Sound of Ideas

Suicide was the second leading cause of death among individuals between the ages of 10 and 34, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2022.

Cleveland City Councilmember Joe Jones, stripped of his committee assignments in January for bad behavior, is now set to be censured by council after an investigation found credible allegations that he threatened the life of a staffer. Jones will face censure next month. Cleveland City Council has not censured one of its members since the 1970s. A working group looking at possible changes to property tax laws will deliver recommendations next month to the governor. Property owners have made clear to lawmakers that they are maxed out. But the grassroots group seeking to put a measure before voters to abolish property taxes says the group's work will not stop their drive for an amendment. Karl Racine, the monitor overseeing Cleveland's implementation of a federal consent decree over unconstitutional policing, has resigned. Cleveland entered into the consent decree with the Justice Department in 2015. Lakewood residents frustrated with repeated power outages gave an earful to First Energy officials in a town hall organized by the utility this week. Power goes out frequently, they said, even when there's no storm in sight. First Energy blamed an aging system and bad equipment for the problems in Lakewood and the west side of Cleveland and committed to spending 12.5 million dollars on upgrades. After a five week trial, Antoine Tolbert and two other members of the New Era Cleveland group were found not guilty on all charges after prosecutors alleged they were running a protection racket and shaking down gas station owners. The highest profile Democrat in Ohio, former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, will run for re-election to the senate against appointed Republican U.S. Senator Jon Husted, the former lieutenant governor. An official announcement, sources say, will come next week. All eyes were on Brown as a possible gubernatorial candidate. His decision to make another run for the senate may clarify other races. Democrats hold no statewide elected state or federal positions, save a state supreme court seat. We discuss these topics and more on the Friday “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable.”

The Positivity Spectrum launched a virtual legal clinic to help families in the autism community earlier this month.

For an estimated 5 million Americans, every beat of their heart can be heard in their ears as a constant "whooshing" sound making it difficult to sleep or concentrate and contributing to anxiety and depression. The condition is known as pulsatile tinnitus or P-T. Those who treat people with P-T say the condition can go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed due to its rarity and the difficulty in determining the underlying cause. On Wednesday’s “Sound of Ideas” we will meet a local woman who developed the condition and the doctor who used a surgical procedure to help reduce most, but not all of the noise she was hearing. Also on the show, up first, we talk about the current labor dispute at a locally owned coffee chain and the recent closure of a café in Lakewood. Why are coffee shops currently flashpoints in the larger discussion regarding worker’s and unionization? Finally, the Tennis in the Land tournament returns this weekend to the Flats. The tournament is now in its fifth year and brings to Cleveland some of the up and coming stars of the professional women’s tennis tour. We’ll talk to the tournament director about this year’s event and plans.

Educators at a variety of levels are re-examining the "literary canon" and bringing new works into the classroom. "Romeo and Juliet" and "Of Mice and Men" might be moved to make room for more modern, diverse voices.

Every day, more than 100,000 people in the U.S. are waiting for an organ transplant, yet an average of 13 patients on the transplant list die each day. Experts in organ procurement and advocacy from Northeast Ohio will discuss the disparities and inequities in the organ donation system, and why some organs are going to waste.

Ohio electric customers will soon stop propping up two coal plants with subsidies tacked onto their bills. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio voted to zero out the charges as of Aug. 14. The subsidies were part of the scandal-tainted House Bill 6 that also bailed out nuclear power plants. Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and former Ohio GOP Chairman Matt Borges were sentenced to prison for their role in a bribery scheme connected to the passage of the bill. We will begin Friday’s “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable with the removal of the subsidies and why the audit is being requested. School kids have sick days and snow days. Should they also get days for mental health care? Senator Willis Blackshear, a Dayton Democrat, has introduced for the third time a bill giving K-through-12 students up to three "mental health days" per school year. Robbery, felonious assault, breaking and entering and auto theft are down in Akron, according to the city's new crime report, which also shows there has been a slight increase in shootings, more burglaries and a sharp decrease in overdose deaths. And, Cleveland firefighters will get a huge pay increase, 21 percent, under a new three-year union contract with the city. Plus, we'll cover other stories of the week too.

President Donald Trump's executive order, "Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets" aims to crackdown on homeless encampments and involuntarily place unhoused individuals in treatment for mental health and addictions. The efforts reverse the decades-old "housing first" policy, used locally and nationwide.

It’s been one year since Ohio began recreational marijuana sales for adult use. The launch of recreational products came less than a year after voters approved a citizen-initiated statute in 2023, paving the way for both recreational marijuana sales and home cultivation. The recreational market joined the state’s existing medical marijuana program, which has been in operation since 2019. According to Crain’s Cleveland Business, total legal cannabis sales in the state have reached $2.8 billion as of this month, including more than $600 million in recreational sales over the past year. The voter-approved statute allows lawmakers to make adjustments to the law. While a number of proposals have been discussed, efforts to pass legislation codifying some of those changes have been tabled until after the summer recess. So where do recreational marijuana sales stand in Ohio?

Lead poisoning, an irreversible diagnosis, poses a significant threat to children under the age of six. Cleveland's lead-poisoning rates are nearly four times the national average.

Several community groups in Akron are rallying to curb violence through events like the city's National Night Out program, which aims to make neighborhoods safer, more caring places to live.

Commuters on Cleveland's West Side had better have a mug of patience in the cupholder beside them: A $173 million dollar construction project starts Aug. 4 and will impact traffic on Interstate 90 through October of 2028. Earlier this week on that stretch of highway, commuters may have needed a pontoon. I-90 in Lakewood and Rocky River was under water after a deluge. The construction project aims to fix the flooding. We will begin Friday’s “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable” discussing the I-90 project.

Four fair housing agencies, including the Fair Housing Center for Rights and Research in Cleveland, have filed a class action lawsuit against DOGE and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, hoping to restore funding that it says helps keep residents in their homes.

After losing $50 million last year and on track to go deeper in the red this year, the MetroHealth System announced yesterday that it's laying off 125 non-medical workers, freezing non-clinical hiring and scrapping an executive bonus program.

The U.S. Labor Department unveiled a plan to deregulate industries and reduce employer compliance costs. The proposal targets rules affecting wages, safety and working conditions across sectors such as home health care, agriculture, construction and mining.

Christopher Hardesty is the inaugural executive director of the Downtown Akron CDC, which aims to redevelop vacant spaces and help struggling businesses stay in place.

Historians note that a famous trial from 1925 regarding the teaching of evolution still matters today, as the classroom is still a battleground for controversial ideas.

Local millennials push back on generational stereotypes and open up about what it’s really like to navigate adulthood in a dramatically changing world— from managing student debt and chasing career stability to redefining success and identity in the age of social media.

Two development projects in Cleveland will include permanent supportive housing units for veterans experiencing homelessness as well as older adults and individuals with disabilities.

Free clinics, a key safety net provider for people who are uninsured and underinsured, are likely to see a demand for their services increase in the coming years. We’ll talk to free clinics in Northeast Ohio about the plan to meet that demand.