CLEVELAND, Ohio — After a Franklin County judge issued a ruling blocking the state’s 24-hour waiting period before abortions, Ohio clinics have begun offering same-day abortions. We’re talking about the change brought by voters’ embrace of a constitutional right to abortion on Today in Ohio. Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston. You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn. You can now join the conversation. Call 833-648-6329 (833-OHTODAY) if you’d like to leave a message we can play on the podcast. Here’s what else we’re asking about today: How quickly did Ohio abortion clinics react to the court ruling throwing out a 24-hour waiting period for people seeking the procedure? The Women’s Final Four in Cleveland was remarkable for featuring Caitlin Clark and for being the first women’s Final Four to draw a bigger audience than the men’s. It was also remarkable for what it meant to theCleveland economy. What are the numbers? Two years ago, it looked like the beginning a potential Ohio family dynasty in politics. No more. Which power couple is splitting up, and right in the middle of the election season? Part of Ohio has hit a benchmark no one wants for the first time since records were kept. What is it? More bad news for Ohio. How much did our Covid case number jump in the past week? The late artist Norman Rockwell is not an Ohio guy, but a big collection of his paintings ended up here in a most unusual way. And soon, they will be gone. What’s the story about Rockwell’s BoyScout paintings being in Ohio, and why are they leaving? Let’s celebrate some lesser known Ohioans. Who is this year’s Ohio educator of the year? Who is the Dayton police officer trying to claim a title at the international paralympics in Paris? Finally, an update on a storyfrom earlier this year that had a murky future. What has become of the BlazingPaddles Paddlefest that was canceled because of high heat earlier this summer? We have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here. Do you get your podcasts on Spotify? Find us here. RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here. On Google Podcasts, we are here. On PodParadise, find us here. And on PlayerFM, we are here. Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings. Chris (00:01.02) Whenever the people that are in charge of Cleveland argue that a big event has generated huge amounts of money for the economy, you wonder if it’s the case. But the women’s Final Four in Cleveland just might have done what they’re claiming. One of the stories we’re talking about on Today in Ohio, it’s the news podcast discussion from Cleveland .com and the plane dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Laura Johnston and Layla Tassi getting ready for a holiday weekend. It’s our final podcast episode of August. Layla, how quickly did Ohio abortion clinics react to the court ruling throwing out a 24 hour waiting period for people seeking the procedure? Leila (00:42.316) They wasted no time, Chris. Last Friday, a Franklin County judge blocked the state from enforcing this law, and within days, Planned Parenthood and other providers began offering same -day abortions. The judge cited the abortion rights amendment that Ohio voters passed in November. This move was prompted by the understanding that the waiting period posed a significant financial and logistical burden, especially for patients who have to coordinate child care, travel, and work schedules, to have to come back on a separate day. to have your needs met really is a burden. So Dr. Bhavik Kumar of Planned Parenthood of Greater Ohio said that as soon as lawyers said it was okay, the agency felt it was important to act quickly. The organization started offering same -day abortions at their surgical centers in Bedford Heights and Columbus on Tuesday. Similarly, preterm in Cleveland started offering same -day abortions the day after the ruling. However, the ruling could still be reversed because this legal battle continues. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost plans to appeal, though the timing remains uncertain. For now, though, the clinics are pressing forward. They’re adjusting their policies and contacting patients to tell them of the new, more flexible options. The rapid response highlights this ongoing impact of legal decisions on healthcare access and the significant relief that this ruling brings to many in our state. Chris (02:03.282) The voters made clear they want to enshrine abortion rights. Dave Yost is making, and what I would say is the wrong interpretation of what the voters did. He’s saying what the voters did is restore what we had with Roe v. before the Dobbs decision. That’s false because if you go back to when Roe v. Wade first happened, yes, but in the years since, state legislatures were putting all sorts of additional restrictions in that nobody was in favor of. Leila (02:06.865) -huh. Chris (02:31.614) He’s trying to set the clock back to the day before Dobbs. Voters set the clock back completely to wipe out all of these phony attempts to get rid of abortion by putting these limits in. The 24 -hour waiting period was never done for women’s health. It was, let’s reduce abortion. Let’s get 24 hours to talk them out of it. And he keeps going in this direction. And I don’t understand why. He’s running for governor in Ohio. Ohio doesn’t want any of this. And he doesn’t have to appeal this. This law was invalidated by the constitutional amendment, and yet he’s going to do it anyway. again, it’s under this false premise that his completely his interpretation. Nobody else says this, that all we did was set the clock back to the day before Dobbs. Leila (03:18.124) I agree with you completely. It’s really unconscionable to make someone wait 24 hours and then return for another appointment. mean, not only the inconvenience, but just the mental strain of that is completely unfair. so, I’m glad to see that we’re in this moment finally. Chris (03:37.214) Well, it goes further than that. It basically is saying that the people that are seeking it have not thought it through. They’re basically saying they’re too stupid to have known what they’re doing. So we need 24 hours to get through to them. Whereas when people make that decision, that is a heart wrenching decision for many people. When they make it, they’ve come to terms with it. They don’t need proselytizers telling them, save the baby, save the baby. They’ve made the decision. They should be able to carry it forth. Leila (03:43.381) Right. Chris (04:06.716) Which is what Ohio voters said in large numbers last November, overthrowing all the nonsense that came out of the legislature that Dave Yost is now trying to keep in place. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The women’s final four in Cleveland was remarkable for featuring Caitlin Clark and for being the first women’s final four ever to draw a bigger audience than the men’s on television. It was also remarkable for what it meant to the Cleveland economy. Lisa, what are the numbers? Lisa (04:37.435) And the women’s final four brought a lot of excitement to Cleveland because of Caitlin Clark’s ascendance and brilliance on the court. They were here from April 4th through 7th. And during that, we generated $32 .9 million in direct spending for the Cleveland economy. And direct spending means things like hotel rooms and so on and so forth. So the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission report used a calculator called the Destinations International Event Impact Calculator. And that considers 10 different data sources to see what the impact actually is. Lots of excitement here. There were 36 ,584 people attended two sold out games at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse. Over 20 ,000 visited a free Turny Town Festival at the Convention Center. 11 ,000 attended a Super Saturday practice. And this was the best April on record for downtown hotels. Chris (05:32.912) I always question these numbers. always think, come on, you’re making these numbers up to make it sound big. But if you look at the people who attended the total number and divided into those millions, it comes out to between eight and nine hundred dollars each on average, which probably isn’t ridiculous. If you have three nights in hotels and go into restaurants, not everybody stayed in a hotel. Some locals went, but some people would have spent more than that. So the numbers probably are good. I wish. They would lay them out more clearly than just give us totals and some attendance numbers. You’d like to see exactly what they spend on hotels, exactly what they spend on the restaurants and all the other things. But it doesn’t seem preposterous. And that is a lot of money pumped into the economy. Lisa (06:18.075) Well, now, do you believe this figure that they threw out? They said that since 2000, we’ve attracted 260 sporting events that generated $986 million in economic activity. Do you believe that? Chris (06:31.014) Well, look, you can always quibble with the numbers. They probably use some variables that are questionable, but there’s no denying that the work of Destination Cleveland and the Cleveland Sports Commission have brought enormous amounts of money, tourism and renown to Cleveland. All those visitors come to Cleveland and they go home and say, man, Cleveland is happening. All that television attention on the city almost always puts us in a good light. We’ve had a remarkable run of good weather during these events, so it’s usually pretty not like when it was last week, when it was this week, 90 something degrees. But it is, they’ve done a great job in bringing big events to Cleveland for a long time now. And there is a huge benefit to it. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Two years ago, it looked like the beginning of a potential Ohio family dynasty in politics, but no more. Laura Witch Power couple is splitting up and right in the middle of the election season. Lisa (07:08.101) Mm -hmm. Laura (07:28.994) Right in the middle of election season and right on their two -year anniversary to the day. This is Emily Moreno Miller and Max Miller. They have a nine -month -old daughter. Max Miller filed the divorce papers on Tuesday, that was two years after their wedding, at the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey. They had a reception speech by Donald Trump, who obviously featured large in that. Max Miller worked for him as a senior advisor during his presidency. and Emily Moreno Miller is the daughter of Bernie Moreno who is running for Senate in a very heated campaign right now. So you’re right, the timing of this is interesting. You figure it must be, you think that they’d wait if they could, but Max Miller filed this, there’s no reason given and his lawyers are just saying they decided they no longer wanted to be married but wanted to be great parents to their daughter. Chris (08:22.878) I think the timing is bizarre. Donald Trump running for president, Max Miller is a big Trumpy guy, worked for Donald Trump. Moreno’s dad is running for Senate. Miller is running for reelection in a district that’s not a slam dunk win. And all they would have had to do is wait 10 weeks, right, to get past the election. And the fact that they go in now, just a red flag, something’s up there. Everybody’s saying, it’s personal. We’re not going to discuss it. We’re not going to discuss it. But you can’t help but question the timing of this. And also, who files for divorce on their two -year anniversary? That just seems like it’s an extra insult to me. Laura (09:00.896) It does. we looked at, you know, we got this filing and there’s a lot of stuff about the parenting in there, but there’s no reasons given because when this came up, the last time the Miller, know, Max Miller had really been in the news, maybe the national press was when his former girlfriend, the former White House press secretary, Stephanie Grisham wrote in the Washington Post that her relationship had turned physically abusive. And then Miller ended up suing Grisham for defamation. That was a Cuyahoga County case. was dismissed. about this time last year. So it seems like August is a very newsy month in the Miller household. Chris (09:36.294) Yeah, and like you said, they don’t list any reasons. There’s no allegations of anything. But it does raise all sorts of questions about what’s the urgency, because it does, I think, have some ramifications for elections. Laura (09:40.746) No, no allegations. Laura (09:52.28) The thing is they did file this in Cuyahoga County. They weren’t like Josh Mandel who tried to hide it away in Ashland County, so good for them. Chris (10:00.114) You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Part of Ohio has hit a benchmark no one wants for the first time since records were kept. Lisa, what is it? Lisa (10:09.531) Much of Athens and Meigs counties are now in exceptional drought, which is the highest classification. This is the first time for Ohio since the US Drought Monitor reports became public back in 2000. So 1 .3 % of Ohio is now in exceptional drought. The extreme drought is now up from 12 % coverage to 15 % since last week. Monroe, Noble, Morgan, and Washington counties are completely in extreme drought. and about 16 others are partially affected in South Ohio. Severe drought, went from, we’re now at 8 % of the state. That’s actually down from 11%, but that’s not because things are getting better. It’s because some of them have transitioned to extreme drought. So things are not getting wetter, they’re getting drier. About 75 % of the state is abnormally dry. That’s up from 63 % just last week. 3 .3 million Ohioans are affected and it went up by 600 ,000 people since last week. We are the only Midwestern state with severe to exceptional drought classifications. Chris (11:18.706) Alright, Laura’s been fascinated with this topic since it came up, so go ahead Laura, talk about corn sweat. Laura (11:26.702) it affects us here in Ohio, but it is a Midwestern thing. And they say Iowa is super humid because of corn sweat, because of the moisture that forms on the corn. this is serious corn season, right? I’ve had corn on the cob twice this week from Zalais that I get a giant eagle. something like 4 ‚000 gallons created every hour by all of this corn. was enough to fill a swimming pool. I don’t know how many days. You’ll have to look at the I’m not the scientist on this, but I find it fascinating. you can’t like driving at our like near our cottage, there’s a lot of corn fields and it’s like, you can smell the corn in the air. Chris (12:06.76) But this is a result of the dryness and the heat. The corn forms this moisture to battle harsh weather conditions, right? Yeah. Laura (12:18.7) I believe so, and that’s why we’re getting it when it’s so hot outside. Lisa (12:23.643) When they’re saying pasture yields are now down to 36%, that’s pretty low. And over 70 % of our topsoil and subsoil is either short or very short of moisture. So not even any moisture down below the topsoil. Chris (12:37.97) Hasn’t affected the apples. I’ve already made three trips to Patterson’s because there’s a new hybrid honey crisp apple that comes out in August and it’s delicious. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. More bad news for Ohio. Layla, how much did our COVID case number jump in the past week? Lisa (12:41.125) hehe Laura (12:47.054) Sounds good. Leila (12:54.543) Chris, you know this better than anybody because you’ve been hit twice in recent weeks. But COVID, the COVID situation took a turn for the worse this week with the number of new cases jumping so significantly. State reported 10 ‚418 new cases. It’s a pretty notable increase from the 8 ,352 cases that were reported just a week earlier. This is the first time since January that Ohio has seen weekly cases climb above the 10 ,000 mark. So to put this in perspective, the state had only about 7 ‚000 new cases during the same period last year. And this marks the 13th consecutive week of rising case numbers, a trend that began back in early June. Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff from the Ohio Department of Health emphasized that the best defense against COVID is the updated vaccine for the 2024 -25 season. It’s designed to be effective against the variants that are circulating right now. It’s available in some Ohio locations with more availability expected as we move into September. So far, almost 1 .4 million Ohioans have received that updated one dose vaccine, which is just about 11 .8 % of the state’s population. Back into the numbers, this past week, we also saw an increase in hospitalizations with 252 new admissions. That brings the total number of hospitalizations in the state to 153 ,282. there were five new ICU admissions reported. Additionally, the state reported 32 more COVID -related deaths, and that brings the overall death toll in Ohio to 44 ‚146. So while the pandemic has faded from the headlines, COVID hasn’t disappeared. And like I said, Chris, you’re our poster child for that. Chris (14:39.562) This is just a bad luck mixture of this new, newer variant and the fever people have for traveling in the summer. Summer travel is the highest it’s been since before the pandemic began. And a whole lot of people who are traveling are spreading it. And we thought it would keep going up for a couple of weeks after school return and the summer vacation. season waned, but to see a 2000 jump is scary. It’s odd. You keep mentioning that had it. This is the first time in the entire pandemic era where this, kind of story is not scaring me because I had it. So I’m not, I’ve got the antibodies to this one. have at least a couple of months, I think of protection, but it, I, it did, it, it rocked me for more than a month. I did not feel like myself for probably five weeks. It was one of the worst illnesses I’ve ever had. So I would highly recommend people do what they can to avoid it. And hopefully we’ll see those numbers start to drop in the next couple of weeks. Leila (15:37.996) I’m happy to hear that the federal government is going to be supplying those free tests again. I think that was critical to diagnosing and making sure people stayed home when they were sick. That was, yeah. Chris (15:49.564) Yeah, we were out buying tests, although the ones we bought when we had to replenish them also had the flu test, which I think will be handy in the future. I didn’t realize you could do tests that would find COVID in both strains of flu, something to keep in mind. I don’t know if the government tests will have that, but they are available. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The late artist Norman Rockwell is not an Ohio guy, but a big collection of his paintings ended up here in a kind of unusual way. Soon though, they’ll be gone. Laura, what’s the story about Rockwell’s Boy Scout paintings being in Ohio and why are they about to leave? Laura (16:25.07) I didn’t know these were here. I didn’t know Norman Rockwell painted 400 works for the Boy Scouts. We’re talking paintings, calendar pages, magazine covers. And they’re at the Medici Museum of Art. And that is because there was a guy that brought them there after another museum didn’t. Anyway, he brought them to Ohio. But they’re going to be sold because the Boy Scouts are needing to make money to pay for the cost of their sexual abuse lawsuits, which gives this a whole different twist. So they’re going to be sold as part of this bankruptcy settlement that was reached. Inheritive auctions in Dallas is saying they’re going to start with 25 pieces from the collection that will be auctioned in November and the rest will be sold in the next year or two. They believe the collection is valued at much as much as 130 million, but the collection has been there since 2020. And it’s the largest collection of Boy Scouts aren’t ever displayed. Chris (17:24.774) And when’s it gone? When do people have till it goes away? There’s a date. Laura (17:28.936) I mean, they’re going to be doing the auction in November, so I’m not sure when they’ve got to take them out. Chris (17:36.286) All right, well, if people want to see him, better rush over there. There’s a story about it by Susan Glaser on cleveland .com and you’re listening to Today in Ohio. Let’s celebrate a couple of lesser known Ohioans. Leila, who is this year’s Ohio Educator of the Year? Leila (17:51.852) She’s none other than Danae Pinkney, an inspiring English teacher from Twinsburg High School. Pinkney has been teaching for over a decade and she received this prestigious award from Ohio State Board of Education during a ceremony on Thursday. At 35 years old, she was one of four finalists chosen from a pool of 11 district winners across the state, all vying for this top honor. And in her acceptance speech, Pinkney said she is really excited about having this platform to celebrate her profession and the incredible work of teachers throughout the state. She said that whether or not educators receive formal recognition, their work is deeply valued. She’s eager to use her new title as a way to advocate for her fellow teachers, encouraging them to stay passionate about their work and push back against outdated systems that don’t serve them or their students well. Pigny earned her bachelor’s degree in middle childhood education from Ohio State University. She got a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction with a focus on educational technology from Ashland University. She’s known for an innovative approach to teaching, including creating a senior level course on African -American literature, which addresses the need for representation in the curriculum. And Pigny inspires the students to get involved in community service and activism. Her students have been have even worked on international projects like a recent collaboration with students in Ghana to build global empathy and community. So congratulations to Danae Pinkney. It’s pretty cool to see this honor go to an educator from our coverage area. Chris (19:23.014) Yeah, and it’s always great to celebrate teachers because they take a lot of unfair criticism in recent years by polarizing forces in politics. And I agree with you, it’s great that it’s somebody in our area. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Here’s another one. Lisa, who is the Dayton police officer trying to claim a title at the International Paralympics in Paris? Leila (19:27.542) Mm -hmm. Lisa (19:44.714) He is 40 year old Byron Branch from Bellbrook, Ohio. He’s competing in the Paralympics fencing. He got into fencing in high school and he continued it as an adult. But in 2016, he lost his right leg after a truck pinned him to a vehicle he was assisting on the side of the road. And it could have ended his career. It could have ended his fencing, but it didn’t. The police department supported his career and his fencing. He is currently a 17th seed. He’s won medals before. He won gold at the Pan American Games in 2018, the silver at the USA Fencing National Championship, and bronze at the North American Cup in January. So after his amputation, he said he progressed from a wheelchair to a walker, which he said sucked, into crutches, and now he’s mostly on his prosthetic leg. So here’s the thing about Paralympics fencing though. Athletes, have to be in a wheelchair and the wheelchair is secured to the ground so you can’t move. So this is going to be a very different approach for him for fencing. Chris (20:52.54) It’ll be interesting to see if he wins it. I guess that brings fairness to it because it allows people of all sorts of disabilities to compete on an even plane. But it would, I imagine, change his training quite a bit. Lisa (21:07.599) Yeah, and he’s of course his wife Brittany and their two young kids are in Paris cheering him on and the police department in Dayton will be watching from home as well. This is a great story. Chris (21:18.28) We hope he wins. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Finally, an update on a story from earlier this year that had a very murky future. What has become of the Blazing Paddles paddle fest that was canceled because of high heat earlier this summer? Laura (21:34.73) It is happening September 15th and I hope the temperature is not in the 90s because I’m not sure what they’ll do. That’s what it was set to exceed on its first date, June 22nd. It was canceled two days ahead of time. But the good news is if you paid, if you registered for that June event, you don’t have to pay again to participate in the September 15th event. They’re going to honor those registrations. They’re going to have it at Cleveland Metro Parks Merwin’s Wharf. That’s next door to the original plan for the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. They’re going to have parking there, but they’re not using that building. And the days activities go from 8 a to 4 p There’s a bunch of different races with different lengths, as well as a casual paddle and a post paddle expo after the paddling events. So we did can’t we they said they canceled this beat. because of the heat, we did find out that Share the River, which has hosted this for years, hadn’t gotten permission for the Cleveland Rowing Foundation boat houses, docks and launches. And the insurance issue was a problem. So I’m not sure if that’s why they’re not going there now. They haven’t been, it hasn’t been totally clear. Chris (22:49.832) There were a lot of questions at the time about what really happened and whether they would make good. And it’s nice to see that they are because people were suspicious. We received all sorts of notes from the public saying, what’s going on? I don’t trust it. But the fact that it’s scheduled, the fact that they’ve cleared the river because they have to do that for the Coast Guard, it’s a good sign that this was in good faith. Laura (23:09.953) Mm -hmm. Laura (23:13.388) Yeah, and hopefully they have a beautiful day. It’s really cool to see so many paddlers on the river taking over the whole thing. And they have the Anthony Sellebreze fireboat that sprays the water, and you can go under it. And it’s just a nice thing to see on an industrial river, just people recreation taking over. So good for them. I hope they have great weather. Chris (23:35.9) You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We’re in a rush to get to the holiday weekend. We’re sure you are too. So we’re cutting it short today. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, Laura. Thanks, Leila. Thank you for listening. We will not have a episode on Monday. We will be back Tuesday.
Subscribe
Login
0 Comments
