The iOpener: Four Dead in Slavic Village; Indians' Bieber All-Star MVP

Good morning, iOpeners.  It's Wednesday, July 10, 2019. 

Four people, including two children, were found dead in Slavic Village in the deadliest slaying in Cleveland since 2014. Police found David Cousin lying in a field with a gunshot wound.  Cousin’s neighbor, Takeyra Collins, and her children, ages 5 and 3, were found dead in their home. Police say there was a small fire in the house, which firefighters extinguished. Mayor Jackson called the crime “heinous.”

It was an All-Star night during the All-Star Game for Cleveland.  Indians pitcher Shane Bieber struck out the side in the fifth inning and won MVP honors in the American League’s 4-3 victory over a loaded National League lineup. The 24-year-old, a late addition to the roster, is the third player, and the second Cleveland player, to win the MVP award in his home park. Indians catcher Sandy Alomar won the award in 1997 in the last All-Star Game in Cleveland. Another Indians pitcher, Carlos Carrasco, was acknowledged by Major League Baseball for his fight against a treatable form of leukemia. 

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has ordered a review of federal law enforcement’s access to the state’s facial-recognition database of millions of Ohioans’ driver’s license photos. While Yost said in a statement that he did not believe Ohio was at risk of becoming a “surveillance state,” he said a preliminary review of the level of access granted before he took office shows “the picture has become more complicated and less clear.” Former attorney general Mike DeWine, who’s now governor, granted the FBI access to the database in 2016.  The Washington Post has reported the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement are increasingly relying on state photo databases to conduct facial recognition scans for persons of interest. 

Summa Health, Akron’s largest hospital system, is merging with Detroit-based Beaumont Health. Summa officials signed a letter of intent on Monday to become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Beaumont, which is much larger. Summa Health has been struggling to make up the financial gap caused by declining federal Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, and Summa President and CEO Dr. Cliff Deveny said the merger will help. Several state agencies in Michigan and Ohio must approve the deal.

State environmental officials are studying the possibility of re-introducing sturgeons to a cleaner Cuyahoga River. The prehistoric-looking fish are sensitive to pollution. A similar project resulted in a release of sturgeon into Toledo’s Maumee River last year. That effort took ten years. A fisheries expert with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said any re-introduction in the Cuyahoga is “going to be down the road a bit further.”

Weather forecast for Cleveland: Mostly sunny and hot, high 90. Tonight, a slight chance of thunderstorms. Cloudy and warm, low 76.  Tomorrow, thunderstorms likely. High 86.