Guest Host: Michelle Kanu
Newsmaker: William D. Friedman, President & CEO, Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority
The Port is asking Cuyahoga County residents to approve a tax renewal and increase to pay for waterfront improvements. Proceeds from the levy would also leverage millions in government grants to pay for such projects as repairs to a sagging bank at a narrow bend in the Cuyahoga and improvements to docks and loading facilities.
Roundtable: Erick Trickey, senior editor, Cleveland Magazine; Jay Miller, reporter, Crain’s Cleveland Business; David Arredondo, vice-chair, Lorain County Republican Party.
Early Voting Underway
Election day is a month away, but voters have already begun casting ballots in person at local elections boards. Officials around the state reported early voting numbers much increased over those of 2008. Most of the early voters were Democrats.
First Presidential Debate
Post-debate polling showed a majority of voters thought Republican Mitt Romney outpointed President Obama in the first of three debates Wednesday night in Denver. The candidates sparred over domestic policy including health care, the deficit and the proper role of government. Vice-presidential running mates stage their one and only debate next week.
Insanity Plea in Chardon Shooting Case
Attorneys representing accused school shooter T. J. Lane filed a plea of insanity, asserting the 18-year-old was insane when he shot and killed three students and wounded three others at Chardon High School in February. The insanity plea is rarely used and even more rarely successful as a defense strategy because it’s up to the defense to prove its claim.
Schools Fudge Attendance Figures
Ohio’s auditor David Yost accuses Cleveland schools and four other districts of manipulating attendance records to improve their showing on state report cards. Cleveland and the other districts were accused of removing students and their test results from attendance rolls without proper documentation. The auditor’s report says test results from almost a third of Cleveland students were removed in the 2010-11 school year.