March 1, 2021

Ohio Sues Biden Administration Over U.S. Census Data

Ohio’s Attorney General is suing the Biden administration over the delay in the release of the 2020 Census data.

The U.S. Census Bureau was supposed to release the data around the first of May but announced earlier this month that it will be released to states on September 30th due to COVID delays. Attorney General Dave Yost is suing to get it earlier.

“The challenge is we’ve got, because of Issue one here in Ohio, we’ve got constitutional deadlines and dates written into our constitution for redistricting and reapportionment," Yost says.

Yost says laws cannot be arbitrarily changed by administrative fiat and adds the agency must do its job, even if it is inconvenient. Ohio could lose one congressional seat based on the upcoming data.

https://www.statenews.org/post/ohio-sues-biden-administration-over-us-census-data
(no more at link)

March 1, 2021

SNAP, Medicaid Rollback Bill Would Cost Nearly $20 Million in Red Tape, Analysts Say

A legislative proposal to restrict eligibility for social safety net programs like food stamps or Medicaid would cost nearly $20 million to implement, according to state policy analysts.

The Ohio Legislative Service Commission, a nonpartisan arm of the state legislature that evaluates policy proposals, estimated a plan to require photo identification on every Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program card would cost about $15 million to implement and $930,000 annually to maintain.

Senate Bill 17 would end policies known as “categorical eligibility” and “simplified reporting” that lower income reporting burdens on SNAP recipients along with the bureaucratic burden on state government. The new, more onerous income reporting system would cost about $4.5 million to implement, according to the LSC.

The bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster, said the bill is a means to combat benefits fraud and ensure monies only go to the truly needy.

Read more: https://www.citybeat.com/news/blog/21149354/benefits-rollback-bill-would-cost-nearly-20-million-in-red-tape-analysts-say
(Cincinnati Citybeat)

March 1, 2021

Young Lefty Stefan Knaack Running for Cleveland City Council in "Forgotten" Ward 11

At 23 years old, Stefan Knaack is far and away the youngest candidate for Cleveland City Council in 2021. The recent Cleveland State University alum and diehard Cleveland sports fan has announced his candidacy in Ward 11, a west side ward that includes the eastern sliver of Jefferson, the western sliver of Cudell and the residential streets off of West Boulevard.

"It also has this weird section [North of Madison]" Knaack told Scene in a recent phone interview, "that was pretty much just created to include Dona Brady's house."

Knaack currently works as a delivery driver for Jimmy John's and said his campaign is about elevating residents living on the margins and "forgotten" communities like Ward 11.

"Like a lot of people, I'm disillusioned with the way politics works in Cleveland," he said. "There's very much an 'in-crowd,' both in terms of politicians and neighborhoods. Ward 11 is not one of them."

Knaack is not a lifelong resident of the ward. As the child of divorced parents, he spent his youth in a number of western suburbs and graduated from Brookside High School in Sheffield Lake. He went on to study political science and sociology at CSU, where he was active in a number of left-wing student political organizations and with the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign of 2016. He moved to Ward 11 in 2018 with four roommates, to save money on rent.

Read more: https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2021/02/25/young-lefty-stefan-knaack-running-for-cleveland-city-council-in-forgotten-ward-11

March 1, 2021

Ohio private employers will soon pay less in worker's comp premiums

COLUMBUS, Ohio— Workers’ compensation premium rates paid by private employers in Ohio will drop an average of 7.1% starting in July, under a proposal approved Friday by the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation’s board of directors.

The rate reduction, which will save about 220,000 Ohio employers a total of $71.5 million, is the twelfth such decrease the BWC’s board has made since 2008, according to a release from the bureau.

BWC Interim Administrator and CEO John Logue said in a statement that the rate cut was made possible by a continuing trend of fewer injury claims, fairly low medical inflation costs, and strong fiscal management.

“We’re especially pleased to pass these lower costs along to our business community amid the ongoing challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Logue said.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2021/02/ohio-private-employers-will-soon-pay-less-in-workers-comp-premiums.html

March 1, 2021

Ohio AG Dave Yost asks Supreme Court to suspend indicted Cleveland Councilman Ken Johnson

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost on Friday asked the Ohio Supreme Court to commence suspension proceedings against indicted Cleveland Councilman Ken Johnson.

Yost made the request under provisions in the Ohio Revised Code that authorize suspension of local public officials who, like Johnson, have been charged with a felony relating to their official duties.

Johnson was arrested Tuesday morning on 15 charges from a federal grand jury that among other things accuse him of swindling the council out of $127,000 by submitting false expense reports.

“Sadly, it’s become routine for us to initiate suspension proceedings for indicted city council members – Ohioans deserve representation free of public corruption and we must constrain those that abuse their power,” Yost said in a statement. “The suspension of a public official facing charges of public corruption is the proper remedy while the criminal case is resolved.”

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/cityhall/2021/02/ohio-attorney-general-dave-yost-asks-supreme-court-to-suspend-indicted-cleveland-councilman-ken-johnson.html

March 1, 2021

Cleveland church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X spoke to be stop on proposed

Cleveland church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X spoke to be stop on proposed civil rights trail


CLEVELAND, Ohio – In the beginning, nearly a century ago, the imposing red-brick building on Cleveland’s East Side was a synagogue. Not just any synagogue, but billed as the largest Jewish center west of the Allegheny Mountains with a basketball court, an indoor swimming pool and auditorium that could seat 2,400 people.

Dedicated in 1922, it served as the hub of Glenville’s Jewish community until the population drifted east to the Heights and a largely Black congregation bought the building for $125,000 and named it Cory United Methodist Church after a white missionary. The church then became a fulcrum of faith for the Black community and a notable landmark in the civil rights history of Cleveland and the country.

Today, the structure at 1117 East 105th St. faces an uncertain future. The church’s membership has shrunk from some 3,000 in its heyday to about 150, and while the building is structurally sound, it’s sorely in need of costly renovations.

But the Cleveland Restoration Society announced this week that Cory will be the site of an Ohio historical marker describing its significance in the civil rights movement. The society also disclosed that the church will be one of 10 sites along a proposed civil rights trail in Greater Cleveland (The only other site yet identified is Glenville High School, which will also get a marker), planning for which has been aided by a grant from the National Park Service.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2021/02/cleveland-church-where-the-rev-martin-luther-king-jr-and-malcolm-x-spoke-to-be-stop-on-proposed-civil-rights-trail.html

March 1, 2021

Florida man drowns while searching for lost golf ball, authorities say

OLDSMAR, Florida — A 74-year-old man was found dead in a pond on a golf course Sunday and authorities believe he likely fell in while searching for a lost ball.

The body of Hermilo Jazmines was found by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office dive team at the East Lake Woodlands Country Club, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

Jazmines was golfing with a friend Sunday morning when he hit his ball in the water on the course’s third hole, the news release says. He was last seen looking for his ball near the water.

Authorities say Jazmines went missing, although his cart was still parked on a path and his putter was found near the edge of the pond. The dive team found Jazmines in the water not far from the putter, the release says.

Read more: https://www.cleveland.com/nation/2021/03/florida-man-drowns-while-searching-for-lost-golf-ball-authorities-say.html

March 1, 2021

VCU freshman found dead after night of hazing at fraternity rush event, his family says

Police are investigating the death of a Virginia Commonwealth University freshman who was found dead early Saturday after a fraternity rush event involving alcohol, according to the student’s cousin.

The death of Adam Oakes, a 19-year-old student from Loudoun County, led to the suspension of VCU’s chapter of Delta Chi fraternity.

Oakes died early Saturday at an off-campus residence following a night of hazing as part of the Delta Chi fraternity, said Oakes’ cousin, Courtney White.

Oakes visited a house in the 100 block of West Clay Street on Friday night, where he was given a handle of Jack Daniels whiskey and told to drink, White said.

Read more: https://richmond.com/news/local/education/updated-vcu-freshman-found-dead-after-night-of-hazing-at-fraternity-rush-event-his-family/article_55138a49-b4e7-5aa6-a85c-4685b2cfab93.html

March 1, 2021

'Aisha's Law' for domestic violence protections returns to Ohio legislature

Expansions to domestic violence protections have once again returned to the Ohio Statehouse, after passing the House last year but failing to see daylight in the Senate.

State Rep. Janine Boyd, D-Cleveland Heights, said in Thursday’s House Criminal Justice Committee that this was the 14th version of the bill attempting to enhance punishments for certain domestic violence crimes and tools for law enforcement to help prevent escalation of already high-risk situations.

The bill is nicknamed Aisha’s Law, after Aisha Fraser, a Shaker Heights teacher and mother killed by her ex-husband, former judge and state legislator, Lance Mason, during what was supposed to be a supervised exchange of their children.

Mason had previously served prison time on a previous domestic violence charge, leveled after another attack on Fraser.

Read more: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/02/26/aishas-law-returns-to-ohio-legislature/

March 1, 2021

'Stand Your Ground' laws tied to racial inequities, increase in violent crime, researchers say

Laws that expand the right to shoot to kill in perceived self-defense yield unequal consequences in the justice system depending on whether the person shot was white, according to research published Monday.

So-called “stand your ground” laws, one of which was passed in Ohio last year, are also associated with a modest to robust increase in violent crime rates in states that implemented them, according to findings published in the American Journal of Public Health.

There’s variation in the data. For instance, Florida, the first state to implement the idea in 2005, experienced a “robust” increase in violent crime rates, whereas the effect was more muted elsewhere.

“I think what we can really decisively say is there’s no positive effect of these laws,” said lead researcher Alexa Yakubovich in an interview. “There’s no evidence that these laws are reducing violence or reducing crime.”

Read more: https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2021/02/26/stand-your-ground-laws-tied-to-racial-inequities-increase-in-violent-crime-researchers-say/