Free Republic

CLEVELAND — A new School of One, run by the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, is focused on creating a space for students who identify as LGBTQ+. During the pandemic, classes are online, but once hybrid learning is available, leaders at the school hope to have some students at the LGBT Community Center on Detroit. CMSD says it is the first of its kind in the country. "It blows my mind. I didn't honestly think it was going to be this easy," said DaJon Battle, a program administrator with the district. Battle, who identifies as Queer, said representation in schools is...

The Ohio National Guard and State Highway Patrol troopers will have a “significant presence in Columbus” amid fears of protests by supporters of President Donald Trump, Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday. DeWine’s announcement comes after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol last week, and law enforcement officials are preparing for armed, pro-Trump protests this weekend in Columbus and other state capitals, as well as in Washington during President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20... The Ohio Statehouse will be closed Sunday through Wednesday, as will state office buildings in downtown Columbus, the governor said. On Thursday morning, fencing was...

The vote to impeach President Trump was approved by the House by a vote of 232 to 197, with 10 Republicans supporting the measure. The following House GOP members voted in favor of the move: Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (OH), Rep. Peter Meijer (MI), Rep. Fred Upton (MI), Rep. Liz Cheney (WY), Rep. John Katko (NY), Rep. Adam Kinzinger (IL), Rep. Tom Rice (SC), Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (WA), Rep. Dan Newhouse (WA), and Rep. David Valadao (CA).

President Trump on Monday awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Rep. Jim Jordan, the Republican from Ohio who has served as a high-profile congressional defender of the Trump throughout his presidency. A statement from the White House credited Jordan with his efforts to fight back against the Democratic-led impeachment effort against President Trump last year that ended without a conviction in the Senate. "At the beginning of last year, Jordan was named ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee and led the effort to confront the impeachment witch hunt," the White House said. "He is an inspiration to freedom-loving...

Friday during an interview with Spectrum News, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-OH) hinted that he would not oppose if Vice President Pence and President Donald Trump’s Cabinet used the the 25th Amendment to remove the president.

Staunch Trump ally, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), put his name on the list of objectors to the electors from 6 contested states early in the process. Today, Jordan stood in front of fellow members of Congress and asked, “For nine weeks, Democrats have been afraid to have a real debate on election integrity. Why?” Jordan also reminded them that “60 million Americans think the [November] election was stolen.” He continued, “Four years and forty million dollars on the Russian hoax, but we can’t look into an election that 60 million Americans think was stolen!?” Jordan explained that they’ve asked multiple...

Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday signed a controversial “stand your ground” bill that would eliminate Ohio’s “duty to retreat” before using force in self-defense. Senate Bill 175, fast-tracked through the Ohio General Assembly last month by DeWine’s fellow Republicans, will make Ohio the 36th state to no longer require people to retreat before they can justifiably hurt or kill someone in self-defense. The governor had previously hinted that he would veto SB175, saying he first wanted lawmakers to pass his package of gun reforms that they sat on for more than a year. But in a release sent Monday afternoon,...

Jordan is expected to receive the medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor, sometime next week

U.S. health care workers are first in line to receive the COVID-19 vaccine — but an alarming number across the country are refusing to do so. Earlier this week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine disclosed that about 60 percent of the nursing home workers in his state have so far chosen not to get vaccinated. More than half of New York City’s EMS workers have shown skepticism, The Post reported last month. And now California and Texas are experiencing a high rate of health care worker refusals, according to reports. An estimated 50 percent of frontline workers in Riverside County in...

A weak economy, high unemployment rates, failing schools, and high child poverty levels all plagued Cleveland in 1982. Those same issues remain in 2020, laid barer by the coronavirus pandemic that limited access to social services and increased social isolation that devastated people’s mental health. The two years are linked because they represent the worst two years in recent history for deadly violence in Cleveland. The city hit 185 homicides on Dec. 20, the most in a single year since 1982 when the city hit 195 homicides and when nearly 200,000 more people called the city home. The homicide rate...

Governor DeWine or Chief Medical Officer Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff spend a portion of press briefings discussing the issue of hospital capacity, often warning Ohioans that if cases continue to climb, hospitals around the state will be overrun and care for other non-COVID patients may be crowded out. Consequently, The Ohio Star dug into the data to unearth the trend in statewide hospital capacity and in each of Ohio’s eight Hospital Preparedness Regions. Based on numbers found on the COVID Dashboard, between December 1 and December 15 cases dropped statewide by 23%, hospitalizations dipped 1% and deaths decreased 35%. The percentage...

COLUMBUS, Ohio - An Ohio death row inmate who survived an attempt to execute him by lethal injection in 2009 died Monday of possible complications of COVID-19, the state prisons system said. At the time of the 2009 procedure, condemned prisoner Romell Broom was only the second inmate nationally to survive an execution after they began in modern times. Broom, 64, has been placed on the "COVID probable list" maintained by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, spokesperson Sara French said Tuesday. Inmates on that list are suspected to have died of COVID-19, pending a death certificate, she said.

Melatonin, a dietary supplement often used by insomnia sufferers, could be used to possibly help prevent or treat COVID-19, according to researchers at the Cleveland Clinic. The hormone — which regulates the sleep-wake cycle — was associated with an almost 30 percent reduced likelihood of contracting the disease, the scientists said in research published in the journal PLOS Biology, KIRO 7 reported. Additional studies are required about the over-the-counter supplement, the researchers said. “It is very important to note these findings do not suggest people should start to take melatonin without consulting their physician,” lead researcher Feixiong Cheng of the...

Down, down, down. In three minutes, the skip drops nearly 1,700 feet below Cleveland. Then the giant metal door swings open, and you’re deposited in an other-world, with walls, ceiling and floor made of salt. Dirty brown salt at the Cargill mine’s entrance, where the rock has absorbed diesel fumes and dust for more than 60 years. Pristine white, with glimmering flecks, at the mine’s far reaches, 3 miles north, under Lake Erie. “I look out at the water, and it’s like, man, we’re under that!” said Cargill employee Cachet Hilton, 45. Every day, the 5-mile wide mine gets a...

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Police Department has blocked off several streets downtown after an RV with its engine running was reported to authorities. Police officers are at the scene near the Federal Building on 6th Street to investigate after the RV was reported to them by security.

Nineteen counties in Ohio have exceeded or equaled records for the most overdoses in a year as the nation continues to see a spike in drug overdoses during the coronavirus pandemic. Harm Reduction Ohio, a drug policy advocacy group which says it is the largest distributor of naloxone in the state, says the biggest increases in death caused by overdoses have occurred in central and east Ohio. There have been more than 3,700 overdose deaths in the state, a number likely to rise by the end of the year, Harm Reduction Ohio said. May saw a record-breaking 557 deaths. The...

An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has filed a federal lawsuit accusing two Columbus police officers of using excessive force against him while he was working in his official capacity. Agent James Burk, a 16-year veteran of the ATF, said in the lawsuit he was working a "routine" assignment on July 7. That afternoon, he went to a home on the 3300 block of Edgebrook Drive near Dublin to retrieve a shotgun from someone who was not permitted to have a firearm.

The Ohio House passed a controversial “stand your ground” measure on Thursday that would eliminate any “duty to retreat” before using force in self-defense. Senate Bill 175, which now must clear another Senate vote before heading to Gov. Mike DeWine, is the latest attempt by legislative Republicans to make Ohio the 36th state to no longer require a duty to retreat before using force. House Republicans added the “stand your ground” language via a last-minute floor amendment to SB 175, which grants civil immunity to churches and other nonprofits where shootings occur. Under existing Ohio law, people are justified in...

The Ohio High School Athletic Association released an update to their Coronavirus regulations December 1, with predictable rules such as the wearing of masks while in community areas and during team travel, and temperature testing before competition. However, it also included some seemingly contradictory rules such as the elimination of athlete handshakes pre-and post-match. Officials are also no longer allowed to indicate the winner of the match by raising the wrestler’s hand. Fist bumping other wrestlers, coaches, or officials is also prohibited. Dr. Karissa Niehoff, executive director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, wrote in May about...

The Cleveland Indians will be bowing to pressure from mostly Caucasian social justice warriors over their “racist” nickname. An announcement is expected as early as this week.The NY Times reported the long-time Major League Baseball franchise will be following the Washington Football Team, formerly known as the Redskins, in pandering to demands by those who are easily offended by traditions. That means Chief Wahoo, the iconic mascot for the team, will no longer be employed. According to The Times:Following years of protests from fans and Native American groups, the Cleveland Indians have decided to change their team name, moving away...