CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is facing the potential loss of about $2 million worth of food for local families, due to the cancellation of federal support for emergency food assistance.
We’re talking about President Donald Trump’s budget cuts in the name of government efficiency, on Today in Ohio.
Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with editorial board member Lisa Garvin, impact editor Leila Atassi and content director Laura Johnston.
You’ve been sending Chris lots of thoughts and suggestions on our from-the-newsroom text account, in which he shares what we’re thinking about at cleveland.com. You can sign up here: https://joinsubtext.com/chrisquinn.
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Here‘s what we’re asking about today:
As Donald Trump continues using DOGE to cut federal spending, to free up cash for a tax break for his billionaire friends, has he actually become so cruel as to increase hunger? What’s the attack his administration is making on our very own Greater Cleveland Food Bank?
We’ve been quite critical of the decision by Ohio elected officials to allow gas fracking under Salt Fork State Park, which I argue is still a dangerous gamble, but in fairness, let’s talk about what the park is getting from this deal.
The battle over the future home of the Cleveland Browns took unexpectedly nasty turns last week, and Leila wrote a column putting it into perspective. What were you advocating Leila?
With the Browns Stadium looking more and more like a certainty for Brook Park, reporter Rich Exner profiled the tiny suburb of tiny homes. What did we learn?
With Gov. Mike DeWine pushing to return driver’s education to schools, we took a look at the state of driver’s education for young people. What did we learn?
I have a bit of arthritis in my hands, and I swear it dates back to getting my knuckles rapped by the nuns’ rulers in elementary school. I was sloppy with my cursive penmanship and couldn’t wait to abandon it for basic printing of letters. Some argue, however, that learning cursive writing helps young brains. How so?
A Cleveland City Council member has come up with a novel way to get people to spruce up their homes, outside of the normal code enforcement system. What is it?
Uh oh. Ohio has its first Measles case. Where is it?
Staying on illness stories in Ashtabula County, does anyone have an explanation for the odd spiking of a childhood infection there?
Donald Trump announced last week that he is decimating the U.S. Department of Education because of decades of failure. What Ohio Congressman is working to make that official?
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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.
Chris Quinn (00:00.927)
Sorry, there was no episode yesterday. I was up way too late Sunday night downtown Cleveland watching Michigan State win its game in the NCAAs. If I would have tried to do the podcast yesterday, I would have fumbled all over myself. I’m an early riser, not a late night guy. It’s Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here with Lisa Garvin, Rick Ruan, our state house and politics editor, and Leila Tasi.
He says Donald Trump continues using Doge to cut federal spending to free up cash for a tax break for his billionaire friends. Has he actually become so cruel as to increase hunger? What’s the attack his administration is making on our very own Greater Cleveland Food Bank?
Lisa (00:49.474)
Yeah, the food bank is facing cancellation of 20 semi trucks full of food and that could happen as early as this week. This food is coming from the Federal Emergency Food Assistance Program. Each truck holds 100,000 pounds of food, so that’s $2 million worth of food, and they say that’s about a week’s worth of food for Northeast Ohio. Food bank CEO, Kristin Warzoka, said that 20 of 21 orders through this program were marked returned.
So that signals a high cancellation risk. She says we’re nervous to say the least. There’s no explanation from the Ag department, so they’re not sure what’s going on. They’re also expecting a million pounds of food from a local, it’s called the Local Food for Purchase Assistance or LFPA. This is the program that provides fresh food from area farmers to food banks.
Also, we’re looking at, and she said that losing this program means that they can’t meet the demand for fresh food or protein, which is really expensive to replace and really hard to get donated to the food bank. And on top of that, in DeWine’s current budget proposal, they’re calling for a $7.5 million decrease in food bank funding.
Chris Quinn (02:04.455)
I’ve got to think that Trump himself doesn’t know about this because this is too stupid for words, right? Nothing drives you more than hunger. And if you want to create a whole bunch of people, the one that vote to because they’re angry about things, make them hungry. I just this one makes no sense. It’s not that big a cost savings. It actually helps the farmers. And I just you keep waiting for the announcement to come out saying, oops, we made a mistake. We didn’t intend to leave.
Thousands and thousands or more of people hungry.
Lisa (02:37.678)
Well, and there’s so much uncertainty as there is with everything in this administration since January. Warzoka is worried that these trucks of food is going to sit and spoil while things are getting worked out. And that would be the loss of, you know, two million, three million pounds of food.
Chris Quinn (02:54.503)
I know hunger is just one of those things you don’t mess with. It’s kids that don’t get enough to eat. That is a terrible image for any politician. just, this has got to be incompetence or lack of thought that can be corrected quickly. But this story actually broke late last week and we still haven’t seen it be corrected. Shocking if it continues because it’s just dumb beyond words. This will have repercussions.
If you want to rally people to vote in the midterms, make them hungry. Leave them without enough food. See how many show up to make their feelings known.
Lisa (03:32.078)
Well, it isn’t just about them. It’s about the small and medium-sized farmers in Ohio that are supplying this fresh fruit and produce. It’s become a business for them. It’s a big client for a lot of these people, so they’re affected too.
Rick Rouan (03:41.624)
you
Chris Quinn (03:44.915)
We’re going to head out to the food bank to a follow up story and talk about just how many people this could could affect. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We’ve been quite critical of the decision by Ohio elected officials to allow gas fracking under Salt Fork State Park, which I still argue is a dangerous gamble. But in fairness, Rick, we should talk about what the park is getting from this deal. It is not insignificant.
Rick Rouan (03:45.24)
Thank
Rick Rouan (04:10.09)
Right. Salt Fork is getting a $9.6 million makeover of several park amenities, and that’s paid for by a portion of the lease bonus that the state received when it agreed to let a driller extract natural gas from underneath its largest state park. The state controlling board on Monday took action to release the funds to a contractor called 2K General Company, and they’re going to build a new beach shelter house, a concession stand, changing rooms.
bathrooms, outdoor showers, picnic shelter. They’re going to repave a parking lot and they’re going to get rid of the old pit latrines and replace them with flush toilets. So, you know, high class amenities there in Salt Fork now. Last year, the state leased the rights for Salt Fork to a company called Infinity Natural Resources. They’re out of West Virginia. They had paid a $58.4 million signing bonus.
and will also pay the state a 20 % royalty on oil and gas revenue. So under state law, 30 % of those proceeds, those have to be spent on capital improvements at the site. So in the case of Salt Fork, that’s about $17.5 million of the signing bonus. The controlling board’s action just spends a portion of that so far. But the state’s already opened several other areas to fracking. You’ve got Keene Wildlife Area, Zepernick Wildlife Area.
Leesville Wildlife Area, Egypt Valley Wildlife Area. Those are all smaller tracks, so the dollars aren’t as large, but they should be in store for some improvements themselves as well.
Chris Quinn (05:45.257)
With all the money that’s likely to pour in because of this, you wonder whether the state might start thinking about building another new lodge there because there’s going to be a wash with money. How much can you do in that park before you get everything up to first rate? The flush toilet’s a big deal for people who are roughing it.
Chris Quinn (06:15.871)
You’re listening to Today in Ohio, the battle over the future home of the Cleveland Browns took unexpectedly nasty turns last week and Layla wrote a column putting it into perspective. Layla, what were you advocating?
Leila (06:31.313)
Thanks. So, so what I was advocating in this column is, this basically, I mean, mayor Justin Bibb has done something bold and frankly unprecedented for a Cleveland mayor. He stood his ground against these billionaire owners of the Browns and he refused to mortgage the city’s future for a stadium deal that didn’t make sense for taxpayers. And that really took guts.
And he deserves a lot of credit for that, but now the Haslums have made it clear that they are moving on. They’re taking their stadium plans, they’re taking their money and they’re going to Brook Park. And seems to still be kind of swinging away here. He’s firing off these press releases. He’s calling for the Brown COO to be removed from city boards. And while the anger is understandable, at some point the city really has to shift gears. So the column argues that Bib already won.
the moral and political victory here, but it’s time to pivot, to negotiate a severance package of sorts. Can the Haslams help Cleveland turn the lakefront into world-class destination? Can they contribute to redeveloping the stadium site? Bibb has shown he can say no to them, but now Cleveland really needs him to be the leader who can also close the deal and make sure the city gets something back for everything it’s given the Browns.
Chris Quinn (07:51.165)
You might have had an impact because late yesterday we learned that Bibb had rescinded his proposal to kick the Browns representative off of the lakefront committee, which was moving full ahead as of last week. And maybe things are changing. The the hasms have built a plan where even if their numbers don’t all work out, there’s extra dollars. And they’ve said 100 million for Cleveland for the lakefront, which is a lot of money. But you got to make that deal.
Part of that deal depends on Chris Ronane also making a pivot, but so far he’s showing no attitude to do that, which is odd, right? Once it’s clear, like you said, they’re going to build this in Brook Park. Come hell or high water, they’re doing it. The resources are there. It’s going to happen. What’s the smart move for Chris Ronane now to cut off your nose to spite your face or to make the best deal for the county? Cause there’s money for the county too.
And unlike Bib, Ronane represents Brook Park. So doesn’t he have a responsibility? look, I hate this idea. I’ve said it from the beginning. I don’t think the commercial parts of it will work. And I really don’t love the idea of people trekking out to Brook Park across from the airport. can’t imagine a concert with jets flying overhead. But the Haslums are investing 1.2 billion of their own money. Who’s the last developer that kicked in $1.2 billion?
of an economic development investment.
Leila (09:21.366)
Right. To your point about Ronane, I want to give his position the benefit of the doubt at this point, because I do think that he’s holding out for something of value here. And it is that he wants a similar guarantee to what the Haslums have offered the state. He wants that guarantee that if they put up the county’s bonding capacity for this project, that we are not all going to be held.
responsible if it falls short of the projections. We want to know that the Haslams are going to back us up if we stick our necks out for this project. And don’t you think that that’s what he’s waiting for is to get that guarantee from them?
Chris Quinn (10:08.563)
No, from what I hear, he’s just hardline. No, he’s afraid to change because he’s so spoken so strongly. You’re right. They should get that guaranteed. No doubt about it. I think there’s a financing method where you can you can make this not count against the county’s borrowing ability. Revenue bonds, something, there’s some mechanism. But he’s from all I hear, he is ironclad. No way, no how. Not going to happen. I’m not bending. But that’s because
In the past, he’s always bent and he will have to run for reelection and people will criticize him. Remember, he would not have the quarter cent sales tax extended without a vote of the people. And then he did. And we’ve seen other examples. But at this point, he should get the he should make the deal. And that’s part of it. You have to hold the taxpayer harmless. This this we’re doing a story on this, but I’m pretty sure when you look at this, this is the best deal taxpayers have had on a stadium ever.
because the money does get paid back. You and I won’t pay for it. If I don’t go to a single Browns game and I don’t use their off-site parking, no money comes for me to pay for this stadium. And you can’t say that about any other sports facility deal in Cleveland over the last, 50 years. So I’m surprised he’s being this obstinate at this point because it’s time. Make the deal. This is going to happen. So what’s in the best interest of county residents?
Leila (11:36.622)
You know, I, gotta say, I’ve heard from a lot of readers in the past day and you know, they are Clevelanders, they are Browns fans and they are almost universally anti-Haslams. It’s, it’s insane. But I, there, there’s a lot of cynicism among Clevelanders who feel like they’ve.
Chris Quinn (11:52.499)
They hate the Hasm’s. I know.
Leila (11:59.544)
They’ve seen this play out before, these big promises, public money, not enough return. So, Bibb’s resistance and Runein’s resistance has really resonated with people. But if this ends with nothing for the city, that goodwill could really evaporate.
Chris Quinn (12:14.663)
I look the hasms did this to themselves with the Watson deal with the perpetual losing they made a bunch of ugly things so they are persona non grata in Northeast Ohio. But I do think you come to a point you have to peel that away. Okay, take away your distaste for the haslam’s. What about this deal is if somebody say it wasn’t the hasms if somebody else came into town and said look I’m going to invest 1.2 billion of my own money.
And the way I’m structuring this, I’m going to need some help, but it’s not coming out of the pockets of anybody except those who use what I’m doing. People would be high-fiving. I mean, we didn’t get this kind of deal with the calves. We didn’t get this kind of deal with progressive field. We’re paying for that. So that’s why it’s time. Yeah, they hate them. I don’t think they quite understand the structure of this one. We’ve got to do a better job, I think, in explaining it. But it’s time to sit down at the table and figure out what’s best for everybody involved.
given that there will be a covered stadium in Brook Park. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Let’s stick with this subject, Layla. With that stadium looking so certain for Brook Park, reporter Rich Exner profiled the tiny, tiny suburb of tiny homes. What did we learn?
Leila (13:27.564)
What Rich’s story really brought home is that Brook Park is this tight-knit working class community with really deep roots in the auto industry and a lot of hometown pride. Even though the old Ford plants have largely shut down, the identity of the city really hasn’t changed through the years. It’s still this blue collar community, still very affordable to live there, still the kind of place where the deli owner
moves your sandwich order and the neighborhood restaurant feels like an extension of your own family table. So when you drop the idea of a three billion dollar brown stadium right into the middle of that with hotels and restaurants and housing and thousands of parking spots, you would expect some tension around that. But surprisingly, most people who Rich talked to are really excited about this project and not
blindly so. mean, they’re, they’re cautiously optimistic. They’re hopeful that it will boost home values and bring in business and maybe even give the city a little moment in the national spotlight, like other towns that host host, stadiums. And there are concerns, of course, mostly about traffic and how the city will manage all the change, but there hasn’t been much public backlash at all. Part of that might be the geography of the city. The stadium site doesn’t bump up against
residential area. So it feels less disruptive to their lives. And for some, like the local diner owners or the the citizen of the year who Rich spoke to, they live just a mile and a half away. And so the idea of walking or golf carting down to the Browns game, that seems really cool to them. So basically, Brook Park might be small, but it’s a scrappy town. It seems ready to embrace what they see as their new chapter, as long as the numbers make sense for them, of course.
Lisa (15:12.052)
It’s a scrappy panel and it seems ready to embrace what they see as a new chapter.
I wonder what these business owners will think when people aren’t going to leave that complex to go shopping in Brook Park. I wonder what happens when they realize that.
Chris Quinn (15:19.784)
Yeah.
Leila (15:28.398)
Hmm.
Chris Quinn (15:29.471)
Yeah, and I’m surprised that they’re not seeing this with a little more clarity. They’re not going to get the benefits at Connacht Development. All the taxes that are created there are going into the project. So the city doesn’t get extra. They’ll get, there is a piece of the money that would pay to expand the police department and do some things to help provide safety at Brown’s games, but they’re just going to get the gigantic bubble of traffic, crowded highways, because it’s right next to the airport.
and lots and lots of drunks in their town. And I’m a little bit surprised they’re not more wary and they’re excited about it. I think that if we talk to them a year or two into this thing, they may be saying something different.
Lisa (16:11.391)
Mm-hmm.
Leila (16:12.962)
Right, right.
Chris Quinn (16:14.611)
Good story by Rich Exner. Check it out. It’s oncleveland.com and you’re listening to Today in Ohio. With Governor Mike DeWine pushing to return driver’s education to schools, which might already be dead, I guess, we took a look at the state of driver’s education for young people. Lisa, what did we learn?
Lisa (16:32.078)
Yes quite different from my day back in the seventies when we took it in school on currently only about ten percent of ohio’s eight hundred twenty three public schools offer drivers education some of partner with private schools for classes at the high school after class time hours so do wine is looking or was anyway.
to put 50 million from recreational marijuana taxes to bring driver’s education back to high schools. These would be grants to schools that wanna do that to subsidize in-school training. He claims it would make it more accessible and affordable. And also, I didn’t realize this, he said, you know, because it’s so expensive, it forces a lot of kids to wait until they’re 18 when the state law no longer requires driver training. And he says that makes absolutely no sense, and I agree.
But we did talk to David Cox who owns the Heights Driving School in Mayfield Village. It’s the first driving school to ever partner with a high school for driver’s ed. And they’ve been around since 1957. He said, this is really not sustainable. There’s really not a lot of money to support this across schools that want it. He says he lost a lot of employees during COVID. He says,
Their wages are about $12 to $17 an hour and that was a lot lower than places like Home Depot and McDonald’s. So a lot of people left the business. He has 33 % fewer instructors. And he also points out that the average car price is now $48,000. Insurance premiums are up as well. So that’s price increases across the board. And he says, basically it’s really not a lucrative business. So he says 50 million is about $30,000 a year per school. He says that’s just not gonna do it.
He also talked about maybe doing a voucher system where they give kids vouchers and then they can use that to go to a school of their choice.
Chris Quinn (18:25.693)
Well, we’re lucky we have Rick here today. Rick, you want to speculate on the chances of this getting into the budget?
Rick Rouan (18:32.246)
Well, we already know that some of the wines syntax ideas are going to be removed from the house version of the budget. So if that extra cash is not coming in, it’s hard to see expansions of programs, you know, remaining in the budget. So we don’t know yet. We checked on this last week to see whether this was coming out of the house version of the budget and didn’t get a clear answer on that. But it certainly seems like the kind of thing that could.
be axed in the coming weeks during the budget process.
Chris Quinn (19:03.399)
Okay, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. I have a bit of arthritis in my hands and I swear it dates back to getting my knuckles wrapped by the nuns rulers in elementary school. I was sloppy with my cursive penmanship and I could not wait to abandon it. Some argue though that learning cursive writing helps young brains. Rick, how so?
Rick Rouan (19:24.67)
Well, like you, Chris, I recall getting hand cramps in the second grade from learning to writing cursive. But apparently we both got some of these added benefits. Some recent research suggests that cursive handwriting forces kids to just slow down, think about word spelling and sentence structure and question whether the word they’re about to write precisely conveys what they’re trying to communicate. So what we’re really talking about here is boosting literacy in an age where things like autocorrect fix typos on your phone.
You’ve got word processors that will suggest the word that you might want to use next in your sentence. Literacy has been a priority of Governor Mike DeWine, who has promoted things like the Dolly Parton Imagination Library for Ohio’s youngest kids and through curriculum changes for kids in school. The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce says that after kids master handwriting, they just don’t have to worry about letter formation, spacing.
those sorts of things anymore and that kind of frees them up for higher level thinking and communication skills. So basically, if you’re thinking less about how to write something, your brain can focus more on what you’re writing.
Chris Quinn (20:30.119)
Yeah, the thing I don’t buy on that is that why is cursive better than printing the letters? I mean, I think I was in the fourth grade when they just gave up. They were never going to be able to read my cursive. mean, I actually the only F I ever got in school was for handwriting. So they let me print. I got special exception. My doctor sent in a note saying, look, his hands are not coordinated. Leave him alone. And I got to start printing. And that’s true story. And and I printed every
Leila (20:51.512)
Really?
I’m sorry.
Chris Quinn (20:56.871)
I’ve printed ever, ever since. So why is the printing of letters not as conducive to brain creativity as penmanship, the curse of penmanship?
Rick Rouan (21:08.928)
know, it’s it’s almost like, you know, when you’re printing something, you you draw the letter, and then you stop and then you draw the next letter with penmanship, it’s it’s free, it’s free flowing. And so I I’m wondering if that’s kind of what they’re getting at is that once you get that free flow, and things are just coming continuously without really needing to pick the pencil up off of the paper, maybe that’s kind of where the the changes between printing and cursive writing.
Lisa (21:16.332)
Right, exactly. It flows.
Leila (21:39.63)
But the point of cursive is to write fast. The letters all connect so that you can just get it out. So I don’t see how that causes the brain to pause in between thoughts or however Rick described it. I think this is a bunch of hogwash. This is crap, right?
Lisa (21:47.502)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Chris Quinn (21:59.359)
I can write fast printing. don’t buy that that’s a faster way of printing, but at least, Layla, now you understand whenever you’re thinking, what is Quinn thinking, it’s because I gave up cursive writing. There’s your answer. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. A Cleveland City Council member has come up with a novel way to get people to spruce up their homes outside of normal code enforcement processes. What is it, Layla?
Leila (22:23.394)
Now this is a clever idea. Councilman Chris Harsh, who represents Old Brooklyn, has taken it upon himself to personally drive around and survey every single house in his ward. And he’s looking for things like peeling paint, broken steps, or missing handrails. And then he has sent out more than 7,000 letters so far, either thanking homeowners for keeping up their properties or
gently flagging issues that need attention. And the key here is that these letters aren’t official citations. They’re kind of a friendly nudge with a little bit of a warning baked into it. Harsh offers help first, connecting people to home repair programs. But if someone ignores the letter, he makes it clear he’ll refer the issue to the city’s building and housing department.
Lisa (23:07.588)
care programs, but if someone ignores the letter, he makes it clear he’ll look for the issue that the city’s building and housing department. Apparently it’s working. Most people in this department and in the handful of cases have actually needed to be escalated. He says it’s about keeping the neighborhood vibrant, keeping it carbon-free, keeping it proper size, and how to...
Leila (23:14.466)
And apparently it’s working. Most people are responding and only a handful of cases have actually needed to be escalated. He says it’s about keeping the neighborhood vibrant, keeping up curb appeal and helping property values without immediately going the punitive route. He even wrote himself up for not having a handrail on his own front porch. So he says he’s walk in the walk here, or I guess, you know, in this case, driving it very slowly with flashers on.
Lisa (23:30.66)
self-help for not having a handrail in his own front porch. So he says he’s walking the walk here. Or I guess, you know, his case, driving it very slowly.
Chris Quinn (23:41.393)
I’m beyond impressed by this. don’t know, Chris, I’m just this alone says, wow, what a forward thinker instead of beating up on people, being gentle, being community minded and getting results roofs getting replaced even. mean, he’s come up with something pretty special here. And and I bet the people that he’s worked with probably will vote for him and reelect them. He’s a true community servant. Very cool service.
Leila (24:09.292)
Right. Yeah, it’s this hands on leadership style. He’s not waiting for residents to file complaints or for the city system to catch up. He’s out there block by block noticing things and starting conversations. And I think the tone of his letters matters. They’re not scolding. They’re very neighborly. He thanks people when things look good and when they don’t, offers help first. It’s kind of the opposite of this gotcha style of enforcement that can make people really defensive.
Lisa (24:25.06)
They’re not scolding, they’re very hateful. He thanks people when things look good and when they don’t, he offers help first. It’s kind of the opposite of this not-just-sad.
Chris Quinn (24:38.961)
A good news story out of Cleveland City Council. Who’d thought it? You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Lisa, Ohio has its first measles case. Where is it?
Lisa (24:49.052)
It’s in Ashtabula County. We don’t know anything about the patient, gender, age, or any of that, but they were unvaccinated and they did have contact with someone who had been overseas. Health Department head Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, a state head, says, please get your MMR vaccine. Measles is serious and very preventable if you have the vaccine.
The last major outbreak in Ohio was 2014. There were 374 cases reported in Knox County, which is an Amish community. 10 people were hospitalized. We had seven cases last year. We had one in 2023 and 90 in 2022, mostly in central Ohio. So yeah, and you know, we all know what’s going on in Texas, Texas and New Mexico. have upwards of 300 cases now, 30 people hospitalized. So yeah, get that shot if you don’t have it.
Chris Quinn (25:39.519)
We’ll be watching the weekly report. This is super contagious. So we’ll have to see if there are more cases this week or if they managed to contain it. You hope whoever this person is, they’re surrounded by people who got vaccinated because this could be bad. You don’t want this pocket to develop. Staying on illness stories in Asheville County, Lisa, does anyone have an explanation for the odd spiking of a childhood infection there?
Lisa (26:05.1)
They do not. So the Ashe D’Avila County Health Department is reporting a spike in strep throat cases and the resultant scarlet fever rash that comes with it, but no exact numbers. They say they are aware that cases are going up, but they have no concern outside of normal seasonal expectations. On the other hand, Cuyahoga County is not seeing similar strep cases or outbreaks. And this is something that affects groups of people, especially kids, where they’re sharing food and drink and objects.
So yeah, this is another one that can spread pretty quickly. And if it’s untreated, it can have complications like rheumatic fever and kidney inflammation.
Chris Quinn (26:42.355)
Yeah, it can do permanent damage if it doesn’t get treated. So it often starts as a strap. And if you don’t treat that, it gets worse and worse. Odd that both of these things are happening in Asheville County. Although I can’t see in any way that there’s a connection between the two other than coincidence. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Donald Trump announced last week that he plans to get rid of the U.S. Department of Education because of decades of failure. Rick, what Ohio congressman is working to make that official?
Lisa (26:51.268)
Mm-hmm.
Rick Rouan (27:11.569)
Yeah, Salem Republican Michael Rooley, he’s introducing legislation that would codify the executive order Trump signed that seeks to dismantle the Department of Education. Rooley, he’s a former state lawmaker, but a relatively new congressman. He won a special election last summer for the seat.
after the former representative there became president at Youngstown State University. So it was a bit curious when Trump shouted him out during his press conference last week among a select group of Congress members who were in attendance for the executive order signing. We found out the next day that the reason for that was that Rulie would be the one introducing the legislation in Congress. Trump wants to return education authority to the states.
But because Congress established that in the first place, it requires an act of Congress to eliminate it. Really says that he believes that the local school districts can use the federal money that bankrolls the education department better than the feds. One of the ideas behind this effort is to just give block grants for that funding to the states that gives them more control over where that money is going. Really, Bill has a chance in the House, but the Senate looks a little bit dicier.
Chris Quinn (28:22.8)
Really, you don’t think the Senate would pass it?
Rick Rouan (28:25.42)
Well, it’s just a numbers problem. Senate, you need 60 votes in the Senate and Republicans only control 53 seats. Those narrow majorities mean that they’re going to have to appeal to some Democrats to get that over the finish line.
Chris Quinn (28:39.039)
What will be interesting, never happens anymore, is if the Democrats dealt and said, okay, we’ll give you the Department of Education, but give us X and try and do some wheeling, dealing instead of just saying no. mean, the department for all intents and purposes will no longer be operating. They’re taking so many people out of it. So you just wonder if the Democrats could make a deal with this administration. Who knows?
But it’s interesting that Ohio is once again in the center of it. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Tuesday episode. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, Rick. Thanks, Leila. Thank you for being here. We’ll be back tomorrow talking about the news.