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Crooked River Cast Show 12
25 Plays23 days ago
You can also find us on X: https://x.com/CRCOhioNews
The Senate proposes changes to the State budget.
Unclaimed funds for Brookpark Dome. unciaimedfunds.ohio.gov
Will property tax reform be on the next ballot?
Local tax levies reform too!
What is going on in Cleveland Heights?
How many mayors does East Cleveland need?
I-X Center will undergo a transition and will identified as...
Kent State "closing” DEI centers, or are they?
A win for straight white women!
Activists are farming!
Is Cuyahoga County standing firm on its DEI initiatives or just virtue signaling?
Proposed NASA Glenn cuts.
Brown's announce Berea development project.
Electric bills are on the rise, and a website can help. https://www.energychoice.ohio.gov
Ohio sales tax holiday is coming!
The Cleveland country music scene has a rising star.
Burger week!!!!!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Northeast Ohio Events
00:00:02
Speaker
This is the Crooked Rivercast, a show we hope will share some insight into what is going on in Northeast Ohio. This is June 6th, 2025. I'm your host, Robert. And every week I'm joined by my friend, Tom, who's always up for exploring this great state of Ohio.
00:00:17
Speaker
So let's dive right in and see what we can get into. Morning, Tom. How you doing, Rob? I'm good. I'm better than last week. Let's put it that way. Thank you for joining me today. appreciate it.
00:00:28
Speaker
No problem. But, you know, i do have I do have a brisket that I'm waiting to smoke here. so Oh, well, we got to get moving then. You got the coals burning yet? No, no. yeah I was just thinking about it. i got I still got to trim up the brisket. and i think I'm going to be like waking up waking up or going to bed late.
Homelessness in Cleveland: Observation and Impact
00:00:49
Speaker
I don't know. um I'll probably be starting that sucker around 3 a.m. and hopefully having it for dinner on Sunday. Oh, see, last two weekends, i'm I've got three massive butts in the freezer from from last year, and I keep forgetting to take them out like Wednesday. so Yeah, you got to take that out a few days early.
00:01:09
Speaker
Oh, yeah, and I'm just like, man, I'm so horrible at this whole smoking thing. But I did those breasts, chicken breasts, a couple weeks ago, and did about 20 of them. 20-ish? you freeze them? Yeah.
00:01:20
Speaker
you fail um yeah Cool. so we had them for dinner, and then... um It's cool if you put them individually on a and cookie sheet and freeze them for like a couple hours, and you can put them in a bag and they don't stick together.
00:01:32
Speaker
Right, right. Anyway, um but yeah, I got to get on. i got We're running out of reserve pork butt in the freezer, so I got to start smoking more. We just used up our last one, so...
00:01:43
Speaker
Yeah, I got one more, I think, in there. um But no time for chitchat. Just time to thank our listeners for tuning in today. Because, you know, they tune in the No, you don't do that anymore. um But we appreciate your time. And let's get into it.
00:01:59
Speaker
I don't have a whole lot. Like i said, not a lot of time for chitchat. But I do want to bring up one thing that I noticed this over the week. I watched for a short time while sitting at a traffic light the city of Cleveland.
00:02:10
Speaker
I'm glad you're sitting down. the city of Cleveland, removing a homeless encampment. What? Yes. Yes. I couldn't believe it myself.
00:02:21
Speaker
I mean, I'm sitting there at the traffic light going, give me a hell yeah! But first i didn't even know what the heck was going on. There's all this traffic on the other side. So this was I-71, underneath I-71 at 150th Street.
00:02:34
Speaker
So rail across the street from there's that, they call the airport Marriott. Right, the right. And it's literally that exit right there. And I drive past there, you know, a few times a month for work. And there's a huge line of traffic on the other side of the street. And they got a dump truck. They got cops. They got a big front-end loader.
00:02:53
Speaker
And they just were scooping all the crap up and putting it right in the dumpster. Hmm. Yeah. That's interesting. was like, times are are a-changing time. i got I have to take a look by... ah because the play i think it's on so I think it's superior that I pass by every day. I see tents there. got to take a closer look, see if it's still there.
00:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, I don't... I'm not sure why. i mean, I can see why they and made it to the homeless camp because it's it's kind of tucked away back there, but... Oh, you know what? Is there an event coming in or anything?
00:03:27
Speaker
I don't know. That's what I thought. They don't want people seeing that are coming out of town? Very possible, because that would be, if you're coming into Cleveland and flying to Hopkins, it is the airport Marriott. It's like five miles from the airport or something, two miles from the airport. but it's a quick drive from there.
00:03:46
Speaker
yeah Yeah, maybe there might be something coming in. I'm trying to think. I don't know, sporting events of some, I don't know, any tournaments or anything. I don't i have no idea. Could be. Or, I mean, no, they haven't seen the light. I was i was going to give them a benefit. No. No, no way No way.
00:04:02
Speaker
So anyway, yeah if you see stuff like that, you got any information on and stories that you'd like us to cover, maybe stories we're not covering enough, or maybe some insight, please let us know.
00:04:15
Speaker
Email us at crookedrivercast at gmail.com. And we'd love to hear from our listeners. Or you could just look us up on X at crookedrivercast.com.
00:04:26
Speaker
It's at CRC Ohio News.
Ohio Budget Discussions: School Funding and Veto Power
00:04:31
Speaker
CRC Ohio News. Yeah, but if if you just search for Crooked Rivercast, we come up.
00:04:38
Speaker
Yep. Okay. Awesome. Thank you for that. All right. So on to the first ah story of the day is, again, we're going to touch on the Ohio budget. The budget has passed the House and is now on to the Senate.
00:04:53
Speaker
The House version um includes things like an increase of $226 million for school funding, an increase for the voucher program of $500 million, the Brook Park Dome ah bonds or grants or whatever for $600 million, and and a whole lot more.
00:05:10
Speaker
I know this is probably not the, we've talked about this a lot. It's not the most exciting thing to talk about probably. It is most certainly not the most exciting thing to talk about, but it is extremely important because this is Ohio's big, beautiful bill.
00:05:23
Speaker
Like this, this is a massive bill every two years that we pass. But all the cuts, Rob. All the, oh my gosh, the cuts. Can you believe all the cuts? Well, you know, the first thing they're going to cut.
00:05:34
Speaker
What's that? They're making it a flat tax in Ohio, income tax. Yeah, I kind of saw that. So that's the, um that's, we had a couple of things, the Ohio Senate or how, excuse me, how, yeah, ah the Senate, im excuse me, I'm trying to email. We've talked about this.
00:05:50
Speaker
Yeah. It's not a flat tax like I originally imagined, but it's it's good. it's good Right. So this is some the changes the Senate is putting in.
00:06:05
Speaker
2.75% flat tax. Right now there's two tiers. i think Income tax. Income tax, excuse me. in Flat income tax. it is i now I think now there's 2.75% and if you make above a certain amount, you go up to 3.25% or 3.5%.
00:06:20
Speaker
So this would put everybody on the same, but a literal flat tax. Everybody's paying the same. I think anybody over 105,000 a year goes up to like three and a quarter or three and a half, I forget. Yeah.
00:06:32
Speaker
So this would make it put everybody on the same page. And from all the reports I'm seeing, this is them working towards zero income tax in Ohio. You think so?
00:06:43
Speaker
That's what everybody, that literally all, a lot of the politicians are saying that. Vivek is saying that. Vivek is saying that, excuse me. ah He, you know, he's the leading candidate for governor. Right. all the A lot of the Republicans are saying, yes, this is, we're working way towards zero.
00:06:57
Speaker
Okay. Because one is it's going to, because the, because the three and a half is going to, it's going to be stepped down over a couple of years, right? Yes. Yeah. Yes, that definitely will be.
00:07:07
Speaker
They, um,
00:07:11
Speaker
So six hundred flat tax 2.75. Also, the ah additional change is there the Senate is, ah it's in the Senate proposal, they are asking for $100 million dollars more for school funding.
00:07:25
Speaker
And the interesting part about this is the News Channel 5's headline says the Senate increasing school funding. And last week, they were saying the the House was cutting school funding.
00:07:36
Speaker
Right. But the increase $100 million dollars to the million dollars increase that's already in the house so ah hey low new channel five that is so hundred million dollars for school funding The other addition or one of the other additions is raising, they want to raise the school district carryover that the house has at 30%.
00:08:02
Speaker
So like we've talked in the past, what most people don't know is your local school district, the vast majority, every school district, as far as I can see, carries over some of their funds into the next fiscal year.
00:08:18
Speaker
Most, from what I can see, carry more than 30% or thereabouts. For example, when we first learned about this, I think the example was, one of the examples Parma City Schools, which is one of the worst, at least in Northern Ohio, and they carry over 28% or 26% of their budget every year.
00:08:39
Speaker
right Some way more than that. So this the the Senate wants to increase that from 30% 50%.
00:08:46
Speaker
Which, okay, it's up for debate. Let's debate it. so but Okay, so this means this means that if they have 30% of their budget, right? As it stands right now, what the House proposed is if they have 30% of their budget, they don't get any more.
00:09:03
Speaker
ah Or that 30% gets ah knocked off from there from their allotment? anything yeah Anything over 30%, they will prorate your property taxes and lower them to match that difference.
00:09:20
Speaker
Got you. So if you're 48% over and the cutoff is 30 and it's a million dollars of money, then they'll take that million dollars, split it up over all property tax payers, and they'll prorate your property tax lower.
Browns Stadium Funding Debate: Unclaimed Funds and Public Opinion
00:09:34
Speaker
So what they're doing, what the Senate is doing, they're trying to make it 50%, which will... 50%. Which is not as good for the taxpayer, right? Yeah. Correct. And would also raise the question for me is how many school districts carry over more than half of the budget every year?
00:09:51
Speaker
How many? I don't know. I couldn't see. if I couldn't tell by the quick look I did. Yeah, they they probably don't have that those stats. I remember seeing 30%, but... Right. why I mean, yes, because if there's a lot of schools carrying half of their budget every year... Right.
00:10:10
Speaker
I mean... Yeah, we need to look check that. i get Again, we talked about it, but i don't they don't they shouldn't have to spend every penny. But if you're carrying 38%, 40%, 45% of your budget over, and then you're asking for levies to increase because you'll have you're you're you're claiming poor, no.
00:10:28
Speaker
No, that needs to be in check. Right.
00:10:33
Speaker
ah And just a reminder to all this, those are like the three major things that they pulled out of the bill that they want to change or add to. But just a reminder that was reminded one of these articles is DeWine can line item veto anything in this budget.
00:10:49
Speaker
and Yeah, but if he does, it it it would probably get... um Overturned, probably. Yeah, it we would probably get overturned because we have a majority. a six What it, 60% majority? At least, yeah, you need 60% to get a veto over.
00:11:03
Speaker
Because between the House and the Senate versions, they've already cut $5 billion off of DeWine's version. So he wanted even bigger budget. Right. um And one of the things that we...
00:11:19
Speaker
that was also in that that one of the changes I should say in the Senate version is the Brook Park Dome, the Browns stadium. And they, so they still want to give the Browns $600 million, dollars They want to give them grants or whatnot and then have it paid back by and taxes and that that kind of stuff.
00:11:41
Speaker
The change they have is the Senate would like to use the unclaimed funds in Ohio to borrow against or to use that to to give to the Browns and and then as they pay it back, they will put it back in this fund.
00:11:57
Speaker
So to me, this story really isn't much about the Browns Dome. It's much about unclaimed funds in Ohio. I mean, so how many how much could they possibly be claim funds in Ohio?
00:12:09
Speaker
that Oh, quite a bit. Yeah, I was going to say, i have no clue, but there has to be a ton. Would you care to guess? ah ah Do I care to guess? Yeah, would you? say Let's say there's, and if hell, I'll go on the high end. Oh, I'll say $2 billion. Okay.
00:12:28
Speaker
No, the fund, the, yes, you're, you're close. You're, you're warm. You're warm. um I think the number was three and a half billion dollars of unclaimed funds in Ohio. So I immediately went to the unclaimed funds website, unclaimedfunds.ohio.gov to, to see. And I don't have any, but my wife does.
00:12:49
Speaker
No kidding. What, from, from what? I mean, is it's, I mean, yeah, from what? So this could be from money-weighting class action lawsuit that you got paid for.
00:13:00
Speaker
oh okay. It could be... um like ah unpa like ah credits from your gas bill. and I mean, it is a wide range of things, but it's all things that like, no, they can't like the company can't just take the money. They're there when they're required to give money up and then they can't find the people, it goes into this fund.
00:13:20
Speaker
Right. it could be a wide range of things, but over the year, no, and from what I heard was what I read was it's three and a half billion. i think most of that has been there for more than 10 years.
00:13:32
Speaker
so Oh, no kidding. Yeah. Let's see I do have a clip on some of this, too. I got a couple of details. Let's go over the details a little bit better because I don't think we did it very well. So really, there's $3.7 billion dollars in this fund right now that they want to lend.
00:13:52
Speaker
They want to borrow from, the state wants to borrow from this fund and then give it ah for the project to also and and then repay it with taxes. But they also want to take a portion, they want to take 600 million for that. They want to take 1.7 billion and put it towards a sports fund for future and then repay that back.
00:14:12
Speaker
So there's $3.7 billion dollars in this account. Most of it there, two and a half billion is there for more than 10 years. And they're going to borrow from it. That's the biggest thing we have to, when we hear listen to this clip, <unk> they're ah borrowing this money and we'll pay it back because yearly out of $3.7 billion, dollars they pass out $150 million on average. And they try to increase it every year.
00:14:37
Speaker
So the state of Ohio is still going to leave a billion dollars or more sitting in the account. They're only giving out $150 million a year but as people sign up, put their credentials in, and then they get paid.
00:14:49
Speaker
So let's let's hear what they have to say about it. Tonight, the stadium battle continues. Today, it became official. Ohio senators are proposing a $600 million dollars loan help the Browns build a dome stadium in Brook Park. The money would come from the state's $3.7 billion dollars in unclaimed funds.
00:15:09
Speaker
This move is causing concern from some county leaders and Northeast Ohio residents who say that money should be allocated elsewhere. Our Bryant McRae now joins us live from downtown with latest on this. Bryant, good evening.
00:15:22
Speaker
Well, yeah, good evening, Russ and Lena. This proposal coming less than a month before Governor Mike DeWine needs to sign the state budget. Meanwhile, Cuyahoga County Executive du Chris Ronain says this proposal will affect the wallets of Ohioans.
00:15:36
Speaker
This is indeed a sad day for the state of Ohio and for our residents of Cuyahoga County. At a news conference Tuesday, Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronain expressing his disappointment with the Ohio Senate's latest proposal to fund a dome stadium in Brook Park. where Your pocket is being picked.
00:15:54
Speaker
to give $600 million to Haslam Sports Group for the sole purpose of their next version of Cleveland Brown Stadium. Ronay says, the money the Senate wants to touch would have a negative... Yeah, it's a loan.
00:16:08
Speaker
Yeah. They're not giving it to the... he I mean, essentially, therere they're helping the project be built. They're helping the project be built, but they're just loaning from the... From the fund.
00:16:20
Speaker
Yeah, from the final fund. Which, I don't know, that doesn't sound too bad to me. No. Especially when they they give out, they're only handing out $150 million a year. And that's when they're with with a website and advertising. and you know It's not like they're hiding this stuff. And only $150 million gets paid out because most people don't know about this. Oh, until now.
00:16:40
Speaker
It's supposedly but one of the most searched websites in the last week in Cleveland. Right. um So let's see. what I got ah another 30 seconds here and see. Trickle down effect on Ohioan. Some people say, despite the contingencies, for them, money always talks.
00:16:56
Speaker
right. So he goes on the street. And he decides, you know, I'm sure it's just a cold read. I mean, it's totally sounds like somebody that they didn't.
00:17:07
Speaker
Yeah, it was it's completely fake. But I mean, what could they be saying on the street, Tom? I mean, but let's see. Would you rather take a check in the mail or build a new Brown Stadium? I would take that check in the mail.
00:17:20
Speaker
In a heartbeat. In a heartbeat. oh I live in downtown, and my favorite time the weekends in the fall are unmatched. Like, seeing all the fans and all the orange and brown, like I said, not a Browns fan, but this is my city. And seeing that all, like, come through the bars and all this, like, it's beautiful. It's literally what makes this city so unique and so cool, and they're taking that away. That boy's about as sharp as a bowling ball.
00:17:45
Speaker
thats I'm not a Browns fan, but this is my city. Wait, what? That doesn't go together, does it? No, just... so Wait a minute, wait a minute. you you you Sorry, go ahead. i think so I think when you ask people on the spot what they think of something, you don't really get a real answer a lot of times.
00:18:04
Speaker
I think they just want to look good for for the camera. Yeah, but if you ask, would you rather have a check in the mail or a new bronze stadium? Yes. so I think most people would say a check in the mail, except for the fact that Is there at any way just random people are going to get paid out this account?
00:18:20
Speaker
Right, right. it's a dumb question. You're a freaking idiot. and And you got speech impediment. What are you doing and as an announcer on TV? As bad as a guy on NPR. that's ah That's NPR?
00:18:31
Speaker
No, i'll said that's Channel 3, but it it reminds me of the guy on NPR. Oh. He's got my death and he has a death. Right, like right. I get equal opportunity, but now you're just annoying the listeners. anyway. Yeah.
00:18:44
Speaker
but' And then, oh, dude, they mean it's totally beautiful, man. Like, so cool on the weekends. And all the Browns fans are peeing everywhere and drinking and drunk. It's beautiful. It makes the city unique, man.
00:18:56
Speaker
like Like every other NFL city in the country. So Renane they're picking your pocket. No, actually, they're picking your pocket.
00:19:08
Speaker
um no actually They're not picking anyone's pocket. They're borrowing from a fund that nobody even really knows about that even if they double what they pass out is only going to be 300 million out of the $3.7 billion dollars that is sitting there.
00:19:25
Speaker
So I think this is a great compromise. ah it the The fund is going to get paid back in 15 to 20 years, they estimate. And we're going to put a one one and a half billion, a 1.7 billion, I think they said, into a fund for the next time this comes out.
00:19:41
Speaker
So, for example, Cincinnati is going to want a renovation. They've already been talking about They're starting to get proposals going to renovate their Cincinnati Bengals stadium.
00:19:54
Speaker
And so on and so on. And also, if everyone remembers, the syntax that we currently pay in our in this area, I think, I don't think that's statewide, is it? It's Cuyahoga. It's Cuyahoga County.
00:20:05
Speaker
Yeah. It is not enough. They are screaming poor because that that right now what we're paying that syntax for is for maintenance on the three facilities. It's not enough. Right.
00:20:18
Speaker
They need to increase it, they say, or extend it. The syntax is on cigarettes and beer or liquor? Beer and liquor, any alcohol and cigarettes. I think that's feeling. I wonder, vapes? might be on the marijuana too.
00:20:31
Speaker
Okay. Are the vapes also? Yeah, I think that's under tobacco and, yeah, cigarettes, to tobacco. Yeah, okay. So, I don't know. i think I think borrowing from a fund and they're paying it back, I don't know, it is really no risk to the taxpayer, I guess.
Ohio Tax Reforms: Property and School Districts
00:20:50
Speaker
Doesn't sound like it. Sounds definitely not like a pretty good deal to me. Definitely not picking your pocket. No. Definitely not picking anyone's pocket. So, yeah. It's not saying you can't go get your money if you have any in there.
00:21:02
Speaker
No. And actually, it brought it to the surface and more people are getting their money back now. Yeah. But they're not going to burn through three, three and a half billion dollars anytime soon. And they keep, at it keeps getting it's not like this is a static fund. It it gets added to every year.
00:21:19
Speaker
Because again, if if you're an part of a cla session law class action lawsuit, I mean, even like stimulus checks. will go into this fund because the government has to pay these out. what What checks?
00:21:30
Speaker
Like a stimulus check could go into this account because it you know it can't just go back. It has to be paid out. That's kind of what this fund is for, for like a lawsuit. The company has to pay it. It has to go somewhere.
00:21:42
Speaker
So I think it's for like old bank accounts too, like that old bank never claimed. Old bank account credits on ah um, credits on, uh, uh, utilities maybe that never got claimed or yeah it's all kinds. of Yeah. If you had a deposit, if you had to make a deposit and you never got your deposit back, you know, it's a wide range of things or whatever you call that deposit when you, uh,
00:22:04
Speaker
I forget what they call that. Shoot. Oh, a security deposit or something like that. Security deposits and stuff. Yeah. So like I said, it's, and it, it continues to be added to every year. I don't, I don't see the downside to this, but if you do email us, CrookedRiverCast at gmail.com.
00:22:23
Speaker
All right. Next story, kind of in this, in the same, well, it's taxes. The reformpropertytax.com. Reform Property Tax. This is a senior. There was seniors for property tax reform and they've um changed and kind of banded together with a couple other groups to to create this reformpropertytax.com.
00:22:47
Speaker
And what they are proposing is right now is their petition. I think we've touched on this a couple of shows ago. There's petition going around now currently put this on the ballot. They're looking for signatures.
00:22:58
Speaker
Yep. Yep. To put this on a ballot. So I want to go over kind of what they're doing, what they propose, and then kind of shout out their website. And and maybe there's there's a bunch of dates where all this with this they'll have signing places you can sign the petition.
00:23:14
Speaker
And they're looking for 600,000 signatures because they need 413. Yeah, just i just um it's you just sign up with your email and they'll they'll send you information, it looks like.
00:23:25
Speaker
Yep. So let's check. up So one the on the the face of this movement, seems to be, her name is Beth Blackmar. And I caught her being interviewed on a, I think it's a Ohio based YouTube channel called Housing Nerd.
00:23:42
Speaker
And you know, they went through a lot of stuff. I cut it up a little bit and got a couple clips from it. So I'm gonna kind of go over and so everybody knows what's going on. So let's do clip one. In my humble opinion, um and you know I could be wrong, but it's my observation that this, they built with this property tax law, they built a sort of a Jenga tower of law. And when the legislators are trying to address one thing, if you pull that block out, there, you know, certain other things fall down. So that's been the problem all along. We at Citizens for Property Tax Reform are bound and determined, we are going to see to it that property tax in the state of Ohio is reformed.
00:24:29
Speaker
Sorry, she set up a little bit better. But basically, she was explaining why she got involved in the fact that when she called it, when, you know, when their taxes, when her house value doubled, almost doubled, and she started realizing how much property tax she was going to pay, she started looking around to see who who could help because...
00:24:50
Speaker
she So she called the city her city. And they told her she she should probably move. Yeah, she should probably move, which kind of triggered her into and to this right now. Good for her.
00:25:00
Speaker
And that clip is more like saying one of the reasons, this is a last resort. And the reason is it doesn't seem like a legislature wants to do anything because they don't have the political will. Because when they start pulling one piece out, the whole tower falls down because everything is kind of tied together.
00:25:16
Speaker
So in their minds...
00:25:19
Speaker
just a good way to force our legislature to fix this broken system. All right. Let's on. You know what? Actually, I, I ran across an article or a clip. i I forgot to clip it.
00:25:31
Speaker
<unk> I'll do it. I'll try to find it for next week, but there, there, there are provisions for schools and other, pardon of me? Yeah. She gets into that in these next couple of times. Oh, okay.
00:25:42
Speaker
Yeah. That's kind of, kind of the, that was kind of the setup, which I botched a little bit, but, That's kind of my thing to this is there's it's everybody. When you talk to people about this, I have a little bit and they go, well, what are we going to do? I'm like, first of all, that's their job to figure out, not our job. We put them in place to figure that stuff out, not us.
00:26:02
Speaker
We just tell them what to do and figure it out. So it's.
00:26:06
Speaker
Now, meanwhile, while we were organizing and getting ourselves out there and talking to legislators, another ah committee formed. from a couple other groups, small groups, and they're called the Committee to Eliminate Ohio Property Taxes. And they are the ones that decided to put forward and did all the work, all the footwork to put together this ballot initiative. Okay. And Citizens for Property Tax Reform is...
00:26:33
Speaker
backing the ballot initiative. Okay. So that's how we got to this point because we, you know, this is an action of last resort, right? I mean, we have not got been able to really get much accomplished. The legislators have tried.
00:26:48
Speaker
We've gotten basically crumbs. Maybe not even that, you know, so this action of last resort seems to have gotten the legislators moving a bit because they're talking about it Oh yeah. It's got their, they're talking about it now, at least we're in the past, you know, Supreme court says, Hey, school funding is not constitutional this way. and they were like, yeah, okay. Whatever. Last clip.
00:27:13
Speaker
The other thing is there's already mechanisms in the Ohio Revised Code to replace property tax with various functions. We have, you know, some some cities across Ohio are already using what's called an SDIT, which is a school district income tax.
00:27:30
Speaker
So they they but they they buffer the property tax burden with some additional income tax. for their city and it helps offset the burden you know a little bit for their homeowners and building owners so that's kind of you know it when when we say we're going to give her a property tax well not exactly mean we're going to move it to another what it does basically is shift the spread the pain the idea is to spread the pain because right now the burden is borne by 30 35 ohio you know that's not entirely fair
00:28:06
Speaker
I mean, that's it in a nutshell is spread the pain. We're not going to cut all the funding out, but it it needs to be, it like she said, her stat was 30, 35% of the people in Ohio are the only ones who fund schools because they're only ones who pay property tax.
00:28:23
Speaker
Right. I mean, you got renters. I mean, you got the... apartments and things like that. Right. Right. Yeah. and Well, part, uh, that's a, that's a big deal. Renters, renters pay property tax. If you're renting somebody from a house on a, on a but apartment building, I don't know.
00:28:39
Speaker
I mean, they pay property tax, but it's not the owners the same. The owners pay it. And then the renters, I mean, they're, it's It's included in their rent. On a commercial property like apartment building, I don't know how it's categorized. Is it property tax or is it just, don't know. I'm sure it's some sort. of No, there there has to be property tax on that.
00:28:58
Speaker
yeah So spread the pain. There's already a system there, and and we can just add to that system. And and and her their ideas make it income-based, and it's just much more of a fair and balanced system.
00:29:14
Speaker
It'll make more people think about what they're voting for before they just... Right. you know And like she had said in part of the clip, which will tie into the next story, which is they want to increase the threshold for levies.
00:29:27
Speaker
who Because like she said, well, property taxes are one thing. Levies are one thing until your property starts going up 30%, 40% every couple of years. And then becomes a huge problem.
00:29:38
Speaker
Then maybe 10... When you're figuring out if you're going to vote for a levy or not, and... You're like, okay, well, it's going to cost me $15 a year or $100 a year or whatever it is, $10 a month, whatever it's going to be.
00:29:51
Speaker
Okay, that seems reasonable. I'm going to vote for it. This is not me personally. but So then five or eight years down the line, your property goes up by 60 or 70%. Now that number is even higher.
00:30:03
Speaker
Now are you second guessing whether you should have voted for that or not? Because it doesn't stay the same. It goes up as your property value goes up. It makes you think why they – if you're – If your taxes went up that much because of the increased value of your home, why are they now get you know looking for more levies?
00:30:20
Speaker
There's another key. If they're getting these increases all the time, we we're paying more because our houses are worth more. you know We can go into the whole, I'm being taxed on something I don't actually gain.
00:30:31
Speaker
but But besides that, they're getting more money too. And they're still begging for more on top of it. Oh, yeah. And and a lot of them are carrying 30 or 40% of their budget a year over year. Mm-hmm. So on top of that, there is a bill or there's, is that a bill? You know, I didn't even pull.
00:30:48
Speaker
i haven't, I didn't see a bill number. There's somebody, are you talking about po the yeah tax levy? Yes. Yes. father Okay. Dave Thomas has sponsored a bill, but there was no, I never got a bill. um don't know. Yeah. It's not even in, I have two articles. and So, but Dave Thomas from Ashtabula, Republican Ashtabula, he, he, he's.
00:31:10
Speaker
We'll find it and put it in. Yeah. He's currently sponsoring a bill to raise the threshold to pass levies to 60% instead of a simple majority. Simple majority of anything over 50%. Yeah. So... That's going
00:31:30
Speaker
it's going to make it a lot harder to pass levies. It's going to... They do say most levies pass by more than 60%. But the thing is, it's going to even things up because...
00:31:42
Speaker
you get how Well, put it this way. Most people don't go vote for this. yeah So you get certain segment of the neighborhood all riled up to pass something. They're going to go out in bigger numbers. So this is going to kind of make it a little more fair, I think, too. little more balanced, a little fair, yeah.
00:32:07
Speaker
if you Also, the other thing is if you get a bunch of apartment dwellers, it it depends. its It's different for every local. So if you get a bunch of apartment renters, you know they're going to go out and vote, and they're not really affected by it. So they're just going to vote yes.
00:32:21
Speaker
What was a clip I saw from Vivek, which he brought up? This point was like in Athens, Ohio, or in big college towns, there's there are kids that vote for these levies, and then two years later, they leave.
00:32:33
Speaker
Right. Right. Yep. It would make it harder to pass the levy, but I think for something like this, it's pretty big. It's pretty impactful on the community.
00:32:45
Speaker
i think I think if you can't get 60%,
00:32:50
Speaker
You should rethink your levy, I think. I don't know. I just see some of these levies pass by half a percent. Right, right. And going, oh, be so upset if that was. Yeah, that's that's just a few people being lazy that they didn't didn't go out to vote.
00:33:03
Speaker
Like you said, most people don't vote, period, no any election. its The majority of people don't vote in election. Well, any local election is usually a low turnout. But ah Arizona already has this in place.
00:33:16
Speaker
ah that 60% threshold. okay and I think it's gonna, I think it would pass but but with our- The current legislature. Yeah, I think it would pass.
Political Controversies in Ohio
00:33:28
Speaker
yeah And I think it's a great thing. ye Because, because you you know, it's impacting everybody. every it should It should pass by like a supermajority, which is and isn't a supermajority, you know, typically 60%.
00:33:41
Speaker
Yeah, technically that' they they call that, in ah at least in Washington, a supermajority. Right. and Or any legislature, a supermajority if you're over 60%. Yeah. um and And if you disagree, crookedrivercast.gmail.com.
00:33:55
Speaker
and he Tell us why. Tell us why we're <unk> wrong. And we might actually read it. It's undemocratic. It's undemocratic. right, on to the next. to move it along.
00:34:06
Speaker
Got lot to cover today. On to the next, which we but touched on last week, but we didn't have time because of all the, just the mounting stories, but it's the, what is going on in Cleveland Heights, Tom?
00:34:18
Speaker
What the heck is going on in Cleveland Heights? Drama. Drama. It's a soap opera. Holy cow. Let's, let's, let's run through the timeline real quick for the listeners. So I, I, there's so much here. I literally put these into Grok and, and help, help me,
00:34:36
Speaker
bullet point this stuff because it's it's it's weird. So I think this kind of all started back in 2024. December of 24, not back, it's only six months ago.
00:34:47
Speaker
Back in 2024, apparently the mayor's wife, Natalie McDaniel. She looks like a bulldog, by the way. She, the the picture they have in the in this in the story, on the on the clip art for the um ah thing of the story, she it looks just like that chick from Terminator.
00:35:07
Speaker
You think so? From the shot in the and that I have in my notes thing, you know, from the the yeah thumbnail. It looks, yeah, she kind of reminds me of that. It has a kind of a feathery hair. It's the glasses that really do it.
00:35:19
Speaker
Okay, I see what you're saying. But I saw that picture. I'm like, man, she just looks like a nasty boy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. like one that's Like one that'll just sit there and stare at you while they take a dump on your bed.
00:35:31
Speaker
So...
00:35:34
Speaker
so um Okay, so the controversy, didn't know we were going there, but okay. The controversy, um ah well, yeah, December 6, 2024.
00:35:48
Speaker
um An incident at City Hall where she allegedly screamed profanities at staff and a police officer. That's kind what I think we're this. Can you say that again? She what?
00:36:00
Speaker
She screamed profanities at the staff and police officers. Okay. All right. So, okay. Well, there's a police officer. What does a police officer have usually on a body cam?
00:36:13
Speaker
Camera. Yeah. just yeah Weirdly enough, the city refuses to release the body cam footage, citing as it as personal, not ah not a public record.
00:36:25
Speaker
They didn't complain, right? Who's they? The police. um I don't know if they've complained. All I see is the city refused to release. and It's prompting criticism from First Amendment attorneys.
00:36:39
Speaker
Okay. um And the city is also inquiring about pressing felony charges against the officer who recorded the incident. Okay. So that's that was one. I think that may be where that kind of started. And then...
00:36:51
Speaker
Somewhere along the lines, there's allegations, again, of the mayor's wife, Natalie McDaniel, who, again, not a city employee, has been accused of making anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks, creating creating a hostile work environment.
00:37:07
Speaker
ah lawsuit A lawsuit filed by a former mayoral assistant, Patrick Castigan,
00:37:15
Speaker
Costigan. Costigan, thank you. yeah um acted McDaniels acted as a supervisor and made derogatory statements supported by text message screenshots.
00:37:26
Speaker
A civil rights complaint was also filed by the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. Serene has denied these allegations, calling them false in a 15-minute social media video. I think the mayor's name is Khalil Seren. Seren.
00:37:40
Speaker
Khalil Seren. All so at let's add on to that. Most recently, Soren's credibility has been in question because they've got him on video using the city law department key card to get into the all law offices after hours, which is interesting in itself considering there's lawsuits not being filed and all this other stuff.
00:38:06
Speaker
But also, he probably fueled this a little bit by stating at one point he doesn't have access to the law department, but they've got him on video twice going in the law department after hours.
00:38:19
Speaker
Okay, now there is a petition for recall and none non-confidence vote. They got 1,200 group of residents led by a former council member Moore, Josie Moore, gathered 1,200 signatures to initiate the recall petition.
00:38:40
Speaker
citing issues like high staff turnover, budget process failures, and his response to allegations against his wife. um It passed a six to one vote.
00:38:52
Speaker
so that And that's where we stand today. He he is, he is going despite the scandal and everything, he's he's pushing forward on his re-election campaign. And his um in his the election is in 2025, which is just a very important piece of information because it's all politics and it's, it's the Democrats eating their own.
00:39:16
Speaker
Kind of. Yeah. pressure um I mean, it it it is not, it's, I don't think it's a coincidence that it's an election year and this is going on. the The, the, the problem I have with this story is, well, the, the coverage,
00:39:30
Speaker
Because, okay, Soren has said Costigan had threatened a lawsuit unless provided with a job reference and $300,000. And Soren rejected it. The police officer did?
00:39:42
Speaker
Pardon me? The police officer did this? Costigan, the one that said... oh yes, I got you Okay. So the name of the Costigan is Patrick.
00:39:53
Speaker
But it's a she. Okay.
00:39:58
Speaker
ah ah so So she, Costigan, also complained that he exposed her for being trans, and that should be up to her.
00:40:11
Speaker
Oh, he misidentified her. Well, no, he exposed that she's trans. But I've seen a picture of her. She's not fooling anybody.
00:40:22
Speaker
Okay? Okay. but She's not fooling anybody. Yeah, he didn't expose anybody. I haven't heard her voice. And I'm, you know, i would, I'm not, I don't have, whatever. If an adult wants to transition or whatever, do, they can do whatever they want.
00:40:37
Speaker
But I just, this is a person that has been, a troublemaker for the last 15 years. She was on ah Obama's in 2008 campaign, and then she went to Utah.
00:40:53
Speaker
And in Utah, she was um an assistant or a campaign manager for a couple of mayor runs in Salt Lake City. And she was, you know, um...
00:41:08
Speaker
but Let's say she was really pushing the children, children, trans children um
00:41:17
Speaker
Yeah. you She was pushing the whole trans children not being able to get medical, um ah you you know, the right medical treatments and stuff. Yeah, yeah health calling it healthcare. And and i I feel this person is an evil person.
00:41:32
Speaker
Somehow cutting off tits and dicks is healthcare. Yeah, in and taking the drugs and castration. It's chemical castration. Anyways. Yeah. There was only one article I found. I found out that this was a trans person before I found this article, but not a single news outlet mentioned that Patrick is actually, you know, a trans man. And
00:42:00
Speaker
is that important to the story? Yeah. Yeah, I think so, because she's the one that's suing... Allegations of anti-Semitic and homophobic remarks. Yeah, and and she's a Catholic that is um a Jewish ethnicity.
00:42:15
Speaker
Wait, what? is Ethnically, she's Jewish, but she was raised Catholic. Patrick? and from Catholic. I mean, no, who's who's Catholic? Oh, Patrick. Oh, okay. but But they never mention...
00:42:28
Speaker
They just say that they're Jewish, but it's just Jewish ethnicity. So they're not like, you know, whatever. They're practicing or whatever. Yeah. She was raised Catholic, and I have a feeling her family disowned her and stuff from backstories that I read on on this person. That's the other thing. She said she exposed ah that Seren exposed her for being trans man, but there's articles dating back to about 2000,
00:42:55
Speaker
Oh, 15 or 16. She also worked for Hillary. And oh I think back to like 2018 in Utah that she says she's trans.
00:43:10
Speaker
had to I'm confused because this is what happens when you...
00:43:15
Speaker
When you do this, so it's Patrick Costigan. Patrick Costigan is a trans man. So it's actually biologically a woman. Yes. Trans man. But on her on her driver's license and on her birth certificate, I don't know how she did it it. I didn't know you could, but she changed.
00:43:32
Speaker
her gender or her, I didn't even think. Identified. She changed her identity. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so that Patrick is, there's all kinds of fun stuff in it. Yeah. Yeah. So this is, this is a person I think that just started the trouble.
00:43:46
Speaker
And, um I think, I think, you know, You know, it's just my gut feelings. I think she was trying to extort money from Sarah.
00:43:58
Speaker
And she had some she had she probably got pissed off for whatever reason. Maybe there was a little homophobic jokes being tossed around. or Or, you know, what the only anti-Semitic thing I saw was somebody said broodmare, and I don't even think that's like a Jewish thing. that's like That's just a woman that's had a lot of babies, a baby-making machine, basically, and that's kind of that was used back in the slavery days for slaves.
00:44:28
Speaker
broodmare and, uh, there was a thing for guys too. But, uh, although it doesn't answer the question why the, the, the mayor who says he doesn't have access to the law offices has access to the law offices as he's gone there during Yeah, no, there's, there's all kinds of stuff. That's what into this whole thing was like everything else was like, eh, and then, know, the mayor's sneaking into the, you know, basically sneaking into the law offices. What made look, what made me look at Patrick Costigan was, uh, well,
00:44:58
Speaker
they I never saw anything that was that anti-Semitic or you know homophobic. I didn't see anything. I just saw claims of nothing. ah So I was like, well, who's suing?
00:45:09
Speaker
And it's it's basically, I think, somebody that's over the last 20 years has just been a played victim. Because everything, any interview I read from her, she was ah just crazy.
00:45:21
Speaker
oh ah a whiny little bitch, not a man. I'm going to go on a ah limb here and say there is no, both sides are, or there's something going on here because if it was that simple that she didn't,
00:45:35
Speaker
that McDaniels, Natalie did not offend anything or say anything offensive, why wouldn't they release the video? Right, right. So something, there's something, I get what you're saying. Yeah, she looks like an activist.
00:45:49
Speaker
He, she, whatever. Definitely, ah yeah i'll call ah I'll call her he, i don't care. yeah He, ah why, yeah. I just want to make sure that, like, I think that should have been reported. Oh, and I was going to say, i i didn't see in any article mention of that except...
00:46:03
Speaker
for um which i had to dig into uh google it was like on the third page it was from j feed which is like a um i think that's a local jewish uh publication okay and they're the only ones that mentioned that um that patrick is a trend trends trend man yeah right, well, definitely going to keep in touch. I keep an eye on it because it's probably going there's going more out. I i didn't, pulled lot of these stories early in the week, so there might be an update already, but it's going something because. you
00:46:36
Speaker
You are correct, though. It is the left eating their own because even the lawyer is ah like somebody that's like, i went ah Let me find his name real quick.
00:46:47
Speaker
the the The guy who's running one like this this whole recall thing or whatever you want to call it is Michael Bennett along with Patrick Costigan. And I think there's one more. But ah he' he's like...
00:47:00
Speaker
he's a I wouldn't, I don't know if he's a far leftist, but if you go on his face page, it's like everything is like TDS. Like everything is like so anti-Trump. So it's, he's like a, he's like a douchey guy too. He's a, yeah. But it's, it's the left eating their own. Team politics, yeah.
00:47:21
Speaker
And Khalil is pretty leftist also. Yeah. so I mean, it's the city of Cleveland Heights, so that's just a demographic there.
00:47:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's a city with rainbow crosswalks. Yes. On the next meet um city crisis, it sounds like, we all we have to do is go right next door to East Cleveland.
00:47:44
Speaker
well well we We'll touch really quick on this because... ah Apparently, the former mayor, Brandon King, was convicted of corruption charges on May 29th of 2025. A Cuyahoga County jury found him guilty of 10 out of 12 counts of corruption related charges, ah steering some about steering $75,000 to a family business.
00:48:07
Speaker
So he's barred from ah um'm holding office. He's no longer the mayor. But the problem now is they have two mayors in Cleveland Heights or East Cleveland, East Cleveland, because the interim mayor who was put into place while King was on trial, Brandon King was on trial.
00:48:27
Speaker
she ah Maria Sandra Morgan was appointed by a Judge Anthony Rosa Russo, excuse me, in February 25 during King's suspension. And now the...
00:48:40
Speaker
There is now a second mayor been
00:48:44
Speaker
sworn in. East Cleveland City Council President Latik Shabazz declared himself mayor on June 1st, citing the city's charter, which states the city council president assumes the mayor's role in the event of a long-term absence.
00:48:59
Speaker
So right now they're in a legal limbo in the city of East Cleveland, and they got two mayors.
Economic Developments: I-X Center and Browns Project
00:49:06
Speaker
What's better than one mayor? Two mayors. but So keep an eye on you. If you're in East Cleveland, yeah, you gotta get, you gotta to get these, these people online. They're, they're just, they're fighting for it because apparently it's very lucrative to be mayor in Cleveland, in East Cleveland. and With proofing proof, proof, proof, the evidence is the $75,000 that he got put away for.
00:49:25
Speaker
Yeah. So again, they're, uh, I think that's probably the most corrupt and most, uh, it's a Well, I don't know. yeah it's It's one of the worst cities in Ohio.
00:49:38
Speaker
i Yeah, I think you I think it would agree, but I've driven through it many times. Yeah, it's I been sorry drive through it all the time. Yeah, yeah. On to the next one. on my In my holster.
00:49:50
Speaker
Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. It's a must. Mm-hmm. So next on the list, I guess we'll touch real quick on, I mean, speaking of the transitioning, the Ag Center is transitioning.
00:50:04
Speaker
The X Center is going bye-bye. Yeah, tell what's going on. In its current form. In its current form. Right. So right now, a little background real quick. ah i think I think this building was built back in the 40s. I was 42 when it was built, a Cleveland bomber plant.
00:50:18
Speaker
was owned by the Department of Defense for World War war two And then operated by General Motors as the Fisher Body Aircraft Plant, number two, making B-2, oh, that was during World War II, B-2 bombers. And then employed about 15,000 people. And in the 50s, GM's Cadillac Division moved in to manufacture tanks until 1972.
00:50:39
Speaker
and I never knew that. Yeah. And then I always thought it was a tank factory first. I didn't know. I didn't know the first one. I didn't know it it did be two bombers there. I always heard they used to build tanks there.
00:50:50
Speaker
So since 1985, the IAC Center has been the home of the annual events, such as Home and Garden Show, Auto Show, Indoor Amusement Park. Indoor Amusement Park closed several years ago. um in actually in the 80s 2.2 million square foot building was first recognized in the guinness book of world records at the largest single building convention center in the country i don't think it's that anymore think just i think vegas probably dwarfs that probably with a couple of theirs but so large facility this thing is built like a but big a brick house and because it had tanks and b2 bombers in it but
00:51:27
Speaker
Right now, it's transitioning into a data center. No kidding. Huh. So they've been struggling, I think, for a little while just to keep the lights on there. Yeah. it's It's almost too big of a place.
00:51:41
Speaker
Well, yeah when you go to an event there, it feels like you're in a, there's no atmosphere, you know? Right. Yeah. It's a really great experience. But again, the their other issue is there's no nothing else in the area with that much floor space.
00:51:56
Speaker
Right, right. Yep. But with the city, the city has been kind of, I think, a little bit struggling with this kind of, this what's going on with data centers, because they really want data centers here, and the city's kind of been looking for the right places to put them.
00:52:14
Speaker
That would be a freaking great place for it. so It is, and one of the reasons is they have 25-megawatt substation on site. Yeah, exactly. And data centers taking enormous amount of energy. And Ohio and the Great Lakes region is is hot because we're kind of the middle, and from we're the middle as far as East Coast, West Coast, as far as populations, but also we've got a very plentiful water source.
00:52:37
Speaker
And most of these data centers use water to cool everything. so So, and this seems like the city of Cleveland has kind of been, you know, they just don't want to put data centers everywhere. So they've been kind of picking the shoes in and then this seemed to be a perfect fit.
00:52:49
Speaker
And i think the people running it now are very willing to just go, hey, great. We're going to fill this whole place up now. And, and it brings about 250 jobs. That's cool. ah I mean, well, how many people lose their jobs?
00:53:02
Speaker
It is going to be a nut increase, I believe, or either a net increase or a wash. and hope It's not, yeah, it's about, ah from the articles, it's about the same amount of people, ah maybe a little bit more than currently. Wow. Okay. And, and actually probably, I would think this is my opinion. I would think more because since they've gotten rid of the ah indoor music park it's not a like that used to keep it open a lot longer because you could go there for the rides and stuff and that's long gone and actually anecdote little funny the ferris wheel that was in the eye center they actually built uh extended the roof so that it could fit in there with glass oh yeah so when you went up to the top you actually could see out they took that disassembled it and is now sitting outside of the um football hall of fame in canton
00:53:45
Speaker
Oh, wow. yeah They put a little development over there with some restaurants and stuff. and So have they said who who's going to put their data center there? Yes, more than likely. it is if they All they would say is a Fortune 500 company, and it it can only be one of couple. It's so it's it's either going to be Amazon, which is the biggest. That's probably most likely, right?
00:54:04
Speaker
Yeah, they're rumored for Amazon to have a data center there. It could be Facebook, I mean, but as any of those penless things. But it's definitely going to be, not definitely, the rumors are saying most likely Amazon.
00:54:15
Speaker
Yeah, that makes sense. All right. Next. Next. Well, we were touch on, we already kind of, I didn't, I see, I didn't realize the Cleveland Heights would be an LGBT story. I would have lumped it in with this one, but it's Kent State, Kent State, quote unquote, closing the LGBTQ centers. Let's just get right into the clip.
00:54:35
Speaker
I'm Remy Murray at Kent State University where cuts are being made to several identity-based centers and students here say it's a big loss. Getting rid of those type of environments is very dangerous.
00:54:50
Speaker
It's dangerous. How? OK. A new reality is what Faith Stevenson says she's prepared to face after Kent State University announced plans on Monday to close his LGBTQ plus center, women's center and student multicultural center.
00:55:07
Speaker
It's difficult to not see people that look like you. The Star Campus LGBTQ Resource Center and the university's longstanding LGBTQ plus living learning community will end too. When I came here, i knew that I kind of felt not like necessarily outnumbered, but i felt less included.
00:55:28
Speaker
But now she and Nika Delgado say they fear. They fear closing, shutting down, ending. Oh, my gosh. What this elimination could mean for future students.
00:55:39
Speaker
The Multicultural Center and the Women's Center and the LGBTQ Center, they were part of the reasons why I made it through college. Part of the reason she made it through college. Sorry. I don't know what to say to that.
00:55:52
Speaker
There's nothing to say to that. i ah It reminded me. Good. That should be ignored. it It reminded me of Louis Black skit from, oh, gotta be the 90s at least, where he he was sitting at a party and he overheard somebody say, if it wasn't for that horse, I would have never made it through that first year of college.
00:56:18
Speaker
and he said And he goes on about those things that bounce around in your head. And when you turn around to ask, they're gone. And now that's bouncing around you in your head ah to make you insane. Because hot what horse, college, what?
00:56:29
Speaker
um and That's kind of what that did to me. So um it's it's tough to be around people who don't look like you. Okay. um That's the only reason she made it through college was because of these centers.
00:56:42
Speaker
And they're closing, ending, boom, boom, doom. Okay. She just admitted she's a weak person. Yeah. that' Snowflake is all I kept thinking. Yeah. I'm so sorry. You know what?
00:56:53
Speaker
Thank you very much because my children will be your boss. Next clip. We reached out to KSU and they have yet to get back us. Closing number.
00:57:03
Speaker
But from this letter, we learned the Division of Student Life will enhance support to meet students' needs and that these spaces will continue to be available for all students with guidelines being developed. no Means I'm the home of the Center for Sexual and Relationship Violence Support Services will remain.
00:57:22
Speaker
To not have a ah place where you know you can go on campus, it's not something I've ever had to experience. Oh my gosh. All right.
00:57:33
Speaker
So here, here's my thought. Okay. If college is if college is so bad, Tom, if it's so hard for you to be at college where you need to have all these houses, groups, various centers where you need to go because you need to be around people just like you, if college is so bad, why the hell do we keep sending our kids there?
00:57:59
Speaker
Maybe instead of getting having a ah group or house, we make colleges more accepting. Because it doesn't sound like they're very accepting right now. I'm told they're very accepting. But it doesn't really sound like they're accepting. Because you have to go to a group where you can talk to people who are just like you.
00:58:13
Speaker
i i I remember when I was growing up, it was you go to college to explore ah life. Basically, experience life and meet new people. Is that why you go to college?
00:58:26
Speaker
Well, no, but that was like part of the experience. That's not why you go to college, but part of the experience of going to college was being around people that aren't in your neighborhood that are, yeah you know, ah it's, you know, it's it's a good thing.
00:58:39
Speaker
You get to meet people. You get to... you know, talk to people who talk to people who have a different view on the world than you. And you learn from that. You may not agree with everything, but you might learn from it. What this does, it keeps you in a bubble so that when you hear something that is not what you've heard in your bubble, it's violence, Tom, violence.
00:59:00
Speaker
I'm sorry. I couldn't stop laughing. I know that's, i was like, I'm laughing, but I'm also going, what the, who are, who are your parents? need to put them over my knee. these yeah Well, you know what? You're right.
00:59:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's like each generation gets a little weaker, you know? Yeah, good times make weak men, weak men make hard times. When hard times make strong men, strong men make good times. Good times make weak men, and and so on and so forth. Yeah, we'rere we're right in the weak men thing, so look out, people. Let's see what happens. The pendulum is swinging.
00:59:34
Speaker
I hope we um kind of turned it around. think it's turning around. just hope it doesn't get worse. It is. I can see it. can it. My fear is it it's going to swing too far. Because we can't go too far to the other way. It has to go the other way. Too far the other way isn't so bad.
00:59:50
Speaker
Well, it depends. But yeah, I get it. just i i I want to be fair and say it's the right and the left can go off the rails. So just, yeah, it's funny. For me, much more likely on the left and the right, but that's what I see.
01:00:03
Speaker
But. Yeah. Yeah, it's just funny, because like I feel like as a Gen Xer, like we had a pretty good idea of racism and equality between people. Yeah, it's a good place.
01:00:22
Speaker
How it went so far left, I don't know. Because like I thought we were pretty like, hey, you know don't judge a person by their skin color. Judge a person by their... you know the kind of martin The content of their character. Right. Until Obama.
01:00:38
Speaker
So how did our generation screw up the the next generation? Obama. The Obama administration. don't know can just blame him, but it feel like it took a turn there. Well, I just think it became exposed. Well, okay, I'm not going to. Yeah, it seemed like it. That's where the colleges kind of.
01:00:55
Speaker
Yes, took it to another level, felt like it. Right, right. Okay. okay So the bottom line of this story is nothing's closing. They're just removing this discrimination. Right.
01:01:07
Speaker
So a story about nothing because it's Pride Month. All right. um Speaking of discrimination, the United States Supreme Court in a unanimous decision, which is very important to point out, a unanimous decision by a court that is extremely split,
01:01:26
Speaker
um Ohio woman had sued claiming that she was discriminated discriminated against at work because she's straight. And the Supreme Court overturned the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals who had sided with the employer, which is the Ohio um Department of Youth youth Services.
01:01:42
Speaker
That's the employer. That's where she worked. So, I mean, not much to the story, but they've they overturned it. ah She claimed that ah they she she missed a promotion because she's not, because she's straight. And then did they fire her or something? Do you know?
01:01:55
Speaker
No, no, what what happened was she she ah was declined a promotion because she was straight, and then she got demoted because the she was straight. both That's what she's claiming.
01:02:06
Speaker
Now, this doesn't change her case at all. It just lets it continue because... ah Oh, by the way, both are both her her promotion that she thought she deserved was, um you know, a gay person ticket and a when she got demoted, gay person took her position.
01:02:27
Speaker
So she's claiming she got demoted and didn't get the promotion because she's straight. And ah court said they didn't she didn't have enough evidence to continue on, ah lower court.
01:02:40
Speaker
and supreme They took it to Supreme Court and they unanimously said that she needed... um they were That a straight person doesn't need more evidence than a gay person to continue with their case.
01:02:55
Speaker
Very important point. Yeah. But so even ah Congress left no room for courts to impose special requirements on the majority group, straight people being the majority group.
01:03:08
Speaker
um And that yeah was written by, e you know, ah Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the one that couldn't... define what a woman is. But um so it's a good, it was unanimous. I mean, this wasn't even. Yeah, you don't see very many of those anymore. Unanimous decisions coming out of SCOTUS. I think there's more than you think. I think we we just don't hear about them.
01:03:32
Speaker
Good point. That's fair point. Yeah. You know, i they don't they don't make the news. Well, definitely not on gender issues. Let's put it that way. Yeah, exactly. But yeah, fair point. That probably is a lot that we don't... And this goes back to the Civil Rights Act of 64, which I think should be abolished, but...
01:03:47
Speaker
um Yeah. So it just goes back to that. And something happened in 81, which made it... Let me see if I can't. It was common sense to suggest the promotion of employee justifies in federal interference of prejudice against a white co-worker in our present society. That was sudden.
01:04:10
Speaker
So some courts were going by this 1981 decision... And other courts were going by the Civil Rights rights Act. So they kind of, well, Supreme Court, you know, fixed it, basically.
01:04:23
Speaker
All right. So good on her. I guess she can continue on and see what we'll see what happens on the line, to see if she gets ah any resolution from that or any compensation or find out what happens. um Probably on a related issue, I think, maybe. um You had this story from last week for the the small farm that is taking...
01:04:45
Speaker
grants from or money from federal and yeah metal funds that are being cut. Boy, we've passed this story up a couple of times and I just, I've told you, I don't know how to go about this. So there, I saw, i saw there was a USDA assistance initiative ending. So ah Biden had a thing where the USA or USDA would send out, um send out notifications to local um food banks.
01:05:13
Speaker
And then they sent out, um they shared the notice with more than 150 farms. So they were, they they got funds to buy from local farms. Right. um For the food bank.
01:05:25
Speaker
This was a expanded during 2021 under COVID plan. Right. Right. Oh, was it? Okay. Yep. So and um so you you can expect it to be cut eventually because COVID is no longer...
01:05:39
Speaker
Yeah, but here's here's the thing, how they were choosing the farms. So they you know they were choosing farms, and and um they chose this one farm, Oaks and Sprouts, because of the young, diverse owners. So these this young couple, ah diverse couple, got ah inherited a farm, it sounds like, from their... Oh, the man inherited a farm from his aunt.
01:06:06
Speaker
And they chose them basically because they were diverse... And let me play a little clip here. Equity and justice are really important to us. We partner with Ohio Can that um our food goes to people in need through that program.
01:06:25
Speaker
And that really matters to us that people are getting access to good food and having the dignity as well. We also ensure that all of our employees are paid and a livable wage.
01:06:36
Speaker
There are so many components we can think about having access to land and what the history of land access has been, especially for Black and Indigenous people in the United States. There's like this reclamation and coming back to the land, stewarding the land well, and thinking about what it means for a more just future.
01:06:58
Speaker
So that's a clip from the farm that was getting ah funds from the from the USDA. um and i would say they were they had a contract for about have a small market garden that
01:07:14
Speaker
You know, $25,000 contract is huge. So basically, I believe this farm was on welfare. Right. You know? it's And it's I just thought it was really... Because I wonder what the other farms around them... Like, I feel like they started... They they they took over a farm. it sounds like they brought it back to life. And the only reason this farm is actually...
01:07:37
Speaker
around is because of this. So you had firm on welfare. That's what it seemed like to me. That's what I see. And when I dug a little bit into the, into the story there, they don't, they're not, um, this program is not buying $25,000 worth of food from them. They are just giving them $25,000 worth of food. And what happens happens.
01:07:59
Speaker
There's no guarantee on how much they're going to get for this $25,000. Yeah, and in the the thing that really bothered me was because ah ah yeah a couple of years ago, ah my wife and I are looking, worse we still are looking to buy some property. And one of them my retirement goals was to actually have a little market garden.
01:08:17
Speaker
And I kind of looked into what it costs and what it takes to run one. And it's ah it's a, you do it you do it because ah you're passionate about it. It's not it's something you're going to make a lot of money from.
01:08:30
Speaker
It's a razor thin margins basically. So I feel like um this Tony Oberle, which is the owner, one of the owners of this, which is the other half of the, uh,
01:08:43
Speaker
Owners. They're the diverse couple. And she's, she's a highly educated. You could tell she doesn't work on the firm. She's a, she's an activist. She won in 2025. She received the Janet Smith emerging activist scholar award.
01:08:57
Speaker
And then she, she's a professional then. Yes. She's a professional activist. Basically she, that's what she is. Yeah. Yeah. And I just, me I don't want to said and't yeah i mean that's sit on the story too much, but um it just made me sick to my stomach, you know?
01:09:14
Speaker
Again, cut until it hurts. I'm sorry. But if we're if you're trying to feed the less fortunate or the underrepresentative whatever you want to call them, this is not the best way. This is not the most efficient way.
01:09:27
Speaker
So that's kind of where I've, you know, I don't care. You can be an activist farm all you want. Do whatever you want it's until you start taking federal or state or local funds. so And then I've got a problem with it. I'd respect them. Like, like here's here's here's the way I would do it if I was a farmer or a market garden.
01:09:44
Speaker
ah type of gardener, I would have my business that supplied restaurants that did farmers markets that had a ah he a subscription type of delivery service to locals that want our fresh produce.
01:09:59
Speaker
And as soon as that was profited profitable, then I would look for something like the food bank and that'd be like, well, now I can expand. not, I wouldn't, I wouldn't like, like if I lost that, i would be like, well, okay, I did that, that plot of land that I'm growing vegetables for the food bank. and I could close that down, you know?
01:10:21
Speaker
Yeah. It's, it's, it's business one-on-one. Yeah. I mean, you can only go as far. And if, if you need government subsidies, then you're not a business. Yeah, exactly. That's that's that's what made me sick to my stomach. And I hate calling out farms because it is hard work. But when I saw this guy on that video, this one of the owners. He's not touching the shovel.
01:10:42
Speaker
No, he's not. He's about as useful as a shirt with back pockets. ah
01:10:48
Speaker
so And then this just goes to, you know, when when they're pulling on your heartstrings, question with boldness. Because you'll you're definitely, you know, yeah definitely going to find something.
01:10:59
Speaker
Continue on the DEI kind of um campaign here. I just pulled this this morning, so we'll just touch on it a little bit. But it sounds like this the Cuyahoga County Board of um Executives is standing firm on their DEI policies.
01:11:15
Speaker
They are not going to remove the DEI policies. Besides that, their whole Pride Month campaign for June is like, oh, God.
01:11:26
Speaker
Full scale, man. It's like on every social media thing, everything's a rainbow. I'm calling BS. I'm calling virtual signal virtue virtue signaling, and here's why.
01:11:37
Speaker
So according to Cuyahoga County website, in order to to sell or do business with the county, you have to register. And I know this personally, but years ago when they went through this whole reorganization after DeMora and all this stuff, the fraud, I did sell product to ah the county.
01:11:55
Speaker
And then we had to go through this whole training process, watch videos and this and that. So you have to go through this, you know, don't bribe our Pete, can't take him out to lunch and all this other stuff. So this is a condition for doing business with them.
01:12:07
Speaker
So right now with the city, if you're if you're bidding on a project, when the county has solicited bids and is determining the lowest price or the lowest evaluated price is submitted by a non-business, excuse me, a non-inclusive business.
01:12:24
Speaker
So this is goes to part of the ordinance, which is the Cuyahoga County Business Economic Inclusion Program. So in order for you to pass this part of it, or you have to go you have to show them all kinds of stuff that you've dealt with minority businesses, you're owned by a minority or a woman, um so on and so forth. And then if you're a contractor trying to do work there and you you bid them and they have a, if they got a bunch of bids by non-conforming, non-business inclusive program people, um if the bid for the
01:13:01
Speaker
inclusive business is within 2% of the non-inclusive business, meaning the non-inclusive business is lower by 2% than the inclusive business, the inclusive business gets to re-bid it to try to match.
01:13:17
Speaker
That seems tad bit unfair, but okay. um So the city chicago or the Caga County said, nope, we're standing firm. We're not going bow down to the Trump administration, blah, blah, blah.
01:13:30
Speaker
Or are they? Because before all this language about soliciting bids and all this other stuff, it says this was approved on April 26th of 2016, approved the county ah business like economic inclusion division.
01:13:47
Speaker
all this is goes All this is in place unless otherwise prohibited by state, federal, or local law.
01:13:55
Speaker
Virtue signaling. They're saying they're gonna stand by their DEA policies, but it's in the ordinance that this is all good and until unless it's prohibited by the state or federal or local law.
01:14:08
Speaker
No kidding. That's hilarious. They're just virtue signaling. Wow. wow i wonder I wonder if they, because it seemed like this year they kind of like, ah you know, if you've noticed, most businesses aren't pushing Pride Month or anything like that.
01:14:25
Speaker
or Or if they are, they're not pushing it. They might have a little bit here and there, but not like they did in the past. But man, Cuyahoga. In the past, last year. ah yeah Somebody said a meme sent a meme around I saw where was all the logos are all the companies this time last year and this time this year. And they're they didn't change them this year.
01:14:45
Speaker
What? Like Apple didn't, like last year, Apple computers switched it to a rainbow Apple. This year, it's a black Apple. Right, right. so so So tons of corporations have just backed off the whole Pride Month thing.
01:15:00
Speaker
But it looked like, to me, it looked like Cleveland has doubled down on it. And I'm wondering if they did that to kind of um diff did ah deflect from this DEI stuff.
01:15:18
Speaker
Ah, good point. Good point. I don't know. I'm just kind of rambling here, but. Yeah, no, that's, so I don't know. I kind of pulled this because I went, oh, are we going to have are we going to have a showdown with the Cuyahoga County and and and in Washington?
01:15:32
Speaker
But I don't think we will. i andt think I think these are going to quietly go away because it's an ordinance that they can't do this. and um They can do this unless it's prohibited by state, local, federal law.
01:15:44
Speaker
Right now, it's going to be it's going to soon to be prohibited by state and federal law. So next, next, next quickly, we'll touch on job cuts coming to NASA. Sounds like, oh, excuse me, proposed budget cuts.
01:16:01
Speaker
Right. NASA. so NASA Glenn Research Center and the Neil Armstrong test facility in Sandusky are calling for about cutting about 554 over the next year.
01:16:14
Speaker
ah They're getting about a 38% cut from their budget, and it's for civil servants, meaning federal employees. So they got about 1,400 civil servants, and it's going to go down to about 837.
01:16:31
Speaker
Glenn ah Aeronautics Program would be cut ah just about in half from 399 to 192. two So, but this is proposed and I don't think it's going to happen, tell you truth. And the other thing they're not telling you, when you I had a clip, but it's like five minutes long I don't want to get into it.
01:16:51
Speaker
But they're making it sound like engineers are getting cut and scientists are getting cut. But I highly doubt it because a lot of those are contractors. I have friends there. So a lot of them are contracted. They're not actually actual civil servant servants.
01:17:08
Speaker
So, um you're not going to lose those. And you're probably not going to learn lose hardly any engineers. maybe Maybe they'll try to buy out some that are near retirement.
01:17:20
Speaker
Maybe. I doubt it, though, because you kind of want those engineers if they're good. Right. You know, they got the experience. So I think it's going to be a lot of janitors, and if if they even do any cuts. It's going to be like kind of... It's proposed.
01:17:32
Speaker
Yeah. It's proposed. This is proposed every every administration... over the years, I kind of remember this and I don't remember it. There were ever really being any significant cuts.
01:17:44
Speaker
I do see a pattern with a lot of these. And I think it ties in with the art of the deal. Maybe i didn't read, i' I've read a little bit of it, but it's negotiation tactics. Yeah. Could be start. You start with 38%. You end up getting 14. Yeah.
01:17:58
Speaker
yeah Because you start at 14, you're going to get two. Right. Proposed cuts and what's what we've been seeing happening, if there is any cuts, they're usually curtailed.
01:18:09
Speaker
Because, hey, we're going to cut 40%, justify your existence, and then maybe- You know, I had a chance chance to get a civil servant job there. i was about 15 or um almost 20 years ago.
01:18:21
Speaker
And it was a machining job. And so there there there are a lot of people there that are probably, ah they're not engineers. they're you know they're Like the job that I was asked to apply for was a machining job, but it was just for test stuff.
01:18:41
Speaker
I was told it was it was going to be like a cakewalk job. ah You're just there when but they need you, basically. So there's probably a lot of jobs there like that. just people hanging around waiting to do something.
01:18:54
Speaker
Yeah. And I also question like, which would, which that job, like they, they could have got a civil servant type of ah employee in there that was machinist. but Instead of having that machinist, what they do is farm it out to a private business. so Yeah.
01:19:10
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. So again, proposed cuts. So everybody just, let's just chill pill for a minute and we'll see what happens. Mm-hmm. um Just a quick touch. Brown's announced developing big, big development project in Berea. So I was kind of wondering what what they're going to do, Berea, with with the dome going up or proposed dome going up.
01:19:31
Speaker
But they got this District 46 projects, $200 million mixed use neighborhood in the area adjacent to the team's headquarters training facility. It's 16 acre lot that they are going to. They're going have community fields for multiple sports for youth in high schools and adult participation.
01:19:47
Speaker
They're going have a hotel there. um tribute portfolio hotels by Marriott, featuring a range of amenities, bar, restaurants. They're going to have sports health, ah sports medical facility operations are operated by university health systems.
01:20:04
Speaker
ah Market rate apartments, they're calling them. A field house for community use, parking garage, and and a total of 30,000 square foot of retail shops. Wow. For a new pedestrian friendly.
01:20:16
Speaker
So basically what they're trying to take advantage of is, is you know, people come and see the Browns training camp. They want to take that, but also football hall of fame does this a little bit and they've done it for, since I think their inception, but they have a, there's a school right next to football hall of fame.
01:20:31
Speaker
hu Frank Marshall, one of those. I can't remember when it's no, that's, that's in Cleveland. But anyway, there's a school right next to it and they have a large field, football field that, Football Hall Fame maintains and everything as part of the deal.
01:20:45
Speaker
So this is kind of similar to that. They're going to have these fields for all the local communities to use. And it sounds like it's going to be, so i like it's pretty cool. Yeah, that's awesome. So they they expect to have that done in a couple of years. That's a two-year project or so.
01:20:58
Speaker
Cool. Keep an eye out.
Consumer Tips: Energy Bills and Tax Holidays
01:21:00
Speaker
Quickly, we'll touch, electric bills are going up. We've all known, um we talked about it little bit before in the past. It's not really about the electric bills going up, but more about what you can do about the electric bills going up.
01:21:12
Speaker
And so, for example, they're saying AEP of Ohio is going to have a 36% increase. AES of Ohio is going to have a 10%. Ohio S in 26, Illuminating Company in 27, so on and so forth.
01:21:26
Speaker
But really, the the crux of this story is um check out the apples apples website that you can compare all the rates around that you can um buy into.
01:21:38
Speaker
it is energychoice.ohio.gov. We'll put that in the show notes. And then you can go in and try to find the best solution for you and and save some money because they are going up.
01:21:49
Speaker
ah One of the reasons is we have a looming energy shortage. So there is a lack of energy. So they're it's they're increasing the rates and to compete with data centers.
01:22:04
Speaker
So again, keep an eye out for that. And if you're up for, don't know if they ever, some of them are on contract, some of them aren't. So just check out energychoice.ohio.gov.
01:22:15
Speaker
Help you out with a little cheaper energy bills. And on that, a little cheaper something or other, the Ohio State tax holiday it was announced. Yeah. Yeah. Save up your money for for some things you're buying so be ah that are under $500.
01:22:31
Speaker
It doesn't include watercraft, motor vehicles, alcohol, tobacco, vapor products, or anything that contains marijuana. It's from Friday, August 1st to 11.59 p.m. on Thursday, August 14th. So you've got about two weeks of to make purchases without sales tax. And that includes online purchases too. know and Under $500 you said? $500 or less. Yeah. or less yeah ah ah Goods that are $500 or a less. And then it goes into a watercraft motor vehicles and alcoholic.
01:23:05
Speaker
I remember last year I stocked up on ammo and but yeah, i it's yeah. I mean, if hold off, if there's like a, but you know, if there's a things you can hold off on, wait till then save some money.
01:23:20
Speaker
Absolutely. 8% is 8%, man. Hell yeah. Next, wrapping up. Up to $500 on a single purchase, by the way. Single purchase. Oh, yeah. If you've got an item that's more than $500, it's not going to help you. But fill up your shopping cart to $500 on Amazon. Yeah.
01:23:41
Speaker
yeah If you're buying a bunch of stuff, break it up. Yeah, because you'll break it up. You get 8% break. right, finally, we'll wrap up with good stuff of the day.
Cultural Highlights: Music and Food in Cleveland
01:23:50
Speaker
ah You want to touch on this country music thing? or Sure.
01:23:55
Speaker
and just Just a quick shout out to a band called Country Honk. I got a little clip here. I'll play it. Yes. Whoops. Sorry.
01:24:15
Speaker
There must have been a time or two when you saw me or I saw you across the smoke. A good sounding country band in Cleveland. You don't get that too often. and So it's a band called Country Honk. They just came out with a new album called Bad Decision.
01:24:32
Speaker
The singer's name is Thor Platter. And he's got a story there. Look him up. i We don't have time to get into it. But go check him out. It's Country Honk, Bad Decisions.
01:24:43
Speaker
And they sound they're they're doing like the, I would say like the 90s type of country, which are around Cleveland. You don't get, and maybe we're getting a little resurgence of that here. i don't know if it's a resurgence, but ah maybe we're going to get a little bit more country music here in Cleveland, which would be cool. I think there's a i think there's an appetite for it here. you You can help a resurgence by going...
01:25:07
Speaker
and And seeing bands like this, yeah where they play. Yeah. This is, ah the the band's name is Country Honk. ah You just look them up. but You could probably find them on Facebook.
01:25:19
Speaker
And it's ah it's good stuff. Guy's talented. He actually took music full time when he got laid off from his job in 2020 from COVID, because of COVID. I love that. That's a great story. Yeah. so he just Take it bad, make it a good...
01:25:34
Speaker
The problem with, kind of you know, just a quick thing, we've never had a lot of country bands here. Maybe in the 90s we did when i when I started, but it's hard to find a good ah good pedal steel player and stuff like that. So okay this is like a four-piece band. i see the I see the guitar player has a pedal steel next to him, or slights.
01:25:57
Speaker
a slide pedal slide next to him or what I forget you call that. But, uh, so he, he, he does some cool things, but it's hard to find those kinds of players in Cleveland. So that's, that's one of the reasons we don't get them.
01:26:08
Speaker
Yeah. If you're a country music fan, check it out. Definitely. if if If you're not a country music fan, you might become one. Yeah. It sounds like good stuff. i they're, they're also getting into the Hank Williams and Johnny Cass stuff too. So,
01:26:21
Speaker
All right. Lastly, one quick thing is cannot pass this up. I know we're running long, but this month, June 23rd to June 29th is Cleveland Burger Week.
01:26:33
Speaker
And I happen to love burgers. So I figured it's got to be a story that we talk about. So just so you know, they do this. They've been doing this for a few years. And, you know, it's just promotional to get, you know, business in Cleveland and stuff like that. I think they had pizza week and stuff like that too.
01:26:49
Speaker
But one thing that pointed out, to what stood out to me is it runs from June 23rd to June 29th and will feature at certain restaurants, such as Saucy Brew Works, Brew Dog, Crowley's, and more, $9 burger specials.
01:27:05
Speaker
And I thought, wow, it was ah a short time ago. $9 was kind of an expensive burger. That was a higher end burger. yeah Now if you get it under $20, you're like, woo, what a deal. Yeah.
01:27:15
Speaker
You know, that's what that's kind of why I've learned how to make like an awesome burger at home. Yeah, I started doing that. But go support your restaurants. They they need you. And where's your favorite burger at, Tom?
01:27:26
Speaker
Besides your house? You got one? oh Actually... The last time I had a really good burger was at the, it was a place called The Rail, which I thought was pretty good. Oh, yeah.
01:27:37
Speaker
Yeah, I've been there. um I can't think of another one. I mean, there's, there's i I was never into the, what was it called? The B-Spot? Yeah, B-Spot. It was okay. It was decent, but they were tiny for, that's when I saw burger that was like 15 bucks, like 10 years ago. like, whoa. Yeah, yeah. And it came out and was this little teeny burger. was like, what the heck?
01:27:56
Speaker
Well, you know what? it would It was something new. It was like a burger. Like, it was cool. Gourmet burgers was new, yeah. Yeah. Newish, I guess. But Red Robin has been around for a while. They've got a good burger. Yeah, they've got decent burgers there. yeah For me, fast food wise, if you if quote unquote fast food is five guys has the best. five Well, OK. For me, for for running and getting a burger. Yeah.
01:28:17
Speaker
If we're getting into the fast food, I would say five guys locally. And I do like the um
01:28:25
Speaker
steak and shake burger, too. OK. Yeah. So. OK. So, yeah, check them out and email us where you get your favorite burger at. at crookedrivercast at gmail.com crookedrivercast at gmail.com and on that happy burger note we will end the show thank you uh everybody for listening and we appreciate your time and we'll talk to you next week peace