lot to us during the regular season, which is part of it. And I think he knows from his standpoint what this offseason means. But he still has a lot of belief in this program.
Max had the best year of his career statistically. If you ask him, he thinks he can do better. He thinks he can shoot better. There’s things he wants to do better from a playing standpoint. I didn’t know about the playmaking. We thought we were getting a basketball player. We didn’t know that he was going to have the best year of his career from a statistic standpoint — passing, rebounding, defense. He brought a lot of intensity, a lot of seriousness, and he was the first one to say we’re not content with just making the second round. This is a guy, before us, that went to two (NBA) Finals and a conference finals in between. So he has a lot of internal data of what that looks like and how you get back there. And so we love his leadership, we love his feedback. We’re very, very happy with him and his play and his leadership and his fearlessness. There’s the toughness, the grit. I mean we put him against the best wings in the world and he competed and gave us a chance on that end. He’s a much better basketball player than I felt when we acquired him.
How much pressure do you feel to make the right hire, make this work?
Absolutely have to find the right leader. There’s pressure in everything we do, so I get the importance of this. There was nothing that J.B. did categorically wrong to say that now we have to get this right. I think there was a lot of things we did incredibly well over the last four-and-a-half years that he was at the helm. I think, going back to the original statement, what’s a fresh set of eyes look like? What’s a new approach look like with this particular group? And how can this new candidate really or new head coach really push us to the next level?
You haven’t run a search for years, so what are the mechanics of this that you can share about who else is involved? And to what extent is Dan Gilbert playing a role?
Dan will for sure play a role at the end when I sort of present him with our finalists. Dan gives incredible insight. I love when he’s involved because it’s just helpful. It gives you support, but also, he thinks outside the box, he pushes you. And so I’d say, at the end, he certainly would have a big influence on what we do. Obviously our front office will run the search. There’s a lot of hours, days, weeks that pour into this decision. There’s hours spent with the candidates, there’s phone calls, there’s backgrounds. And so from just a mechanics standpoint, we’re going to take the weekend off right now just to decompress a little bit. I know people already have lists that we have, but it’s not true. We’re going to come back on Tuesday, we’re going to go over characteristics, what are the specific questions that we have, and then start to compile a list and then, go from there.
Why did it take you a week and a half to come to this decision on J.B.?
One, there wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction. It wasn’t like, ‘Oh, this is not going to work.’ There’s been too much success for us to have that conclusion after one day. It was going to take several days to really dive deep into the evaluation of J.B., who deserved that. There was time spent with him as well during this process that he deserved and I thought was really healthy in terms of our dialogue. And then also, not to make excuses, but when you play a little deeper into the playoffs, it puts you right up against the draft. And so, we were dealing with the draft combine while playing Boston, so going back-and-forth. Last week, we we’re out in LA for agent workouts. So not that it slowed it down, but it certainly added to what we had to do. Obviously we have the 20th pick in the draft. The draft is immensely important to what we do. And so those two things together sort of put us to where we are now. But I wouldn’t have said it would have been appreciably earlier anyway. These are just the things that we’ve had to deal with over the last week.
Is there anything J.B. could have said or promised to get one more crack at it?
That’s a good question. I think for us, again — keep going back with this particular group — I think a new approach was needed.
With the input that you received directly from players during the exit interviews, did that provide anything as far as making the decision for the coaching change?
So we always take input from the players. I think it’s definitely a valuable exercise. At the end of the day, the decision has to come from me and no particular player or players. I have to do what’s right and find the right match for this set of players, this group that we hope will have a long runway and a lot of playoff success, and identifying who that is. And so, we got a lot of positive feedback from players. You get negative impact from players, but my job is to listen, decipher through all of that and come to a conclusion. There’s feedback that helps us as a front office that has nothing to do with coaches. There’s feedback from an organizational standpoint of how we can get better. Those are the questions I’m asking too. How do we make this the best place for you to be successful? That’s a driving force behind what we do. There’s a lot of things we talk about, not just the coaching staff, but how we can improve, and we take that feedback seriously. But at the end of the day, from a coaching standpoint, that’s my decision.
You said that the starting five only played 28 games together. Is it just coincidence or is it something that you think training-wise something needs to be changed or updated?
There’s a few things. That is the hardest thing that we have to do. Figuring out this injury thing is not just particular to the Cavs. We had a hard year this year from an injury standpoint. Last year, we were actually pretty good from a games missed standpoint. Zooming out and looking at the league as a whole, I’ve never seen a playoffs like this where we’ve seen this many stars out; that was not specific to just the Cavs. I think just looking at the landscape of the long season and what it entails now… I think it’s a really good question. How do we solve this player injury piece? We have more meaningful games now during the regular season than we’ve ever had.
We’ve added the In-Season Tournament, the NBA Cup that has I think five games of group play, that intensity gets risen, right? Those are playoff-level intensity games that are in the beginning of the season. The Play-In Tournament at the end of the season — which we thought was going to elevate the teams at the bottom to try to make it at the end and make a run at it — the unintended consequences, the top-six teams don’t want to lose and drop out of it. So for the last few weeks of the season, you see a huge ramp-up in load and playing in meaningful games. And then, the league adding the Player Participation program — 65 games or less — puts another burden on this usage. And so now you’re going into the playoffs and over the course of 82 games, how much have we expended on these players’ bodies?
It’s something we need to figure out, something we need to study. We need to figure out how to manage five games in seven days, three games in four days. It’s a lot of games in one month. These are big questions for us, and it’s something that we’re trying to figure out to be better at. But you can clearly see this is not just a Cavs issue. We need to figure out how to navigate 82 games and then playoffs and then, us specifically, Post All-Star into playoffs how are we playing our best basketball and how are we healthy? Because if you look at it, and there are great teams still playing, but they’re the most healthy teams that are still playing. And that’s something that we’re studying.
Branching off of that, over the course of an 82-game season, managing a rotation, having it shorter — do you think that all had any effect second half drop-offs the last couple of years? Do you think that also plays into it?
I think the one silver lining of the injuries was we actually figured out we had some depth. You saw the emergence of a Sam Merrill, which is incredible, hugely important for us moving forward. You saw undrafted rookie Craig Porter Jr. figuring out that he has a real chance at this thing and to be successful and be a rotational player. Obviously you don’t want to have injuries, but these are some of the silver linings that we figured out that we have real depth of this roster. And then to your point, how are we using that depth over the 82 games? Really diving into, ‘How are we breaking up the season into segments?’ when we want to be playing our best after All-Star and being healthy into the playoffs. Those are crucial questions. I think we have the roster to navigate that a little bit better.
Did Donovan’s contract status or Donovan’s views at all impact the decision to fire J.B.?
No.
What is your timeline for wanting to have a new coach in place?
That’s a good question. I think we’d love to have a coach in place for the draft. I think that might be even… that’d be probably too aggressive of a timeline. It’s when we come up with the right decision for who’s the right match for this group. And if it has to drag on a little longer, it does. This is such an important decision for us. Like I said, we haven’t had a search in a half decade, so we need to get back together as a group and really talk about criteria, the specific questions, who we want from a cultural standpoint, create a list and then really dive deep into those candidates, get to a finalist. But I wouldn’t say it’s something that we need to rush.
You’re not the only team that’s looking for a coach. Obviously other teams started that process before you. Is there any concern that they’re ahead of the game when it comes to that and you could miss out on somebody that you want?
Potentially, but that doesn’t mean we need to speed up our process.
Jarrett had a broken rib, obviously this was a significant setback for this year’s team. What is your view of his injury situation?
It was massive. The most important player we had all year in terms of games played and his value. He played 81 straight games. Having a pierced rib, I’ve never had a broken rib, but I’ve had several people reach out to me about how much it hurts. You can’t drive to work, you can’t sleep, you can’t tie your sneakers. To give you some insight to what Jarrett did, I mean Jarrett tried to give it a go. I mean to the last day-and-a-half, he was trying to go up and down on this floor and do some real basketball moves. It’s hard to play basketball if you can’t raise your arms over your head. I know there was speculation of more stuff he could have done. It’s impossible to play through what he was playing through. It was a pierced rib.
What do you think you’re missing to get to that next level?
You mean from a roster standpoint? Again, I have great belief in the talent here. You know what I mean? If I didn’t, I would say we’re going to look at all these different things and maybe breaking up the core and trying to bring other guys in here. I think around the margins, how do we get better? How do we maximize the talent we have in-house? And really try to pull levers that we have here from every angle that we can look at to maximize what we have in-house. And so we’ll look. We’ve been super aggressive in the past.
This front office, we’ve made some sweeping changes. We’ve made some sweeping moves before. To the Jarrett Allen question, Jarrett has a lot of equity here. I mean, we traded for Jared and the whole trajectory of the rebuild changes, right? You go out and trade for a Lauri Markkanen, who helps us achieve great level of success that future year. And then you go out and get a Donovan Mitchell, which is a monumental trade for a franchise.
So we’ve made some major changes. We made some real injections of talent into this roster. And so now’s the time to figure out, ‘Okay, how do we win with this big?’ Because we have had a lot of success with this group. You don’t win 99 games and be back-to-back home-court-advantage playoff teams without that. And now it’s trying to figure out how to go further.
Why was Jarrett’s injury listed as contusion? And did you feel like you had to do any repairing of the relationship with Jarrett because of the report that painted him in a certain kind of light?
That’s a good question. I mean, it’s all semantics in terms of what you want to list it for. No strain on the relationship though.
Cleveland, OH
Why doesn’t Jon Husted want China to know your kid is reading ‘Go. Dog. Go!?’ Today in Ohio
CLEVELAND, Ohio – U.S. Sen. Jon Husted is urging the federal Treasury Department to investigate a Chinese company’s acquisition of Epic, a reading platform that reaches students in nearly every American elementary school.
We’re talking about what the technology does and what information it could send to China on Today in Ohio.
Listen online here.
Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.
You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.
Here’s what we’re asking about today:
Why is Sen. Jon Husted worried about China learning what American kids are reading? Is Go Dog Go some kind of state secret?
Ohio had been planning to change how it pays daycare centers in a way to help them be more stable. Why is it postponing that move?
First, Frank LaRose loved a system where states could share information about voters, to combat fraud. Then, after MAGA activists criticized the system, LaRose withdrew from it. Is he back now in a new system that does pretty much the same thing? What happens when MAGA attacks it?
Before Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb solicited proposed for developing the lakefront land around Browns stadium, he had thousands of touchpoints with the public about what they want. What did they say?
Rocky River schools have been through the ringer with inappropriate behavior by adults, and one of the egregious cases involves the former school resource officer at the high school. What did he do, and what is his sentence?
What is City Councilman Richard Starr saying about the investigation into the devastating Rainbow terrace fire from earlier this year?
How hot a ticket is Kamala Harris on her book tour, and when is she coming to Cleveland?
Out sister site in Alabama has an investigative project out this week on how a pesticide is linked to Parkinson’s Disease, and one of the people they profile is an Ohioan. What’s the gist of the project, and who is the Ohioan?
Speaking of Parkinson’s, how big of a problem is it in Ohio compared to other states?
We have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here.
Do you get your podcasts on Spotify? Find us here.
RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here.
On PodParadise, find us here.
And on PlayerFM, we are here.
Chris Quinn (00:01.265)
It’s Tuesday on Today in Ohio as our week, we’re weak and our year winds down. It’s the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Leila Tassi, Lisa Garvin, and Laura Johnston. Leila, why is Senator John Husted so worried about China learning what American kids are reading? Is Go Dog Go some kind of a state secret?
Leila (00:27.123)
Oh my gosh. I feel like we’ve been talking a lot about Go.Go. But Houston and three other Republican senators are asking the Treasury Department to take a hard look at this popular kids reading app called Epic. And parents know what this is. This is the app that teachers use in class and parents use it at home. It’s in about 94 % of U.S. elementary schools and it reaches something like 75 million kids.
That’s the scale that has everyone’s antennas up because Epic was just bought out of bankruptcy for $95 million by a company tied to China called Tal Education Group. And that’s where Houston’s concern kicks in. The app tracks kids’ reading habits in real time, what they read, how fast they read, what they like. So teachers can tailor instruction. But the senators worry that because the new owner is subject to Chinese intelligence and data security laws,
that information could theoretically be accessed by the Chinese government. So this isn’t really about China cracking the code on Go.Go, but it is about children’s data privacy and whether a foreign adversary should own a platform embedded in nearly every elementary school in America. And the senators are also concerned about editorial control. They argue that whoever owns Epic controls what books and learning materials kids see.
And they draw a straight line to past concerns over Confucius Institutes and Chinese influence in US education. Houston’s framing is that parents want more say in curriculum, not less, and certainly not through a platform owned by a company tied to Beijing. So it’s also worth noting the sale already went through US Bankruptcy Court and a judge allowed it despite last minute Justice Department concern. this letter is essentially asking for a retroactive national security review.
Chris Quinn (02:19.757)
So am I reading it right that this company knows each kid by name? They know what John Smith is reading in real time, or is it more they can see generally what people are reading? Is it individualized data?
Leila (02:38.308)
I, if you drill down to that level, I’m sure you can get individualized data because each kid uses this. It’s sort of like an e-reading application. So.
Chris Quinn (02:49.211)
So China could use this data to build a massive database of pretty much what 95 % of the kids in America, who they are, what their rough age is, what their proficiency is in reading, how smart they are, what subjects they’re interested in. They would have access to all of that. Wow.
Leila (03:10.364)
Potentially, I guess you could say you could make that argument.
Chris Quinn (03:13.967)
It’s kind of frightening. I don’t think any parent when they sign up for something like this thinks that that data could be scattered to the wind like that. And it seems like they’re kind of too late here that there ought to be better guardrails and protecting kids names. I mean, should every kid in America be in a database that can be handed around like that just because a company that is beholden to China buys it. It’s an interesting conundrum, but what do you do now?
The sale’s already gone through, China likely already has the data.
Leila (03:48.264)
Yeah, you know, I kind of thought it was a little funny and ironic though that that they’re concerned about the government overreach into education when it comes to, you know, the Chinese government being able to determine what materials kids engage with, because that, course, is is the province of Republicans, right? Only Republicans can decide which ideas are dangerous and which lessons cross a political line that
Chris Quinn (04:10.223)
Right.
Leila (04:16.764)
that kind of thought policing is, you know, is in their wheelhouse. So they can’t give that up to the Chinese. That’s our job. I know it’s a first thing I thought of. was like, that’s right.
Chris Quinn (04:23.611)
Yeah. We don’t want China brainwashing you. That’s our job. That’s our province. What are you doing? Get out of this. Right. Jerry Serino wants inside those kids’ heads. Get China out. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Ohio had been planning to change how it pays daycare centers in a way that would help them be more stable. We talked about this earlier in the year as a great idea to help fortify our much needed daycare. Why is it postponing that move, Laura?
Laura (04:53.761)
because it’s a Biden rule and the Trump administration says, you don’t have to do this. We’re going to change the rule anyway. Because right now, child care providers who are paid through the government are based on child attendance. So if a kid misses a day, whether they’re sick or their parents stays home with them or something else, that provider doesn’t get paid for that day, even though the staffing is the same, the planning is the same, the space and the food and all of that is the same. So it would make…
Daycare and childcare centers a lot more stable if they could count on the money based on enrollment. And that’s what Biden wanted to do. was giving about $70 million more a year to childcare centers in Ohio. But in August, Trump administration said, we’re gonna put that on hold. And also a co-payment assistance that the Biden administration also wanted to offer, which would add up to about $19 million.
and said, hey, brakes on that, we’re going to come up with our own rules, but they haven’t come up with them yet.
Chris Quinn (05:54.025)
He just knows no depth of being vile, right? This is about kids. Daycare centers, the way they get paid now, if the kids don’t show up, they don’t get paid, how do you plan for paying your staff and paying for your supplies? The Biden administration saw this and said, no, this isn’t right. We need to make them safe. It was about the kids. But because it’s Joe Biden, Trump doesn’t care about the kids. If Joe Biden did it, I’m going to stamp it out. I want to erase his presence.
Laura (06:06.893)
True, the teachers are there regardless.
Chris Quinn (06:22.287)
no matter how many people suffer. It’s vile. And look, this is a guy who reached new depths of vile yesterday when he issued horrible comments about the death of Rob Reiner. He’s just a vile human being. Everything that comes out of his mouth is vile and evil and mean-spirited. He is attacking children just to go after Joe Biden. I just cannot understand why Republicans stand by this monstrous human being.
Laura (06:33.099)
Yes.
Laura (06:50.305)
Yeah, the states had planned for it. Ohio put aside the money and it’s only fair. You have the enrollment, you have the teachers, you have the space, you have everything you need for those kids. Pay them because we know that a lot of these are small businesses. Some are nonprofits. They’re not operating with big margins. It’s really expensive to pay childcare because of the ratio it takes for the teachers to the kids. And that’s why childcare is so expensive. And that’s why so many families need help. But in Ohio, we have
some of the lowest threshold for helping in the entire country. You have to make less than 145 % of the poverty line in order to even get public assistance. And Mike DeWine has tried to raise that. The state legislature says no. And what’s really galling is that we’re spending about a billion dollars on publicly funded child care.
But only $250 million of that is coming from the state coffers. The rest is coming from the federal government. So think about, like, we could offer more if we would just raise this threshold and help more families who are hurting for everything, basically. And we just don’t want to as a state. Yet we’ll spend a billion dollars on private school vouchers. Yeah.
Chris Quinn (08:00.208)
Yeah.
But that’s a separate issue. The issue here is they were trying to help these places be healthy. And think about it. Think about the two stories we just talked about. What’s the bigger threat to children in Ohio? The dearth of quality child care or that China might know their reading go dog go? Now, what is John Huston all all huff and puffing about? It’s about China in the books. Where is he to contrast what the president is doing to child care? That’s where he should be. That has a
direct ramification for Ohio children and he’s silent. Where’s Bernie Moreno? You care about Ohio kids? Stand up to your guy and say, don’t do this. Just because Biden did it doesn’t mean it’s bad. This helps our kids. Silence.
Laura (08:46.231)
Yeah, I totally agree with you, but there’s no law that says Ohio can’t pay per enrollment. Other states do it. They’re just saying you don’t have to. So if Ohio doesn’t have to, it’s not going to do it because we don’t care enough about child care. Like we could have all the legislators, we could have DeWine saying, you know, Trump’s not making us do it, but it’s the right thing to do. So we’re going to go ahead and do it anyway.
Chris Quinn (09:08.433)
You’re listening to Today in Ohio. First, Frank LaRose loved a system where states could share information about voters to combat fraud from people who tried to vote in two different states. Then, after MAGA activists criticized the system, LaRose withdrew from it, saying it’s bad, bad, bad. Lisa, is he back now in a new system, does pretty much the same thing? And what happens when MAGA attacks this one?
Lisa Garvin (09:33.502)
Yeah, it’s kind of the same old system but with a new fancy name. It’s called the Alexa Network and Ohio is joining with nine other states to share their voter data to keep the rolls accurate and to pinpoint any fraud. Most of our all of our neighboring states are part of this group including Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
But there was an analysis done by the Center for Economic Policy Research a few years ago. They found out that about 3 % of voters are double registered. And these are people who have just recently moved or they’re snowbirds, they have a second home. But they say trying to vote in two states in the same election is extremely rare. Violations do carry a fine of up to $10,000 and up to five years in prison.
Larose says he wants to work with these other states to find people voting illegally and casting multiple ballots in the same election. But as you said, this is kind of just 2.0 version of Eric, which was the Electronic Registration Information Center. And that was a similar state partnership that they were tracking moves and voter deaths. Larose, as you said, praised it until conservative media claimed that Eric favored Democrats and undermined election integrity. And he dropped it like a hot potato.
Chris Quinn (10:48.911)
Yeah, this was the case that for anybody that wanted to see it showed just how Lily Liver LaRose is that he doesn’t stand for anything because he was full throated in support of the old system until all of a sudden the MAGA folks said it’s bad. And then like you said, hot potato now he’s back again, but the same thing will likely happen. And watch if MAGA comes out and says, we hate this system. He’ll, he’ll immediately turn tail again. And it shows you everything. He doesn’t stand for anything except supporting.
Lisa Garvin (10:58.279)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (11:18.917)
MAGA and the Republicans and he’s running for attorney general,
Lisa Garvin (11:23.227)
I believe so. don’t know, did he file? I don’t know. you know, the thing about LaRose is he’s always trumpeted the integrity of Ohio’s election system. And then he turns around and said, well, there’s fraud everywhere. And it’s like, what do you believe? This is like cognitive dissonance.
Chris Quinn (11:40.689)
It is. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Before Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb solicited proposals for developing some of the lakefront land that we’ve been talking about, the part around Brown Stadium, he had thousands of touch points with the public about what people want there. What did they tell him, Leila?
Leila (12:00.665)
Well, people were remarkably consistent and surprisingly practical about what they would like to see on the lakefront. They didn’t come in asking for, you wild futuristic mega projects and things like that. Over years of workshops and surveys and conversations, more than 5,000 responses, in fact, they kept saying some of the same things like make the lakefront usable every day for everyone. And they talked about basics first, places to sit and watch the sunset, green space,
walking and biking paths and benches and shade and access to the water. Comfort and accessibility came up again and again, not just for big events, but they want a place where you’d actually want to linger on a random Tuesday, for example. And from there, the idea has got more fun. People wanted activation. They want small shops and food vendors, maybe a couple of restaurants and live music, festivals, art and cultural events. 60 % said lakeside dining.
would feel very Cleveland. Nearly half said a real beach would be wonderful. Families kept saying, don’t forget the kids, playgrounds, interactive arts, spaces that work across the generations. There were also some wonderfully Cleveland suggestions like a zoo or aquarium annex or a water park or a roller skating trail, a home base for Great Lakes cruise ships came up. But running through almost all of it was the
one big clear value, which was public space. People literally wrote public, public, public. They want the lakefront to belong to everyone. They wanted affordable, welcoming, connecting the east to the west and tying back into the city instead of being cut off by highways. So when Bib and the Waterfront Development Corporation went looking for developers, they were not starting from scratch. They were starting with a very strong mandate from residents.
Don’t wall it off, don’t over privatize it. And don’t forget that Lake Erie is Cleveland’s greatest asset here.
Chris Quinn (13:59.961)
What’s important about this, this is a tiny piece of land. This doesn’t even include where the stadium sits because when they did this, it wasn’t clear that the stadium would be coming down. But now we’re also talking about 450 acres. It’s Berkeley for an airport. That’s not what these people were asked about. But I think we can start to extrapolate. I think Burke offers a much greater potential. You could do something dramatic and big and unique. And I hope
Leila (14:19.976)
Sure.
Chris Quinn (14:29.435)
there’s a new conversation to really envision that. This is a small piece. How many acres are we talking about here? Like 50 something?
Leila (14:36.296)
I, that’s a great question. mean, I know that the stadium alone sits on what, 50 acres? So I’m not, yeah. great. Can you imagine how transformative?
Lisa Garvin (14:42.323)
believe it’s 177 acres, if I’m not mistaken, yeah.
Chris Quinn (14:45.111)
Is it? Okay. Which is about the size of Acacia Park. mean, that’s a pretty sizable piece of land.
Leila (14:51.696)
Right. And then you add to it, Burke, if that comes online, this is going to be just an incredible moment for Cleveland to have all of that activated space on the lakefront. We expect to hear pretty soon which developer was chosen for this project. And then I guess we’ll know more details and we’ll know for sure how closely the plan will adhere to the wishes of the people or whether they did all this public outreach just to be able to say that they did it.
Lisa Garvin (15:17.363)
Actually, I need to make a correction. That number is incorrect. That’s the acreage of the new stadium site, so I apologize.
Chris Quinn (15:25.379)
Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. Rocky River schools have been through the wringer lately with inappropriate behavior by adults and one of the egregious cases involves the former school resource officer at the high school. Laura, what did he do and what is his sentence for that?
Laura (15:42.562)
This is so disturbing. illegally searched the law enforcement database to gather information on women and students. And he was sentenced Wednesday to six months in prison. He’s 55 years old. His name is Michael Bernhardt. And he admitted to three counts of unauthorized use of the Ohio law enforcement gateway. He’s arguing, though people do it all the time, which is not a great defense. It’s still illegal. He can no longer be a police officer, thanks
goodness, but what really swayed Judge Timothy McCormick was the victim’s statements and that this isn’t necessarily about the going into the database, but the fact that he was grooming girls as young as 14 in high school, exchanging all sorts of messages and then meeting up with them later. A relationship turned physical when a girl turned 16. I just have to reiterate how awful this is. This is a police officer placed in the school so that
you know, obviously keep the kids safe, also have a good rapport with kids so that they have a good relationship with law enforcement. Keep them on the straight and narrow and he’s the one that is just preying on them. It is so awful.
Chris Quinn (16:52.753)
Yeah, I was a little bit surprised that judge said he was thinking of not sending him. He’s going to be in jail, not prison. But the six months actually seems kind of light to me because what blows me away is he was doing this for 10 years. Do they not have safeguards on this system where they can detect that somebody’s using it inappropriately? He was looking up girls all the time and then he was looking up people in their lives. I it was really over the top bad. And I just can’t understand how that can go on for a decade.
Laura (16:57.847)
Sorry.
Laura (17:15.735)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (17:22.757)
and no one notices.
Laura (17:24.461)
There’s so many questions and you know, this is my community. My kid goes to this high school and the principal who was overseeing this during this time and you know, we’ve talked about all sorts of other things that happened in Rocky River schools at the time is now gone and they’re looking for a new principal. The superintendent is gone and I’m personally very glad about that because I agree. How could this go on for this many years and he’d been in the school since 1994, I believe.
And this is just so wrong on so many levels. These girls are going to be, you know, they’re dealing with this for the rest of their lives. That’s what their parents said. And it’s supposed to be a person of trust.
Chris Quinn (18:04.729)
You watch though, he’ll get out in six months. He’ll have the record sealed and then he’ll be asking us to remove him from our archives. Not going to happen. I’ve just kind of, I, when this all happened to the school district was not good about transparency. And so it’s, I feel like now we know what this was about in full detail and it’s really, really bad. So six months doesn’t feel like enough. You’re listening to today in Ohio.
Laura (18:10.407)
No way.
Chris Quinn (18:32.591)
What is city councilman Richard Star saying about the Cleveland investigation into the devastating Rainbow Terrace fire from earlier this year, Lisa?
Lisa Garvin (18:41.745)
Yeah, he’s not happy about it. That fire was June 26. It was an explosion at the Rainbow Terrace Apartments. 44 units burned. 120 people are displaced. Over $3.5 million in damages, but they still have no answers on what caused that fire and explosion six months down the line.
So Ward 5 Councilman Richard Starr wrote a letter to the Bibb administration demanding updates on the investigation. He says residents have been asking, you know, if there was negligence or code violations that could have caused this and are there steps being taken to prevent future incidents at the apartments? No response, he says, from the property manager of Independent Management Services, which manages that property. They’re Michigan-based group. They have not answered any of his inquiries.
Displaced residents are complaining of being relocated to squalid conditions. We talked to a couple of them, Eon’s Jen Moses. She’s a 23 year old mom with two kids. She says that the Cuyahoga Metro Housing Authority has relocated her several times. Every apartment they moved her to had serious issues. And then it turned out that her two year old son tested positive for lead.
Kayana Bell, lost, two of her kids were severely burned in this fire. We did a story on that. It was a great story. She said she had to move to a home that had no working oven. And then, you know, there was somebody who died in this too. Cordale Sheffield died trying to save one of Bell’s daughters.
Chris Quinn (20:11.245)
Olivia Mitchell’s done terrific work in documenting everything that’s happened here. And I’m I’m with Star. I cannot understand why we don’t know anything. And I’m starting to wonder if maybe Cleveland has some culpability. There was talk that there were no firewalls in the attic between the units. And it was an old building. And so it predated those codes. But if there was any work done in that building since the code was changed, then it would have applied. And I wonder if Cleveland
housing inspectors didn’t do their job and get this to be safe. I don’t understand why six months later we don’t have answers. This thing spread super fast. It was hugely tragic. Like you said, there was a death by a hero trying to rescue people. And how can we not know anything all this time later? You hate to think it’s because, well, these are poor people. We don’t care about poor people if it were, you know,
wealthy people in the suburbs we’d have a million answers but i wonder if cleveland dropped the ball on inspections of this building
Lisa Garvin (21:14.131)
Here’s my question, why would a city hire a third party to manage the property? Isn’t it their job to manage the property? I don’t know.
Chris Quinn (21:22.127)
I don’t I I think he was it’s private right I thought it was private but it was. I it was I thought it was subsidized by housing Lila do you know.
Lisa Garvin (21:26.482)
I thought it was Public Housing Unit. I could be wrong.
Leila (21:31.568)
It’s yes, yeah, it’s a it’s it’s it’s a building. It’s a facility that accepts housing vouchers, but it’s privately owned and operated.
Lisa Garvin (21:38.638)
okay, okay.
Chris Quinn (21:41.009)
And it had had trouble before. just, there’s a lot of questions and I’m glad Star is, is raising. He, it’s not like he, he grandstanded on this. waited six months, but it’s come on. What, what happened here? How do we make sure it doesn’t happen somewhere else? There’s a lot of suffering that resulted from it. And maybe what the city really needs to do is to turn this whole investigation over to a independent party. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.
Layla, how hot is a ticket to Kamala Harris with her book tour and when is she coming to Cleveland?
Leila (22:13.884)
This ticket is very hot, Chris, and Cleveland is absolutely on this list. Kamala Harris is heading back out on the road in early 2026 with an expanded book tour to her memoir, 107 Days is the name of the book, and tickets are moving fast. This isn’t a casual author stop. It’s being billed as a conversation with Kamala Harris with onstage discussion, reflections on her presidential run, and a lot of focus on
resilience and civic engagement for people who feel burned out by politics. The proof that it’s a hot ticket is in the prices, honestly. In many cities, seats are already limited and resale prices are climbing, especially in bigger markets. And Cleveland is actually one of the pricier stops, which tells you something about the demand here. She’ll be in Cleveland on Wednesday, February 25th at the Key Bank State Theater at Playhouse Square. It starts at 7 p.m. The show is sold out.
And if you got a ticket, you know that these tickets are going for as much as a couple hundred dollars, depending on where you’re sitting. Much more on some resale sites if you’re trying to get a ticket now. The format is intimate by design. There’s conversation, audience Q &A, and optional meet and greet packages that include a signed copy of the book and a photo with Harris. It’s not a stump speech or anything like that. It’s supposed to be more reflective. But this is obviously a political figure who still draws a crowd. So yeah, it’s a hot ticket.
Chris Quinn (23:37.393)
Yeah, I looked at some of the prices, 225, 300, 325. You’re right, it’s a hot ticket. People want to hear from her. I think it says something about the current political climate. She is hinting that she’s going to make another run, and I guess people want to hear from her.
Leila (23:55.369)
I feel like what’s been really fascinating about Harris lately is how unfiltered she’s become. I haven’t read her memoir, but I suspect that it reflects what she’s been saying too in these long form interviews that I’ve been listening to and reading that she’s not smoothing over what happened in 2024. She’s really naming it. She’s been blunt about feeling abandoned after stepping up as the Democratic nominee and
I listened to the diary of a CEO interview where she didn’t dance around any of this. She said President Biden was so bitter about being pushed off the ticket that he and his inner circle essentially went silent and offered no real support while disinformation about her just really spread unchecked. It was stunning how candid she is.
Lisa Garvin (24:47.751)
But it sounds like a whole lot of sour grapes to me, quite personally.
Leila (24:51.74)
Well, I but I think the things that she’s calling out really happened in the background. she, you know, I don’t doubt that Joe Biden was, you know, not treating her the way he should have during that time. She was kind of thrown into the mix at a very late moment and had to carry the mantle. So I don’t know. I think people are dying to hear all of that in this unfiltered way.
Chris Quinn (25:17.769)
Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. Our sister site in Alabama has an investigative project out this week on how a pesticide is linked to Parkinson’s disease. One of the people they profile is an Ohioan. Laura, what’s the gist of the project? And who is the Ohioan?
Laura (25:35.33)
Yeah, I had no idea about this pesticide. It’s called Paraquat, and it is super dangerous. I you can die from getting contact with it on your skin. And between 11 million and 17 million pounds of this are sprayed annually in the United States to help grow all sorts of crops like cotton, soybean, corn, even peaches. And the use is increasing. It doubled from 2012 to 2018, but there are links to Parkinson’s disease. And so there are thousands of lawsuits.
suing Sagenta, which is the company that developed it, and Chevron, which sold it until 1986 about these, you know, the cancers and all sorts of things that people have. Basically, the lawsuits are on Parkinson’s. And the folks who did the story from M. Live in Alabama talked to a winery owner in Valley City, it’s in Medina County, about his experience. And he hadn’t even
worked with it for that long, but there are these links. The companies say that’s not causation, but they have been working on settling some of them.
Chris Quinn (26:43.631)
Yeah, think Lisa will remember Paraquat like I do. Because when we were, it was used to wipe out marijuana fields,
Lisa Garvin (26:46.78)
yes. yes, I was just…
Lisa Garvin (26:53.435)
Yeah, exactly. In the 70s, they sprayed Mexican marijuana fields. And people were freaking out because they thought, you know, the pot they were smoking had paraquad in it.
Laura (26:53.948)
yeah.
Chris Quinn (26:57.23)
Yeah.
Laura (27:02.359)
Well, they’d be dead. mean, this is so deadly. Like at the time that Dave Gilbert, the Ohio man, was spreading it on his fields, the precautions were wearing rubber gloves, a heavy shirt, and goggles. Now you have to have respirators and closed cabs and other safety measures. But most countries seem to have banned it, like 70 countries have banned it. China won’t let it be used, but they’re manufacturing it, which is crazy.
I mean, I’ve talked about this on the podcast before. My dad has Parkinson’s and it’s just an awful debilitating disease and it’s horrible to watch. And Parkinson’s diagnoses in this country are increasing like crazy. Right.
Chris Quinn (27:43.505)
Yeah, right, we’re gonna talk about that in a minute. What threw me was seeing Paraquat again. Unlike Lisa, I remember the huge controversy of the 70s when it was being used in Mexico. There was abject fear by marijuana users back then, but I don’t think, Lisa, I’ve heard of it since the 70s, have you?
Lisa Garvin (28:02.899)
I haven’t either. thought that it was completely out of use. And I want to point out that it was our federal government that was spraying the Mexican marijuana fields. It wasn’t the Mexicans doing it. But yeah, I haven’t heard about it since then. I thought it had been taken off the market.
Chris Quinn (28:13.124)
Yeah.
Laura (28:17.453)
But it’s being used everywhere, including in golf courses. And this one stat, that even living within a mile of a golf course increased the risk of Parkinson’s by 126%. So we should all be aware of it, whether or not we live on a farm.
Chris Quinn (28:17.542)
Great work.
Chris Quinn (28:30.837)
Great work by AL.com. Thanks for sharing it with us. You can find it on Cleveland.com. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Speaking of Parkinson’s, Lisa, how big of a problem is it in Ohio compared to other states? There’s new information out.
Lisa Garvin (28:45.011)
Yeah, we’re kind of high on the list. Ohio and surrounding states have some of the highest death rates from Parkinson’s disease. In Ohio, it’s just over 10 deaths per 100,000 population. That was in 2023. Surrounding states, Pennsylvania was 9.5, Kentucky 10.2, Michigan was 9.8.
West Virginia was 10.5. The highest in the nation was Kansas at 11.5. So we were only, you know, point and a half below them. And then the lowest was New York at 6.2. So about 1.1 million Americans have Parkinson’s. They diagnose 90,000 new cases every year. The highest prevalence tends to be in the Rust Belt, Florida and Southern California. The risk factors, it’s one and a half.
times more common in men than women. mostly onset is mostly in the early to mid sixties. then environmental exposure is a big risk factor, pesticides and toxins and manganese and welders, which makes me think that’s why the Rust Belt has such a high prevalence of Parkinson’s.
Chris Quinn (29:51.697)
Yeah, and you could see Florida having it because a lot of people from the Rust Belt migrate there when they retire. It is frightening to think that a lot of these cases are based on environmental exposure because we’re we really don’t have a lot of control over that in our lives. And as Laura points out, it’s devastating disease. I mean, you just wither and weaken and it’s horrible. I would hope.
that we would get a much better handle on what the causes are so we can remove them from the environment.
Lisa Garvin (30:23.525)
And there is no cure. It’s a progressive disease. It affects your neurological system. It can be controlled with medications and physical therapy, but only up to a point.
Chris Quinn (30:33.849)
All right, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Tuesday episode. Thank you, Leila. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Laura. Thank you for being here with us. We’ll return Wednesday to talk about the news.
Cleveland, OH
37 individuals indicted in Northeast Ohio drug ring, more than 6 kilograms of drugs seized
CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) – The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that the Cuyahoga County grand jury returned an indictment of 37 individuals for their involvement in a drug trafficking organization.
The drug trafficking organization is also linked to three overdose deaths.
The investigation led to over six kilograms of drugs seized, over $240,000 in cash was seized and 15 firearms were taken, which some of the firearms were reported stolen, according to a press release from the prosecutor’s office.
On Aug. 16, 2024, John Lee, 56, was found dead in a home from a suspended overdose near E 71st Street and Indiana Avenue in Cleveland.
The Cleveland Division of Police Narcotics Unit investigated and learned the supplied narcotics were linked to the drug trafficking organization, the release said.
On Sept. 17, 2024, Angela Staehr, 41, was found dead in a home from a suspected overdose near Sackett Avenue and Rhodes Court in Cleveland.
The CPD Narcotics Unit also investigated and found the supplied narcotics were also linked to the same drug trafficking organization that supplied Lee.
According to the press release, the investigation was conducted by the CPD Narcotics Unit and was assisted by the Euclid Police Department, the Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area and the U.S. Marshals.
Following the investigation, 37 individuals involved in the drug trafficking organization’s supply chain were identified.
The release said the drug trafficking organization was utilizing multiple locations to store, manufacture and distribute narcotics.
Throughout the investigation, search warrants were conducted in 12 locations that resulted in the seizure over over six kilograms of fentanyl, xylazine, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Additionally, resulting in the seizures of over $240,000 in cash and the 15 firearms, several of which were reported stolen.
The investigation also linked a third previously unsolved overdose case that happened in 2022, the over dose death of Amanda Garrison, 26, in Cleveland, the release said.
“This indictment reflects the strong collaboration between the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office and our law enforcement partners. By dismantling this organization, we are removing dangerous individuals, lethal narcotics, and stolen firearms from our community. These arrests will save lives throughout northeast Ohio,” Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said.
On Nov. 25, 2025, the 37 individuals were indicted on a total of 180 charges, some of which included:
- Engaging in a Pattern of Corrupt Activity
- Involuntary Manslaughter
- Aggravated Drug Funding
- Drug Trafficking
- Drug Possession
- Illegal Manufacturing
- Having Weapons Under Disability
On Saturday, an arrest operation was held by the U.S. Marshals Service and CPD.
The individuals will be arraigned at the Cuyahoga County Justice Center at a later date, the press release said.
Copyright 2025 WOIO. All rights reserved.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — One more frigid day stands between Northeast Ohio and a brief warmup that will bring the region its first above-average temperatures since the day before Thanksgiving.
Cold, gray weather will remain in control across the region on Monday, with lingering lake-effect snow bringing minor accumulations to parts of the snowbelt before conditions gradually quiet down after a snow-filled weekend.
The periods of light snow continue early Monday in far northeastern Ohio, especially eastern Cuyahoga, Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties, where an additional inch or two of accumulation is possible through the evening, according to the National Weather Service in Cleveland.
While snowfall rates are expected to remain light, brief coatings of snow are possible on untreated roads, particularly in the snowbelt.
Elsewhere across Northeast Ohio, conditions will stay mostly dry, though skies remain mostly cloudy and temperatures will remain well below normal. Afternoon highs will struggle to climb out of the upper teens to lower 20s.
Lake-effect snow will gradually shift east and weaken later Monday as winds turn more southwesterly. Any lingering snow showers should wind down overnight, with little additional accumulation expected. Lows across the region will be in the low to mid teens.
Milder Tuesday brings break from deep freeze
Skies will turn sunnier early Tuesday before clouds increase later in the day as winds turn breezy from the southwest. Temperatures will climb into the mid 30s — a noticeable step up from recent days and enough to push most of Northeast Ohio above freezing during the afternoon.
Dry weather is expected to hold through the day and into Tuesday night as high pressure slides east, keeping travel impacts minimal ahead of a more active pattern later in the week.
Windy, wet storm brings first above-average temperatures in weeks
Northeast Ohio’s brief warmup will continue through Wednesday, with highs climbing to around 40 degrees, before peaking Thursday as the warmest day of the week.
A strong storm system is expected to move through the Great Lakes on Thursday, pushing temperatures into the upper 40s — the area’s first above-average day since Nov. 26, according to the National Weather Service.
But that warmth will come with consequences. As the system moves through, it’s expected to bring gusty winds and widespread rain.
That rain is expected to overspread the region Thursday into early Thursday night, with rainfall totals around a half-inch likely and localized amounts approaching an inch possible. Mild temperatures and rising humidity will lead to noticeable snowmelt, though widespread river flooding is not expected.
Wind gusts could reach 35 to 40 mph, particularly during the warm, southwest flow Thursday and again along the lakeshore following a strong cold front Thursday night.
A flash freeze is possible late Thursday night as temperatures drop sharply behind the cold front, falling from the upper 40s into the low 20s by early Friday. Rain may briefly change to snow before ending, with only minor accumulation expected.
Lake-effect snow possible Friday, milder weekend ahead
Colder air pouring over Lake Erie on Friday could trigger a round of lake-effect snow, mainly in the primary snowbelt east of Cleveland. At this point, forecasters say the setup looks more like an advisory-level event rather than a major storm, with snow tapering off by Friday night as high pressure builds in.
Temperatures will rebound again this weekend, with highs climbing back into the 40s Saturday before another system brings rain late Saturday into Saturday night. High pressure is expected to return Sunday, keeping the up-and-down temperature pattern in place heading into the days before Christmas.
‘View’ host rejects Halle Berry’s attacks on Newsom, says he’s ‘done a lot for women’
Dem-appointed education officials face new scrutiny as Feeding Our Future scandal widens, Trump targets fraud
James Carville blasts Crockett for breaking ‘first rule of politics,’ focusing on herself more than voters
Murdaugh trial court clerk pleads guilty to showing sealed crime scene photos to photographer
EXCLUSIVE: Stefanik steamrolls top conservative opponent; GOP leaders hand her commanding edge in NY primary
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Video: ‘It Didn’t Have to Happen This Way:’ U.Va. Faculty Call for Review of Police Response to Protests
DA: Nick Reiner will be charged with first-degree murder in deaths of Rob & Michele Reiner
Video: Nick Reiner Talked Openly About His Addiction Struggles
Trump admin defends White House ballroom as national security matter
Venezuelan opposition leader Machado injured on covert Nobel Prize trip
Peace plans ready to be presented to Russia in days, says Zelenskyy
-
Washington1 week agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa2 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Iowa1 week agoMatt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
-
Iowa3 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Miami, FL1 week agoUrban Meyer, Brady Quinn get in heated exchange during Alabama, Notre Dame, Miami CFP discussion
-
Cleveland, OH1 week agoMan shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
-
World1 week ago
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans
-
Minnesota1 week agoTwo Minnesota carriers shut down, idling 200 drivers
