Ohio’s redistricting process has become so bogged down that the Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman is suggesting that the upcoming May primary should be split into two separate dates. Huffman suggests keeping the May 3 date for statewide and local officeholders and holding the congressional and statehouse primary later once the maps are approved and legal challenges have played out.
On Monday, the Ohio Supreme Court threw out the second round of maps for the state’s house and senate districts saying they still did not meet the constitutional reforms passed by voters. The court then set a deadline of February 17 for the Ohio Redistricting Commission to adopt a third version of the map. Also, still not finalized: a new congressional map for Ohio. That map will split the state into 15 districts instead of the current 16 due to the results of the 2020 Census. The General Assembly had until this weekend to draw that map---but has now punted that job over the redistricting commission.
Cuyahoga County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board-- or ADAMHS for short-- has remove the word “racism” from its own organizational anti-racist statement.
In 2020 the board declared racism a public health crisis following the police-involved death of George Floyd. But last November the board amended its own resolution and changed racism to discrimination.
Activists have questioned the move raising concerns that to fight racism you have to call it by name. But the board member who suggested the change, Rev. Benjamin Gohlstin of Cleveland’s Heritage Community Baptist Church in Hough, said the organization is fighting against “discrimination based on ethnicity, color of skin and national origin….,’
Cleveland will host the 2022 NBA All-Star Game next weekend. But the city has granted only seven of the 87 waivers requested by bars to stay open and serve alcohol past 2am that weekend.
Mayor Justin Bibb says the decision was made in the best interest of the city, its safety forces and public health. It’s a change in course from 2016 with the Republican National Convention and 2019 with the baseball All-Star Game. But both of those events were pre-pandemic.
The seven bars selected are all based in hotels, which Bibb says have the resources to manage their own security and protocols.
The Cleveland Metropolitan School District held the first of several public meetings this week on changing the names of four schools.
Wednesday night, a meeting was held at Louis Agassiz Elementary to solicit input and feedback from parents, students and the community. Other schools under consideration for name changes: Albert Bushnell Hart Elementary, Patrick Henry Elementary and Thomas Jefferson International Newcomers Academy.
All were flagged for review by a working group created by the district to look into the biographies of the namesakes of the district’s buildings. Each of those names is now deemed inappropriate, because of their namesake's stances on race – and/or slavery.
Gabriel Kramer, Multiple Media Journalist, Ideastream Public Media
Ken Schneck, Editor, The Buckeye Flame
Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV
