Cuyahoga County Council voted this week to move ahead with the purchase of land in Garfield Heights. The land will be the site of a new county jail. The council approved the purchase of about 72-acres for $38.7 million. Left undecided for now is how to pay for construction of the facility and whether to extend the sales tax approved for the Medical Mart for 40 years as part of the financing.
The Ohio Redistricting Commission has approved new legislative maps for the Ohio House and Ohio Senate districts. The vote was unanimous and bipartisan. The approved maps on paper give Republicans a 61 to 38 seat advantage in the Ohio House and a 23 to 10 seat advantage in the Ohio Senate.
The Ohio Senate approved a bill this week that would block the "people's budget" charter amendment in Cleveland. The November ballot issue eeks to create a structure for a concept called participatory budgeting in Cleveland, 2% of the city's general fund or approximately $14 million based on the current budget, would be controlled by an 11-member panel appointed by the mayor and council. Residents would propose and lobby for projects to be funded. The bill to block participatory budgeting in Cleveland and everywhere else in Ohio is sponsored by Senator Jerry Cirino, a Kirtland Republican. It now goes to the Ohio House, which needs to pass it with a super majority to put it into effect before the election.
We will discuss those stories and more headlines of the week on the Reporters Roundtable.
Guests:
-Matt Richmond, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Abigail Bottar, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Haley BeMiller, Reporter, USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau
