- A federal judge overturned the nationwide mask mandate for travelers.

It's up to the individual now.

So what will it be mask or no mask?

A federal court gave the Ohio redistricting commission one final deadline to create new legislative district maps, but not a whole lot of incentive to actually do it.

And the effort to legalize recreational marijuana got a boost from two Ohio lawmakers.

Ideas is next.

Hello, and welcome to Ideas.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thanks for joining us.

A Federal judge this week struck down one of the last remaining pandemic health measures, a mask mandate for travelers.

Some celebrated the freedom, others lamented the loss of protection against the coronavirus.

A federal court says Ohio has until May 28th to resolve its map making mess, but the punishment for failing to do so would be to institute one of its previous unconstitutional maps.

Two Northeast Ohio lawmakers through support behind an effort to legalize recreational marijuana, but it's not likely to be received well in the Statehouse, will voters get to decide?

And a piece of the I-X Center is headed to the professional football Hall of Fame Village.

We'll talk about those stories and the rest of the week's top news right now on the reporter's Roundtable.

Joining me this week, health reporter, Lisa Ryan of WKSU Ideastream Public Media.

The founder and publisher of Black Girl Media, Shana Black.

And Ohio public radio Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Karen Kasler.

Let's get ready to roundtable.

To mask or not to mask?

It's now up to travelers because the Federal mask mandate has been overturned by a Federal judge in Florida this week for airlines, trains, buses, and other forms of public transportation.

Lisa, you were out at Hopkins after the mask mandate was struck down.

What did the travelers say about it?

- Well, there was mixed reactions.

There was really three groups though.

One really wanted the mask mandate to stay in place.

They would still wear their masks and they thought it was too soon.

The second group didn't really care either way.

Some people that I walked up to weren't wearing their masks in the airport while checking in, but they said to me that they would wear their masks on the plane.

And then that third group is people who really didn't want the mask mandate at all.

They're not going to wear their masks anymore.

Now that the mask mandate is lifted.

- It's interesting you said, "Some said they would put them on when they get on the plane."

- Yeah.

- When the medical experts say basically on the plane is okay, you have good circulation at that point, but really where you're in trouble is on the jet way, getting to it or sitting next to a bunch of people in the Concourse.

- Yeah.

So planes do have really good circulation.

Their air filtration system does help with that.

But I gotta say I kind of agree in a sense, it almost feels like you should be wearing a mask on a plane just because you're sitting so close to people.

And if they're coughing and sneezing, you just kind of wanna protect yourself from those germs.

- Right.

Well, that's a really good point.

So coughing and sneezing.

So here's the thing, Shana, I don't know if you've been healthy in the last few years.

I hope so.

I haven't gotten colds and other things I think because we're all wearing masks and we weren't shaking hands and now I'm a fist bumper.

So I guess beyond that, if we're all not wearing masks, you know, do we worry that all the other ick comes?

- Yes.

I think I've become kind of the germophobe you talk about, like when people start coughing and sneezing, I immediately start reaching for like, do I have a mask in my bag?

- Right.

- And I enjoyed not being that seasonal cold and you know, all the other things, sinus allergies.

And so I think there are masks, like I'm gonna keep a mask with me and I enjoyed the space of people not being crowding me in the grocery store.

So, you know, yeah.

I think for a lot of people they've noticed that they didn't get sick as well.

And so that's where you have that people like, I'm just gonna keep the mask.

It's not necessarily a COVID fear.

I think it's just a germ issue now.

- And there still is a COVID fear.

I mean that too.

- Yes.

- Yeah.

Absolutely.

But I think masks actually have been great for, if you do get sick.

So I recently actually had a cold, it wasn't COVID I took a test, but it was a cold.

And so going to my right aid and getting medicine, I wore a mask to protect those around me.

So I think that perhaps in the future, hopefully we'll see people using masks in that way as well.

- It's interesting, cause we were all told at the very early part of the pandemic masks don't really help you.

They help the person next to you.

But now we're hearing that if you wear certain kinds of masks, it can give you protection.

Cause I was thinking to myself, why should I wear a mask if no one else is because how does that help me?

But if you wear an N95 or a KN95, you're getting some protection.

- Yes.

You definitely have some protection if you're wearing that, the research has come out on that.

But that's actually, you know, that confusion is something that I heard from people at the airport as well, that, you know, it's flip flopped so many times that it's hard to keep track of what the science is actually saying and whether the Federal guidelines are in line with that science.

So it's hard for people to make sense of it all.

I can understand some confusion there.

- What about you Karen mask or no mask?

- Well, I work at the Statehouse where we haven't had a whole lot of mask going on for really the entire pandemic.

So I guess I'm kind of the attitude of I keep on around.

I keep on with me.

I try to avoid crowds.

I try to still respect social distancing, but I haven't worn a mask for a while.

My son, however, who is 16 and fully vaccinated, he wears a mask every single day to school as do many of his friends, because there still is a large number of kids in that high school age range who could get vaccinated, but have not been.

- I mentioned that the Biden administration appealed this ruling.

It took a little time to do that.

It waited for the CDC to weigh in.

But as soon as the judge issued the ruling, the airlines were like, great, let's get this out.

- Well, some people announced it mid-flight like Delta, which is a really interesting tactic to use.

- And part of it, I think is, and we know this and I've made a joke about it before, but it's not really a joking matter.

If you're a flight attendant, all these viral videos we've seen, but people just acting like children and saying, they're not gonna wear mask and sometimes getting violent about it.

I think the airlines didn't want flight attendants to have to be the police of this.

- Right.

- Right.

So there was a lot of that sentiment.

It just went really quickly.

But then a few days later, the Biden administration says, well, we're gonna appeal that.

Lisa, is that, to what end at this point?

- Yeah.

I can't imagine it going well.

If they do put the mask mandate back in place and travelers have to put their masks back on.

I can imagine that people who are choosing not to wear a mask on planes and don't want to, I could see them fighting it.

And so it will be interesting to see it, if that does happen.

Some of the issues that might play out there.

- This is all happening as cases are creeping up nationwide and in Ohio as well.

Let's talk a little bit about that.

Nowhere near what we had in the last big surge, but it is creeping up.

And in fact, the governor and the first lady are both down with COVID.

- Yeah.

I mean the numbers have increased over the last month or so.

I mean, they're still fairly low when you go to the coronavirus.ohio.gov website, you're seeing weekly reporting now and these numbers have been creeping up gradually.

And as you mentioned, governor Mike DeWine and first lady, Fran DeWine both tested positive for COVID.

As I understand it, they're both doing fairly well, but there are isolating.

They're not doing public meetings.

This is though something I think that we should have expected.

Because the governor and the first lady have been doing public events for a while mask free.

And I don't think was a tremendous surprise.

And we've even seen this at the Federal level with the Gridiron dinner in Washington, a lot of Democrats then tested positive.

So it's not a huge surprise, but what's important here is to remember that both the first lady and the governor, along with many other people, not as many as we were hoping in Ohio, I guess have been vaccinated and boosted.

And so that continues to be the message the public health officials are sending.

That if you are vaccinated and boosted, you are far less likely to get really sick from COVID though you are likely to contract coronavirus at some point.

- Got an email from Deborah who sends a link to the coronavirus tracker, that she follows each day.

And in it, it says the cases in Cuyahoga county have actually increased day over day yesterday to the day over today to the day before by 39%, it's 161 cases yesterday.

So the percentage seems large, the number isn't as big as we've seen before, but we are seeing these kinds of increases.

- Yeah, absolutely.

And so it'll be something to watch.

And you know, like Karen was saying, doctors say that the vaccines are still providing that protection.

And even if you get it, you'll have a more mild case of COVID 19.

But I think also if you are eligible for that booster or that second booster and you haven't gotten it yet, make sure you do that because your immunity wears off after you get the vaccine.

- A Federal court Wednesday gave the Ohio redistricting commission until May 28th to create a set of state legislative district maps that passed constitutional scrutiny.

But the punishment for failing to get it done is to institute a previous set of maps the commission approved, and the Ohio Supreme court struck down as an unconstitutional gerrymander.

Karen, do we expect the commission will make this fifth set of maps?

Will they give it the old college try?

Or are we just looking at them saying, well, I guess we've won.

Let's just wait till the 28th?

- I don't know what's gonna happen, but it sure looks like if nothing happens, they get that third set of unconstitutional maps, which is what the Republican voters who were trying to take this away from the Supreme court and move it into Federal court had asked for in the first place.

- What's interesting here is that the court, the Federal judges in making that ruling acknowledged that this is not a very good solution.

They said we are acutely aware of its flaws regarding the map.

And said, "With deference to the state in mind, we see it as the best of our bad options."

- Yeah.

And the composition of the three judge panel.

And again, this group of Republican voters had filed this lawsuit in Federal court because there is this provision in Federal law that allows a three judge panel to look into redistricting cases.

And so they had tried to take this to the Federal court because they said, obviously the Ohio redistricting commission is at an impasse.

Well, the three judges on this panel, two of them were appointed by president Trump.

One was appointed by president Clinton, as you can imagine, that is how the breakdown came out.

The two Trump appointed judges said that they were going to institute this third set of rejected maps by May 28th if there weren't new maps that were created.

And then the Clinton appointed judge disagreed.

And he said that this whole decision, and I wanna pull up exactly what he said, but he basically suggested that this was a decision that had already been made as he wrote.

This is judge Gil McBride here in Columbus.

He wrote, "The practical effect the majority opinion is to set aside the voter's command for fair representation."

So he definitely disagrees with this choice.

And this is again what the Republican voters who had sought to take this to Federal court had wanted to begin with.

- McBride also called the third set of maps, "Irredeemably flawed."

So interesting, now we've got a situation where the panel has until the 28th to do some work.

Shana, we haven't heard from you on this.

We've been talking about it for a while, but I wanna let Shana jump in.

As you listen to this.

Is there any incentive for the redistricting commission to redistrict?

- No.

I mean, to me, all I keep thinking is, you know, just oversimplifying it, you tell your child like clean up your toys.

And if you don't, by the time I get home, they're gonna just stay on the floor.

- Right.

(laughing) - You know, and maybe that works for children and families, but you know, like as a parent, like we don't do that, there's a consequence.

And for so many voters that have said, we want fair districts.

I just think it's just, I can't process that this is what's we're looking at here.

- Right.

Karen, you were gonna jump in with something.

- Yeah.

The maps, we are now on, this will be the sixth set of Ohio House and Senate maps that the Ohio redistricting commission will be working on.

They are due to the Ohio Supreme court by May 6th.

So that's where we are in the process though.

Again, the Federal court said, if they aren't implemented, if there aren't legal maps by May 28th, then that's when that third set of maps would go into place.

The wildcard, I think here though, is potentially contempt.

This is something that the people who had challenged those maps had asked the Supreme court to do.

They asked the Supreme court to hold the Ohio redistricting commission in contempt for not following the court's own orders.

That's a possibility here, I think, because that is still on the table.

The question is whether the court will actually go ahead and do that, that remains to be seen.

- Let's talk about this map.

How does it break down?

It was ruled unconstitutionally gerrymandered already.

And there were several other ones and some are saying, well, this isn't as bad as some of the opponents of the gerrymanders say this isn't as bad as the previous ones were, but obviously still ruled out by the Supreme court.

But as I see it, Republicans would be favored to win 54% of the state's legislative seats, Democrats, 46%.

But the rub is some of those districts and how competitive they are.

- Right.

That was one of the components, was that 54, 46 split.

And so this third set of maps did achieve that.

But Democrats and challengers have pointed out that 22 of the Democratic districts lean toward Democrats by three points or less.

So they're essentially tossups.

And so that's why they said that's split.

Yeah, that's the way it looks.

But in reality, if you've got less than three points separating candidates, then these could be tossup districts.

That could go either way.

And so that was the basis of their appeal of this third set of maps.

Again, we are now on the sixth set of maps.

So this is a process that I keep saying, this is dragged on and on that, I don't think anybody really expected this to continue on months and months and months after the census bureau data was available.

And the first meetings of the Ohio redistricting commission in August.

I mean, I don't think anybody expected to be here.

And we are an outlier in the nation in terms of how far behind we are in coming up with these Statehouse districts.

- The effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Ohio, regulating it like alcohol, got a boost this week, appropriately the week that includes 420.

If you don't get that reference, you're not likely a prospective customer.

Shana, what is your sense about now that we have medical marijuana?

Do you think if it was put before voters, recreational marijuana would be a thing here, it's in so many other states.

- I think there is still the question of access and equity, and that's been a reason a lot of the past efforts have failed.

No doubt.

It'll do great for our tax base and people, you know, not wanting to travel to other places, but you know, there's also a lot of questions about, you know, what does this mean to the black community, where people are still in jail for it, or is it just, you know, now the, you know, cannabis kind of white guy, that's getting attention and now they're gonna have all the licensing.

So I think it's still up for a battle.

I think, you know, yes, it should be to help Ohio.

But on the other hand, you know, there's some equity issues involved.

We do have decriminalization.

We've seen that in Cleveland.

I think we talked about this last week that they're going back through and wiping clean the records of people, some of whom should not have been convicted because of in the city, the decriminalization that had happened.

So that's one thing, but going from that to then making it legal and regulated is something entirely different.

Where does that jive?

- I think, you know, like I said, it will be helpful for people that are kind of already celebrating 420 and they're already finding ways.

I think, you know, people are looking toward the medicinal and other lack of better benefits and, you know, that might help in other situations when we talk about like the opioid crisis or the pain people that are trying to manage their own pain, I think it's a safer bet.

It'll bring in a lot of tax dollars, but we also have to make sure that again, we are not cutting people out of it.

It's a new revenue source.

It's a new kind of like industry here for Ohio as we go into that space.

And we wanna make sure it's equitable for folks.

- I'd like to add to that in the health benefits.

A lot of people are trying to get certain conditions like autism, depression, certain other conditions that cause chronic pain onto the medical marijuana list, because it's very strict right now.

So from my perspective, as a health reporter, if they do expand it to the recreational side, those groups can get marijuana without necessarily having to go through the bureaucracy of maintaining a medical marijuana card.

- We're getting a prescription.

- Yeah, exactly.

So I think it opens up a lot for those people.

And as Shana mentioned with the opioid crisis, this is a great opportunity for people who do have chronic pain and need painkillers and have prescription painkillers to use something that would not give an overdose.

You don't overdose on marijuana.

So I think that that's a great opportunity as well to perhaps steer people to that and hopefully drive down opioid abuse.

Karen, you can't overdose on marijuana, but there are many who say, well, it's a gateway drug.

You start with marijuana, you end up on heroin.

And I think some of those folks are folks like the governor who's against legalization, governor DeWine, legalization of marijuana, "It would seem that many of the folks in the Statehouse would be opposed to this.

And if it was ever going to be passed, it would have to be by a vote of the people.

- Yeah.

And this is become an issue in the democratic gubernatorial campaign, cause that's where you're seeing some support for not only decriminalizing marijuana, but also expunging previous records and that sort of thing.

But you've got Nan Whaley who has said that she supports that.

But John Cranley on the democratic side saying that he wants to not only legalize it, but tax it and use that money to fund 30,000 broadband and infrastructure jobs.

And the question is, of course, is there enough money to do that?

He says he can show that there is enough money, about $350 million a year that could come out of this, but Whaley and other groups dispute that number saying it's not nearly that much or other states that have done this would be really rolling in the money.

But when it comes to the legislature, though, there is really no appetite to move these bills forward because there are two bills.

There's a Democratic bill, like you mentioned.

There's also a Republican backed bill.

There's been no desire to move those forward.

So both Whaley and Cranley have said, if they're elected, they would take this to the vote of the people that is also possible even this year, because there is a move to try to get the legislature to legalize marijuana.

If they don't do it by, like you said, May 28th, then they can go to the November ballot that could really have an impact on who turns out to vote, which could be huge for the candidates who will be running in the fall.

So all of this, marijuana legalization is a fairly popular issue, but it certainly is more popular on one side of the aisle than the other.

- A Kent State University program that focuses on traumatic stress and its impact on infant mortality rates for black babies has received $100,000 grant.

The program spirit of motherhood screens for and treats post traumatic stress disorder in black women who are expecting and provides coping strategies.

Black babies are three to five times more likely to die in their first year of life than white babies.

And Lisa, I know this is something that you've been reporting on for some time.

The program has looked at how traumatic stress takes it toll, not just emotionally, but physically and puts mothers and babies at risk, specifically black mothers and babies.

- Absolutely.

We're seeing that people have PTSD from systemic racism.

A lot of people think of PTSD as something that, you know, soldiers come back from war or, you know, a traumatic event happens like one big event, but really these stressors over time can lead to trauma that can then build up into a traumatic stress disorder.

So we're seeing that affect health outcomes in especially black women who are expecting.

You might find them to have preeclampsia, which, you know, it could be caused by stress and then the baby could come early.

And that could cause risk factors then in that baby's first year.

- Wasn't preeclampsia what Serena Williams had?

And was not treated properly.

So you think about that too, not just the stress that black women have Shana, but also just the struggles with the medical system and getting the proper care.

- Oh, absolutely.

When I had my children, you know, I could tell you one of those stories, just like so many other black women, luckily my kids are now healthy and strong, but we went through that kind of issue.

And I think, you know, when we think about treating moms and giving them coping skills, whenever we wanna treat somebody of PTSD, they're normally pulled from the thing that's causing the trauma.

And we can't necessarily do that here.

So it's one thing to say, just breathe better, learn to cope with the trauma as you're continuously going back into that space.

And so I think this is a great start and it's gonna help a lot of women and babies, but you know, at the end of the day, those kids are still gonna grow up in that traumatic space.

And that mom may not be able to be the best mom because she's still battling the traumas of just existing.

- We're seeing infant mortality go down.

That's a great thing.

But that gap between white and black is still there.

It feels unconscionable.

- Not to me, you know, like it's just there.

And as a lot of folks I know like that's a constant thought process, you know, is my baby going to make it?

I've heard someone say like, why do I live here if I don't know that I can, you know, like I'm gonna be able to?

Cause we know that fact and we live that fact.

And the question is, you know, we have to do so much, not just to make sure that the babies make it, but also to support the moms to get there.

And I think, you know, we've got a long road to go, but we've gotta just support, the whole system needs some help.

- The Ferris wheel that took rider's way up in the massive I-X Center is now moving to the pro football Hall of Fame Village in Canton.

From the land adjacent to the football Hall of Fame and museum's being developed as a visitor destination, a Plaza at the site will include the Ferris wheel, a zipline and amphitheater.

And because I have now mentioned the I-X indoor amusement park, I need you all to suffer the ear worm that has been slithering around my head since I started working on this script yesterday.

♪ So cool so fun ♪ ♪ If you are not here you are the only one ♪ ♪ Gotta rise inside ♪ ♪ Jump up and down spin it around ♪ ♪ So cool so fun ♪ ♪ What a great place to meet someone ♪ ♪ It's here today ♪ Come on.

Where's the chorus.

There it is.

- There.

There it is.

- You love this song.

- I do love this song.

- It feels like spring break.

- I just wanted to make sure that all of you had to have that ear worm as well.

Karen you're welcome.

- Thank you.

I mean, I'm just kicking myself for all the years I lived in Cleveland and never went dog on it.

I never got there.

- I mean, it was a kind of crazy thing that we had this giant warehouse that had a- - Carnivore.

- Yeah.

- Was awesome.

- It was a carnival, right.

- It's so cool.

- And it had a Ferris wheel in it, but it gets new life.

So pretty cool that we now will go down 77 in Canton.

And what a thing though, to take the football Hall of Fame and make it like, I don't know, playground.

- Yeah.

I think that was the shocking thing.

It wasn't the Ferris wheeler was like, what's this resort we're talking about in Canton, Ohio.

That makes it more interesting.

I think I would go to see the resort, not just the Ferris wheel.

- Got you.

And I do want to end with kudos to an extraordinary Northeast Ohio educator, national teacher of the year Kurt Russell who teaches history at Oberlin high school.

Russell was celebrated a ceremony at the school yesterday and said, "He hopes the recognition helps bring attention to the importance of faculty diversity in educating and empowering students."

Did you see this story on Kurt?

- I did.

Yes.

- Pretty awesome.

- I'm super excited for him.

Congratulations.

- Wish he had been my teacher.

Can you audit a course in high school or is that just weird?

Anyway, congratulations, Mr. Russell.

And know it's not that Kent Russell.

It's a different guy.

- Yeah, I thought that too.

- Yeah, exactly.

Monday on the Sound of Ideas on 89.7 WKSU we'll look at the work being done by the Western reserve land Conservancy, as it seeks to deal with vacant lots across Cleveland.

I'm Mike McIntyre.

Thanks so much for watching and stay safe day.

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