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CLEVELAND, Ohio - Ohio lawmakers are considering jailing people who refuse to identify themselves during traffic stops. We’re talking about a new “refusal to disclose” offense for drivers on Today in Ohio. Listen online here. 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. Here’s what we’re asking about today: When you get pulled over by a police officer, you think it’s just automatic that you give him your license, right? Well, some people don’t, and a proposed Ohio law targets people who refuse to identify themselves when pulled over. What would it do? Kevin Coughlin ran against Emilia Sykes for Congress last time around and, after losing, almost immediately launched a new campaign to beat her next year. Why did he quit this week? First, Mayor Justin Bibb went toe to toe with the owners of the Cleveland Browns over their move to Brook Park. Now he’s going toe to toe with the owners of the Guardians and the Cavs over a different facility matter. What’s the beef? Why did Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne go to Brazil recently, and who paid for the trip? Let’s stick with environmental concerns. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Legislature have done everything they can to torpedo green energy in the state, to help out their friends in the oil and gas industry. But are some legislators opening a door on green energy for people who rent their homes? One more for the environment. What are some groups suiing of Ohio’s latest budget and its impact on air quality? Cuyahoga County’s median home price is more than $200,000 less than the national median, which means that home prices round here are a bargain compared to many cities. But they’ve been rising fast. What does that mean for housing affordability here? This is from before the federal government shutdown caused anxiety for flyers about air safety. How much was air travel down in September at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport? A Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court judge gave a win to those who believe in transparency and community accountability. What did she rule? What happens when you tell people not to shop on Black Friday, and the week after? A grassroots movement calling for Americans to stop spending money from Nov. 25 through Dec. 2, with organizers hoping to pressure businesses and policymakers. They’re citing historical precedents like the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Could it work? More Today in Ohio “This is appeasement:” Dems blasted for caving to GOP blackmail on Ohio’s gerrymandering “First president ever” to let Americans go hungry: Trump keeps cash that could feed Ohioans Is Cleveland built for boomers? Detroit’s spectacular waterfront has ideas to attract young families We have an Apple podcasts channel exclusively for this podcast. Subscribe here. Do you get your podcasts on Spotify? Find us here. RadioPublic is another popular podcast vehicle, and we are here. On PodParadise, find us here. And on PlayerFM, we are here. Read the automated transcript below. Because it’s a computer-generated transcript, it contains many errors and misspellings. Chris Quinn (00:00.87) It’s the off year election day, the year where you are blitzed by municipal mailers and signs and clutter. It all ends today. Go out and vote. It’s Today in Ohio, the news podcast discussion from cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer. I’m Chris Quinn here today with Lisa Garvin, Laura Johnston and Courtney Astoffi. Leila Tassi is working the election night, so she’s not with us today. All right, Lisa, when you get pulled over by a police officer, you think it’s just automatic that you give them your license, right? Well, some people don’t. a proposed Ohio law targets people who refuse to identify themselves when pulled over, what would this law do? Lisa Garvin (00:36.19) Mm-hmm. Lisa Garvin (00:46.568) So it’s House Bill 492, is undergoing its third hearing today. It will create a new refusal to disclose law that would be a fourth degree misdemeanor and up to 30 days in jail if a motorist refuses to show an ID or driver’s license, provide any sort of, you know, name or contact information during a traffic stop. So Ohio courts though have ruled repeatedly that it’s not obstructing official business to refuse to show your license. In a case, a 2013 case, Toledo versus Dandridge, the Sixth Appeals Court said it’s not an affirmative act. 2020 case, State versus Ellis in the Eighth Appeals Court overturned a conviction where a defendant refused to be fingerprinted. Republican Representative Cindy Adams of Cincinnati, she’s a former law enforcement officer and she says, well, this puts officers in a tough situation. Is their refusal harmless or is it serious? And she said it actually happened to her when she was on the beat. She said a man wanted was for an Akron murder and she had pulled him over and he refused to show his license. The bill is supported by the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio and other law enforcement groups. They say it’s a gray area that needs a legislative fix. And it says it doesn’t give police the authority to demand an ID in all situations. This would be traffic stops like on roads and waterways for suspected speeding or other moving violations. Chris Quinn (02:11.464) I’m so surprised that this is an issue because from the time I learned to drive, the lesson was driving is not a right in America, it’s a privilege. And you have to follow the rules. And part of the rules are if you get pulled over, you turn over your license and registration. It’s just common that you would do it. The internet though is filled with this move toward idiocracy we’re living in today. with people who believe they’re sovereign and they’re not contained by the rules of society. And so police have this difficulty. This makes no sense to me that it would not be an automatic rule that you have to hand over your license because it’s a privilege to be on the road. And if they’re pulling you over, you’re suspected of doing something wrong. Am I in the minority in this thinking? Lisa Garvin (03:02.238) No, honestly, and I always pull my license out before the cop even walks up to my window because I know he’s going to ask for it, he or she. But honestly, if you’re a law enforcement officer and somebody refuses to show an ID, don’t you think there’s something suspicious going on? Chris Quinn (03:18.391) I just if I’m on the road and an officer pulls me over because he thinks I’ve done something wrong. It’s just part of the game. You you identify who you are and then you have the discussion about whether you get the ticket refusing to identify yourself shouldn’t be accessible acceptable. I just don’t get how that is not already enshrined in law. It boggles my mind in 2025. We’re just now reconciling. Okay, we need to make it illegal to refuse to give your license. Courtney (03:50.808) I don’t know. I maybe have a couple different thoughts on this. You know, as we see more local police, you know, partnering with ICE and pulling folks over, there’s questions of racial profiling. I don’t know if an officer finding a simple moving violation or saying they found a simple moving violation. I’m just a little hesitant on this given other issues with traffic stops. We know are out there in the realm of policing. Chris Quinn (04:19.7) But get back to the idea that you don’t have a right to be on the road. The states are in the position where they grant you the privilege through the issuance of a license, through the issuance of a registration, and implicit in that, in that granting of that privilege, is that you’ll follow the rules. And one of the rules is if you’re stopped, you have to identify who you are. No? Courtney (04:43.742) Yeah, I can see both sides on this one. Big time. Chris Quinn (04:46.996) All right, Laura, if Courtney gets pulled over, we’re gonna have to get bail money together because she’s going to jail. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Kevin Coughlin ran against Amelia Sykes for Congress last time around and after losing, almost immediately launched a new campaign to beat her next year. He’s a very Trumpy fellow. Why did he quit this week, Laura? Laura (05:10.744) because of the redistricting, he said that it’s changing the area of the district and he doesn’t have really a chance to beat Amelia Sykes this time. This is the 13th congressional district and he doesn’t see a path to victory. So it went from a 50-50 toss-up to a slightly Democratic-leaning district. And I would say Amelia Sykes does seem pretty popular. She’s very active. So this is just one of the changes. that we’re seeing because of this map, which we talked about yesterday, which is basically, I mean, not like handing seats to 12 Republicans, but those districts are drawn to give them an advantage. Chris Quinn (05:52.117) The thing about him was he was so Trumpy. It felt like you were listening to a JD Vance Trump apologist in his campaign, which really is the last thing Ohio needs as another Trumpy Trumper. So I was kind of glad to see this because we just, need people to stand up for themselves, to be individuals. Amelia Sykes does that. She’s done a fine job. He just was going down that road that has been working for the past few years. I can’t wait for when it stops working. Laura (06:06.585) Mm. Chris Quinn (06:22.066) But goodbye, good riddance. I’m glad that he’s gone. Laura (06:24.068) Yeah, he got 48.9 % of the vote last time. So that’s why he immediately geared up again. Huge amount of investment, $5.2 million spent by Sykes, Coughlin about a $1.5 million, and then another $16 million in the race from the outside groups. So think about that’s probably one of the most expensive congressional races in the country. And the National Republican Congressional Committee had put that district on its target list of seats to flip. in 2026. So that’s why Kevin Coughlin was out there so hard already. But like I said, so this is changing that district. The new map also makes a congressional seat held by Democrat Greg Landsman, significantly more Republican. That’s in the Cincinnati area and could signal some trouble for Marcy Capter, the longest running woman in the House because the GOP edge in that district in Northwest Ohio. Chris Quinn (07:22.612) Of course, with the way they’ve messed with these maps, nothing is guaranteed. To do what they did, which is reprehensible, they have exposed some weaknesses. And given what the condition of the country is next year and where people’s sentiments are, this could blow up in their faces. We’ll have to see. But it is pretty clear that Amelia Sykes was not going to lose to him. He made the wise choice to get out. Laura (07:28.589) Yes. Laura (07:51.204) I wonder what else throw his hat in the ring for next. Chris Quinn (07:54.388) He won’t go away. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. First, Mayor Justin Bibb of Cleveland went toe to toe with the owners of the Browns over their move to Brook Park. Now he’s going toe to toe with the owners of the Guardians and the Cavs over a different matter involving facilities. Courtney, what’s the beef? Courtney (08:15.15) Yeah, Bib has drawn this line in the sand and he says that the city won’t keep bailing out the guardians and cavaliers on repairs to their respective arenas unless they’re willing to get behind his funding plan for maintenance at those two facilities. He wants to use what’s called a new community authority to start generating some more bucks for stadium upkeep for the two teams and We’ve seen this new authority go in place around the lakefront. So it would be using that same tool again, but this time it would be in the area around gateway. And what this new community authority thing is, it’s basically like a special taxing zone. They could tack on small taxes to things like parking, dining, entertainment, drinks, even some property taxability here. you know, places like the businesses that would have to charge these fees to their customers. like the lakefront, they get to choose whether they’re part of this district or not. So there is an opt-in capability under this model. But so far we’re not seeing much buy-in from the two teams whose maintenance this tax would be aiming to fix because we know the SIN tax just isn’t enough to keep paying this bill into the future. There needs to be some kind of funding fix. This is Bibb’s plan and though the teams are reticent and they wouldn’t comment on this plan to us when we went knocking, Council leaders tell us there’s been a chilly reception by the teams here. And Bibb’s saying that’s it. They got to get on board with this plan or no more handouts for maintenance coming from the general fund until we get this taxing authority ball rolling. Chris Quinn (09:58.172) And the whole reason they’re doing this is because they don’t want to pay their share in the districts. They would have to pay something. They don’t want it. They want to reach into our pockets like they’ve always done and steal money from the budgets. We all know what happened earlier this year where they got 40 million dollars out of general funds. The county had to borrow money to pay their part because of the poor writing of the leases of these stadiums. They’ve been getting their way with the tax. from the start. They have huge amounts of money coming in and they just keep stealing from us. This plan would make them pay a bit in because they’re a member of the district that would be benefiting from the improvements to the stadiums and these bums don’t want to pay. How selfish and sleazy is it that in a city with the poverty that Cleveland has, in a county that has the money troubles that we have in Cuyahoga, they’re Refusing to pay their little part because they want to keep reaching into our pockets Courtney (11:02.678) And Bibb is making that point, I’ll buy it more diplomatically and less nail on the head, but that’s exactly what he’s saying here, Chris. He describes this as a fairer approach and he’s talking about, you know, it would shift some of the cost to the fans and visitors and patrons of those teams away from city taxpayers and folks who aren’t using those amenities. So it would be a way to make the fans pay for the services that they want. That makes sense to me. mean, Chris Quinn (11:28.244) Yeah. Courtney (11:30.662) These are small fees too. We’re talking about a quarter of a cent, 25 cents on a five dollar hot dog for example. It’s not that much. Chris Quinn (11:39.56) They just don’t want to pay because they never had to. Look, I talk about the dearth of leaders in this region all the time. The one bright spot is Justin Bibb. I can’t remember the last mayor that told the Cavs, the Browns and the Guardians to stick it. And he’s fighting for the residents. He’s fighting for the taxpayers saying, come on, billionaires, pay your part. And they’re saying, no, it’s it’s hilarious. I’m glad he finally went on the record on this, because I think this has been brewing a long time. And putting the spotlight on them just shows how selfish they really are. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. Why did Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronane go to Brazil recently, Lisa? And who paid for that trip? Lisa Garvin (12:26.235) Well, it wasn’t taxpayers that paid for it, but County Executive Ronane was invited to speak at the C40 World Mayor Summit in Rio de Janeiro this week. It’s going to cost $5,900 for travel, hotel, meals and transportation. It’s being paid for by Bloomberg Philanthropies, so no county funds involved. County Inspector General Alexa Beeler okayed this request. She says, Bloomberg Philanthropies has no business with the county, so it doesn’t violate the ethics law that bans public employees from accepting anything of value from improper sources like contractors, potential contractors, or people regulated by the county. The summit is a gathering of mayors and regional leaders from across the world to discuss climate solutions. It includes leaders in urban energy, transition, public transit innovation, and also government, private, and philanthropic partnerships. Environmental sustainability is the main theme, and that’s something that Ronane has really leaned in on during his administration. He’s been expanding green infrastructure and trying to reduce carbon emissions at county buildings. Chris Quinn (13:35.316) So on the one side, we are under a federal and state government that refuses to acknowledge the damage of climate change and how it’s killing the planet, which is terrible because science has shown it’s absolutely happening. And if we don’t get things under control, there won’t be much of a planet left. And Chris Ronane feels completely the opposite. He’s made this a signature part of what he’s doing. On the other hand, The county’s broke. have lots of problems to fix. Is it appropriate for the county executive to be dancing off to Brazil, even on somebody else’s dime, instead of solving the problems here? I’m not sure what I think about this. What does everybody else think? Lisa Garvin (14:17.992) think it’s fine. mean, I think he’s trying to spread the gospel. I think that’s why they invited him. So I don’t have any bones about it. Chris Quinn (14:27.376) All right, you’re listening to Today in Ohio. Let’s stick with environmental concerns. Mike DeWine and the Ohio legislature have done everything they can to torpedo green energy in the state to help out their good friends in the oil and gas industry. But are some legislators opening a door on green energy for people who rent their homes? Laura, what’s the story? Laura (14:49.474) Yes, this is House Bill 303. Residents could subscribe to what’s called a community energy facility. This is shared power project built somewhere in their region. The idea is to let people, including renters and people who don’t have rooftops, to buy into local energy projects and earn credits on their electric bill. They say this would help families save money and give more Ohioans a way to choose clean energy. If this is a way to save money, why haven’t we welcomed solar in the past? I wonder where is the downside in this? This is what I don’t understand because Republicans don’t usually agree that green energy is a good idea. But when we’re talking about customers seeing increases of up to 44 % on their bills, and some of our readers have told us it’s higher, anything that can help would be great. So we’re talking about solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric power, biomass, landfill gas, energy storage system, fuel cells, smaller scale than on major power plants, but it all is green and it’s got sponsors that are both Republicans and I believe Democrats. mean, why wouldn’t they sign onto this? Chris Quinn (16:03.004) I don’t understand why the oil and gas industry isn’t doing everything it can to stop it because they’ve been able to stop everything so far. What is different about this that they’re actually getting behind, the legislators are actually getting behind it and the oil and gas lobby isn’t stopping it. Laura (16:07.374) Yeah. Laura (16:21.464) Yeah, again, I think I need more information on this because it just seems like a win win and we don’t see that a lot in energy in Ohio. So where’s the catch? Chris Quinn (16:31.004) Yeah, that’s a good question. This surprised us. Lisa Garvin (16:35.166) Well, maybe they’re finally getting hip to the national and actually global trend that coal plants are closing left and right. The market for coal is dropping out. Maybe that’s finally getting to their brains. Chris Quinn (16:47.336) You mean they’re actually making decisions for the right reasons and not because they’re getting paid for. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. We got one more for the environment. Why are some groups suing over Ohio’s latest budget and its impact on air quality, Courtney? Laura (16:52.13) Wow, Lisa, look at the optimism from Lisa today. Lisa Garvin (16:52.734) Correct. Courtney (17:09.12) Yeah, environmental advocates are saying that Ohio lawmakers basically, you know, went too far when they stripped away some of residents ability to fight back against polluters in some provisions that went through in the last budget process. And like you noted, Chris, these groups, which include the Ohio environmental council, the Sierra club, they’re going to court over this. They filed suit in Franklin County last week. arguing that the legislature, when they strip these environmental rules away, violated the state constitution rule that limits the budget to being one topic. Now, we know that there have been challenges about the one topic rule before. They don’t always go that far, but these groups are hoping that this one will stick because this stripping of the language in the budget basically gutted Ohio’s air nuisance rule. And it also took away a tool that let communities kind of hold polluters accountable for emissions that harm their neighborhoods by using their own sensors. And both of those things went kaput. They want the court to intervene and rule those changes unconstitutional. Chris Quinn (18:22.044) Yeah, but the Ohio Supreme Court whores itself out for the Republican Party. They won’t change it. I think we need a constitutional change. I’ve said this before, that anything in the budget that would change any part of the Ohio revised code would be illegal. You want a single subject rule, that’s the way to do it. Anything that would have any impact on existing law must be stripped out and passed separately. That would end this. We would no longer have this problem. But the only way we’re going to get there with our crooked Supreme Court is if we take control and pass a constitutional amendment. We have it. We have a single subject rule. We shouldn’t have to do something beyond it. But like I said, you just cannot count on the clowns that are in the Ohio Supreme Court. Courtney (19:06.42) And these environmental groups say that this has like on the ground consequences for communities, these changes. You know, they say that without that air nuisance rule in place and with the new prohibition on those community level air quality monitors, know, citizens, everyday residents, everyday residents lost a key tool they had in the fight against pollutants in their neighborhoods. And they want to see that restored. Chris Quinn (19:33.032) Yeah, make no mistake, they’re absolutely right. This violates the single subject rule. But because of the setup of Ohio government right now, it doesn’t matter that they’re right. They’re not going to win this case. You are listening to Today in Ohio. Cuyahoga County’s medium home price is $200,000 plus lower than the national median, which means that home prices around here are bargains compared to many cities. But Lisa, they’ve been rising fast. What does that mean for housing affordability here? Lisa Garvin (20:05.566) Yeah, it’s getting worse. Although, as you said, in comparison to other markets, it’s still a pretty good deal. The median selling price for a single-family suburban home in Cuyahoga County from June through September of this year is $245,000. That’s up $20,000 from last year, and it’s up $90,000 from the pre-pandemic estimates in 2019. So that’s a 58 % increase from pre-pandemic times to now. In the city of Cleveland, the median selling price is $100,100. That’s up $5,100 from last year and up $37,000 from 2019. But if you read the real estate transfers in cleveland.com and the Plain Dealer, know prices in Cleveland vary widely. There are dozens of homes that are selling for less than $50,000 in the city. So there are 20 cities in Cuyahoga County with at least a hundred sales June through September that saw increases since 1999. So Solon is up 53%, Rocky River is up 55%, but some of these smaller suburbs are really, mean, South Euclid, their home selling prices are up 86%, Maple Heights up 96%, while some of the more affluent suburbs are more like 62%, like Westlake and Shaker. Chris Quinn (21:25.064) When I was off and I saw that the national median had crossed $450,000, my eyes popped out of my head and I just thought, man, that is prohibitively expensive. And then I think back to our region where for that amount of money, you get palatial houses. And yet, we talked about this earlier this week, young families are not moving here. They’re moving to those places where the houses are prohibitively expensive. Lisa Garvin (21:29.675) wow. Chris Quinn (21:52.66) I wish I could understand the cache that exists in those other cities because that is a huge difference in your mortgage payment. 450 versus 250? I just don’t, why aren’t we attracting more people? Lisa Garvin (21:53.085) Yeah. Lisa Garvin (22:01.564) Right. Right. And you know, and I want to stress that the median selling price means that half sell for more and half sell for less. I mean, my house just got appraised this year, just like everybody else’s, it’s still under $200,000. So, you know, and there are houses in Lindhurst and surrounding suburbs that are going for $150,000. Chris Quinn (22:20.284) Yeah. Chris Quinn (22:25.876) which if you picked up your house and moved it to a Nashville or a Charlotte or an Atlanta, it would be worth triple. just so why can’t we capitalize on that and get people to be attracted here because housing costs are one of the key factors in any young family’s budget. There’s just some there’s a disconnect for me. Yes, it’s going up. And as our story pointed out, it’s going up in our region faster than incomes are. So it’s harder. to pay for a house. get all that. But we’re still comparatively speaking, a great bargain. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. This next one is from before the federal government shut down caused anxiety for flyers about air safety. How much was air travel down in September at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport Laura? Laura (23:16.676) Well, it went down again, which it’s been a slide for how many months now? But we’re looking about 7.6 million passengers in September. That’s 1.65 % down from the same period last year. Chris Quinn (23:31.954) Yeah, it just keeps going down and my bet is for October, it’s going to be down a lot because would you want to fly right now? We had the near miss last week that was very scary. We reported it over the weekend from last Wednesday and we’ve had stories about how hard the air traffic controllers are having to work second jobs to make ends meet. Do you really want to risk flying right now? Laura (23:49.976) Mm-hmm. Laura (23:55.599) Well, I’m just thinking, we just talked about how expensive housing is, right? Like, and food. I think it’s price that could be keeping people from flying. If you’re worried about your job and the cost of groceries, I don’t think you’re planning a trip right now. And so they’re now forecasting 10.1 million passengers at Hopkins this year. That’s down from last year after years of growth, a decrease of 2.9 % from what they originally predicted this year at 10.4 million. They are hoping to finish the year strong. I mean, people, we’ve got Thanksgiving, we have Christmas. Those are not as much leisure trips as they are to go see family. But the softening and air travel is a nationwide trend. This isn’t just happening in Cleveland. Chris Quinn (24:36.296) I don’t know, my window for what it means for flying is if driving is seven to eight hours, I’ll drive rather than fly because all things being equal, that’s only a little bit longer and you don’t have any of the nonsense with the airlines. The latest things that are happening is expanding my window to more about 10 hours. I just don’t wanna fly. Laura (24:56.77) Well, it also depends. Sorry, go ahead, Lisa. Lisa Garvin (24:58.608) Well, no, I was just going to point out there have been stories about Intercontinental Airport in Houston where people are standing in TSA checkout lines for four hours. So, you know, they’re all missing their flights. Chris Quinn (25:07.86) Yeah, yeah, it’s a nightmare. just, wouldn’t want to fly. Even if I had plans for Thanksgiving, I’d really consider, okay, how agonizing is a 12 hour drive compared to what Lisa just described, four hours in the TSA line. Laura (25:09.059) god. Laura (25:26.956) Right, because you can stop your car and get out whenever you want. Chris Quinn (25:29.616) Right, right. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. A Cuyahoga County juvenile court judge gave a win to those who believe in transparency and community accountability. We were a part of this ruling. Courtney, what did the judge rule? Courtney (25:44.704) Yeah, Judge Kristen Sweeney came out on Monday, saying that this high profile juvenile case we have going on involving those two young children, nine and 10, who are accused of torturing a five year old girl on Cleveland’s East Side. Judge Sweeney said those proceedings will remain open to the public. And as you noted, Chris, we were part of the folks who had sought that ruling. On the other side, know, attorneys for the two young suspects They’d asked the court to close the proceedings. They had argued that, you know, that the intense scrutiny that would come about because of this case could endanger the kids and their families. But then back on our side of things was the prosecutors and they were arguing that these should be open proceedings as well. And Sweeney ultimately came down on that side. She said straight up, the law doesn’t allow the court to close these proceedings. And she said, it seemed pretty clear. that closing them wasn’t an option. She said, quote, it’s just not legally permissible. Chris Quinn (26:44.648) Look, I just want people to understand, we’re not arguing that these should be open for any kind of purion interest. This is a troubling case. We’re all trying to understand how a society can produce a situation where a nine and a 10-year-old torture a five-year-old. It’s frightening that we’ve come to that, and there’s accountability all around. We as a community need to analyze ourselves, we need to analyze the neighborhood. And we can only do that by understanding how this came to be. You can in many ways argue this nine and 10 year old are victims as much as perpetrators because how do a nine and 10 year old get to this point in life where they’re committing this kind of crime? That’s why this needs to be open. We never name kids that are charged unless they’re charged as adults, which will not happen here. We don’t. identify the families, we look at the facts. And that’s what this was about. I think the defense attorneys were out of line seeking this. We all had to spend a bundle of money to fight it. And I appreciate the prosecutor’s office for standing on the side of transparency and accountability. The right thing happened here. Courtney (27:58.92) And you noted here, know, Sweeney did impose one restriction that reporters can’t publish the identities of these kids or their parents. But like you noted, very important. We don’t do that anyways, so no problem. Chris Quinn (28:10.236) Yeah, and actually, we’re negotiating over that. We’re going to file a motion because that’s a prior restraint. And even though we don’t plan to name them and are not going to name them, that’s we don’t. The Constitution says you can’t tell us what we can and can’t publish. So there’s an issue here that we still have to address. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. All right, Laura, what happens when you tell people not to shop on Black Friday and the week after? There’s a grassroots movement calling for Americans to stop spending money from November 25th through December 2nd. They’re hoping this will create pressure on businesses and policymakers. Could it work? Laura (28:51.396) It could, but it is going to be difficult. This is the black out the system campaign. It’s urging everyone in the United States to avoid all buying except for small local businesses during that week. Like you talked about Black Friday, Cyber Monday. And they also telling people don’t work. The idea and don’t travel basically stop the economy as a protest against the government. the that it stands. idea is to build a new kind of economy that respects labor, distributes well fairly and restores dignity. They want to push back against corruption in the government, corporate greed and lies that people have been fed to divide them. And I think they feel a little emboldened after the no Kings demonstrations in October, which I believe it was one in 10 Americans attended. That’s huge numbers. And they hope to get inspirations from the Montgomery bus boycott. This idea that they really did change the country and culture and what is acceptable with civil rights by stopping riding buses. The thing is that was a very specific place and time and target. And I don’t know that you can get the same impact and the experts don’t know that you could do that just by telling people don’t shop. Chris Quinn (30:09.294) Do you know, I don’t think they did, but do you know if the organizers of the No Kings rallies were announcing this and pushing this message during the rallies when they had all those millions of people out getting excited about the power of the people? Laura (30:25.646) That’s a very good question. I didn’t see this till last week, and I think we would have heard about it in the coverage of the No Kings protest. That’s not to say it’s not, but... Chris Quinn (30:33.992) That’s a shame though, because that’s a wasted opportunity. Look, people were very excited. We heard from so many people that participated in that they felt like they finally had some momentum and they wanted to convert it into something. If this would have been used to galvanize them, maybe this would work. But do you really see people not clicking on Amazon to get whatever the latest thing they need is? Laura (30:42.5) Mm-hmm. Laura (30:57.52) not when they’re like, 40 % off and free shipping. I’ve got to do, know, just because the economy is, you know, I’m worried and the politics are awful, doesn’t mean my grandson doesn’t want a you know, Paw Patrol thing for Christmas, right? So I think it’s going to be... Chris Quinn (31:15.796) Everybody should be aware. She does not have grandchildren. Just just beware. Laura (31:19.018) No, I do not have grandchildren. I don’t even know if Paw Patrol is still cool because we’ve moved on from that in my house. But I just think that while it is a great idea, it’s going to be hard to implement. And that’s what the experts say, that this is kind of amorphous and many boycotts fail to meet their goals, even if they generate media attention and raise awareness, which at least that would be something. But this is when people are trying to weigh how to buy things cheaply in this economy, I think it’s going to be tough to tell them to ignore the biggest sales of the season. Lisa Garvin (31:50.441) I think it’s going to be tough on the world. Chris Quinn (31:52.424) Yeah. All right. You’re listening to Today in Ohio. That’s it for the Election Day episode. Thanks, Lisa. Thanks, Courtney. Thanks, Laura. Thank you for being here. We’ll return Wednesday talking about the news.
