The Cleveland Teachers Union (CTU) voted to continue with remote learning on March 8, citing concerns over safety. The decision came Thursday night, after the 500-plus person membership convened virtually.

This week, Catholic leaders expressed moral concerns about the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine because it was produced in part using fetal cell lines from an abortion. They say Catholics should first opt for Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, which also used a fetal cell line in research, but not in production.

An autopsy of Arthur Keith, the 19-year-old man killed by a public housing police officer in Cleveland, revealed that Keith died of a gun shot wound to the back. The Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s office released the autopsy to the media Thursday, in response to a story in Cleveland.com.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose this week placed the Summit County Board of Elections under administrative supervision and blocked the reappointment of one board member, citing failures in the 2020 election and prior years. Those failures include errors in the removal of dead residents from the voter rolls. Over the last few months, the board has been investigating how it failed to catch – and then counted – a ballot cast in the name of one woman who died before the November election.

The first sign in Cleveland that the nomination of a new U.S. attorney by the Biden Administration would be the target of campaigning was at the end of a January protest about the killing of Tamir Rice.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish is proposing a new county electric utility to offer power to businesses in small-scale “microgrids” around the Cleveland area. The new utility would not have to offer electricity to all Cuyahoga County energy customers, Sustainability Director Mike Foley said. Instead, it could focus on providing reliable power in specific business districts.

Arts leaders from around the state have signed a letter to Ohio lawmakers arguing for expanded public funding of arts and culture. Fred Bidwell, chairman of the Cleveland-based Arts & Culture Action Committee, took that case to the House Finance Committee in Columbus on Thursday. Bidwell is acting as spokesperson for a coalition of over 80 arts and cultural organizations looking to increase the scope of arts funding through an existing cigarette tax in Cuyahoga County, according to a news release from Ohio Citizens for the Arts.

Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish is pushing back against a proposal from county council that would limit the county executive’s influence over the county sheriff. County council is considering changes to the ordinance that defines the obligations of the county sheriff, including removing language that says the Cuyahoga County sheriff employs and supervises department staff “with the approval of the county executive.”

John Carroll University faculty members are outraged after the school’s board of directors voted Monday to eliminate tenure protections. The board pointed to financial “hardships” as the rationale for removing the protections from the university’s faculty handbook. Described as a “scalpel” approach, individual John Carroll faculty members can be fired without cause when the administration projects an annual budget deficit of 6 percent along with two additional years of budgetary “hardship.” Those terminated will not be able to appeal their firing.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced Monday that pregnant women are eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine starting Thursday. Dr. Oluwatosin Goje, who works in obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN) at the Cleveland Clinic, says this is the best news she’s heard all week, along with the FDA's emergency use authorization of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. “Now we have three effective vaccines that can be administered, not just to the general population, but even to pregnant patients,” she said.