A Cuyahoga County grand jury has declined to indict an off-duty Cleveland police officer in the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Desmond Franklin. The shooting took place the afternoon of April 9, 2020, on Cleveland’s West Side, as Officer Jose Garcia was in plain clothes in his car on his way to work. In a Friday evening press conference, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said his office acted as special prosecutor and treated Garcia as a citizen in a self-defense case, rather than a police officer acting in an official capacity.

"Judas and The Black Messiah," shot in Northeast Ohio in 2019, hits theaters and HBO Max today. The city of Cleveland stands in for Chicago in this biopic about the late Black Panther Party leader Fred Hampton.

A forum on use of force policies enacted under the consent decree between the city of Cleveland and the U.S. Department of Justice Wednesday quickly turned into a discussion about the relationship between Black residents and the police. Cleveland Chief of Police Calvin Williams said the department is changing, evidenced by a reduction in annual use of force incidents, from more than 350 before the consent decree was signed to a little more than 200 since. He also cited increased accountability for officers' actions.

Ohio students may have lost one-third to a half a school year of learning during the pandemic, and the learning loss needs to be made up – somehow, experts say. Some children have been more deeply impacted than others, said Chad Aldis, Thomas B. Fordham Institute vice president for Ohio Policy and Advocacy. “It’s never good for anyone to be impacted, but it appears that the students that were already most behind, might have lost even more ground,” Aldis said.

Since the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building, extreme groups and militias across the United States – and how to respond to them – are getting increased attention.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced 16 potential candidates for induction this year. Now, a voting committee will trim the roster to about a half dozen inductees to be announced in May. Planners are looking to stage a live induction ceremony in Cleveland in late October or early November.

Anthony Sowell, who was convicted in 2011 of killing 11 women in Cleveland, died Monday in an Ohio prison medical facility. A prison spokeswoman said the 61-year-old was admitted Jan. 21 with a terminal illness after spending close to 10 years on death row. She provided no details on his illness, other than that it was not COVID-19 related.

Dementia patients are twice as likely to contract COVID-19 and are at a significantly higher risk for severe outcomes and death, according to a new Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) study released Tuesday.

Demolition began Monday at Irishtown Bend, the Cuyahoga River overlook in Ohio City targeted for stabilization to protect the river’s shipping channel and create a new park. Two now-vacant Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) properties along West 25th Street are the first slated for demolition, the former administration building and a housing complex known as “Big 8.”

As vaccinations for school staff start this week, Cleveland’s public schools are planning for the subsequent resumption of in-person learning. Cleveland Metropolitan School District (CMSD) CEO Eric Gordon told city council Monday he’s planning to restart spring sports later this month and estimates a return to a hybrid model of in-person and remote learning on or about April 5, the week after spring break.