President Joe Biden announced yesterday he was commuting the prison sentences of nearly 1500 people, one of the largest single acts of clemency in history. Among those receiving clemency: Former Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora. He had been serving a 25-year prison term after his conviction more than a decade ago in a corruption scheme that led the county to change its form of government. He was released in June 2023 for health reasons. The 69-year-old was to remain in home confinement until 2030 under terms of his release, but his full sentence has now been served.
We will talk about Dimora to begin Friday’s Reporters Roundtable.
We will also discuss other stories of the week including, a new report found child deaths in Cuyahoga County increased by 25% in 2023, compared to the prior year.
Cleveland City Council President Blaine Griffin this week unveiled new proposed ward maps that eliminate two of council's 17 seats due to population loss -- something its required to do each decade based on Census data. A 2008 charter amendment requires that the number of seats is tied to the city's population. Griffin said Tuesday the goal to keep neighborhoods together and use natural boundaries was "imperfectly" achieved -- but the reaction was mixed from the other members.
Longtime Ward 8 Councilmember Mike Polensek praised the new maps for being more transparent than in decades past, while first-term Councilmember Rebecca Maurer, whose Ward 12 will be split into six pieces, raised concerns about the fairness of the process.
Opioid settlement money for two Northeast Ohio counties may be in jeopardy after the Ohio Supreme Court sided with pharmacies in a dispute over whether it was a public nuisance or product liability case. A federal jury ruled in favor of Lake and Trumbull counties in 2021, saying chain pharmacies CVS, Walmart and Walgreens helped fuel an opioid crisis on the legal theory that pharmacies created a public nuisance when the opioid crisis overwhelmed communities. The pharmacies appealed the case, leading to the Ohio Supreme Court's ruling, which could negate the more than $650 million the counties won.
Every graduate of the Cleveland Metropolitan Schools is now eligible for automatic admittance to Cuyahoga Community College -- thanks to a new partnership announced by Tri-C and the Cleveland Metropolitan School District earlier this week.
Guests:
-Glenn Forbes, Supervising Producer for Newscasts, Ideastream Public Media
-Kabir Bhatia, Sr. Reporter, Arts and Culture, Ideastream Public Media
-Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Burea Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV
