The shape and narrative of an election is more interesting than polling percentages. From one election to the next, the shape or narrative changes more than all those hard numbers from polls and vote counts, but they do work in tandem. Therefore, get one correct, the outcome can be correctly projected.
December 28, 2017. Cleveland is in a deep freeze. It seems to have come about a month early this winter. The weather service forecasts the cold spell to run for at least another week. I am driving through icy, slushy streets. But it's mostly sunny, though by the rays of a low-arching winter sun. I see one car that looks like it has just been washed. The rest have a road salt glaze.
A Cleveland woman was nearly attacked because she refused to expose herself to prove she was not transgender.
The woman was talking with friends at a bar when a young lady walked up to her.
No, I am not sure. They say you are a man.
--the young lady
The stranger asked the woman to reveal her genitals.
(To circulate petitions, go to ohfairdistricts.com.)
Ohioans are set to finish the job. In 2015, Ohio voters resoundingly passed an issue to slay statehouse gerrymanders. Now many are signing petitions for a ballot issue to slay Congressional gerrymanders.
Gerrymanders are irregular legislative districts drawn to favor one political party. The 2015 statehouse anti-gerrymander redistricting issue passed with 71% of the vote. It establishes a bi-partisan commission that must have at least two votes from representatives of each of the two biggest parties to adopt a district map.
The new Congressional redistricting issue uses the same commission and follows nearly the same procedures and map-drawing criteria as the statehouse redistricting law. Its map-drawing criteria are:
JoJo Striker's body was found in an empty garage in Toledo, OH on February 8th.
Well, the 2016 High Speed Rail unlock has been postponed to 2018 or 2020.
When transportation policy at the Federal level is grabbed with both hands by the Oil and Gas death lobby, we have to turn to the state level. Now, in Ohio, it might not look like that offers a prospect any better ... but unlike 2010 and 2014, in 2018 the Gubernatorial cycle will be in an election cycle with a President in the Republican party ... which leads to a predictable midterm backlash.
That midterm backlash tends to be strongest in the first midterm ... and it seems likely to be even stronger, given the character of the Republican who happens to occupy 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
And so bringing the focus of sustainable transportation policy from the Federal level to the State and Local level was in my head when I read: Oxford commits to funds, support for Amtrak stop. The City of Oxford, Ohio, the college town that hosts Miami University (not, of course, "the University of Miami") has committed $350,000 toward the construction of an Amtrak station for the Cardinal that runs through town three times a week to Chicago and DC/NYC. This matches the $350,000 committed by Miami University.
More about building up The Cardinal as a Knowledge Corridor, below the fold.
We lost because our coalition broke down. It broke down because the Democratic party has abandoned a key constituency, failing to fight for its interests while nominally paying lip service to their concerns.
Five days ago Brandi Bledsoe, a 32-year-old transgender woman, was found dead on a driveway in Cleveland in only her underwear with plastic bags over her head and hands.
The body was discovered by a 5-year-old boy who was out riding his bike with his 12-year-old brother.
Police have disclosed that Brandi suffered head trauma. They also initially misgendered the victim.
Her death is a suspected homicide, but the medical examiner has not offered an official ruling on how she died.
Investigators will take her transgender status into consideration in the investigation. The investigation is in its early stages and it's too early to determine of motive for Bledsoe's death.
--Cleveland police spokesman Jennifer Ciaccia
Judge Algenon Marbley is a US District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio who was appointed to the position by Bill Clinton in 1997.
On Monday Judge Marbley rejected the Highland Local Schools case challenging the DoE rule on treatment of transgender students, ordering a transgender girl to be treated "like the girl she is."
