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Crooked River Cast Show 3
17 Plays19 days ago
Crookedrivercast@gmail.com
Cleveland Court Hack “update”
Education funding increase in new proposed Ohio Budget.
Text Levy season!!!
The Celebreeze building IS up for sale.
FirstEnergy, rate hikes and rate decreases?
Portland Loos in Cleveland?
Canada shows their anger, with a sign.
Fight Club in Cuyahoga County Jail!!!
New bill requiring age verification for app downloads.
Ohio Hospital transparency act.
Cuyahoga County launches live music initiative.
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Transcript
Opening and Coffee Talk
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Quick Rivercast, where we do our best to give you a look around at what's going on Northeast Ohio. This is show number five. i am your co-host, Robert, joined as always by Tom. Tom, how are you?
00:00:14
Speaker
I'm doing well. How was today? i was how How was your coffee situation this morning? What are you drinking? I got a full cup. I got Of? Of, what do you mean? Coffee.
00:00:26
Speaker
Well, of what coffee, though? Any specific kind? Do you you have a preference? You know, it's the um it's the Costco, um I forget what it is, but it's from Costco.
00:00:38
Speaker
Okay. do So do you use the, what method do you use to make your coffee? I just have a Keurig. Okay. that's I was going to see if you still have one of those. That's what I use too. i don't know. My wife puts the coffee in the in our coffee holder and I just pick one. So I don't pay much attention. I'm not a coffee snob.
00:00:56
Speaker
No, yeah yeah, it's true. But, you know, I do notice that um I think my problem with coffee when I leave the house, it's not strong enough for me. So everything tastes weak and bland when I'm on in the road or something, you know? so do Do you um you mean the the coffee coming out of your Keurig?
00:01:14
Speaker
No, and I'm not at home. And I say go to McDonald's, which everybody says, McDonald's, that's good coffee, which I so used to agree with. But to me, it's just bland. It's not strong enough because I like strong coffee, apparently.
00:01:26
Speaker
Yeah. Like dark coffee, I should say. Yeah, you to I don't know what kind of roast that is. i'm not I'm not into coffee that much to know the difference. I mean, I know the difference when I taste it, but I don't know the names. and Yeah, so if I grab a cup from home and I leave and I stop somewhere along the line and and get another cup, it's like, whoa.
00:01:48
Speaker
But I use the Dark Magic. Oh, that sounds good. Yeah, it's it's one of those Keurig cups. Where's that coming from? ah Green Valley, Green Mountain. Green Mountain.
00:02:01
Speaker
Oh, okay. Green Mountain. Yes. Is that going to tariff to hell? I don't know. Where's it coming from? Everything's going to be tariff to hell, I guess.
Jessica Simpson's Career Evolution
00:02:11
Speaker
um But i I do want to bring up your your tip from last week. Well, it wasn't really a tip, but I did check out Miss Jessica Simpson.
00:02:19
Speaker
Oh, how did you like it? I liked it. I thought it was from...
00:02:26
Speaker
her past, I was not expecting that. And, right you know, obviously you grow and you're, she's an adult now and she's making her own decisions. It sounds like, and from some of the videos I saw, you know, she like a lot with in the music industry, they're, they're really boxed in and told what to do and what to sing and how to sing.
00:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, I think her father was the um her manager. So there was like a little bit of, you know, I mean, I think he was a good manager for for a while. But ah I don't know the complete history. I actually just started listening to her book. So I'm i'm kind of curious how that went.
00:03:00
Speaker
I caught a bit of their behind the scenes, I think on some of her videos, they're on YouTube and they went over the, you know, because she had such a great voice or has such a great voice, you know, they always told her the highest notes, you know, belted out and all this other stuff. And she's realizing she doesn't have to do that. She's got all these other abilities with her voice that they can do, you know, working with the produce new producers, new people, and they have different ideas. It's pretty neat, pretty neat.
00:03:24
Speaker
But I will say one thing though. I have to, I'm sorry. I have to say, why does she have to do that to her lips? I don't know. i don't know. And how does she sing after she gets injected with that stuff?
00:03:37
Speaker
I don't know. She's beautiful. Yeah, she's she yeah she's she's, you don't need to do this She's a nice looking lady. um and just She doesn't need that. When I see her, like, when I actually see her without all the makeup and stuff, I think she actually looks better. But yeah, that's me.
00:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, that's it. And that's the way, you know I just, I was like, um I give her credit for being able to sing when she does that. But um so, but yeah, it was pretty good. I liked couple of the songs really, you know.
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah, there's a, out of the five, I think there's five or six, I forget. yeah i would say there's two or three that I really, really like. And then there's ah the other ones I don't mind. I mean, they're just not my favorite.
00:04:19
Speaker
I think it's her big single, which is Leave. Oh, see, I like, um is it, I like Blame Me. Blame Me is good. and Yeah. I like that one. But I like the emotion in me. The production is so good on that.
00:04:32
Speaker
Yeah, it gets me on that. They have that in that song then leave. It's like, I don't know, there's a lot of motion and it just kind of caught me. Yeah. where she's She's really into the mic. And I mean, they kind of over modulate her a little bit when she's getting really, it's it's pretty cool. Yeah, it's really good stuff.
00:04:47
Speaker
I can't. I mean, it kind of. I know. I'm like in the truck going, what is going on here? I got the windows up. Is anybody around me?
00:04:59
Speaker
but it's okay. yeah No, it's it's good stuff. it's i mean like I went back and listened to her early stuff, and I was like, oh this is kind of... It's Britney Spears stuff, kind of, right? like harder It's very Britney Spears stuff. Yeah, it was teeny bopper stuff. I mean, it it was good. she She is a good singer. i mean, you can't deny that.
00:05:18
Speaker
And, it you know, it's just pop. <unk> i no It's not my thing. yeah it wasn't this new so This new stuff is good. It's really good. Yeah. So um I didn't really take ah too much of a look at your list this week.
00:05:33
Speaker
Very busy week. We got a lot of the same stuff. We got some of the same stuff. I thought, if you don't mind, we can start with a follow-up on a story from like one of our first shows, so which is a Cleveland Court hack.
Cleveland Ransomware Attack
00:05:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Go for it. So ah literally last night, I'm going, yeah i was going to start with this regardless, ah but the story came out, I think yesterday, an update from channel News Channel 5 on what's going on. But I was literally, one of my stories today this that today was going to be, why haven't we heard anything? It's been like a week and a half and, you know, someone's holding ran the city of Cleveland for ransom. We haven't heard anything, but now we have. So let's, I got, we'll start it off with a clip and then we'll give this a little update, which is kind of an update. So here we go.
00:06:20
Speaker
questions like whether it warned court helps if i start at the beginning of clip tom oh here we go why would anyone attack cleveland municipal court That is the question. Well, the thing with these ransomware gangs is they will really attack anyone. The cyber attack in Cleveland was first discovered February 23rd and shut down the court for two and a half weeks.
00:06:41
Speaker
Today, everything appeared back to normal, but the court still won't answer our questions. Like whether it warned court workers and citizens, their personal information appears to have been hacked.
00:06:54
Speaker
I really do think there is a higher responsibility you know for organizations that you know have access to your data and you don't have a choice in it to make sure that we're keeping it safe. Alex Hammerstone is a local information security consultant.
00:07:07
Speaker
He and Graham say the court should be more upfront about how and why they were shut down. Everybody knows the court has been hit by ransomware. It's time to put your hands up and say, yes, we have an active problem here.
00:07:21
Speaker
We are scurrying around trying to fix it. So Openness, yeah transparency is always the right way to respond, I believe.
00:07:30
Speaker
And um the guy's got a British accent, so it must be right. It must be right. So apparently, according to this group um ah called Quilin, I think.
00:07:44
Speaker
it's so q l I And i think I would pronounce that killing or killin. Yeah, they pronounced it something similar to that. is it is It's Quillen.
00:07:55
Speaker
It is Quillen, I think, but there's no U in there. it's ah but it's a So this group apparently has hacked all over the world. um Most recently of note was um UK Health Services.
00:08:09
Speaker
uh, they've hacked a blood testing and transfusion company, which shut down, ah parts of the UK health system. Uh, also I believe they hacked the, um, Ukrainian something or other now.
00:08:24
Speaker
Um,
00:08:28
Speaker
Quillen, yeah, it's called Quillen. Yeah, they did some kind ransomware attack on um something in Ukraine. now I thought I had it written down, but apparently i didn't.
00:08:39
Speaker
um But I guess, so that that that's kind of bears the question of why Cleveland? um Basically, because just because they're vulnerable. I mean, they just go where the where it's easiest. yeah um But still no word. um Nothing virtually, I mean, News Channel 5 has gotten zero comments from Cleveland.
00:08:59
Speaker
So it's as bad as we thought it was. They were hacked last year too. They were um Cleveland. i don't know if was the, it was the Cleveland court. course Was it the courts? I do remember reading that. but You know municipal court fit a broader pattern of cyber attacks on the U S municipal entities with Cleveland itself facing a prior ransomware incident in June, 24, and That shuttered City Hall. It was City Hall. See, how that's why i knew it was the same thing, basically. I mean, I'm sure it's a pretty similar system.
00:09:30
Speaker
um Oh, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ah So they've done um newspaper groups, Japanese Cancer Treatment Center, and Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs this year alone.
00:09:42
Speaker
They've hacked. Wow. Um, and I guess the, maybe the, maybe the good thing in all this is so far, according to the hackers, um, the city of Cleveland has not paid the ransom.
00:09:57
Speaker
Um, I think ah like that is the only plus I can take away from this story because at least they're not giving in to the demands and making it worse. Yeah. I don't know how to handle how, yeah you know, how, how should this be handled? Uh,
00:10:11
Speaker
You know, you got the Ohio National Guard and Ohio Cyber Reserve so far is assisting in this. Yeah, the proper ways, i mean, from all the security experts usually do not negotiate with terrorists because you could just consider these people are just some sort of terrorists or, you know, to that kind of.
00:10:34
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, they're hackers. I mean, yeah, and I mean, terrorists, obviously, maybe not not not terrorists, but um almost like a kidnapper. you you You know, you don't, they've they've got your information.
00:10:46
Speaker
The more you feed them with with rans you know with ransoms, the more they're going to do it. You know, it just kind of shows them they can keep doing it. um I had an incident like this with some software at my employment and at my at my work, my employment, um and they paid it.
00:11:05
Speaker
It wasn't my company. It wasn't our company. it was the company that we hire for part of of so ah some software that we use. What happened after we paid it? We were down a week and a half.
00:11:17
Speaker
ah huh And they paid it and we got everything back. but okay so that But that allows them to you know do it again. But then shows them that it's worth doing it again. Just like spam is similar to spam. I mean, there's a reason there's still spam is because it actually does pay.
00:11:33
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. so The phishing emails and all that kind of stuff. So that is still ongoing. And I guess they're up and running. And other than that, we don't know anything.
00:11:50
Speaker
So that is... i guess, yeah, that's it's good that they haven't paid. I'm just wondering if they're if they're like getting anywhere with it, if if there is a way to get anywhere with it. If they found anywhere, to yeah. And you know I think the the the clickbait in this is, um they're
Ohio's State Budget and School Funding
00:12:10
Speaker
saying they're Russian-based ransomware group, almost like a um ah hired gun.
00:12:17
Speaker
So you can join these these groups and become affiliated with them. Right. And you use some of their resources to hack and then they get a cut of it. Gotcha. The ransomware group gets a cut of it.
00:12:28
Speaker
Almost like freelancers. It's very lucrative, it sounds like. um
00:12:35
Speaker
So that's kind of concerning, but i guess we'll have to keep an eye on it. I
00:12:42
Speaker
think they're going to just stay hush on that. Yeah. but Mate, I mean, let's look at it from a different way. Maybe that's good right now. Things are under under investigation. i don't know.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah. I don't know how much we're ever going to find out about that. Right. right um So that's, that was a kind of quick one that popped in yesterday.
00:13:08
Speaker
ah where do you want to go next? It's up to you. We can, we can, we got the Celebrese building still in the Ohio budget. Yeah. How budget's a big one. um Celebrese building. Yeah. That is.
00:13:22
Speaker
Well, that's, that is up for sale. It's been, it is being sold. Yeah. And it's also been confirmed. And I was right. About 70%. Okay.
00:13:33
Speaker
the The government is – the feds are going to be looking to lease um space for the for the employees you know that are there at the Celebrese building. They are looking to sell it, and they're selling it because of the cost of renovation and everything.
00:13:50
Speaker
like But um they do want to lease um private space elsewhere. They're talking about the old Sherwin-Williams headquarters. And the former Oswald Company's headquarters on 1100 Superior Avenue.
00:14:06
Speaker
ah And Sherwin-Williams is on 101 West Prospect. So they might be leasing space in both those places. So they're going to totally move out of? or do they say they they're going to? sell the building And lease somewhere else, you know, maybe they'll lease there short term and then move back in after it's um renovated.
00:14:29
Speaker
You know, who knows? and That'll be up to whoever buys it. Chantel Brown calls it a slap in the face. Yeah, it's not, though. I mean, this this is, they're overreacting. they they're They're thinking they're losing all those employees downtown.
00:14:47
Speaker
But it's it's not anything. It's just, it's just business. Yeah, it's called um efficiency and not spending money that you don't need to spend. i mean Yeah, yeah and and they won't need to take care of a building, which is... It should be an improvement, too. Which is what I kind of said last week. I figured they would sell it to somebody, would and they would lease it from whoever they sold it to, which I guess could still happen. Yeah.
00:15:11
Speaker
Yeah. And these times when we're when companies are trying to get people to go back to work and actually show up in an office, this could be a plus because who wants to go downtown and and you got to park and you got to do all this other stuff.
00:15:25
Speaker
Now you got an old building, they're probably going move into something newer. I mean... Yeah. For the people work there, it's probably going to be a plus in the long run. It's ah it's a good move you know um for for the federal government. And I don't see how – it doesn't hurt Cleveland. So Chantel Brown could suck it.
00:15:43
Speaker
I like it. Justin Bibb is – Lightweight. Yeah. That would be called light, light, light roast. I don't know. ah But that's the only thing that, it that has come up and it, it it is going to be sold.
00:15:58
Speaker
Um, I'm pretty certain of that. Cause it makes financial sense and that's what's missing from all of every, every facet of government is what's makes financial sense.
00:16:09
Speaker
Um, maybe tagging onto that is speaking of financial sense. Um,
00:16:17
Speaker
They are, there's levy seasons coming up. Oh, I haven't looked into this. Tell me about it. Yeah, we'll touch on this real quick because it does kind of have its tentacles all over the place because it's a budget issue. So it does also tie us into the the state budget.
00:16:33
Speaker
So right now, according to Channel 3, voters in Northeast Ohio will decide on several ah school levies and bond issues in the May 6th primary election. Notable ah districts are Avon, Illyria, Wycliffe, Parma, Twinsburg, Ravenna, and I'm sure many more.
00:16:53
Speaker
ah These measures aim to fund you know improvements, technology, textbooks, um and so on. um This also ties into the state budget, which they are. um
00:17:06
Speaker
So they're saying they're cutting education funding in the current budget that's going through the state. That's all I see. Right. um But what's really happening? Oh, I know what's really happening.
00:17:19
Speaker
um They are asking for six a $660 million dollars increase from last year, and they're ah they're they're giving them $226 million. Yeah, so there's no tax cut. There's no ah tax cut in funding. It's just not as much as they wanted. They didn't cut anything. They just didn't give them as much as they're asking for.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah, they're getting a $226 million increase Increase. And here's, i don't know if you ah heard this, but um it also caps the school district carryover funds at 25%. Yes.
00:17:55
Speaker
Because the schools are like over, they they got more money than they know what to do. Got a lot of COVID money probably still there, um I would assume. So yeah, there and they're going to maybe lower the money they're going to get from the state so they can pull from their reserves.
00:18:09
Speaker
So these schools have just been carrying over budget money for years and and and they're overfunded right now. So it caps it at 25%. They can carry over 25% from the previous year, which which should which it should. will Will it? I don't know, but it should ah reduce property taxes.
00:18:31
Speaker
Yes. Well, yes, because they, I mean, they have the money sitting in there. I mean, if they've got more than 25% of their, so 25% of what you spent last year or of your budget or something like that, if you have more than 25% reserves, then they're going to maybe lower that. Yeah.
00:18:49
Speaker
But as a city, if you're asking for a levy and you've got twenty five percent more than 25% of your last year's budget sitting in the bank, hello that that's a problem. yeahp So good good on them ah for doing that. so but that's This has just gone through the Senate so far in Ohio, I think, right?
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah, and it's still going through. There's actually still two bills. There's a Senate bill and a House bill. And the House hyperly the house bill just cut all of DeWine's taxes that he wanted to put on there. Yep.
00:19:20
Speaker
And so I just I wanted to say before we go too far away from the ah local levies, so just give people an idea. Um, so a six, let's say a $6 million dollars levy, uh, 6.9 mil levy, um, in a city over 10 years, um, is a cost to the homeowner of $20 and 13 cents per month per hundred thousand dollars.
00:19:46
Speaker
So if you have a house that you bought 15 or 20 years ago and it's now worth $300,000, um, that's some dollars a month.
00:19:57
Speaker
You're that's we do the quick 600 than $600 year. You'd more. That's over $700 year. Yeah. For 10 for the next 10 years. Mm hmm. that's over seven hundred dollars a year yeah for for ten for the next ten years So it's ah it's not a little bit of money.
00:20:10
Speaker
um And so... And in those 10 years, they'll be asking for another. they yeah There will be another levy. So be wise, people.
00:20:23
Speaker
Yeah. um I get we want education, but let's just take it um take some comparison to the private school. ah There are some private schools that have buildings over 100 old.
00:20:35
Speaker
And they still educate just fine there. You can just still educate your kid in an old school. But Rob, do they have air conditioning? Probably not.
00:20:47
Speaker
um But where?
00:20:51
Speaker
I'm laughing because I i heard ah i heard a neighbor say, oh, yeah, our school needs ah updating because it doesn't have air conditioning. And I'm like, I didn't have air conditioning. And there's really only a few weeks out of the year.
00:21:03
Speaker
yeah or i shouldn't even say a few weeks, not even a few days that maybe I remember when I was going to school, it would have been nice. so Yeah.
00:21:14
Speaker
And I knew there were schools in our district, uh, that were newer that had air conditioning. Uh, I do remember this because they would, the air conditioning would break and they, they would have to, they would get off school because their windows that didn't open because there, it was ah built for air conditioning.
00:21:30
Speaker
So, uh, we were kind of pissed about that. i almost rioted one. to No, we didn't. But, um, so what else in the state budget? Um, did you see anything? because they're, they're also claiming,
00:21:42
Speaker
um that you're you're giving money to the Browns or sports teams, but you're not going to give money, but you're cutting funding, again, cutting funding. not not They're not portraying it accurately. There's no cuts. Everybody's getting more.
00:21:58
Speaker
but Yeah, but one of the pushing one of the one of the things they're pushing back on, at least the media, is the Browns moving. um And that the fact that they want to issue $600 million dollars in bonds, but they want they don't want to give money more money to schools,
00:22:11
Speaker
um But just so we're clear, the state would be issuing bonds, which is a loan. And one of the reasons that the Browns are asking for is because the state gets really good interest rates because they have good credit.
00:22:26
Speaker
because they are they have good credit So the bonds, it's a loan. It's not coming out of the general fund. Right. And the loan will be paid back with interest plus is what the Browns are saying. part of the budget, but it's not an increase in taxes. Yeah, it doesn't come out of the taxpayer. It doesn't come out of the general fund.
00:22:44
Speaker
The only thing I saw in this budget, um I mean, besides that and the school funding, which, boy, yeah are the news is, our our local news is twisting that.
00:22:58
Speaker
um
00:23:01
Speaker
there's There's a expanse private school vouchers through unregulated education savings accounts. I guess they're going to allocate $1 billion to this initiative. Yeah.
00:23:12
Speaker
ah So that's that's drawing criticism from public education advocates. So I think that's like a school choice thing, right? Yes. yeah sos Which I think is good.
00:23:24
Speaker
Yes, and oh available to everybody. In the past, it was only available to those who weren't who didn't have the means to send your kids to school. So was more of an entitlement program or not entitlement, but that's, you know, more like a...
00:23:41
Speaker
program for the less fortunate. but right and ah And now they've expanded it um to everywhere and and they they yeah they want to give more money to it because... So tell me how that works. like Let's say I have kids and and um i would I live in a district where the school isn't the greatest.
00:24:00
Speaker
So i can i can um I can ask for ah money to send them to a private school basically. So you file paperwork with the state, ah give them your financial information, and they determine how much ah you're going to get.
00:24:16
Speaker
um Up to, believe it's like $6,000 elementary $10,000 for school, private schools. nine or ten thousand dollars for high school private schools Okay. so um So if you are a parent in crappy school district and you have the ability to to take your kid to a school, you know, like transport them.
00:24:38
Speaker
Right. um You could take your kid almost anywhere. Yeah, that's awesome. For very little, if if nothing. And the more money you make, they will give you less. But I think almost at every level of you get at least like $1,000 something like that, even if you're at the max.
00:24:55
Speaker
Yeah, you could send your kid to a good school. and and and And in the past, if you were in a really bad school district and you didn't have the means to take your kid, you could have done this for years. Yeah.
00:25:08
Speaker
So the ability to get your kid out of the Cleveland school system is there or whatever school system that you, that you, you know, but the, the one that's probably the one of the worst in the state, at least in our area is Cleveland school district. And if you wanted to a make the sacrifice and willing to dig a little bit, you could have done this for years.
00:25:28
Speaker
Right. They just now open it up last couple of years to everybody. and And people are complaining about it because, you know, again, they're, quote unquote, cutting school funding.
00:25:39
Speaker
yeah They're not cutting school funding. They're actually creating competition. Exactly. Between schools, which should improve um public schools, but will it, you know. So as on to that, I guess, this wasn't really, i was reading this story, it really wasn't on my list, but we can go over it real quick um since it's on the same thing as school performance and funding and so on. So there's a bill, SP-127, that is being proposed in state legislature, which will put um some pretty, i guess, punishments on school districts who don't fall above a certain ah threshold.
00:26:19
Speaker
And so there's you know there's proponents to this. There's people who think it's good. People say it's good. So ah it defines a poor performing school as a school district operated community or STEM serving grades four and older that has performed in the bottom 5% among public schools based on its performance index score ah consecutively for three years.
00:26:45
Speaker
right. So, and, uh, and is at the bottom of bottom 10% based on its value add progress for three consecutive years. Um, what they will do um,
00:26:59
Speaker
um give the schools the option of closing or having the state um bring in, I think closing the school is obviously the extreme option or removing principals, vice principals, and a certain percentage of your, of your educated staff, I think they call it, or the teachers basically.
00:27:22
Speaker
Okay. um And people are saying this is going to just disrupt schools. And I'm saying, how's it working for you so far? um Because maybe something, a different outlook or different set eyes or whatever I'm trying to say here. but um More money. Come Yeah, more money is always what it is. That's what they want. That's the cure. And and people are saying, proposes a heavy handed and overreaching state approach to local schools that receive low ratings on state report cards. Yeah.
00:27:57
Speaker
The impact, this is Scott DeMore, DeMauro, DeMauro. um I am so horrible with names. um The impact of the actions compelled by SB127 would harm students and communities.
00:28:11
Speaker
The harsh measures required by the bill ignore mitigating factors, ah forcing districts to make counterproductive decisions that could harm well-functioning schools.
00:28:23
Speaker
um So you would have to be in the bottom 5% in one study or in one um performance index score for three straight years and at the bottom 10% of another value added progress um study or whatever they call it for three consecutive years.
00:28:43
Speaker
That is not a well-functioning school. No, no. So, uh, so, uh, community, uh, Senate education committee chair, Andrew Brenner, Republican Delaware County introduced the bill last month.
00:28:59
Speaker
Uh, and no one has submitted support testimony for the bill yet. Um, so I guess it's just in its infancy stages, but, So there's a lot of stuff going on with funding. So pay attention to to what's going on because things are ah changing, as they say. Yeah, we'll keep an eye on that.
00:29:15
Speaker
Okay. um and Go ahead. I'm just going to say there's no new taxes, increases on um tobacco, marijuana, or sport betting, which is different from the DeWine's plan.
00:29:29
Speaker
Right, which I think that's the House bill, I think, or because I think the Senate bill has it in it, maybe something like that. i I'll tell you truth. like I don't know. um I did read that the House has a bill today.
00:29:42
Speaker
The House plan cut DeWine's tax increases on that stuff. I'm not sure if the Senate side did either. Right. Yeah, no, it's still going through through its process. This is the latest one, basically.
00:29:54
Speaker
It also eliminates associated tax credit programs tied to those increases. so um And the other social policies, the bill includes provisions stating that there are only two sexes recognized in Ohio.
00:30:11
Speaker
And prohibits the Department of Medicaid from funding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. um there There is additional funding for veteran programs, 10 million child care cost sharing pilot, which is a 20% state contribution.
00:30:30
Speaker
But it scraps initiatives like child tax credit and full funding for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library, which I didn't even know about. Oh, can't.
00:30:41
Speaker
He can't be doing that to Dolly. Jeez. What are you to do? It's probably probably a cool thing, but why are we funding it? Yes. Good point. um But, I mean, yeah. um Okay. So that's good. I mean, so no tax increases so far. Definitely nothing, um think of tax or anything, but there still might be a possible sin tax increase, I guess you would call it, gambling and...
00:31:07
Speaker
It's gambling marijuana and tobacco. That's from DeWine's side. That's what he wants. but So I don't think that's going to pass. oh No. right I think this is i think this is kind of like the... um
00:31:23
Speaker
this is the stronger version of the bills that are out there. Yeah. Okay. And, um, it's, it's going with what, and you know, they're, they're still, they're, they're going to ride that.
00:31:35
Speaker
Um, ah the, uh, what's popular right now with people is, you know, responsibility. Yep. So I think they're, I think it's a good thing. So we'll see.
00:31:46
Speaker
And since we're, we're kind of still touching on schools real quick, I will drop this in there. Um, Ohio lawmakers are again pushing for parental consent apps.
00:31:58
Speaker
So a new bill in Ohio Senate will require social media companies to verify a user's age and obtain parental consent before allowing users under 16 to download apps. The bill aims to protect children and teens from potential harm, which I get.
00:32:16
Speaker
Um, How realistic is that? How can you do that? And and the one quote i which kind of made me pull the story was no clips but a quote from I think this is Michelle Reynolds, um Republican from Canal, Windsor.
00:32:36
Speaker
ah for long For too long, we've placed the burden on parents to somehow monitor their children's activities across a complex digital landscape.
00:32:48
Speaker
What? To do their job? yeah Thank you. expecting Expecting each app developer to have their own verification system. This bill represents a better path forward.
00:33:00
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, it's just intrusion. That's you justifying your job. That's what that is. Yeah, this is, yeah, i you know. First all, you can't. How can you do that?
00:33:12
Speaker
Parents need to be parents, and all in all kids are, you I have kids. I have teenagers, or a teenager, and this is a ah big issue for me and my wife, and it's hard. It's very hard.
00:33:25
Speaker
You got to balance it, um but you have to be pretty vigilant, and you kind of got to get be nosy. That's just the way it is. it It is that way, and and each and each um child is different. You know, it's not like
00:33:42
Speaker
a bill's not going to do anything. bill's not going to do anything, and and the social media companies, the tech companies, there's not a whole lot they can do. There is one thing, though, a digital ID.
00:33:54
Speaker
That would solve it all. Oh, yeah, okay. Okay. I'm not saying that's what this is going towards. Yeah, but that's step towards it, right? It would solve it. And if you have enough of these bills that are in there and they're going to say, we can't do anything.
00:34:08
Speaker
It's for the children. Right. um And that's how they usually get you. um But this is the second time. they introduced a bill back January 24 last year the same year. for the same um for under 16.
00:34:24
Speaker
um But it was blocked in the courts and is currently ah still under injunction. There's a company ah called Net Choice, a trade group represented representing apps like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
00:34:36
Speaker
So they sued to stop this and they won an injunction that is currently continues and stands in the court. So Because the judge noted that these companies would face significant costs.
00:34:50
Speaker
So here I am, I'm on both, I'm like, I'm on easier side of this. Like, okay, so you're complaining this might cost you too much. let's Let's see your revenue statements. Can mean could you take a look at how many billions you guys are making?
00:35:02
Speaker
Yeah. i know I do have you know some some sympathy because there's not a whole lot they can do. No. It's so easy to get around. Is that good? You good on all that?
00:35:14
Speaker
Yeah. All right.
First Energy's Rate Hike Request
00:35:18
Speaker
I think I want to start or I want to go on to first energy. Okay.
00:35:27
Speaker
I did not read into this because I figured you had some inside info on this. Yes. So I figured, so the the the story is First Energy iss asking for rate hikes.
00:35:38
Speaker
um So in case anyone's not aware, um First Energy, privately held company or publicly held company, but a private company, not a government entity in any way, um has to ask permission to increase the rates because they are um monopoly. Basically, there's no other option for for energy in most areas around the country, I think.
00:35:57
Speaker
um and at least for transmission and that sort of stuff. So there they have to ask for aid increase whenever they have to ask for from the, oh, PUCO, which I just wrote down, public oh yeah, here's Public Utilities Commissions of Ohio, it's a PUCO.
00:36:13
Speaker
So to do an increase, they have to ask permission for that. Yes, because they're the only, yeah, because I guess that's how you get around monopolies, except I figured don't cable companies do the same thing?
00:36:25
Speaker
Why don't they do what? Why don't they have to ask for Because you can you cant go to, it's not as regulated. you can ah They were forced years ago to lease their lines to other companies.
00:36:38
Speaker
I guess it's not something you have to have, right? True. And there are there is competition out there. You can go to different providers who use the same lines as AT&T does, for example.
00:36:48
Speaker
Right. Okay. They lease them at a bulk rate and then they pass on you. it's I've looked into it over the years and you could save a little bit, but... Yeah, it's never really worth it. Sorry, I threw you off here. No, you didn't. No, it's a good question because, and it's a it's a little bit different because, well, it's not actually different.
00:37:07
Speaker
AT&T owns the lines. That's part of the issue is they put the money in to put the lines in. um it's It's a government monopoly, at least in in my local districts, as far as the cable companies go. But it's similar to this.
00:37:20
Speaker
um it is it is It does it does ah resemble, they do resemble each other. um But I figured we could take a step back because also in the story, they they bring up how we got here.
00:37:32
Speaker
So I'm asking why is, I mean, there's many reasons why First Energy can be asking for a rate hike. Everything's going up in price, labor rates, you know, and they got to repair stuff, everything's going up.
00:37:45
Speaker
But also could be, if we remember back in 2019, the think Speaker of the House at the time, Larry Householder, um was investigated and charged and convicted of bribery, taken, I think they said $60 million dollars in bribes.
00:38:03
Speaker
ah to give First Energy a billion dollar bailout, which was HB6. So HB6 had a couple things in it. One of them was at a couple of fees that were in um instituted during ah because of that bill.
00:38:16
Speaker
One of them was, think it was a dollar or something a month.
00:38:21
Speaker
to pay for the decommissioning of the new plants in Ohio. Right. I kind of remember that. So the federal government increased the standards and First Energy says it wasn't worth it. They're going to decommission them, but they didn't want to pay for it.
00:38:34
Speaker
So um some Republicans were bribed to get this bill in. um Now that part of the bill has been repealed. um The corrupt part of the bill was, But still in that bill is um about a hundred and some million dollars a year in um and fees for coal plants in ohio and the Ohio Valley that are not profitable.
00:39:02
Speaker
which I immediately think you guys set the price. How are they not profitable? But again, they can't set the price because they have to ask for permission, which then we have bribery. So um that's about depending on where you are. It's like $1.30 to $1.50 per month.
00:39:21
Speaker
That is currently still on your bill from that HB6. So they are currently trying to repeal that as well.
00:39:29
Speaker
So this, I think, would also tie into why First Energy is asking for an an increase. Because they're about to lose this extra funding. What's that? They're about to lose that.
00:39:39
Speaker
Yeah. And I'm sure costs are going up for everything. um And even with this extra, ah they're saying $190 million dollars in charges, in increased charges, they still lost $100 million. Yeah.
00:39:56
Speaker
the company. The company lost a hundred million dollars. which is It's unclear. They kept saying that in the, I read it twice or heard it in the report I was listening to and I couldn't dig in. I couldn't find what they actually meant, but it, um,
00:40:10
Speaker
So, it you know, in increasing any of your power bill, everybody kind of freaks out, which I understand why. Gas has gone up, you know, phone bills go up. um But, you know, some of these people on the office of, so it's Maureen Willis on the Office of Consumer Council ah is saying, no, they don't need a $990 million increase. They need to need to take a haircut.
00:40:32
Speaker
and need ah We need a decrease in power bills. Yeah. okay um I don't see how you're going to justify that with all the pricing and everything and going up inflation over the last five years, all that stuff. I'm not sure what think. I don't know how you can decrease power bills.
00:40:48
Speaker
I mean, you could, you know, hopefully manage them so they don't go up to too much, but... So the OCC, this Office of Consumer Council, is estimating that the Cleveland Illuminating Company, so that's the power company for mainly downtown, is we'll see an increase of $13 per month.
00:41:07
Speaker
Ohio Edison would have a $3 a month spike and Toledo Edison would be $1.50 spike. So you could be going down $1.30 to $1.50 a month, but it's probably just going put back on there. Right.
00:41:18
Speaker
so So keep an eye on your electric bill. um it It may be changing a little bit. But just just to touch back. because How much do you think that's really going to affect your monthly bill? It says here, is if if they decrease it, and if they eliminate that. Right. Right.
00:41:37
Speaker
So if they eliminate it, it would be, they're saying between $1.30 and $1.50 per month. Yeah. So I'm not really going to notice that. No. You will notice one or two less because there's a long list of fees and taxes. Right. Right. Yeah. I mean, how many people really go through that?
00:41:53
Speaker
You don't. It just infuriates you because it's so generic. It seems like a scam because it probably is in some way. Well, I look at that and makes me want to throw up. Well, we see that that one of those was this this corrupt HB6 for the new plants that was added to it.
00:42:07
Speaker
So when you look on your phone bill and everything else and it has you know transmission fee, you're like, what? So, but if they if they get this $190 million dollars increase ah past Then they're saying Cleveland Illuminate Company customers well it may see a 13% increase.
00:42:25
Speaker
Right. Ohio Edison, a $3.00, and Toledo, $1.50. So it's probably going to be a wash. If not, it's still going to go up. Right. Right. Hold on.
00:42:37
Speaker
Malfunction. Give me one second.
00:42:43
Speaker
I lost my ears. You lost your ears. Yeah. Put them back on. Standby. Technical difficulties. I'm good. I just unplugged my headphones.
00:42:54
Speaker
here. What were they wrapped around your leg? Yeah, I moved my arm and I just pulled it out. i'm like an idiot. Okay. We're live here, people. Nothing gets cut. We'll well yeah we'll do it in post, as they always say. um So, yeah, watch your electric bills. They may be going up and down.
Debate on Fluoride in Ohio Water Supply
00:43:12
Speaker
Interesting. Oh, yeah. Here, actually, here's a study. Oh, a study commissioned by the Ohio Manufacturers Association found in 2024 on these subsidies cost taxpayers or rate payers, excuse me, roughly $200 million. dollars The company lost more than $100 million dollars the same year.
00:43:28
Speaker
So consumers are paying for plants that aren't profitable.
00:43:32
Speaker
I still don't understand how that can be. i don't either. That makes no sense to me. I mean, they obviously, they weren't profitable. So they asked for these these fees to be put on because they can't they don't want to shut the plants down because they need the power generation.
00:43:45
Speaker
Right. So this is part of the problem with A, a monopoly and B, being so heavily regulated. it's Yeah, overly regulated, I'd i'd assume. So keep an eye on that, folks.
00:43:58
Speaker
um Next on the list, we got levees, um got the bond issues, um the some celebratory stuff. um Fluoride?
00:44:11
Speaker
to Go for it. So there is a bill in New Ohio Senate. Okay. I didn't realize there was a bill. I thought it was just being tossed around. Yep, that's a new bill in Ohio Senate. We require, so like excuse me, wrong bill. Republican lawmakers in Ohio are pushing a bill to ban fluoride in drinking water, um citing potential toxicity and wastefulness.
00:44:35
Speaker
However, dentists argue that fluoride is crucial and to preventing cavity and tooth decay. So I do have a clip. Go for it. From Fox 8 and has has some, well, you'll see, there's couple of some information and. Oh, I got the same one. Okay.
00:44:54
Speaker
Go for it. Okay. Communities and. I did it again. I started right in the middle of the clip. Efforts to remove fluoride from Ohio's water systems are concerning because they put people, especially children and those in lower income communities.
00:45:08
Speaker
and seniors ah you know at a greater risk for preventable dental disease. Dr. Suparna Oreghikar Mahalaha is an assistant professor at Case Western's School of Dental Medicine.
00:45:20
Speaker
She is speaking out against Ohio House Bill 132. The bill would ban the state and public water systems from adding fluoride, which prevents cavities and tooth decay, saying the mineral is potentially toxic and wasteful. This is not really necessarily about fluoride, in my opinion. It's about people having the the choice to choose what type of things they're ingesting and not being forced on them by the government or by their neighbor. State Representative Levi Dean is a co-sponsor of the bill.
00:45:52
Speaker
So there is a bill. Levi Dean is the co-sponsor. um Let's do this one more. i got one more clip on the part of it. See what they have to say.
00:46:04
Speaker
There we go.
00:46:07
Speaker
you guys Some dentists say the risks of a fluoride ban are too high and are hoping the bill gets flushed. Without it, we would we could see an increase in cavities, dental infections, and long-term health complications hey what is issues that come along with poor oral health.
00:46:26
Speaker
We could see an increase in cavities, dental infections, and long-term health complications ah you know that come along with poor oral health, unfortunately. In Cleveland, Jennifer Jordan, Fox 8 News. That's too high of a risk, high of a risk.
00:46:42
Speaker
It is. um I'm not sure if people are aware, but um you you can you can put fluoride in your own water if you want. Or you can just rinse your mouth.
00:46:53
Speaker
You don't have to drink fluoride. Right. You can put it in your toothpaste. It isn't in a lot of toothpastes, which is kind of, you know, when you have a toothpaste that has fluoride in it and it has a warning that says, do not swallow.
00:47:08
Speaker
But yet all of the water you drink has fluoride in it. Right, right. um And it did bring out later in the clip, later in the interview, he's he's like, you know, this is, it's not being applied to your teeth. it's not like a topical cream that you're putting on your teeth.
00:47:23
Speaker
You're just drinking it and you're swallowing it. What is fluoride in your stomach going to do for your teeth?
00:47:29
Speaker
So it doesn't what's your opinion? it's Well, what's my opinion? It shouldn't be in the water my is my opinion. um If you brush your teeth well, you don't need fluoride.
00:47:43
Speaker
And if you do want to use fluoride for your teeth, all you need to do is rinse your teeth. Right. Or rinse you know rinse your mouth with fluoride fluoridated water.
00:47:55
Speaker
You don't need to have it in public system. in the public system In mass. And um people will, their studies and even the doctor, well, you know, all the cavities and we've had a reduction in this and it's supposed to be the greatest, what do they call it? Greatest um health system.
00:48:15
Speaker
a policy and in the last 20 years putting fluoride in the water. But right around the same time, if you look at the data, as righto as as dental health became a thing in toothpaste, ah advantages in technology and brushes and toothpaste happened around that same time.
00:48:31
Speaker
So you really can't definitively say drinking bunch of a bunch of fluoride helps your teeth not get cavities. It's probably more just an awareness of dental health starting up about the same time as they started putting that in the water.
00:48:45
Speaker
But you can get toothpaste with fluoride in and And when you go to the dentist and they put fluoride on your teeth, they tell you not to swallow, spit it out. Because it's not good for you. What about the underprivileged?
00:48:56
Speaker
But the children and the old people. Wait, they're old. Their teeth are already falling out. They're kind of past that point, aren't they? But they still to drink fluoride. I think this is just ah a way to use fluoride.
00:49:09
Speaker
A byproduct of something. It's a byproduct of fertilizer mostly. And um by the way, good Ohio's level of um fluoride 0.8 1.3 milligrams liter. The level is 0.7 1.2.
00:49:22
Speaker
Okay. point eight to point art point eight to one point three milligrams per liter the safe level is point seven to one point two So we're actually on a little high um higher level here in Ohio.
00:49:40
Speaker
um ah guess within the safe limits. like Well, not in the safe limits, but the safe limits are 0.7 to 1.2, and we're to so yes we're out of We're a little out of range, so we may have a little bit too much fluoride in our water, and fluoride does... There are studies that fluoride reduces IQ.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yep. There are some correlating studies. They would probably call them, just to be fair. I guess it's hard to get... But they can compare cities that don't have fluoride to cities that do. And time and time again, usually the IQ levels are lower.
00:50:17
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. That's what I found too. But there's like no conclusive correlation, I guess, but that's enough for me. It's enough for me, especially now in this time, because so much so many of these studies are dictated by who's paying for them. And if you can't get anybody to pay for them, the study doesn't happen.
00:50:38
Speaker
And that's kind of how it's been that way for a while. um And usually the people who pay for studies want them to come out a certain way. So i think that's as close as we're going to get because there's a lot of money.
00:50:51
Speaker
I, I've always come back to think, thinking to the thinking that right around this time that they started putting Florida in the water, it's in the seventies, maybe I'm like, if I'm, I could be wrong. I think those are around it it was later.
00:51:03
Speaker
um so maybe we're on maybe a little bit, a delayed action after EPA started cracking down and dumping in, into, into the rivers. And now you have to dispose of your um chemical waste.
00:51:16
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So now you find somebody, another industry that, and you make everybody believe or put out studies that say this can help. and Well, the way see it, they have to do something with it. It would cost them money to dispose of it. so yeah Now that not people buy it from them.
00:51:32
Speaker
Yep. I don't think they make a ton of money from this, but i do... I think it saves them a lot of lot of money. Saves them a ton of money. Yep. A ton of money.
00:51:43
Speaker
um So, ah yeah. And i and directly has, again, riding the wave of of Maha, make America healthy again. Yeah. This this is this is following Robert Kennedy junior That's one of the things he's been railing on.
00:52:00
Speaker
He's going to go after the fluoride. He's goingnna he's going after the food additives. the the I think he's ah also going to go after the the seed oils too.
00:52:12
Speaker
So um actually, so so far we've had um locally. Well, they're they're not local. We have them here. But what was the um the burger joint?
00:52:24
Speaker
Oh, a steak and shake. Yeah, steak and shake. They've changed their fry oil to tallow, and we don't have any. I wish we did, but the that famous one in California, what's the part?
00:52:37
Speaker
In-N-Out. In-N-Out has gone to ah tallow also, which is a big deal. you think it costs them more or less to go to tallow?
00:52:48
Speaker
I wonder. I – probably a little bit more. would initially think more, but then I would think – But the more – Because is so out of favor now. Maybe not.
00:53:00
Speaker
I think it costs more now, but I think the more restaurants that do it, it'll become cheaper. And it's a selling point right now. ah California, you got you got the –
00:53:13
Speaker
You know, Steak and Shake is really riding the Maha movement um in their in their social media. and um and And in and out, i don't I haven't seen any of their social media, but I think they're they're just being in California.
00:53:29
Speaker
You got a lot of health advocates out there. So even yeah as commie as California is, it's a there are health conscious people out there in the Yeah, and if you can get to some of them and explain to them just a little bit about seed oils, it won't take long to open their eyes. if you Just the manufacturing of seed oils would right would blow them away and what they have to do to just make them edible.
00:53:57
Speaker
Oh, it's gross. Yeah. um But not to get too dig deep down in there. I mean, unless you got something else. No, that's it. I'm very curious about these public restrooms. I thought we'd switch it to a little bit later before we go back to a couple of things I have.
00:54:11
Speaker
They are called Portland Lues. Yes. And they started- I know nothing about this. So let me, what what what are they? Okay. So they're um public restrooms. They're Cleveland bought four of them and they're built out of steel.
00:54:28
Speaker
Um, And they they're placing them here. Let me get the info here. Yeah. Sorry to drop that on you like that. It's kind of. Yes.
00:54:39
Speaker
Okay. So i sound like they're outdoor. They're like. They're they're outdoor loose. And they started here in Cleveland. They started in Portland mainly for the unhoused. Let's call them unhoused people.
00:54:51
Speaker
ah Because to keep people from house defecating on the street. Streets. So they got these um public restrooms that they built. They're totally made out steel. They got louvers on the top and on the bottom.
00:55:06
Speaker
It's ah open. So you could see when somebody is in the restroom. You could see there. I guess you could see their feet. And they're they are kind of they're kind of cool as far as like they're graffiti proof.
00:55:18
Speaker
So they're easy to clean. Pardon me? pardon me I just saw the price. Yeah, yeah, yeah. well I'll get to that. um they are They're clean.
00:55:29
Speaker
ah They're easy to clean, so they're easy to maintain. Probably all stainless or aluminum. They're all stainless. and so So as far as like vandalism and stuff, they're pretty vandal-proof, I guess yeah could say.
00:55:43
Speaker
least curfew. we're putting – they started in Portland. um san Diego has a bunch. I think there's some in San Antonio. And mainly they're for the bums, for the cows, for the homeless.
00:56:01
Speaker
um But they do put them in some parks. like um So here in Cleveland, we're going to put one at Payne Avenue and East East 17th and Payne Avenue. Yeah.
00:56:13
Speaker
he's seventeenth in paint avenue um outside the virgil e brown neighborhood family center which is a homeless shelter and camps so then we're getting another one in perk plaza which is east 12th and chester and um that one's going to be city owned uh placed in the city owned park And then we're getting to Canal Basin Park, which is flat Flats East Bank, which I think is going to be more for the, um ah you know, they're they're kind of planning on making, ah there's an effort there to redevelop it into a park system.
00:56:54
Speaker
So for drunk people, oh, and the flats. and for Yes, it's going to be for that. There are, um bombs down there. So, you know, i don't want to be harsh there, but there's unhoused. you Homeless.
00:57:08
Speaker
So there's there's the homeless there. um But, you know, they're kind of selling it as a thing that the park is going to need, which, you know, it it probably could use some public restrooms if there's if there's ever a real park down there.
00:57:22
Speaker
Okay. ah Okay, so cost.
00:57:30
Speaker
There are $145,000 that does not include installation. and that does not include installation
00:57:37
Speaker
580,000 for all four of them. And ah so they still need to be connected to the water and sewer lines. That's about 50 grand each. At least, I would say at least.
00:57:49
Speaker
And um ongoing maintenance, ah which is, I kind of looked up what other cities are paying. They're paying about 20 grand a piece a year for maintenance. They they get cleaned three times a day.
00:58:03
Speaker
um And they they are in Cleveland. They're going to start with it being open at 7 a.m. m and closed. um I think they were saying. Let's see. I think 10 p.m. they were closing them up.
00:58:18
Speaker
what What are you for now at night, Tom? Well, for now, they're doing that just to. um Well, that you know. So let me just. So they they want to spend.
00:58:30
Speaker
let's say $200,000 per bathroom before they hook it up. No, you see with, with, with hookup before maintenance. Yep. Let's say 200, 200 grand. First of all, they bought these and three years ago, they've been sitting in the garage in Cog County.
00:58:44
Speaker
Let's say that right here. Yep. So they want to spend $200,000 per loo plus whatever it costs to maintain them every year. Why are we calling them Luz, by the way? Yeah, I'm sorry. Not Australia, people. i like it. They call the Luz.
00:59:00
Speaker
It's a Portland shitter. Come on. It's shitter. um So that's a million dollars, oh um roughly. and they're going to buy more.
00:59:12
Speaker
Yep. How about fix the homeless problem? So, well, you can't do that. Okay. You can't fix a homeless problem because then you don't need the... um They don't need to lose. The departments that help fix the problem will be gone and all those people lose their jobs. So there's there's no. um Thank you.
00:59:35
Speaker
Yeah, there's no way. There's there's no no. Yeah, there's no um incentive. Incentive to fix the problem. Just continue going like everything else. Just actually make it worse and make it more inviting for the homeless to be here because it's worked everywhere else.
00:59:48
Speaker
Yeah, this this was brought to Cleveland's attention by, a i don't know, a professor from some college because during COVID because he started, um all the places were closed and there was no place for people to use the bathroom.
01:00:07
Speaker
And I, gosh darn it, I lost the person's name. They should be fired. and i would I would also like to add a kicker to this and say- Oh, Mark Lamon.
01:00:18
Speaker
He's what now? What is Mark Lamon? advocate Advocates like Mark Lamon are of campus district. um Stainless, this all these prices put another 20% on them because stainless just went up.
01:00:32
Speaker
So the new ones they buy will probably be 200 grand a piece, 175 a piece plus the But this was paid for by the CARES Act funds. Oh.
01:00:45
Speaker
Yeah. You know where that money came from? That was, um ah yeah, Biden administration's. Yep. That was the most knowing though oh good um covid oh the COVID Act. That's right.
01:00:58
Speaker
um that's right fine That's where they got some of the money. the county got some That's the same money the county was using to buy the property for the new jail. So, you know, people were asking if this is tax dollar money and they were like, no this is paid for by um funds, care act funds. It's like, no, it's tax dollars, you idiots.
01:01:17
Speaker
So it's not, maybe not city tax dollars, but it is still tax dollars. So I saw this and I saw the pictures and I'm like, I got to figure out what is this?
01:01:27
Speaker
And while we're on something of the lighter side, um what is going on? and we we skipped this last week and I don't want to leave it to the end. um What's going on with the music scene? You got some stories about Cuyahoga County launching some some live music.
01:01:42
Speaker
Oh, man, we're jumping around here. I'm sorry. Where do you want to go? If you if you want to wait on that, it's fine. I can go on something else. I just kind of want i can go on that Cogger County Jail Fight Club if you want. um I just kind of wanted ah oh okay i just wanted to kind of mention like who's use these
01:02:00
Speaker
besides you know the the homeless the the um pull me back tom thank you the ah I mean, would would you go into that bathroom if you just saw an unhoused person coming out of there? I'm a guy. I might go in there.
01:02:15
Speaker
But there's no urinals. It's just one toilet. i'd um I'd be more comfortable going to the bush behind this picture. Exactly. Because then nobody would know was there. And the last thing I want – obviously, people are listening, can't see. The picture I'm looking at is it's this metal stainless steel structure You know, just sitting on the sidewalk in front of a building feels like people just walk right past you while you're, you know, your thing. Yeah, they can hear whatever you're doing. Hear whatever you're doing in there. It's like, you know, it's worse than porta the reason they left it open like that is so, to, you know, keep people from doing drugs in there.
01:02:49
Speaker
and But it's worse than a porta potty. But in Portland and other cities, they were having issues with ah prostitution and drug use in those. So ah we'll see how it goes here. Get out of here. and Anyways, I just kind of want to touch that because I'm like sitting here and going, I don't know a single woman that would use that.
01:03:06
Speaker
No. No way. And they were talking about you. They want it for events. And I'm like, you got one or two of these for a large event. I think you're going to need some porta potty. So no, don't give me that bullshit.
01:03:20
Speaker
No, no so no, no woman. I'm not going to use it. Yeah, I would. I'd rather crap my pants, I think, than use that. I'll i'll hold it. if i if If I can't hold it, I'll find a tree.
01:03:33
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. A bush or tree, something. Yeah. Um, right. So, okay. So we got Cleveland or I should say Cuyahoga live going on
Local Music Scene Initiatives
01:03:42
Speaker
here. And this is a um, they're putting together a music, a live music task force and I got to, uh, help build a um music scene, which is kind of cool.
01:03:54
Speaker
It's not costing any money. Um, this is just a task force so far. So they've put together the, the, um,
01:04:04
Speaker
ah Let's see. that This is ah Cindy Barber, who is a part owner of the... um oh Gosh darn it. What is the... what is the ah
01:04:16
Speaker
what co one of the She's an owner of a Beachland Ballroom, of ah ah the which is a live venue yeah place. in I think that's in like ah near 152nd, East 152nd. And then the guy who owns the um a bar in Lakewood, and I forget the name of it's the hot dog place. Yeah.
01:04:40
Speaker
I forget the name of it. But um anyways, it's it's kind of cool what they're trying to build here. I just don't know if it's going to work. um You want me play a clip? Yeah, please. Okay.
01:04:52
Speaker
Cleveland is known as the birthplace of rock and roll and industry advocates will tell you Northeast Ohio is still home to one of the most active music scenes in the country. Now musicians, venues and others are collaborating to strengthen that scene. News 5's Catherine Ross explains how a new task force in Cuyahoga County is drumming up support.
01:05:12
Speaker
The red letters near the lakefront make for an iconic photo op for newcomers. They had brought me when we were much younger on like a family trip to come see ah the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And locals alike. It's actually, you know, it's a huge reputation. Cleveland's musical reputation and the Rock Hall even have international appeal. We went here to to visit the city and it's a chance to to know the Rock and Roll Museum.
01:05:38
Speaker
A lot of people know Cleveland as the home of rock and roll, but Northeast Ohio is also home to a thriving local music scene. Now, a new task force here in Cuyahoga County aims to support and invest in that scene.
01:05:51
Speaker
Cleveland is a music city already. um Other cities have music commissions or music offices, and it's time Cleveland stepped in. Sean Watterson is the co-owner of Gordon Square's Happy Dog. He's also one of the first members of the newly launched music and entertainment task force, Cuyahoga Live.
01:06:10
Speaker
This is just sort of recognizing assets that we already have and then trying to make better use of them, take better advantage of it and support the people who are in that ecosystem.
01:06:21
Speaker
Happy Dog is one of many independent venues throughout the county. During the pandemic, many of them banded together to support each other and entertainers. And other groups like nonprofit Cleveland Rocks, past, present, and future are doing their own work to invest in local talent and connect them with a network of resources.
01:06:39
Speaker
There's already so much going on here that it should be really easy to put this put all the pieces together. Non-profit director and co-owner of the Beachland Ballroom, Cindy Barber, tells us the task force is the first step towards creating a music commission.
01:06:55
Speaker
The Greater Cleveland Music Census found three-quarters of those surveyed believe a commission could help with the advocacy and promotion of the industry. Advocates say the county-led initiative would be an economic investment in workforce development. Could be this whole good infrastructure that would provide jobs.
01:07:13
Speaker
And a cultural investment in an iconic part of Northeast Ohio. but All right, um... Yeah, I like it. Okay, for the people that heard that and are curious about this, if you have Spotify, Cleveland Magazine has a playlist. It's called Cleveland Current.
01:07:32
Speaker
And it they kind of put a top 20 of local Cleveland um artists. Go on there. I'm writing it down. Tell you need this. Cleveland Current.
01:07:45
Speaker
And... i don't want to I don't want to bust on this because this this could be a good thing for the future. I just think it's kind of wasteful at this point.
01:07:56
Speaker
now I don't know how to say this, but I don't want to rip on anybody, but with the talent pool in Cleveland is small. I don't know if we can, I'm not saying, you know, I'm not calling your favorite local band, a bad band. I'm just saying the talent pool, as far as recording artists and people that can actually put a record together, that can produce an album that can, um,
01:08:22
Speaker
um you don't You don't have enough musicians here locally to, um i I should say, like collaborate with, to to record with, and to help.
01:08:36
Speaker
Recording artists put together an album. There's there's just, you just don't have that. Anybody worth their weight and in the music industry is not here. They're Nashville. We have some really good players here that have made a living playing.
01:08:51
Speaker
You know, we do have that. We just don't have enough of them. Yeah. Most of them have left for ah for New York, for um for Nashville, i for LA, and Atlanta. you know We've had some early good players here. um you know we The Black Keys came up in the early 2000s, but they hit they moved to Nashville. Because if you're going to put an album together, you have to have players to help you do this. It's...
01:09:19
Speaker
i mean we all think our We all think our favorite bands go into a studio and play play their own instruments on there, and they they may to some extent, but they there's probably 10 more players on that on that album that you don't even know about.
01:09:37
Speaker
Plus producers. That help them record. and It's all based on money because I'm not saying the your favorite band, that guitar player can't do those parts. Yeah.
01:09:47
Speaker
But can he do those parts quickly and ah you know efficiently? Because time is money in a studio. And change do major changes in the middle of a recording session. with yeah so That's what they do all day and every day. They're used to it. and it yeah And those people are not here pretty much. Studio guys are just so used to just going in and just nailing it on on a couple of takes.
01:10:10
Speaker
And the other, the other reason you you want more players is um to collaborate with, you know, somebody else might hear something going, no, this will be really cool here. And that's how you keep build a song.
01:10:22
Speaker
And we just don't have that in Ohio. I hope that this, this commission or this task force.
01:10:33
Speaker
It's a start of something at least I hope encourages live um music. Cause As a musician here in Ohio, I i um i realized something early on when in my in you know early on when I started.
01:10:47
Speaker
started gigging when I was 19 professionally. And, um you know, Ohio, or Clevelanders, I should say, and Maybe it's a little different in college towns, but um you know they they want to hear their favorite songs. They don't necessarily want to hear originals.
01:11:10
Speaker
So I do hope they can build a um build a live music culture here that does... Build it back, which we need to do, right?
01:11:21
Speaker
Pardon of me? It feels like we need to build it back. Well, just be here and we lost a lot of it, but it was never... ago. It was never... and they In the late 80s and early 90s, there was a pretty good scene, but it was ah it was a good working scene for like cover bands.
01:11:35
Speaker
and And the original acts did have venues, which we we lack now. um we We don't have the same venues. Especially the smaller, medium... then Yeah. Yeah. yeah and And you know what?
01:11:47
Speaker
It would be cool, which I haven't heard anybody mentioned, but it would like where the beach land ballroom is or where the happy dog is. It would be cool. Or there's a couple places in Lakewood that you could do this or in in Cleveland, there'd be awesome downtown if you could do this.
01:12:02
Speaker
maybe and actually generate some excitement about the nightlife down there is to have like a street where you have five or six clubs, um you know, where you at least four, and four nights a week, you know, you're having, know, starting from dinner to, to, you know, let, let's be adults here. Let's go to 2.00 AM. m is You, you have live music the entire time. I don't know if we have enough, if we have enough, um, uh,
01:12:32
Speaker
talent to do that here at this time, but it it could start small. week yeah start somewhere yeah You know, if I want to go see original acts, I'm not going to go see one band. I want to go see a couple of bands.
01:12:43
Speaker
So, and it would be kind of cool. Hey, I'll stop here, have a beer, listen to this band, play a couple of tunes and I'll, I'll go next door to hear, hear another, um, artists uh perform their stuff so i just don't know if we have that here that that culture if if they can build it that would be that'd be incredible i just you know it this is a year you're going up a creek right now yeah um i did that one time on vacation in austin Yeah. Austin's a great place for that.
01:13:15
Speaker
We actually did early enough that there was no covers yet on the bars. Right. we hopped in four or five, six bars, a drink here, a drink, two drinks there, depending on the music. And then, and then we started hitting $20 covers and I'm like, I had enough. I can't do this. I can't do this 10 times at a $20 cover.
01:13:31
Speaker
Yeah. yeah you but yeah That's the thing. Like I, I think in Nashville, you know, you got, you got your Broadway over there and there's another area. Yeah. where they got music from 10 a.m. m to 2 a.m. And bands bands play from 10 to 2, 2 to 6, 6 to 10, and 10 to 2.
01:13:50
Speaker
And you know musicians are working all day long. um Now, those aren't original acts. so ah yeah So you know those are just bands playing for people that want to party and have fun.
01:14:04
Speaker
Mm-hmm. and But they do have their original artists there also playing, but they're they're playing more showcase up type of venues. Okay. um So that's cool. The only thing i I was thinking was maybe they're talking about this a little bit more now um is You know what? In 2020, in 2021 especially,
01:14:27
Speaker
um more guitars were sold in 2021 than they have been in years. So I think there's, it could have been because, some people think because of COVID.
01:14:38
Speaker
little bit. Got to have some some part of it. Yeah. But there there might be a little resurgence as far as um rock music and um and just yeah you know musicianship goes.
01:14:50
Speaker
So we'll we'll see. i hope this happens. I don't have much to say. i just It just kind of I just, I just, you know, they talk a lot of stuff, but I'm like, you know, you got, you I'm not saying there's not talented people. I just don't want people to get upset with me because there are talent. There's, there's not, and maybe not enough to fulfill where they want to go, but,
01:15:16
Speaker
Yeah. Maybe they can build it. It's a start. it is Yeah. That's why i keep saying you have to start somewhere. And I guess the first place is find, figure out what the problem is or, you know, where you want to go and and what are your, um, obstacles. Right. And that's one of the obstacles, but you're never going to build that talent if, if you don't start talking about it.
01:15:33
Speaker
Right. Well, you're not going to keep it. You're not going to keep anybody here. true and and it's, it's, um, it's kind of, um, you know, You're not going to build talent, but if you do build talent, you're not going to keep it without being an industry.
01:15:49
Speaker
Yeah, they can't support themselves. Yeah, they can't support themselves. And the and the thing is, it's like, yeah you know, ah long time ago, I realized, well, this life isn't for me to be a musician, so I stayed. But if i if i had that if I had that drive to become a full-time musician, I would have just gone to...
01:16:10
Speaker
Nashville or l LA or, or Austin. At the time I was thinking Austin when I was younger and I went down there and i went to, l I was in l LA, I was in Austin and I checked out um New York and I was like, well, this, I don't want this lifestyle.
01:16:24
Speaker
That was me. yeah So, you know, but there are people that are driven. That's where you have to go. You have to, you have to go where the, where the work is. Yeah. Yeah. Where they're recording, you know, yeahp it's just easier. You're never going to get, you're never going to get the time of day if you're not there.
01:16:41
Speaker
Right. That's awesome. I like, I like you hear it. out You know, again, one of those things we hopefully would touch back on and in a year or so and, Yeah, I'm going to keep an eye on that. i I might actually maybe go to one of the meetings and stuff just to see what's going on.
01:16:55
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be interesting. um We are an hour and 15 minutes in. I'm calling for a break. Okay. Be right back, guys.
01:17:07
Speaker
All right, we're back.
Cuyahoga Corrections Scandal
01:17:08
Speaker
Sorry, folks, but nature calls. All right, so Cleveland music scene. Hopefully we get some good stuff coming out of that. um i got a couple more um
01:17:21
Speaker
stories. we'll we'll We'll go with the one I tease, which apparently... um Excuse me, there are two Cuyahoga County correction officers, Nina Tomlinson and Elizabeth Reeves, who were placed on administrative leave for engineering engage excuse me engaging in unprofessional behavior with inmates.
01:17:42
Speaker
So a surveillance video shows um that what it looks like as them having a fight club. style I'm not sure and in the details artwork. There was not many details in the article.
01:17:58
Speaker
um But I did see the video and you could see them up in the corner, they're almost like they're trying to hide it from the camera, but they they weren't quite out of the way. And there's two female officers with male inmates lined up.
01:18:09
Speaker
And then the next you know the next clip you see is the two guys fighting in like up way up in the top of the corner of the frame. can barely see who it is, and but you can see they're wailing on each other.
01:18:20
Speaker
And then you see a clip of the like the corrections officer shadowboxing with one of the inmates.
01:18:28
Speaker
Like, what the heck is going on? Like, you don't have enough to do there or something. Yeah, they're bored. Well, they're bored, yeah. But I also saw two female inmates with, I think, six male, six or seven male, or two, excuse me, two female guards with six or seven male inmates, which i also was kind of alarming. but um I didn't know ah female guards and in male correction. Mm-hmm.
01:18:57
Speaker
Oh, I didn't know that. Yep. That's a thing. um I think it's been that way for a while, actually. um Just not many that will you know do that, I guess, for obvious reasons. But nobody knows really what was going on yet. They're just trying to investigate. i would imagine there's some sort of money going, changing hands. although yes Yeah. There's some bets going down.
01:19:17
Speaker
so you know I have a feeling this is like, I mean, this this is probably what the guys want to do. i mean they're Yeah, they're bored. I mean, and I could see the guards saying, they're going to fight anyway. i just Let's just let them get it out.
01:19:29
Speaker
Let the system be controlled. Right, right. but I could see that. I don't know. Maybe they're – I don't know. They're probably having fun. Probably, but easily yeah easily get out of hand, I guess you could say, if you're –
01:19:43
Speaker
you know um well if you if you have the right funny guys true you know yeah there' there's not enough information it is funny though yeah that wass pretty funny that's why i caught i was like oh my gosh there's a fight club but they broke the first rule of fight club i don't understand what's that first rule of fight club is never talk about fight club Oh, okay.
01:20:08
Speaker
That's right. I haven't haven't seen that movie in a long time. Yeah. ah So that was pretty amusing. um I see in your lineup, apparently Canada's mad.
Canada-US Tariff Tension
01:20:18
Speaker
Oh.
01:20:20
Speaker
Canada's mad and they've put a billboard. I got a clip. Do you want me to it? Yeah, please.
01:20:28
Speaker
And speaking of tears, if you have driven around Cleveland lately, you may have seen this. These billboards have popped up all over the country saying tariffs are a tax on things like gasoline and groceries. At the bottom, it says paid for by the government of Canada.
01:20:42
Speaker
Global Affairs Canada says that this campaign is designed to inform Americans on the impact of tariffs. Senator. OK, what about the impact of tariffs on Canadians on their tariffs on us?
01:20:55
Speaker
yeah what about the Yeah, what about the impacts of Americans with canadian with the Canadian tariffs on us or yeah anybody else who has, like the rest of the world who will? It's the dumbest thing.
01:21:07
Speaker
go Go ahead with what, I i don't know which direction you were going to go. Oh, I was just bringing it up because it's somewhat amusing to me that Canada would spend money and to put a sign in Northeast Ohio. Obviously, we're a border state, but um I think it's pretty funny.
01:21:22
Speaker
But hey, everything's a negotiation. And if you don't want the tariffs, we get it because we don't want them either. Yeah, exactly. Your tariffs. you know Yeah.
01:21:33
Speaker
I mean, there're there're they're they're putting your what like tariff on our milk and u milk products yeah so we're we're just We're just trying to you know make it fair.
01:21:46
Speaker
Make it a little more fair because they're doing it to protect their industry, but we don't do anything to protect our industry. So yeah we're just trying to make it fair. This is a large reason why there are almost no steel plants left in America. There's ah very few.
01:22:04
Speaker
Just around us, there used to be a dozen of them. Now there's maybe two in the area. Barely though. Barely, barely. And there' there's there's barely barely hanging on, I think. um um So i get it.
01:22:17
Speaker
Nobody wants to pay higher prices, but i just, I see the convenient outrage. Yeah.
01:22:26
Speaker
I don't want prices to go up. Nobody does. But I didn't see anybody. and I was told inflation was good a couple years ago. So yeah now it's not. That administration was saying it was good. Yeah.
01:22:39
Speaker
So I get it, but this, everybody wants American jobs to come back. Everybody wants all this stuff, um but nobody wants to do the things, the hard, I mean, you there there will be some sacrifice to get this its yes manufacturing back to at least some.
01:22:55
Speaker
This is going to be a ah punch in the gut for about a month here, a month or two, and then it's going to, it should level off and things should get better.
01:23:09
Speaker
a I don't think prices are really going to go up because of tariffs, though. I really don't think so. They have to compete. You know what I mean? What do you know? What do you mean?
01:23:20
Speaker
So if if we're making a product here in the US and you know ands there's one coming from China, that Chinese product really can't go up in price because they still have to compete with the American product.
01:23:34
Speaker
Even though the American product might cost a couple more dollars, it might go up to the same price as American product. And which one are you going to buy? So I can... think Go I'm just saying...
01:23:50
Speaker
There's only so much inflation that's going to happen with this. It's not going to be like, oh, everything is going up 25%. It's like they can't because there there is competition.
01:24:02
Speaker
and that's what that's what they're they're trying to leverage ah you know against those companies to – So those companies start talking to their governments and saying, hey, we can't compete.
01:24:13
Speaker
This has to stop. you know um i don't know if I articulated that well enough. but No, yeah you're mike I get what you're saying. yeah's It's pressure to put back. So they reduce their tariffs on us and we'll reduce their our tariffs on them. That's that's the point of – of all this is to bring things back to, to, it's never going to be even, i don't think.
01:24:35
Speaker
No, no. But we got to, at least it's out of control. um And I, and president believes that we've been taken advantage of for decades and I could see his point. um Definitely. I can tell you what I've seen in my industry.
01:24:49
Speaker
And my company that I work for ah buys directly from China for a couple of things. And we have already had, none these are orders you have to put in months ahead of time because they have to be manufactured.
01:25:01
Speaker
So we put these in months ago and right before they shipped couple weeks ago, they put the tariff on. The tariff was increased quite a bit. So what we found though, it's still worthwhile for us to import it than it is to buy it domestically, even with tens even with the 25% tariffs.
01:25:25
Speaker
It's not anywhere near like it used to be, but it's still worth it. And then the other side of it, we do we deal a lot with aluminums and stainless steels and our in my industry, and especially sheet products and stuff, and we announced 25% increase.
01:25:39
Speaker
flat across the board for all aluminum and 20, I think 20 on stainless, right because that's what we just got. But what I'm also hearing is, so a manufacturer, we deal with three or four manufacturers that do make this product. And one of them ah was told to me that they get 80 to 85% of their raw product, raw metal domestically.
01:26:00
Speaker
And those companies have also announced increases.
01:26:04
Speaker
but Along with the tariffs. So that's not how it's supposed to work. I don't think. Yeah. now see I could see an increase later on. on So if their demand is going to go up for the domestic product, I can see maybe a reason why you would increase the price.
01:26:21
Speaker
but Right. The demand hasn't gone up yet because the tariffs didn't take effect. So... um That's what I'm saying. there. it it It is. It is. like Yeah, they're they're being opportunists.
01:26:35
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Again, like i said, I could see possibly making a case down the line that, hey, so many people are buying the us, our Americans, that supply and demand, right? So if if the demand goes up and the supply doesn't follow, then the price naturally goes up. I could see that, but we're not there yet. So that's a bunch of crap.
01:26:52
Speaker
Yeah. But it is working and it's making people take a second look at and where they where where they buy stuff. um And I get it's going to be painful, but yeah this is not a surprise. This is what he ran on. This is what the people voted for. i know weird.
01:27:08
Speaker
i know it's weird It's really strange that a politician would run for office and then get in and actually do the things that they said. We've never seen that.
01:27:19
Speaker
This is uncharted territory, as as our friend Michael Malice said. Anything beyond here is uncharted territory. the last We're not even 100 days in. So i I understand people don't mean not may not agree with it, but this is not a surprise. And and this is something that ah Donald Trump has been saying since he was in his thirty s i think.
01:27:37
Speaker
Yeah, he's been saying since the 80s. Tariffs, tariffs, we're getting taken advantage of. And this was back in the 80s. Mm-hmm. So this is not a surprise. This is part of his thinking since he was, you know, since you can remember, he can remember. So we'll wait and see. And again, nothing's – everybody's kind of spun up for – Well, yeah, this is ah this is a whole episode, discussion for a whole episode.
01:28:05
Speaker
So yeah, everybody's getting spun up and just calm down. it's and It's going to be okay. Listen to Taylor. Just calm down. All right. I do, i think I have one more story that I um stumbled upon late
Healthcare Pricing Transparency Act
01:28:21
Speaker
yesterday. um I've been, um debating on subscribing to this ah Ohio press network. Well, if like we should go in on that because I was about to, cause I, you know, I go three, five and eight and 19 and they, they do a good job of it. But every time I go to this website, there's always a story that just sticks out to me. That was not anywhere. And that one is that one today would be, um,
01:28:47
Speaker
ah State Representative um Tim Barhorst was joined on the Jack Windsor podcast, from which is one of the podcasts on Ohio.
01:28:58
Speaker
On their network. On their network, yeah, Ohio Press Network. Yeah, Jack Windsor is good report. Yeah, Jack Windsor, the Windsor Report. um And so State Representative was on there talk about the Ohio Hospital Transparency Act, which I had no idea was even a thing. This is already passed. I've heard about this. I didn't read into this. Okay. He championed it during the 135th General Assembly, which I believe was last last Congress state state legislature ah session.
01:29:24
Speaker
And i just thought we'd go over it because – I think it could have some possibilities of helping health care costs um by doing this strange thing is including competition, which we have zero of.
01:29:38
Speaker
So here is clip one, a little explanation to what this is. The law requires hospitals to publicly share standard charges for all services and a user friendly list of at least 300 shoppable services like those defined by Medicare and Medicaid.
01:29:55
Speaker
Hospitals can also offer an online price estimator tool. and We'll talk about that as well. ah The bill protects cash excuse me patient data by ah banning hospitals from selling or using it for targeted ads. And the director of the Department of Health will enforce compliance, issuing fines for violations and maintaining a public list of noncompliant hospitals. We'll call that the naughty list.
01:30:18
Speaker
Does that kind of summarize it for the most part? Yeah, you did a great job. it's You're right on cue there was what this bill is supposed to do and how it's going to work. um So basically what he's kind of saying is they want to they want you to be able to compare pricing um on pre, you know obviously not on emergencies because it's coded differently and it's an emergency, so you just need to get to a place. But maybe maybe an urgent care can get you your blood test cheaper or maybe...
01:30:49
Speaker
you know You can get testing strips for your diabetes from somewhere else and this and that. um and Yeah, I believe the first Trump administration back in 2016, they were talking about this too.
01:31:00
Speaker
Yep, and here's a little bit more because he mentioned um like an app in some way. So here's kind of what he says about that. Very quickly and easily go. And started to One of the things that you mentioned during the press conference was almost like Expedia for hospitals, right? Do you envision somebody coming along and and cobbling together an app or some sort of technology that allows consumers to very quickly and easily go compare prices and compare hospitals?
01:31:30
Speaker
I do. um You know, with with technology and geotracking and location and all that, I think – you know Somebody could use this for a proactive non-elective surgery to get everything that's going to be involved in that surgery um if it were to go normal and get ah and ah and get a very accurate price for that procedure.
01:31:51
Speaker
But i feel the future, I think we'll have Urgent Cares have information on here. or Emergency rooms, um for those of us that live in rural areas, ah we kind of know where we want to probably go if there's an emergency.
01:32:03
Speaker
ah Those in the ah suburban metro areas probably have a lot more choices. So I hope that someday we can have a full suite that shows every Ohioan where they need to go for non-elective, urgent care, and emergency services someday.
01:32:16
Speaker
Okay. That's very cool. That would be cool if we can get to work and be accurate because I i believe that's that is a major problem um with our healthcare is nobody shops it around.
01:32:28
Speaker
like you There's not much to shop. you just ah Even when you see your bill, you don't you don't know what the hell's going on with it. So this would be really nice. Part of it too is be more transparency in the bills and public-facing price lists basically is kind of what they said.
01:32:46
Speaker
used to be is it So that people can see what to expect and who's charging what. right So hopefully we can get some ah some relief because Something to keep an eye on, so see what happens with this.
01:33:01
Speaker
yeah um That's about all I got. um Anything else you want to touch on? or No, I got it. I'm good. Okay. I thought we hit it pretty good today. Yeah, hit hit all of them pretty good. a lot of stuff going on as usual. and we're just going to try to keep it but up with it as much as we can.
Show's Online Presence and Listener Engagement
01:33:19
Speaker
um As we go further in this, I did get a ah yeah URL. So we should have a website shortly or something that points to something. Very cool. um ill maybe that Maybe one of these days we can get a little blog going. Right. Yes, that's that's the idea. um And more show notes.
01:33:38
Speaker
We'll work on more of the show notes in the descriptions of ah the shows. So um anyone wants to help, well, I guess we'll give you an email eventually, too. Actually, can give out the email? can give out the email, can't I?
01:33:51
Speaker
Yeah, why not? CrookedRiverCast at gmail.com. CrookedRiverCast gmail.com. If you'd like to help... I'll put it in the show notes. And if you if you feel like you want to help the show out with a blog or with any technical support, we can can talk about it for sure.
01:34:08
Speaker
So if that's all, I think we'll wrap it up here. um Let's see if we can do an outro like we did the intro. You ready? Go for it. All right. So ideally... You know, I'd be talking then I would bring in I'd say, Tom, that was a great show.
01:34:24
Speaker
Thank you so much joining us. And we'll see you next week. Peace.