![The county jail and courtrooms are found in Cuyahoga County's Justice Center in downtown Cleveland. [Nick Castele / ideastream]](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f4b9bd8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/980x551+0+0/resize/840x472!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Flegacy%2Fuploads%2F2019%2F2%2F22%2F1227justicecentercle%20%282%29.jpg)
Good morning on this Friday, Feb. 22, 2019. Everybody, including us, is working for the weekend.
Ohio’s attorney general says politics is not playing a role in the corruption investigation of County Executive Armond Budish. Dave Yost told Cleveland.com he took issue with its editorial board’s characterization of last week’s raid by federal and state agents as unnecessarily aggressive. He said a judge approved the search warrant. He said he did not know about a second raid this week.
Figures released by the county show suicide attempts at the jail tripled over three years, from 23 in 2016 to 69 last year. Inmates attempted suicide 23 times in 2016, 42 times in 2017 and 69 times last year. Four of the eight inmates who died last year in the jail killed themselves. A spokeswoman for the county said she didn’t know if conditions at the jail - found by U.S. Marshals last fall to be overcrowded and “inhumane" - had anything to do with the increase.
A federal judge has reduced disgraced former Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo’s prison sentence for corruption by eight years. U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi said help Russo gave investigators and prosecutors in a wide-ranging corruption scandal entitled him to a shorter sentence.
The National Weather Service is warning of high winds this Sunday night and early Monday morning. It has issued a high wind watch. Strong westerly winds of 30 to 45 m.p.h. are expected, with 60 m.p.h. gusts possible. That means trees and large branches could come down and power outages are possible.
The Cavaliers started the second half of their season with a 111-98 victory of the Phoenix Suns. It was the Sun's 16th straight loss, a franchise record. Cedi Osman had 19 points. Kevin Love had 16 points and 11 rebounds. It was his first double-double since returning from a toe injury.
Weather forecast: Partly sunny, high 35. Tonight’s low, 26. We’ve got a rainy, windy weekend ahead. Rain coming our way in the late afternoon Saturday, high 49. Sunday, a 50 percent chance of rain and snow showers, but chuck the umbrella. Those 60 m.p.h. wind gusts will shred it.
