At the end of January, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent a memo to the roughly 2 million employees of the federal government, offering a deferred resignation for those unwilling to work under Donald Trump's second presidency.
The workers who accepted maintained their pay and benefits until their official resignation date of Sep. 30. Roughly 150,000 federal employees accepted the offer.
In Ohio, cities are also battling an ongoing worker shortage due to a rise in baby boomers reaching retirement age and an increase in young people choosing jobs in the private sector. Tuesday on the "Sound of Ideas," we'll talk about Akron's plan to address the crisis.
The city has become the first in the state, and third in the country, to partner with Work for America, a nonprofit initiative aimed at addressing the government staffing crisis nationwide. As a newly designated "Spotlight City," the partnership aims to bring talented workers to Akron's city government at a time when their skills are needed.
This comes at a time when federal layoffs continue to rise, and the government shutdown enters its fourth week.
Later in this hour, cocaine overdoses are expected to kill more Cuyahoga County residents this year than any other drug, including fentanyl, marking a striking shift in the region's drug patterns.
The County Medical Examiner's Office reports that while overdose deaths had been declining since 2021, this year is seeing a small but concerning rise with deaths from cocaine.
Those deaths are projected to reach 415 by year's end. Meanwhile, fentanyl-related deaths are expected to drop to their lowest levels in nearly a decade.
Officials aren't yet sure why fentanyl deaths are falling, but some cite the success of harm reduction tools such as fentanyl test strips and the reversal agent, naloxone.
We'll end the show by discussing what this changing drug landscape means for public health efforts across Northeast Ohio and how communities are responding.
Guests:
- Montrella Jackson, Director of Human Services, City of Akron
- Caitlin Lewis, Executive Director, Work for America
- David Streem, M.D., Medical Director, Alcohol and Drug Recovery Center, Cleveland Clinic
- Thomas Gilson, M.D., Chief Medical Examiner, Cuyahoga County
- Daniel Flannery, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Begun Center for Violence Prevention Research and Education, Case Western Reserve University
