Cleveland

Cuyahoga County may make it easier for employees to report whistleblower complaints within county government. County council gave a first reading to revised reporting safeguards Monday evening. Councilman Dale Miller, a Democrat who introduced the measure, said it grew out of talks with county Inspector General Mark Griffin. The changes are intended to give potential whistleblowers more comfort in coming forward with complaints, Miller said.

Zoning practices around Cuyahoga County are contributing to housing inequality and racial segregation, according to a study by the nonprofit advocacy group Fair Housing Center for Rights and Research. The analysis of zoning ordinances in all but one of the county’s municipalities and townships found cities with a larger white population and higher average income often had more single-family homes.

The number of people housed in the Cuyahoga County Jail continues to go down as improvements to the bail system across the county are implemented, according to members of the Criminal Justice Council. But advocates for bail reform and improved jail conditions say there’s still work to be done.

Northeast Ohio communities hope no one goes uncounted in the 2020 Census. Complete count committees, local groups made up of area government and community leaders, will spend the next few months promoting the decennial count.

Updated: 1:37 p.m., Friday Dec. 27, 2019. Advocates for the homeless are calling a cease use order from the City of Cleveland a violation of the First Amendment. The notice was issued to Denison United Church of Christ, which is housing the homeless during the winter. The three-page notice details multiple fire code violations: insufficient fire extinguishers or emergency lighting, obstructed exits, and improperly stored flammable liquids. The church also does not have a fire alarm or sprinkler system.

Cuyahoga County Council officially passed a grace period for the ban on plastic bags at a special meeting Thursday morning. Only violations that occur on or after July 1 will be subject to penalty, which is a $100 fine after a warning and a $500 fine for a second infraction.

Experts say local governments and entrepreneurs still have to answer many questions about proposed Hyperloops that promise to whiz passengers hundreds of miles in a matter of minutes though vacuum tubes. The foremost of those questions: Will Hyperloop actually work? “There’s a big difference between theory and reality,” said Harvey Miller, the director of the Center for Urban and Regional Analysis at Ohio State University. “Even if it works on a test track in Nevada, will it scale to inter-city distances?”

The tree canopy in Cuyahoga County shrank by more than 6% in six years, according to a new report.The Cuyahoga County Urban Tree Canopy Assessment Update…

It’s common this time of year for musicians to perform Christmas carols, often visiting people who could use some holiday cheer. A pair of instrumentalists did just that on a recent afternoon at Joseph's Home, which provides housing and medical care for men in downtown Cleveland. But the visit was about more than familiar tunes. In the lower level of Joseph’s Home, a cellist and violinist set up music stands in front of a coat rack and a handful of men gathered in a small, multipurpose room taking seats nearby.

For a long time in Cleveland, more families have wanted to move into public housing than out. The waiting list to get an apartment through the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA) stood at 19,000 people as of 2018. But people do move out of public housing all the time. After 14 years in public housing, Kisha Nixon is one of them.