Local News

On Monday, the Cleveland Browns announced that its Fan Kickoff Concert, which was due to feature Bon Jovi, has been cancelled.

The show was slated for Sunday, July 14, at FirstEnergy Stadium, and was also supposed to include a performance by Michael Stanley. The Browns have said that those who purchased tickets may get a refund from the original point of purchase.

Ohio's Republican House refuses to give up on the issue of abortion, and have introduced a new bill that would require women who seek abortions to wait at least 48 hours as well as undergo an ultrasound examination. Those just a few of the requirements on an extensive list of abortion restrictions included in House Bill 200, which was introduced by Rep. Ron Hood of Southeast Ohio and supported by 34 of his Republican colleagues.

Other things that the bill would require, include:

• Extend the waiting period for abortions from 24 hours to 48 hours.
• Require doctors to tell patients seeking abortions in writing how much money they earn and how much income they would lose by not performing abortions.
• Require the doctors to give women a verbal description of the ultrasound, including an audible heartbeat, if available. A woman can, however, refuse to view the ultrasound images or listen to the sounds detected by a fetal heart monitor.

In a new feature from the travel publication Matador, Cleveland is named among one of 20 of the best beer towns in America. Thanks to old and new breweries, Cleveland is quickly becoming a beer-lover's travel destination.

Cleveland came in at No. 13 on the list, with the author noting some of the reasons for the city's inclusion:

Across the river from downtown lies Great Lakes Brewing, a well-respected brewery with strong Midwest pride.
• Hoppin’ Frog Brewing in nearby Akron made a splash on the craft scene in 2008 by winning a gold medal at GABF in the hotly contested Russian Imperial Stout category. Odd name, great beer.
• The Brew Kettle sits just north of the I-80 / I-71 intersection, which makes this brewpub a dangerously convenient pit stop for road warriors.

Lawyers for Ariel Castro, the man accused of kidnapping three young women in Cleveland and holding them captive for a decade, are hoping to avoid the death penalty and have begun dropping hints about the possibility of making a plea deal.

On Wednesday morning a hearing was held in which a 329-count indictment for rape, kidnapping, and murder was lodged against Castro, 52. Following the hearing, lawyer Craig Weintraub told reporters that some of the charges against Castro "cannot be disputed".

Three women - Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus, and MIchelle Knight - who had been missing for a decade were discovered in Castro's home last month and were rescued.

Castro's lawyers entered a not guilty plea for him in case.

Now, the case has entered a touchy legal phase as Castro's attorney and prosecutors decide whether or not to broach a plea deal that would spare the women from having to recount the horrific details of their captivity in what would be a highly public trial. Without saying so specifically, the defense hinted at the possibility of a plea deal.

Weintraub noted that the not guilty plea would force the prosecution to consider whether murder charges, which were based on allegations that Castro beat one of the women to induce a miscarriage multiple times, were worth pursuing in court.

If any more evidence was needed that the obscene War on Drugs (i.e., marijuana) is a national tragedy that doubles as a total farce, one need only examine the latest “newsworthy” drug case involving Indians closer Chris Perez and his dog — sometimes referred to as man’s best friend.

Now, before we examine this particular incident, let’s take a look at where we are vis-a-vis marijuana in 2013 — a year that marks the 100th anniversary of the first prohibition of weed by the state of California — and how we got here. Mainstream recreational marijuana use began in the United States at the turn of the last century, courtesy of Mexican immigrants coming across the border to look for work in the American southwest. But white Americans weren’t feeling very welcoming and were looking for excuses for their racist hatred of Mexicans, so rumors began that pot gave these Mexicans superhuman strength and turned them into crazed murderers and subsequently laws were passed which clearly were targeted at our friends from south of the border.

This stereotype continued in one form or another and was memorably reinforced in 1936 when Hollywood produced the now comic but seriously intended Reefer Madness which perpetuated the myth that pot drove users insane and turned them into crazed killers. Then along came the ‘60s and the fear and loathing of the God-less, pot-obsessed counterculture cemented marijuana’s fate as contraband (massive lobbying by the tobacco and alcohol industries, among others, contributed mightily to keeping weed illegal).

Nixon formally declared a “War on Drugs,” in the early ‘70s, but it was at the beginning of the ugly 1980s that Reagan amped up this doomed endeavor by passing insanely punitive drug laws that ended up super-sizing the prison-industrial complex to accommodate an “alarming rise in crime.” And, shamefully, America has been overpopulating and overwhelming the justice system and its prisons at a horrifying rate ever since. The toll: billions and billions of dollars and millions of lives hurt or destroyed, primarily because of involvement with marijuana.

On Wednesday, one of India's largest tire manufacturers - Apollo Tyres - announced a deal to acquire the Cooper Tire and Rubber Company for $2.5 billion in cash.

Cooper is the fourth-largest tire maker in North America. It's brands include Cooper, Mastercraft, Starfire, Chengshan, Roadmaster, and Avon. Cooper focuses on passenger and light and medium truck replacement tires.

The deal would be the second-largest acquisition of an American company by a buyer in India, and would give Apollo Tyres a significant foothold in the U.S., the world's second-largest auto market behind China. The combined company will be the seventh-largest tire company in the world, with $6.6 billion in sales.

Under the terms of the deal, Cooper shareholders will receive $35 per share in cash.

In an effort to crack down on money laundering and people who might use gambling to conceal sources of money acquired illegally, a provision in the Ohio Senate's budget proposal would allow the state to collect and save camera images of each casino patron who redeems their earnings for cash.

The amendement is sponsored by Republican Sen. Bill Coley, who says that in cases of money laundering or hiding the source of illegal obtained money, people may exchange that money for chips, and then redeem the chips as alleged casino winnings.

Coley, of Liberty Townships in Butler County, says that Ohio's four voter-approved casinos already have hundreds of cameras installed for security and monitoring gambling operations

Jim Walpole, of Defiance, Ohio, fell on Thursday in Toronto while he was on a trans-Canadian trip. The 77-year-old says that actor John Malkovich played a key role in rescuing him when he fell and gashed his throat on scaffolding while in Canada.

Speaking with the Toronto Star, Walpole said that Malkovich, who was appearing at a local theater, applied pressure to slow the bleeding until paramedics arrived on the scene. Walpole's injury required 10 stitches.

Northeast Ohio is getting yet another festival dedicated, at least in part, to beer. The Downtown Lakewood Business Alliance and LakewoodAlive announced today that The Lakewood Wine & Craft Beer Festival, poured by World of Beer Lakewood, will occur on Saturday, September 28.

Organizers describe the event as a "urban, two-level outdoor festival in the heart of downtown Lakewood." It will take place rain or shine in an open-air parking deck.

Guests at the festival will be able to sample 150 wines, 150 craft beers and food 10 downtown Lakewood restaurants. Tickets for the event will go on sale on July 1 and will be available online.

Aaron Brockler, a former assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor, was fired after admitting to posing as a woman on Facebook to chat with witnesses in a murder investigation.

Brockler insists that he did nothing wrong, and contends that law enforcement often engages in ruses to get information from people. Brockler was fired by County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty this week, stating that his behavior was unethical.

Brockler reportedly posed as a woman on Facebook to chat with an accused killer's alibi witnesses in an effort to get them to change their testimony.