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A SERVICE OF OHIO'S PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS
A SERVICE OF OHIO'S PUBLIC BROADCASTING STATIONS
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Joe Calabrese, general manager, Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The RTA is about to cut back on its routes, buses and drivers. April 4, RTA plans to lay off 219 employees including 110 drivers; it will sell some buses and trim over ten per cent of its routes in an attempt to deal with rising costs. Fares won't go up, but they won't go down as promised. A 50-cent increase imposed last year in a time of $4 fuel was to have been eliminated, but will remain.
Roundtable:
Mike Roberts, freelance journalist; Richard Osborne, editor, Ohio Magazine; David Arredondo, vice chairman, Lorain County Republic Party.
No Txt 4 U:
he Ohio House has passed a statewide ban on sending and reading text messages while driving. This bill, and one like it in the Senate, would make texting a primary offense, meaning police could stop a driver just for texting. Traffic safety experts blame texting for tens of thousands of accidents annually. Some lawmakers said during debate that all driving distractions are dangerous.
Media Ban for Sowell Case?
Judge Shirley Strickland Saffold is mulling a ban of media coverage of the Anthony Sowell trial. He's the man accused in the serial murders of eleven women whose bodies were found on his property. Saffold says extensive coverage has jeopardized Sowell's chances for a fair trial. A week ago, Saffold threatened to jail a Plain Dealer reporter for refusing to reveal the source of a story on the Sowell case, but then relented when a fellow judge stepped forward as the source.
Health Reform Repercussions:
Two Ohio Senators, including Tim Grendell of Chesterland, are co-sponsors of a new measure that would let Ohioans opt out of buying medical insurance, a mandate under health reform passed by Congress. The state of Virginia this week enacted similar legislation. Several dozen Ohio lawmakers are urging Attorney General Richard Cordray to join 14 other states in challenging the constitutionality of health care reform mandates. Cordray, a Democrat, says he won't.
Unable to Leap Tall Buildings:
Wildlife advocates are urging downtown building owners to turn off exterior lighting that they say is luring large numbers of migrating birds to their deaths. Experts say the lights confuse the birds, blinding them to the presence of immovable objects in their paths, a situation that usually ends unhappily for the birds. So they want the lights doused during the spring and fall migrations.
March 26, 2010