Here are your morning headlines for Thursday, December 6:
- Eastlake facility now harvesting med pot;
- Officer who shot Tamir Rice won't get job back;
- Officials meet with GM chief over Lordstown plant closing;
- Cuyahoga County signs agreement to address jail issues;
- Ohio Senate to vote on relaxing graduation standards;
Eastlake facility now harvesting med pot
Ohio is preparing to bring medical marijuana to patients by early next year. Cleveland.com reports the Buckeye Relief cultivation facility in Eastlake is harvesting a crop of about 1,500 plants this week. The plants will be sent off for independent tests. The state’s medical marijuana Patient and Caregiver Registery opened earlier this week. The state's program was supposed to be ready by September. Ohio law allows patients to vape the cannabis or turn it into oils, edibles and patches.
Officer who shot Tamir Rice won't get job back
An arbitrator says the officer who was fired after fatally shooting a 12-year-old boy playing with a pellet gun won't get back his job with Cleveland police. Timothy Loehmann was cleared in the shooting of Tamir Rice but was fired in May 2017 for failing to disclose to Cleveland that he'd been previously forced out by another department. Loehmann challenged his firing in an arbitration process. The police union confirmed Tuesday that Loehmann lost that challenge. The Cleveland police union says it will appeal, calling the decision a "witch hunt." Loehmann shot Tamir Rice within seconds of a cruiser skidding to a stop outside a Cleveland recreation center in November 2014. The boy's mother, Samaria Rice, has said she hopes Loehmann won't work as a police officer again.
Officials meet with GM chief over Lordstown plant closing
Three Ohio congressmen met with the head of General Motors Wednesday in Washington in their bid to keep the Lordstown assembly plant from closing, urging her to give auto workers a chance at a new line of electric vehicles soon headed into production. Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown said they urged GM chief executive Mary Barra to keep the plant open to avoid devastating consequences for Ohio's Mahoning Valley. She also met with Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan, whose district includes the plant. She said the company is working with the United Auto Workers union to explore training and relocation opportunities for affected workers. Already, 3,000 jobs have been eliminated at the plant since the beginning of 2017. GM has about 1,500 workers left at the Lordstown plant.
Cuyahoga County signs agreement to address jail issues
Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish has signed an agreement with The American Correctional Association to help address problems at the county jail. It follows last month's U.S. Marshals report that found inhumane treatment of inmates and dozens of other safety violations. Cleveland.com reports the agreement includes implementing a plan to help fix jail operations, such as doubling the amount of food given to juvenile inmates. Seven inmates died at the jail over a recent four-month span.
Ohio Senate to vote on relaxing graduation standards
High school students in Ohio are likely to get a reprieve from more rigorous graduation requirements that were set to go into effect this year. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the Ohio Senate is expected to vote tomorrow to relax standards that would have raised the bar for graduates. Students were expected to pass one of three measurements – including end-of-course exams, a college entrance exam, or an industry recognized credential. Those changes would possibly go into effect in 2020.
