Today in Ohio, the daily news podcast of cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer.
CLEVELAND, Ohio — A judge last week ordered Cleveland to refund income taxes for a doctor working remotely during the pandemic, leaving many other Ohioans who worked from home in 2020 wondering what it means for them.
We’re asking if taxing people who don’t work or live in your city could qualify as unconstitutional on Today in Ohio.
Listen online here.
Editor Chris Quinn hosts our daily half-hour news podcast, with impact editor Leila Atassi, editorial board member Lisa Garvin 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 for free by sending a text to 216-868-4802.
Here are the questions we’re answering today:
After all the interest last week in one guy’s court victory to get his income taxes back from Cleveland from when he worked from home, reporter Bob Higgs took a look at all the pending lawsuits to assess our chances of getting taxes back from 2020. It’s still very much up in the air, huh?
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has lots of baggage that should have worked against him in his drive to be re-elected, but nothing seems to stick to him. Why not?
Playhouse Square, which has roared back to life following the pandemic as one of downtown’s few bright spots, has some surprises in store to make your visit even flashier. What are they?
Cuyahoga County Council members don’t seem to care about exposing jail prisoners to toxic chemicals, as they drive to buy a poison site for the new lockup, but one council member is worried about inmates on another front. What did Meredith Turner find when she sampled the jail food?
All of the sudden, Republicans outside Ohio recognize how critical the races for the Ohio Supreme Court are. How are they trying to put their thumb on the scale?
While other hospital systems in Northeast Ohio shrink, MetroHealth is expanding in a big way. Reporter Julie Washington took a tour of the new mental health hospital in Cleveland Heights. What did she see?
What step is Cleveland taking that should make it a lot easier to prosecute people for code violations?
How is Case Western Reserve University making it a good bit easier for seniors to get dental care and oral health checkups?
A Lakewood house is the most expensive to be sold in Cuyahoga County in years. Where is it and what did it go for?
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Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings.
Chris: [00:00:00] It’s today in Ohio, back for another week of discussion of the news in northeast Ohio and Ohio. It’s the News podcast discussion from cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn. I’m here with Layla Atsi, Lisa Garvin, and Laura Johnson. I guess we all keep hearing from different people who listen to this podcast.
We love to hear from people who listen to this podcast with their thoughts. You can always drop us [email protected] at C Q U I cleveland.com. Lots of news to talk about. Let’s get started. After all the interest last week in One Guy’s court victory to get his income taxes back from Cleveland because he didn’t work in Cleveland.
Reporter Bob Higgs took a look at all the pending lawsuits to assess our chances of getting taxes back from 2020 as opposed to 2021. Lay late’s still very much up in the air.
Leila: Yes. Yeah. The Buckeye [00:01:00] Institute filed these five cases challenging the law that state legislators passed during the pandemic that allowed businesses to continue withhold municipal income taxes as employees were working from home, and those taxes remained in the city for the place of business.
Well, last week, as you were saying, there was this key ruling in one of those cases, and the one against the city of Cleveland, a Kaga County judge, ruled that Cleveland has to return the taxes paid by. Who once was commuting to Cleveland for work, but during the pandemic had started working remotely from her home in Pennsylvania.
Now, you know, at first blush, we all thought this really meant all of us who worked from home in 2020 would be getting our money back. But as Bob Higgs points out in his story, when you look more closely at the ruling, you see that the judge really narrowly focused on this doctor’s situation of living and working outside the state of Ohio.
So when and how We are finally going to end up getting the answer we’re seeking about the taxes we paid [00:02:00] during the year that, you know, year of remote work. Bob Higgs looked at the status of the remaining lawsuits from the Buckeye Institute to try to figure that out. So one, one case involving the city of Columbus was settled.
So that you know that the, that settlement is particular to that case. And, um, and it’s a set of circumstances that don’t pertain to most of us. But the, in the other cases, Buckeye versus Kilgore in Franklin County involved Buckeye Institute employees who lived in the suburbs but had taxes withheld by Columbus.
The trial judge dismissed that case, Buckeye unsuccessfully appealed it, and the Supreme Court declined to hear it. So seems like that one is dead. Versus Hor filed in Lucas County involves plaintiffs who worked in Toledo, in Oregon, but lived in other communities. It was dismissed at the trial level, but it’s pending in the sixth Circuit Circuit Court of Appeals.
So there’s some, you know, there’s some hope there, but then there’s Shad versus Alder from [00:03:00] Hamilton County. It’s pending in the Ohio Supreme Court. It involves a blue ash resident whose home office is in Cincinnati. Oral arguments for that case haven’t been scheduled yet, but that’s really the case that we’ll all be watching because its outcome most likely will determine the fate of our tax refunds for 2020.
Chris: The thing that I found distressing in the story is the legal. Theory that because it was a state of emergency, the Supreme Court might just say, Yeah, we’re gonna give leeway. I mean, it seems like that’s a ridiculous claim. Okay, well, let’s declare a state of emergency and collect taxes in Canada. Then we’re in Mexico or in Europe.
Right? I mean, it seems, you know, we didn’t work there. We didn’t live there. How can a municipality take our money? And, and the idea that it, well, because it was an emergency. Just doesn’t cut it. I wonder if there’s an ultimate US Supreme Court appeal that could be had here. This seems like it’s an unlawful taking.
[00:04:00] It
Leila: does. It does. And not only that, you know, Bob points out that the makeup of the court could change between now and the time that we get an outcome of the case, because seats held by Justices Patrick Fisher and Pat de Winer up for election. Justices Jennifer Bruner and Sharon Kennedy are vying to replace Chief Justice Marin O’Connor, who’s retiring.
And, uh, you know, Governor DeWine will appoint a judge to fill the seats vacated by the eventual winner. So how, how that will affect the ruling of that key case also remains to be seen.
Chris: Yeah, I just, I think there’s a Fourth Amendment principle that could be employed. The claim, this is an unlawful seizure.
We have a protection against that. There’s, I just don’t understand how a city can take your money when you had nothing to do with it. But there were lawyers that Bob quoted saying, Yeah, well, because it’s an emergency, they may rely heavily on that. Yeah. What are, whatever happened to basic. Constitutional rights
Leila: here.
Right? But it’s always going to be an emergency because guess what? Like the cities are really in a bad spot if they, if [00:05:00] they have to hand back that money.
Chris: The other thing that I was really distressed by was the line toward the end where it says, you know, they got all the APA money, right? All the American rescue plan money.
To reimburse them for what they lost in revenue, but they’re spending that on nonsense and they’re not gonna have any left. Yeah. To reimburse ‘em for what they were supposed to do. And you know, you get back to that, it’s like you should have put that money away because you don’t know what your losses are gonna be.
And they’ve been spending it willy nilly. There were people who predicted when the American rescue Plan was created, the governments would squander it and, and certainly governments have. A good part of the money on, on noble things, but they are squandering it. This has been a huge boondoggle for the American taxpayer.
We’ll keep on this story. It’s an interesting, it’s an interesting one to, uh, pursue. It’s today in Ohio. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has lots of baggage that should have worked against him and his drive to be reelected, but nothing seems to stick to him. [00:06:00] Lisa, why not? Because
Lisa: nothing sticks to Ohio’s grandpa.
That’s why . That’s a quote from a Democratic strategist, David Nivan. Um, but a Sienna College poll shows that DeWine is leading N Whale 55% to 32%. He’s also 10 points ahead with likely women voters, and, uh, 70% of likely Ohio voters. According to another poll, Erris Poll said that, Oppose abortion restrictions in the fetal heartbeat law, but it’s not the most important issue.
It’s number three behind inflation and preserving democracy. So yeah, there are some things that are stains on De W’s record that would probably bring down a lesser governor or candidate house bill six. And, and the Samin Doso robbery scandal is one he signed. Bill six. You know, he has lots of connections with First Energy that didn’t seem to phase anybody.
Covid shutdowns enraged the Ohio [00:07:00] Republican Party, even though he was doing the right thing by, you know, making stay at home orders, mask mandates, and closing up businesses in schools. He’s not the only one who did it, by the way, also on guns. I mean, after the Dayton shooting in 2019, he proposed several.
You know, nice reforms, red flag laws. They were dead on arrival and the legislature. Um, but instead Dewin did sign stand your ground bills concealed carry without a license and a decrease in training for educators who, who armed themselves. He signed all three of those bills. So yeah, he’s, he’s that grandpa that won’t.
The,
Chris: the, I have several people who correspond with me regularly, who a common theme of their conversations are that Joe Biden is too old to be President Donald Trump, too old to be president, That we really need to get to a place where once you hit 70 or so, you shouldn’t be able to hold these offices.
That’s what’s happening with Maureen O’Connor. The [00:08:00] Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is age limited, can’t serve any longer. Nobody’s really talked about that with Mike DeWine. I mean, he is way up there and let’s face it, as you age into that stratosphere, your brain starts to, to falter a bit. But that doesn’t seem to be an issue at all despite what’s gone on with Joe Biden and despite what’s gone on with Donald Trump.
What’s interesting too is Republicans are the most vocal about what they say is Joe Biden’s ility. You say it all the time. But, but there’s no vestige of that in the discussion with about Mike DeWine.
Lisa: But I don’t know that he’s had as many verbal Gs as Joe Biden. And to be fair, the president does have, you know, a speech disorder.
Um, you know, so, and I think the latest thing he said yesterday, people were freaking out about, but, uh, you know, I, I don’t. And the Ohio Democratic Party, they’re still hopeful. I mean, the chairman of the chairwoman of the party, Liz Walter, says we’re gonna see a huge groundswell in [00:09:00] every race from top to bottom.
But I’m not sure that’s gonna happen.
Chris: Yeah, I just, I wonder we have an age limit, a youth limit where when you can run for president at, in some of these other offices, I wonder if we ought to start instilling ones for seniors, you know, give a chance to some younger, more vital people to hold the office.
It’s today in io. Playhouse Square, which is word back to life following the pandemic is one of downtown’s few bright spots. Also, we have progressive field where the guardians have provided lots of life. We got some surprises coming at Playhouse Square that make your visit even flashier. Laura, what are they?
Laura: Well, it’s gonna be anybody who travels through this district is going to see the new work, but it’s gonna be 10 million in New Marques. They’re going to replace the aging, battered and visually uncoordinated. You know, Marquis, that, that make it The theater. The theater. And I honestly had never thought these looked really dated.
It’s, I’m reading Steve Lit’s story thinking, I [00:10:00] never looked to me like, Oh, those really need replacing. But apparently a couple of them hang out so far into the street that they have been hit by trucks and damaged. And he’s right in that they were never created as a unified district. They were independently owned, so they were not thought of together.
So this. Work will coordinate all of the Marques, so they really look spectacular and really unified.
Chris: Although, isn’t there something to be said for it? Not looking unified? Yeah, I was
Leila: thinking the same thing, right?
Laura: Mm-hmm. , I know there’s, there is the, the trap of it looking a little like dignified, right?
Yeah. Like, Oh, these aren’t real old theaters, which they are. I mean, they’re a hundred years old. These are just like, we just made them to look old because they aren’t all gonna have similar looks and like l e d lights and flashy screens. And then what’s cool is underneath it, it looks. Spotlight on the sidewalk.
So like anybody walking by could just like be in the spotlight, which is cool. [00:11:00] But you’re right, they will look the same. They should
Leila: be unique, don’t you think? Each one should be unique. I mean there,
Chris: there are gonna be differences. I do think that, I mean, basically you’re removing the history. They, they’ve had this look now for a long time.
They have a bit of discord, so it feels a little heter, skelter and flashy. It’s what you kind of look for. And they haven’t gone through Broadway and made all those theaters look this. Right.
Laura: That’s an interesting point. Considered a continuation of their dazzle. The district, which was the 16 million effort, I’m sure everyone remembers from 2014.
That’s when they got those gateway arches at the edge of the theater district. Um, and that huge chandelier, which is the biggest outdoor chandelier in the country. And then the big square, um, sign, kind of like a scaffolding that says Playhouse Square. And I never thought the chandelier and the archway.
Really meshed with the sign. And I’m not a fan of the [00:12:00] arches cuz they do look like you’re walking into Disney World. But I mean, I don’t know. I was, they’re there
Chris: now. I was very skeptical, publicly skeptical about the chandelier and I was wrong. That really has done, I do like the chandelier, something wonderful for that district.
So maybe the people that had the vision for the chandelier have the right vision here. We’ll have to see. It’s a good story by Steve Lit and it is on cleveland.com. You’re listening to today in Ohio. Cuyahoga County Council members don’t seem to care about exposing jail prisoners to toxic chemicals as they head to a meeting this week where they might buy a poison site for the new lockup, but one council member is worried about the inmates on another front.
Layla, what did Meredith Turner find when she sampled the jail food? I
Leila: told Caitlin Durbin, this is one of my favorite stories she’s ever written, , because, oh man, you gotta read it. Meredith Turner, whos council’s newest member, took a tour of the jail recently to scope out their living conditions, and she wanted to sample [00:13:00] the meal that inmates were being served that day.
And she was shocked to say the least at how. Absolutely terrible. Nearly inedible. It was the protein she identified only as some meat substance. The green beans were bland, the bread was stale. The peaches were sour. Jail administrator, Rhonda Gibson and other corrections staff had joined her for lunch that day.
So Turner, this is, I left so hard when I read this. Turner said that she just. Eating to make sure that they kept eating because she knew that if she stopped, they would stop and she wanted them to to see and acknowledge how bad it was. So Caitlin’s story described it as a game of chicken to see who would stop eating first and acknowledge how bad it was and turn her lost.
She’d finally said she gave up and was like, Okay, can we finally agree that. Terrible. And Gibson and the others never admitted that the food was inedible, but they did all agree that they should reevaluate the vendor Trinity Services Group Incorporated. [00:14:00] Turner said she had concerns about everything in the kitchen, noting that the food, it was being stored on the floor and a general disorganization.
But apparently Trinity is really well known for its terrible food at corrections facilities. There were news reports that Trinity. Poor food quality and inadequate staffing had led to inmate riots. In some states, they have a $9 million contract in Kaya County, that expireds in June, and Meredith Turner says that that contract can’t end soon enough.
at a recent council meeting, she was like, They should be fired, . But
Chris: remember when they brought that contract in? They boasted about how they were making better food. I remember back
Leila: in the jail, well, remember the food that was identified in the reports was, was. It wasn’t just inedible, it was like moldy and stuff.
There were like serious problems with the food. A so this is just like terrible tasting and, and hard to identify food. .
Chris: This was the solution. You know, they had to just buy McDonald’s at this point because what they’re serving is really bad. I love the, some kind of [00:15:00] meat substance, right? But. I remind you, when we, back when the people were dying at the jail and the county officials were still talking to us, they came over and met with the editorial board and it was the whole raft of ‘em.
The sheriff at the time, Armen Buddhi, the county executive, and everybody in between, and we asked if any of them had ever sampled the jail food and not one of ‘em had. Mm, not one had taken the time to go over and see if these wards of theirs, there was people they’re supposed to keep safe and, and take care of, and well nourished.
They didn’t, not one had ever tried the food. So I salute Turner for doing this, right? This is like she deserves combat pay for doing it and let’s hope she doesn’t wanna expose them to toxic chemicals and, and votes against that site this week. Right? You
Leila: know, her review of the jail food also connects with the review that we got from Newberg Heights, Mayor Trevor Elkins, who spent 30 days in jail on his misusing campaign.
Charge. He told Caitlin that the food is so bad that most of it ends up in the trash and [00:16:00] inmates rely on commissary to eat, but that means commissary inventory is always running low. And he said men are bartering for food and making their own food and their, you know, old. You know, milk cartons and stuff, and he’s just, he’s like, people are just starving there because the food is so awful.
But, you know, Turner made the point to Caitlin that forcing inmates to eat that stuff is a form of torture and argue that they, the prisoners who have committed, that, you know, that they’re all prisoners who’ve committed crimes and they don’t deserve good food, is just so wrong. Because even if we were accept that as a valid argument, the majority of inmates of the jail are being held their pretrial and they haven’t, you know, they haven’t been convicted yet.
Yeah. So,
Chris: and you should, That’s just terrible. Yeah. You shouldn’t feed food that sounds like this to anybody. Exactly. It’s not right. This torture. So fascinating story. Yeah, I loved it. It’s today in Ohio. All of a sudden Republicans outside Ohio recognize how critical the races are for the Ohio Supreme Court.
How are they trying to put their thumb on the scale? [00:17:00] Lisa? By
Lisa: throwing money just like they did with JD Vance. Um, yeah, there’s a group called the Republican State Leadership Committee, and it’s a group dedicated to electing Republicans to statewide offices. So they’re shelling out 2 million on TV ads statewide.
That will start on October s. 12th. This is the first big spend by an outside group on Ohio Supreme Court races This year, uh, the, uh, committee President d Duncan says they’re gonna be focusing on the redistricting issue. And we know that, you know, the, the three Republicans that are up for reelection in the Ohio Supreme Court voted against all of the maps, the myriad maps that were presented to them.
And Duncan says, We need to fight back against radical liberals like Eric Holder. Termed to stack the courts to draw favorable maps for Democrats. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce is going to be spending 4 million backing Republican candidates. So there you go. In the Supreme Court race, uh, the Ohio Democratic parties doesn’t really have a strategy to [00:18:00] counteract this.
They say they’re putting additional resources into Supreme Court races, but they have no further comment on what they’re gonna do there.
Chris: Yeah, it’s uh, I’m a little bit surprised it’s coming this late. There was a time 10, 12, 13 years ago when these races were some of the biggest dollar races going, that there was a great focus on the Ohio Supreme Court.
But because of the Senate race, I think, and how close that is, this has been ignored until now and it’s all of a sudden uhoh, if the Democrats get the majority in there, things are gonna change dramatically. So they’re going to try and. And weigh in. I’m the party affiliation will be on the ballot, Yes. For candidates this time around.
So that should help the Republicans. And I’m
Lisa: thinking that’s maybe why they’re putting money into it now too, just to get these names in front of the people. But you know, some people are gonna vote a straight ticket anyway, but this is a way of saying, hmm. Yeah.
Chris: Okay. You’re listening to Today in Ohio, [00:19:00] while the other hospital systems in northeast Ohio shrink MetroHealth is expanding in a big way.
Reporter Julie Washington took the tour of the new mental health hospital in Cleveland Heights as not to be confused with the big new hospital that’ll be opening on its campus. What did she see in Cleveland Heights? Laura, this
Laura: is a really cool. Helpful example of hospitals. It’s a 42 million 112 bed behavioral health hospital.
It’s opening next Saturday, and it’s supposed to treat about 5,000 patients a year. People who are suffering from B, bipolar disorder, depression, addiction, mood disorders, dual diagnosis, or who have mental illness and substance abuse issues. And there were also specialized units for treating both adolescents and the elderly, which is a very.
Needed focus, and it’s incredible how needed these services are. The economy is on the track to have a record number of fatal overdoses this year. Obviously, we all know the Covid 19 has increased demand for mental health [00:20:00] counseling, and this is really expensive healthcare to provide and St. Vincent Charity Medical Center is closing down downtown.
They’ve had a lot of emphasis on this, and nearly half of the county residents in 2019 who needed inpatient behavioral healthcare had to go out of the county to fill to, to find it. Even if these hospitals have beds, they might not have the staff to fill them, uh, to, to take care of them. So this is such a needed spot and Metro Health.
Um, it’s anticipating its own staffing problems. It’s phasing in this new hospitals unit over the next several months as it recruits staff, so it’s supposed to, by mid 2023, it all should be open. What
Chris: was interesting to me about this story was the description of the interior. I’ve, I’ve had to visit someone at the Metro Health Mental Health Unit in its existing campus, and while the people there were incredible in the way they were serving the patients, the setting was right.
One flavor to Cuckoo’s Nest. I mean, it was [00:21:00] medieval. It was terrible. This sounds like it is completely different with murals on the walls. It’s wide open. People are not gonna be locked up. The staff is not segregated from the patients. It sounds like it’s going to be a much more calming.
Laura: Atmosphere, and that’s the whole idea that they built into this.
They have large windows that overlook the woods to be peaceful. They have calming hus of blue and green in the areas for communal meals. They’re encouraging patients to get out of their rooms, to join people for meals, watch tv, play basketball, and in adjoining space, and basically teach people with mental disorders how to function independently, but also a whole lot of safety features, door handles, faucets and shower heads.
That would be very difficult to tie a rope to them. Bathroom doors made a foam and attached to the wall with Velcro, so caregivers can quickly remove them if they need to reach them. So they’ve really put a lot of thought into this
Chris: and it, what the sad part of this is this was supposed to expand the [00:22:00] number of available mental health beds in the county, but because of St.
Vincent closing in some other things, it’s we’re about even, we’re not really increasing at all.
Laura: Yeah, exactly. . So maybe some other hospital will step
Chris: up. Wait. Well, Leslie, Cuba wrote a great column over the weekend about how little it would take to preserve the St. Vincent Charity Hospital Mental health er, which she said was only two one of two in the state.
And with all the money that that we’ve gotten from Arpo is going all sorts of places. She, she kind of scolded Adams board. Yeah, she did. You gotta kick in the money here. Keep this thing open. Yeah,
Leila: she did. Cuz the Adams board, it seems that they’re, they’re, I mean, we’re awaiting, we’re waiting to find out if, if, uh, if it’s possible for St.
Vincent to, to, to uh, um, manage a standalone psychiatric er. I don’t know if the regulations would prevent that. I think that’s still something they’re exploring. But it’s still, to Leslie’s read of it was [00:23:00] that the Adams board was not quick enough to commit. The, the support for it, regardless of that, and that they should, they should see that need and jump to it.
Um, and we discussed also whether or not the Metro Health announcement is a game changer for the argument she was making, and, and she decided, No, it’s not, We still need what St. Vincent was providing. Yeah, it was
a
Chris: great piece. Check it out on cleveland.com. It’s today in Ohio. What step is Cleveland taking?
That should make it a lot easier to prosecute people for code violations. Layla.
Leila: Well, Cleveland City Council passed an ordinance backed by Mayor Justin BBB and Director of Building and Housing, Sally Martin. That removes a longstanding requirement that the city serve all code violations via certified mail.
So as you can imagine, until now, property owners could easily dodge that and never return the certified mail card, which would prevent the city from [00:24:00] prosecuting them for any violations under the new law. Service of all code violations will only require a notice sent through regular mail plus a paper notice physically posted on the problem building this change.
It’s, it’s meant to target slum lords and out of town investors who let properties fall into disrepair as opposed to regular homeowners and residents. Because obviously if you’re a homeowner and you’re living in the house, You’ll be there to receive the mail, and you’ll be there to see the notice posted on the house.
So those folks shouldn’t be harmed by this change in the law. However, you know, the change does not affect actual prosecutions for code violations or condemnation orders, which both of those still require their own certified mail service process to move forward. So if you’re going to face prosecution, you’ll still be notified of that vice certified mail.
But this procedural change not only will help the city more quickly address code violations before they lead to. Irreversible deterioration, but it could save Cleveland hundreds of thousands of dollars each year because in [00:25:00] part, you know, building, and I mean building and housing issues, about 10,000 to 15,000 violations every year.
And it costs more than seven bucks to send each notice by a certified mail. So the change will also allow department employees to spend less time processing code violation service and focus their time on, on. On other pressing needs. All
Chris: right, let me, let me play devil’s advocate on this one, because it is legal to be an out-of-town owner of property.
Sure. Um, and the, the idea that I could get sent something that I never received, to say I’m in violation and launch a legal process seems a little bit unfair. Why not? Go halfway and instead of requiring the return receipt of the card, put tracking on the mail to see that it was delivered so that you know it went, The city often doesn’t know how to reach the owners of these properties.
And there’s the other thing they could do is when the taxes is, Paid or paid on the house, they could send a notice saying We need to be able to reach you. But I, I just, it [00:26:00] feels we’ve all missed mail, especially these days, where it doesn’t show up for days. I, I, it feels like this is a little bit unfair to the homeowner that there’s not going to be any proof that they actually knew in violation.
Well, I
Leila: mean, if the mail is coming to. Address that is, is, uh, you know, associated with the owner, then they should receive it. And, and also you’re not gonna be prosecuted without certified mail. So there is that stop gap as well. I don’t know, I think I’m on the city side of this. I think that if, if this has been a problem that the easy way out of this is to just not return that certified mail card.
They needed to address it, but you
Chris: could still track it. That’s a separate inch cheaper. You could, you could still have a tracking thing that shows this arrived at that address. We have proof and you can’t claim you didn’t receive it. There’s, it’s just a middle ground. Although if,
Leila: if you have proof that it arrived, does that mean that they saw it?
I mean, like you [00:27:00] said, we’ve all missed mail. It could arrive at the address, and then the recipient, you know, tossed it accidentally, or it just got shuffled out with the junk mail
Chris: that’s on the recipient. Then I, I just, it seems like they’re, they’re, they’re going the whole way and depriving people with some rights, which I expect will end up in the courts.
We’ll have to see. It’s today in Ohio. Lisa, how is Case Western Reserve University making it a good bit easier for seniors to get dental care and oral health checkups?
Lisa: Well, they’re expanding a program that was launched in 2015. It’s called Lifelong Smiles. It’s a mobile geriatric dentistry van. It’s 38 feet long.
It has dental chairs, x-ray. Space and even a wheelchair lift for patients. It’s run by third and fourth year dental students at Case Western Reserves Dental School. And they also work with students from cases, uh, schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work. So they’re kind of giving a little bit of wraparound services there.
So, uh, if the van is. Touring Northeast Ohio, it’s [00:28:00] offered within First Energy’s service area because First Energy did give a $100,000 grant from the First Energy Foundation to expand these service.
Chris: It, it’s a good program to get out for people that don’t have the easiest, uh, sources of transportation,
Lisa: right?
Yes. It’s, it’s specifically tailored for people who can’t get to a dentist office or they don’t have dental insurance, which can be really hard to get. And the problem with that is that a lot of seniors let their dental insurance and their oral healthcare slide because,
Chris: Okay, it’s today in Ohio. We got one more.
A Lakewood house is the most expensive to be sold in Coga County in years. Laura, what is it? What did it go for and what makes it so expensive? I am
Laura: not probably going to be able to tell you exactly what makes this worth 7 million versus 3 million somewhere else because it’s so far out of my realm of ideas.
But we were talking $7 million. [00:29:00] 10,000 square feet built in 2015 sits on two and a half acres of lake front land. So obviously the land itself is worth a. Something like seven bedrooms and nine bathrooms and a tax bill of $101,000 this year, . So basically you could buy a house every year with what you’re spending on taxes.
Wow. So, uh, yeah, But this is the most expensive we’ve seen in years and years. Going back to 2018, the highest price was 6 million for an 8,000 square feet house in Gates Mills. I think there might be a basketball court in this. There is a pool, but there is no lake access. I just wanna point that out. It’s on a cliff.
There’s no private beach. There are no stairs. You can’t dock your own boat at this house. Wow. So what’s the point?
Leila: lame. There’s something,
Chris: There’s something that just seems wrong about a hundred thousand dollars tax bill. Cause you’re getting the same quality of service as the person paying a thousand dollars.
Yeah, but
don’t
Laura: you think you could afford it if you bought a 7 million
Leila: [00:30:00] house? Yeah. That’s
Lisa: nothing.
Chris: Okay, we’ll leave it there. It’s today in Ohio. Thank you, Layla. Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Lisa. Thanks to everybody who listens to the podcast.
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