Gayle Putrich

Cleveland City Council on Monday unanimously approved legislation that will provide access to free legal help for low-income families facing eviction. The United Way of Greater Cleveland will lead the program, contracting with the Legal Aid Society of Cleveland to provide services, according to the city. “United Way is going to serve as the lead partner,” said Cleveland City Council President Kevin Kelley. “We can work through their infrastructure. They can do the training of attorneys, they can do the back office, they can do the billing.”

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster will not recuse himself from hearing the broad, national opioid litigation set to go to trial in Cleveland next month. Several drug companies involved in the suits – including Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen – filed a motion Sept. 14 objecting to the judge’s push for settlements and requesting he remove himself from the case.

Updated: 4:40 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 25 Two Cuyahoga County corrections officers were found not guilty on three out of five charges in the alleged beating of an inmate at the county jail. The jury was unable to reach a verdict on two of the charges against John Wilson: felonious assault and interfering with civil rights.

After nearly two weeks of review by the U.S. Attorney’s office, federal charges in the case of a Aug. 11 threat against Youngstown’s Jewish Community Center were unsealed Aug. 29. James P. Reardon, 20, of New Middletown, Ohio, was arrested Aug. 16 and charged with one federal count of transmitting threatening communications via interstate commerce. Federal law allows for several weeks of investigation, officials said at a press conference Thursday at the U.S. Attorney’s office in Cleveland, and the ongoing investigation could result in additional federal charges.