(upbeat music) - [Mark] The state's first mass vaccination center opens in Cleveland as eligibility for vaccines includes those 40 and over as of today.

Local Asian-Americans are terrified over acts of hate and violence, including the shooting death of six women in Atlanta.

And election day to replace former representative Marcia Fudge has been set and it won't be any time soon.

Ideas is next.

- [Announcer] Brought to you by Westfield, offering insurance to protect what's yours, grow your business and achieve your dreams.

(bright upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to Ideas.

I'm Mike MacIntyre.

Thanks for joining us.

Governor DeWine is stepping on the gas in Ohio's vaccination race expanding eligibility as of today to those 40 and over, and to those 16 and older next week.

And mass vaccination clinics are coming online including the first here in Cleveland which opens smoothly Wednesday and is ramped up to 6,000 doses a day starting today.

Asian Americans have lived with more than just a pandemic in the last year as hate crimes and violence have increased alarmingly partly driven by untrue and racist claims that they are responsible for the virus which was first detected in China.

In the wake of a shooting in Atlanta that left six women of Asian descent dead, state lawmakers say they have an idea that may help.

And a state lawmaker who is under federal indictment for corruption charges says he is not going anywhere.

Former house speaker Larry Householder was stripped of the speakership but after calls from his hometown Republicans for him to step down as a representative he said, "No way".

Will fellow Republicans and the legislature act to oust him.

Meanwhile, the chief justice of the Ohio Supreme court says a three judge panel should decide if a Cleveland city Councilman also still seated after a federal corruption charge should be made to leave.

We'll talk about those stories and more on the reporters round table.

Joining me this week Idea Stream Health reporter, Lisa Ryan.

Ohio Public Radio Statehouse News Bureau reporter, Andy Chow.

And we welcome Sharon Broussard.

She's the project manager for the Northeast Ohio Solutions Journalism Collaborative.

Let's get ready to round table.

Andy, let's talk a little bit about the latest on coronavirus and the governor's address yesterday.

The state continues to give daily case and hospitalizations numbers.

There was a little concern about that yesterday particularly the idea that we're above 2000 for the first time in a couple of weeks.

- Yeah Mike and it's still remains to be seen if that's just a little blip for some reason an anomaly where the number shoots up a little bit or if this is a indicative of a bigger trend in Ohio where maybe the cases are starting to go on the rise on a daily basis again.

So again, that was a spike we saw yesterday and so we'll be tracking those numbers for the next couple of days to see if that continues to be a trend.

But one of the big things that governor Mike DeWine has been warning about along with state health officials is that Ohio is seeing more and more of the COVID 19 variants, these different strains that are, that appear to be more contagious, that have the ability to spread pretty quickly.

And so that is one of the biggest or one of the bigger concerns coming out of the state right now is how to handle, how to counteract the spread of these new COVID-19 variants.

And part of that, part of the big game plan to counteract that is to expand eligibility for the vaccine to make available these mass vaccination clinics like the one you mentioned in Cleveland and in Cincinnati there are other pretty large vaccination clinics in places like Zanesville, Dayton area here in Columbus.

And so what we're seeing is that the state is trying to ramp up in whatever way possible the administration of these vaccines to really try to fight back against these new strains that are appearing to spread in Ohio.

- Here's what the governor had to say yesterday, talking about the danger of those variants.

- We also are frankly in a race and we don't really know exactly what the enemy is doing but we do know from talking to the scientist and talking to epidemiologist that they do believe that the variant is spreading in Ohio.

- So Lisa Ryan as our health reporter, we know the variants are in Ohio not in giant numbers, but they exist.

There are a big concern down the line, but what do we know about the vaccines that people are getting now and whether they'll be effective against those variants?

- Well, the hope is that they are effective.

There still needs to be more studies done regarding that.

But essentially what doctors have told me is that the virus can't go anywhere if it doesn't have a human host.

So if enough people get vaccinated or if enough people are social distancing and wearing masks and that virus has nowhere to go.

So that's how the variants happened you know, the virus spread so quickly and it mutated.

And the hope is that with more vaccinations, still social distancing, and still wearing masks that all three of those things could combat the variants and essentially to stop the virus from spreading which will stop the variance.

- And when he's talking about being in a race, he's saying we need to get these vaccinations before the variants take hold.

Basically we need to get more and more people, we're talking about now 500,000 doses coming.

- Yes.

Yeah, and also, I just want to point out that yeah, you're right that it is essentially a race because as of right now we believe that the vaccines are at least somewhat effective against these variants but what happens if it mutates again because it continues to spread and you know, one of those variants or one of those could resist the vaccine.

So we really need to put an end to that.

And you're right.

Governor DeWine has said that more vaccines are on the way which also more vaccination sites are on the way.

So I know a lot of people are still having issues getting those vaccination appointments but DeWine has made it clear that his hope is that especially by the 29th, when even more people are eligible that more vaccines and more sites are opened up.

- Tell me about the clinic?

I drive by it in the mornings when it's not particularly full yet you were there on the warm-up day and then the first day.

And I think Anna actually, Anna Huntsman was there on the warm-up day.

You went and observed what really looked like military precision there.

- Yes, yeah.

The national guard is at the Wolstein Center that's Cleveland's mass vaccination site.

And everyone that I talked to who went through on that Wednesday, which was the official opening day said that it was incredibly efficient.

They were really excited about how efficient it was, how fast they got through.

Most of the people that I talked to were less than an hour, about 45 minutes.

Some of them were closer to about a half an hour from start to finish of arriving at the location, walking through the doors.

As soon as the doors opened, there wasn't a line although there was a line before the doors opened.

There was a very long line it seemed, but they got through it pretty quickly.

- Actually they have like a cupboard - Yeah like a tent.

- Like a tent, but it doesn't have sides but it's basically something to cover the line.

- [Lisa] Yes, and inside that tent, I kind of likened it to when you go to, you know, Cedar Point or an amusement park where they have the ropes that have people in line so that you kind of snake around.

So yeah, it is similar to that.

- [Mike] Somewhat disappointing, right at the end.

Let's jab you in the arm.

- [Lisa] You know, it's getting us to a really good place hopefully with-- - That's the truth.

- Yeah maybe we can actually go to Cedar Point this summer.

- [Mike] Sharon Broussard, you haven't been on to talk about the vaccines in the past as we've been doing.

I think now for, since the vaccines came out and the Coronavirus obviously now for more than a year but your thoughts on, yo deal with solutions journalism there was a big problem which is that people couldn't get appointment, solution now being this max vaccination clinic.

What are you seeing in terms of reaction to that?

- I guess what I'm seeing is just a lot more interest in actually getting the vaccination.

I mean, people still have questions of course, but you know I think that the demand is a lot higher and folks are still having trouble getting through.

So it's kinda good to see demand pop up.

And I'm hoping that all the systems that, you know, put people, give people the access to the vaccine really start working for everyone who needs it.

- [Lisa] Governor DeWine also mentioned yesterday that there were some parts of the state in the more rural parts that potentially had an excess of vaccine that now he's authorizing them to kind of move it around to the more urban and more populated areas.

And I find that interesting because, you know if there's excess in other places, some people are traveling, some people are finding those appointments in those more rural areas but it's interesting that it wasn't spread around in a way that perhaps where the people are asking for it and where they want it, where they're trying to get it.

So, so that's interesting as well.

- [Mike] Absolutely.

- [Andy] And it, and I think it's also a calculation of here's where people are but maybe there's more of a hesitancy there.

So they thought that more people would get this shot and it turns out they're not getting the shot.

So yes, again, they have somewhat of a surplus.

And so in these smaller communities there are people who don't necessarily qualify with the current eligibility qualifications who are signing up for the no waste list.

And so to make sure that these shipments of the doses that are coming to these smaller communities don't get wasted.

So people in, you know I've heard anecdotally people in Columbus who are signing up for these no wastelist and then traveling two to three hours to a smaller town in Ohio to get the shot.

- [Mike] You mentioned hesitancy and that's actually sharing something the Northeast Ohio solutions journalism collaborative has done some reporting on just this week.

I know we carried some stories here at ideastream.org about hesitancy first among prisoners who are hesitant to get it because of historical issues, they're sick prisoners who were hesitant to get it.

And then even beyond that healthcare workers, minorities, folks who are just hesitant to get the vaccine.

- Yeah, that's why it's important then when folks are there to add a mass center to get the vaccine, that if some of them want to talk out their issues, that's a good idea.

The other thing is that, you know really like to see, you know, doctors step up because a lot of people will say, you know I don't trust all this news coming out of the state but if my personal doctor who I I've seen every day for whatever I've seen frequently for 10 years says, "Yeah you really need to get this vaccine out."

I'll do it.

And it's interesting that, you know I think our view of hesitancy was kind of limited to kind of black and brown people at first and just recently a poll came out about how some Republicans who, you know are Trump supporters have also indicated, you know similar rates of hesitancy about doing the vaccine.

So that's just something we gotta to tackle throughout our society and just kind of make sure as many people as possible understand why it's important to get the shot, understand the reaction that can come from the shot and therefore willing to do it.

(upbeat music) - The pandemic has brought an alarming increase in racist acts and violence against Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders.

This week, eight people died when a man opened fire at massage parlors in the Atlanta area.

Six victims were women of Asian descent.

It has a local Asian Americans fearful and is fueling a renewed call for a state commission that might help.

Andy, we've learned so much during this last year about pandemics but the biggest words that matter to us in terms of how you label a virus that emerges words matter, the idea of calling something a China virus or Kungflu, these have complicate or these have consequences.

- And there is a history there, Mike of viruses, pandemics being attached to countries to Asian countries and then therefore stemming, you know feelings of xenophobia and racism against Asian-Americans.

And so we saw that back when SARS started spreading around the world, and there are reports and people who talk about how, like you said, words do matter.

And so there are plenty of officials and community leaders who have said that they've seen firsthand and they have heard from several people that there is an escalation of violence and an escalation of racially motivated incidents against Asian-American and Pacific Islanders.

And a lot of people say that it does stem back to the beginning of COVID-19 and that there has been an uptick and an increase of these incidents since February of 2020 up through this past February, a group called Stop AAPI Hate would take in these reports because another part of the history of racism against Asian-Americans is that it goes underreported, unacknowledged.

There is a deep sense in Asian-American communities that they shouldn't report it whether that's a cultural thing or whether it's because they believe that they won't be believed.

And so, yes, we've seen an uptick, this has been an issue that's been going on for a long time.

It is not just the shooting that happened in Atlanta but the shooting that did happen at Atlanta has brought a lot more attention to this ongoing.

- [Mike] I've had conversations about this with Gabe Cramer, who's Filipino American and I want to ask you as well.

I imagine that the feeling you have about your parents and their safety must be one of fear given that we've seen some of these incidents one of the ones that Gabe reported in San Francisco, an 83 year old man was simply tackled by some guy and ended up dying from his injuries.

- Yeah.

I, and I do have those types of fears too.

I have family around the country who look like the victims that are being targeted.

And so it is a fear and it's not something that just started in 2020.

This has always been an issue.

- [Mike] Sharon Brussard.

- [Sharon] Yeah, I understand Ohio there's some people who want to start it in Ohio commission on this and I think that that's an outstanding idea.

I think the higher profile you can get on this issue with many different community leaders and state leaders speaking out about what's going on, the better it can become.

You know, Asians shouldn't have to stand in line, stand alone against hate.

I mean, that's something that we all should be involved in saying, "No, not here.

We're not accepting it."

- [Mike] One of the things Gabe explored in his stories with the idea of allyship and allies being white people as well as other minorities who may have much more experience with this type of behavior than the rest.

So very good points appreciate that, Sharon.

What about this commission?

Andy, there'd be a state commission as well as a a department essentially.

The deal with AAPI issues and to hear people out.

- Yeah, so it's common for different minority groups to have state commissions and a state office within the state of Ohio.

So for example, this bill that's, it's a bipartisan bill from two senators, Senator Neurogen Tawny who is from he's a Republican from the Miami iceberg area.

And then Senator Tina Maharajas, who's from, who's a Democrat from Panal Winchester.

This is a bipartisan team coming together to try to create the Asian American and Pacific Islander affairs commission.

This is a commission that would have about 11 members on it to raise awareness of these issues to prop up achievements in the Asian American community in Ohio.

And to also collect data, to be a resource or a hub where people can go to, to say, "This is what I'm seeing in my community.

This is what I'm seeing in Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland the other areas, this is what I'm seeing."

and right now the state doesn't have a commission like that.

The senators who are proposing this say that, that sort of plays into an issue that Asian Americans in the state are constantly dealing with feeling maybe as the forgotten minority community.

And another issue here is what a Senator Ontawny said is that a lot of the times Asians are labeled as the "other", there's a foreigner aspect of that.

I put that in heavy quotation marks.

And so part of being left out of things like having a state commission or state office only sort of underline those issues that Asian-Americans in Ohio face.

(upbeat music) - The state has set August 3rd for the primary election and the race to replace former Ohio 11th district Congresswoman Marcia Fudge much later than expected.

Fudge is the new secretary of the US department of housing and urban development.

The district includes Eastern Cuyahoga County and parts of Akron and there is no shortage of contenders for the primary.

Governor DeWine and secretary of state Franklin Larose announced the dates yesterday and said, this plan was better than holding an earlier special election because of cost and logistics.

Here's the Larose.

- It would have cost a lot of money because it would have had to off cycle elections then.

And so that would have been costly for, you know for the taxpayers to do that.

And it also, again, would have been out of the norm and not what people are accustomed to.

- Sharon it's not unusual to have a number of days passed without representation for a district.

It's happened in a couple of others but we're looking at 229 days Sharon Broussard to to not have a representative in the 11th district, a pretty prominent district, one that is mostly minority, one that is the poorest district in the state as well.

- Yeah, I mean, I know he's talking about the financial costs but then you think about the cost to people who have important outstanding issues there that really they won't have her representation in the state house.

I understand, you know, Democrats are in the minority anyway, but still, you know having someone to speak up and say this is an issue that should be dealt with 259 days, which is, you know, is only 365 days a year is a pretty good chunk of people just having to stand voters, having to stand on the sidelines and I think it's unacceptable.

- [Mike] Andy, how does that work though?

That the staff would essentially take care of issues, they apparently would still be constituent services but you don't have a voting representative in Congress.

- You don't have a voting representative, I'm sure maybe there's a staff that can take over maybe nearby congressional districts might try to you know, open up their input to hear from constituents as the other congressional district.

It is unusual and it's a big unfortunate thing to go unrepresented in the 11th district of Ohio for such a long time.

And it really goes back to the decisions that can be made to hold a special election primary and then a general election.

What you heard there from secretary Frankel Larose was that people are not used to voting in these awful elections.

So does it do a disservice to people to hold an election in a month that they're not used to?

And then it's hard to get the word out and then what does that ha how does that impact the results?

And another issue there is that the governor, Governor Mike DeWine said that because the Senate delayed the confirmation hearing of Marcia Fudge then the state office holders were sort of tied up and couldn't pull off a primary in time.

- [Mike] Interesting though that we're calling it a special election but it's essentially being on election day.

So there was a debate about money or logistics versus time passing.

And I mentioned this isn't precedent and John Bayner's case.

and Pat T Barry's case in both of those situations more than 200 days passed with no representation.

- Yes, it will be at a time when people are not expecting an election, but this is a pretty juicy one.

You know, you got Nina Turner in there, you got Chantel in there as well and you know, several other people as well.

And I think that, you know what some communications put out there, a lot of people want to show up to see like which one of these, you know, they have some star power you know, should be the next representative for this district.

So I think that's a challenge that could be overcome - [Mike] Wanting to know that there are a number of other candidates as Sharon mentioned, Jeff Johnson the former Cleveland city Councilman.

We also have John Barnes, former state representative as well as Brian Flannery.

There a whole lot of people that are in that race.

We'll be seeing that shake out.

And they've got a lot more time to campaign now because originally the thought was that by May there would be a primary.

Now it's not, as we said until August.

(upbeat music) Ohio house Republicans met this week to decide what to do about former Ohio house speaker, Larry Householder He remains in the house despite being under federal indictment as part of a bribery investigation into the passage of the nuclear bailout bill.

House Republicans took no action and Householder says, he's not going anywhere.

So where do we stand here?

Is there a movement do you think, Andy among Republicans to say it's time for him to go or is he going to be able to be defiant and say, "I go when I want to."

- It really, at this point all comes down to the current house speaker, Bob Cup and what does he allow on the house floor.

I think it's a given that every single Democrat would vote to to expel Larry Householder and I think if you look at the numbers there are plenty of Republicans who would also vote to expel Larry Householder.

So I think the general consensus is there are enough votes to remove Larry Householder from the Ohio house.

And so it's up to how speaker Bob Cup whether he wants to put that expulsion resolution onto the house floor.

Why wouldn't he?

Because even if it's a smaller number of people than the majority that would create a lot of friction among members of his own caucus who support Larry Householder for one reason or another.

And this leads to just basically what the infighting that's been going on in the Ohio house.

There's been a lot of friction, there's been a lot of, you know, disagreement in the house Republicans about what bills to pass, what resolutions to put on the floor and this really underlines everything that it seems like how speaker Bob cup is caught in this place where he might be too afraid to put a resolution on the floor to expel Larry Household.

- [Mike] Now Householder isn't the only office holder in the state who remains in place while under federal indictment.

Cleveland city Councilman Ken Johnson indicted on federal corruption charges is still seated on council.

Ohio Supreme court chief justice, Maureen O'Connor has appointed a three judge panel to determine whether Johnson should be suspended from office due to his indictment on federal corruption charges.

Johnson has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

You can't help, but notice that we've got an official in Cleveland where we're now having a three judge panel saying whether you should be able to stay and we have a situation at the state house where a representative who is charged with corruption certainly much more high profile corruption doesn't face the same thing.

Part of that, and this is attorney general, Dave Yost pushing this is that the law that he's pointing to deals with local officials, right Andy - [Andy] Yeah and I wonder if there's also maybe a separation of powers there, where if a Supreme court justice wanted to try to get rid of a member of the state legislature maybe that gets into a different issue compared to dealing with local level policies and that's like you said what attorney general Dave Yost has pointed out?

And then there are several people including governor Mike DeWine, house speaker, Bob cup who have just really been wanting Larry Householder to step down on his own to help the different state officials and the Republican state officials avoid this whole mess.

- [Mike] And Sharon, I've heard this from a number of people and I wonder if you have that it doesn't go unnoticed that Householder is white and Ken Johnson is black.

And so the idea of innocent until proven guilty is being held up in one case but perhaps not in another.

- Yeah, the optics are just horrible because they're going after some guy in Toledo to city Councilman, a pastor as well to be suspended.

I know that laws stand in the way, but you know it does seem like there should be a system where you can expel someone who won't do the honorable thing.

- And that's going to wrap up our show.

Coming up Monday on the Sound of Ideas we'll hear from Dr. Carla Hayden, the 14th librarian of Congress as part of the 2021 read across America celebration.

I'm Mike MacIntyre.

Thanks so much for watching and stay safe.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] Brought to you by Westfield, offering insurance to protect what's yours, grow your business and achieve your dreams.