Here are your morning headlines for Wednesday, Oct. 23:
- UAW to vote on GM contract;
- Ohio court to hear fight on school state takeovers;
- DeWine holds meeting on opioid settlement lawsuit money;
- News outlets go to Ohio Supreme Court to gain school records of Dayton gunman;
- Cuyahoga Valley National Park new visitor's center to open;
- Ohio bakery appeals judge's jury award reduction;
- Sherwin-Williams eyes new headquarters location outside of Ohio;
- Stay Hywet to be featured on 2020 stamps;
UAW to vote on GM contract
Members of the United Auto Workers (UAW) union are voting Wednesday on ending the more than six-week-long strike at General Motors (GM) plants across the country. So far, an assembly plant in Spring Hill, Tennessee, narrowly voted down the contract. But locals in Toledo, Warren, Michigan and Saginaw, Michigan, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the deal. Under the agreement, GM would balance pay for workers hired after 2007, give temporary workers a path to becoming full time and limit caps on profit-sharing. But critics complain the contract doesn't bring back any products from Mexico, which the union had sought. About 2,000 employees who worked at shuttered plants in Lordstown and near Baltimore and Detroit oppose the deal.
Ohio court to hear fight on school state takeovers
A legal fight over how the state intervenes in poor-performing school districts has reached the Ohio Supreme Court. Justices are set to hear arguments Wednesday in a challenge to the Ohio law that shifted operational control of such school districts from locally elected boards to state-appointed CEOs. The Youngstown school board and school employees' unions argue the law on state takeovers violates the Ohio Constitution. Three districts — Youngstown, Lorain, and East Cleveland — have been taken over. Earlier this year lawmakers tabled a bill that would have dismantled the state-takeover system.
DeWine holds meeting on opioid settlement lawsuit money
Gov. Mike DeWine has scheduled a meeting with the state attorney general and lawyers for cities and counties involved in the national opioid litigationto discuss how millions in settlement dollars might be spent. DeWine told The Associated Press he expects about 90 people at the Governor's Residence in Bexley Wednesday morning. The event comes two days after the nation's three biggest drug distributors and a major drugmaker announced an 11th-hour, $260 million settlement over the toll taken by opioids in Summit and Cuyahoga counties, averting the first federal trial over the crisis. DeWine said he wants to avoid a judge or some court-appointed body deciding how that money, as well as money Ohio might receive in any future global settlement, would be spent.
News outlets go to Ohio Supreme Court to gain school records of Dayton gunman
News organizations seeking school records of the gunman who killed nine people in Daytonhave appealed to the Ohio Supreme Courtafter a lower court rejected their bid for access to the files. The organizations filed a notice of appeal Monday over the decision by three 2nd District Court of Appeals judges. That Oct. 2 ruling upheld Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Local Schools' denial of access to the shooter’s high school files. The appellate court ruled the news organizations hadn't established a clear legal right to the records. The school district argued such records are generally protected by federal and state laws. Ohio's attorney general sided with the news organizations, saying federal privacy protections do not apply after a student's death.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park new visitor's center to open
Ohio’s only national park now has its first visitor’s center. The Boston Mill Visitor Center at Cuyahoga Valley National Park(CVNP) officially opens Friday. The 114-year-old building was originally a company store for the Cleveland-Akron Bag Company and later a private residence. It sits along the towpath trail and the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad. The Conservancy for CVNP raised more than $7 million for the two-year renovation. A weekend of activities are planned for the opening.
Ohio bakery appeals judge's jury award reduction
The Ohio bakery owners who sued Oberlin College and were awarded $44 million by a jury are planning to appeal a judge’s reduction of that award. The Chronicle-Telegram reportsthe jury award was cut to $31.5 million for the owners of Gibson's Bakery in Oberlin. Their lawsuit claimed that college officials ruined their business by encouraging protests against them and branding them racists after a shoplifting incident involving three black students. The school filed its own notice of appeal earlier this month saying it needs to protect free speech rights and that serious errors were made during trial.
Sherwin-Williams eyes new headquarters location outside of Ohio
Four cities outside of Ohio are reportedly being considered for the new headquarters ofSherwin-Williams, in addition to staying in Northeast Ohio. WKYC reportsthe Cleveland-based paint company could be considering Atlanta, Houston, Dallas and Charlotte, according to a national site-selection consultant. Last month, Sherwin-Williams announced it was exploring options for opening a new global headquarters and research and development facility, possibly outside of Ohio.
Stay Hywet to be featured on 2020 stamps
The U.S. postal service has announced the gardens of Stan Hywet Hall will be featured on a postage stamp in 2020. The Beacon Journal reports Stan Hywet joins 10 other gardens across the country in the series of Forever stamps. The photo used on the stamp will feature a path surrounded by birch trees. Others in the series include Biltmore Estate Gardens in North Carolina, Huntington Botanical Gardens in California and Winterthur Garden in Delaware.