Will Ohio’s Supreme Court return Sam Randazzo’s $4 million even though FirstEnergy says it’s bribe money? Today in Ohio

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Former PUCO Chairman Sam Randazzo thinks he should get his millions back.

Lawyers representing Randazzo, who’s accused of taking a $4 million bribe, appeared before the Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday. We’re talking about the audacity of the argument on Today in Ohio.

Listen online here.

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

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

Here’s what we’re asking about today:

What argument did attorney for disgraced former Ohio Public Utilities chief Sam Randazzo make before the Ohio Supreme Court to hold on to his assets, including millions that FirstEnergy says it paid him in bribes?

Wednesday was unlike any we can remember in Northeast Ohio, with smoke so thick that visibility was a problem and the particulates in the air made it dangerous to exercise. It’s the fires in Canada causing it, when do experts expect it to clear up?

Is all this smoke as bad for our pets as it is for us?

July 4th is next week. If the smoke is still here, will fireworks shows be canceled?

If you’re flying out of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport for the July 4 holiday, can you expect to find any parking spots there?

Okay, Leila, why was Kid Cudi having a phone call with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb on Wednesday?

What is Trickbot, and what role did Greater Cleveland play in bringing part of it down?

Pride month is coming to a close, but before it does, we published a story explaining what each of the letters mean in LGBTQIA+. What does reporter Julie Washington say?

There’s an odd new vending machine at the Cleveland airport. What can you buy in it, and the answer is not a parking space?

Wealthy people love to donate large amounts of cash to our hospital systems, but a $10 million gift this week is not going for buildings or other projects normally funded this way. What will it pay for?

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

[00:00:00] Chris: At long last, it is the day of reckoning for Larry Householder. The day he finds out how much of his life he will now spend behind bars for the biggest corruption scheme in the history of Ohio. It’s amazing that it has taken almost three years to get here. Justice is grinding slowly. So many people have yet to be charged.

But today, at least the kingpin of this thing gets the orange jumpsuit. It’s today in Ohio, the News podcast discussion from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Layla Tassi and Laura Johnston. We will be talking about Larry Householder sentence tomorrow, but today we’re starting with him.

Different element of first energy. What argument did attorneys for disgraced former Ohio Public Utilities Chief Sam Randazzo make to the Ohio Supreme Court toban to his assets, including millions? That first energy [00:01:00] says it paid him in bribes.

[00:01:01] Lisa: Lisa? Yeah. This is an interesting legal argument. Actually.

There were oral arguments, uh, yesterday in the Ohio Supreme Court or Sam Randazzo’s. Attorneys are asking to unfreeze 4 million in assets from very AC various accounts, and now these assets were. Seized as part of a civil lawsuit filed by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. He said he got a judge’s approval to freeze that money out of concern that Randazzo would try to hide the assets after an F B I raid on his home in 2021.

So, uh, Yost took this to the Supreme Court after an appeals court sided with Randazzo in this case. So in 2021, first Energy had a deferred prosecution agreement where they admitted paying Randazzo this. 4.3 million for favorable treatment by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. But Randazzo’s attorney Roger Sugarman says the state was wrong to rely on a deferred prosecution agreement to imply guilt for Randazzo.[00:02:00]

Um, he says there’s no indictments. Randazzo has not been charged despite the rate on his house. And they say that. Legal protections were ignored in the pre-judgment action to freeze randazzo’s at assets. So they say every statement against Randazzo is hearsay and unsupported by evidence. The attorney for the Attorney General’s office, Charles Miller says he took reasonable steps given the evidence that Randazzo was trying to judgment proof himself by selling and gifting and transferring about 8.5 million in assets including a home in Florida and Ohio, and a gift.

To sun and, and some other payments.

[00:02:36] Chris: Well, there has to be common sense brought to this. First energy says it gave the guy millions in bribes. The prosecutors, the the people involved are trying to make sure that he does not profit from that money. While this thing is out in adjudication land and protecting that money now is important, letting Rand Dozo go ahead and squander it before he comes to justice.

Is [00:03:00] a mistake and hopefully, look, the easiest way for this to be dealt with would be if the prosecutors who’ve been dealing with this thing forever would just file the charges right? First. Energy has pleaded to given him bribes. I mean, he has the money First Energy says it’s bribes. Why hasn’t he been indicted yet?

Hopefully after the sentencings of Householder today, and Matt Borges tomorrow. The next phase of this prosecution will begin.

[00:03:26] Lisa: Yeah. I think we’ve all been scratching our heads. I mean, this raid was two years ago, almost two years ago, and we’re wondering when the other shoe is gonna drop. We have to think that maybe he’s cutting a, a, a, you know, a plea deal trying to get partial immunity in, in exchange for his testimony.

It’s just a head scratcher. I know, but if he’s

[00:03:43] Chris: negotiating immunity, he’s basically admitting guilt so he shouldn’t get the money back. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. The last thing that should happen is profit from the fruits of corrupt. Behavior. I mean, all of the people involved in this betrayed the citizens of Ohio.

And Mike DeWine appointed [00:04:00] this guy despite misgivings that were given to him about the quality of his characters. So this is all on Mike DeWine as well. You’re listening to today in Ohio, Wednesday was unlike any we can remember in northeast Ohio, which smoke so thick, that visibility was a problem and the particulates in the air made it dangerous to exercise.

It’s the fires in Canada causing it. Laura, when do experts expect it to clear up? And this is not happened before we lived in something yesterday that we had never

[00:04:31] Laura: experienced. No, I know, I, I, I said in my, my note in my newsletter, the wake up newsletter that I. Remember plenty of cancellations for thunderstorms, right?

But this is the first time I can remember cancellations of swim practice and little league games and outdoor concerts in the state of the county address. All because of smoke. And I fear that it’s going to be a regular occurrence. It is better today. I mean, you can see the sun. It’s not just as like this neon ball that looks like a Nerf ball in the sky, in a, in a very [00:05:00] gray sky.

You can’t smell the smoke. At least from my house this morning. Yesterday when I stepped out around six 30 in the morning, it smelled like a campfire. And my, my daughter’s a girl scout camp and they actually said, we’re gonna try to keep the kids inside today. It’s like, it’s just, it’s like the world has turned on its head and this is really dangerous for you.

Obviously if you’re a healthy person with normal lungs, you probably aren’t gonna get sick just from one day, but it, this can add up and we don’t know the long-term health effects.

[00:05:31] Chris: Well, you’re right. It’s better today. We’re in the red zone instead of the purple zone. Right, right. We

[00:05:36] Laura: flirted with 300, which is like incredibly hazardous,

[00:05:40] Chris: but we’re still way up there in an area where they recommend that if you’re outside, you should be wearing an N 95 mask.

I, I’m trying to understand what the equivalents are. I saw some people discussing this in different forums saying, this is like smoking cigarettes if you breathe this all day. Uh, it, it’s just amazing to me that. That masks [00:06:00] are going to be a permanent part of our lives because of climate change, and it’s such a wake up call that we should do something about this.

Yes, the stultifying heat in Texas, Lisa, you spent years in Texas, but mm-hmm. They are dealing with heat that they say they’ve never dealt with before and it’s just sitting there 115 degrees. Was it ever at 115

[00:06:20] Lisa: when you were there? Well, the first year I was there, 1980, they broke several heat records that stood for many years, but most of those records from 1980 have now fallen because of the weather this year.

And

[00:06:32] Chris: everybody is saying, look, the yes, we had heat waves before. Yes, we’ve had fires before. Climate change has intensified them, and that’s why the. Eastern half of the United States is now seeing what the Western half has dealt with. It’s a, it’s just surprising I I, to, to be outside in that you in the air in something you’ve never really contemplated before.

Mm-hmm. We really do need to do something to start protecting this

[00:06:57] Laura: planet. Wildfires always came to mind [00:07:00] for California, right? Like it was a west coast thing. You’re like, oh, that’s why you don’t live in California. I mean, every province in Canada has had wildfires like, you know, Northern Canada. It just seems so bizarre.

[00:07:12] Chris: Okay, you’re listening today in Ohio. Lela, this is an offshoot, is all this smoke is bad for our pets as it is for us. We were speculating on this yesterday, and Gretchen Crowin went out and found out right away what the status

[00:07:26] Leila: is. Yeah, the answer is it is just as bad for our pets. The American Veterinary Medical Association advises us to take precautions to keep animals safe.

Then that includes livestock as well as your, your household pets. They suggest that pet owners should treat their pets with the same precautions they would use for themselves. This includes keeping pets indoor as much as possible during these periods of terrible air quality and, and limiting outdoor exercise.

And, Watching for any signs of discomfort. Birds are a special case. Apparently their respiratory systems are, are [00:08:00] especially susceptible to damage from this pollution. So if for some reason you’re a bird owner who takes your birds outside, refrain from doing that until the smoke clears And, and just as they say, um, that the very young and older adult humans are particularly at risk so are.

Puppies and kittens and older pets or pets with asthma or, or underlying health conditions or dogs that are brachycephalic, meaning they have a very wide short skull like Bulldogs or Boston Terriers or pugs, but they advise not to use the masks that are designed for dogs unless you live in really close proximity to an active fire.

They say these masks likely won’t fit your pet well enough to benefit from it and, and also, It could prevent the dog from panting, which could cause your dog to overheat.

[00:08:53] Chris: Yeah, it sounds, uh, I, I wonder what does it mean for all the wild birds then? Are we gonna have fewer songbirds in our midst? That actually [00:09:00] was a

[00:09:00] Leila: question that immediately popped in mind.

I hadn’t even thought about how this is affecting our, uh, you know, our, our bird population here. Are we gonna find dead birds in places?

[00:09:10] Chris: I wonder They have

[00:09:10] Leila: some kind. Actually found dead bird in my lawn yesterday.

[00:09:13] Lisa: Come to think of it,

[00:09:14] Chris: come think of it. I wonder if they have an evolutionary mechanism that, that when the smoke is around that they reduce their activity or something.

I don’t know. It’s, uh, it’s pretty scary. One of the things we’re also looking into, what does this mean for our machinery? You know, our cars have air filters in ‘em. Does this mean we need to change ‘em more often? Mm-hmm. Because they’re gonna get clogged up with this stuff. You’re listening to today in Ohio.

One more on the smoke. July 4th is next week. If the smoke comes back or if it’s as thick as it was yesterday, will fireworks shows be canceled? Lisa,

[00:09:45] Lisa: uh, officials in various cities are deliberating whether they’re going to do that here in Cleveland. The Light Up the Lake Show in put on by downtown Cleveland Incorporated.

They’re evaluating their current protocols, looking at air quality issues, and [00:10:00] they say, so they haven’t made a decision. They say they did have a. July 5th rain date in place anyway, so they could use that if necessary. In Lakewood. The mayor’s chief of Staff, John Story, says they’re not gonna put citizens at risk for their Lakewood Park show, and they will consult with the, you know, the Air Quality Index and other professionals before making a decision in Westlake, the mayor, Dennis Clo or Cluff, I’m not sure how you say it.

Cluff. Yeah, it’s Cluff. It’s Cluff would take a, he said it would take a lot to cancel the West Lake. Fireworks, you know, such as a C D C advisory. That’s what it would take. He says, otherwise the show will go on. They’ve only canceled it one time in his 38 years as mayor, and they did that for dry weather in Medina.

The fire marshal, mark Crumbley says their decision to cancel their show on the. 3rd of July was up to the mayor. He says they will probably proceed with the understanding of the situation and let the citizens decide whether or not they wanna come. He says, this is new territory for all of us, just like Covid was.

[00:11:00] And we did talk to the Cleveland Department of Health. Amy Schmidt says that fireworks will add to the bad air. We know that you see the cloud of smoke after every fireworks show, so it always spikes the particulate matters when you do have fireworks. So you know, we’ll just have to see. But these are expensive shows.

Most of them, they can cost tens of thousands of dollars, so I’m sure economics has. Something to do with their decision.

[00:11:24] Chris: Yeah. The contracts are there. Be shame if we had to cancel it. We lost some of the shows during the pandemic because crowds weren’t getting together. There’s two elements to this.

There’s one, it’s the, the particulates that are added, as you mentioned. It’s also if people are all outside during that period, if there’s a lot of particulate, they’re breathing more. Uh, but, but people do need the break, you know, the intensity of the news and all of the, mm-hmm. Distress people feel this is one of the things that give them joy.

I hope they get to have the joy. We’ll see. You’re listening to today in Ohio. If you’re flying out of Cleveland Hopkins [00:12:00] International Airport for the July 4th holiday week, can you expect to find any parking spots there,

[00:12:05] Laura: Laura? Good luck. I wouldn’t go and just wait with your blinker on and hope somebody leaves.

So more than 50 million people, Americans are expected to travel this holiday weekend. Obviously it’s not really a holiday weekend. 4th of July is on Tuesday, but plenty of people have Monday off. So this is a record number of people both flying and driving, or according to aaa. So airport officials say they’re gonna have a million passengers.

Through the airport in both July and August this summer. That’s numbers we haven’t seen since 2008, and that’s despite the fact that airfare is costing 40 to 50% more than last year. Hotel prices are also up slightly. Friday’s supposed to be the busiest day, and already on Wednesday morning there were no spots in several of the onsite parking garage, including the blue and red surface lots.

There was availability on. Orange as well as brown and gray. But if you wanna park at the airport, I would suggest [00:13:00] using one of those off. Site spots and getting your, using the app to reserve a spot

[00:13:05] Chris: first? Yeah, actually a, after, we talked about this the last time, I heard from some people that have recommended this offsite lots in the past and they said, you know, I just found out they’re closed too.

So it’s not guaranteed that even in the offsite, lots people can get spaces. If you can reserve that using the app. That sounds like the wise thing

[00:13:26] Laura: to do. Right? Or you know, get an Uber if you live close enough. Or ask family of friends who are not traveling for the holiday weekend to drop you off. Cause

yeah,

[00:13:36] Chris: I wouldn’t park or go to Pittsburgh, fly outta Pittsburgh.

You never know. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Okay, Layla, why was Kid Cootie having a phone call with Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb on Wednesday? So

[00:13:49] Leila: the rapper, who’s from Cleveland had planned his moon’s landing, uh, moon Man’s Landing concert on August 19th at Rocket Mortgage Field House. And a couple days ago [00:14:00] he announced on Twitter that he was canceling it because the fans weren’t feeling the venue.

Last year. He held moons Man, moon Man moons. Moon Mans landing outdoors down in the flats, and he invited other big acts to join him. And the show was a pretty big hit. But in his tweets this week, kid Cudi said Rocket Mortgage Field House was his backup plan because the city was just such a pain in the butt about giving him a permit to have it in the flats.

And that caught Mayor Justin Bibbs attention. So he, he tagged Kid Cudi on Facebook and said, we’d love to have you in Cleveland to direct message me and let me know how I can help. He later tweeted again and, and it that it didn’t, uh, appear that Kid Cudi had applied for a permit for this show to be held in the flats, but he was looking forward to speaking with him and helping to make it happen.

So then later Kid Cudi tweeted and said, uh, you know, just had a great call with Mayor Bibb about the festival working fast to find a solution to still do it this year. Thanks Justin for making your se self [00:15:00] available brother. So, kind of fun to see this all play out in social

[00:15:03] Lisa: media.

[00:15:04] Chris: Yeah. Can you imagine Frank Jackson having that conversation?

[00:15:09] Lisa: Did he have a social media account at all?

[00:15:13] Chris: I don’t. It’s just a very different era in Cleveland with the much younger cooler mayor. You’re listening to today in Ohio, pride month is coming to CLO to a close tomorrow, but before it does, we published a story explaining what each of the letters in LGBTQIA plus mean.

What does reporter Julie Washington say? Laura, so

[00:15:39] Laura: this is confusing, right? If you ever just, I asked you to name what all of those stood for, would you be able to. Prob, probably not. I, you know, it’s one of those words we like all run together without necessarily thinking about each letter. So Julie had the idea to work with John Pana, our videographer on this series, where they found someone to represent each letter and explain what it means to [00:16:00] them.

And they worked with PFLAG on this to find the people. I guess next year we’re probably going to have to break down P flag, but, um, the first two stories posted yesterday. We’ll have three more this week. The guy who explained bisexuality for the B in LGBTQIA plus was really interesting in that he brought up the word pansexual, which I guess is not a letter in this, but could be represented by the plus.

And BI indicates too, as a two genders, but if you see gender as fluid, you want a more inclusive term.

[00:16:33] Chris: So, So we’re gonna drop the b

[00:16:36] Laura: i I don’t know that it’s ever gonna be dropped. I had this conversation with Julie. I was like, because it seems to be that’s where we’re heading, right? If the idea is gender is a spectrum, then it’s not a buy, but it might be one of those words that, you know, gets.

And gets grandfathered in, I guess, or I, and if you have the plus, that covers a lot of it. Um, inter the I is intersex and a is asexual. So that [00:17:00] is all included in this, which is interesting. And the, the folks she interviewed are, they have really thoughtful stories to tell. So somebody, the, the, the person who represented transgender said he knew something, the adults in his life.

Didn’t know when he was growing up. He was treated like a girl, but he felt like a boy. So they took, ended up taking, uh, hormones and pursuing surgery and just wanted to let people know that we’re normal everyday folks, just like everyone else. We laugh, we cry, we love, we wanna leave a rich full life. And part of that means just embracing who we are.

And so they’re, I mean, they’re just trying to. Be at peace with themselves. Yeah. I,

[00:17:40] Chris: I hear from readers who get very confused by this and, and the, the changing pronouns. So I think it was a good idea to do the story. Um, I, I would love to know how it’s received by the majority of our readers.

[00:17:57] Laura: Yeah. I hope that they see these [00:18:00] individuals as explaining their personal story and why they relate to this, because I think it’s really easy just to say, Not to use just the pronouns, but it’s a they problem.

Right? I don’t understand it. That’s they, they are different from me, and they all just, everybody just wants the same things out of life. So hopefully this can make you see things from a little bit different

[00:18:20] Chris: perspective. Yeah. That is the key hearing from people, the individuals, about why it’s important for them to be recognized.

It’s an effective story by Julie. People should check it out. It’s on cleveland.com. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Well, well, there’s an odd new vending machine at the Cleveland Airport. What can you buy in it? And the answer is not a parking space.

[00:18:43] Leila: Yeah. This machine sells Cleveland script merchandise, including adult and youth t-shirts and trucker hats.

It’s located near gate C nine at concourse C, and it’s. Stacked with a bunch of cool Cleveland souvenirs. It’s, it’s part of this three month pilot project that [00:19:00] Destination Cleveland created to promote the Cleveland brand. They’re going to evaluate how successful this was in September. Uh, the t-shirts are available in V-Neck and Crewneck styles, blue, black and gray and sizes up to two XL youth sizes.

But PR and prices are $30 for the crew shirts, 26 for V-neck, $20 for youth shirts, and. $25 for the hat. So tho those really aren’t terrible prices, considering that, I don’t know, ban at the airport probably costs nine bucks.

[00:19:31] Chris: Do you own anything with that Cleveland logo on it? I don’t

[00:19:36] Lisa: have that.

[00:19:37] Leila: I don’t have the script, but you know, I, I, I’m a clevelander.

I got, I got a whole drawer full of

[00:19:41] Chris: Cleveland shirts. What about, what about Lisa and L? Do you guys own anything with that Cleveland script on it?

[00:19:47] Lisa: I do. I have like a little snow globe. I’ve got a couple stickers on my car. Yeah, I do.

[00:19:53] Laura: All right. Well, I don’t have the script. I have the old school Clee clothing company, t-shirts.

I haven’t got a new [00:20:00] Cleveland shirt in a while, so I’ll have to, I wanna know, like if you live here and you’re not leaving at the airport, can you buy these anywhere? Oh, yeah. Probably on their website,

[00:20:09] Chris: right? Yeah. No, they, they make it available. Look, it’s how many people, when they’re going to an airport, they wanna bring something home to, to remember where they were or.

Give it as a gift. It’s a great idea to put these out there. I just, um, I wonder how many Cleveland brewers, I wanna know, how

[00:20:22] Leila: are they packaged in, in the vending machine so they don’t get stuck when they’re vending. I mean, they’re, they’re, I can’t get a Snickers bar to

[00:20:30] Lisa: save my life to drop from the vending machine.

[00:20:32] Chris: I looked at the picture, they’re rolled up. But yeah, I can see what you’re saying. So no

[00:20:36] Leila: trucker hat is gonna get, you’re not gonna find a machine just jammed up with

[00:20:40] Chris: trucker hats. You might, you never know you’re listening to, to tan Ohio. All right. Lisa, what is Trick Bot and what role did Greater Cleveland play in bringing part of it down?

[00:20:50] Lisa: Yeah. Trick Bot is this Russian cyber criminal gang that’s been around since 2014, and this case that was brought in Cleveland Federal Court is like the first. [00:21:00] Crack in, in the, uh, armor of this group. So, uh, yesterday in Cleveland, federal Judge Solomon Oliver’s court, 57 year old Ola Witt, uh, pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, conspiracy to commit computer fraud.

She was sentenced to two years in eight months in prison, but with time served and good behavior, cuz she’s currently in the Mahoney County Jail, she’ll be behind bars for about three more months before she’s uh, deported. Um, judge Oliver says there will be an additional hearing to determine restitution that could be anywhere from 12 million to 20 million.

And prosecutors allege that, uh, Witta was the face of Trick bot. Um, she, uh, and this group has stolen about 2.1 million from 10 Northeast Ohio. IO Businesses in schools. For instance, Avon Schools lost $471,000. North Canton Business lost 750,000 to this scam. So Witta developed a a [00:22:00] system to categorize stolen personal information that made it easier for criminals to use this information.

She also created a phishing email template that demanded ransom for stolen information. Assistant US Attorney Duncan Brown, that wanted. Four years. She said that he, he said that even though Witta was a big contributor, she was a big contributor, even though she wasn’t a major player, and she wasn’t a high level person, but her email hit more than 1 million inboxes worldwide.

Now, on the other hand, defense attorneys tried to paint her as just a little cog in the wheel. They said she was a remarkable woman who overcame adversity. She had no idea her programming job was for trick bot, but when she found out she was working for Trick Bot, she decided to say stay. And lawyer said that was the biggest mistake of her life, and she was crying during this, uh, hearing.

Yesterday she apologized to her victim. She said she just wanted to work for basic survival. So, but trick mod is a big deal, and like I said, this is [00:23:00] the first crack in the armor. So,

[00:23:02] Chris: Yeah, but if we deport her in three months, she’s just gonna do it again. Right? I mean, what’s the stopper? If she’s back home, uh, from, from launching another attack, it’s frightening how much damage there was that was done.

And it’s fascinating that it all comes into an Ohio Court.

[00:23:19] Lisa: Yeah, and it took two years. I mean, these indictments were handed up in 2021 and they were sealed, but they unsealed hers. And then there’s another, uh, defendant who’s had theirs unsealed as well. So we may see more in the future. I. Okay.

[00:23:33] Chris: Stories on cleveland.com, you’re listening to Today in Ohio, wealthy people love to donate large amounts of cash to our hospital systems.

It seems like we have stories about this multiple times a year. Tens of millions of dollars, but a 10 million gift this week is not going for buildings or other projects normally funded this way. Laura, what will it pay for?

[00:23:55] Laura: It’s paying for solutions mission. So this is the Veal Initiative for Healthcare Innovation.[00:24:00]

It’s gonna tackle healthcare’s biggest issues with innovation and test ways to transform healthcare. So that’s looking at big problems like reducing hospital costs, allowing people to heal at home rather than in the hospital, and finding new approaches to problems. Any solutions this initiative finds will be I implemented across university hospitals, probably other health.

Systems, and one of the big things they’re looking at is ways to reduce medical cost, enhance quality and cut waste. I think all of us could get on board with

[00:24:29] Chris: that. Well, yeah. I mean, generally when this money is donated, somebody’s name is going up on the side of a building somewhere.

[00:24:36] Laura: Right? Right. And they have to come up with a new way to say, building like.

Pavilion. Like you’re like what? Like how is

[00:24:42] Chris: that a pavilion? Yeah, it, it’s just amazing that the hospitals are always the recipients of this large Yes. When there are so many other things that need the money, and I guess it’s because the hospitals have helped people, but this is focused on something that could be game changing.

This is investing in [00:25:00] changing the future of medicine.

[00:25:03] Laura: Yeah, I, and I hope they find these solutions and we’ve talked before Case, Western Reserve. I feel like they come up with a lot of technology approaches to things and, and, and the studies they’ve done and how AI is helping. And I think a lo, I think this could go a long way, hopefully with.

With rising medical costs. I mean, is there a year that goes by that we don’t pay more in health insurance? It’d be nice to stop that. All

[00:25:26] Chris: right. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Before you go, I wanna just ask you guys a quick question. Did you know where to find your masks yesterday? I.

[00:25:35] Laura: Yes, but I don’t have any N 90 fives.

When my daughter went to Girl Scout Camp, it was on the packing list and she’s like, do you know where the masks are? And I was like, yes, they’re in a bag in the basement. So went down and found them, but I never bought N 90 fives, so I might have to buy my first. I

[00:25:50] Lisa: had, yeah, I had a stash. Uh, just before the end of the pandemic.

I bought like a stash of 30 knn 95 masks, air queens, and I [00:26:00] have some in my car. I kept, you know, I’ve always kept them in my car, but I knew exactly where to go to get them and I wore it yesterday when I was out doing my errands. Yeah,

[00:26:08] Chris: I wish I had Layla. Do you know where yours are?

[00:26:10] Leila: No, we, I was just asking my husband that today, cuz he had like a big bag of them that we were just hauling around throughout the pandemic

[00:26:18] Lisa: and, um, I have no idea, but we

[00:26:21] Leila: are headed to, uh, Chicago, to, um, where, you know, that passing through Chicago, we’re going to stop and we’re supposed to see the guardians, uh, play the Cubs at Wrigley Field.

And I just Oh, that’s fun. Yeah. But I’m so afraid that it’s either gonna be canceled or we’re gonna be exposed to some. Awful smoke because Chicago I think is even worse off than we are right now in terms of

[00:26:42] Chris: the numbers. Chicago was bad. I don’t know if it’s still bad today. I think

[00:26:45] Laura: it’s probably gonna depend on the day.

Yeah. We just posted a story on From the wire that basically says you’ll either have super hot humidity or smoke, so get used to it.

[00:26:56] Chris: Well, I guess like, yay summer, I guess if there’s smoke, [00:27:00] it’ll cut down on the barbecue growing for the holiday. I, uh, because you don’t want it. Add to the particulates if it’s that bad.

Okay. We will be back on Friday and then we will not be podcasting next week. We’re taking a break to enjoy the holiday week. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks Layla. Thanks Laura. Thank you for listening. Come on back. Tomorrow we’ll be talking about Larry Householder sentence.