When did Ohio leaders decide to emasculate voters? Even Mike DeWine is saying to hell with the Tuesday mandates: Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Despite Ohio voters’ overwhelming support of both Issue 1 and Issue 2 on Tuesday, Gov. Mike DeWine says he doesn’t consider the matters of abortion and legalized marijuna to be settled, just yet.

We’re talking about DeWine’s statements this week, encouraging lawmakers to undermine the will of the people, on Today in Ohio.

Listen here online.

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 else we’re asking about today:

Because Issue 2 is a law, not a constitutional amendment, the Legislature can change it. In the past, they would have been slow to mess with a voter mandate, but today’s legislators really don’t care for democracy. But Thursday, even the genteel Gov. Mike DeWine called on lawmakers to mess with the marijuana law, failing to respect the will of voters. What does he want done?

Remember that guy who was state superintendent of schools for a hot minute but had to quit because our reporter, Laura Hancock, revealed ethics issues of him taking the job after participating in the job search as a member of the state school board? He had to quit less than two weeks after starting? What is the jaw-dropping decision Gov. Mike DeWine has made to elevate this guy to a key position?

KeyBank has been rightfully blasted in the recent past for its poor record of lending in marginalized communities. Is it doing any better?

The proposed merger of the company that owns Cedar Point with Six Flags has a lot of Cedar Point fans worried about their beloved park. Susan Glaser spent some time analyzing how this might go. What did she find?

Talk about getting off on a technicality? Why has the battery charge been dropped in Florida against the Boston Heights Police Chief who was accused of assaulting a homeless man outside of a bar in July?

We’ve talked about the child care cliff, the day when the American Rescue Plan money that helped childcare providers, runs out. Is there any hope for continuing it?

Lisa, you’re a bigtime trail walker in these parts, so this must interest you. Even though it’s not very long, it is significant. What is the latest trail to open, and where will it eventually get to?

He’s still playing, and he’s still excellent, but you can now visit a kind-of museum about LeBron James. What is it, where is it and who does it serve?

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

Chris (00:01.124)

Election Weeks always seem like very long weeks in the news business. They’re exciting. They’re fun to cover. But by the time you get to Friday, your plum were out. That’s where we’re headed. As soon as we’re finished with this podcast coasting into the weekend, Ted get back in shape for another week of news next week. But before we do it, we got stuff to talk about. It’s Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plane Dealer.

I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin and Leila Tassi. Laura Johnson’s taking a few days off. Let’s get back to politics. Lisa, issue two was a law as we know, not a constitutional amendment, so the legislature can change it. In the past, they would have been slow to mess with the voter mandate, such as we had on Tuesday, but today’s legislators really don’t care about democracy and do whatever they think they should.

On Thursday, even the genteel Governor Mike DeWine called on law makers to mess with the marijuana law we all just approved, failing to respect the will of the voters. What does he want to do?

Lisa (01:06.487)

Yeah, Governor DeWine is urging the legislature to make changes to the new recreational marijuana law before it takes effect on December 7th. He said that we need to get this done quickly and thoughtfully. So he’s kind of focusing on a few areas. He wants to, you know, make it clear of ways how to prevent accidental ingestion of edible or other types of marijuana by children.

also advertising restrictions and how to handle, you know, DUI cases, I guess you call them OVI here in Ohio. He wants to avoid being like other states that have legalized marijuana, where he says you can smell it in public areas. He says that’s become pervasive in these states that have legalized recreational pot. He says people should have the right to smoke marijuana, but others have the right not to smell it.

So Tom Herron, who’s been the spokesman for the coalition to regulate marijuana like alcohol, he says, most of DeWine’s issues are, you know, allowed by the new statute. The Ohio Commerce Department has broad rulemaking authority over marijuana. He says, he’s not worried. He says everything will be okay, but he is frustrated. The lawmakers knew this was coming and only now taking action.

Chris (02:21.436)

Well, they don’t want it. And so they refuse to do it. And now what they’d really like to do is undo it. But because it’s a mandate, they worry what would happen if the voters just had this thrown in their face. Mike DeWine saying that people deserve not to smell it. He must not get out much because that happens now. I mean, you go out pretty much anywhere and it’s like, oh, somebody’s got marijuana going. The advertising regulations are interesting. Somebody wrote to me yesterday and said,

Lisa (02:41.845)

Hehehehe

Chris (02:51.196)

that when they drive, they have no interest in using marijuana, but when they drive in Michigan, they are bombarded by so many billboard messages about the different elements, and they all have a different shtick pushing you to come to their shop, that they’re tempted, and then they come back to Ohio and they have no interest. So they wondered, do all these ads, are they a gateway for people who might not otherwise wanna use marijuana? Interesting question, I do know that Michigan is filled.

with billboards, but it’s also filled with billboards for alcohol. Does it make me want to drink? I don’t know if this is an issue at all, but we’ll have to see how they try to clamp down on it. I’m just surprised they’re rushing to do this because they had months and months and months and months to think about this. It was pretty clearly going to pass and now all of a sudden it’s a crisis. Let it start. You got time. You can always adjust it. No harm is going to be done.

Lisa (03:21.409)

Yeah.

Lisa (03:35.283)

Right.

Chris (03:44.216)

if we get started on December 7th. So I was a little bit surprised. And look, remember when John Kasich tried to pretty much kill collective bargaining and immediately the voters went to the polls and rejected it and said, don’t touch that ever again. It was HB5 back then. And Kasich came out of that and said, okay, the voter spoke, I learned my lesson, I’m done with that, I’m moving on. Whatever happened to politicians who respected the voter?

Lisa (04:09.657)

Well, I think because we’re so severely gerrymandered in Ohio that they’re only listening to the most extreme of their voices. So they really don’t know what their constituents want. Even though they’re faced with an overwhelming majority in both issue one and issue two, all that can’t be true. So I think they’re so gerrymandered that they’re living in this bubble and they just can’t believe that anyone outside that bubble thinks differently than they do.

Chris (04:36.508)

Look, we have probably headed to the ballot next year, a correction to gerrymandering, a new way to draw maps. But if they actually do something to stop what the voters did, I could see a much more radical approach to taking apart state government. You’re not supposed to defy the will of the voters. You work for the voters. The voters have spoken. Who do you think you are to say, yeah, I don’t care, I’m gonna do it my way?

which is the message you’re getting here. Lots of people are, we’re hearing from lots of people who are worried about this. And my feeling is we’ll see. Let’s see what they actually do. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Remember the guy who was state superintendent of schools for a hot minute, but had to quit because our reporter, Laura Hancock, revealed ethics issues of him taking the job after participating in the job search as a member of the state school board. It was really sleazy.

We were pounding the drum. It was amazing that they had picked him despite it all. And then he walked away quickly because it was a crime. He had to quit less than two weeks after he started. Leila, what is the jaw-dropping decision on this guy by Governor Mike DeWine?

Leila (05:50.63)

It seems DeWine has found a way to get this guy, Steve Dakin, a sweet government job after all. He’s back. DeWine has named Dakin as director of the state’s new K through 12 agency, the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. This is a cabinet level position. The backstory is that back in 2022, after, like you said, only 11 days as Ohio superintendent of public instruction, he had to resign because…

the Ohio Ethics Commission had launched an investigation into how he got that job. And until that point, he had served as vice president of the Ohio State Board of Education and he was in charge of the committee overseeing the search for the new state superintendent of public instruction. And after he had seen most of the applications that came in, he resigned from the board and then applied for the job himself. I know, one day after, you know, one day before the application deadline. So

Chris (06:39.678)

It was amazing and Laura Hancock revealed it all.

Leila (06:44.786)

Later that year, he signed a settlement acknowledging that what he did might have violated the law a little bit. And he agreed to take some ethics training and to not apply for that job again until February of 2023. So now we have this new Department of Education and workforce that came about during the budgeting process and pretty much left the old Ohio State Board of Education gutted of its power. And this change came about after three Democrats got elected to the Board of Education.

Chris (06:51.053)

Yeah.

Leila (07:14.122)

So now most education decisions are going to be made by DeWine and Dakin. Everything from standardized tests to school report cards and money distribution and developing model curricula. Just about everything.

Chris (07:28.008)

What amazes me about this is DeWine now has a record of appointing people that have serious ethical deficiencies. Look no further than Samorandazzo, the head of the PUCO that DeWine appointed despite lots of baggage and who had to resign in disgrace after there was evidence he took $4 million in bribes. Although he’s never been charged with anything because the US attorney in the Southern District seems like he’s a coward. So here we go again, a guy who has serious, serious ethical.

challenges. I mean, he participated in the search to the last minute, then quit and got the job. It was ridiculous. The only reason he didn’t get charged with the crime is because he never took a dollar. He realized he was in trouble, said, don’t pay me. Because if he took a took any payment, he’d be in serious trouble. He is completely tainted. This is not the kind of person you want leading Ohio students. You need people that are crystal clean.

Leila (08:09.71)

That’s true. He didn’t get it right.

Chris (08:24.92)

And Mike DeWine picks him to be the equivalent of the superintendent. Mind boggling. I, when this dropped yesterday, our jaws were on the floor. Mike DeWine used to stand for integrity, but man in case after case after case, he’s appointing bad guys to positions. Even the horse racing commission, you know, he pointed an ethically challenged person to that.

Leila (08:47.022)

Well, you know, I mean, the entire formation of this Department of Education and Workforce is so questionable. I mean, the Board of Education, they were elected, and because DeWine and the Republicans didn’t like the representatives the voters chose, they gut the thing and developed this new body that takes control. I mean, this dirty patronage hire is just like the cherry on top of that.

Chris (09:07.504)

Well, and this whole thing is being challenged in the courts because the state constitution does say something about how we govern schools. And it looks like what the legislature did may be in violation of that. I mean, we have a cooked Supreme Court who will probably approve it because it’s party over doing the right thing. But an amazing case. I just I’m surprised that Mike DeWine, this is a guy who I thought cared about his legacy.

But his legacy is going to be in tatters. He just keeps appointing people of very questionable backgrounds to powerful positions. And if you’re a student taking a class anywhere where you’re talking about honesty and integrity, and you look at this as the leader of our education, what does that say?

Leila (09:49.694)

You know what? I’m sorry to tell you most people this isn’t good to register for them. They’re not paying attention to this This isn’t good at tarnish to wine’s legacy at all for most of his supporters

Chris (09:54.471)

Heh.

Chris (10:00.236)

Yeah, we’ll see. We’ll see what history says. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. KeyBank has been rightfully blasted in the recent past for its poor record of lending in marginalized communities. Lisa, is it doing any better recently?

Lisa (10:15.492)

I’m not sure if you can hear me.

Getting worse, the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which is a fair lending advocate, they released a report yesterday that found KeyBank mortgage lending in marginalized areas worsened between 2018 and 2021 when the NCPRC worked together with KeyBank to help improve their lending practices. And they found the trend continued after they cut ties with KeyBank last year.

So they found in their report that black borrowers, they were 2.6% of loans granted in 2022. That’s down from 3% the year before and down 6.5% from 2018. Low and moderate income borrowers, they were 19.2%. That’s down just a little bit from 2021, from 19.7, but down from 38% in 2018. So we see a pretty steady downward trend there.

The NCRC said they continued a years long retreat from promoting black and low moderate income home ownership. Now the stats are slightly different if you just focus on the Cleveland Illyria metro area. Black borrowers were 10.2% of the loans granted. Low and moderate income were 35 and a half percent in 2022. So that’s a little bit better than 2021 and about the same as 2018. And when we asked a key bank about these figures, they say they’re

disagree with the NCRC assessment. They say they’ve seen some strong positive trends both locally and nationally and they’ve had several initiatives they say to help that along.

Chris (11:52.232)

Uh huh. Okay. Well, it’s sad because it’s headquartered in Cleveland. It’s our bank and it continues to get these bad marks. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The proposed merger of the company that owns Cedar Point with Six Flags has a lot of Cedar Point fans worried about their beloved park. Susan Glazer spent some time analyzing how it might go. Layla, you love this place. What did she find?

Leila (12:17.93)

I’ll admit, I’ve been among the Cedar Point fans that have been worried about how this merger might affect the Cedar Point brand and the experience of the park because even though I’ve never set foot in a Six Flags park, I can tell you it’s inferior to Cedar Point. So this merger, as we’ve said, will create the largest regional amusement park company in the world with a combined 27 amusement parks, 15 water parks, and nine resorts across 17 states, Canada and Mexico.

Chris (12:30.865)

Hahaha

Leila (12:45.786)

there’s a lot that’s still unknown about what that means for the future for all of these parks. But Susan did a great job reading the tea leaves and also talked to industry experts and connected some dots for us. It’s unclear if any of these parks will close, but for sure some of them are considered untouchable. And that list thankfully includes Cedar Point, while a few others are more likely to end up on the chopping block. And the benefit of that is that the land sales from those

parks would provide extra cash to support the remaining parks and then they can repurpose salvaged attractions as new attractions at the remaining parks so the company doesn’t have to invest in big capital expenditures. Then there are going to be decisions that have to be made around what licensing and intellectual property they’d pursue. Cedar Fair’s license on peanuts characters expires in 2025 and the company will have the option to renew that. On the other hand, Six Flags.

has a deal with Looney Tunes that stretches out for additional decades. So do those characters supplant Charlie Brown and his gang in the kids’ area at Cedar Point? That’s kind of yet to be seen. There’s also discussion that the merger would be good for concessions. According to these industry experts, Six Flags could really benefit from elevating its concessions game and bringing the quality more on par with Cedar Point, which has really improved its food in recent years.

according to these industry experts, but that’s news to me because I think their food is terrible. So that’s kind of so far what we know about how this will impact the experience of being in one of these parks.

Chris (14:25.296)

I’d be more worried if Six Flags was going to have the supremacy in this new company and be the one calling the shots, but it’s very clear from the organizational structure that it’s Cedar Fair that will be doing that. And Cedar Fair knows very well you don’t mess with the cash cow that is Cedar Point. But let me ask you something. The idea of the Peanuts characters and of the Looney Tunes characters, do any kids today know who they are?

Leila (14:49.942)

That actually, that was on my mind as I was reading this. I feel like that’s, I don’t quite understand why that’s even such a high, so high on their issues of concern because my kids don’t, other than being at Cedar Point, that’s their, and maybe the annual watching of The Great Pumpkin, we have no exposure to Peanuts characters. And so these aren’t like…

Lisa (14:55.509)

I don’t quite understand why that’s even such a high, so high on their issues of concern because my kids don’t, other than being at sea of point, that’s their effect. And maybe the annual watching of The Great Pumpkin, we have no exposure to Peanuts characters. And so these aren’t fan favorites among the kids. Maybe this is supposed to appeal to the older generation of parents or whatever who have some nostalgia about it.

Leila (15:14.254)

fan favorites among the kids. Maybe this is supposed to appeal to the older generation of parents or whatever who have some nostalgia about it. But my kids don’t know Bugs Bunny at all, so they better keep that out of Cedar Point.

Chris (15:23.34)

I don’t know but I grew up on bugs. Right.

Lisa (15:28.027)

I’m going to go ahead and turn this off. I’m going to turn this off.

Chris (15:29.undefined)

I grew up on Bugs Bunny. My kids think I get part of my personality from Bugs Bunny, but I don’t think my grandkids have any clue who Bugs Bunny is. And because a lot of those cartoons are inappropriate by today’s standards, I don’t think they’re getting much airtime. So I don’t know how kids would even get to it. You know, the Disney characters, they’ve kept the flow. They keep them relevant. I would think this theme park would want to tie into, you know, Marvel or something. Right?

Leila (15:36.787)

No way.

Leila (15:52.098)

But, right.

Leila (15:57.994)

Yeah, well, isn’t it true? I think that Six Flags does have some kind of one of those like, you know, if not Marvel, whatever, DC or whoever, they do have rides that are named after superheroes and stuff like that. So maybe some of that will bleed into Cedar Point. But I think you’re totally right. Superheroes and princesses and Disney characters, which I know you can’t license that stuff because of, you know, Disney. But you know, that they need to rethink.

Lisa (16:02.825)

those like, you know, just not Marvel, whatever, DC or whoever, they do have rides that are needed after superheroes and stuff like that. So maybe some of that will bleed into Cedar Point. But I think you’re totally right. Superheroes and princesses and you can’t just say, you know, that’s what it is. But, you know, that’s that they need to rethink what they’re marketing the kids because they have no cultural connection to it.

Leila (16:25.31)

what they’re marketing to kids because they have no cultural connection to the characters that they’re pushing.

Chris (16:31.312)

Yeah, I mean, ask your daughters, who’s Elmer Fudd? And they’re going to laugh at you and say, what?

Leila (16:33.97)

Yeah, right. I don’t think they would even know Bugs Bunny, who’s like the main guy, right?

Lisa (16:35.156)

I think you’re missing a question.

Chris (16:40.136)

Right, right. Well, let’s face it, Elmer Fudd, it was basically making fun of somebody with a speech impediment, which he would not do today. Right, right. He’s always trying to kill. Yeah, you’re just not going to see those cartoons today, even though growing up, I adored them. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Lisa (16:47.518)

Mm-mm.

Leila (16:47.542)

and he carries like a rifle and shoots it at will.

Chris (17:00.072)

Talk about getting off on a technicality. Why is the battery charge being dropped in Florida against the Boston Heights police chief who was accused of assaulting a homeless man outside a bar in July? Lisa.

Lisa (17:14.233)

Well, they dropped the charges because that homeless man has since died. His death was unrelated to the incident at all. But they say without this guy’s testimony, they can’t prove the case. This is kind of an interesting tale. So, um, Boston Heights Police Chief Chad McArdle was in Key West. He was at a bar and this was in connection. He was arrested and charged with battery in connection with an incident outside this bar in July. So police were called to the scene by a taxi driver.

who said McArdle approached him, banged on his window with a story of being stabbed. Police found only minor scratches on McArdle’s body. He then told cops another story that he was pushed out of this bar, which was called Dirty Harry’s, and into a car by two men who stabbed him with a stick. Then he said that two men dragged him out of the car and beat him up in an alley. But later, police came upon this homeless man, Joe Jones, who told police he was beaten up by McArdle in the alley.

because the victim has died, they say, prosecutors say they don’t have a case now. But Boston Heights Mayor Bill Gonsey says McArdle is on administrative leave and has been since the incident. He says he’s aware of the case being dismissed, but he said the internal investigation continues. And McArdle, for his part, says he will make a statement soon, but it sounds like he changed his story several times.

Chris (18:36.916)

Yeah, I mean, the dropping of the charges may not affect his job status because the police chief is supposed to represent the highest standards. And if they’ve got the criminal case and the witness statements, he may have a hard time keeping it. Interesting that the death of the witness gets him out of the criminal charge. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We’ve talked a lot about the child care cliff on this podcast.

Chris (19:05.724)

That’s the day when American Rescue Plan money that helped child care providers runs out. Is there any hope for continuing it?

Leila (19:14.446)

$39 billion in ARPA money went towards subsidizing childcare in the U.S. and that helped childcare agencies retain staff and services and expand programming, which of course boosts the economy in big ways by letting parents work. But those subsidies expired at the end of September and reporter Sabrina Eaton tells us that the White House and Democrats in Congress want to continue these subsidies. A domestic spending bill that President Biden unveiled last month

would give $16 billion in assistance to child care providers throughout the country. That would support about 220,000 child care providers nationwide who serve more than 10 million kids. And Ohio would get 565 million of that to provide care to over 401,000 Ohio children served by 6,260 providers. And there is plenty of evidence to encourage lawmakers to get behind this.

A council of economic advisors working paper that was released this week estimated that the ARPA money reduced childcare prices by about 10% and boosted childcare staffing levels by 7% and increased wages for childcare workers by around 16%. And it also estimated that the funding was responsible for a 3% increase in the labor force participation rate by mothers of young children. So it doesn’t get more clear cut than that and hoping that lawmakers do the right thing.

Lisa (20:30.391)

by mothers and young children. So it doesn’t get more clear, cut the mat, and hoping that lawmakers do the right thing. That’s what it was. OK. So let’s move to the next one.

Chris (20:37.852)

And with those people going back to work, they pay income taxes. And so there’s an economic benefit. It’s not just some bleeding heart thing. Oh, let’s help people. There’s an economic benefit. You boost the economy and do all sorts of things to keep the engine roaring. It seems like a no-brainer as we’ve pointed out repeatedly this year, but everything’s so polarized. Who knows?

Leila (20:43.787)

Yes.

course.

Lisa (20:59.465)

I think Laura’s done a great job of bringing this topic to the surface with the articles that she’s done and the advocacy that she’s done in the community. Because I remember when we had the Greater Cleveland Partnership come in talking about their new plan for the lakefront and helping make Cleveland a destination. And Laura’s like, have you thought a child can? And they’re like, hmm, no, we have not.

Chris (21:21.144)

Yeah, it was kind of astounding that was the answer really, given how much we’ve talked about this year. But you’re right. I think Laura has done a terrific job. And what it’s made clear to people who are paying attention, this is a no brainer. This is an economic no brainer. It’s a social no brainer. I mean, in every way possible, unless you’re a misogynist that wants to keep women barefoot and in the home, we should do this. But we do have some politicians that clearly feel that way.

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Lisa, you are a big time trail walker as you have described, so this must interest you. Even though it’s not very long, it’s significant. What’s the latest trail to open in our region and where will it eventually get you to?

Lisa (22:05.221)

Yeah, this is very exciting. And actually I drive through the Euclid Creek Reservation and walk there regularly. So I’ve been watching this trail take shape over the summer. So this is the second phase of the Euclid Creek Greenway that was opened with a ribbon cutting on Monday. It’s a half mile trail that crosses Euclid Avenue and connects to Chardon Road through the old Euclid Central Middle School site. And it’s an extension of the phase one. That was a half mile path from Highland Road near the

entrance of Euclid from the southern portion of the Euclid Creek Reservation. So the completed project will be two miles of trail that connects the southern reservation, which is just above Highland Road, to the northern section, which is Euclid Beach, Villa Angela, and Wildwood Park. But there are three things in the way. Euclid Avenue, a set of railroad tracks, and then the Highway 90 underpass. So they’re going to have to figure out how to kind of get around all this.

They think that they will most likely have to use a combination of off street trails and bike lanes on city streets to make this connection complete. The next phase of this trail will go from Chardon road site to St. Clare and that’s already been funded, but they say that the Euclid Creek.

Greenway is a critical gap in the 2019 Cuyahoga County Greenways Plan that will connect 800 miles of interconnected network of trails, urban trails and greenways. So yeah, this is really exciting, but yeah, I kept thinking, how are they gonna get cross Euclid in the railroad checks? But they’re figuring that out.

Chris (23:39.552)

Yeah, that sounds like a big challenge and you want to make that welcoming. You can’t make it seem like you’re going through Highway Central. I guess I’m surprised that they’re not just following the path of the creek, but there must be soil and swamp issues and things that get in the way of that. Because where it’s going now, it looks like it veers away from the creek.

Lisa (23:59.801)

It does because yeah, I, you know, like I said, and there’s, and there’s like a light industrial area there just on the north of Euclid. So yeah, I kept thinking, how are they going to jump that trail? But they, they apparently have figured it out and it’s very exciting because the, you know, the Euclid Creek reservation, you can really only get to the Southern and Northern half by car. But this is just another step forward of you being able to go from one to the other.

Chris (24:21.074)

Right.

Chris (24:26.312)

They’re both lovely and the idea of being able to get from the one to the lakefront where we have that beautiful lakefront trail that Euclid did when they made the deal to shore up people’s property. I mean, that’d be wonderful. It’d be, you know, be a real treasure, but I’m with you. I have a hard time seeing how you deal with obstacles like railroad tracks and interstate. We’ll see, but it’s a good day that they extended it where they did. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. He’s still playing and he’s still excellent.

but you can now visit a kind of museum about LeBron James. Wait, what is it? Where is it and who does it serve?

Leila (24:57.079)

Thank you.

Leila (25:03.678)

Well, reporter Pete Sha’Carian tells us that a new multimedia storytelling experience called LeBron James’s Home Court will be opening November 25th at the LeBron James Family Foundation’s House 330 in Akron. And it will feature highlights from LeBron’s life and career and some never before seen material from his basketball days. And from his early days at St. Vincent St. Mary’s High School, you’ll see artifacts.

related to that, all the way to the Olympics through the NBA draft and all along his pro career. They’re billing this as an immersive experience and you’ll get to see a lot of great stuff, including his old jerseys and an original rim and backboard that he played on as a teen. All the proceeds from ticket sales are going to support House 330′s job training model, which employs, I promise, students, parents, teachers, and family members in the community. And in a statement, LeBron…

Lisa (25:30.185)

related to that, all the way to the Olympics, to the and alf, all along his career. The building this is an enormous experience, and we’ve had to see a lot of great stuff and people have been really interested in the original in and out work that he played on. It’s a theme. I think he’s going to put the sales and the support to Alston for his job-sharing product and his things, I promise, he is going to see.

Leila (25:58.102)

kind of admitted to being a bit of a pack rat when it comes to his personal mementos. He said he’s been known to hold on to stuff over the years, so he’s excited to have a place to display them for the public while also putting his beloved hometown in the spotlight. You can buy your tickets pre-sale now, and they of course cost $23.

Chris (26:18.2)

Yeah, but it’s going to a good cause. I would go do this. I think this is going to become a bona fide Akron tourist attraction. I just think it’s cool. I mean, he is, come on, he’s the greatest player that’s played since Michael Jordan, and he’s ours. And he brought a championship to the region. And he’s just, and that really kind of magnanimous guy. He’s done it all without real scandal. He’s a good person.

Leila (26:26.304)

I would definitely do it, yeah.

Chris (26:45.896)

who has maintained his excellence for two decades. He’s the oldest player in the NBA and he’s still one of the best.

Leila (26:53.37)

He is. You know, I do wonder though if we’re going to walk along his pro career if they’re going to highlight any footage from the decision. It’s probably best to just gloss over that part.

Lisa (26:54.265)

And…

Chris (27:02.418)

Haha

Oh, you won a championship in Miami, too.

Lisa (27:07.659)

But you know, he is a tireless advocate for his hometown. That is what is so amazing to him. He’s really a renaissance man. I mean, he’s produced films, he’s helped his hometown, he’s built a school. I mean, Cleveland is so lucky to have him and to have his heart here is really special.

Chris (27:27.328)

I agree. I just, I held him in the highest estimation in the worst of the pressures you can have in a celebrity status. He does the right thing and he’s devoted to family. I mean, everything you would hope for in a kind of a civic leader, he’s it. He should come back here and run for governor. Okay. I’ll take that too.

Lisa (27:45.309)

I was going to say president, but…

Chris (27:50.34)

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Wides up the week of news. Thank you for listening this week. Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Leila. We’ll be back on Monday with another discussion of the news.