It's the Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable from Ideastream Public Media.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Ideastream is executive editor.

So glad you're with us.

Short term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo are great, but maybe not so much if it means a new neighbor every weekend and nightly nuisances in your neighborhood.

Cleveland City Council wants to crack down gambling.

Opponents wish to put a stop to many kinds of sports betting in Ohio.

What are their odds of winning?

Breathe deep.

Northeast Ohioans.

The air is cleaner than in 2018, according to the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency.

Does that mean it can go away?

And that local spot where you always order the perfect puttanesca?

Now has a chance at a Michelin star.

Joining me to discuss all of this week's news from Ideastream Public Media, Local government reporter Abbey Marshall.

Hello, Abby.

Hi, Mike.

Happy Friday and Friday to you.

And education reporter Connor Morris, who I have to say, judging from his Instagram, could earn a Michelin star for what he whips up in his own kitchen.

I'm looking for it.

I'm really filling in for that.

The first home chef Michelin star winner in history.

They're going to take a look at how clean my kitchen is and be like, yeah, maybe not.

I didn't say you're going to pass the health inspection.

Yes.

In Columbus, a woman who certainly knows when a politician's goose is cooked.

Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler joins us.

Hey, Karen.

Hey.

Good morning.

Good to have you with us.

And you can get in on the conversation, too by sending email to s-o-i at ide All right.

Let's get ready to round table.

Cleveland City Council is reviving legislation restricting short term rental properties.

There's complaints about noise, partying and violence escalate and Abbey Council tried this a couple of years back.

What brings it back now that.

Well, this has just been a very persistent issue across Cleveland.

And with the summer coming up, a lot of council members say that they want this addressed now.

So this is something that former council member Carey McCormack brought up.

He was the downtown in Near West Side Council member.

And it's kind of been on hold because there are concerns that I'm sure we'll get into.

But it's something that council members say.

This is what we keep hearing from residents, and it's really kind of reaching a fever pitch.

And we need we need to address it.

Yeah, I've got some friends who live in Detroit, Shore Way, some in Tremont.

They all talk about this.

Yeah.

So basically the original legislation was proposing that all operators of Airbnbs verbose anything short term rental would need to obtain a license with the city, and they would be also subject to the 3% bed tax that we have with hotel stays under 30 days.

But when I've talked to Council member Jasmine Santana, who heads the committee that will be overseeing this legislation, she said they're going to look at some other amendments, which would also include restricting the density of rentals.

So per residential block, which they're still figuring out what that means.

There would be, you know, a certain capacity of how many rent, short term rentals there could be.

Yeah.

You couldn't have a dozen on the same street or something like that, right?

Also, someone local has to be accountable.

Yes.

And so that is something that they're kind of looking at.

The residents first legislation, which was the suite of, laws that passed to protect renters in Cleveland, and one of those, laws required a local agent in charge.

So if there's a problem, hey, we can call someone in.

Someone around is at least local to to address the issues in real time, because that's something the council members are saying that they're having difficulty.

You know, if there's a big out of control party, reaching the owners of these businesses is difficult.

This was an issue, though, two years ago, and I remember when we talked about it then it was the same complaints.

Neighbors were upset.

There was a lot of partying, sometimes violence brought to the neighborhood.

Why did it stall?

You know, legislation can stall for various reasons, whether there's just not enough council support.

You know, at the time, too, there was a council member who, owned properties as well, that I think that they were hearing from the business side and the business owner community.

And I think that another, big issue with this is, is enforcement concerns.

And making sure, you know, Jasmine Santana said, we don't want to get sued.

We don't want to get sued by, any of these short term rental companies.

So it's just making sure that there's an airtight legislative package, but also making sure that the city has capacity, especially when you're touching on what for this, there would be about six different departments involved.

Who is responsible for what?

How do things not slip through the cracks?

And you do hear from the big companies from Airbnb and there are many others, but you do hear from them that we already have rules in place.

You're not allowed to have a large party.

There are restrictions yet they happen.

And so the question is, if Cleveland is talking about restrictions now, it's not in the vanguard.

Others have put restrictions other cities and put restrictions on the, the city council member that I talked to, that kind of inherited what was most closely Carrie McCormack's word.

Who is Austin Davis?

He downtown in near West Side, which he he believes has the highest density in the city of of, short term rentals because you have, you know, Iowa City, Tremont downtown.

This has been a big concern for him.

And it's it's it's just been really like it's hit a fever pitch.

He said that there was, in February, there was a shooting that happened at a TikTok party, I believe, he said, with social media.

And just things are getting kind of out of control.

And that's party where everybody finds out where it is because they look at it on social media and they show up, he said.

That was right across from his house.

He said there was the first time that he saw a shooting.

He said it was right across from his house and yeah, you know, Airbnb in verbal will say, I'm sorry I got away from that.

But they their official policies say that they do not, that large parties are prohibited.

You'll get kicked off.

And you have to comply with city law.

However, this is a big, worldwide organization.

They're not going to know about every single party.

So right now the protocol is call the police, whatever.

But as we know, police are kind of short staffed in the city anyway.

Yeah, Council doesn't want to create legislation where police are getting called out all the time.

They need to have some other enforcement mechanism.

And I mentioned other cities do this.

There are a number of other cities that have.

Yeah.

Coordination.

Yes.

David's brought up that he believes that Cleveland is actually the only major metro area that doesn't have some kind of safeguards in place.

Now, the issue right now, like I said, will be enforcement.

And that's why the the legislation is being brought back up.

And they say they want to approve it before the summer busy season, which Santana believes is possible.

However, she's not comfortable moving forward with the piece until they can meet with various, the law department and lots of other departments to make sure everyone knows what's going to happen, what the consequences will be, and that something can actually be done about it.

And since we're on the topic of Cleveland City Council, because they're the ones talking about this legislation, council has had some discussions and some disagreements about whether ShotSpotter technology should be renewed in the city of Cleveland.

It's that technology where it listens and can hear a gunshot.

The idea is that police then can respond quickly.

But we've seen studies one from Cleveland State, our Matt Richmond has done extensive reporting on this where it doesn't necessarily increase safety.

So there was an idea that maybe flock safety, where Carrie McCormack went to work would be enhanced and its contract that got stalled.

And now we hear, through a report by a reporter at the Plain Dealer, and cleveland.com, that the controlling board of the city has approved another year of a contract for ShotSpotter.

And this didn't go through City Council.

You didn't hear that debate?

No, it did not.

That's actually what I was working on.

Literally right before we, we we started the show.

But yeah.

So this went through, the board of Control, which is a mayoral, mayoral control board, and they approved this, $850,000 contract through that board.

Typically, council requires or the the charter requires that council must approve anything over $50,000.

So I'm waiting back to hear from a statement, from the mayor's office and public safety, but from my understanding, from some of the other great reporting in town is that they are citing, something in the city code that says if council has already approved a vendor contract in the past, the Board of Control is actually able to approve that.

But of course, you know, there are critics of the ShotSpotter technology that have cited potential privacy concerns.

And obviously, council members like Mike Valenza, who is the safety chair, I'm sure will have lots to say about this to me later about council being sidestepped here.

And when we talk about privacy concerns, there are cameras.

These flock cameras there sound the ShotSpotter thing.

The idea of privacy concerns for all of that is it could it be shared, for example, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents or others?

The answer, the companies say, is no way.

There's a lot of suspicion about.

Sure, the idea is that big Brother is around and, you know, always watching.

And even if that data they're saying doesn't go somewhere there, of course people better concerned that that it will.

Okay, we'll try to get this show done quick so you can get back on this.

I know, I know, work on it while we're talking.

I know maybe conservative Ohio lawmakers, supported by faith based and mental health advocates, seek to overhaul Ohio's sports gambling laws.

Betting on sports outside of a casino proposition bets on individual player performance, and any gambling on college games would be among the things banned if these two bills that are introduced are passed.

And Karen, well, we give Abby time to work on her story.

You and I can talk.

Let's talk first about where the legislation is coming from and why.

Now?

Well, first of all, I think we need to talk about just how big this industry is.

I mean, in Ohio last year, over $10 billion in total wages were placed in Ohio.

Just stand alone sports betting in 2025.

So that's a huge part of this discussion here.

And the folks who are really pushing this forward, it's a group of Christian, activists as well as the mental health providers.

Even a former athlete who, a lot of them have been opposed to the expansion of sports gambling in general.

The, the, the Christian activists have even when there was a potential of expanding online gambling in general, there were about 100 of them that teamed up to write a letter urging state lawmakers not to expand online gambling.

So obviously they're concerned about sports gambling and what their legislation would do is really kind of change the industry dramatically.

I mean, to take away the option of online betting, that's about 95% of the bets that are made are online.

Yeah.

On the other hand, though, when people have access to online betting and have a gambling addiction, you can imagine how simple that is.

And I think folks are looking at this and saying it's really a protection issue for the folks in the state of Ohio.

This isn't a fringe issue, one side or the other.

And yet and we said this kind of tongue in cheek, but what are the odds that this could possibly prevail?

The chances are very slim.

It seems that you could say we can't bet on college sports, for example.

Yeah.

And this doesn't just say, I mean, it says that you it would limit how much and how often Ohioans can gamble on sports bets, banning them from using credit cards for sports bets.

Gets rid of sports gambling online, which I said.

And for the restricts advertising, which is a big part of this as well.

I mean you go to progressive Field, you go to Rocket Arena, you'll see the sports books and they're set ups there, and they've got whole areas.

Right across the street quite often.

I mean, here in Columbus, Nationwide Arena, right across the street is fanatics, you know.

So that's a big part of this.

And this is, again, a huge industry.

There's an awful lot of money not only being wagered, but also going back and forth when it comes to state lawmakers and federal lawmakers.

I mean, there is a group, Axios is reporting today that, some of these sportsbooks are putting together a super PAC that would try to push back on some of this legislation while also pushing back on the prediction markets like Cal and Poly Market, because they're concerned about those as well.

And those are not allowed in Ohio.

And there's a real effort to try to stop that.

But, sports betting, I think there are a lot of lawmakers who are opposed, but it's it's here.

How do you how do you take it back?

Yeah, that's a good point.

And, Karen, do you think it was bad?

Bet that I put $1 million on the Cavs to win the NBA championship.

I'm not touching that.

I also can't touch $1 million.

Yeah.

I also should say one more thing.

And I think this is, an element that a lot of people want to see is that this proposal would also ban gambling on college, sports and, and athletes.

And that's something you've I mean, governor Mike DeWine has talked about.

He doesn't want to see those prop bets.

And doesn't the athletes we'll talk about.

You've seen PSA, perhaps athletes talk about how they get death threats if their performance doesn't line up with someone's bet.

So that's a real concern here that I could see some lawmakers trying to put some guardrails around.

Right.

Prop bets can be how many strikeouts a pitcher gets or could even be.

Will he throw a ball or a strike on the very next pitch?

And that's where we saw two of the Cleveland Guardians pitchers, end up in a lot of legal trouble.

They're not playing for the team now.

And there's stuff working.

Its way through the courts.

One of the two pieces of legislation bills itself as an integrity piece of legislation.

What does it do to improve integrity in the sport?

Well, that's the one that bans gambling on individual athletes performances, those prop bets.

And, it also bans combining more than one wager together.

And and again, it also ends the gambling on college game.

So that's, that's the other part of this.

And I think that one probably has maybe a better shot of moving forward, than the other, because, I mean, once again, banning online sports gambling.

I mean, when online sports gambling was when sports gambling was set up, online was a huge part of that and continues to be, like I said, more like 90%, 95% of bets are made, not in casinos, but right here on this.

And aside from peeling it back, there's also a portion.

It's been unsuccessful thus far to put all kinds of casino games on your phone in Ohio.

Right.

And that was something that and that's one thing when you look at whether this bill, these bills have a chance, compare it to this expansion of online game gambling in general.

And, that was proposed as a way to bring in more revenue.

But that got a lot of pushback from these conservative, these pastors and other people in, in the church area and all sorts of churches, not just conservative churches, but you have a lot of churches that are very concerned about the expansion of gambling in general.

And like you mentioned, at the top, the, suicide prevention folks are very concerned about this because people do get into serious trouble with gambling.

Right.

Before we get to our next topic, some feedback on something we already talked about from Logan in Copley, said reinstate the neighborhood beat cop.

This will take care of a lot more than just controlling noise and partying with these short term rentals.

So he's saying if there's a beat cop, then perhaps that will help take care of that issue again.

Cleveland City Council is hoping not to burden police with any complaints from Airbnbs.

Northeast Ohio's air is now cleaner than it was less than a decade ago.

Several of our counties now meet the Federal Environmental Protection Agency's ozone standards outlined by the Clean Air Act and counties.

So what does that mean?

Yeah.

So essentially means that the air poses less of a health risk for, for folks, especially those with asthma.

And so that's affecting seven counties in our area.

So Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and summit.

And in general, they're just saying that it's going to be better for the entire region.

It's going to just be a better air quality.

It doesn't necessarily mean that every single individual area, though, is going to be, you know, perfect the air quality to be perfect.

So better than it was.

Still, we aren't out of noncompliance yet.

Right now, since 2018, noncompliance in a number of counties Georgia, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, summit in Cuyahoga.

Could it come out of compliance?

That's part of the question here.

We got to, comment here from Lucy.

She said, I'm frankly shocked to hear this, especially since having to engage Cleveland Office of Air Quality, which covers the region since 2018.

She says, she mentioned the bad air quality due to, periodic California and Canadian wildfires since 2017, open burning offenders who routinely violate regulations surrounding her place in Seven Hills.

So she's saying, no, it's not better.

Yeah.

I mean, as I mentioned, you know, certain areas it might not feel any better, but the the EPA says that the Ohio EPA says that, volatile organic compound emissions are down by 25% and nitrous oxide emissions are down by 42%.

So, at least in terms of the stats overall across that whole region, they are things are better is what the Ohio EPA saying.

And we saw a lot of elected officials, you know, heralding this week, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and other folks saying this is a great thing.

And there's a lot of work that went into this.

They said they've got a combination of private entities working with the government, to try to, you know, improve transportation kind of related elements.

Lord mayor rebate programs or something.

Yeah.

Lawnmower rebate programs was something that was mentioned as well, which I found interesting.

And just general pollution controls on on industry as well.

I've heard people characterize it like, like this.

If you were trying to get into shape and so you start working out and lower your calories, and now you're under 200 pounds in your BMI is in a normal range.

Is it at that point, you say, well, then, now I can go back to eating whatever I wanted to and not working out.

And so what we're hearing here is a move toward lifting some of the things that folks say would have brought us are that the reason that we're in compliance, and that part of the motivation for this might be we want more manufacturing, we want, fewer regulations.

And so this is kind of driving that argument.

There's a big dichotomy there.

Yeah.

And the regions met these air quality standards for three consecutive years, which is why this is happening now.

But it's as you said, it's going to need to continue to happen for them to continue to remain in compliance, essentially.

And there's going to be also going to be a public comment period for at least 30 days here.

So folks can just like the caller mentioned, you can you can provide feedback.

So okay, so we're not in attainment yet.

However that is approval is likely in the meanwhile along the lines of what I just asked Karen, the, there's a state representative, Bill Romer of Richfield, who says, listen, based on this evidence, lift each check, get rid of it.

We don't need it in Cuyahoga and other surrounding counties, urban counties like ours.

It should go away because we've we've reached the goal.

What are the chances that might happen?

Well, the bill would require that each check would go away if the U.S.

EPA determines that the air quality attainment has been reached.

So it kind of depends on what the federal government says here.

And this is, an ARG.

This is a cause that Bill Romer has been on for quite a while.

You know how, there's a state lawmaker who's really against traffic cameras?

I think Bill Romer is really against check here.

And during my Tom at the the.

Yes, exactly.

Bill Romer has proposed several bills that specifically deal with the check.

And there were two resolutions that urge the U.S.

EPA to change things so that Ohio didn't need a check anymore.

And those both were adopted.

But, you know, it really kind of depends on what the federal government does here at this point, rather than the state just eliminating it.

And there are others that are in support of that.

Bernie Marino, the U.S.

senator, says, he looks for the day when he check is gone.

There are a lot of folks that don't want that peeled back.

But as I said, there are others folks that say because of each check, that's why you're seeing yourself getting to the point where you can be in attainment.

So we'll continue to follow that story for sure at the state level and locally as well.

Foodies know the Michelin star rating system can put restaurants and chefs on the map, and anyone who likes to eat out knows the Michelin Guide is a reliable companion.

Even the ones who don't earn the prestigious star places you might want to visit if they're in the guide now, Cleveland's restaurants will be eligible for inclusion in a newly launched Great Lakes edition of the Michelin Guide, and our favorite joints have a chance to earn a michelin star or 2 or 3.

Gourmands and tourism folks are thrilled.

Abby, there are six cities in this guide, so Cleveland and who else?

You got Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Pittsburgh.

So if there if any of, the listeners happened to be in that area or visitors to that area, they can check those out as well.

Yeah.

Not now.

They'll have the guy ready by 20.7.

I thought it was really fascinating how this works, that you can go basically.

Connor, it's your incognito.

They show up and sometimes a single person or, or in groups.

You don't know that they're there to rate you.

And so that's the whole idea.

It's not like you walk in and go, oh, he's a restaurant critic.

And so these folks are going to have to be on their game.

Yes.

Exactly.

So and that's what Michelin Star is all about really, is that consistency of, of you know, both the food but the atmosphere as well.

And just like the level of service that you're providing, you've got to keep it consistent because you never know when this anonymous, you know, inspector is going to come through basically.

Yeah.

And getting a michelin star is a huge deal.

This thing started I thought it was interesting.

Michelin is known for tires French tire makers.

They created the Michelin Guide.

Why to to increase road travel.

They want you to go places.

So it actually makes sense that, you know, especially when you talk about, the Great Lakes region, like, I love the Great Lakes region and traveling around.

So this gives you a great opportunity to be, if you like food, you know, the way Connor and I do, you can travel specifically for certain restaurants.

Yeah, if you like.

Eggs Benedict, I would, not only drive, but I would fly to Lakewood to go to borderline and get the bacon avocado Benedict.

So that's that's what I'm saying.

Yeah.

It's fabulous.

Now, it should be in the guide.

Will it get a star?

Who knows?

It's a breakfast joint.

Great place.

But there are a number of places.

Connor, I would think you probably have your eye on.

Say, hey, maybe, you know, we know, like Vinny Cimino and Doug Katz, and, you know, some of our big, star, chefs in town.

But who might get a star is a good question.

Well, and we've seen folks that have been finalists or semifinalists for the, like, James Beard Awards, which is a separate kind of, award around food.

But, you know, we've actually got our own finalist with, Cordelia, finalist for best chef.

Over there, Vinny Cimino.

Forgive me if I pronounce his name wrong there.

But, you know, some of the places that I love are kind of a little bit more of a divey atmosphere where the food's still great.

You know, I love, like, a rally in and then prosperity social club, where the food's just amazing, you know?

But, you know, would they get a star or not?

I don't know about that, you know, but I'm in the guide.

Dang.

I would love to see him in the guy.

Put that in the guy.

Yeah, exactly.

There's so many great places.

And the one thing that is also very interesting about this is, there's certain areas of the US that are not eligible to be in the guide yet.

You need to be eligible for it to be put in the guide.

So already the Michelin company has said, well, we're recognizing that, that if there are good things going on here in this region.

So, you know, but who's going to be on the list?

So we don't know.

We'll have to we'll have to see.

My friend Andy would yell at me if I didn't say Immigrant Son Brewery and Sofia's restaurant in Lakewood also joints that he owns anyway.

But listen, I got the power here.

I got the microphone.

We can say who we like.

Abby, this tourism bureau destination, Cleveland, is over the moon about this.

And in fact, is ponying up money for it.

It's something that we're pitching in for.

Yeah, yeah.

And, you know, it makes sense because food tourism is such a big deal.

They looked at this recent study that showed that 74% of travelers consider the presence of places when, choosing their destinations and 76 are prepared to extend their stay based on the guide's findings.

So food really pushes people to travel.

And sometimes food is even more important than cultural experiences.

Museums, whatever.

And I, we were we were chatting the other day in slack, like I went to this, street food vendor in Bangkok because she had a michelin star, just made an omelet right in front of her face.

And, you know, I paid an egregious amount for an omelet, but now it's not good bucks for that.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was great.

It was worth it.

But I wouldn't have known had it not been for the Michelin Guide, you know?

So it's it's a great way to drive people to specific places and the local economy as well.

And tourism.

I have to agree with that.

If they have a michelin, book there, I might look at that if I go to a city.

Also, look at, Guy Fieri's diners, Drive-Ins and dives, ratings and say, hey, this was on that show, I'm going to watch that episode and then maybe go to that place in Philadelphia or whatever it may.

Yeah.

Or Cleveland.

Right.

And sorry to answer your question, because I'm too excited about, Michelin star and talking about all the food, but yeah, Destination Cleveland will be pitching in $150,000 over the next three years to launch and support the program here.

Okay.

Ohio's attorney general says prosecutors get thrown into the deep end to learn their trade, and he wants settlement money from the massive HB six public corruption scandal to help remedy that, $5 million in the nearly $300 million paid by First Energy will fund a prosecutor's education program at Cleveland State University Law School beginning this fall.

So what's the scope of the program, Conner?

Sure.

So it's about $5 million from the, from the AG's office and about 2.2 million it's coming from CSU.

And they say that they're going to train 10 to 12 students, per year.

They're going to work on actual cases.

There's going to be a whole prosecution clinic.

So they're actually going to be representing folks.

And, yo, yo said that he chose CSU because the school already has some prominent law clinics and was also willing to invest in the program as well.

So there was a kind of a competitive process that schools were kind of throwing their hat in the ring for.

And CSU came out on top.

And yeah, what you mentioned there was interesting.

Yost had said, we tend to train prosecutors the way a cat learns swimming, toss it into the deep end of the pool and the ones that figure it out survive, which was a little bit, visceral of a way to describe it, I suppose.

But, he's saying that, you know, we really need to be more methodical about the way that we are training these folks, because they are the ones that are trying to, they're representing the state in these cases.

I knew you were going to key on the cat thing because you're the biggest cat lover in the world.

Have you ever thrown one of your cats into the deep?

I would never I would never do that.

I would never at this point, it's sink or swim weekly.

And in addition to, to the legal clinics and the reason why that they joined with Cleveland State, which also, by the way, is trying to give its students experiential learning and, more training.

One of the things that if you're the attorney general, you're the state's top prosecutor, but you're also pretty political and you've seen a lot of things that come out of your office that are seem very partizan and very political.

He made a point to say that this is not about training politicians or training prosecutors to be politicians.

It's not about politics.

It's about doing the right thing as a prosecutor.

Yes.

I mean, if anybody has been following, Dave Yost on Twitter, for years, I mean, you've seen his comments about, you know, Black Lives Matter protests about, progressive prosecutors.

And he you mean he's made the argument, you know, at least personally, that he believes that some prosecutors are not charging cases, that they should be.

And so he's saying that there's too much leniency going on.

But he said during this press comments, no, no, it's in the agreement between Cleveland State and my office, that memorandum of understanding.

There's nothing in there about political leanings.

He said that we really want to train prosecutors to do the job.

He did say, however, you know, you still need to do the job of a prosecutor.

You still need to be representing the state's interests when you do this job.

And so there there is inherently politics kind of related there in some regard with with what you charge, what you don't charge.

I mean, I've covered prosecutors before and not every case is charged, not every case you do.

You have the burden of proof to, to to to charge, you know, somebody so you know, he said, you know, if you lose the essential nature of the rule, you are ruining the system, essentially.

So what does that mean?

You know, there could be a political lens being applied there.

Okay.

Let's go to some more education that you're up on, Connor.

And that is, we know about the Act and the SAT.

Any college bound high school or a parent is well aware.

What about the CLT?

State lawmakers want to be want that to be an option for college bound kids.

The reading portion of the CLT, which is the classic learning test, incorporates Christian saints, philosophers and scholars.

And, Karen, let's start with you.

First, I want to address the initials or I'll never hear the end of it.

Act and SAT are actually just that act and SAT.

But they started as the American College Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

Now the CLT, the classic learning test, is favored by many conservatives, homeschool families as well.

Why so?

Well, they say it aligns with the idea and the philosophy of traditional education logic, reasoning, moral philosophy.

And so they say that that is what a lot of kids who are homeschooled or who are in private school align with.

And so they say, the classic learning test is, is better for them.

The classic learning test is not widely used.

It started in about 2015, I think it is.

And it's only used it's only accepted by 12 private colleges in Ohio.

And the debate on the floor was interesting because you had Representative Sean Brennan, who is a former high school teacher, a Democrat from Parma, who talked about how he doesn't see the need to put another standardized test into the code because colleges are moving away from standardized testing.

That's not just something that happened during the pandemic or whatever.

Colleges are starting to move away because they view tests as not really representative of potentially what a student can do.

But this, the the Republicans who push this forward, along with three Democrats who voted for it, say that this is another option.

They want public schools to be able to offer this for kids who are wanting that as, a test that they want to take and that there are colleges that they're looking at, we'll accept.

Connor, this is the story of the state House is mostly covering.

But I wonder what you've heard from, educators, not just about this new test, but the idea of relying on the Standardized Test Act and sat in general to select who goes to which college.

I mean, generally, folks are not a fan of that.

You know, Ohio already has its own standardized tests, of course.

And it kind of even when I was before I went to college, you know, it was kind of a crapshoot, frankly, of like, what test is a college even looking at?

Is it Act?

Is it SAT and parents and students have to pay for those generally as well.

So there's there's that kind of barrier.

Additionally and also you know, this CLT test has not even been around, even though it's testing not based on these older kind of like philosophical kind of elements.

It's only been around since 2015, I think.

Anyway.

And so, and also the other kind of undercurrent here that hasn't been talked about a ton is more and more, we're giving more and more money to, to private schools, through vouchers.

And so and many of them are religious, and you know, overtly, you know, many of them are Catholic.

Not all of them, of course.

And so this is kind of coming as we are already having this focus on religious education in Ohio that has been supported by the legislature.

So we're seeing this kind of in tandem with these other, pieces of legislation.

I'm a bit older than you guys, but back in my day, if you could spell SAT, you could get in basically.

So a lot of colleges now, Ohio State, you can't get in that darn thing.

But back then I'm here and welcome to the school.

Yeah.

All right.

Right now we got a whole lot more to talk about.

And we're going to do that in just a minute, including the new African-American Cultural Garden in Cleveland.

But first, let's check in with The Sound of Ideas host Stephanie Haney to find out what's on tap for next week.

There, Stephanie.

Hey there Mike.

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

On Monday, we'll be talking about plans for the Akron Inner Belt.

One of our guests for that segment will be Akron's mayor, Shama Malik.

We'll also be talking about gardening as the weather starts to warm up.

So we want your input on that show.

We want to know what you want to talk about in terms of questions, comments.

You can email us at so-i at Idea stream.org for that.

On Tuesday we're having a conversation about the rule of law.

Our guest for that will be a former Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice, Maureen O'Connor, and former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Michael Donnelly.

This is ahead of a conversation that I'll be moderating at the Cleveland City Club on Tuesday afternoon on the same topic with those guests on Wednesday, we're highlighting a documentary that's premiering at the Cleveland International Film Festival called Free Beer Tomorrow.

This is focusing on a safe space for lesbians in the Columbus community.

That's been a long standing space for that community there.

And then on Thursday, we have exciting news for foodies in the area, will be taking a look at the fact that Ohio is now getting a michelin guide for the first time.

And we'll also be highlighting Filipino food in the region.

This is in partnership with Cleveland Magazine.

In our The Menu segment, we want to know what you want us to talk about.

You can email us at cy@dream.org with those stats.

Back to you, Mike.

Awesome.

Thank you so much.

Stephanie.

If you're just joining us, this is the sound of Ideas Reporters roundtable.

I'm Mike McIntyre, executive editor at Industry and Public Media, along with reporters Connor Morris and Abby Marshall from Idea Stream.

Statehouse News Bureau Chief Karen Kasler is with us in Columbus.

If you like this show, the variety of news items we cover, the Idea Stream news quiz would be perfect for you.

Find it on the Idea stream.org homepage or go directly to Idea stream.org/quiz.

And we got some thoughts here from some of our listeners on and viewers on what we, talked about earlier on sports betting.

Stephen.

So as I think the biggest issue with gambling on sports is the integrity.

What if we had a completely separate set of sports leagues specifically for gambling, with no expectations of integrity and gambling, strictly prohibited in the regular leagues?

All right, a separate gambling league.

Barbara has another thought about it.

She says it's very problematic gambling in general, but the extremes being proposed are.

Wow.

Did these opponents also propose that women should wear full body veils and not be allowed out of the house without a male relative?

That's Barb's thought in Kent, and we'd love to hear your thoughts as well.

So you can just go ahead and send us an email.

So I at Idea stream.org.

Sorry, I'm looking down, but looking at my phone, Michael says the Michelin picks can be a little pricey.

I rely more on the Cooper tire guide.

I don't think there is such a thing, Michael, but good try anyway.

All right.

Miners who visit the Van Aken district in Shaker Heights must now have an adult chaperon after 4 p.m.. The previous role was 8 p.m.. Workers under 18 are exempt.

Abby, what happened at Van Aken that's making them say no one can be here after four in the afternoon unless they're accompanied by an adult.

So they have cited multiple events, over a few years.

I think they said since Covid, there's been an increase in unchaperoned youth that have done all sorts of things from running, shouting, loitering, riding motorized bikes through the property and in some cases standing on tables.

And people are saying that's been disruptive of their shopping or dining experiences.

They look specifically at this March 22nd event in which there was escalation.

And, a lot of videos made its way to social media.

There's these big pushes that happen.

We kind of saw it with the street takeover here in Cleveland, where people will come together, they'll meet on social media, and then they'll post videos on social media.

And they say that's part of this larger national trend, of, you know, we get together, we're going to make TikToks of us basically destroying a place.

So who are the Chaperons?

Connor?

Do they have to be your mom or dad or.

No, no, it's just somebody who's at least 25 years of age or older.

So there's a bit of a gap there.

So if you're between 18 and 25, you cannot be a chaperon.

And it's, only if you're under the age of 18 after 4 p.m.

is when you'll need to be accompanied.

And this doesn't include, younger folks that work at Advantech.

And so what's the reaction been?

You know, it's it's mixed.

There are people that are happy that this change has happened because, like, I said, they feel that their shopping or dining experiences have been disrupted.

But then there's other people that say, you know, like teens need a place to go.

I remember being a teenager and, the mall and these, like, mall districts are a great way to go and meet your friends and hang out.

And as, as we're kind of losing those third spaces, generally speaking, but especially for teenagers, it's an easy place for your parents to drop you off and you go hang out with your friends.

So we'll see how this, happens.

You know, you're going to people on both ends that are against it or for it.

As with pretty much anything.

Okay, early voting for the May primary started on Tuesday.

Believe it or not, we're already in the midst of election season.

There are big state offices, U.S.

Senate and congressional primaries, plus local levies.

Karen, your team's working on profiles some of the major candidate races in some of these cases, it really not a primary, but we're letting you know who these folks are, who we're also going to be following through November.

You've published the governor's race profiles.

So let's start with that.

How is that race shaping up?

Well, that's an interesting race.

Just because it's the marquee race.

I mean, you could argue that the US Senate race that has, incumbent Republican John used it against, former and Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, you could argue that that's another mark, race here.

But the governor's race is really interesting because you have two people who have never been elected to public office who are running against each other, potentially.

I mean, Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech billionaire, does have opponents in the Republican primary, but he has secured a whole bunch of endorsements, including for President Trump.

He has lots of money, so it seems likely that he will win, though you can never predict, then, of course, on the Democratic side, Doctor Amy Acton, the former director of the Ohio Department of Health, who was appointed to that position by governor Mike DeWine, she is she has no opponents in the primary.

And we're hearing them talk a little bit more about their tax policies now and affordability in general.

And, Ramaswamy talked about taxes when it comes to income taxes.

He wants to eliminate all income taxes.

He wants to rollback property taxes to where they were before the pandemic.

That's a lot of money that we're talking about there.

And Amy Acton has a whole laundry list of things that she wants to get done.

She wants to retire medical debt.

She wants a child tax credit of about $1,000 most or, between 500 and $1000, and a whole bunch of other things that specifically target costs.

She even talked about, getting rid of extra fees on tickets and apps and things like that.

Again, ideas that cost a lot of money.

Both of these candidates have ideas that cost a lot of money, and they've been kind of not real specific of how to pay for that.

And on property taxes, Amy Acton also has said there should be property tax relief.

She's not talking about a repeal of those, but that's clearly a hot button button issue as well.

Oh yeah.

Absolutely.

She's talked about now, Acton's talked about looking at the entire tax code and, coming up with policies related to that.

But she has also said that she believes there is a need for immediate property tax relief.

But we haven't heard any specific proposals on that.

Some of the ideas that Democrats have talked about in general have been proposed before, such as expanding the homestead tax exemption.

There are bills that would do that in the legislature, bipartisan bills, and they have not moved forward.

And in large part, it's because the state would have to pick up some money there and pay some of that bill.

And there are lawmakers who don't want to do that.

Connor, let's talk about that.

The schools are and many other organizations are really still ramped up about the idea that there may be a repeal of property taxes.

It looks like the chances of that happening are pretty slim, because they have a lot of signatures to get, but we're still still hearing a lot from school administrators.

I mean, this has been the the hot button issue of the last couple of years, you know, is after these property reappraisal secs annual property reappraisal, you know, property taxes have gone through the roof.

So to speak.

Just, you know, they've been at historic highs, school districts are saying that we're still not getting enough money from the state.

And so we're having to rely on our local property owners.

Meanwhile, the property owners are saying we need relief, we need help.

And so it's this give and take here.

And everyone agrees.

Even the school districts agree that we need some sort of reform here.

But, they say the state is funding us at 20, 22 levels.

And also, there's the school voucher issue that we mentioned earlier.

More than $1 billion are going to private schools every year, through these vouchers.

And so they're saying that's money that can be helping us.

And so they feel like they're in this squeeze right now.

And then we're also seeing a ton of schools.

If you've been looking at any headlines over the last couple months, tons of schools are cutting back, laying off folks in Lorain.

They're laying off, like, 160 people.

They've got a levy on the ballot this, this spring here.

And they say that could help us save 30 people or more of the hundred and 60 people that we're considering laying off.

So a lot of schools are in a tight spot this spring.

Okay.

And as I mentioned, perhaps earlier, we're looking to dig deep on property taxes with our next idea stream Explorers.

We hope to have that come out sometime over the summer, but we're going to look extensively at property tax, how it works in Ohio, how it doesn't work.

What are some of the relief measures and what happens to all of these agencies, these police departments and parks systems and schools?

If you didn't have a property tax or what else could there be to fund that?

So stay tuned for that and you can feel free to give us your input.

Associate idea stream.org with any thoughts on that as well.

Cleveland City Council member Richard Starr says residents should share in the taxes on recreational marijuana.

Maybe he wants half of the marijuana money to go basically to council so it can decide how it's spent.

Yeah, so basically how it works right now is that, as we know, Ohio voters approved recreational marijuana sales in 2023.

And right now the this the the municipalities where that recreational marijuana is sold gets roughly a third.

I think it's 26 or sorry, 36% of the state's 10% excise tax tax.

And so the mayor's office reported $740,000 from the first year and a half of sales that came to Cleveland.

But the mayor controls that rate.

It goes into the budget.

They they don't know what they're going to do with it yet.

But, the finance office gets to decide basically where that goes.

So this proposal is saying, hey, how about the mayor takes half of it and we as council take half of it, and we can put that toward our neighborhoods.

And there's no think, no, argument that they may or may not put it toward the neighborhoods.

It's just that Richard saying a lot has been done bad to neighborhoods.

We need this money to make it better.

Yeah.

And that's something that we're always hearing is this downtown versus neighborhoods argument.

It's a big tension that we see on council because obviously the council members are there to, represent their neighborhoods and they feel that the mayor has invested a lot downtown.

And so that's been a big back and forth.

So the idea is that, you know, three quarters of Clevelanders voted for that ballot measure.

So the idea is, why don't we give the voters back some of that money?

Okay, some members of city council, since we're talking about that and stories you're covering seem unconvinced about the need to increase penalties for those who harm health care workers, something local hospital systems are urging council to address.

Maybe, first of all, what are the hospital systems and health care worker advocates urging council to do?

They basically want a change from menacing, which is currently a fourth degree felony or sorry, misdemeanor.

Oh my goodness.

A fourth degree misdemeanor, which is the lowest, and it carries a 30 day maximum jail sentence, up to $250 and fine to a first degree misdemeanor, specifically for menacing hospital staff or care giving workers, which would increase penalties up to a year in jail and and $1,000 fine.

And the idea is it would make hospital staff just feel more supported.

Because last year, Cleveland Clinic said they only had four instances with citations or arrests.

Even though it's being pretty widespread that people are experiencing these threats.

And it's because, advocates say staff do not feel compelled to bring forth charges if they don't think that anything is going to happen.

So if you're an advocate of keeping health care workers safe, what's the problem with saying, okay, it should be a bigger penalty for it when we hear the people pushing back.

Richard Starr, as you mentioned, is saying basically they're trying to to outsource the enforcement to us and not to what they should be doing in their own culture.

Well, the way that it works is that the victim has to bring forth the charges.

The hospital cannot and will not bring any charges forward without the victim doing so themselves.

And so this whole idea of we are trying to empower the victim by giving more consequences to the perpetrator.

Some council members are basically saying that should start within the hospital system.

It seems like it's more of a workplace culture issue.

What are you guys doing that your employees don't feel supported, to bring forth these charges.

And so there's that tension of why are we going to.

Yeah, outsource is probably a good word.

Why are we going to change the law?

This is a workplace policy problem.

Some council members are saying.

So they again opted to hold the legislation until they can get more information and data from the hospital systems.

Okay.

A community activist laid out his case this week for a petition drive to recall Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb, who was elected to a second term in November.

With nearly three quarters of the vote.

Bibb supporters won.

A paid consultant showed up to make the recall press conference what I would call a contentious spectacle.

Yeah, that's a that's a great way to put it.

Yes.

So this this press conference was held by Juan Collado Diaz, who is a community activist, and he was laying out his case for why he is starting this petition to recall Bibb.

And while he was speaking, there was a group of Cleveland pastors that came and basically were were shouting over him.

You know, this is a waste of time.

We just elected him and they were heckling.

They.

Yeah, they were heckling, as yeah, as you can see, that footage.

So if you're watching the TV version of this stuff like that, I don't know what channel, but.

Yeah.

Amen.

And then Darrell Houston, who is the, other person kind of helping lead this effort, he shows up and then a verbal altercation kind of abruptly stopped the press conference at the end.

So, tell me about this effort, though.

They filed a petition.

Now they got to get signatures and get it on a ballot.

Yeah.

So the way that this works is, and one called me the other day.

He picked up the petition on Wednesday.

So they have 30 days now.

And he said he has a team of about 40, 45 people that will be going out to collect signatures.

The way this works is that they need to collect equivalent to 20% of people that voted in the last municipal election.

So that's roughly, 8500 people.

And if those signatures are verified, then the city charter says the person has five days to step down from office.

And if that doesn't happen, they'll go to a recall election.

Okay.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is celebrating its 50th year.

It opened last night at Playhouse Square with a documentary on designer Kenneth Cole.

And if you've heard any kind of background noise while we're on the show, it's because they're all amassing in our lobby.

Because this is where the, the folks who are going to films can come to get their refreshments in our, our dance studio here.

It's not just in Playhouse Square, though.

This year, it's also being screened at the Cedar Lee Theater in Cleveland Heights.

It's one time home.

It's a big shift for festival goers, with the screenings being in different locations.

But that's what happens at a lot of places.

You go to Sundance, it's not one place, it's you're going all over town and a lot of these cities.

So Cleveland is kind of adding, adjoining that trend.

Yeah.

You got to run around town if you want to commit to the art.

I guess, you know, Clevelanders were spoiled for a bit.

They could all have it under one roof, but it's maybe not the case now.

Yeah, when it was a tower City had all those different screens, a totally different experience there.

The theaters are not existing anymore.

Connor, let's talk about what we have is a plethora of choices.

Yeah, 236 shorts and 90 feature films.

Some of them are coming here, after Sundance premieres as well.

So that's pretty great.

We've got some local examples as well.

And, you know, Andrew Easterling, made love in the lanes as a senior thesis at Cleveland State.

And, he's now an employee here, actually, actually, he's right outside the door.

He's the guy.

If you come into the idea center, he'll be the guy right at the front door.

I'm looking at you.

I thought maybe he was in the studio.

Yeah, but he's right outside the door.

And it's really great to see a little, anyway, the seven minute, movie.

I got a chance to see it ahead of time.

But the passion that, that these young filmmakers put into the work that they do, of course, and some work from, Kent State University professors Dana White and Chris Knobloch.

Megan's fair, you know, lots of local folks, including some local stars as well, local actors as well, little controversy running up to the festival.

Abby.

And we reported over the summer about a lot of, employees and Exodus, really from the Smith Group.

They were unhappy with the culture, the workplace culture there.

And now that's kind of reared its head again.

Yeah.

One of one of the planned programs won't go off as originally planned.

Because so this group, represent media in California, said that they're pulling out of their panel centering care, because of these allegations of verbal and emotional abuse by the festival director.

Yeah.

The director, Hermione Malone, had had, again, some criticism before in either case that and now says, listen, it's just not true.

And I'm, I'm, I'm a hard driver.

I've got to effectuate change here.

This is what I do.

And we are going to, to remake the Cleveland International Film Festival.

This is the way it has to be done.

But she, she, denies any other allegations that she was abusive.

Yeah, she denies those allegations.

And members of the executive committee met with her and interviewed her and talked about all these allegations, and they deemed that no further action was necessary at this time.

Okay.

The African-American Cultural Garden in Cleveland is expected to finally be completed by this fall, ten years after the first prominent structure was erected there.

And many, many years, more than 60, I think since the idea of it, first came up, Connor portion of the garden has been completed, as we said for several years.

What is there now?

And what is being planned right now?

There's this, this sculpture, the door of No Return, which represents the portal enslaved Africans pass through to board ships bound for the Americas.

And that's the upper portion of the garden.

And then the lower portion has remained unfinished for for almost a decade now.

And what they're going to be putting in, the tariffs terrace surface will have a large image of the, Little Dipper and the North Star, kind of noting the path that brought families to northeast Ohio.

During the Underground Railroad and the Great Migration.

And the garden's going to end at the MLK Junior Drive walking trail with some benches and things, and also a fountain representing kind of the hope for the future as well.

Yeah, I heard O.B.

Shelton, who, runs that and works over at the municipal court, say in a report that could be brought to you, did for idea stream that the water also represents freedom because the idea that is if you are on the run, when you got to Lake Erie, you were essentially off this land and free.

Yeah.

He said, you know, if you, cross the Ohio River or if you could make it to Lake Erie, there was freedom there.

That's being represented by the water and the design.

All right, let's get one more in here.

Before we need to go.

The plant is coming down, not the plant.

Now, the plant should be saved.

It should come down.

That debate has raged for a long time about Firestone plant number one.

And now the city of Akron has proposed a solution.

The plant is indeed coming down.

But save the clock tower or elements of it, they said.

And some bricks.

So what do we have here now, Abby, with, you know, this is I have lost track.

I feel like I was joking with the producer before we came on that every time I come on the show, we're talking about the fires being a clock tower.

But yeah, the the for me, the aging former headquarters is too expensive to preserve.

They've said.

And that's kind of been the argument here.

But as we've seen community, and activists, community members saying, hey, this is a part of Akron's rubber history, so let's at least save the clock.

So that's what's going to happen.

They're going to save the clock tower.

Rest of the building goes down, and we don't know exactly how it will be used, but it will be incorporated in some way.

And whatever new development happens there, like I think it'll be used as a clock for good idea on time.

Okay.

But we'll see how it's incorporated into what it looks like.

But I can understand people in Akron that is a iconic building and the beginning of Firestone, and that tower itself at least can be saved in some way.

Yeah.

So the next stop is to the State Historic Preservation Office in Ohio.

Okay.

If you're nervous about a flight, there's a pop for that.

Akron Canton Airport this week is offering therapy dogs.

They said that's going to be a new program.

It's going to go it's free.

Wags and pets to travelers Cleveland Hopkins International Airport launched a similar program, Hopkins Hounds, last fall.

We talked about Connor being a cat guy.

You and I are dog people.

Yeah.

Let's talk about what's behind this project quickly.

Yeah.

So there's going to be three dogs that will move around with the handler.

And it's it's, basically just bringing smiles and happiness to people going on the airport, being in the airport stressful.

And you can see that dog in a tutu, I would smile, I'd be happy for that dog to come with me on the plane.

And that would not be allowed.

It's the 100th U.S airport, so Hopkins being one of them, but there's 100 airports that have obviously they're on to something.

Yeah, yeah, I mean this is clearly something that works.

And we we've seen all sorts of studies about how animals and emotional support animals, really help people and calm people in times of stress.

I love that they're called the crew two, which stands for Carrying Rovers Endless wags.

Oh, yeah.

Isn't that great anyway.

All right.

Thank you Abby.

Appreciate you being here today.

And you too as well.

Connor I appreciate both of you being here.

And Karen Kasler, thanks for some great conversation today.

Appreciate you being here.

It's always fun.

Always fun.

Yes.

And I love and go guardians.

We cut her off.

But go Guardians I love dogs, if you're listening.

Otis, you're a good boy.

Yes you are.

You're a good boy.

We wrap today with an artist.

I also love John Hiatt with my dog in me.

That you my go trail up the back room is.

How many times can one.

Don't be teaching a high as an eagle when I'm on wheels.

Yes, I guess you gotta come down eventually.

But it could have gone that extra mile for an extra mile for an extra smile, because I never felt so free.

It was just my dog in me.

How many times can one dog pee?

Now that is a lyric.

To get the last word on today's topics, you can send an email to so-i at Idea stream.org.

You can also find us on, Instagram at Idea Stream.

Are you can I add sound that sound of ideas Monday on The Sound of Ideas, we'll talk about Akron's plan for the redevelopment of the land where the inner belt now stands.

If you missed any part of today's show, you can listen to the Sound of Ideas podcast.

Watch the show on Ideas and Public Media's YouTube page.

Check out the television version of the show tonight at five on PBS, unless you're already watching that.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thank you so much for watching and stay safe.

It's a different world.

I see when it's just my dog and me.