Here are your morning headlines for Wednesday, September 27th:
- Mayoral candidate Zack Reed gets new campaign manager;
- Geauga Sheriff pulls deputies from working Browns security amid protests;
- Cleveland votes to remove city's defunct pay phones;
- ECOT moves toward dropout status for more lenient state evaluations;
- Cuyahoga County announces plans to hire voting rights coordinator;
- Cleveland Bishop makes personal plea for man set to be deported;
Mayoral candidate Zack Reed gets new campaign manager
Cleveland councilman and mayoral contender Zack Reed has hired a new campaign manager with six weeks to go before the Nov. 7 election. Advertising executive Kevin Jones has taken over the campaign, which has been without a manager for the last two weeks. Reed told Cleveland.com the previous campaign manager, Angela Shute Woodson, left after the primary election because her contract expired. Reed said there was no dissatisfaction with Woodson’s performance. Reed came in second place in the primary, behind incumbent mayor Frank Jackson.
Geauga Sheriff pulls deputies from working Browns security amid protests
The Geauga County Sheriff is forbidding any of his deputies from working security at Cleveland Browns games following the Browns’ silent protest before Sunday’s game in Indianapolis. In a social media post, Sheriff Scott A. Hildenbrand called the protest “a blatant disrespectful act towards our flag, our country, our veterans and our first responders.” About 20 Browns players kneeled during the national anthem, emulating Colin Kaepernick’s high-profile protest of police brutality last season. None of the protests have ever targeted the flag or the U.S. military. Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have publicly defended the players’ right to protest. Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene similarly forbade deputies from working Browns games earlier this month.
Cleveland votes to remove city's defunct pay phones
Cleveland City Council has voted to remove non-functioning payphones from the city. Cleveland.com reports city commissioner Dedrick Stephens said most of the phones have been vandalized beyond recognition. Up to $200,000 will be spent to remove an estimated 1,700 pay phones across the city. The vote was not unanimous, however. Councilmen Blaine Griffin and Zack Reed, who is running for mayor of Cleveland, said pay phones are a lifeline for those without cell phones to call for help. Griffin suggested 911 call boxes as an alternative.
ECOT moves toward dropout status for more lenient state evaluations
The Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow has received approval from the Ohio Department of Education to become a recovery school for dropout students. That means ECOT will only have to meet a lower set of expectations on state report cards. The state will audit the school’s enrollment to ensure the majority of ECOT students are between 16 and 21 years old. In its initial application, ECOT reported just over half of its students fall within that range, barely enough to qualify for the more lenient state requirements.
Cuyahoga County announces plans to hire voting rights coordinator
Cuyahoga County is planning to hire a voting rights coordinator to get more people to vote. In a statement, County Executive Armond Budish said “some are trying to make it harder to vote, (and) we need to do more to help people get registered.” BOE Director Pat McDonald said voter turnout is generally high during presidential elections, but decreases dramatically in off-year elections. As of this year, voters can register online. County libraries are making informational literature about voter registration available to patrons. It’s not yet known who will be hired to lead the voter turnout initiatives, or when.
Cleveland Bishop makes personal plea for man set to be deported
Newly-installed Cleveland Catholic Diocese Bishop Nelson Perez is making a personal appeal on behalf of an Elyria man set to be deported Thursday. Pedro Hernandez-Ramirez, 46, would be forced to leave behind his American-born wife and severely disabled stepson, who suffers from cerebral palsy. Hernandez-Ramirez has cared for him for nearly 14 years. Perez sent a letter to immigration officials, saying that deporting Hernandez-Ramirez “would cause extreme hardship for his family.” Hernandez-Ramirez holds a valid work permit which would allow him to stay in the country until February 2018, when he would have to apply for renewal. He has been previously deported, but immigration officials granted him the work permit in 2015.