Welcome to the Sound of Ideas Reporters' Roundtable from Ideastream Public Media.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thank you so much for joining us.

Instead of a concert at Severance tomorrow night, Cleveland Orchestra musicians plan a free show with small chamber groups in a local church.

As of this morning, they're on strike.

Seeking higher pay and a voice in the audition process.

Union workers at Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital also walked out this week.

A 3-month gasoline tax holiday may soon come to Ohio as legislators return next week from an election year break to vote on it.

It won't impact the November election, but come January, more than 200,000 Ohio voters may be purged from the eligible list if they don't take action to stay active.

So check your statu Better yet, vote and you won't be deactivated.

And they're not hounds, but they sure can hunt.

6 dogs, all different breeds, are sniffing out spotted lanternfly eggs in the Cleveland Metroparks so they can be scraped away before they hatch.

Joining me to discuss all the week's news, deputy editors of news here at Ideastream, Glenn Forbes and Andrew Meyer.

The whole team is here.

Good to see you guys.

Hi there, Mike.

What'd you do to deserve this?

Good question.

And what did any of us do to deserve Karen Kasler in Columbus, a woman who will undoubtedly say go Guardians at least once during this show.

Karen Kasler.

Oh, I'll just start it off.

Go Guardians.

I mean, I could not be more excited.

So the under-over right now, or over-under.

Okay, whatever.

I don't sports bet.

Me neither.

The over-under is, for Karen, would be maybe 5 go Guardians during the show.

I was told this was going to be all Guardians today.

At some point she's going to do that.

Anyway, nice to see all I didn't understand that tease.

I thought they clinched the playoffs, we're going to do all Guardians.

Yes.

Nice to see the championship.

Pain flowing last night, wasn't it, Karen?

They, uh, we still got a little work to do.

Oh my gosh.

Hey, I was just gonna say we're not done.

We gotta get the division.

That's what I want.

So, well, that's one thing I want.

I want the World Series, but that's just me.

Right.

Well, it's probably not just me.

We're in the postseason, so that's good news.

I know Glenn's happy about that too.

Andrew as well.

Yeah.

Mostly Glenn and Karen because you're sports nuts comparatively.

We're big fans.

Yeah.

Fair enough.

All right.

The way to interact with us on this roundtable, and we're not talking baseball, by the way, we're done with that pretty much.

to send us an email, soi@ideastream.org.

Talk about all the week's news, everything we're going to be bringing up here.

All right, let's get ready to roundtable.

The Cleveland Orchestra went on strike at midnight this morning after months of bargaining failed to produce a new contract.

The negotiating committee said it is still far apart from management on salary issues, while orchestra management said the strike is as premature as it is unnecessary.

All right, Glenn, we're there's a press conference, by the way, that kicked off about 3 minutes ago, and our Kabir Bhatia is there.

We'll get some updates throughout the show as that comes in, and I'll break in and, and just say if there's new information.

But what is it that the players are saying that they want?

Yeah, well, obviously you look at a lot of these labor disputes and it does start with money.

You know, this is no different.

They want higher wages.

And what the orchestra what the players are saying is management has proposed a salary increase that's so small it doesn't even keep up with the pace of inflation, which we know obviously has been very high throughout the years.

But the other piece to this is, and they also of course talk about increasing healthcare costs, which we're gonna talk about with pretty much any labor dispute that we cover.

But beyond that, it's also having more of a voice in the audition process.

Some of these auditions are set up in ways where, you know, and all orchestras are like this, you're called to the orchestra, they may invite a bunch of people to audition, And there may not be any spots.

There may be spots.

There may not be any spots.

So I think there are some issues as far as having more of a voice in those auditions, perhaps how they're, how they're run or the results of some of them.

But it comes down to pay in a lot of these situations and increasing healthcare costs, which I mentioned.

You know, we talk about that in pretty much every labor dispute.

We had a note from Aubrey who sent email, soi@ideastream.org is the way to get through to us.

And she said, include in your conversation the current salaries of the orchestra musicians.

I don't have a list of the salaries of each of the players, I do know, we took we looked on the website, the minimum salary for a Cleveland Orchestra musician is slightly over $165,000 per year.

You would then expect that the more experienced and first chairs and those folks would likely make significantly more.

Some people would balk at that and say, how would you say that that's not enough money?

On the other hand, they are the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra, the players for it, in the same way that you might see players on a sports team or somewhat or a big company.

Absolutely.

They're well known, and in fact, you know, their schedules to start a European tour on Monday.

Logic would tell you the players feel like this is a leverage point for them because it would obviously be very embarrassing and would certainly cost the orchestra some money if they have to cancel this European tour orchestra that's in demand worldwide.

You know, something else that's talked about is the other Big 5 orchestras or the other part of the Big 5 orchestras Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Chicago.

And yeah, the Cleveland Orchestra ranks up there, but if you look at it, uh, cost of living here in Cleveland is less than some of those bigger areas.

And I've also heard that members of the orchestra in those bigger cities will come and try out in Cleveland because the cost of living is so high in New York and Philadelphia and Boston, right?

So there are some advantages to playing, uh, with the Cleveland Orchestra in, in a place where, again, the cost of living isn't as high.

So all of these are, are factors.

I think the other interesting, interesting thing from André Gremillet, who is the CEO, he said, look, we've only in talking about the fact that it's premature, he said, we've only had 11 negotiating sessions.

The average is 15, and they haven't gotten close to our best offer yet.

I think that was the quote.

They haven't received anything close to our best offer.

So the players may be wondering, well, why not?

Why, you know, why haven't you given something at least that's close to your best offer?

We've got this European tour coming up.

Why are you holding out on us?

That's, that's what, you know, logic would kind of tell you about this situation.

Interestingly, there was a performance scheduled for tonight in Michigan that's apparently canceled.

Tomorrow night, a local concert at Severance Music Center, and that's not going to happen.

According to the musicians, they'll be in chamber groups and will perform at a local church.

But you mentioned this tour is Monday.

That's when they're supposed to get on a plane and fly out to Europe.

And if they don't have a contract by then, it looks like that's in peril.

It looks like that's in peril.

You would think again that that's probably a negotiating point that the players, uh, will bring up.

And then the other piece of this that I read in, in Kabir Bhatia's piece on ideastream.org look, obviously on a European tour, this is long planned.

You've got some families who are hoping to attend.

You've got players saying, we want to go on this tour, we want our families to be able to experience this tour with us, um, you know, so, so now is the time.

And again, it's just interesting timing with all this.

They're supposed to load up their instruments Monday morning for this, for this big tour, and we'll see what happens.

Should be an interesting negotiating session tomorrow and a lot of pressure on that.

Also, one last point about that is that this is Franz Welser-Möst's 25th and final season.

So there's just all of this sort of coming to a head, a European tour coming, a, a sort of final victory lap season for the longest-serving orchestra director.

It would indicate that I think both sides would love to get something done.

You would think so.

You would think there would be motivation on both sides for all the reasons you just mentioned.

You know, we haven't heard anything about Franz Welser-Möst's potential replacement.

That may be something that's on the mind of orchestra management, how to lure another, you know, world-class conductor, music director to the city.

So these are all factors.

But you're right.

I mean, it's in the best interest of both, like in a lot of these labor disputes.

I mean, it's in the best interest of both sides to get things done, but certainly With the timing of this strike, it's even more true for the orchestra.

And quickly, another strike that we've been reporting this week.

Cleveland Clinic Lutheran Hospital had union workers walk out and they're on strike as of this moment.

They've had negotiations since February.

What's the status there?

Well, I drove by yesterday morning.

They're out picketing certainly, and they're boisterous about it.

And it is, interesting to compare these 2 strikes because in some ways it's the different end of the spectrum.

We're talking about nurses, yes, but also nursing assistants, maintenance, housekeeping, laundry workers, and they have the same complaints essentially.

Wages aren't high enough.

Healthcare is rising.

It's almost like we're at the Cleveland Clinic.

We can't get better healthcare as employees at the Cleveland Clinic, or at least some of the reduced costs.

There is also word from one of the union district directors that the clinic wants them to surrender rights and protections that they're not willing to surrender.

And also one of the executive members of the board, for the union, I should say, for the union says, there's one nursing aide on 7 floors right now.

That's all that's left.

That's not world-class care.

So kind of using the clinic's tagline against them there.

And what's the clinic say?

The clinic is saying that, you know, these costs are high.

They're disappointed that an agreement has not been reached.

They're going to continue good faith efforts in negotiations.

The other thing you hear with a lot of these strikes too, whether it be the Cleveland Orchestra, the Cleveland Clinic, or even out in Lorain County with Job and Family Services, that strike's been going on for 7 months.

One thing that you hear the union say is management is not negotiating in good faith.

They say they are, but in the case of Lorain, they're saying, you know, the commissioners haven't come back to the table.

In that case, the commissioners are saying they've received our best offer.

In some of these other situations, The management is saying, well, we are negotiating in good faith.

And it's kind of like, well, if you want us to keep negotiating, don't strike.

And there's this kind of this give and take between, you know, what's the best course for the laborers.

You know, obviously in a lot of these situations, they feel like they do have to go on strike to get the attention of management.

All right, moving on.

Ohio lawmakers are being called back to Columbus next Wednesday for a rare session just days before early voting begins.

The main issue will be a proposed 90-day suspension of the state gas tax.

Tax, which could reduce state revenue by more than $600 million.

It'll save about 40 cents a gallon for people at the pumps, though.

And so, Karen, what's driving this?

I understand both of the gubernatorial candidates have called for such a gas tax holiday.

Yeah, this moved really fast.

You had Democratic candidate for governor Amy Acton call for a gas tax holiday without really any specifics early on Monday morning.

6 hours later, Republican candidate for governor Vivek Ramaswamy came out with a call for a gas tax holiday, but with a few more specifics and saying that he would get legislative leaders together on Wednesday to announce some of the details here.

Now, this is a 90-day suspension of the gas tax, $0.385 for a gallon of gasoline.

That's the tax, $0.47 on diesel.

And it was at that press conference where Ramaswamy said it was the diesel prices that really got this pushed forward, not, not Amy Acton's call for this earlier, but diesel prices.

Now, there's already a bill at the State House that would have temporarily suspended the gas tax.

That was introduced back in May when gas prices were higher than they are now.

But Ramaswamy said it's the diesel prices that got him going on this.

And this could cost the state somewhere between $640 million and $700 million.

And the question is, is that enough in terms of the relief that drivers would actually see?

Like you say, it would drop the price about 38.5 cents.

Would that even get below $4 a gallon?

What would that savings really mean to Ohioans?

It's certainly something, but is it a significant savings?

Yeah, we're seeing some legislators say we need to offer relief and this is the way we can do it, and others say it's political theater.

Yeah, and I think the timing of this, obviously right before early voting I mean, the legislature was not scheduled to come back until after the election, until we get into lame duck, but this sudden move to bring this back certainly has people saying this feels political.

And it I have to say, this is really the it's kind of unprecedented here with regard to a candidate for governor, not a governor-elect, But a candidate for governor having so much influence on legislation.

I mean, Ramaswamy was the first to put out a call, at least publicly in this election cycle, for a constitutional amendment to require in-person voters show photo ID.

The legislature put that on the ballot.

And then there was this Medicaid fraud crackdown that came from this conservative outlet that started publishing these allegations about Medicaid fraud in Ohio among home healthcare workers.

That piece of legislation then moved forward, and now this.

So it's really kind of amazing that he's been able to do all this when he is, again, a candidate, not the governor-elect, not the governor, but he's running and he's running in a very close race.

House Speaker Matt Huffman clearly is using this as a political cudgel.

He says any Democrat who votes against this does this at their own peril.

Right.

And I think anybody who somehow doesn't get back for this, it could be used at their peril.

I mean, we assume this race for governor is close, even though we haven't seen a whole lot of reliable polling.

But this is the kind of thing that happens.

Discussions about debates often happen when races are close.

And so you're going to see that trickle down into the House and Senate races.

The House, there are perhaps a dozen seats that are really looked at by Republicans as competitive.

And so obviously, if there isn't a vote in those seats, well, that could be used as that could be a problem.

And of course, all of this too depends on what Governor Mike DeWine is going to do.

He's not on the ballot.

He has long said that gas price suspensions are a bad idea.

In fact, this morning he was at an event at a Kroger store, grocery store, and he said this is a very, very bad idea because that money is critical to road repair.

So we wait to see what he's going to do.

Hmm.

For sure.

Amy Acton said, hey, great idea on a gas tax holiday, but while you're at it, let's have a ban on data centers.

Not something Vivek Ramaswamy has exactly embraced.

So let's talk about their positions on that.

And the reception that Amy Acton got from legislators about, hey, while you're there, let's do this too.

Yeah, she put that out.

She threw that first pitch out.

Sorry, I do.

And by the way, go Guardians.

Go Guardians.

Yeah.

And then that was Wednesday, just before Ramaswamy's press conference, basically saying exactly what you just said.

Hey, while you're here, why not pass my data center moratorium, which includes things like requiring union labor to build data centers, requiring firing data centers to cover their energy costs, things like that.

Now, Ramaswamy has his own data center moratorium, which he says he would put into effect through executive order on day one if he's elected.

And it would allow for free electricity, as he said, for people in the area around a data center.

That doesn't mean no electric bills.

He clarified that in an interview that he did with me, that he's just talking about the cost of electricity.

But now he's saying his plan is too complicated to put it on the floor while lawmakers are here next week, and that the focus next week, it looks it's going to stay on, on the gas price suspension.

Okay, gas tax suspension.

I wanted to add real quick, maybe preempt any emails, that there was at least one Democrat we found out from our colleague Joe Ingalls this week that saying rather than taking these transportation funds or anything from rainy day, why not use the money, uh, that's designated for the Haslams and the Browns Stadium, that unclaimed funds money that's still tied up in the courts?

But I thought that was an interesting take.

Well, why not take the, uh, the, uh, unclaimed funds money?

Well, and I think Democrats come into this session with more power than they've had in a long time because Huffman said at that press conference he's going to need Democratic votes.

It takes 66 votes to pass emergency legislation.

There are 65 Republicans, and there's a chance not all of them will show up because quite often not all of them show up on a regular session, much less a session that's called suddenly like this.

So he said that Democrats are going to be needed to pass this.

And yeah, you got the minority leader, Donny Isaacson, saying, hey, this money, if you, if you really want to do this, take this money away from the dome stadium project in Brook Park.

And Huffman audibly laughed at that, but it's, it's kind of showing you where Democrats are standing in a, in a time when they really have some, some power and some influence here.

Stephen sent us an email about the idea of the gas tax holiday.

He said, why would either candidate be expected to have details on how a gas tax holiday would be implemented?

Do they have special access to the budget details and process?

That would allow them to figure it out.

So he's basically saying they don't need to, to know all of those details at this point.

All right.

Well, I think that's part sorry.

I think it's partly why it's significant that Ramaswamy was able to push this forward with legislative leaders, because certainly he has some influence with them for sure.

Staying with data centers, Cleveland City Council wants residents' feedback on future data center development.

On July 15th, council passed a 3-month moratorium on new data center permits.

But it won't set permanent rules until they get that feedback.

Andrew, tell us about the upcoming public hearings and how can folks have their voice heard?

So one of the ways is to show up.

They've had one of the meetings so far.

They've got another one coming up on Tuesday at City Hall, one more taking place the second week of October that will be at the Gunning Rec Center, which is over, over by Hopkins Airport.

You can show up.

You can also participate online.

I was looking for links for this.

Pro tip, if you go looking for it, you do want to search for data center survey, and that should get you there.

So the idea here is that they want to hear before they pass the legislation.

Brian Casey said we can't just do this in a vacuum.

We want to know what our residents think, not just what the national tenor is or what the statewide opinion is.

And it's a wise thing to do, the reach out.

Cleveland's not the only one who's got a moratorium in place.

There are 18 other communities just in Ohio who either have moratoria in place or are considering them.

But it does expire in just a few weeks.

It's a 3-month, and they do have the option to extend it if they don't have the regulations in place.

Now, you know, taking a look at the data center map, there are I think 200-some-odd data centers across Ohio, 22 in Cleveland itself.

But none of those are what's referred to as hyperscalers, the big boys that really eat up a lot of natural resources and a lot of electricity.

That's one of the big concerns that Councilmember Charles Slife has raised.

He represents the west side of Cleveland, some neighborhoods there where on a good day there are issues with the power grid.

So, you know, bringing in a hyperscaler is going to have a big draw on the power system.

That is something of big concern.

And who knows?

when they do get the final legislation, the final ordinance in Cleveland, maybe it sets something aside for hyperscale.

It talks about the size of these data centers.

There's a lot of information they still need to gather.

A lot that needs to be worked out, and it's the responsibility of if you're going to allow these in here, then they've got to be able to have some way where they can support them.

And I'm talking about the hyperscalers, not necessarily the city or the utilities grid.

We're going to see this play out in pretty much every city in Ohio.

Oh yeah.

All right, more than 208,000 voters will be purged from the Ohio registration list in January unless they take action now to keep their active voter status.

By the way, one way to do that is to vote in the November election.

Karen, how did they end up on the list?

Well, these are people who are in what's called confirmation status.

They haven't voted in at least 2 years, and there's a 6-year process to basically start to be removed from the ballot or from the, from the voting rolls.

So what happens is they get notifications, they can confirm those notifications, or they can do some sort of voter contact, like you just said, vote, or you could sign a petition, you could get your driver's license renewed, and that can be the contact that's necessary.

Some way that you interact with the voter database to show that you are still in Ohio, you are still alive, and your address is still correct.

So it's important, and you said this at the top of the show, that no voters will be removed before November.

We are in that federal federally protected period where no voters can be removed from the voting rolls before the general election.

But obviously, this is something that people have to think about for January.

And it's while you're at it, why not just check and see if you're on the list?

Yeah, or just go and vote.

And if you do that, then you're certainly going to be off the list.

But you can check.

You mentioned the Secretary of State's office published a searchable database.

Where can you find that?

Registration Readiness Database.

It's on the Secretary of State's website.

And, you know, there's a lot of links out there that can potentially direct you to your county board of elections or to ohio.gov, which is the state's official site.

So, but So that's where you can find it.

All right.

And can you register again if you find out you are on that list, if you're, or if you have been purged, can you get back in good graces?

Yes.

If you have, now the voter registration deadline is coming up on October 5th.

So that's important to remember that if you have not registered to vote or if you have been removed in the past, you need to get your registration in before the deadline so that you can vote this fall.

But yeah, once, if you've been removed, you can go back and apply again.

Register again and, and you'll be back in.

But not if you've moved out of state or you're dead.

Well, yes, those, those are the and, and you cannot register to vote if you are not a US citizen, because that's another thing that's been upheld over and over, that if you're not a US citizen in Ohio, you cannot vote.

Okay.

And you can't register to vote.

You mentioned the deadline to register to vote is October 5th, and absentee and early in-person voting begins at the very next day, October 6th.

We are in election season, folks.

Right around the corner.

Right around the corner.

We'll be also publishing our voter guide here at Ideastream on October 5th to get people ready for that early voting.

We sent emails to hundreds of candidates across our region to get their viewpoints on a lot of the issues you said were important to us.

We went out to libraries for our Listen, Engage, Vote initiative and asked what was important.

We've got all that information from those who replied.

Part of the voter guide is the number of people who said No, I'm not going to give you an answer to that, in the same way that many are saying no to debates and, and no to interviews.

So we're going to give you the information that we can gather and hope that helps inform your vote.

All right, small businesses in Akron have a new opportunity to compete for city contracts.

A $1.2 million city investment involves setting aside some contracts specifically for qualified small business and requiring small business participation in others.

And Glenn, this is a project where instead of it being minority business enterprises or female business enterprises, they're moving to small business enterprises in reaction to really federal policy.

Right.

I was gonna say the impetus for this was the executive order forbidding the community-focused programs based on race or gender.

So what Akron decided is, okay, we're gonna focus on small businesses and what federally, you know, what qualifies federally as a small business.

There are a couple different rules and parameters there.

You just think of it as a business generally between 500 to 1,500 people.

Some industries are allowed up to 1,500 people still qualify as a small business.

This is interesting, as we mentioned, because it does kind of shift that city focus from a race or gender-based small business to this is just the size of the business that they're looking at.

Also breaking up, you know, bigger projects into smaller contracts.

You can think of it that way too.

And trying to get more money to some of these smaller businesses in Akron.

Some have already been announced, $220,000 to Armstrong Painting for a hydrant painting program, fire hydrants, $50,000 in sidewalk repair.

So think of it that way, you know, breaking up some bigger projects into smaller contracts to specifically benefit these small businesses.

I was saying in our news meeting the other day, I would love $200,000 to just paint on a fire hydrant.

So it seemed like a great job.

There's got to be a lot of fire hydrants though in Akron, Andrew.

There's got to be a big number down there.

I'm not saying it's easy, but not quite one on every other corner, but close.

Yeah.

It's one of those jobs where you start it and when it's nicely freshly painted, the job's over.

The job's over.

Then you move on to the next one.

All right, we got plenty more to talk about, including a Cleveland law on the books since the '70s that bans backyard fire pits.

So put down those marshmallows, you scofflaws.

Now, here is Sound of Ideas host Stephanie Haney to preview what we'll bring you next week on The Sound of Ideas on 89.7 WKSU.

Hey, Steph.

Hey, Mike.

Here's what we have coming up next week on The Sound of Ideas.

Monday, we kick off our election coverage for 2026 on The Sound of Ideas with a voting expert who will fill us in on what you need to know on what might be a little bit different this year in the state of Ohio ahead of the November midterm elections.

On Tuesday, we'll bring you our conversations with the governor candidates.

The 2 main party candidates, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Dr.

Amy Acton.

We'll keep that going on Wednesday when we share our conversation with the Libertarian candidate for Ohio governor, Don Kissick.

We'll also take a look at changes that will be taking effect on October 1st when it comes to Medicaid.

We'll round things out on Thursday with Cleveland Magazine's Best of Cleveland Awards.

Shout out to The Sound of Ideas and The Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable for being named Best Radio Show podcast for 2026.

We'll also talk about the food-related winners in our menu portion on Thursday with the folks from Cleveland Magazine.

Back to you in the studio, Mike.

Thank you so much, Stephanie, and way to go with that humble brag.

All right, you're, you're back with The Sound of Ideas, and it's great, by the way.

The Sound of Ideas, including the Roundtable, uh, got recognized by Cleveland Magazine, and that's all great stuff.

And thanks to all of your great work as the host 4 days a week.

You're back with the Sound of Ideas Reporters' Roundtable from Ideastream Public Media.

I'm the executive editor here, Mike McIntyre.

I'm joined by Ideastream's deputy news editors, Glenn Forbes and Andrew Meyer, otherwise known in my parlance as Glendrew.

Yes, very good to have Glendrew with us.

And Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler is joining us from Columbus as well.

And before we get back to the show, take our Ideastream news quiz.

You find it on our website, ideastream.org/quiz.

I took it this morning.

One of them I wasn't sure, but I got it right.

8 questions.

You'll know if you listen to the show what's going on.

And Karen, a little bit of feedback from one of our listeners who said hybrid and electric owners have a surcharge on their vehicle registrations.

Will the owners get a 25% refund on their surcharge, or will they still be paying what was promoted as making sure the state gets a replacement for lower fuel taxes from the more efficient vehicles despite the loss of gas tax in 90 days?

It's a good question.

Do will they get a break as well?

And I don't know if we've heard anything from lawmakers.

I don't think the legislation has been introduced yet.

So we don't we're not positive.

I was just checking to see if it's been introduced, and I haven't seen it yet.

So we don't know if that's in there.

I wouldn't necessarily bet on it being in there.

But I feel the listener's pain.

My son and I both drive hybrids.

And so yeah, it's, it's not cheap.

Your friend Mike drives a hybrid as well.

So I feel it too.

I'm not seeing you guys volunteer, but hybrid owners, good question.

So we'll find out from we'll find out from the state whether that's something that's on there list.

Deportation flights carrying federally detained immigrants have made Akron-Canton Regional Airport a hub for ICE activity, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, in the Great Lakes region.

The airport is now waiting on more than $46,000 in unpaid landing fees from charter companies that are operating the flights.

And Andrew, we had a story from the former managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal, Doug Oplinger, who's doing some freelance work.

What does he tell us about who these companies are, how much money they owe the airport, and what it is they're doing?

So it's a little complicated.

I'll try and make it the TL;DR, but there are 3 charter flights that are operating out of flying in and out of Akron Canton Airport that are moving people out of the country.

They are working with an FBO, which is a fixed base operator, that's doing all the coordination.

But this all goes back to April when operations of these flights shifted from Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

The reason for that was they had to close down partially one of the runways for repairs.

They thought it'd be several months that they'd be over here, and there's no real clear picture on when they're going to be moving back to Youngstown-Warren.

The repairs are done, but the flights are still coming in and out of Akron-Canton, and the bills are mounting.

It's not just about the bills, but there are people there who are protesting as well, people who don't like the immigration policy, the idea that people are being gathered, put on planes, and flown somewhere.

So we're seeing that kind of activity outside the airport.

And we've been seeing the protests, yes, but I think what the unpaid bills are doing are finally giving us a real peek inside of the scale of the operation that's happening there.

There's been, I think, north of 160 flights over the last several months according to Doug Oplinger's reporting.

Nobody's talking really.

The airports are talking because they're public entities locally and they have to, and they've shared the information about the unpaid bills, But the operators are generally taking a line of, yeah, you got to talk to ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

And even when it comes to some of the local law enforcement, like the county sheriffs who are bringing people there for the flights, they will confirm some of the financials, but you get beyond that, and Doug has said that they commonly say, you got to talk to ICE.

And Doug has noted that, as with his own observation, there are sometimes black SUVs that have government plates.

There are some that are identified as sheriff vehicles and others, some that you just don't know exactly who they are, but they're pulling up to the airport and delivering passengers.

And big props to Doug Oplinger, a lot of shoe-leather journalism out there, actually getting out, doing the observation, the reporting on hand time and time again over the last several weeks.

Okay, did a great job explaining FBO, but there are some people that don't know what TL;DR means.

Too long, didn't read.

Almost got there.

Too long, didn't read.

That's what it means.

So it's the answers Young and hip.

He's got all the, the current common acronyms, which is why we need to define them, because I am not young and hip and people need to know.

Me neither.

All right.

Republican Congressman Max Miller's attorneys have sent cease and desist letters to Ohio TV stations over a campaign ad from his Democratic opponent, Brian Poindexter, which Miller's team says contains false and defamatory claims.

And in fact, this was the subject of an email we got actually before the show, Karen, from a listener named Wes from Strongsville.

He said, I'd like to hear more about Miller's suit against TV stations, appearing to split hairs, claiming he's being defamed in the commercial they run concerning his past legal issues with his wife.

What exactly is he talking about, and does he have anything to stand on in regards to this complaint?

Karen, what's the claim, and does he?

Well, it should be said up front that politicians are allowed to lie in campaign ads.

So the question is whether there are lies here, and, and in a way there isn't a question because they can still put these ads on the air even if there are lies.

But the allegations in this are really interesting.

You've got Summit County Sheriff Kandy Fatheree, who is kind of detailing some of what the court documents have said about this domestic violence, these allegations against Max Miller, which he has denied.

The court documents, she says, say Miller beat his ex-wife, held a gun to her head.

Also, Kandy Fatheree notes that their child, their 2-year-old child, had a broken collarbone.

So these are allegations that we've heard reported by news outlets before.

And so now it's in an ad.

Max Miller sent out these cease and desist letters saying these ads should not air because they're defamatory.

Now, what's interesting too is Brian Poindexter, who is his opponent, his Democratic opponent, is ripping up that letter.

Uh, he posted a video on social media ripping up that letter, basically saying Max Miller doesn't want people to hear what is being said about him, and, and he's trying to muddle up this case here in a sense.

But they're both kind of pushing back on each other in a race that's gotten very, very nasty.

Yeah, Miller's claiming it says there's a restraining order, and he says that's just not true.

It's, it's objectionally objectionally, whatever it is, it's objectively not true.

Uh, and so that's going to be the back and forth of that.

I thought it was interesting, and I mentioned this to you earlier in the week, Glenn, there are also ads that Miller has run that talk about, um, Brian Poindexter, from crack to Congress.

Yes, we mentioned this last week.

It's a nasty campaign season.

These commercials either side anyway are getting nastier and nastier.

When you talk about splitting hairs, or the emailer talks about splitting hairs, that's really what this is about because there is a joint restraining order for his ex-wife Emily Moreno and Max Miller.

Technically speaking, I suppose there is not a restraining order against Max Miller from Emily Moreno.

What the judge is saying is stay away from each other.

Yeah, um, and that's kind of what the commercial is about.

But yeah, I think the emailer is right, it is splitting hairs.

But to Karen's point, you can say just about anything you want in these political ads anyway, right?

All right, enrollment at Cleveland State and Kent State University both saw a decline of about 5% this fall as colleges across the country continue to see fewer international students.

And Glenn, we already have the demographic cliff, the idea that there are fewer teenagers anywhere that are matriculating to colleges.

But now we have an international student problem, which used to kind of fill that void.

What's the situation there?

What's the impetus of having fewer?

Well, you know, of course, federal policy has led to this decline.

In fact, Ohio State said even from the last reporting year to this current reporting year, that decrease has doubled.

So that is pretty significant.

The university's and still talking about Ohio State largest population comes from China, and that decreased by 20.7%.

You look at some of the Northeast Ohio schools, they're facing similar challenges in terms of enrollment, less international students.

I think the interesting thing is the University of Akron is celebrating because they gained gained 6 students.

Now, most people would say, well, that's relatively flat, what are you celebrating?

But I mean, comparatively speaking to some of the other universities, if you're flat or if you gain 6 students, that is reason to celebrate compared to what else is going on.

I think, you know, critics of the previous program, critics of the previous federal policy regarding international students would say, we're just turning off the spigot, we're turning off this, you know, this was too lax, too much money, too many, too many students accepted from foreign countries.

Ohio State spokesperson Chris Booker, he said reasonable minds can disagree on specific rules, but we still want the best and brightest to come here to Ohio.

I guess my question to that would be, how many reasonable minds are in elected office?

Good question.

And it also should be noted that generally international students are paying full freight, and a lot of students locally they might qualify for some sort of aid or scholarship help.

But a lot of times you're having people that have means to come to another country to study.

And that's something that's important to colleges as well.

What are they doing now then if they're having fewer international students to maintain their enrollment?

Well, in the case of Akron, you know, they're saying that our kind of our focus on these more modern careers has helped us.

Cleveland State is saying, you know, we committed, we remain committed to being a welcoming environment.

We've got hundreds of international students in our academic programs.

You know, the reality is we've seen a lot of cuts from a lot of universities.

And I think, you know, that's gonna continue.

But what do they call it?

They call it rightsizing.

They call it, you know, prioritizing.

They call it, you know, a number of other things.

But I think it's kind of that idea that, that they're going to have to deal with the reduction.

They're going to have to become leaner in some ways.

And what I said with Akron is they're enticed by high-demand career programs.

So I think that's what you're going to see these colleges say that are having some success is like, hey, we're offering these programs that are in demand.

All right.

City of Cleveland is shifting the way it handles nonviolent crisis calls.

Unarmed health professionals, not will answer behavioral health and substance use-related emergencies.

Andrew, let's talk about the Community Crisis Response Bureau and what prompted its creation.

So we go back to 2014.

It was the death of Tanisha Anderson.

Her family called 911.

She was in crisis.

A couple of officers showed up and she ended up dead.

Now the question is, were the officers and this has happened many, many times in incidents where people who are in crisis are facing law enforcement.

Are the police really the best people to show up first, or should it be somebody who's really trained to help somebody in that situation?

Tanisha's Law, which was passed by council back in February, created this new division, and they are now hitting the ground.

And the idea is you get not the police who are the first responders, but the people with the social services skills to really help somebody who is suffering.

It has a new deputy commissioner, its first deputy commissioner, Maureen Malavé.

Yeah, Maureen Malavé.

And let's talk about what her role will be.

What will she do?

Well, she's going to oversee the team of clinicians and paramedics and the other specialists who will be the first boots on the ground to really help stabilize the situation.

And how are they going to roll this out?

Gradually, gradually.

It's going to take a little bit of time.

Council earlier in the year devoted funding for this.

It's not a standalone department.

It is a division.

It's part of EMS, but it's going to take some time to actually get it ramped up.

Okay.

Before we move on to our next topic, got a note from Kabir Bhatia, who was at the press conference with orchestra players.

He said there's nothing necessarily new to report.

They're elaborating and able to talk with folks about what their decisions were, but essentially what we have already reported.

So nothing new to give you from that.

Barberton City School District is in a state of fiscal emergency as declared by Ohio Auditor Keith Faber.

And Glenn, how did Faber come to this decision in Barberton?

Well, basically he's saying the district did not submit an acceptable plan to him for the anticipated budget deficit, which is pretty significant.

If you, if you look down the line, they're thinking it's got to cut an estimated $57 million in operating expenses.

There is reports that they could run out of money by the end of the school year and eat away at some of the cash reserves, which would leave it $2 million in the red.

The district has already approved about $7 million in budget cuts, 80 job cuts, a pay-to-participate system for sports, and pay freezes for administrators.

So basically Keith Faber is saying your projections down the line.

Basically he's saying you can't cut enough or you're not cutting enough in this plan to balance your budget down the line, but they have immediate problems as far as this school year and could be $2 million in debt.

And the school board wanted this.

They did.

They wanted fiscal emergency because they were looking at this $57 million down the line and exhausting the cash reserves.

The district is seeking a 1% earned income tax levy in November.

So that's important to note.

But, you know, the board saw this coming and, and did pass a resolution seeking this status.

We've seen this in other districts, but what does it mean to be in fiscal emergency?

What happens as a result of that?

There's a commission that's created.

Yeah, Ohio appoints a commission.

They'll have some power to make decisions on finances and operations, assuming some of the local school board's powers.

So that could seen more significant cuts.

And we've seen this argument play out in a lot of different school districts in terms of, you know, how much local control, how much local influence, or, or are these just people from Columbus coming in and cutting and cutting and cutting and not necessarily interested in what the, what the local stakeholders are, what the local stakeholders want.

So we've seen this play out in a couple of districts before.

And I think the, the question and the concern is that we're seeing it in Barberton now, but With districts increasingly having trouble getting levies passed and with concerns about not enough funding coming from the state, it's not going to be a question of will Barberton be the last one to do it or just the latest one.

We're going to be keeping a close eye on that.

We certainly will.

City of Cleveland plans to demolish the J. Glen Smith Health Center to make way for a new Glenville High School.

The move has raised concerns about where eastside residents will receive their health services.

So why are they tearing it down, Andrew?

It's part of a land swap that Cleveland Metropolitan School District has proposed with the city, and this has all been approved by the board of the Board of Education, where they would swap with the city the current high school in Collinwood and a few other schools for this health center for a new Collinwood High School.

It still needs to be approved by City Council, but the Board of Ed has done its And the plan is it would close sometime in the fall of 2027.

Yeah, about a year from now.

And the health center is part of a larger proposed land swap, as you explained.

Who will pay for the demolitions?

That's going to fall to the land bank, basically.

The city looked at this and the district, the school district, just doesn't have extra money to do the demolition.

So this is part of the deal that's been proposed.

Okay, Karen, I want to ask you about cryptocurrency, but before that, a message from Stephen says, does the right to lie in a campaign protect the person from defamatory claims?

Do you know the answer to that?

Well, a lot of this has to do with public figures and whether you can sue if you're a public figure.

The bar to prove that you have been defamed is much higher than a regular citizen, and so I'm certain that both of these folks, certainly Max Miller, would be considered a public figure.

So I'm not a lawyer though.

I only pretend I am and wish I were one.

She did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night though.

I would think strategically Miller's plan is to say, well, I am fighting this.

Look, I mean, I'm declaring my innocence and this is a way for to speculate, I would say he probably doesn't think he has necessarily a chance of winning this or the TV stations pulling the ads, but I think what he is thinking is, well, I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna fight this.

I'm gonna get headlines by, by fighting it and saying you're defaming me.

That's happening.

It's getting on the Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable.

All right, Secretary of State Frank LaRose's office is now accepting cryptocurrency for all types of transactions like filing for a new business, getting a trademark, or applying to get a minister's license.

Cryptocurrency is pretty volatile, Karen.

It might be worth one thing in the morning and something else in the afternoon.

There's been some criticism about accepting cryptocurrency because of this.

How is the state explaining how it'll work?

Well, and it's interesting because we've seen efforts to try to move Ohio to crypto in the past.

And of course, crypto is a form of digital cash that can be used for internet-based purchases.

And like you said, it's volatile, it's set by market rates.

So it's considered non-fiat currency because it's not set by a government or anything.

So this is just an effort, I think, that has been going on for quite a while to get more of these kinds of things onto the cryptocurrency scene.

And Ohio is now doing this.

The last time Ohio tried to accept crypto, I think it was only a couple of transactions were recorded.

So this is kind of another effort to try to do that.

Yeah, talking about the, the value of it, um, one Bitcoin, which is the largest cryptocurrency, worth about $80,000 as of today.

A year ago it was $120,000.

But what the state says is when you pay with the crypto, it immediately gets converted into the dollars that it's supposed to be worth at that time.

So it's not going to you don't pay and then suddenly it was only worth 2/3 of what you paid.

Right, right.

And apparently just this one state agency is accepting it now, but other state agencies could come on board.

And some of this comes down to you've seen a lot of high-profile figures talk about cryptocurrency.

I mean, Vivek Ramaswamy has a little bit.

Senator Bernie Moreno tried to really push that when he was even before he was in the U.S.

Senate.

And so I think this is a reflection of especially Republican candidates saying that crypto is a currency that needs to be embraced.

Karen, didn't you say you wish you were a lawyer?

You don't have a law degree when we answered that question earlier.

Yeah, you did.

Yes.

Well, luckily, this is the kind of show we have.

I admire lawyers so much.

This is the kind of show we have.

One time we had an issue about outer space and I didn't have an answer, and we got an email from a NASA scientist who was listening to the show.

Well, now we've got our good friend Jonathan Entin who is a professor emeritus at Case Western Reserve University, a law professor and a constitutional expert.

He said, in order to win a defamation suit, a political candidate or public figure must prove that the speaker lied with knowledge of the falsity of the statement or with reckless disregard for the truth of the statement, actual malice as well.

That's what I'm adding to it, but thank you, Jonathan.

So yes, it's possible, but it's a very high bar, as Karen said.

Good work, Karen.

Jon would give you, I'm sure, an A in his class.

On Tuesday, Cuyahoga County officials unveiled the Mandel Community Trail, a new pedestrian and bike trail that runs along Lake Erie.

A 2.7-mile paved trail was created in addition to improvements to an existing trail between East 55th Street and MLK Jr.

Boulevard, extending the original path to East 9th Street.

And I was there, Andrew, and was able to see the, uh, all the, the ballyhoo and the giant scissors.

I wonder what the market is for giant scissors.

How many of those are, are purchased?

And is it a use once or you like trade them around?

Exactly.

I got ribbon next week?

I could use that.

Good question, but let's talk about the improvements there.

It looked like it was pretty cool and it brings more of this trail and transportation network to the east side of the city.

And it's all part of the county's greenways plan that was first released in 2019.

I was looking at the map of this this week as we were doing some reporting on this and it's an impressive network when it's going to be finally built out.

This is a key section that's running along the lakefront.

It goes by, uh, that's over by Burke, isn't it?

Yeah, it's by Burke and goes by the Coast Guard station.

It's connecting pretty much from 55th Street to downtown, which was a big missing link.

So it's about not just giving people a different way of getting around, but it's also health-focused and mobility-focused.

It's really cool.

Transportation folks and government folks and the Mandel Foundation folks all there celebrating this great community asset.

The sale of the Studio West 117 Fieldhouse on an LGBTQ social recreational space in Lakewood was finalized earlier this month.

So we know there was all kinds of financial troubles with this big ambitious development.

It then went up to auction and it seems like people are pretty happy with the outcome of who is going to be running it and what it will continue to be.

Yeah, it's the Central Outreach Wellness Center for the 25,000 square foot venue.

And it's the center, I should say the Central Outreach Wellness Center was founded.

It offers multicultural inclusive healthcare to communities in the Midwest.

So they do want to preserve some of the entertainment value of this space and the food amenities, but also stay true to that healthcare model.

So as you said, when we reported on the closure of this in December of last year, December of 2023, They had to borrow money, about $10 million, to get this space up.

And, you know, some patrons, people who had frequented that place, said there were some, you know, management issues and things like that.

So the cash flow just kind of never was there.

But it does seem like this is, this is a good solution for people in the area.

It still plans to be a place for LGBTQ+ folks to be.

The Fieldhouse is supposed to reopen at some point soon.

So all positive news.

for what that could have been and what it eventually will be.

Backyard fire pits may soon become legal in Cleveland.

Yeah, those backyard s'more-making sessions have been illegal since 1977.

Councilmember Charles Slife introduced legislation Monday that ends the current prohibition of recreational fires.

Andrew, I had no idea that my friends in West Park are scofflaws.

Your friends in West Park, right?

Yeah.

Okay, well, I don't live in West Park.

The ones that live in West Park, okay, are scofflaws.

But that's been on the books for a long time.

He's saying, listen, since the 1970s, Akron did have one as well.

They actually repealed it in 2020.

So what's up, Akron?

What's up, Cleveland?

Yeah, right.

And people have been having these backyard fires and this is the season.

'Tis the season now for that.

Remember, there's no alcohol allowed in The Muni lot on Sunday either.

Just so you know.

Good point.

So people do it anyway.

What Charles Slife is saying is let's remove this ridiculous prohibition.

Back when we did it, it was a different kind of thing.

People didn't have these kind of fire pits.

There was a different environment.

Environmental condition then, and, and the air is cleaner.

And so burning a little bit of wood in an outdoor fire pit won't necessarily be so bad.

Here's a quick thing from Slife: don't think you can fire them up legally just yet.

It's going to take a few weeks to get it through council, he says.

Okay, fair.

But go ahead.

'Tis the season, right?

It's the perfect time to do it.

What are they gonna do?

Perfect night for a fire tonight.

In fact, just throw some fireworks into that thing too.

Why not?

All right, the Cleveland Metroparks has recruited 6 dogs, various breeds, not bloodhounds, to root out spotted lanternfly fly eggs so they can be scraped away before they mature and cause problems.

And Glenn, we've heard this: if you see it, squish it.

Yeah, lanternflies are invasive.

They're not good.

People that see them, you see kids running around stomping on them, and that's okay.

This is you say it wouldn't hurt a fly?

Well, you should hurt a lanternfly.

You are supposed to do so.

Yes, but this is yet another reason why dogs are the greatest beings on the planet.

Now they can help us with lanternflies too.

Now they can help us with lanternflies.

I was driving in this morning, I saw one of those stickers on the back the car that said, tell your dog I said hi.

I am kind of one of those people where, like, if I go to somebody's house and they have dogs, like, I'm immediately playing with the dogs on the ground, playing with the dogs, because that's what I do.

But yes, Zaria Johnson from Ideastream here did a great report on how they affect, you know, vineyards and Ohio's vineyards.

And because they congregate more in urban areas, we've seen, you know, some there is a Château Huff that Mansfield-Frazier's family has continued on.

And while Zaria was there, there were some lanternflies there.

Oh, I better squish this one.

And I better say, you know, they are an invasive species.

And so, yes, now these dogs are being trained to help out the cause here along with us who are supposed to squash them when we see them.

Good boy.

You're a good boy.

The hunt is on.

The hunt is on for sure.

All right.

That's all for today.

Appreciate both of you for being here.

Andrew jumping in last minute.

As well.

Appreciate your flexibility there.

Andrew Meyer and Glenn Forbes thanks for being with me in studio.

Ideastream's pinch hitter, or coming out of the bullpen.

We'll keep talking baseball.

All right.

And thanks to you as well, Karen.

So good to have you with us today.

Go Guardians!

That's 3 so far.

If you missed any part of today's show, you can check out the rebroadcast tonight at 9 on 89.7 WKSU, access the podcast, or check out the Ideastream Public Media YouTube page.

You can catch the television version tonight at 5 on WVIZ PBS.

Monday on The Sound of Ideas, we'll talk about what you need to know ahead of the October 5th voter registration deadline.

Part of that is to make sure you're registered so in January you don't get purged from the rolls.

We talked about that throughout the show today.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thank you so much for listening and watching, and stay safe.

And now, did you hear Taylor Swift is coming out with a song called Cleveland today?

Well, we haven't heard it yet, but there is another Cleveland song that's been on our minds a lot lately.

Drew Carey made it famous.

Famous nationwide on his TV show.

And it's the song they play, Karen, when the Guardians win at home, which as they march toward the postseason, we hope we'll hear a lot.

Is there something you want to say about that?

Maybe 2 words?

Go Guardians!

Okay, thank you.

Go Guardians!

Go Guardians!

Go Guardians!

Go Guardians!

All right, the over wins.

All right, here's Ian Hunter and Cleveland Rocks.

All this energy calling me back where it comes from.

It's such a crude attitude.

It's back where it belongs.

All the little kids growing up on the skids are going, Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks.

Jumpin' Gene Genie, Moody James Demon, going, Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks.

Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks.

Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks.

Cleveland rocks, Cleveland rocks.---