More Bad News for Cleveland Ticket Holders: Ticketmaster Changes Refund Policy for Events Affected by Coronavirus
Event ticket holders can’t seem to catch a break. In a four week period, more than 17 million Americans have been forced to file for unemployment due to the economic shutdown caused in response to the coronavirus pandemic, including a major blow to the billion-dollar concert and live event industry. All concerts, sporting events, and…
Ohio Sues Chagrin Falls Man for Hoarding, Price Gouging on Thousands of N95 Masks
Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced the state of Ohio has filed a lawsuit against a Chagrin Falls man for hoarding thousands of N95 masks and selling them at an exorbitant markup during the pandemic crisis. Mario Salwan and unnamed co-conspirators operated an eBay store under the account name of “Donkey476” where they were…
‘We’re Not Afraid of Any Virus’: Crowds Gathered Outside of Ohio Statehouse Protesting Coronavirus Shutdowns
Crowds gathered outside of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus during Gov. Mike DeWine’s daily COVID-19 press briefing on the afternoon of April 13 to protest statewide shutdowns. This isn’t the first protest regarding the pandemic-related business closures and stay at home order: About 75 protestors gathered on Thursday, April 9 according to an article by…
Cleveland Artist Derek Hess Creates ‘Medi-Teddy’ to Help With PPE Shortage
 Cleveland-based artist Derek Hess is producing art to benefit a nonprofit called Direct Relief that helps provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to organizations in need. Created in his signature line-drawing style, the “Medi-Teddy” piece — a teddy bear wearing a protective mask, and bearing his iconic angel wings, along with the text, “We Heart…
Clevelanders Have Pledged $23,000 in Stimulus Checks to Local Causes
Clevelanders have pledged $23,000 of their forthcoming stimulus checks to area nonprofits and other causes, says Rebecca Maurer, a local attorney who launched a website to build momentum for giving back during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It may not feel like one person’s donation will make much of a difference,” the site reads, “but let’s see…
Tornadoes, Draft Rooms and Easter Surprises — The A to Z Podcast With Andre Knott and Zac Jackson
Andre and Zac are back on Day 1,744 of quarantine. They talk a little baseball in addition to some weather talk, the complications of a digital NFL Draft and more. Subscribe to A to Z here or stream below.
Tokyo Dreams On Hold for Ohio Olympic Hopefuls
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Darke County native Clayton Murphy, a bronze medalist in the 2016 Summer Olympics, was starting to prepare for this summer’s games when he woke up to a few text messages confirming the rumblings he was hearing: The 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics had officially been postponed. Now Murphy and several other Ohio-born Olympic…
Cleveland Records Two More COVID-19 Deaths
Two more City of Cleveland residents have died from COVID-19, the city reported Monday night in its regular media update. The patients were a male in his 50s and a female in her 60s. The death toll within the city is now at five. The good news is that only four new confirmed cases of the…
Jesus Christ, Cleveland.com is Now Asking for $10/Month “Voluntary Subscriptions”
In a sad-sack letter to readers Monday morning, cleveland.com editor Chris Quinn has asked for “voluntary subscriptions” of $10 per month to sustain the news site during this, the coronavirus pandemic. He acknowledged that it was effectively a request for donations. “This is not a paywall,” he wrote. “Our coronavirus news and all of our other…
The NEO Music Relief Fund is Collecting Donations for Musicians and Venue Workers In Need Due to Coronavirus Closures
Workers at Cleveland’s concert clubs and the musicians who play those stages were among the first hit in the wave of coronavirus closures that have continued since Gov. Mike DeWine’s first pandemic orders arrived in early March. To help alleviate at least some of the financial blowback, a group recently created the NEO Music Relief…
An Interview with ‘McMillions’ Co-Director Brian Lazarte
Fast food ephemera, big money and the Mob, all wrapped up in an easily binge-able package: HBO’s McMillion$ captures Americana at its seediest in the form of a quirky six-episode true crime docuseries. Centering around McDonald’s recurring Monopoly promotion — the one in which customers can trade game pieces peeled from Big Mac boxes for…
1 Million Ounces of Hand Sanitizer Made at Ohio Distilleries Being Delivered to State Food Banks by JobsOhio
Distilleries across the state of Ohio have pivoted their standard spirit productions to focus on making high-proof hand sanitizer to help in the fight against COVID-19. (The CDC recommends hand sanitizers have at least 60 percent ethanol or 70 percent isopropanol.) JobsOhio has partnered with distilleries across the state to purchase large amounts of their…
Coalition Working with Ohio Cities and Towns to Identify Opportunities to Reduce Pollution
COLUMBUS, Ohio — A new coalition is inviting communities to join an effort to create what it calls a healthier and more prosperous Ohio for generations to come. Power a Clean Future Ohio is comprised of environmental, clean energy and other organizations that are working with cities and towns to help identify opportunities to reduce…
Cleveland.com Editor Chris Quinn Melts Down in “Delirious” Defense of Cleveland’s “Thriving” Journalism Industry
It makes sense that it was a legendary muckraking journalist, Upton Sinclair, who coined the truism about how hard it is “to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.” And it’s not so surprising after Advance Media’s brutal round of union-busting layoffs at the Plain Dealer last…
Michigan Health System Launching ‘Nation’s Largest Serological Testing Study for COVID-19 Antibodies’
The coronavirus pandemic has raised a lot of pressing and unanswered questions: How far has the virus spread? Do infected people become immune to COVID-19? When will life return to normal? Those are among the questions that the Beaumont Health Research Institute in Royal Oak hopes to answer after launching what it has dubbed the…
If Your Name is Brad and You Visited the Cleveland Sign at Edgewater on March 13, Someone is Looking for You
Is your name Brad? Did you visit the Cleveland script sign at Edgewater on March 13th? Did you help a someone out with something? Do you possibly drive a Ford Fusion? If the answer to those questions are yes, then that someone, who posted this bat signal on Reddit including a picture of themselves at…
Here’s What the New Browns’ Uniforms Likely Look Like
Your Cleveland Browns will unveil new uniforms this Wednesday to replace the duds unveiled just five years ago, which then became the subject of instant criticism and derision. The team has teased a return to a more classic look and, based on what Paul Lukas of Uni Watch has reported this morning, with renderings based…
Despite Coronavirus, People Are Still Booking a Record Amount of Cruises
Even though multiple cruise ships from all over the world have witnessed coronavirus nightmares, with some even being turned away from docks while passengers beg for medical assistance, people are still booking cruises for next year. In fact, the Los Angeles Times reports that more people have been booking cruises for 2021 than previous years.…
Someone Stole the 600-Pound Chick-fil-A Statue From the North Olmsted Location
While in no way, shape or form supporting or condoning the actions of the perpetrators, let us, for one second on this dreary, rainy quarantine Sunday, acknowledge that making off with a 600-pound statue is an impressive heist. The logistics involved, by themselves, are startling. The gall is startling. Anyway. North Olmsted police are ostensibly…
Electronic Music Duo Adult. is Making the Most Out of Pandemic-Induced Isolation
Nicola Kuperus and Adam Miller of Adult. are workaholics. Musicians. Film and video makers. Installation artists. Music production. Nicola’s eerie photography, which adorns their record covers. So when the coronavirus pandemic and the stay-at-home order disrupted a video shoot for “Total Total Damage” last month that was to incorporate six dancers, they of course got…
Media Watchdog Names Sean Hannity as a Chief Source of Coronavirus Misinformation
Fox News commentator — and top Trump Administration propagandist — Sean Hannity has made a career of twisting facts and peddling conspiracy theories. Now, a new report from the nonprofit watchdog group Media Matters for America labels Hannity one of the chief sources of dangerous misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic. The analysis documents some 50…
Christ Hospital in Cincinnati Receives FDA Approval to Treat Sickest COVID-19 Patients with ‘Convalescent Plasma’
On Thursday, it was announced that The Christ Hospital Lindner Research Center received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to start treating high-risk and very ill COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma, or the plasma from patients who have recovered from the coronavirus. “Hospitals in Cincinnati, Columbus and Cleveland have all expressed interest in…
After Being Given “Opportunity” to Cover Cleveland’s Outlying Counties, 10 of Remaining 14 Plain Dealer Reporters Have Walked Instead
Fourteen Plain Dealer journalists were left after last Friday’s massive layoffs that saw 22 staffers depart. Those who remained were subjected, on the very next business day, to the cruelest and perhaps final installment of local union-busting by Advance Publications and the Newhouse family. They were told, with just four exceptions, that they could keep…
The Latest out of Elkton Federal Prison, Where Horror Show Continues Apace
Though the Federal Bureau of Prisons is reporting that only 10 inmates and nine staff members have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Elkton Federal Correctional Institution in Lisbon, Ohio, reports from inside the facility tell a much scarier story. Joseph Mayle, president of the Union which represents many of the Elkton guards, told a…
14 Cuyahoga County Jail Inmates, 4 Staff Members Now Positive for Coronavirus
Fourteen Cuyahoga County jail inmates have now tested positive for coronavirus, the county announced today. Four staff members who worked with at least some of those inmates have also tested positive. While the first few cases involved inmates who came from a single pod or housing unit, it’s unclear what housing areas are now involved,…
Cleveland International Film Festival Will Launch Streaming Version of Fest April 15th Through 28th
Although the Cleveland International Film Festival (CIFF) was canceled this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization, like others, is finding a way to adapt to our new reality. Last month, CIFF announced plans for CIFF Streams, which would bring some of the festival’s planned screenings into homes across the city and this week…
Yeah, Those Weren’t UFOs Over Cleveland Last Weekend, But It’d Be Cool If They Were
When a Reddit post takes you to the Drudge Report and Drudge takes you to Sputnik News, you know you’re on solid ground. Which is how we found firm footing and took in the view of a recent Cleveland night sky with a gentleman who proclaimed, “What the fuck is that though? Ain’t nobody seeing…
Food and Health Experts Answer Your Pressing Grocery-Related Coronavirus Questions
If you’re anything like us, your first attempt to get groceries delivered without touching, well, anything was a comedy of errors: Disinfect the screen door handle that the delivery guy touched! Pick up the bags with a Lysol wipe! Do we need to wipe off all the packages? Do we need to spray the veggies…
This Week’s Updated Map of Cuyahoga County COVID-19 Cases by Zip Code
With the usual cautions issued that very few people have been tested overall and that it’s impossible in most cases to tell where someone was infected, the Cuyahoga County Board of Health again released a map of COVID-19 infections (746, excluding the city of Cleveland, which had 259 cases of its own) by zip code.…
The Behind-the-Scenes Details of Ohio’s Ping-Pong Ball Social Distancing PSA Are Almost as Good as the Spot Itself
If you haven’t already seen the state of Ohio’s social distancing PSA featuring ping pong balls, which has now been viewed tens of millions of times on various social channels in the past day, watch it. Social distancing works. We are all #InThisTogetherOhio. https://t.co/jU4ZAkm3Py pic.twitter.com/uKJtfi4cuP — Ohio Dept of Health (@OHdeptofhealth) April 9, 2020 The…
700,000 Ohioans Have Filed for Unemployment in the Last Three Weeks
Once again, the nation has seen a staggering amount of people file for unemployment benefits for the week ending April 4. For the second week in a row, more than 6.6 million Americans have filed initial unemployment claims according to numbers released by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). That national number is down from…
The Cleveland Indians Become the Cleveland Colonizers on Brockmire
Season 4 of Brockmire — a delightful, vulgar and incisively funny IFC show about a bombed-out, substance-addled baseball announcer, played by Hank Azaria, who attempts to claw his way, personally and professionally, out of the gutter — jumps ahead a decade to the 2030s where the show, which was written and filmed before the rise…
NPR Extends Deadline for Tiny Desk Contest to April 27
As the memory of live concerts in a gritty venue becomes sadly more distant and livestream concerts grow in popularity – and provide some really nice nightly diversions; I’ve been enjoying the action-packed Quarantine Concerts in particular for the last week or so – suddenly NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series seems less delightfully quirky and…
Study: Upset Stomach First Sign of Illness for Some COVID-19 Patients
Some patients with the coronavirus experience upset stomachs, and diarrhea, as the first signs of illness, according to a new study conducted in China — though most typically experience cough, fever, and shortness of breath. This group of patients had mild cases of the virus overall with respiratory problems showing up later, according to Dr.…
Cuyahoga County Employees Facing 80-Hour Furloughs
In a memo to county employees yesterday, county executive Armond Budish announced that full-time non-union workers will have to take 80 hours of furlough, spread out over multiple pay periods, as the county anticipates a severe drop in revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic. “Due to the COVID-19 crisis, we are experiencing an unprecedented drop…
Ohio Death Row Inmate Tyrone Noling’s Wrongful Conviction Contention Will Be Featured on HLN
Tyrone Noling has steadfastly maintained his innocence since being convicted of the 1990 murders of Bearnhardt and Cora Hartig. The state’s case was problematic from the start — no physical evidence tied Noling to the crime scene — and has only become spottier. He was largely convicted, in a 1993 trial, based on the testimony…
Stop Throwing Your Used Protective Gloves on the Ground, You Selfish Doofuses
We get it, Ohio You’re scared of the coronavirus. If and when you have to hit the grocery store or pharmacy, we imagine you suit up in your protective masks and gloves (though we were reminded this week that gloves don’t really do shit unless you’re constantly sanitizing). After you stock up on, you know,…
Ohio Restaurants and Bars Now Permitted to Sell Carry-Out Alcoholic Beverages
You will now be able to order an alcoholic beverage (or two) to wash down your takeout or delivery meal in Ohio, according to Gov. Mike DeWine’s daily COVID-19 press briefing. The governor announced on April 7 that an emergency rule was passed by the Ohio Liquor Control Commission which will allow businesses with on-premise…
Look Up at the ‘Super Pink Moon’ Tonight, Cleveland
Despite everything going on at the moment, nature plans to make the world a little brighter this evening. The biggest and brightest supermoon of the year will happen tonight, says NASA. The “Super Pink Moon,” which occurs when there’s a full moon and the Earth is closer to the moon than usual, should be at…
Savage Love: “I Inadvertently Discovered That I’m Turned On By Big Bellies”
Your last two columns and your last two podcasts were all about the pandemic. Everything everywhere is all about the pandemic right now. Can you give it a rest? For maybe a week? Could you answer some questions that aren’t about the pandemic? Any fun kink questions come in this week? I could use a…
Stay Home, Stay Active During ‘Move More Month’
COLUMBUS, Ohio — While Ohioans are asked to stay home these days, health experts say that doesn’t mean staying put. April is Move More Month, which encourages people to create a daily walking routine that can put them on the road to good health. Dr. Michael Bess, vice president for health-care strategies at UnitedHealthcare in…
