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The lies and bogus arguments for reducing democracy in Ohio failed when used in other states: Today in Ohio

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — The company accused of providing “absolutely terrible” food in the Cuyahoga County jail also profits on the commissary that inmates rely on to supplement their diets – and it just raised prices.

We’re talking about the conflict of interest in supplying meals and selling snack food, and the issues disgusting food can cause, on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

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

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

Here’s what we’re asking about today:

In addition to everything else that is wrong with Issue 1, in which voters could be misled into reducing the power of their votes in Ohio, is it also part of a national Republican plot to devalue the power of Democracy across America?

We’ve talked for years about the loosening of gun laws in Ohio and the contemporaneous leap in gun violence in urban areas. John Tucker published a story over the weekend that illustrated a painful price of all the violence, a price paid by innocent bystanders. What did he find?

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Does the company that provides the food at the Cuyahoga County Jail, which is universally derided as gross, also run the commissary, where inmates buy supplemtental food? How is that not a conflict of interest?

There’s big news out of Case Western Reserve University this morning, a development that could finally vault the school into the big leagues for research. What’s happening?

We wondered a few weeks back whether Digital C had the bandwith as a company to bring high-speed broadband to the masses in Cleveland, per a proposed contract. Turns out we’re not the only ones wondering. What is going on with that contract?

Is it possible that these companies employ lobbyists in Columbus? Why can’t we get the names of the companies that have put in bids to drill for oil and gas on state lands, including state parks?

Infant mortality has been a crisis for Black families for a long time in Cleveland, with little progress made in reducing it. A new strategy comes in a grant to two Cleveland non-profits focused on the cause. What is it?

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Two big hospital stories to talk about. First up, University Hospitals already has expanded it still new Ahuja hospital campus in Beachwood. The grand opening is upon us. What does the expansion add, and how much did it cost?

Next, the Ahuja expansion is part of a trend of the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals expanding, away from the Cleveland core. What are some others in this hospital boom?

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

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[00:00:00] Chris: It’s today in Ohio and we’re talking about issue one. This is the news podcast from cleveland.com and the plane dealer. We talk about the big stories, and there are a bunch from over the weekend that we have on our plate. I’m Chris Quinn. I’m here with Laura Johnston, Leila Tasi, and Lisa Garvin, and Lisa’s up first, Lisa, in addition to everything else.

That is wrong with issue one in which voters could be misled into reducing the power of their votes in Ohio, is it also part of a national Republican plot to devalue the power of democracy all across America?

[00:00:36] Lisa: It certainly seems that way. You know, we weren’t sure whether Ohio was the only one that was asked.

For, you know, a higher voter threshold for constitutional amendments, but Ohio is one of 19 states that allow voters to change the constitution via amendment, or initiated statute. Every state has different rules and approval thresholds. Now, in the last couple years, three states have tried to put a higher voter threshold for amendments on [00:01:00] the ballot that was, uh, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Missouri.

They all failed. In Arkansas, there was a 2020 issue on tightening rules for signature gathering, uh, for these such petitions that failed and, but term limits on that very same ballot passed. So last year Arkansas tried to set a 60% super majority for amendments. It failed. It’d only got 41% of the vote, and it was alongside a marijuana bill that also failed on that ballot.

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Uh, the sponsor of this bill in Arkansas, representative David Ray, says we shouldn’t amend our constitution willy nilly. It’s just too easy to do. But the Arkansas League of Women Voters President, Bonnie Miller, says they, and they led the campaign to defeat this issue. And they said that the ads were focusing on ending majority rule in Arkansas, where the, when it was really, Special interests in out-of-state groups, you know, so anyway, um, I’m sorry, I didn’t state that very clearly.

In their ads to defeat it, they [00:02:00] said they leaned on ending majority rule in Arkansas. That was their message. So in South Dakota, they scheduled in election last June. Requiring 60% for any measure that had a 10 million fiscal impact over five years. It was called Amendment C. It failed by a two to one margin, and it’s pretty widely acknowledged that this was done to head off a November ballot issue in South Dakota on Medicaid expansion.

Um, and then in Missouri, uh, in this. 2023 session that just ended in May. They were poised to require a 50%, 57% vote to pass amendments, but that stalled in the Senate and then the session ended May in May without any action on that, but the house speaker who sponsored it, Dean Ploger, said, If the threshold isn’t raised 2024, abortion rights measure would pass.

That’s according to the Associated Press, and the Senate would be accountable for allowing abortion to return. So [00:03:00] we’ve had three different, uh, attempts to raise the voter threshold for amendments. They have all failed. That’s pretty, um, encouraging. But, you know, and a lot of people have pointed out that, you know, this whole thing about ballots, you know, looking at ballots is really.

Kind of got started 10 years ago with Medicaid expansion when states were voting to take it or not take it. And then it kind of, you know, uh, went for, to criminal sentencing reforms after the George Floyd death. You know, that kind of made it, you know, more intense. And then when we overturned Roe v Wade, then it really intensified.

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Yeah.

[00:03:36] Chris: It’s, it’s the minority trying to set up a tyranny of the minority. That’s why these guys have put this on the August ballot. They’ve seen that it didn’t pass in their states. They’re trying to sneak it through when no one’s paying attention, uh, even though they outlawed August elections because no one is paying attention.

The idea that we’re able to change the Constitution willy nilly is preposterous. It is very [00:04:00] hard to get a question on the ballot. To change the Constitution, the number of signatures you have to get and the number of counties you have to get them. It is already very challenging. It’s why it doesn’t happen that often.

This would make it pretty much impossible. They just don’t. Mm-hmm. Wanna admit that it’s, it’s fascinating that in the other states that lost so handily, it is odd that their whole strategy is, we don’t like what the majority wants. Even though we represent these people, we wanna put something in that overrules the majority.

It’s good reporting by Andrew Tobias. All of the machinations going to Lord over the voters, by the elected leaders. And let’s remember, this is Matt Huffman, our Senate President, Frank LaRose, our Secretary of State, secretary of State, the guy who was supposed to protect. The voter’s rights is a leading charge in trying to emasculate the voter.

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Check it out on cleveland.com. Go ahead. No,

[00:04:57] Lisa: I was just gonna say, all these states are singing the same [00:05:00] tune. They’re saying that this is, they’re trying to stop out-of-state interests and moneyed interests from changing their constitutions.

[00:05:06] Chris: Yeah, and what they’re trying to do is stop you and me and our fellow Ohioans from changing their constitutions.

It’s such a bogus argument. I wrote a piece this weekend about it on the column that I sent out. It goes out to a lot of people, and I was very encouraged by the response. Lots of people said, I had no idea how bad this was. I’m telling everybody I know to get their ballot. We have to stop this. And it was nearly universal.

There were a few that were not in line with that. But it seemed to be a wake up call you’re listening to today in Ohio. We’ve talked for years about the loosening of gun laws in Ohio and the contemporaneous leap in gun violence in urban areas. John Tucker published a story over the weekend that illustrated a painful price of all the violence, a price paid by the innocent bystanders.

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Laura, what did he find? This was a

[00:05:56] Laura: really deep, well reported story that kind of looked at [00:06:00] two angles, the actual victims in by who are bystanders in violence, and also like this prevalence of fear that’s happening because of all of the gun violence. And so felonious assaults with guns are up more than 7% in Cleveland.

This. Year. That’s according to Cleveland Police, and that was after they fell in 2022. The second division that covers the near west side, including old Brooklyn jump, is 78%. It’s just crazy. But weapons arrests are down 40% from last year, in part probably because of the concealed carry gun, uh, law that went into effect.

That means you can carry a concealed gun without a licensed training or background check. More shootings means. More victims and he, John went through all these police reports. He found a 60 year old shopping at a convenience store, a tow truck driver who was dropping off a hall, a passenger in a broken down car.

And then you add those to the national in incidents that you know, made huge news like the upstate New York passenger in a car that entered the wrong driveway, or [00:07:00] the kid who knocked on the wrong door in Kansas City. It’s an idea that like every. Confrontation, anything can turn deadly because so many people have guns.

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[00:07:10] Chris: Yeah. We published a letter to the editor today from a retired Cleveland police commander who talks to a lot of his former colleagues, and they’re telling him that this is 100% the result of permitless carry that. Mm-hmm. That. That people laugh at the police because they can no longer take their guns away.

And that that has what led to this incredible rise in violence. That was the, the last straw. I mean the, the we weakened gun laws and weakened gun laws, but the one that said pretty much anybody who wants to can carry a gun anywhere they want to has changed the game. And John’s Yeah’s story really shows the price of the emotional and physical trauma.

And you don’t

[00:07:50] Laura: need any training. Concealed care used to have to take a class, right? And used to have to know the rules. Now it’s like anybody can buy a gun and do whatever they want with it. And there’s also stand your ground laws, [00:08:00] and those are proliferated across the country, including in Ohio. It makes self-defense shootings that much easier because you can avoid prosecution as long as you can prove they.

You act reasonably in the face of imminent death or great bodily harm. Obviously that’s a perception issue, and it’s up to the prosecutor to prove otherwise, that’s really hard to do. There’s also the castle doctrine, which in the past allowed you to shoot intruders in your house. Now there’s no more duty to retreat in all public places, so you can say you feel threatened anywhere.

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And Ohio’s one of 38 in the country with. Uh, with a stand your ground law. The, uh, prosecutor’s office actually doesn’t prosecute 12 to 15 homicide cases every year because they don’t think they could win against a stand your ground law. So I wrote in my newsletter this morning, the wake up that goes to 25,000.

People that, like I had an interaction, it was totally fine, but just a dog walker at in, in the dark and it just was testy and you just never know who’s gonna have a gun. And that [00:09:00] fear never used to be in my head, probably before this summer.

[00:09:04] Chris: It’s another great story by John Tucker. Check it out. It’s on cleveland.com.

You’re listening to today in Ohio. Lela, I’m pretty sure we helped Northeast Ohio lose some weight yesterday with the disgusting photo of jail food. We published at the Big On the Plane Dealer’s Front Page does the company that provides the food at the Kayak County Jail, which is universally derided as gross.

Also run the commissary where inmates buy supplemental food, and if so, how is that not a conflict of interest? How did it happen? Well, it

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[00:09:36] Leila: is a conflict of interest. That’s why the story is so important. Caitlin Durbin has written about inmates accounts of how awful the conditions remain at the county jail years after the officials pledge pledged to improve them.

And among their chief complaints is, Absolutely atrocious inedible food. I mean, that photo that ran with her story, my goodness, the breakfast tray had a piece of [00:10:00] bread, some gelatinous blob that was perhaps grape jelly, and then some kind of undercooked breakfast bar that was, I guess, made by mashing together different kinds of leftover batter because they ran out of.

Pancake

[00:10:12] Chris: batter. Yeah, that was gross. That that description was so disgusting. I put

[00:10:16] Laura: it, I gave it to my son and I was like, you complain about the food around here? Like this is what they serve in jail. I hope you never go.

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[00:10:24] Leila: That’s

[00:10:24] Lisa: cold. Wow. You

[00:10:26] Leila: got a low bard

[00:10:28] Chris: in your house. You think I’m a bad cook? Look what they’re eating.

[00:10:33] Leila: So, So the inmates to avoid starvation have been supplementing their diets by spending money at the jail commissary. They’re buying foods to replace those disgusting meals or to try to make them taste better with seasonings and things like that. Well, as Caitlin points out in her story, The commissary supplier, Keith Commissary network, and the supplier of the meal program, Trinity Services Group, incorporated, are run by the same parent company, [00:11:00] TKC Holdings, which means that Tkc Holdings has zero incentive to improve the quality of Trinity’s meals because that’s exactly what’s driving business at the commissary, and the company is raising its prices at the commissary.

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This company has full control over everything that a person can eat or buy at the jail and what it costs. In some cases, the food is costing inmates more than 500% above what it costs them. Just a year ago, and on average, the rate of inflation in the jail commissary far exceeds what’s going on in the outside world.

Many of the inmates can’t afford the commissary, which means the commissary has been bringing in less money, and also the inmates just have to eat soggy. Bad or loaf for whatever that would say in the photo. And it also means inmates have to resort to trading whatever they have that passes as currency in the jail with other inmates just to get the items that they need.

It’s a very bad situation that can lead to unrest.

[00:11:55] Chris: Lemme stop you on that. When, when the story said that, I was presuming that meant sex, cuz if you have [00:12:00] nothing else to

[00:12:00] Leila: sell, it could be right? Yeah. I think that’s sort of one of, of the undertones of this. Well, but,

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[00:12:05] Laura: We talk so much about all the drugs in the jail and how awful it is.

I feel like you have to get high to be able to eat that

[00:12:10] Chris: stuff. But if you don’t have any resources, what can

[00:12:13] Leila: you sell? Sell. What else do you have, right? Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And corrections officers are even worried about that because you know, the terrible food quality tends to be a sense of real tension among the inmates that could easily become inflamed and become violent.

It has in the past. So,

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[00:12:31] Chris: Yeah. So, uh, we should point out this, these contracts were let under the administration of armed Buddhi, not the current county executive, Chris Ronna and the county council told Caitlin Durbin, they didn’t know this was the same company because the two contracts had different company names with.

Completely different addresses still. How does it happen? This is a terrible conflict of interest. If I serve you gr while dangling my flaming hot Cheetos over here that you have to pay for, right. You’re gonna buy the [00:13:00] flaming hot Cheetos cuz the Grue is disgusting.

[00:13:02] Leila: Right? Exactly. Yeah, you’re right. And.

You know, while Chrisna kind of said like, Hey, this, uh, this happened under my predecessor’s watch, but he also says that the county’s following state standards and, you know, and that they don’t think that, uh, the company would ignore the state’s jail standards and their contractual obligation just to make money on the backend of this.

So, I, I, you know, the, the contract for Trinity expires mid-month here. But the county hasn’t made any moves to find another vendor, so it’s looking like they’re going to have to at least extend this contract until the new sheriff can help guide some direction on this.

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[00:13:42] Chris: I remember years ago, I was talking to long ago Cleveland Heights police chief, and they have a little jail in Cleveland Heights, and they just went out and bought the inmates, uh, McDonald’s food each night because they didn’t have a kitchen, and the inmates loved it.

That would be a step up from this. Yeah. I mean, that’s [00:14:00] disgusting. It’s like what? That, that you could argue that that’s cruel and you’re not supposed to treat your words this way. I was a little bit surprised by Chris Ronan’s. Hey, I, it’s following state standards, right? You eat it, then you go eat it. We did talk to a county councilwoman who did eat it and what did she say about it?

Yeah,

[00:14:17] Leila: Mar, I think it was Meredith Turner, right? Yeah. She was the one who uh, was taking a tour of the jail last year at some point and decided to take a meal and. Wasn’t it? What was the description she had at that time that she and whoever else was with her on the tour? They were both trying to eat the meal and it was like a, like a game of chicken.

Like who was gonna stop eating first and acknowledge how gross it was. Well, and, and what, yeah. She, at that time was calling for a Trinity to be fired. Yeah, and she wanted the county out of that contract.

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[00:14:45] Laura: But just what the other issues brought up by this, we, we worry about violence in the jail, right? You worry about drugs in the jail.

You worry about all of these things. If it can all be traced back or connected to food, like this is not just a food problem.

[00:14:58] Chris: I. Right. It’s a bigger, a much [00:15:00] bigger issue. Great stuff. Check it out, but avoid the picture you’re listening to Today in Ohio, there’s big news out of case Western Reserve University this morning, a development that could finally vault the school into the big leagues for research.

We have compared very unfavorably to cities like Pittsburgh in that realm. Lisa, what’s happening here?

[00:15:20] Lisa: So Case Western Reserve unveiled plans this morning, uh, for their 300 million interdisciplinary science and engineering building. It’ll be located south of Euclid Avenue on the west side of what’s called the Case Quad, and they hope that this attracts world-class researchers and more federal grant money and boost their rankings.

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It will also, because of the architecture, open up a Waldorf portion of the campus that’s adjacent to black neighborhoods. So Case, uh, president Eric Taylor. Says it’s absolutely critical to our future. He actually came to Case to kickstart what he called a stagnant non-medical research atmosphere. He says, case [00:16:00] hasn’t built a new lab outside of medicine in decades, and he wants to change that.

He’s a chemical engineer with who holds several patents. So construction on this building begins in late 2024 and should be done by 2026. It’s a 50 50 financing deal. Uh, Some of it comes from 350 million in century bonds that were issued last year and others from philanthropy. This would replace the 1955 era Yost Hall, which currently houses the Department of Mathematics, applied Math and Statistics.

It was a former dorm, so architect Peter Cook says he wants to create a welcoming face from M L K Boulevard where the building will face, he says, Right now there’s just a wall of eight case buildings. It’s like an impenetrable wall. And so his design is like a cluster of rectangular blocks with different setbacks and different levels, and then the lobby will be kind of glass and closed and it’ll be glowing blue at night, which is cases colors.

So not only are they trying to broaden their [00:17:00] research footprint by getting a little bit away from medicine, they’re also trying to open up their campus to the surrounding neighborhood.

[00:17:06] Chris: I’m still having a problem seeing where this is. I, I just don’t, I can’t see where on M L K they have room for a building, uh, that also borders black neighborhoods.

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But eventually we’ll run a map. I guess. It’s a great development. Keller, one of the reasons I think he was brought in is to give them the research chops that they long have lacked. Mm-hmm. And this is a giant step in that direction. Mm-hmm. You’re listening to today in Ohio. We wondered a few weeks back whether digital C had the bandwidth as a company to bring high speed broadband to the masses in Cleveland per a proposed contract.

Turns out we’re not the only ones wondering, Layla, what’s going on with that contract? So

[00:17:49] Leila: yeah, this is that 20 million contract that Justin Bibb has proposed to give to digital C for, for affordable broadband in Cleveland. They came out on top of the bidding process. Their plan would [00:18:00] provide wireless broadband internet to all Cleveland households within 18 months, at $18 per month with upload and download speeds of at least a hundred megabits per second.

But the question here is whether digital C has the capacity. To pull this off. It’s such a big contract. They’ve struggled to deliver on much smaller contracts in the past, and city council drilled into that at a hearing last week to to be sustainable. Digital c needs to get 25,000 customers in the next four years on this $18 a month plan.

If they get this contract, it, they’re going to spend a portion of the money from the city upgrading their existing technology because, you know, they’re. Current tech is incapable of the speeds that they’re promising, and council wondered how they’re gonna pull this off. It’s, it’s the biggest contract this company has ever handled, and as Councilman Chris Harsh pointed out, the company has a history of really over promising and under-delivering to the tune of a fraction of what they promise.

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[00:19:00] Digital C had set a goal in 2015. Team of connecting 40,000 homes to broadband by 2025, and today they only have 2000 customers. So the new C e o Joshua Edmonds told counsel, he’s aware of the concerns about the old digital c. He said that in recent weeks they went through a rebalancing and they fired some people and that was part of a restructuring in which they’re switching from this, you know, model of connecting the unconnected to wireless to competing with large internet providers for customers, which actually scares me more.

But Lucas Dpri got his hands on some I R S nine 90 s from recent years that showed digital seas expenses are really far exceeding its revenues, which also should be alarming to council. There were a number of years where they were just, you know, spending way more money than they were bringing in. And there again, Edmonds said, don’t worry about it.

We got this, this, this last year we’re, we’re in the black, so, you know, oh, and [00:20:00] also interesting was that while they were burning through their cash, they also increased the salary of their c e o at the time by 70 grand. So it’s, there’s just a lot of red

[00:20:09] Chris: flags. I, I, look, I never understood it. They have underperformed Cleveland residents deserve guarantees.

They don’t thi this seems fly byk the worst explanation I’ve ever heard for, for somebody saying, yeah, I know we were bad in the past. We just fired a bunch of people. That tells me you’re really not ready to go. You don’t have people in place ready to go. Cleveland deserves better. The, the, the city should sign a contract with somebody they know will deliver this by a certain deadline, even if it costs a little more.

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Thi this is not the time to gamble.

[00:20:43] Leila: I agree. And, and luckily council decided to hold this legislation until they can get some reassurances on digital CS capabilities here. And I’m not sure how they’re gonna go about doing that, but hopefully

[00:20:56] Chris: hopeful they’re not gonna roll the dice. They haven’t hit a benchmark yet.

So why [00:21:00] would you think they’d start hitting them now? Right. Great stuff. I was heartened to see the council, so on top of this they were asking all the right questions, pointing to all the right things. That’s what they’re there for. Mm-hmm. They’re supposed to be the check on the administration of. The administration comes in with a contract proposed for something that’s questionable.

They’re supposed to question it. They did. I salute them. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Is it possible, Laura, that these companies employ lobbyists in Columbus? Why can’t we get the names of the companies that have put in bids to drill for oil and gas on state lands, including state parks? Why is Governor Mike Dew wines administration being secretive again?

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I

[00:21:41] Laura: can’t believe you would think that there’s connections between lobbyists and getting strings pulled in Ohio, Chris, but this is part of the state law and, and it actually goes back all the way to 2011. They exempted these companies from public records. Now we know that there’s eight. Applications in, [00:22:00] I think they call them nominations, like it’s some kind of award.

And then what, while there will be public comment, you won’t be able to know the company that you’re commenting on. They’re keeping that secret from the people who you know who own these state parks because it’s. They’re the taxpayers parks and who live around them. So, but this 2011 law was written in that details about the bidder signing bonus, royalties, water use, and others are confidential, not to be disclosed by the oil and gas Land Management Commission, not subject to public law records request.

And once the bid is selected, they’ll tell you, but that doesn’t really seem very

[00:22:33] Chris: helpful. So it, it declares it to be confidential. It’s not a, it’s not a records exemption. It specifically says you may not release it. The law

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[00:22:42] Laura: says that they’re confidential. You know, now they could change that law or they could argue that it’s, it’s the public interest.

I think there’s a huge amount of public interest in this. Compare it to

[00:22:52] Chris: the story we just talked about. Right. Digital C is proposed for a contract in Cleveland. It has a questionable background, and it’s leading [00:23:00] to a full discussion so that the Cleveland residents don’t get skewered by a contract that doesn’t.

Give them what they need. Now look at what the state’s doing. You’re, you’re going to have a public comment section and you have no idea whether these companies are fly by night or whether they have the resources. This is a shameful example of secrecy in the government.

[00:23:21] Laura: Absolutely. So you have these 45 day comment periods, but you don’t know which driller is trying to tap into the state lands.

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You know, you’ll, you will know eventually what state lands we’re talking about that hasn’t even been disclosed yet. Uh, obviously we’re, so far they say they’re not gonna be drilling on top of the state parks. They’re gonna be fracking underneath them, but you’re still going to have. The, the, the trucks and the, the machinery outside of the parks and they wanna finalize these leases as soon as October.

So, I mean, that’s pretty soon

[00:23:54] Chris: You’re listening to today in Ohio in Fort Mortality has been a crisis for black [00:24:00] families for a long time in Cleveland with very little progress made in reducing it despite no end of. Public efforts. A new strategy comes in a grant to two Cleveland nonprofits focused on the cause.

Lisa, what is it?

[00:24:13] Lisa: Yeah, th This 1.2 million national grant for two years will go to two groups birthing beautiful communities, which provides perinatal support, doulas, also known as birth workers and social support to women at high risk of infant mortality, and a Village of healing, which is a health clinic in Euclid that’s dedicated to improving care for black women.

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So $780,000 will go to birthing Beautiful communities and 420,000 to Village of Healing. So this grant will provide prenatal care, doulas and midwives. The enrollment in this program begins this month, and they have a goal of enrolling 144 clients in the next two years. So a midwife is more of a medical person.

They’re the ones who actually. Do the birthing, [00:25:00] so they provide medical care and do the birthing. Now, a doula is non-medical. They are there to provide physical and emotional support before, during, and shortly after birth. So birthing beautiful community, c e o, Jasmine Long says this is a huge deal. Only three states receive this funding.

She says it will help them get research on the effectiveness of doulas and midwives working together to reduce infant mortality. Last year in Cleveland, black babies were two times. Is more likely to die in their first year than others. And in Cuyahoga last year. We did have the lowest infant mortality rate since 2313, but there are still racial disparities in that figure.

[00:25:41] Chris: That’s the frustration with this is no matter what you do, that disparity remains. And when you look at every factor, they’re having a very hard time identifying it. And maybe these nonprofits have have an answer that’ll help finally reduce it. But we’ve been talking [00:26:00] about this for a long time with really no progress made when it comes to the disparity.

But

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[00:26:06] Lisa: I think with midwives and doulas, it’s a less medical setting. I, I’m glad to see that midwives are really gaining in prominence. I think this is a good move because you get more personalized support. You get support right there in the birthing room from the doula. So this may have, may have a difference.

[00:26:22] Chris: Okay. You’re listening to today in Ohio. We have two big hospital stories to talk about. First up, university hospitals already has expanded. It’s still new Ahuja Hospital campus in Beachwood. The grand opening is upon us. What does the expansion add and how much did it cost? Leila,

[00:26:40] Leila: this expansion cost 236 million, and they’ve added.

All kinds of incredible amenities, and Julie Washington highlights some of these in her story. For us, athletes who are getting physical therapy would be able to do it on a 45 yard sports performance football training field. If you’re giving birth, you can [00:27:00] labor in a birthing pool, which I’ve always been fascinated by, but never.

Was, that was never available to me. And here’s the one that I thought was a little wacky, but okay, fine. A new men’s center, which is designed to encourage men to take better care of their health, will have pool tables and foosball tables in their waiting room, as well as personalized con concierges called the Joe Team, who help men coordinate care.

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That’s a whole bunch of masculine stereotypes back into that service. I’m gonna want a pedicure while I wait for my next mammogram. I think,

[00:27:31] Chris: wait, wait, wait. As the soul male presence on here, I’ve, I’ve heard of I think three different men in the past month who died of sudden heart attacks who had not been taking care of themselves, going to the doctor in recent years, and it’s amazing to me that.

That people don’t go, you think you’d want to check, but a whole bunch of men apparently don’t go and get the annual physical and get the tests that might help them prolong their [00:28:00] lives. So anything that encourages them, even if it’s a foosball table,

[00:28:04] Leila: like guess, I don’t think that’s gonna be the thing that brings people in.

What? Cause then because you’re gonna go there, what? You’re gonna have to like play a game of foosball with with a stranger? Is that gonna happen? Are you gonna go and ask some random guy who’s waiting for his checkup? Uh, Hey, you won’t get, you wanna challenge me in foosball?

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I

[00:28:21] Chris: don’t know. People are social, I guess.

So more social where we are. Cause I, it’s so sad when you hear about somebody in their fifties dropping dead of a heart attack. That was completely preventable. I, I mean, it happens all the time it seems, or maybe it’s just, I notice it more at my age. Um, but it’s an interesting, interesting thing. I don’t get the football field.

I, I’m, I, when I, I kept trying to imagine how that’s gonna work. And what the purpose of that is. Um, but maybe the, the teams that they serve want it.

[00:28:52] Leila: I don’t know. I mean, it sounded like even if you’re not a professional athlete, like this would be available to you. I mean, I had a A [00:29:00] A C L reconstruction years ago, um, after a skiing accident, and I went to physical therapy for quite a while to try to regain, I.

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That mobility and strength, and I think I probably would’ve liked to do some of it on a, in a larger area because a lot of it is jumping and sprinting and trying to, you know, they had me on a treadmill and a bike and I just felt kind of closed in. I think it would’ve been nice to have, I. I mean, I don’t know if you need 45 yards, but you know, an area like that would be helpful probably.

Okay.

[00:29:30] Chris: Next, the huge expansion is part of a trend, the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals expanding away from the Cleveland Core. Laura, what are some others in this hospital? Boom.

[00:29:42] Laura: Yeah, we’re talking about 856 million in new buildings, the expansions and the renovations, and that’s just the ones we have totals for.

So we’re talking about a four-story medical center in Ashtabula County. Uh, the Cleveland Clinic’s first full service hospital in Lake County and a new breast [00:30:00] health center in Portage County from, uh, Akron Children’s Hospital has a new 3.5 million operating room that’s for pediatric spine surgeries.

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Summa Health is spending 7 million on a wound care center and 2.2 million on its Bariatric Surgery Center. That Coal Eye Institute for the Cleveland Clinic is going to be expanded and then they’re building that Cleveland Clinic neurological in. To two building, which we have no idea how much is gonna cost, uh, opening in 2026.

So the goal for most of these is to improve patient care and make hospital stays more comfortable. They wanna provide up-to-date equipment, larger patient rooms, better surgical facilities, and a huge emphasis on the outpatient and specialty care, which is shorter stays in hospitals. It’s a national trend.

Obviously it’s cheaper for the hospital to provide if you can go home, but most people do not want to be in a hospital if they don’t have to be. So you could. Go home and recover.

[00:30:53] Chris: All right. We’ll have to leave it there. We’ve gone long. Thanks, Laura. Thanks Layla. Thanks Lisa. Thank you for listening to this podcast.

Come [00:31:00] on back Tuesday. We’ll be talking about some more news.

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