A state commission has granted a West Virginia company the exclusive rights to lease parcels of land for natural gas fracking under Ohio's largest state park, Salt Fork. The decision from the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission greenlights Infinity Natural Resources to negotiate with state regulators for drilling permits. The same panel also approved fracking bids for out-of-state companies for two wildlife areas. Encino Energy will negotiate permits to drill Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County and Zepernick Run Wildlife Area in Columbiana County. The decision came despite vocal and emotional opposition.
We will discuss the story on the “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable” along with the rest of the week’s news.
We begin, however, with the late breaking announcement from Notre Dame College that it will close after the current spring semester. The private college in South Euclid said in a release on its website that it has agreements with nine regional colleges for current students to transfer into to complete their education. Ideastream's education reporter Conor Morris worked on the story of Notre Dame's closure. He joins host Mike McIntyre on the Roundtable to discuss his reporting.
Also in education news this week, the Cleveland Board of Education's approved a plan to cut more than $130 million from the budget of the Cleveland Metropolitan Schools. The district is facing a budget shortfall due to the end of pandemic-era money. Based on a five-year forecast, the district says it will have a negative cash balance at the end of the next fiscal year.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport says it has an agreement with its airlines to fund the $175 million first phase of a project to modernize the terminal. The total project which could take more than ten years is projected to cost $3 billion.
Former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder has filed an appeal of his conviction in a federal racketeering trial last year. Householder is serving a 20-year sentence for accepting a $61 million dollar bribe that helped put him back in power and lead the passage of House Bill 6. That energy legislation contained the provision known as the “nuclear bailout” that has since been repealed.
Saturday will mark the end of an era for the Tri-C High School Rock Off. The final class of bands will compete in the "Final Exam" at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The winners will receive money for themselves and their school music programs. All the finalists get recording time at Tri-C's studio. The Tri-C High School Rock Off started in 1997.
Guests:
-Abbey Marshall, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Conor Morris, Education Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
-Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV
