Show 1402

Newsmaker: Congressman Steven C. LaTourette, Bainbridge Township--A new session gets underway next week for the 111th Congress, of which LaTourette is a minority member. The House has just completed an eventful year that included passage of a major economic stimulus bill, an auto industry bailout and an overhaul of the way health care is delivered and paid for. However, polls show the public with a low opinion of Congress, opposed to the health care plan as it’s written now, and feeling that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Roundtable: Ned Whelan, Whelan Communications; Scott Stephens, Catalyst Ohio magazine.

Cleveland School Makeover: Schools CEO Eugene Sanders took the wraps off a reform plan he hopes will better prepare students for college and careers and nearly double the high school graduation rate by the middle of the decade. The plan is going to require some creative destruction. It will close 18 schools, reduce overall staffing while bringing pressure for improved teacher performance and it will re-assign thousands of students. Cleveland is among the nation’s poorest-performing districts.

Jackson Inauguration: Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson took the oath of office for his second term this week, vowing to continue the work of his first four years. The challenges of that first term still press Jackson. His administration is still fighting severe budget constraints. He’s asked concessions from city workers across the board and hopes to grow a city that’s become the exemplar of the nation’s urban woes.

RTA Cuts: The Greater Cleveland RTA is planning to park some of its buses to reduce operating costs. It’s held public hearings this week on a plan to eliminate about 12% of bus routes and restrict the Waterfront rapid line to special events only. The new round of cuts, scheduled for this spring, comes on top of cuts last year that eliminated circulator routes.

Newsmaker II: Dr. Toni Johnson, interim psychiatry director, MetroHealth Medical Center: ®ideastream begins a weeklong series of programs entitled Facing Depression. It’s a psychiatric condition affecting as many as one in six Americans, shaping the way they approach their lives, their work, their relationships. We’ll explore what science knows about the nature of depression and how it’s treated.