Cleveland

With about two and half months left for people to return census forms, Cleveland has the lowest response rate among the nation’s largest cities. Currently, just under 47 percent of city residents have completed their forms, putting Cleveland at 68th out of 68 cities with a population of 300,000 or more.

Cleveland’s former safety director failed to follow the consent decree when disciplining police officers, handing down light punishments without sufficient rationale, the monitor of the federal police reform agreement said in a Monday court filing.

Last month, Cleveland’s elected officials and nonprofit leaders took to the steps of City Hall to hail a declaration by city council that racism is a public health crisis.

Updated: 9:32 a.m., Wednesday, July 8, 2020 Cuyahoga County will hire a corrections expert to examine county jail conditions in what could be a step toward settling a lawsuit brought by inmates. County council on Tuesday approved the hiring of Martin Horn, a professor emeritus at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York City. Horn also served as commissioner of New York City’s jail system and probation department under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

University Settlement, a nonprofit community center, sits on a busy section of Broadway Avenue in Slavic Village: four lanes of cars, trucks, motorcycles, city buses. It's the kind of place where, if you want to make a visual statement, people will see it.

Updated: 5:46 p.m., Monday, July 6, 2020 Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson issued an order Friday afternoon requiring face covering anywhere in public in Cleveland. Jackson's order also set a maximum occupancy of 50 percent at all bars and restaurants. The city will shut down any bar with two violations of the maximum occupancy order.

Cleveland has seen a spike in new coronavirus cases in June, public health officials told city council on Monday. For 103 new patients, initial symptoms trace back to the third week of June, according to a city health department presentation. That was a jump over the prior two weeks, but below symptom onset numbers for earlier in May. The city reported 75 new cases on Sunday, the biggest daily increase in Cleveland's case count to date. Health Director Merle Gordon said those numbers were not reflected in her presentation to city council.

As restaurants, museums and movie theaters reopen, the majority of U.S. adults do not yet feel comfortable patronizing them, according to a new national survey.

Eighteen Northeast Ohio church congregations are joining forces to offer free, on-site COVID-19 testing. In addition to getting more people tested, the effort also aims to address racial disparities in coronavirus response. Greater Cleveland Congregations is launching the Color of Health Initiative, with an emphasis on the African American community and other higher-risk groups. The initiative is a partnership with the Cuyahoga County Board of Health and MetroHealth.

Cleveland, Cuyahoga County and business groups are pooling resources to help Downtown shops vandalized in the wake of demonstrations last month. The money will help businesses make up for losses insurance doesn’t cover. Applications are due by the end of business on Tuesday, according to the online form. As of Monday morning, 38 businesses had applied, Downtown Cleveland Alliance CEO Joe Marinucci told Cuyahoga County’s Board of Control.