CLEVELAND, Ohio - Thousands of Clevelanders who rely on free hot meals could be left hungry next month, as a federal funding freeze threatens to shut down 17 sites, unless Cuyahoga County steps in.
We’re talking about the cruelty of President Donald Trump’s orders to review — and eventually eliminate — FEMA support for emergency food programs, 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.
Here’s what we’re asking about today:
It’s not every day that the police chief of a sizable Ohio city asks for a criminal investigation of the mayor. What is going on in Cleveland Heights?
The increasing cruelty of Donald Trump’s policies should be getting to had to ignore for the centrists who supported him. How might his policies leave a lot of families hungry in Cleveland without local government action?
Amy Acton has been traveling the state meeting with groups in her bid to become Ohio’s next governor, but now she’s out with a big message to all. What is it?
Jerry Cirino added something to the state budget that the governor and House did not, the first tax on advertising in the history of Ohio, and it is specific to newspapers. Not billboards. Not broadcasters. Not magazines. Just us. How unusual is that?
Our story comparing House budget provisions that would have made nearly every police record nearly permanently secret was widely read. The Senate version of the budget is far less alarming. What changed?
Saturday, while Donald Trump was doing his best Vladimir Putin impersonation with a grotesquely expensive military parade on his birthday, much of America was protesting. What were the “No Kings” protests like in Northeast Ohio?
A FirstEnergy exec who was granted immunity to prevent his from taking the 5th testified for the first time Friday, and while most of what he said was not new, he did describe an interesting private meeting in proximity to the biggest corruption scheme in Ohio history. What happened.
Why is a congresswoman from Northeast Ohio so bent on getting tax breaks for retreat tires?
Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are deadlocked on a big green energy project. Usually Mayor Justin Bibb and County Executive Chris Ronayne get along. How is this breaking down?
More Today in Ohio
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 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 Quinn (00:01.126)
What a weekend for America. All sorts of people protesting, a lame Donald Trump parade and terrible what happened in Minnesota. Lots to talk about on Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here today with Lisa Garvin and Leila Tasi. Leila, let’s start local. It’s not every day that the police chief of a sizable Ohio city asks for a criminal investigation of the mayor.
What’s going on in my town of Cleveland Heights?
Leila (00:31.246)
If things seem to have really hit a boiling point in Cleveland Heights this past week, the city’s police chief is actually asking for a criminal investigation into Mayor Khalil Soren. And that’s really not something you hear about every day. It all started when staff in the city’s law department suspected that Soren may have tried to secretly record interviews tied to an internal probe involving Soren’s wife, Natalie McDaniel. She’s been at the center of a string of controversies.
including accusations of creating a hostile work environment, which by the way, she does not work at City Hall. So that should tell you something about how odd this is. She’s also been accused of using anti-Semitic slurs and verbally abusing employees, all of which have triggered multiple resignations at City Hall. The suspicious incident happened back in April. This was the same day that an outside firm
was set to interview city workers about McDaniel’s behavior. And that morning, a paralegal found a laptop plugged in and hidden behind a fridge basically in the law department. And surveillance footage later showed Soren entering the building super early before office hours and entering the law department, which is a space that he earlier had claimed he had no access to and coming back multiple times that day.
and again on Saturday and the laptop eventually vanished. The police chief cited a conflict of interest and asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation to look into this instead, but they declined without really explaining why. Then on Friday, after cleveland.com broke the story, city council held an emergency meeting and unanimously voted to demand a full criminal investigation. Some members are even calling for surrender to resign. Council President Tony Kuda said that the mayor’s stonewalling is
gone on long enough and urged him to step down for the good of the community. But then Soren showed up to that very meeting and he just kind of listened in silence and then declined to comment when he was called on to see if he had anything to add. And all of this just piles onto this long list of troubling incidents that are tied to Soren’s wife, McDaniel. Those include this police body cam video that the city refuses to release and...
Leila (02:54.626)
those inflammatory remarks and confrontations with residents and even a dispute between the mayor and a neighbor who is a common please judge. despite all this, Sorrento is still running for re-election.
Chris Quinn (03:08.112)
Well, there are a few things about this that were beyond, I think, everything that had happened before. If he did put a computer in there to record the investigation into his wife, you’re talking about felony level crime there. You can’t do that. You cannot record a conversation in Ohio that you’re not a party to. If you’re a party to it, you can. You can’t just listen in on people undisclosed. And the fact that
he he showed up outside of hours at the law department runs in runs out everybody asked back then what were you doing there he never said it then friday night he put out a another looney tune statement in which he doesn’t address a single fact that’s been raised about him not one but goes on and on every paragraph saying this is persecution of a black man i was really impressed at the way cleveland heights residents responded to that
Leila (04:07.278)
Hmm.
Chris Quinn (04:07.418)
that i think he did that thinking people will stop accusing me because i can call them racist and they flew at him hard saying that’s just not true there’s nothing about race here you have not explained once what’s going on he he is still fighting the release of the video of his wife yelling at the cop which is automatic public record will be an arbitration on it in july and he’s not addressing it tonight he has scheduled a meeting in a
Christian church which is raising questions from Jewish people again saying what’s going on with this guy in which he’s saying he’ll address it but he has yet in any of these controversies yet to say what’s going on he has not addressed what his wife said in any way except to say it’s not anti-semitism he has not addressed why he was in the law department and he has not addressed what his computer was doing there the story Corey did Friday was explosive and it hit that way
Leila (04:40.937)
Mm. Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (05:06.798)
and he is doing everything to deflect it and portraying himself as a Martin Luther King level kind of person. put himself in the company of all these legendary mayors and he’s just not. We’ve already called for him to resign our editorial board. This is as bad as it gets. I think this will spur the recall. They’ll get enough signatures and he’ll be removed as soon as the primary comes. Explosive stuff.
Leila (05:34.016)
Yeah, we’ll be there to cover what he has to say tonight. But like you said, if Friday night’s statement is any indication, he’s likely going to continue trying to frame this as a racially motivated political attack because he really did frame it that way. He used really strong language. He basically said that this is a modern day political lynching. So this is going to be a very fiery, combative
Khalil Siren that we’re going to see tonight, I’m sure.
Chris Quinn (06:04.284)
but here’s the problem though we have a policy of not allowing politicians to use our platform to spew nonsense so we didn’t write about what he said friday if he does not tonight address the facts that’s what the citizens deserve here what’s going on with your wife why were you in the law department what was going on with your computer he doesn’t lay that out then and he just says more racist nonsense we’re not going to give him that platform either he can pay for that spread it himself
Leila (06:10.721)
Yeah.
Leila (06:29.463)
Right.
He did sort of suggest that when the facts come out, you will all recognize that what he has done is all legal. So I’m curious to hear that argument. Yeah.
Chris Quinn (06:40.73)
he’s had months he’s had months to lay out those facts refuses to do so this council has been lame since the new government came along they bristle whenever i say that but when you look at things that are happening in lakewood and even linhurst there’s some electricity going on in those cities and cleveland heights is just flat even though they changed the government but the council is nothing compared to what saran’s doing
We endorse this guy. think everybody who voted for him is thinking, wow, he fooled us all. He’s pretty much a monstrous kind of guy. I just don’t know why he keeps leaning in to fight. He’s not gaining any traction. Go anywhere in Cleveland Heights and people want him gone. And yet he still stands up and says, it’s all about race. being persecuted because of race. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.
The increasing cruelty of Donald Trump’s policies should be getting hard to ignore for the centrists who supported him. Lisa, how might his policies leave a whole lot of families hungry in Cleveland unless we get some local government action to fix it?
Lisa (07:51.618)
Yeah, Cuyahoga County’s Hunger Network is warning that federal funding freezes may force them to close 17 hot meal sites in Cleveland starting July 1st. So the Hunger Network gets about $109,000 a year from FEMA via the Emergency Food and Shelter Program. That money serves tens of thousands of families in our area, but it’s been held up since January because of Trump’s funding freezes.
And the Hunger Network has been using money from their own general operating budget to fill the gap. They were hoping that the money would be released and they could be reimbursed, but it doesn’t look like that’s gonna be the case at this time. Program Director Emma Messitt says, it’s not sustainable. We can’t keep taking money out of our budget to do this. We didn’t make the decision lightly to pause our support, but she said without secure funding source, we just can’t move forward. In the first quarter of 2025,
4566 meals per month were served. That’s up 18 % over 2024. They’re asking Cuyahoga County for help. Health and Human Services levy funds do help fund the food pantry. Council President Dale Miller says they’re looking at funding options. He says, we’re very concerned and they’re trying to find a way to fix this.
Chris Quinn (09:10.374)
think about this we got a bill that they call the big beautiful bill sailing through congress that’s going to greatly increase the deficit squander huge amounts of money and it’s all going to wealthy people while we savage the safety net programs that keep people fed and medically treated this is terrible that these food food pantries were on the edge of closing and it’s going to take the county which doesn’t have much to step in to help them
Lisa (09:39.586)
Yeah, and you know, it’s $109,000. I mean, this is not even a drop in the bucket as far as, you know, federal funding is concerned. And we have to look to our own lawmakers here in Ohio. The three versions of the Ohio budget right now are calling for $7.5 million less going to food banks in the state.
Chris Quinn (10:00.272)
Huh. Isn’t there some money in the unclaimed funds, fund that they might be able to use here? You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Amy Acton has been traveling the state, meeting with groups and her bid to become Ohio’s next governor. But Leila, now she’s out with a big message to everybody. What is it?
Lisa (10:03.51)
Yeah.
Leila (10:18.294)
Yeah, she just put out her first big campaign ad in the race for Ohio governor. And it’s, it’s really a call to action after months of quietly meeting with voters around the state. She’s going public with a message that’s all about refusing to look away. That’s the line that she repeats again and again. I refuse to look the other way. It’s clearly her rallying cry here. It’s aimed at Ohioans who feel forgotten or fed up with politics as usual.
In this ad Acton hits some early political notes too. She takes a direct swipe at what she calls self-serving billionaires like Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. She contrasts them with her own background as a doctor, educator and public servant. And she talks about her tough upbringing in Youngstown and her decision to serve under Republican governor Mike DeWine during the COVID crisis, a time when she became a polarizing but very prominent figure.
Her message is that she’s not afraid to stand up to power and she believes that Ohio can do better from public health to economic opportunity. She says hope is optimism with a plan. Right now, she’s the only Democrat in the race, but with Republicans like Ramoswami and possibly Jim Trussell looming, she’s staking out her ground early.
Chris Quinn (11:32.922)
I know a lot of people don’t think a Democrat has a path right now because of how heavily the state has voted for Trump and there are almost no statewide offices held by Democrat. There is, though, a gigantic cliff we’re coming to. If voters abolish property taxes, which they seem bent on doing if it gets on the ballot, then the schools won’t be able to open. We won’t be able to do all sorts of things that those property taxes pay for.
Leila (11:40.002)
Yeah.
Chris Quinn (12:02.78)
and Ohioans are going to be furious and they’re going to blame the Republicans in Columbus for doing this. And that’s, think, the path for a Democrat to win. The Republicans in the legislature are just too stupid or drunk with power to fix the property tax issue. And the only way they’re going to fix it is to restore the local government fund and provide income tax money back to the communities that used to receive it. If they don’t do that.
Leila (12:28.887)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (12:30.874)
and the property tax crisis continues people are going to vote to abolish them and then everything comes to an end i think that’s a mcactin’s path and the republicans are so drunk with power they don’t they don’t see a reason to fix it
Leila (12:45.006)
Yeah, but, but, you know, like you said, she does face some headwinds. mean, for one, of course, like you said, Ohio has drifted deep into Trump territory and, you know, running as a Democrat, especially one closely associated with public health mandates during the pandemic. That could be a tough sell in many parts of the state. And, and while she was once the COVID hero, it’s worth remembering that her tenure was pretty short lived in that position. She resigned.
Lisa (13:12.576)
And that she left, yeah.
Leila (13:13.942)
Yeah, she resigned months into the pandemic after facing pretty intense backlash and protests outside her home and all this mounting political pressure. So that abrupt exit could raise some questions about how she’d handle the heat of being in the governor’s office if she wins. I I think Acton is a breath of fresh air. I think it’s, I love seeing, A, women entering this arena and also, B, people with integrity entering this arena.
but I think that those headwinds are still there for her.
Lisa (13:47.329)
I agree.
Chris Quinn (13:48.526)
In no doubt, no doubt. think it’s going to take some other dominoes to fall for her to have a path. All I’m saying is as impossible as some people now say this is, I’m not so sure. And if she is truly traveling the state, meeting with lots of people and reminding them how much we all valued her during those tough days, it could be a path. We’ll see. Lots to cover in the next year and a half. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.
Leila (14:00.695)
Yeah.
Chris Quinn (14:17.382)
Jerry Serino added something to the state budget that the governor and house did not. The first tax on advertising in the history of Ohio. And surprise, surprise, it’s specific to the newspapers, especially us that Jerry Serino hates. No tax on billboards, no tax on broadcast advertising, not even magazines, just us. Lisa, how unusual is this?
Lisa (14:42.084)
Yeah, this seems pretty focused and actually retaliatory in my opinion, but the Senate budget proposal would end sales tax exemptions on newspapers, print ads, and printing press equipment. This has been in place since 1935. So Senate Finance Committee leader Jerry Serino says, we showed great courage in challenging tax breaks that no longer serve Ohioans.
But America’s newspaper CEO, Dean Ridings says, this late introduction of a proposal like this risks immediate and unintended consequences, especially in rural small towns that rely on local newspapers. He says this will affect local news availability. Ohio News Media Association president Monica Nyport agrees. She says this will also increase advertising costs for businesses.
This would also create a barrier to access important community news and it singles out newspapers, as you said. Now, this is unusual nationwide as well. mean, a study by the Tax Policy Center showed that no states have a general sales tax on newspapers. They may tax digital publications or they may tax the gross receipts, but they don’t have a sales tax on newspapers.
Chris Quinn (15:55.004)
The exemption for newspapers goes back to 1935 when the sales tax was created. There’s never been a sales tax on newspapers in this country, in this state. What really surprises me is when I looked at the amount of money they’re projecting, they would get out of this, they’re cuckoo. There’s just no way, I don’t even think it’s 50 % of what they think they’re going to get. It’s like 22 and a half million. You would have to have
three or four hundred plus million dollars in newspaper sales to do that and there’s just no way that’s happening. I’d be surprised if it’s a hundred. their their projections are wrong. The effort is wrong. Here’s the other thing to think about. Mike DeWine actually had some tax increases in his version of the budget and the House said we are not going to increase any taxes and strip them all out.
this is a tax increase not just for newspapers but like you said for car dealers and others who advertise i don’t think the house is going to stand for tax increase even if jerry sereno wants to punish us because we repeatedly criticize his silly legislation
Lisa (17:08.049)
And I don’t think they were, and as you know, as we all know, that we’re losing newspapers left and right in this country. Small ones are getting affected the most. And this is the only lifeline for some people who live in small towns or rural remote areas. So they’re really doing their own constituents a disservice, but maybe they don’t want their dis...
constituents to be informed. Maybe that’s the end game.
Leila (17:28.458)
Exactly. That’s it.
Chris Quinn (17:29.478)
No, that’s it. That’s it. They’re trying to hurt libraries. They’re trying to hurt any, you know, college campuses, Jerry Serino’s bill. Everything about it is let’s make people dumb, but it is a tax increase. And I don’t think the house wants to be tagged with that. It’ll be interesting to see if it stays in reconciliation. I just look the same sentence that provides the exemption to newspapers and the law provides an exemption for magazines. They didn’t change it for both.
They just changed it for the newspaper and they only did it in Jerry Serino’s budget. You’re not going to be able to convince me he didn’t do this intentionally. And God, that’s just so venal and small minded changing tax policy for a grudge no matter how many people it might hurt. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Our story comparing the House budget provisions that would have made nearly every police record secret to the Stasi secret police was widely read lately.
The Senate version of the budget is far less alarming. What changed?
Leila (18:32.366)
Now this is a considerable shift. After a wave of backlash, including our own reporting, the Ohio Senate has seriously walked it back. The original House version would have let law enforcement keep nearly all police records hidden until a case was closed, which could have meant keeping documents sealed for decades or even forever in some cases. That had groups like the Ohio Innocence Project sounding the alarm. They warned that it would have gutted public access to police files, even in cases where people had already
been wrongfully convicted and exoneration might depend on those very records. But now, thanks to a compromise brokered by criminal justice advocates and prosecutors with a big assist from former lawmaker turned lobbyist Bill Seitz, the Senate has landed on a middle ground. Under the new language, police records can still be withheld, but only until the end of the appeals process or if the investigation is dropped.
So yeah, it’s a longer blackout period than current law, but it’s nowhere near the indefinite secrecy that the House was pushing. The Senate version also dials back the shield around prosecutors’ files. They kept some protections like keeping attorneys’ personal work product private, but they dropped a provision that would have permanently hidden prosecutors’ personal notes. And they made it pretty clear that...
The exemptions wouldn’t cover police documents or internal investigations that are sent to prosecutors. So in the end, even some of the loudest critics are calling this a pretty decent compromise.
Chris Quinn (20:05.532)
it well what they had originally was a disaster would have created police departments with zero accountability this this doesn’t do that and i’m not crazy about pushing the deadline to the end of appeals instead of the end of trial but there are a bunch of records we couldn’t get to appeals were over anyway uh... and so this is far better i it’s just a continued push though by this legislature for secrecy
Leila (20:30.402)
Yeah, I mean, one thing to keep an eye on is what happens in the conference committee, right? I mean, where the House and the Senate versions of the budget get reconciled. Because, I mean, just because the Senate scaled things back doesn’t mean those sweeping House provisions are totally dead. They could resurface behind the closed doors in the final deal. there’s, the compromise is very promising, but the transparency fight, I think, isn’t totally over. It’s moved into this backroom stage.
Chris Quinn (20:57.008)
We’ll be watching. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Lisa, Saturday, while Donald Trump was doing his best Vladimir Putin impersonation with the grotesquely expensive military parade for his birthday, much of America was out protesting. What were the no-kings protests like in Northeast Ohio?
Lisa (21:17.053)
Well, there were a lot of them and we couldn’t even get to all of them. Of course, the biggest ones were in downtown Cleveland. There were two protests, one at Public Square that started at noon, another one at the free stamp that started at two o’clock, and then both of these groups converged for a large demonstration. I didn’t get a head count, but I’m pretty sure it was over 500.
it included all ages. Our reporters and photographers took pictures of some great signs. There were kids, there were seniors in wheelchairs, just everybody in between. And the Cleveland police maintained a low profile. There were also no counter protesters seen. There was a big group in North Ridgeville. It was raining there when they were protesting about 500 people braved the rain along Lorraine road. And that included a lot of people from other different.
other cities, and also political candidates, veterans, and families. They did get some jeers and middle fingers, but it was otherwise peaceful. And the North Ridgeville Police Department had a statement said that they were going to vow to uphold the protesters’ rights, which they did. Pepper Pike, about 500 people gathered at the Chagrin Roundabout in a light drizzle. There was one woman, Terri Hyman of Bedford Heights.
had a photo of her family’s German business from 1936 surrounded by Nazi signs. And she said that they were intimidated into complying with the regime, regime just like they’re trying to do today. And the signs that we saw, and there were protests all over, big and small. There were some in Parma, there were some in Mentor, a lot of signs that were captured, not just no kings, but also women’s reproductive rights, cuts to university research programs, supporting immigrants.
Ohio Senate Bill 1, Medicaid cuts. So yeah, it was a great protest. Everyone seemed to have a great time. There was a conviviality to the group and there was no violence that we know of.
Chris Quinn (23:09.852)
Yeah, and I got a note from somebody in Parma saying they believe they had the second largest, so they were annoyed we weren’t there. If you think about this though, Donald Trump did not get half the vote in America. More people voted against him than for him, even though he went in swearing he had a big mandate. He stages this big parade saying it’s for the anniversary of the Army, but it was all about Donald Trump. He wanted to do it his first term.
He wanted to stand there and look like he’s North Korea, Mussolini. mean, it’s all of the worst imagery elsewhere in the world. And hardly anybody showed up to that. Yet across the nation, millions of people, millions of people gave up their Saturday to go out and say, they believe in our democracy. They believe in our form of government. They want us to be the beacon. Smart Republicans would see that and think, you know what?
There’s a movement out there. We’ve gone too far. We need to get back to the heart and soul. But Lisa, you said this morning, Bernie Moreno is out there saying nonsense again about how the left is creating violent trends. And so I don’t think Bernie Moreno got the, got the memo. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. The first energy exec who was granted immunity to prevent him from taking the fifth testified for the first time Friday.
And while most of what he said was not exactly new, Layla, he did describe an interesting private meeting in close proximity to the biggest corruption scheme in Ohio history. What happened?
Leila (24:40.044)
Yeah, Chris, you’re right. He didn’t really say a lot, but there was one moment that stood out. Dennis Chack, a longtime senior VP at First Energy, took the stand under immunity. And he talked about an April 2019 trip to Florida where he and other company executives flew down to visit Sam Randazzo, who Governor Mike DeWine had just appointed to lead Ohio’s Public Utilities Commission. And during that visit, First Energy’s then CEO, Chuck Jones,
asked everyone, including Chuck, to step out of the room so he could have a private 10-minute conversation with Randazzo. The timing of this conversation was very interesting because it happened to be right when House Bill 6, the now notorious billion-dollar bailout for nuclear plants, was being introduced at the State House. So Randazzo would go on to push favorable policy changes for first energy and override staff concerns.
He’s also the same regulator First Energy has admitted to bribing with $4.3 million. Randazzo, of course, died by suicide last year amid mounting legal pressure. As for Chuck, he mostly stuck to yes or no answers during this hearing, but he did admit to backdating a company contract related to a shady $400,000 payment. And yes, that money partly flowed to a company owned by his daughter.
The ink on that contract, interestingly, was analyzed and shown to have been written months after the date on the document. So, didn’t dispute that. He was fired in 2020 after householders’ arrest. This was just the first, though, of several high-level former First Energy insiders who are expected to testify in the coming weeks. And while none of them have been criminally charged yet, their testimony could hopefully shed more light on just how deep
The rot went inside both First Energy and Ohio politics.
Chris Quinn (26:32.901)
well i would should remember run does though was one of the worst most sinister people on the landscape in ohio everybody knew that and yet mike the wine picked him to lead the public utilities commission could have picked anybody could have picked people that were upstanding and had integrity he picked the guy we all knew was bad news who then went on to contribute to this terrible terrible corrupting of our legislature
Mike DeWine has accountability for what happened here. He shouldn’t have picked Randazzo and everybody knew it. And then when they raided Randazzo’s house, he still stood by him. It’s amazing that the evidence was building there and he still was saying good things about this guy when it was clear he was not a good guy for Ohio. You’re listening to Today in Ohio.
Leila (27:03.843)
Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (27:24.144)
Why is a congressman from Northeast Ohio so bent on getting tax breaks for retread tires, Lisa? These are the things that are polluting the highways. They fall off of trucks and you have to dodge them when you’re driving 70 miles an hour. Why are we seeking tax breaks for them?
Lisa (27:40.64)
Well, she is from Akron, you know, which is rubber city. And apparently this is a big industry, the retread industry, which I didn’t know. So Akron Democrat Amelia Sykes and Republican from Illinois, Darren LaHood have reintroduced the Retreaded Tire Jobs Supply Chain Security and Sustainability Act of 2025. That’s a mouthful. So it’s a 30 % tax credit to buyers of retreaded tires in an effort to lower costs and boost the auto industry.
A 2023 report from the US Tire Manufacturers Association says that the retread industry employs 51,000 people and supports 268,000 jobs in the broader economy. They say for every new tire sold, 1.1 retreads are produced, but that’s only about half a percent for imported tires. And they say that cheap, low quality Chinese tires are harming the retread industry.
So apparently 15 million tires a year are retreaded. And as you said, know, a lot of them are on these commercial trucks, 44 % are commercial truck tires in the U.S. and Canada. So this is a proposed 30 % tax credit. Also, it would be $30 per tire if you have a commercial fleet. This is supported, of course, by all the big tire companies, Goodyear, Bridgestone, and also the American Trucking Association.
Chris Quinn (29:04.282)
Yeah, I know. just, hate when I’m driving on the highway there in front of you. They have steel belts. They can damage your tires. When they, you ever seen one coming off that, that it smokes and stinks like burning rubber? I think they’re the bane of the highways. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Let’s do one more, Leila. Cleveland and Cuyahoga County are deadlocked on a big green energy project. Usually Mayor Justin Bibb and County Executive Chris Ronane get along. What is this breakdown?
Lisa (29:09.246)
Yes. Yes.
I have.
Leila (29:33.44)
This is kind of a surprise. Bibb and Ronane are locked in a standoff that’s threatening a massive $129 million federal grant meant to supercharge solar energy across Northeast Ohio. The breakdown centers on a small solar farm at the old Brooklyn landfill. Cuyahoga County wants to expand that site and connect it to Cleveland public power. But the city says
The county’s asking it to waive key legal protections that safeguard its city-owned utility. Bibb’s team is arguing that if they make any exception here, it could open the door to competitors and jeopardize CPP’s entire business model. Ruane’s camp sees it differently though. The county says Cleveland is mischaracterizing the ask and it’s actually the city holding up the broader clean energy rollout, including $18 million in solar projects.
that Cleveland was supposed to launch near the airport and in old Brooklyn. The county is essentially saying no deal on Brooklyn, no funds for your other projects. So now both sides are trading letters and public statements with each accusing the other of putting the entire grant at risk. That’s especially dicey because this same grant narrowly survived a freeze under President Trump earlier this year. And since it’s a reimbursement grant, they don’t get the money until the solar farms actually get built.
which means delays could cost the region everything. So what started as this wonky utility law dispute is becoming a high stakes political standoff and neither Bibb nor Ronnean wants to be the one blamed if this transformative climate funding slips away.
Chris Quinn (31:11.292)
It’s surprising that this is where they have their break. I would have thought the break would have come on Brown Stadium or something else, but this is the one where they’ve shown friction. It’s the first time we’ve seen it in a while. I guess we’ve also seen it on the jail deal that they were putting together, but it’s surprising that they can’t agree on a green energy project when they’re both so progressive.
Leila (31:35.854)
Yeah, this is especially tricky though because it’s really a test of whether Northeast Ohio’s leaders can collaborate on big complex regional initiatives. I mean, the whole premise of the federal climate grant was that cities and counties could work together to build a clean energy future. So if Cleveland and Cuyahoga County can’t even get past jurisdictional turf battles, it could raise doubts in Washington about sending other dollars this way in the future.
So yeah, this grant is at stake, but it’s always the region’s credibility when it comes to competing for future federal investments, I think.
Chris Quinn (32:10.542)
Yeah, good point. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Monday episode. Just a note, we’ll be here tomorrow. We’ll be here Wednesday, but we’ll be off Thursday for the holiday, Juneteenth, and we will be off on Friday. Be back tomorrow talking about the news.