Ohio AG Dave Yost, who opposed last year’s abortion amendment, tells judge he knows what voters really intended: Today in Ohio

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chris (00:01.244)

I don’t know that we’ve ever had a weekend with more powerful stories than we published over the past weekend. This is going to be a special episode ♊of Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland .com and the Plain Dealer. Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Laura Johnston and Leila Tasi. I don’t think we’re going to fit it all in, but let’s try. Why is Ohio attorney general Dave Yost arguing to ✃keep abortion restriction laws in place?

in spite of the overwhelmi⛎ng passage last year of an amendment to the Ohio Constitution to enshrine abortion as a right. Laura.

laura (00:37.699)

because he says they were allowed under Roe versus Wade, and that’s what Ohio voters thought they were returning to when🌠 they overwhelmingly approved the constitutional amendment in November. We’re talking about a number of rules passed over the years that kind of whittled down the rights of abortion in Ohio, forcing a pregnant woman to wait 24 hours between her initial doctor’s appointment and the abortion laws requiring women to sign various legal documents about the risks of abortion and promises.

that they’re not having the procedure under duress or intoxication laws to attest they were given the opportunity to 𝓀listen to the embryonic heartbeat. And of course, the really big one, the 2019 heartbeat law, which is on hold because of another lawsuit. So remember that what we passed in November was very short, basically, compared to🔯 a lot of laws. It generally guarantees the right of abortion until fetal viability around 22 to 24 weeks, except for in extreme cases. But Yoast,

is putting this in a brief in the Franklin County Court where five abortion clinics and a doctor who works for the Women’s Med Center in Dayton filed the suit on March 29th. We were waiting to see what happened. We passed this law. What was going to come next? Was it going to take a case to challenge all these laws? Well, that’s what those five groups and that doctor did was just say, hey, let’s challenge this. And Yost is 🧔arguing that Judge David Young shou𓆉ld not put the laws on hold while their overall constitutional

constitutionality is weighed in this trial because he says people thought🐓 we were going back to status quo and these laws were part of status quo.

chris (02:14.076)

Yeah, that and that’s the fallacy of what he’s saying. Nobody said, let’s put it back to Roe v. Wade. What they passed was an amendဣment that said abortion is a right. For over the last 10, 20 years, lawmakers have tried to carefully rest𝓀rict the Roe v. Wade ruling. They’ve put limit after limit after limit on abortion. When Roe v. Wade got tossed in the Dobbs decision, people went nuts and were like, no, you’re not going to do this.

laura (02:23.363)

Mm -hmm.

laura (02:35.139)

Mm -hmm.

chris (02:43.004)

and they reset the clock. If you want to reset the clock to Roe v. Wade, fine, but all of these laws since then have whittled it away and nobody agreed to that. That was forced on 🉐the population by lawmakers who were operating outsℱide of what the voters wanted. I’m not surprised Joe is doing this, right? He wants to be governor and he’s got to run in a Republican primary against John Huston and whoever else might raise their hand. So he has to appeal.

to the far right, even if that means putting in nonsense. Like the voters went for Roe v. Wade. Nowhere is that said. That’s not what the constitutional amendment says. And that’s a bogus argument. Here’s the problem he faces. The Supreme Court of Ohio has to run for reelection. Abortion is the most powerful issue facing voters. It’s the thing that moves voters to passion. So if he gets this before𒁃 the Supreme Court, which is usually knee jerk,

laura (03:20.483)

Right. No.

chris (03:40.7)

to those far right conservative causes, it’s dangerous for them because then it’ll turn abortion into the issue for their reelection runs. I don’t think they want that. So I think there’s a good chance they’re gonna say, Dave, you’💟re full of it. This was never about Roe v. Wade. This was about enshrining a right to abortion. A right is a right. You can’t whittle it away with these nonsense laws.

laura (04:04.355)

Well, and that’s the whole idea, right? Because that was never part of the constitutional amendment. That was very clear. But he’s saying it’s about what people believe and how people were interpreting constitutional amendment, their understanding of the amendment. But you’re right. This would be controversial if it gets to the Supreme Court. Right now, he’s going against this Franklin judge, who is a Demo💃crat, by the way. He’s also arguing they don’t have standing to bring this right to sue because the

They’re not people that the preterm Cleveland Northeast Ohio Women’s Center and those kind of groups are not people and don’t have standing on this lot, which is 🔯ridiculous. They’re voicing for the voiceless, all the women who need their services.

chris (04:47.804)

Don’t you love it when the mಌale Ohio attorney general mansplains what’s in women’s heads when it comes to abortion? It’s so presumptuous that he’s telling us what we were thinking when we went to the polls. And the R♚epublicans completely blew what people were thinking about this issue. That’s why...

laura (04:54.851)

Don’t get me started on that.

laura (05:05.187)

Yes, and they’ve admitted that! That was what 🌜we talked about last week!

chris (05:09.02)

Yeah, so it’s, I get why he’s doing it, but this could blow up in his face. This could turn abortion into a general election thing for him, which would not play well. He’s trying to win the primary, but then he has to run in the general if he wins. You know, listening to Today in Ohio, the Biden administration wants to reclassify marijuana to make cri🦩mes involving it lesser than they are now, but 💝recreational use would still be against federal law.

laura (05:19.203)

No!

chris (05:36.7)

We asked Ohio congressional leaders what they think of the administration’s failure to follow the clear will of the Ame꧂rican people and legalize it once and for all. Lisa, what di💟d they tell us?

Lisa (05:47.53)

Yeah, there’s a drug enforcement administration proposal that wants to reclassify marijuana from a schedule one substance, which is the strictest, to schedule three, which is in the same league as steroids, testosterone, and Tylenol with codeine. They found that marijuana has a moderate to low potꦓential for physical or psychological dependence, but so many lawmakers say it just doesn’t go far enough.

So in the Senate, there are 18 Democratic senators that reintroduced the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, which would remove weed entirely from the fedeꦬral controlled substance list and then have the FDA establish product standards and the U .S. Department of Transportation set standards for cannabis impaired driving. So Dave Joyce, our Congressman, the Republican from South Russell is head of🐭 the House Cannabis Caucus.

He agrees, he says, this doesn’t go far enough. He says, additional federal reforms are needed to avoid contradicting the will of the states that have legalized marijuana and also get a public safety focused regulatory model for marijuana. So they’ve introduced what’s called the States Act, strengthening the 10th amendment through entrusting states that would remove marijuana from the list if it’s grown, d🍒istributed and delivered in compliance with state and tribal laws.

and would also provide federal law enforcement support for states that decide to ban marijuana completely. The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or NORML, Deputy Director Paul Armantano says, the DA anno💝uncement is in line with the Health and Human Services recommendations that marijuana does have medicinal value and it has a superior safety profile.

to drugs and substances that are unschedule🔯d. That would be lower 🃏than schedule three. He says, my hope this will change the way we talk and think about cannabis and how we legislate it in the future.

chris (07:43.836)

What is stupid about this though is if you’re going to change it, why not just follow the will of the states? I mean it voters are going to the polls wღhether you agree with it or not the voters are saying no make it legal and for the for the feds to have this disconnect where Even though your state has said you are free to use it as yo🐟u please You’re still violating a federal statute if you care about following the law you’re in violation

I don’t get why you’d make a halfway change. Either change it and get rid of it and leave it to the states, which the states have clearly stated the🔜y want, or don’t change it because it’s a hollow gesture.

Lisa (08:14.25)

Right.

Lisa (08:22.474)

Well, there’s a group that’s opposed to this, you know, changing, reclassifying marijuana. They’re called smart approaches to marijuana. They say it’s a political move in an election year to reverse polling trends, especially with young people, and that this would ha🥂ve a predetermined outcome. So they said a drug isn’t medicine because it’s po🍷pular.

chris (08:41.884)

Yeah, but the but that t𓆉rain has left the station, the state after state after state, including💯 Ohio, people who voted in mass to say we think this is an herb, we don’t see it as an illegal drug anymore. It ought to be legal. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Okay, well, let’s get to these stories. I opened the podcast episode with reporter Jake Zuckerman had a shocker of a story over the weekend about how fracking chemicals from a site owned by a state senator.

Lisa (08:45.578)

Yeah.

chris (09:11.036)

migrated far, resulting in an expensive cleanup. But someone other than the state senator is getting billed f🧸or that cleanup. This seems scandalous. What’s the explanation?

Leila (09:21.966)

State Senator Brian Chavez owns the site Noble𒆙 County, which leaked fracking waste deep un🐽derground before it blasted through the surface miles away at an oil well back in 2021. And it cost the state $1 .3 million to clean it up. But Jake tells us that Chavez or his company Deep Rock Disposal Solutions has never reimbursed the state for dealing with that mess, nor did the state even ask. Instead, state regulators billed the owners of that idled production well where the brine

spewed out before it went on to contaminate nearby land and water. Chavez owned several oil and gas comp🌼anies and reported investments in several others. In June of 2021, DeWine appointed Chavez to serve on the Oil and Gas Commission. That’s a panel of five commissioners that considers appeals of ODNR’s orders against the industry. Chavez represented major petroleum until he was appointed to the Senate this past December. In January of 2021, while Chavez was sitting on that commission,

State records show that Deep Rock Disposal Solutions acquired two wells housing brine at high pressure, thousands of feet underground. At that point, their brine already had r꧅eached at least three production wells over the prior decade. Just weeks later, a production well owned by West Virginia -based Genesis Resources beﷺgan spitting out this brine at rates reaching 42 gallons per minute. And it took ODNR officials and contractors days to plug this leak.

Records show that they removed more than 362 ‚000 gallons of liquid from a nearby stream and a whole bunch of wildlife died. The 🐈Genesis well hadn’t been producing oil in years, so this clearly was not a Genesis problem. This was a Deep Rock problem and it was only one of five incidents of Deep Rock’s brine discharging from nearby production wells between 2010 and 2023. Two years after that big blowout at the Genesis well,

EPA officials determined that another production well a few miles away was releasing brine into a stream. And finally, ODNR suspended Deep Rock’s operations and called them out for these spillages. But the state billed Genesis for this cleanup, $1 .3 million. Genesis dispuꦅtes that the, you know, the obvious argument that Deep Rock caused the problem, but the state said it doesn’t🍌 matter. The brine couldn’t have found the surface without Genesis’ abandoned well.

chris (11:48.284)

That’s just a shocker to me. It makes no sense. I mean, long ago, people drilled for oil and gas the normal way, not the fracking way. They go down, they p🔴ull it out of the earth, they finish, they go away. This other company fills the earth with this poison, which becomes radioactive as it interacts with things that are deep in the earth. And it shoots up through these holes. Of course, it’s going to, and yet it’s the pers𒁃on that drilled the hole in the first place that gets blamed.

This is crooked. Why would Mike DeWine’s appointments, one after another, have turned out to be terrible? Why is this guy, why was he on the oil and gas commission before he became a senator? It seems like he’s not the kind of guy you want on there. He’s part of the problem. The other thing is, this is the second time in a week we’re talking about this pressurized fracking fluid migrating and popping back up. Isn’t this 🌟a sign that maybe we should stop putting poison in the earth under pressure?

because this is what happens to it?

Leila (12:47.502)

Yeah, you’d think so. You would. I mean, I loved how Jake walked off of his story with those climate change denials from this guy. I just can’t bel🅺ieve how all in we are on this terrible technology, and it’s so harmful to the environment.

chris (13:09.34)

Well, and he was on the oil and gas commission making money off of it. How is that appropriate? Do you really think we’re going to get fair and unbiased rulings? Remember, this is the commission that stepped in on last week’s story to overrule the state regulators that were tryin🔯g to close a leaky fracking operation. And they overruled it and kept it running for six more months. They only shut it down when they realized Jake had a story coming out that was goinಌg to paint the whole picture. They shut it down two days before publication of the story.

Leila (13:18.19)

Of course not.

Leila (13:38.766)

Well, this guy was on the commission ꦺas this problem was unfolding. He was sitting on the commission at that moment.

chris (13:43.58)

And I, I don’t know what is going on with Mike DeWine, but every time we talked about Mike DeWine and the oil and gas industry, he’s on the wrong side of it. He was on the wrong side of it when he put Brandozzo on the PUCO. He’s on the wrong side o💛f it with these appointments. We need people are going to look out for the environment here, not industry inside. This was a clean up cost what? 1 .8 million? Is that what you said it was? 1 .3 million. This guy’s escaping paying.

Leila (14:07.918)

1 .3 I think, 1 .3.

chris (14:12.764)

Why? Is it because he has political connections? Great story by Jake. You’re listening to T🦩oday in Ohio. Co𓆏urtney Astolfi also had a great story. We talked recently about the hiring of Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s college roommate into a key public safety position in the city, despite his involvement in an ugly civil rights case as a Washington, D .C. cop.

We thought the story was over, but then he came over and told usꦆ his version of what happened in the civil rights case. This is now a big story again because the record doesn’t match what he to🍸ld us. What are the big lies, Leila?

Leila (14:49.294)

Yeah, it seems that Philip McHugh has told some lies regarding his involvement in that DC case. The question is, did he lie to the editorial board when he told us his story or did he lie under oath when he was deposed in this case? He claims he didn’t lie at all that bo🏅th stories are true. And that is obviously impossible.

chris (15:06.076)

Which, which, wait, but that’s impossible, as we will show. I mean, he i⛄s doing the Trump doublespeak where you are just gonna pretend we don’t live in a universe of facts and straight information. To 🍸say both stories can be true? No, they can’t. He lied.

Leila (15:11.598)

Yes.

Leila (15:23.054)

Right, right. So the case underlying this happened in 2015 when McHugh was a fledgling detective with the Washington DC police department. A motorist had told McHugh and another officer that she had an argument with an elderly couple in their 70s afte♐r a fender bender. Vashti and Eugene Sherrod were their names. And the motorist said that Vashti Sherrod had pointed a gun at her during the argument. There was grainy surveillance of evidence of this altercation, but it was impossible to tell if Vashti was actually holding a gun or.

magazine or something else like that, you know, like a piece of paper. McHugh also found no evidence that the Sharಞads even owned a gun, yet he had 🍬their homes searched, didn’t turn up any evidence of a gun. He later had their vehicles stopped and searched, and he even obtained an arrest warrant for Vashti Sharad. All of these aggressive tactics led to the Sharads filing the civil rights lawsuit against the police and McHugh, which eventually ended in a settlement for the Sharads.

Lisa (16:04.586)

which eventually ended in a settlement with the Sherads. The queue, as everyone knows, this year was hired 𝓀by the administration’s old moving, Justin Babb, for a job that paid 124 ‚000 euros. And this civil riꦗghts case is a really bad one. The queue then -

Leila (16:18.638)

McHugh, as everyone knows, this year was hired by the administration of his old roommate, Justin Bibb, for a job that pays him $1🐭24 ,000. And this civil rights case came screaming back at him. McHugh went on a tour of sorts recently to kind of explain away his involvement. He talked to a big group of pastors, some city council members, city workers, and he came to talk to our editorial board. And the story he told us was that he never wanted to pursue the case against the Sherads. He said he’s very sorry about what happened 🐼to them.

Lisa (16:43.082)

He never wanted to pursue the case against the sheriff. He said he’s really sorry about what happened to them, but actually he was just doing what the prosecution was holding him in. He said he asked them to drop the case, but they insisted th💝ey wanted to pursue it. They kept sending him out to raid their home with the arrest plan and the search for the gun. And he said these are his words to us.

Leila (16:48.526)

but actually he was just doing what the prosecutors told him to do. He said he asked them to drop the ca🌠se, but they insisted they wanted to pursue it. They kept sending him out to raid their home and arrest them and search for the gun. And he said, these are his words to us, look, he said, I said to the prosecutors, look, I’ve done everything you’ve told me to do. I have searc🧜hed their car and searched their house. I checked with the ATF and checked with the state police. They have no record of her ever having a gun.

Lisa (17:04.394)

He said, I said to the prosecutors, look, I’ve done everything he told me to do. I’ve searched their car and searched their house. I’ve checked in the ATF and checked in the state police. They have no record of her ever having been done. We have no evidence to give, but they’ve stated in the surveillance video, please just deny my warrant. And♚ they said, no, we’re going to charge you. Anyway, he was very contrite about the role he played in this case to us. But he says it wasn’t his fault. He pointed us to the case files.

Leila (17:15.502)

We have no evidence beyond the victim’s statement and the surveillance video. Please just deny my warrant.” And they said, no, we’re going t✅o charge her. Anyway, he was very contrite about the role he played in this case to us, but he says it wasn’t his fault. He pointed us to the case file. For the civil rights case, he said, read the file and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Well, Courtney had already read a great deal of the file, but she accepted this challenge and read the whole th🧸ing.

Lisa (17:34.3)

So the civil rights police said, take the file, you’ll see what happens. The court had already written a criminal file, but she accepted this c🦄hallenge and read the whole thing. And she found the most important document of all to get to the police. The Q sword and the d📖eposition. What do you know? What do you know?

Leila (17:44.91)

And she found the🐈 most important document of all to getting to the bottom of this, McHugh’s sworn deposition. And wouldn’t you know it, what he told the editorial board doesn’t match up to the account in his deposition at all. There he couldn’t be more clear that h🎶e was the driving force behind this investigation and that the prosecutor simply concurred with his conclusions. Not once in that 75 page transcript does McHugh say he asked prosecutors to end his investigation.

or ask them to deny charges. Instead, he described how he and prosecutors agreed on how to proceed at different times throughout the probe. The prosecutors concurred with him on next steps. And he said, on the decision to arrest Vashti, he said, we collaboratively agreed that we were at a point for a warrant to be signed. And here’s his most damning quote, he said, they agreed with me that it showed Ms. Sherrod pointing a gౠun at the accuser. This is the video he’s talking about.

Lisa (18:15.562)

He said on the decision to arrest Moshby, he said he’d collaboratively agree that we were at a point where ℱwe signed.

and here’s his most damning voice that, the aꦗgreement would be that it should show that Sherrod’s nation’s not being used for the pu𓃲rpose of the video server. That’s what we need to be saying. We need to go forward in trying to find the car, trying to serve the car, consider doing the server in the house. I believe the infuser, I believe the video cooperates with series of events. So did my supervisors, so did the US government. That’s how we are.

Leila (18:39.342)

And that’s when we made the decision that we would go forward with trying🅠 to find the car, trying to search the car, and consider doing a search warrant at the house. I believe the accuser. I believe the v👍ideo corroborates her series of events. So did my supervisors. So did the US Attorney’s Office.

chris (18:55.036)

Yeah, that and that is why the these two statements cannot both be true in one. He told us repeatedly, I mean, you’d have to sit through it, but over and over again, ♌and I went back to the prosecutors and I said, please just deny me I want to end this case. And they said, No, you got to keep going. He made it sound like they were completely in control, which is not the way it works. They operate independently. And then in his deposition, it’s I believed I believed I believe what I don’t get.

🌟is why they brought him over to talk to us. This story would have probably faded away, right? I mean, we had done it, done it big. We did an editorial that said this guy should be gone. But bringing him over where he tells clear lies changes the game. He’s got to go. How can Justin Bibbs stand by this guy now that he is so clear to that? And it wasn’t just us. He talked to a bunch of pastors. He’s talked to city council members. He can’t stay. You can’t have a ranking guy.

Leila (19:46.35)

Right.

chris (19:51.74)

in that department stay. The other thing is, Bradford Davey came over with him and he’s the chief of staff. And we kept asking h💮im, why didn’t your background check turn up any of this? And man, he gave us gobbledygook and spun and spun before he ultimately said,🐟 this is too low level a job to have that kind of a background check. Okay, I okay, you give him that it’s it’s kind of weak, but give him that. But wouldn’t you do that check? Before you bring him over? Wouldn’t you read his deposition?

Leila (19:56.91)

That’s the Chief of Staff right.

chris (20:21.244)

before you bring him over to lay this case out to us. He seems so sincere, didn’t he? I mean, Lisa, you were there, didn’t he? Yeah. And it 🅘was it’s just made up. It was made up nonsense. I don’t see how they can 💜stand by him now. I it’s this and I doubt city council is going to remain quiet knowing now just how badly he is. He has mischaracterized what happened.

Leila (20:26.67)

Oh, so, so sincere.

Lisa (20:26.954)

He did. Hat in hand.

Leila (20:44.175)

You know, also on top of that, which also is mentioned in Courtney’s story, former safety director, Kerry Howard, who all right, you know, for what it’s 💮worth♚, he resigned recently over an issue dealing with his own conduct. But he told Courtney Astolfi that he never would have approved of hiring McHugh had he known about this case. He said that he asked McHugh twice if there’s anything in his past that he should be aware of. And McHugh said no.

And it bears mentioning too that at the time of McHugh’s deposition, he had also already been brought up on disciplinary charges for taking part in an unauthorized chase. That’s another incident that you’d probably want to brin๊g up when you’re applying for a job, working for the police department in a city where constitutional policing and unauthorized ෴chases have both been very big, sensitive topics here.

chris (21:35.868)

He’s also, the idea that he’s too low level to merit a background check that would have included searching court records, wouldn’t have been hard to find it. He’s making a hundred and what, 24 ‚000 a year? Yeah, I mean, that’s not a low level job in the city of Cleveland. That’s a high level job. So we’ll see where this goes, but we’re pr🍷obably gonna have to do another editor♔ial. This is stunning. You can’t have a ranking public safety director who is telling lies.

Leila (21:47.31)

24 ‚000, yeah.

Leila (21:58.222)

I mean -

Leila (22:02.99)

This case was not a secret to the administration, but not at all. I mean, Justin Bibb knew about it as it was happening. They were friends and McHugh told us that he confided in Justin Bibb at that time when it was happ🐻ening. So they’re, you know𝓀, the background search, they would have had to just look at what he actually said during the case. That’s the missing piece of the puzzle here.

chris (22:24.892)

B💙ut but Davey did say that this was not a hire in the mayor’s administration. It was purely public safety. So what the mayor knew wouldn’t have translated. You would think, though, that if you’re hiring the mayor’s roommate, it would be radioactive and you would dot every I and cross every T and make sure you’re completely invulnerable. Because guess what? People were going to question when you hire your college roommate. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.

Leila (22:30.574)

True.

chris (22:49.884)

Northeast Ohio does not have a lot of women leaders and it is losing one who has been prominent for a decade. Laura, which critically important agency is about to go through a transitꦯion at the top?

laura (23:00.867)

This is Sandra Miller, who has served as president and CEO of the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center for more than a decade. And she’s going to leave at the end of May to pursue other opportunities, which is basically𓆉 like saying, yeah, peace out. At least she’s not saying she’s going to focus on her family. So she joined the organization as a director of education, outreach and community partnerships in 2009. She was appointed president and CEO in 2013. And she’s helped more than 100𒈔 ‚000 people during her tenure. The revenue from the group

grew sevenfo🌺ld, now comes from all sorts of diverse sources and state, national levels, as well as philanthropic partners. And one of the largest independent rape crisis centers in the nation, it’s considered a model. Now, we know that there’s been some turmoil over there. The staff last month voted overwhelmingly in support of forming a union. So they’re working with the Service Employees International Union at this point. I don’ꦗt know exactly what’s going on with the organization, but obviously there’s some upheaval.

chris (23:59.9)

Yeah, clearly the overwhelming union vote says something about unhappiness there, but she has been a distinguished Cleveland leader for quite some time and she’s done a lot of good f𒆙or this town.

laura (24:11.651)

Yeah, and it’s a really important organization when you think about how many people she’s helped and the changing laws and everything that this has been a steady force for this tꦍown. So I hope that they’re able to work out whatever issues there are so this can be a leading organization.

chris (24:29.564)

Laila way back when you wer�♌�e a reporter in your early 30s. Can you remember back that far? You did a big rape kit project. You dealt with her in that project. Yeah.

Leila (24:36.814)

Yes, we did. Yes, we did. She’s a te𒁏rrific person and I wish her 💖the best.

chris (24:42.492)

All right, y♒ou’re listening to Today in Ohio. The Cleveland International Film Festival also is in transition from its female leader, Lisa, who’s the replacement there.

Lisa (24:51.306)

Well, it’ll be another woman. Her name is Hermione Malone. She will be the new Cleveland International Film Festival Executive Director starting on June 10th. She’s replacing Marcy Goodman, who is Executive Director of CIFF for nearly 25 years. Malone is a Detroit native. She got her MBA from Case Western Reserve’s Weatherhead School of Management. She’s served on several boards and committees. She’s ha🐼d leadership roles at Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals.

Malone in a statement says she’s thrilled to return to the city and lead CIFF at a transformative time. And she wants to help reimagine ways to attract new audiences and deepen community partnerships. And during her time, she comes to us from the American Journalism Project. She was head of emerging markets there. And during her time, she launched a nonprofit, Free Press Indiana, and raised $17 million in seed fundi✤ng for that group.

chris (25:47.964)

This also comes as the Cinematheque is going through a leadership change. So two key film leaders in Cleveland. It’d be interesting to see how that scene changes with new perspective. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. A year ago, we were coming into a period of intense smoke from Canadian wildfires that on some dayꦕs made it look l🐻ike Mars around here. Can we expect a repeat this year, Laura?

laura (26:12.739)

No, thank goodness. And that’s because our wildfires last year, basically the smoke came from Quebec and things are looking a whole lot better there. It hasn’t been nearly as dry. And for that to even happen, even if there are a lot of wildfires, the wind has to be in a north -south direction, which created this river of smoke that kept pumme♋ling Ohio🐲 and further south. And that’s not normal.

So Quebec and Ontario have had normal amounts of rains this past month. That’s great for the fire season. But this is really funny because I had this co💮nversation in a hot tub in Vegas with two couples from Vancouver and we started talking about wildfire season and they said it’s going to 👍be really bad out there because they’ve had a drought and they’ve already had restrictions in place. So I’m glad to know, I’m sorry for them, but that the wind is not going to bring that smoke all the way here.

chris (27:06.108)

It was, it was♋ so bad last year. I mean, how many mornings, Lisa, did you get up before the podcast and say, can you smell the smoke? Can you smell the smꦇoke? It was.

Lisa (27:14.09)

Right, and that weird orange looking sun.

laura (27:16.355)

Yeah, I mean, it was so bad. It was the only time in my life I can remember they canceled youth sports for smoke, right? And they were, it was dangerous. You couldn’t, you weren’t, no one was supposed to work out, work out outside for at least one day. And for sensitive groups, it was for many multiple days. And I think we took it all for granted that summer is this lov🍷ely season where you could be outside all the time and you realize the environment has a huge role on your health. And

chris (27:17.308)

Yeah.

chris (27:25.116)

Yeah.

laura (27:45.859)

You can’t take it for granted.

chris (27:47.548)

Good reporting by Pete Cross.♍ Check it out. It’s on cleveland .com and you’re listening to T🙈oday in Ohio. How is Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb’s team justifying no longer providing complete police reports to city council members breaking with decades of practice, Leila?

Leila (28:03.15)

At the heart of this story is Marcy’s law. It’s a relatively new law that seeks to protect victims of crime. And starting last summer, the Cleveland police reports that council members receive no longer include the namꦉes of crime victims. The city law director, Mark Griffin, told council members last week that that’s because provisions of Marcy’s law requires them to be redacted. But council members believe that Griffin is misinterpreting the law. So there’s been kind of an ongoing flap about this. Council members argue that

Having access to the names of victims helps them monitor who’s involved in incidents that prompt a police response, including victims. Council members say they can connect those victims to services, they can keep tabs on neighborhood crime trends and retaliation threats and improve public safety and conduct better oversight. But Griffin 💧says that under Marcy’s law, c💎ouncil members, like members of the public and members of the media, are no longer entitled to crime victim names.

The law says that any public office or public official that’s charged with the responsibility of knowing the name, address, or other identifying information of a victim or victims represent🦩ative as part of the offices or officials duties is entitled to the names of crime victims. And the law also specifies that unredacted names can be shared among public offices or public officials. And council members are saying that means them, but Griffin says, you know, well then where do you draw the line? Some...

Some part -time city employee could argue that they also are entitled to know a rape victim’s name, for example. And Griffin told council members that other big cities in O༒hio are interpreting the law the same way that he is, and their city council members aren’t ge✱tting those unredacted reports. They still haven’t resolved this issue between city council and the administration.

chris (29:50.172)

This is transparency. This is a bunch of mayoral administration saying, oh good, we can shield things and make it harder for people to see when bad things happen. Of course, city council members deserve these unredacted. In this 🦄town, city council members are the front, the front office really for City Hall. When people are having problems, they don’t go to City Hall, they go to their council members. They need to know everything that’s going on with crime. They...

They know who the residents are. And so if they see names on the report, it might trigger things. For the administration to be taking this 🤪tack is ridiculous. This will end up going to court and city council will win. I just am surprised that they’re being that ridiculous. And to say, well, where do you draw the line? Well, how about at elected officials? You know, let’s draw the line there at the very least. If you’re elected to an office in the city representing people, you ought to be able to see the crime reports.

You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for Monday. We didn’t get t🔜o everything. We’𝓰ll get to some more tomorrow. Thanks Lisa. Thanks Laura. Thanks Leila. Thank you for listening to Today in Ohio.