Sabra Pierce Scott, Former Cleveland Councilwoman, Charged in Cuyahoga County Corruption Probe (Updated)
Update: The PD reports Sabra Pierce Scott pleaded guilty today, admitting she accepted a $2,000 bribe and asked a developer whose description matches Michael Forlani for a job for her son. In exchange she took his VA project under her wing and did everything in her power on council to help get the project completed.…
Taiwanese Animation of the Exotic Animal Hunt
That didn’t take long. Here’s the Taiwanese animation of the Zanesville exotic animal escape and subsequent hunt by the cops, complete with what appear to be machine guns.
19 Action News Guy is One of Cosmo’s Bachelor of the Year Finalists (Updated)
Update: Ladies and gentleman of Cleveland, you may not be a beauty but there is one in our midst. For the second year in a row Cosmo’s Bachelor of the Year is a Clevelander — Chris Van Vliet, the entertainment correspondent for 19 Action News and proud owner of 37-pack abs took home first prize…
Occupy Cleveland Braces for Move, Possible Eviction
Come on down, and bring the hand sanitizer. Occupy Cleveland, the homespun spin-off of Occupy Wall Street that began here on October 6, will wrap up its second full week by pulling up stakes and squatting elsewhere. Its ramshackle row of tents has outgrown the sidewalk across from the northwest quadrant of Public Square, so…
Bill to Drug Test Lawmakers Gains GOP Support
Last month state Representative Bob Hagan whipped out plans to require legislators and other statewide elected officials to submit to drug and alcohol testing. The move came in response to a plan from Republican state Senator Tim Grendell of Geauga County to force drug testing of anybody receiving government assistance. Grendell left the legislature last…
Anonymous Letter, Pinocchio Drawing Highlight Highland Heights Mayor Race
As the campaign-season mud-slinging heads into the playoffs, we turn our eyes to contentious Highland Heights, an East Side sliver crammed between Richmond Heights and Mayfield. That’s where a mayoral face-off between two-term incumbent Scott Coleman and council president Scott Mills has taken a Disneyesque turn. It seems an anonymous letter made the rounds among…
James and Gabrielle Bracken Had an Insane September (Updated)
Love birds against society. Update: You probably want to familiarize yourselves with the details on this one, but basically James and Gabrielle Bracken steered their wild crazytrain all over Northeast Ohio last year, leaving strewn in their wake a series of odd situations including stolen hospital equipment, a bomb scare, and finally, capping the show,…
If You Have a Warrant, Don’t Ask the Police For Directions
Police blotter fun from Patch and Bedford: A Bedford man thought it would be efficient to ask a Twinsburg police officer for directions to the closest Wal-Mart while the officer was at another traffic stop. The quick-thinking officer ran the man’s license plates for good measure and found a warrant out for him from the…
31 43 of 48 51 Escaped Exotic Animals Have Been Shot In Central Ohio (Updated)
Update II: Authorities now say as many as 51 animals were loose and 43-44 of them have been recovered. *** Update: The Sheriff this morning says they believe Thompson opened the gates to free the animals and then shot himself. (NewsNet5) *** The latest updates from Zanesville streaming in this morning have 31 of the…
The Quality of Cleveland Life Report
Your guide to living in fabulous Cleveland. Growing Old Fast: The National Senior Games (Cleveland 2013!) asks city for $1 million contribution. Mayor Jackson points out that’s only $950,000 with our Golden Buckeye Card, plus a free appetizer. Pass the Hat:: City council considering law to exempt small concert clubs from paying Cleveland’s 8 percent…
Afternoon Brew: Ohio’s War on the Middle Class, Mugshot Gold, RTA Gets Millions, Kasich Traffic Stop, and Family Burglary Ring
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you feather your mullet in case someone takes your picture tonight. — 19 Action News has a fun gallery of some of Cleveland’s most dapper and striking mugshots. (WOIO) — An Akron family has been arrested after allegedly keeping burglary in the family. What ever happened…
Get Ready For Christmas Ale Ice Cream
Christmas Ale’s arrival means a couple of things: angels singing, Advil pounding, and more than one regrettable night fueled by GLBC’s version of crack. This year, however, there will be a bonus for Christmas Ale disciples: Mitchell’s Ice Cream and Great Lakes have teamed up for… wait for it… Christmas Ale Ginger Snap ice cream.…
Playing Chicken With Ohio’s Congressional Districts
A few weeks ago, after going through the motions of taking public input at statewide hearings and soliciting maps from citizens online at DrawtheLineOhio.com, Republicans in the state legislature tossed out a map they’d clearly developed in a backroom devoid of outside input. The new map split many urban counties into four and five pieces,…
SASA’s Scott Kim to Unveil CLE’s First Robata Grill
“This idea has been cooking for awhile,” says Scott Kim, chef and owner of Sasa (13120 Shaker Sq., 216-767-1111). He’s talking about Accent, his new Pan-Asian restaurant that will open this spring in University Circle. Part of the new Uptown project at Euclid and Mayfield, Accent will feature Cleveland’s first robata grill. Unlike Sasa, Kim’s…
Kaptur Leading Kucinich in Fund Raising; Accused Syrian Spy Admits Kucinich Fact-Finding Story Was BS
Update: The AP reports that when the accused Syrian spy said he was on a fact-finding mission organized by Dennis! Kucinich he simply misspoke. Prosecutors say he wasn’t on the trip at all. *** When the Ohio GOP unleashed the new district map for the Buckeye State, Dennis! Kucinich had a renewed hope of winning…
Sheffield Trustee Cited for Disorderly Conduct (Updated)
Update II: David Newsome pleaded no contest to the disorderly conduct charged and paid a fine of $100. With all the recent trouble with the Newsomes (detailed below), the other trustees in Sheffield Township were asked about reprimanding Newsome and had this to say at a meeting, according to the Chronicle Telegram. “It is not…
Man Shoots Up in WalMart Bathroom, Passes Out
“I think it was heroin.” If you ever have to utter that sentence to cops after they find you passed out in a WalMart bathroom in Elyria with a syringe, you may want to reconsider where your life is going. First of all, you think it was heroin? You’re not sure what you bought? Second,…
Pic of the Day: Elephants Walk Through Downtown
Here is a snap of the elephants from circus marching through downtown Cleveland this morning in their trek to the Q. Nifty sight, even as the controversy meter has ticked up after PETA’s media blitz on Ringling Bros., and Barnum & Bailey’s treatment of the animals and the group’s (Pic via Twitter)
Reefer Wars May Be Over (Updated)
This probably exceeds the quantities for personal use. Updated Update:At least one effort to legalize medical pot in Ohio is moving forward. On Friday, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine approved ballot language and validated 1,000 initial signatures for the “Alternative Treatment Amendment.” If the group finds enough money to canvass the state for an additional…
PETA Offers Cash for Evidence of Elephant Abuse at Circus
PETA are not big fans of the circus. Caged animals forced to do tricks, the scary clowns, all those kids, etc, etc — you see where they’re coming from, right? Actually, it’s the former that really gets the international group steamed, and as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus marches its three rings…
Drunk Guy Fires Gun in Bar Parking Lot, Doesn’t Have Gun Permit
Here we go again. Because we love to keep stoking those fires. Last week we brought you a piece of news on gun violence in a local bar that cranked up the debate on the controversial guns in bars law that has changed the face of Ohio’s nightlife. To recap: A Cincinnati man was arrested…
K2, Bath Salts Banned in Ohio As of Today
You’re going to have to go organic again. Well, there, you missed your chance, that is if you’re one of the adventurous many who think, “Naw, I don’t want to do real drugs, I’d rather puff/snort some test-tube concocted knock-off.” Today, Ohio’s ban on synthetic marijuana — known as K2 — and bath salts goes…
Gas Prices Continue to Climb in Northeast Ohio
Starting to hurt . . . Nothing makes the Monday morning crawl to work more of a pain than when you climb into the car and see that the weekend travels drained the gas tank, meaning you have to fill up before the commute. This happened to us this morning when we were filling up…
Afternoon Brew: Ohio Beard Festival, Another Bridge Closed, Cleveland a Top City for Working Moms, and Trick or Treat Times
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you put down the razor. — ForbesWoman says Cleveland is a top-ten city for working moms, obviously that’s due to the high number of men unemployed and able to take care of the kids all day. We think. (Crain’s) — Hey, look, another bridge closed indefinitely.…
Great Grandma Speaks About Issue 2 Ad Controversy
Of all the options out there, we’ll show you the 19 Action News clip of Marlene Quinn, the great grandmother whose comments about Issue 2 were taken out of context and used by Build a Better Ohio for an ad that’s produced plenty of controversy and which has been yanked from just about every station…
Guns and Bars Law Tested by First Drunken Idiot Waving Gun in Bar
Although Ohio’s controversial guns in bars law — the piece of legislation that allows conceal-carry permit owners to wear their firearms in establishments that serve alcohol — has only been on the books for a couple weeks, already an Ohioan has been arrested for waving his piece around at the local watering hole while intoxicated.…
Mayor David Bentkowski Reacts Childishly to Seven Hills Newsletter Critical of City Hall
Seven Hills Mayor David Bentkowski — The Bizarre Boy Mayor, as we like to call him — announced earlier this week that he’s resigning from the ‘burb’s top post and taking a job as “labor relations officer 3” with the Ohio Lottery Commission. We think that’s something akin to “frightened inmate number two,” but we’re…
Teen Drops Off Refill at Pharmacy, Forgets to Take His Pot Out of the Bottle
Recreational tokers and “Bored to Death” fans alike know that an empty prescription bottle is a decent place to stash your weed. That’s all well and good — tight seal, easily portable, keeps the smell to a minimum, pretty innocuous should anyone see it from a different — but please, please, please, if that’s your…
Pic of the Day: Stolen Van Crashes Into Electrical Tower
Well, this is what it looks like when a stolen Time Warner van piloted by a couple of joy-riders crashes into a 69,000-volt electrical tower. The accident knocked out power for 18,000 residents in Lorain. Power was restored to most residents by breakfast time, according to the Morning Journal.
Pro-Issue 2 Fliers Put Out By Beltway-Based Conservative Group
Who’s paying for those signs there? In our last dispatch from the front lines of the grudge match over Issue 2, we made a slight joke about how pro-Senate Bill 5 supporters probably have piles of RNC cash flooding in from out of state to fund their cause. As it turns out, there’s some truth…
Dante Boccuzzi to Open D.C. Pasta Co. in Strongsville
“I wanted to make sure Ginko was open and running smoothly before going forward with this,” explains Dante Boccuzzi. “It is, and everybody seems to love it.” The news, says Boccuzzi, is that he and business partner Carmela DelBusso will open D. C. Pasta Company — as in Dante and Carmela — in the Strongsville…
Cleveland Beer History for Cleveland Beer Week
Cleveland Beer Week launches today. Cheers, folks. And while we’ll down a pint or eleventyforty and celebrate the Forest City’s current ample and diverse brew offerings — this really is a prime time to be a beer lover in this town — Cleveland has a fascinating and lengthy zymurgy history well worth your attention. Dozens…
Video: Channel 5 Traffic Reporter Loves ‘Adult Gifts’
Today is Channel 5 traffic reporter Patty Harken’s birthday. As the morning crew kicked it to her during this morning’s broadcast of “Good Morning Cleveland,” she thanked them for all the gifts they left on her desk. Which is when we got a typical local TV news morning show gem. “Thanks to all my great…
Don’t Call It a Remake
Set just before the events of the 1982 classic with the same title, The Thing prequel tells the story of the Norwegian research base that initially stumbled on the frozen alien remains. It seems like the discovery of the century until they realize the damn thing is still alive. Even worse, it’s hostile and can…
Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes
Leaving aside the question of whether there was a burning need to remake the 27-year-old dance hit Footloose, this slavishly faithful reboot is pretty solid tweener and nostalgist bait. Newcomer Kenny Wormald acquits himself nicely in the old Kevin Bacon role of big city rebel-without-a-clue Ren MacCormack (it helps that Wormald actually looks like a…
For the Birds
“Only Americans can turn birding into a competition,” remarks a British birdwatcher in the uncommonly gentle comedy The Big Year, about the compulsive quest of three men to win the North American Big Year, a contest to spot the most bird species in one year. Brad (Jack Black), a software engineer who can recognize any…
Afternoon Brew: The Adult District, Turnpike Tolls Going Up, Deer Accidents, Dante in Strongsville, and Occupy Canton
Good afternoon, Cleveland. Here’s some stuff to read while you explain you weren’t hanging out in Cleveland adult district because there really isn’t one. — By design, Cleveland’s adult district has failed, which is too bad — we’d could really use some company at the strip club during lunch. (Cleveland.com) — Three counties in Northeast…
City Officials Weigh in on Occupy Movement; Cleveland Amenable, Other Ohio Cities Not So Much
As Occupy Cleveland settles in on Public Square to voice their displeasure, make arts and crafts, and commune with Cleveland’s public-transit users, the city has been largely amenable to their presence. Permits were granted for protesters to erect tents, cops have stayed out of their way, etc. That hasn’t been the case everywhere — some…
Rock Hall Announces American Music Masters Lineup
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 16th annual American Music Masters series starts on October 31 and runs through November 5. This year, it’s paying tribute to Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin with a week’s worth of events, including workshops, performances, and Q&A sessions. You can find the whole schedule here. The whole thing…
Foster Parents Who Ditched Kid at Browns Game Plead Not Guilty
Does everyone remember Ernest and Anne Fugate, Ohio’s nomination for parents of the year? The Fugates, if your brain is a little fuzzy, are the foster parents who got drunk in the Muni Lot last month, fought, and decided to ditch their 9-year-old with some strangers. Cops nabbed them as they tried to leave, apparently…
Here’s a 500,000-Pound Transformer Being Shipped on Northeast Ohio Roads Today
It’s actually 521,600 pounds, to be exact. That’s why ODOT calls it a “superload.” The transformer (19 feet tall, 190 feet long) departs from Fairport Harbor today in transit to its home at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant. Yes, moving something weighing a half million pounds is a delicate situation. At times, the transport will…
Black Keys Having Some Fun Promoting New Album, El Camino-Style
The Black Keys’ seventh album, El Camino, comes out December 6. In anticipation, Akron’s sons have some interesting advertising out, including an ad in last Sunday’s Beacon Journal for a 1994 El Camino that was really a van. …you may have come across an odd, seemingly out-of-place listing for a 1994 El Camino, which actually…
Occupy Cleveland Granted Permits for Tents
Public Square is ground zero for Occupy Cleveland. So far it’s been covered with signs, chalk drawings, and other artistic flourishes as protesters camp out. Now, there will be tents. The City of Cleveland granted protesters permits that will allow them to put up tents (limited to 10 feet by 10 feet) to shelter the…
Rage Against the New Machine Gun Kelly Video
Machine Gun Kelly’s new mixtape RagePack drops tomorrow. Here’s a taste called “Welcome to the Rage.”
Pro-SB5 Group Steals Footage of Anti-SB5 Old Lady; Not Very Slick; Not Very Smart
Double talkin’, but not her fault. Grannygate is the big headline across the political spectrum today, and we bet you never thought you’d be reading that phrase in anything besides a pitch for some kind of protective fence for your more fancy-of-foot elders. But there it is. The term has even been bestowed with its…
Lakewood Lady Ripped By City for Restoring Century Home
Nina Smith and the City of Lakewood appeared to be a match made in heaven. With its streets lined with century-old houses, the West Side suburb is all about encouraging folks to restore homes to their original charm. Smith, too, is all about restoring the 1914-model abode she bought in 2008 partly because of the…
At the Arthouse
12 Hours of Terror The Capitol Theatre is getting a jump on Halloween this weekend with a 12-hour marathon of horror movies like Humanoids From the Deep and Basket Case — both classics of the genre, no doubt about it. But the big news here is the new print of Lucio Fulci’s 1979 gorefest Zombie…
Concert Calendar
Neon Indian In a mere two years and with a pair of great records, Alan Palomo has found himself at the forefront of a new genre alternately known as “glo-fi” or “chillwave,” an electronic pop dance party soundtrack that mashes up the chill of synth-pop, the thrill of new rave electronica, the still of ambient,…
Dream Menu
Last week, Cleveland Heights resident Keith Logan opened SweetieFry, a quaint little shop that serves “hand-crafted ice cream and impossibly good fries.” Taking over the corner spot at Silsby and Lee, SweetieFry boasts a farmhouse-chic vibe, complete with weathered wood floors, pickled wood walls, and burnished zinc tabletops. Orders are placed at the front counter,…
Stay In!
TOP PICK – VIDEO GAME Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine (THQ) This futuristic sci-fi shooter doesn’t break any new ground storywise (aliens attack, and it’s up to super-powered marines to stop them) or in its gameplay (there’s lots of running and blasting and killing). But it’s still a lotta fun to play, especially when you bring…
Woodmere Village: Land of Discord
The rusty machinations of civic government aren’t much of a spectator sport. That’s not to say you won’t see faces in the crowd at council meetings — from the good-government obsessive types bent with paranoia, to the business suits looking to pitch their deals or swing wrecking balls. You might also see a local news…
Home Movies
The Tree of Life (Twentieth Century Fox) One of the year’s best, most challenging movies gives you an option to do something you couldn’t do in a theater: pause the action, sit back, and take in the metaphysical typhoon that just stormed over you. Terrence Malick’s deliberately paced and occasionally heavy-handed meditation on the evolution…
Talk of the ‘Town
Like an Auto Mile lined with car dealerships, it appears that Superior Avenue is fast becoming Pho Road. When first I learned that a Vietnamese restaurant called Saigon Grille was slated to open 100 feet from #1 Pho and 300 feet from Superior Pho, I kinda felt bad for the owner, Henry Leui. Here was…
CD Review: Evanescence
Amy Lee doesn’t fuck around. She gets to her point within the first minute of the opening song on her band’s third album: “Remember me? I’m everything you can’t control.” Lee brandishes the line like a medal of honor, confronting both her lengthy hiatus (it’s been five years since The Open Door debuted at No.…
Savage Love
Dear Dan: Last night I was blowing a male friend. When I glanced up from “my work,” I saw that he was texting someone. I didn’t say anything and finished the job, but I was offended. Another friend says I should’ve mentioned it because he might have been taking a picture. Any insight from you?…
CD Review: Crooked Fingers
Because he’s considered an indie-rock artiste, Eric Bachmann often suppresses his more tuneful and openhearted urges. But try as he might, they manage to break through the din of Crooked Fingers’ sixth album, a rousing and occasionally accessible record that ranks as one of Bachmann’s all-time best. That’s no small thing, considering he guided noise-rock…
CD Review: Ryan Adams
For such a prolific artist, Ryan Adams has kept a surprisingly low profile since 2008’s Cardinology. Last year’s III/IV featured older material, and it’s best to just forget Orion, his self-indulgent metal tribute, also released in 2010. Adams trades distortion for familiar twang on Ashes & Fire, and you can almost hear the fire in…
Walk the Walk
Family figures into The Way from so many directions, there’s no getting around it. The movie is directed by Emilio Estevez and stars his dad, Martin Sheen. It was partly inspired by Sheen’s father, to whom the film is dedicated. And the whole movie hinges on an overseas death that sends an American to claim…
What’s to Like?
We’re four weeks into Pat Shurmur’s NFL head coaching career and the latest Browns reboot. And as much as patience is called for in times like these, you’ve really got no more to cling to for hope than you did before the season started (“West Coast Offense,” “philosophical unity,” “In Holmgren We Trust,” “pass the…
Film Capsules
The Chagrin Documentary Film Festival The second-annual Chagrin Documentary Film Festival runs through Sunday at various locations throughout the town, loading up on almost a hundred movies from two dozen countries. Subjects range from toy makers (Toyland, pictured) to hitchhiking to music legends. Also count on plenty of documentary staples, like environmental awareness and the…
Gay Grenade
Back in 1968, the societal repression of gays was in full bloom, a fact undergirding The Boys in the Band, the Mart Crowley cult-fave play that became a beloved (and at times lamented) film in the gay community. Now directed by Tyson Douglas Rand at Convergence-Continuum, this production has many of the über-bitchy elements in…
Sweet Jam
Growing up in Shaker Heights and Pepper Pike, Widespread Panic frontman John Bell listened to Motown music beamed from an Ontario radio station, kept up on concert happenings with Jane Scott’s weekly column in The Plain Dealer, and attended shows at Blossom Music Center and the Richfield Coliseum. “Every little step of the way was…
Nothing Personal
After more than 25 years of fronting bands like Mushroomhead, Hatrix, and Purgatory, Jeffrey Nothing released his first solo album this week, a blistering metal assault called The New Psychodalia. It still sounds a lot like Mushroomhead (with drummer Skinny producing, that’s bound to happen), but without having to share the spotlight with the 27…
On View This Week
At the Cleveland Public Library: Welcome to the Club Founded in 1911, the Kokoon Arts Club was a cadre of Cleveland artists emulating the then-controversial European movements of Expressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Though the organization has been defunct for some 60 years, its romance — along with the ideal of rebirth and renewal — has…
Get Out!
Thursday | 13 Funny Stuff The Power of Will Cleveland entertainer Will Power leads two lives: one as a G-rated comic at colleges and corporate retreats, and another as a racy hypnotist, specializing in ultra-suggestive suggestions. It’s the naughty Will who will be working the crowd tonight and Sunday at the Improv, and he promises…
