Oil and Gas Drilling on Public Land

After a week off to celebrate the nation's two hundred fiftieth birthday, we have plenty of news to talk about this week. It's today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion Cleveland. com and the Pain deealer. I'm Chris Quintn here with Laura Johnston, Lisa Garbin and Layla Tasi. Lla, we have talked about how state House Republicans are genuinely afraid this election season of what they call the new populism, a euphemism for voter anger over the abuses the lawmakers have heaped on all of us as they take care of their wealthy friends Laura Hancock wrote a story digging into this theme. apart from some hollow sounding Republican denials, what did she find? Yeah Chris. I think Laura's story makes a pretty compelling case that Republicans are reading the political tea leaves here. They deny that they're suddenly changing course because it's an election year, but the issues consuming the state House right now are exactly the ones generating the most voter anger. And those are soaring property taxes, giant data centers popping up in rural communities, concerns about the exploding cost of private school vouchers and proposals that would have cut off Medicaid payments to family members caring for disabled relatives. And what we see there aren't traditional left versus right fights, there are quality of life issues that are making people across the political spectrum angry. So Laura talked to University of Cincinnati political scientist David Niven who said Republicans have long been able to campaign on what he called manufactured issues, culture wars These problems are impossible to ignore because people experience them directly. You can't miss your property tax bill. You can't ignore a data center being built next door to you. And that's creating a different kind of political pressure than we've seen in the past. So Laura Story also points out that some of this pressure is being amplified by citizen activism. Thereir signature drives underway now to eliminate property taxes and restrict large data centers. And Common cause, Ohio's Catherine Turer says lawmakers have a history of suddenly paying attention when voters start gathering signatures for ballot initiatives. She also described lawmakers from both parties visib moved when families testified about how essential Medicaid caregiver payments are. and that helped convince legislators to strip a proposal that would have eliminated those payments. So that doesn't mean Republicans have suddenly become populists. onn property taxes, they have passed meaningful relief, but on data centers after months of discussion They left Columbus for the summer without passing a bill. Instead, they formed study committees on several of these issues, which Democrats dismiss as just a way to look like you're listening without actually doing much at all. So I think the big point of Laura's story is that this is about politicians really recognizing that voters are increasingly angry over issues that affect their wallets and their neighborhoods and their families and that ignoring those concerns has become politically riskier than it used to be whether this is this new attention survives past election day or whether it disappears once that pressure is off, that really remains to be seen And of course, our local Jerry Sereino is the guy saying, Hey, pay no attention and man behind a curtain. Nothing to see here. Everything's fine. The one other thing that the story doesn't get into that I also think is playing a huge role based on the many communications I receive is Donald Trump The voters hate Donald Trump except for the Trumpy Trumpers who never will see him for the grifter he is. The news that came out last week about how much money he made on his crypto schemes while the investors all got soaked for huge amounts of money outrageous people. You're not supposed to use the office of the president as a grift and all of these Republicans in the Ohio legislature over the past years have pledged complete fealty to this guy. And I keep hearing from people saying, I am going to vote against anybody that is tied to Trump in any way, shape or form. The guy's corrupt Gifter. I want nothing to do with it. And that's got to be scaring these people as they go to face the voters. They are tied to one of the most unpopular people ever to leave the office, a criminal. Complete Yes. and you know, I think, you know, Laura's story explores the idea how that historically Scandals have tipped the tide for Democrats in the past in Ohio. And it seems that every twenty years or so, Ohio has seen a democratic resurgence that's fueled by voter anger and frustration. And of course, Democrats aren't predicting that they're going to take over this year, especially with heavily gerrymandered districts but they do think they can chip away at the GOP super majorities Niven argued, for example, that even even losing a handful of seats could change the dynamic because Hoffman has been able to govern largely without negotiation at all But if Republicans lose enough members, especially if they fall below that veto proof su super majority threshold, I think they'll have to start compromising. So there really is an interesting the Trump factor really, really is an interesting one to pay attention to There are politicians in other states who get this. I'm surprised that every Democrat running in Ohio is not constantly trumpeting The corruption. The money that came out last week says it all. All you have to do is say Donald Trump has made more than a billion dollars in his first year back in the presidency more than anything he ever got from his aimed real estate deals, How's your bank account doing Everybody else is going to the grocery store and turning their pockets inside out. Well, this guy corruptly is using his office to just rake in the cash. Sherred Brown should be doing that. Amy Acton should be doing that. Everybody running for the state House should be doing that. Corruption infuriates America We'll see how these Republican candidates try to step away. Do you think they're going to try to hold Trump at arm's length at this moment? or do you think they're can't withith all the statements they've made. Look what happened last week. We talk about this in a while, but Supreme Court change the rules on elections, but Ohio would already threw its feealty to Trump You know, stuck at all H highlands. We'll get to that one You're listening to today in Ohio. And what could be a misguided strategy, Vvek Ramaswami has been attacking Amy Acton for her valiant work on the pandemic six years ago. But apart from the fact that many Ohi Ohians found Acton's work heroic on COVID What is Ramaswami's own vulnerability on this issue, Lisa Yeah, every time these attack ads come on TV, I'm yelling at my TV because they terribly overstate her authority in the COVID shutdown in Ohio. You know, the ad say that she called off the election at the last minute, abusing her power. That was the first ad. that was part of a ten million dollars campaign. And then there was a second five hundred thousand dollars ad where they're saying she was the liberal who shut down Ohio, closed your child's school and your friend's business And as we all know, She had none of that authority. She advised Governor De Wine and Secretary of State Laose and then Lieutenant Governor John Houstead, and they're the ones who postponed the election. But in a twenty twenty one op ed, Vk Ramaswami said that he was an informal COVID advisor to Lieutenant Governor Hstead. And this was while he was CEO of a New York based biotech firm that was developing potential COVID treatments. They spent seventy thousand dollars lobbying Feds on that COVID drug development in approval. The drug is called Gimissu lab, but it had no significant benefit He also called for a national registry to segregate those with natural immunity or who had COVID so they could go back to their normal life while everybody else had to deal with the shutdown. So he left this company in twenty twenty three. and in May, when AP asked him about his COVID position, he said it was nuanced Yeah. he's attacking her for suggesting to the wine that we shut down because it this scary disease that nobody knew much about was rampaging across the country. He wanted to segregate people based on whether they got this shot or not. I'm not sure what people would be more offended by in that statement, it doesn't seem like he has the moral high ground that he's trying to claim here. And it's really the only issue you see from him. I mean, do you see anything else that he's pushing hard with her No, and his previous ads were all these just, you know, just lovely, o economic development and we'll help you with your medical bills. But now they're all attack ads and they're very, very strident economic development because he was his company out of Ohio to Texas. So he's lost that one too You're listening to today in Ohio One of the biggest stories of the past week was on a topic that always resonates with readers grocery stores. Laura, what is Kroger's big announcement that it is buying giant Eagle mean for shoppers We don't entirely know how the experience is going to change in Northeast Ohio, but Kroger said that will keep them as giant eagles and run them there. So assuming we'll get to keep the same name. Maybe we'll get to see some Kroger brand on the shelves, which I think some people would welcome. And yeah, it's yet to be seen, but you are right. peopleople feel passionately about their grocery stores. This is a one point six five billion dollars deal. It's huge and takes the two hundred stores that Jiant Eagle has across five states and puts them under the Kroger umbrella And as a lot of people reminded me at the end of us, we Kroger used to be in Northeast Ohio was actually here until the eighties and Giant Eagle didn't really make a huge impact in Northeast Ohio until the end of the nineties. They were in here in the eighties too, but so it's a full circle moment for some shoppers. Yeah they reminded you because you made I got a mistake never here Ohiomoy and I hear it from people. What are you talking about in the sixties they were here Yes the idea that we're going to keep the Giant Eagle name. I don't buy that that's long term. My bet is becausecause they know people are so loyal to grocery stores, they'll keep it in the beginning and they'll slowly slide it over. I've been in both stores frequently enough to be able to compare and I don't really see much difference, although some of our readers did, right? Yes, some people did and they commented about what they like about both stores. And I think because Giant Eagle has been here for thirty years now people feel that kind of brand loyalty. But some people love Kroger. I mean, it's Cincinnati based. It has a lot of Ohio stores. so people have a familiarity. This isn't like some totally foreign brand coming in and taking out the hometown. I mean, John Eagles's based in Pittsburgh So I think I agree with you that these are a very kind of similar mid tier grocery stores. These aren't like low end discount stores. They're not high end Wegman's or Hens. So I don't see a huge difference in what they carry. They're pretty basic. I do think there are some big Krogerss. There are some Kroger stores, they do keep some brands, but I think you're right peopleeople are accepting, it might just it might just see how it goes, right? Like if people really want Kroger name and they want all of those specials and all those things. I can't see the company being like, no, no, we're not going to give that to you What what wass hilarious is when I asked the readers about this, a good number of them came in and said, I don't care about this. I'm all for Hein's. It wasn't even about Hein's, but that's all people wanted to talk about. People who love Hein' really love Heinn's. Well, and everybody has their store that they go to, right? And they might have to go to another store if something's out or they're in a different area. but like I shop at Aldi because it's cheap and it's easy And I go to Ji Eagle to get, you know, corn because they have deays corn in the summer, which is great and when I need other things, but it's not my regular trip. So I think people are creatures of habit and they will continue to be You're listening to today in Ohio The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority gets the tone deaf award of a decade with what is guaranteed to be an unpopular and likely futile decision. Lla, what is this preposterous plan? Chris, the plan is for RTA to ask Ciga County voters to raise its dedicated sales tax from one percent to one and a half percent Possibly as soon as this November, and that would push the county's overall sales tax already the highest in Ohio at eight percent to eight and a half percent. RTA says it has little choice because without new money, it says it'll have to cut about thirty million dollars in service next year with the extra revenue, which would bring in about one hundred thirty five million dollars each year promises more frequent buses an expanded weekend service. It says it'll have better suburban routes and a long term financial fix that could last decades. The pitch is that You know, you pay more now or you're going to watch transit shrink. Even some RTA board members think going to voters this fall is just way too soon because there hasn't been nearly enough effort to build public support. and that's where tone deaf part comes in because at a moment when voters are already furious about taxes and local governments are talking about raising we're talking about raising the sales tax again to help fund stadium repairs and things. Are wants to pile on with another half cent. So whether this need is real or not asking people to accept the highest sales tax in Ohio and then raise it even further is really a political moonshot here The most maddening thing about this story for me was the third paragraph where it said, they haven't asked for an increase in decades and decades. And it's a reader even got this. A reader sent me a note, said lookook When they passed this, cars cost six thousand dollars. Now, cars cost fifty thousand dollars. They're getting in enormously more money R on sales because of inflation. Sales taxes were never created with the idea that we increase them They were created with the idea that inflation will keep the money coming. Look, the readers get this. and we'll talk about it in a second. The problem with RTA is they've never remade themselves. In private business, when things get tight, they bring in leaders who are change agents. They rip the place apart to figure out what is the correct Those that do that successfully thrive, those that don't fall off the wayside This doesn't And what we have is a bunch of political hacks appointed to the RTA board that hire people that are just part of the regime of transportation. We need a change agent to come in and rethink what should mass transit be today and fix it. This is just throwing good money after bad. and I guarantee you, this will fail. And L we actually asked readers about this in December when this idiotic idea first came up What did they say? Well they overwhelmingly said RTA hasn't earned the public's trust to ask for more money. And it wasn't that they're saying transit is unimportant necessarily. In fact, a lot of people made the point that public transportation is a public good just like the schools and the libraries and the roads, and they don't mind paying to support it they want a system that reflects the way people actually live today. They talked about bus and routes that will that still assume everyone is commuting downtown and unreliable service and safety concerns, which we hear about often and just kind of a general lack of creativity in solving problems as you're describing. And the most common refrain was redesign the system first and then ask for more money People suggested smaller buses, more flexible routes. Partnerships with Uber and Lyt, more service between neighborhoods instead of everything funneling downtown. There was also a lot of sympathy for people who depend on transit, like seniors and people with disabilities, workers without cars. So it wasn't anti transit It was more like, show us you've reinvented the system before you come back asking to pay even more. And Given that Cuyaga County already has that high sales tax many, readers said they just don't think this has much chance of passing as it's currently envisioned No, they're going to vote against it. They hate the idea. Look, the other thing is remember, most of their budget comes from a sales tax from people who never use the system. And now they want more. the I asked the again in May about RTA and we got a lot more of the same They have no vision. they have no thought And and that needs to change. They need to bring in people that have expansive thinking and really look at what is the future of transit to ask for this tax is an abuse of the citizenry. They should kill this idea right out. It will fail. My bet is it goes down seventy thirty or worse and it should. This is a failure of leadership once again in Cyoga County to look for the right solution and just go back to the taxpayer. And they're fed up. This will not pass. It's just stupid. And the fact that there are board members They're still arguing for it shows that we have the wrong people on the back. And that reader was completely right. That really does nail it that The revenue they collect is tied to inflation. And that and RTA has been contracting over the years. How is it that they can't make ends meet and deliver quality service with the money that they get from a one percent dedicated taxs that It just bogles mind. I don't understand Exactly. This whole thing boggles the mind. They should have a meeting and say, okay, bad idea. We're going back to the drawing board. You're listening to today in Ohio. The Ohio leegislature and Mike De Wine claiming they simply had to get ahead of a Supreme Court ruling that would wipe out grace periods for absentee ballots Needlessly stuck it to a whole lot of elderly voters, Lisa How did the Supreme Court rule and what does that ruling say about Ohio Yeah, the US Supreme Court in a five to four decision in a Mississippi case, ruled that absentee votes can be counted up to five days after the election as long as they're postmarked on time. But here in Ohio, back in December, Governor De Wine signed House Bill two hundred ninety three, which removed Ohio's four day grace period Dewine did say that he did it reluctantly as the Mississippi case played out, but it seems to me they probably thought that the Scotis was going to rule differently on the case. The plaintiffs in the case included the Republican National Committee, the Mississippi GOP and others. They argued that the grace period was unconstitutional. The Fth Circuit Court agreed, but Scotis reversed that and they sent it out for further proceedings. in the uh, in the u The opinion, Amy Coney Barrett who sided with the liberal members says the choice is made when voting is complete, not when they're received. But in the May primary, that was the first under the new law. We had lower turnout with, you know, and we'll see a bigger impact in November, the twenty twenty four general election, aboutb nine thousand three hundred people voted absentee within the grace period That's less than one percent of all votes cast. But in the May primary this year in Cuahoga County, there were only thirty ballots that were, you know came in post election. There were over eight hundred in twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two I'm not buying Mike De Wine saying I do this reluctantly. Everybody, every Republican in Ohio is trying to reduce voting participation. Every law that's been passed, every decision Frank Laose makes They jump the gun wrongly now, predicting what the Supreme Court would do and it affects a whole lot of people who really don't have the ability to get to the ballot on election day. And you'll hear people say, Well, you got plenty of time to get your ballot in. The U.S. Postal Service has become unreliable do not get delivered as quickly as they once did. The grace period was to give people some comfort And they've taken it away. They've made it harder, especially for the elderly to vote. And I don't recall, but is Cyoga County down to one dropbox or are Ohio Countyies down to one dropbox? I don't Yeah. That's what I love. And of course, the wonderful Robert Sprag, the treasurer that could not be more MAGA is campaigning on wiping them out alt togetherether And you know, here's the thing about our legislature. They're on break until after the November election. You'd think this would be a slam duck to just follow the Supreme Court ruling, but they're not going to do anything. It appears until after the election. They don't want I bet they never restore it. They don't want people to be able to vote. They're trying to reduce the vote. Somehow they think it helps Republicans if there's turnout You're listening to today in Ohio We talked earlier about the legislature's abuse of the people in its efforts to help its wealthy friends. This next story is another result of that. Laura, how many acres of public land were just handed over to the oil and gas drilling industry for more despoiling of our irreplaceable natural places teen thousand more acres for fracking. This is winning bids to drill beneath Egypt Valley and Jockey Hollow wildlife areas and part of Salt Fork State Parkark which I know a lot of Northeast Ohians go to So this was last Monday that the Oil and Gas Land Management Commission voted to award twenty two oil and gas leases. These are the exclusive right to develop the mineral rights beneath the parks. That brings in two hundred forty one million dollars in upfront payments to Ohio Department of Natural Resources plus royalties if they get gas or oil, which sounds like a lot of money until you remember, hey, we spend a billion dollars on private school vouchers every year. L this is a drop in the bucket It's amazing how wild this has become. We just keep giving away the rights to these pristine lands. And that's going to be the legacy of Mike D Wine. This all happened under his watch. Who considers himself a protector of state parks is very proud of it. But you know, like this land is your land, this land is our land. L No, this land belongs to the oil and gas companies What does that say? And the fact that people keep going to these meetings and there are protesters chanting, no more gas, no more oil, and they are voting over these people And like there are basically angry mobs representing the rest of us who are not quite as passionate and are not taking the time to do this because I think if you poed most Ohioans, they don't think this is a good idea. So they're just voting right over these very outraged people and not giving them any mind Yeah I do want to point out that while Mike Dewine claims he's a protector of natural lands, they haven't given out leasas to drill under the Ohio fairgrounds. So Oh my God. You're l You're listening to today in Ohio. Leailla, do you remember when the Sleazy Ohio legislature broke every rule about highway planning and without discussion passed a law to put an interstate interchange in strong smill? The law was rightfully ignored and killed. What evidence do we have now about how wrong it really was? Yeah this really demonstrates why we need transportation planners because like you said for years, Patton pushed for a new interstate seventy one interchange at Boston Road in Strongsville and he got language slipped into the state law directing the project before a comprehensive traffic study had been done And it was so such a brazen example of politics trying to override the planning process. Eventually, that law did get repealed and officials agreed to let NoWACa, the region's transportation planning agency actually study the corridor first. So the study is now starting to produce some answers and they pretty much demolish the political case that Boston Rad interchange After analyzing the entire I seventy one corridor through Strongsville, Brunswick, and in the Middleburg Heights, the planners concluded that a Boston Rad interchange should not move forward. It would require taking a lot of private property. It would cost a fortune. It would create new traffic headaches on local roads and most importantly it wouldn't solve the congestion problem as well as other options would. So instead, they're focusing on three alternatives. One is a new interchange about a mile and a half south at Drake Road Another is building a marginal road that would let traffic bypass the bottleneck around South Park Mall. And the most interesting idea of the three is something that Greater Cleveland has never really had before. It's a diverging diamond interchange at Route eighty two. It looks kind of confusing when you first see it, but they've built these all over Ohio because they move traffic way more efficiently. They dramatically reduce crashes by eliminating a lot of dangerous left turns The study's not finished yet. NoAA expects to recommend a preferred option this fall with a final recommendation by the end of the year and any construction is still years away because funding has to be located. But the big takeaway is that the professionals looked at all this data and they rejected the one option that politicians had once tried to force into law It's it's just another in a long line of evidence of why secret law passing is bad. What they do in their lame duck sessions and in their budget bills is in secret. They shove all sorts of stuff in with no discussion that is bad law And fly, it's illegal because it violates the single subject rule, but the state Supreme Court keeps letting it happen It gets back to what we've said previously. if you see these people, your legislators out and about campaigning, ask them why they keep doing this, passing bad laws in secret. That's not what they're supposed to do. That's not why you send them to Columbus. Ask them, why should I vote for you when you keep passing things in secret? This is the Republicans The Democrats are in a tiny minority and all they can do is howl about it. Yeah,'m going I'm going to throw a little bit of a flag here because Patton was trying to he was desperate. He's for years was trying to solve this animus between Strongsville and Brunswick over this interchange. And I think he just got frustrated and said to heck with it, I'm going to put it into a law. I don't know that there's any nefarious dealings here. I think he was just trying to solve a longstanding dispute The nefarious dealings are doing it in secret without having committee hearings like you're supposed to on a piece of law. The ends don't justify the means. If he believed in that law, he should have put it before a transportation committee and let people come in and testify about it. He shoved it in there secretly and it violates every standard we know about and now we turn it turns out It was completely the wrong way to go. A real study showed that that was not the way to fix this. travel situation You're listening to today in Ohio. University Heights is getting a lesson in the idea that you really can fight City Hall. Lisa, what case involving the city is getting heard by the U. S. Supreme Court next term Yeah, the Scotus is going to hear the case of University Height resident Daniel Grand who sued the city for requiring to have a permit to hold a prayer group in his home. He said that it violates his constitutional rights and that University heights selectively enforced zoning laws against people of faith while allowing other gatherings to occur like book cubs, poker games and other things without permits. So back in twenty twenty one, so the thing with Orthodox Jews is that they pray three times a day for the Sabbis. They cannot drive or travel by car. So Grant invited twelve members of his community to pray in his home so they wouldn't have to walk back and forth to the synagogue three times a day The neighbors complained, the city sent him a cease and desist letter, and Grant said the city order never defined what a place of religious assembly is or how many people can gather before the ordinance is violated. He also alleged that former mayor Dylan Brennan had the UH Police Department watching his house to make sure people weren't gathering there Now the lawsuit that he filed was dismissed by a federal judge, but the Supreme Court decided they had a case here. Well, it'd be interesting if the Supreme Court rules for this guy because they're basically be throwing out zoning law that says you can't have churches in residential neighborhoods. That's not really what he was trying to do could lead to that kind of a precedent. If that happens, I hope people buy homes in the Supreme Court justustice neighborhoods and turn them into temples and churches because I think that would be a good taste of their own medicine University Heights is trying to preserve its zoning. It does seem from everything we've discussed previously They were ridiculous here. This guy was just inviting people to his house And the neighbors said very anti Semitic things. And so I don't I really don't think this is a day for university heights in the way it's dealing with somebody But it'll be interesting to see how it goes in the Supreme Court. You're listening to today in Ohio. Let's do one more. What's the latest evidence once again based partly right here in Cleveland that sports betting is a serious threat to the integrity of the games This is about a game that the Milwaukee Bucks played against the calavves in Cleveland. And former NBA guard Malik Beasley was playing for the bucks. He was charged last week in federal court, accused of working with a former teammate agent and bets to tank his performance in this game so that bets would cash in on prop bets. And he was in debt. so this is his way of paying back. His former teammate is Edward Davis. He also played for the Cavs in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty two. But this was a game in January of twenty twenty four, according to prosecutors agreed to finished with fewer than four rebounds. That was the betting line for one of the prop bets. And so he could control his own actions. He didn't get those rebounds. He tipped off people and they placed at least thirty one thousand dollars in wagers on that part of the bet It's so bad. what's happening to sports and it's happened so frequently that I don't I don't see a solution except to ban prop bets, but It's just sad that they're destroying game If you're watching a game, if you're paying all the money to go there and watch a game You're relying on it to be honest and great. It's not Right. And so just one person can change the entire outcome of a game for money because this guy got three rebounds, the calves won one, twelve to one hundred, ten. So one rebound could have been the difference in the entire game. And you're right, that the whole point of sports is to play competitively for I mean, it is entertainment, right? But the goal is to win. Look at all of the World Cup going on right now. I mean those fans are so rabbid and the countries want to win so badly and that is pure sport. And this is business. And aside from wrecking sports, it's wreking people's finances because it's so easy to do on your phone. I mean, the reason the guy threw the game is because he was in debt, right? Like they're all being just subsumed by money Now let's hope LeBron comes to the cabs because he'll set the tone. No one would dare do anything lacking integrity with that guy on the team. He's so respected You're listening to today in Ohio. That's it for the Monday episode. Thanks Laura. Thanks Lisa. thans Leyla. Thank you for being here. We have a lot more news from last week to talk about. So come and join us again tomorrow