CLEVELAND, Ohio — Sam Randazzo, a former top state utility regulator accused of taking a $4.3 million bribe, was found dead Tuesday, months after he was federally charged in the wide-ranging House Bill 6 corruption scandal.

We’re talking about Randazzo’s apparent suicide and what happens next in the prosecutions on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

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

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

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

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

Republican Senate Candidate Bernie Moreno has taken two positions on abortion. Does one of them match up with Donald Trump’s recently announced position?

State and local officials did handstands trying to convince people to prepare for the eclipse apocalypse. Now that its fully in the rear-view mirror, did any of those fears come to pass?

During to eclipse totality Monday, you could see reddish, fiery spikes in the corona. People asked what they were, and reporter Pete Krouse talked to an expert for the answer.

One more on the eclipse. We all have eclipse glasses. And we won’t have another eclipse in our lifetimes here. What might be the best thing to do with them?

We have a settlement in a case against Norfolk Southern involving the infamous East Palestine derailment of 2023. What is it, and who gets all the money?

Remember those huge energy price increases of a year ago for FirstEnergy customers? Will people soon see a break in their bills?

We’ve been hearing that Cleveland State University is having some serious financial challenges. Yesterday, we saw some concrete proof. What is it?

Some people will love this news. Others will not. Are Cleveland police issuing more or fewer speeding tickets this year than last year?

How cool is this. What happened this week that will soon result in your being able to ride a bike from University Circle all the way to downtown in completely protected bike lanes?

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

Chris (00:02.904)

Pretty big news last night about one of the main persons in the HB6 bribery scandal. It’s the first story we’ll be talking about on Today in Ohio. It’s the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Laura Johnston, and Courtney Astolfi. We’re glad you’re here with us. Sam Randazzo found dead in his home in an apparent suicide. One of the big…

players in the HB6 scandal. He was Mike DeWine’s choice for Public Utilities Commission despite all sorts of red flags and then he used that position to steal Ohio citizens blind. Laura, what happened here?

Lisa (01:26.278)

and to this end chapter in which the tentacle of this very big investigation, which was civil, and criminal, and it became a counter-claim in the federal court, this is the end of the story as well, and it’s a tentacle because he won’t be there to try anymore in this

Chris (01:51.072)

Well, we will still be talking about it though, because the case against him will close and those records will become public. The several people reached out this morning and said, Oh, this is sad. I feel bad for his family. Uh, you know, I wouldn’t wish this on anybody, but yeah, it’s sad for his family. He did this to his family. We cannot get away from the fact that this guy scammed the entire state. He used this important leadership position.

to enrich himself at the expense of everybody else. And in his final act, he had the chance to do the right thing for Ohio. He had the chance to sit down with prosecutors, state and federal, and lay out everything he knew, all the people that were involved. Instead, he took what is the coward’s way out. And for people that are saying, well, you know, this is sad and we should go easy. No, we shouldn’t. This guy, what the damage he did to this state.

Lisa (02:35.558)

Instead, some ladies try to go out, and for people that are saying, Laura, you know, this is sad, this is crazy, can you just, this guy, what the damage he did to the state is astounding, this was the most roughly revealed in the history of our society. Looks like this is the end of the world, you got to write about that, but it’s not a very good one either, because I tell you, it’s a good one.

Chris (02:46.584)

is astounding. This was the most rotten deal in the history of Ohio. Bill Seitz is still sending me notes about why it’s not a rotten deal. I got another one last week, because I had sent him a note saying, look, if you believe in the elements of that are still on the books, repeal the law and pass those as a separate law. And he came back and he said, if we repeal the law, bad parts, bad things happen because the things are off the books.

And I, you know, my feeling is then pass it as a replacement law so that there’s never an interim whenever that stuff would no longer apply. But the people of Ohio don’t want a law in the books that was passed in corruption. And Randazzo was a huge part of that corruption.

Chris (04:01.196)

But he was corrupt in that too. I mean.

Lisa (04:42.309)

But you know, it makes me wonder though what knowledge he took with him to the grave. I mean, he could have fingered a lot of other people. There could be more tentacles that he knew about that would have come out in trial.

Chris (04:42.599)

This f-

Chris (04:53.548)

Right, that’s where he could have done the right thing. In the end, when the whole house is collapsing on him, he could have done the right thing. This is the second defendant in this corruption case to die by suicide, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before, and I don’t get it. Do the right thing. You have a chance to atone, and instead you do this? Yeah, it’s just, it’s…

Chris (05:41.152)

Although the evidence against him was overwhelming, we kept wondering where is the federal prosecutor? I mean, this federal prosecutor still hasn’t charged the execs. It took Dave Yost to charge the first energy executives. So yeah, it’s right, you’re right. This has been out there for a long time. He was unrepentant to the end. We don’t know if he left a note. There is a law that says journalists are allowed to see any kind of suicide notes, even though they can’t take notes from them. So.

We’ll be checking on that. But major development, we’ll be looking now how this affects the cases against the first energy executives. Will the federal prosecutor, who had never really done anything with the executives, now get off his butt and go after them because he no longer has Randazzo to prosecute? Lots to figure out as this thing goes forward. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Republican Senate candidate Bernie Moreno has taken two positions on abortion.

Laura, does one of them match up with Donald Trump’s recently announced position?

Chris (07:32.48)

Well, but he did. But he was saying both things before yesterday. We did a story back in January in which he was pretty much saying both things. The thing is, when you say it should be left to the states, well, Ohio has made its decision. The voters in huge numbers came out and said, this is this state’s position. So he should shut up right now because he’s seeking to represent Ohio. Ohio has decided, but he’s not.

He’s still saying, I’m a Catholic, I’m against it. It’s a state’s rights issue. We got to change it at the state level. Well, Ohio voted. You want to represent Ohio? Shut up now and let it stand because we said what we wanted.

Chris (08:54.164)

You can’t believe a word either of them say. They’re saying whatever it takes to get elected. Bernie Moreno is flip-flop, flip-flopped. He doesn’t stand for anything, and neither does Trump. Trump has said everything in the past. It’s a great position to be in, because he can always say, wow, I said this, I said this. He has said he likes the 15-week ban, but he senses that huge turnout results when people feel that the right to abortion is threatened. He wants to win the election.

So he’s coming up with this. If he gets into office, I bet that they would throw out that position and they would immediately start trying to pass an international law to ban it.

Right.

Chris (09:46.932)

But don’t get away from the fact, Bernie Moreno is running to represent Ohio in the Senate, and Ohio has stated clearly what it thinks. He disagrees with it, and he’s not going to represent the state on what it wants. He’s going to do what he wants. He’s going to do what Donald Trump tells him to do. His whole campaign is, I’m a puppet, I’m a puppet. Elect me to be Donald Trump’s puppet.

Chris (10:10.564)

Yeah. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. State and local officials did handstands trying to convince people to prepare for the eclipse apocalypse. Now that it’s fully in the rearview mirror Courtney did any of those fears come to pass?

courtney (10:25.014)

You know, not really. There were warnings about stocking up on food that was overblown. You know, gas stations, we didn’t really hear any reports of them running out of gas traffic was a bit backed up in different places at different times, but it wasn’t too bad and, and it definitely didn’t compare to like actual congestion that was seen between Toledo and Michigan as the eclipse wrapped up down in the Sensee area and between Columbus and Maryville, Mary’sville, according to ODOT up in Northeast Ohio.

our infrastructure and the number of folks who ended up coming in, they didn’t really combine to create a problem. Some of the most die- Oh-

Chris (11:02.964)

Well, the thing that killed me yesterday is there were certain public safety officials taking credit for it. Our preparations for the past two years is why we didn’t have the apocalypse, which is ridiculous. There was never going to be an apocalypse. This wasn’t a hurricane. It wasn’t a tornado. It was an event where you look up in the sky to see it. The whole idea that this was the apocalypse was preposterous. For them to take credit now that it didn’t happen is just as preposterous.

courtney (11:30.226)

Yeah, I mean, Lorraine County’s head of emergency management. We talked to him. Avon Lake was kind of a big destination because of how much it fell into the path of totality, right? And he kind of took that took that tack with us. You know, he said, you know, as head of emergency and management, kind of their line and their baseline of thinking is that you can’t overprepare. Just be prepared for any eventuality that will happen. He said, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

So, I mean, in that view, I guess they were ready to go if things went crazy, but things didn’t go crazy. So it was fine. Oh, ODOT, like you said, like took straight up credit for this. For example, like one of the things they were telling folks was to not pull over on the side of the road when totality hits. And they said they didn’t really see that happening. So their warnings worked, people listened.

Lisa (11:59.758)

I mean in Matthew, I guess they were ready to go. So they were not crazy. They were so crazy, so odd. Oh, oh, die, oh, die. Like you said, they took straight up credit for this. For example, one of their favorite times was to not pull over, because I didn’t know what your salary is. And they said they didn’t really see that happening. So their warnings worked. People were able to work. And they did.

Chris (12:04.58)

Ha ha ha.

Chris (12:25.881)

It’s like that old Flip Wilson show where he’s thumping his foot and somebody says, why are you thumping your foot? And he says, it keeps the elephants away. And the guy says, there’s no elephants within a thousand miles here. And he goes, see how good it works. That’s what this was.

courtney (12:37.991)

Exactly, you know 200,000 people were expected in Cleveland. It’s unclear if we came close or hit that mark or where we ended up. Destination Cleveland is going to be doing an impact study to see quite how this affected our area. It’s going to be hard to tell the final four was in town and to untangle that from the eclipse is going to be difficult.

Chris (13:01.773)

I’ll tell you how it affected the area. It was a joyous event that we will all remember because it was spectacular. That’s what we should remember, not the dire apocalyptic predictions that never came to pass. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Lisa, during the eclipse totality you could see reddish fiery spikes in the corona. People ask this what they were. Reporter Pete Krauss talked to an expert for the answer. What is it?

courtney (13:12.82)

Agreed.

Lisa (13:29.102)

Yeah, they were spectacular. I actually saw three of them. I got out my binoculars during totality to take a look. I thought that they were solar flares or coronal injections, but Cleveland State University physics professor Andy Resnick says, those pink protrusions that you see around the edge of the moon are called solar prominences. It’s basically a plasma, which is hot gas comprised of electrically charged helium and…

hydrogen and it flows along this twisted magnetic field of the Sun and the largest one was at the bottom kind of towards the left and it looked like a like an upside down wishbone and it was believed to be three times the size of Earth.

Chris (14:10.516)

Well, and you could see it with your bare eye. So it had to be enormous because it’s so far away. And it was so cool that it was red. I don’t think any of us were expecting that. And Pete put a nice picture of it with his story that I think the professor took. So.

Lisa (14:13.265)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (14:20.062)

Right.

Lisa (14:26.574)

Yeah, Professor Resnick took the pic. He said, oh, I got great images. He was sitting right next to the Great Lakes Science Center. That’s where he set up his camera. And he had a telephoto lens with a sun filter to get those magnificent photos.

Chris (14:40.312)

All right, you’re listening to Today in Ohio and we got one more on the eclipse. We all have the special glasses and we won’t have another eclipse in our lifetimes here. Laura, what might be the best thing to do with them other than keep them in a drawer as a souvenir of the great day?

Chris (15:36.48)

Yeah, I think a lot of people will have these in desk drawers in the back for the next 50 years. They’ll just be become part of the detritus of life. It would be nice if we sent a big bunch of them down to people who can use them because we won’t be using them. I guess you could you might want to still keep them if there were sunspots or if there was something interesting going on with the sun. You could use these to see them. So there is there is a benefit to having them.

Lisa (15:45.946)

No.

Lisa (15:59.971)

Mm-hmm.

Chris (16:15.044)

Ha ha ha.

Lisa (16:21.226)

I do know that some cities, my city, Lindhurst, is doing a collection as well. You just go out to City Hall and drop it off. So I think other communities are jumping in on this as well.

Chris (16:31.044)

Speaking of the dog, I did think one of the silliest stories to come out of the eclipse was how do you protect your pets from looking to the sun? And it’s like animals. A lot of people read the story, but do you have you ever known a dog that just looks at the sun? They’re smarter than that. We’re the only ones that might look at the sun. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We have a settlement in a case against Norfolk Southern involving the infamous East Palestine derailment of 2023. Courtney was it?

courtney (17:00.51)

Yeah, big some coming here. You know, Norfolk Southern agreed to pay out $600 million as a settlement payment that will go to, you know, everyday folks who were affected by the train derailment. This money will eventually get medded out to businesses within 20 miles of the derailment site and residents who live within a 10 mile radius of the derailment site. Still figuring out how much everybody’s gonna get, but the plaintiff’s attorneys said that it’s gonna be based

Chris (17:00.84)

And who gets the money?

courtney (17:30.55)

You know, if you’re closer to the site, you’ll be getting more money further away, less money. A US district judge in Youngstown still has to sign off on this settlement, but Norfolk Southern and the plaintiff’s attorneys have agreed to it. So by all means, this appears that this piece of the East Palestine chapter is closing. This settlement also settles claims against rail car companies that were part of this, but it doesn’t touch lawsuits filed by the DOJ and the Ohio Attorney General’s office.

that are focused more on environmental cleanup. We heard from the plaintiff’s attorneys yesterday after the settlement came through, they described it as fair and reasonable results and they were specifically pleased that the resolution kind of came about this quickly. Class action lawsuits can take a long time over many, many years. I’m frankly surprised it settled this quickly.

Chris (18:24.128)

I’m surprised too, and I’m glad for the people of East Palestine that they can get some kind of compensation and maybe be able to move on with their lives because they’ve had a lot of anxiety since this happened. They were wronged, and it sounds like people are making good. Of course, the lawyers will get a gigantic chunk of this money before the residents get their share.

courtney (18:40.458)

Yeah, that’s how it works. It, you know, it’s worth noting here that Norfolk Southern, they admitted no wrongdoing as part of this settlement. Of course, right. 600 million for nothing. Right. And, um, you know, they said this basically furthers all the environmental cleanup work they’ve been doing in East Palestine, which so far, you know, that tally is up to a billion dollars. The settlement money is going to be set aside for those who have like outright already joined this lawsuit.

Chris (18:50.399)

the

courtney (19:08.746)

and then others who haven’t like opted in yet. So there’s still a lot of process before the money hits people’s hands, but the process is now turning.

Chris (19:20.736)

Let’s be clear, if you’re paying $600 million, you’re admitting wrongdoing, because nobody in their right mind would pay $600 million if they were in the right. They can claim they’re not admitting wrongdoing, but signing the check basically says we’re guilty. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Remember those huge energy price increases of a year ago for first energy customers? Lisa, will people finally see a break in their bills?

Lisa (19:47.106)

Yes, but only if they’re on the standard service offer or the default service. So First Energy is paying 27% less for energy at auction this year. That will result in a lower default rate in many Northeast Ohio communities. It’ll affect about 420,000 customers who are, as I said, on the default service or what they call the price to compare offer. And these would be people with Ohio Edison and the Illuminating Company.

This does not affect those with a contract with another electric supplier, or if they’re part of a community aggregation like NOPEC. And as we know, when those rates spiked last year, a lot of people fled the default offer and then went to NOPEC instead. So energy auctions usually drive down prices, but they shot up last year from $52.63 a megawatt hour to $101 to a megawatt hour. And that…

that will end in May 2024, that price. The default customer rate went from 5.9 cents a kilowatt hour to 12.4 cents. It’s currently right about 10 cents per kilowatt hour. The final customer price or price break will be unknown for the next few weeks. But we do know after, you know, prices spiked.

At the time, before the prices went up, 75% of customers with the Illuminating Company, 50% with Ohio Edison. And then after that, only 18% are now in the Illuminating Company offer and 26% on Ohio Edison’s standard service offer. So it’ll be interesting to see if people flow back to those two suppliers or not.

Chris (21:27.008)

Yeah, I mean, this was jarring when it happened last year. People were scrambling to find a way out of it. But at least for those that are paying, relief is coming. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We’ve been hearing that Cleveland State University is having some serious financial challenges. Yesterday came the concrete proof. Laura, what is it?

Chris (23:04.676)

Well, there’s a big shakeout coming in higher ed. We’ve been talking about it for years now. This is evidence of that. You can’t have the same budget you have if your student body is shrinking so quickly. And it clearly is. This seems like a smart move to get the budget under control. A whole lot of the faculty are eligible for this though. It’d be interesting to see how they pick and choose who gets it. They can’t grant it to everybody.

Chris (24:00.236)

This is part of the state university system. You would think that at some point the state would do a reckoning and examine the entire statewide system to see what’s reasonable. Should the system be as big as it is? Should there be some changes in the system? What’s the future? If everybody’s left to fend for themselves, it’s going to be very, very cutthroat. They’re all competing for students, but they all are answerable.

up the line. Why is nobody looking at this from the grand scale?

Chris (25:16.46)

Yeah, we’ve broken the compact. For most of my lifetime, we had a deal with kids that we would make college affordable. That fell apart 10, 15 years ago as state budgeters realized that they could cut taxes by putting more and more of the burden onto the students. That’s why college loans have gone through the ceiling. But we’ve broken the deal. We’ve always valued education. It’s about the future. It’s about helping people to thrive.

And it is far too expensive. And now the colleges are struggling because they don’t have enough students. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Some people are going to love this news. Others probably not. Are Cleveland police issuing more or fewer speeding tickets this year than last year, Courtney?

courtney (25:55.766)

Speeding tickets are way down in the city. We looked at the first three months of this year compared to the first three months of last year. And we found that compared to last year’s 1,400 tickets in the first three months of the year, this year we’re looking at just over 1,000. So that’s like a 27% drop. We also looked at just a one week period, the third week in March was what we chose to compare. And we found they wrote 51 tickets this time around and 113 last year.

So the difference here is palpable. The decline is palpable. And at the same time, I follow city council and I hear what those council members say all the time. The safety chairman, Mike Polenski, is just, he talks about this all the time out of concern. He wants to see Cleveland police up their speeding tickets. And other council members too point to safety issues with cars driving crazy through their neighborhoods. And…

Lisa (26:52.464)

to safety issues with cars driving through neighborhoods and posing with AC and safety gear to pedestrians who are walking and just, you know, all the related issues that are out there. But at the same time, CWP is a way down on its staffing level. And you’ve got to think, if you’re strapped for bodies and you’re strapped for time and abilities, traffic tickets are probably going to be the first thing to go. You’ve got to focus on the safety issues.

courtney (26:53.37)

and posing what they see as safety risks to pedestrians who are out walking and just, you know, all the road related safety concerns that are out there. But at the same time, Cleveland police is way, way down on its staffing levels. And you got to think if you’re strapped for bodies and you’re strapped for time and ability, traffic tickets are probably going to be the first thing to go. And you’ve got to focus on shootings and robberies, et cetera.

Chris (27:22.104)

We should point out the Ohio Highway Patrol has spent a lot more time in Cleveland over the past year, so they’ve made up some of those differences. The numbers we’re talking about are just for Cleveland police.

courtney (27:29.278)

Yeah, you know, honestly, I was a little bit more interested in some other numbers that we uncovered in this story. This one seems more concerning, at least to me. Drunken driving citations dropped 9% looking from that same period in 23 versus the first three months of 2024. That seems like notable, right?

Chris (27:55.196)

Or maybe people are drinking less. They all started drinking more during the pandemic. They’ve come out of the pandemic and they’re getting healthy. Let’s be optimists. Lila’s not on the podcast today.

Lisa (28:00.089)

Ha!

courtney (28:01.36)

I can pick up the pessimism mantle if needed. No, seatbelt violations are up, we found also, and as are citations for open containers.

Lisa (28:03.178)

Hahaha.

Chris (28:15.14)

All right. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. How cool is this, Lisa? What happened this week that will soon result in your being able to ride a bike from University Circle all the way to downtown Cleveland in completely protected bike lanes?

Lisa (28:28.518)

Yeah, Cleveland City Council committee signed off on a Cuyahoga County plan to build a 2.7 mile multi-use trail between East 9th and East 55th along North Marginal Road. Final approval by the county could happen as early as next Monday. So they are going to have to do a little bit of rejiggering of the area. North Marginal Road will have to be moved slightly south to make way for this trail. It’ll be repaved and then their lanes will be narrowed to 11 feet to make way for this trail.

This trail will have improved lighting, it’ll have fences, you know, to keep it totally separate from the road. Right now, people are just riding right next to the road. This is a $13 million project, 6.5 million from a federal NOACA grant. The city pays only $130,000. The county pays 1.6 million. And then a Cleveland Metro Parks donation from Jack Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation chips in 5 million.

Metro parks will be maintaining and operating this trail. They’re gonna move ahead pretty quickly. They wanna choose the contractor by July and hope to begin construction in August. And this will become, when it’s finished, part of the United States bike route system.

Chris (29:40.008)

The only way to keep bike riders safe is to have the completely protected routes because so many people on the road in cars are texting that it’s just not safe. So many people have stopped bicycling because of it. This is wonderful that people could get back and forth from those two central areas. You know, they have to cross some streets, so they have to be careful. But for most of the ride, they’re protected. They’re safe from texters.

Lisa (29:48.23)

Mm-hmm.

Lisa (30:05.958)

Yeah, and it’s kind of, we’re kind of stringing that, you know, uh, you know, we’re trying to make all those connections along the lakefront. And this is a big one.

Chris (30:13.968)

Yeah, it is very big news. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for Wednesday. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Courtney. Thanks to everybody who listens to this podcast. We’ll be back Thursday talking about the news.