© 2024 Ideastream Public Media

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio 44115
(216) 916-6100 | (877) 399-3307

WKSU is a public media service licensed to Kent State University and operated by Ideastream Public Media.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
News
To contact us with news tips, story ideas or other related information, e-mail newsstaff@ideastream.org.

The iOpener: Jordan Blasts Cohen; Cleveland Clinic Sees Rise in Violent Incidents; Kitchens on Hunt

Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, during the hearing with President Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen. [Screenshot / Congressional Pool Feed]
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, during the hearing with President Trump's former lawyer, Michael Cohen.

Good morning on this final day of a short month.  It's Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. 

Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan received kudos from Donald Trump’s former campaign manager for his tough questioning of Trump’s former attorney Michael CohenCorey Lewandowski praised the Republican congressman from Urbana during an appearance at the Lucas County GOP’s Lincoln Day dinner .  Jordan, the ranking Republican on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, called Cohen a liar and a cheat and cast Wednesday’s extraordinary, seven-hour-long hearing as an attempt by Democrats to remove Trump from office.

The Cleveland Clinic’s CEO, Dr. Tom Mihaljevic, said violent incidents have increased at the Clinic in the past three years, with 30,000 weapons confiscated last year at its facilities in Northeast Ohio.  In his State of the Clinic address, Mihaljevic described an “epidemic” of violence at hospitals across the U.S.  He also reported a 19 percent drop in the Clinic’s operating income in 2018.  He said it was due to the widening gap between rising costs and declining insurance reimbursement rates.

Starbucks founder Howard Schultz criticized the two-party system and urged a centrist approach during an event last night at the Parma Library.  Schultz, who's weighing a 2020 presidential bid as an independent, was at the library to promote his new book, "From The Ground Up".  He told a sold-out audience of mostly young people that the fear and hatred seen in the media is not the "real America."  Democrats worry he could help President Trump win re-election by splitting the anti-Trump vote, but Schultz told the audience life-long Republicans are not going to choose a far-left Democrat like him.

A farming concern is asking a federal judge to throw out Toledo’s newly passed Lake Erie Bill of Rights. Drewes Farms Partnership cites in its complaint the city charter amendment is unconstitutional and unlawful.  It could be the first of multiple lawsuits against the measure.

The Summit County Medical Examiner’s office says an 87-year-old man from Summit County died in the wrong-way collision early Wednesday that shut down a portion of Interstate 77 southbound for hours.  Law enforcement officials say the man used an exit ramp to enter the highway and was driving the wrong direction when he collided head-on with a semi-truck in Green.  

Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens says his goal is to support the recently-acquired wide receiver Kareem Hunt in getting his off-the-field life together and becoming a better person.  Kitchens, who’s in Indianapolis for the NFL scouting combine, told reporters “We’ll worry about the football stuff later.”  Hunt faces a baseline six-game suspension for violent incidents that include shoving and kicking a woman in a Cleveland hotel in 2018.

Weather Forecast: Partly sunny, but nippy.  High 28.  Tonight, a slight chance of snow after 9:00 p.m.  Low 20. 

.

Expertise: Hosting live radio, writing and producing newscasts, Downtown Cleveland, reporting on abortion, fibersheds, New York City subway system, coffee