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From politics to sports to auto manufacturing, Northeast Ohio was in the epicenter of news
YOUNGSTOWN
In many cases, 2016 can be summed up with, “As Northeast Ohio goes, so goes the nation.”
Whether it was 28,000 Democrats and nonaffiliated voters in Mahoning County casting Republican primary ballots signaling support for Donald Trump in the Democratic-dominated area or the Cleveland Cavaliers winning the first major-sports championship for that city since 1964, Northeast Ohio garnered much national attention.
The area spent 2016 in the epicenter of news.
POLITICS
Northeast Ohio is always a hotbed for politics, and it’s even hotter in a presidential year.
But 2016 may have been the biggest year in decades.
Cleveland hosted the Republican National Convention that saw the GOP nominate Trump as its candidate.
Trump, the Republican president-elect, and Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee, along with their surrogates spent a lot of time in the area.
Trump campaigned three times in the Mahoning Valley – once before the primary and twice during the general election campaign – while Clinton visited once before the primary and right after the Democratic National Convention when she was nominated as the first female presidential nominee for a major political party.
In the election, Clinton eked out a close win in Mahoning County but lost in Trumbull County to Trump, becoming the first Democrat to lose there since 1972. Trump won Ohio and the presidency.
Trump’s success in the general election came after he easily won Democratic-controlled Mahoning and Trumbull counties in the Republican primary despite losing that primary race to Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The signs of his support in the Valley were there when 6,171 Democrats and 21,801 voters without party affiliations in Mahoning – unprecedented numbers – voted Republican in the March primary, primarily for Trump.
Also, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, who represents most of the Valley, was among nine potential vice-presidential running mates for Clinton, according to the Wall Street Journal. While he wasn’t selected, he received a key speaking spot at the DNC and earlier this month made more national news when he unsuccessfully challenged House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
CORRUPTION
Where there’s politics in the Mahoning Valley, there is often corruption – and 2016 was a banner year for it.
The most significant case – one that was investigated for nine years – centered on the criminal conspiracy to stop Mahoning County’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place.
Despite the time invested in the matter, just three people were convicted for their involvement in the matter.
But two of them were political heavy hitters. Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino took plea deals before the trial started and were each sentenced to a year’s probation. As part of his deal, McNally was able to remain mayor and will run next year for re-election.
Martin Yavorcik, a failed 2008 county prosecutor candidate and co-defendant, went to trial, defended himself and was convicted of eight felonies. A Cuyahoga County judge sentenced Yavorcik to five years’ probation April 22, with his first year under house arrest.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office led the Oakhill investigation, announced last month that it had come to a conclusion.
He also announced that same day, Nov. 15, that former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante was indicted on 54 counts including bribery and political corruption dating back to 1993, including nearly $200,000 in unreported cash and gifts, and gambling. His wife, Judy, and city employee Scott Shaffer also were indicted.
Infante, investigated for two years, said he is innocent and he “never took a dime.”
MISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT
Part of Trump’s successful election as president was that he tapped into people’s feelings of mistrust of the government.
While not isolated to any one government entity in the Valley, anger and frustration hit a boiling point with some community members over staff cuts at Mill Creek MetroParks.
In all, 20 positions, including 13 occupied by employees, were eliminated by the park board and Executive Director Aaron Young.
Two commissioners resigned from the board with calls from the community for Young to resign or be fired. He’s still there.
By the end of the year, residents in Niles city – which faces an ongoing fiscal crisis – and in the Poland and Austintown school districts were vocal in their unhappiness with business as usual.
LEAD WATER CRISIS
While Flint, Mich., received significant national media coverage because lead from aging lines leached into the city’s water supply, Sebring, a village in Mahoning County, also experienced high levels of lead in its water.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency required the village to issue a news release Jan. 21 about high lead in its water supply after it discovered the problem.
It was later learned that village officials knew about the problem for months but didn’t inform the public.
The OEPA sharply criticized village officials for not taking their responsibility seriously. It also revoked the license of Jim Bates, the village’s water-treatment operator, as well as fired two of its employees and demoted another after an internal review concluded its workers failed to properly handle the situation. One employee was reinstated a few weeks ago to a lower job after filing an appeal.
Also, the OEPA made revisions to its operating procedures involving lead in drinking water to ensure the failures in Sebring are not repeated elsewhere.
While this was ongoing, it was learned that in 2008 the OEPA tried to get the Warren Water Department to be more transparent with its customers about lead in the city’s drinking water, but the effort resulted in a notice written in scientific jargon that most people, including top health department officials, didn’t understand.
U.S. AUTO MANUFACTURING
With gas prices declining leading to a resurgence in the sale of larger vehicles, small, fuel-efficient cars such as the Chevrolet Cruze made at the Lordstown General Motors complex took a hit this year.
The year started out well at Lordstown with the global launch for the next-generation Cruze in January. The car was wildly popular when production began in 2010 and continued to 2014. But by 2015, sales dropped by 17 percent.
With the Cruze still underselling this year, GM announced last month that come Jan. 23, the third shift in Lordstown was ending. That means 1,245 of the 4,500 workers there will be laid off in a couple of weeks.
It is also impacting three local plants that are part of the Cruze supply chain.
AIRPORT TRAVEL
The airline industry is going through significant change with fewer companies offering flights.
It was with much fanfare that Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport came to an agreement with Aerodynamics Inc., or ADI, to have Great Lakes JetExpress provide daily service to Chicago – the first daily service out of the facility in 14 years.
The first flight took off July 1 but abruptly ended Aug. 24 when the Western Reserve Port Authority, which operates the airport, stopped funding the service. WRPA board members said they believed ADI had an interline agreement with United Airways. Instead, United had an agreement with Great Lakes and removed tickets for the airline to and from Youngstown-Warren from its website because it didn’t have a deal with ADI.
The aircraft of Allegiant Air, which accounts for almost all passenger traffic at Youngstown-Warren, are four times as likely to fall during flights as those operated by other U.S. airlines, an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times revealed in November.
CRIME
The abuse of opioids and heroin has reached epidemic levels throughout the nation, hitting Ohio particularly hard where the number of unintentional drug overdoses continues to rise.
The number of fatal drug overdoses this year in Mahoning and Trumbull counties is on pace to match or exceed last year’s record number. And dangerous drug mixtures are playing a bigger role in causing overdoses and rendering naloxone less effective.
Twenty people were secretly indicted in October in Mahoning County, charging them with bringing heroin and marijuana into the Youngstown area.
Though a number of police officers have been shot in the line of duty, none happened in the Valley. However, Youngstown fire Lt. Paul Lutton was shot in the leg while he was putting out a fire. At that same fire, another bullet went through the coat of firefighter Dwyane Montgomery but didn’t hit him. That resulted in police officers accompanying fire crews to all calls until the shooter was apprehended.
INNER-CITY SCHOOLS
Education at inner-city school systems remains a challenge, and that is quite apparent in Youngstown.
The “Youngstown Plan,” approved by the state Legislature, put control of the failing school district in the hands of a chief executive officer, and an academic distress commission selected Krish Mohip, a Chicago school administrator, for the job.
The relationship between Mohip and the school board members, who are virtually powerless to do anything under the new state law, is a rocky one. Three of the seven board members walked out of an Oct. 25 meeting objecting to Mohip running their meeting.
Since his appointment, Mohip scrapped the student uniform policy, removed creationism from the science curriculum, set a goal of a 100 percent graduation rate and developed a recovering plan for the district based on best educational practices. He continues to clash with the board, limiting its members to one meeting a month from the three they normally have monthly.
There also were a number of fights in the district with the low point being a March 8 melee at East High School that resulted in 14 students charged and the school being closed.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Youngstown State University trustees extended the contract for President Jim Tressel for at least one more year Dec. 1, continuing his annual salary of $300,000. The contract is good until at least June 2018. There also are three separate additional one-year extension options.
Tressel is credited with efforts to increase enrollment and retention as well as raising a record amount of financial gifts. Under Tressel’s watch, the YSU Foundation, a private entity separate from the university, raised $20.5 million in private gifts for the fiscal year ending June 30, compared with $13 million for the year prior and $6.2 million for the 2014 fiscal year.
Earlier in the year, Tressel outlined a plan for more student housing and retail space near campus, road improvements, office relocation on campus and plans for an entrepreneurial hub.
SPORTS
When one thinks of Northeast Ohio, sports dominance doesn’t come to mind.
The Cleveland Cavaliers ended that city’s streak of no major-sport championships – the last one came in 1964 – with an improbable comeback down 3 games to 1 to the Golden State Warriors to win the 7-game series.
The Indians came within a game of winning the World Series, falling to the Chicago Cubs in 7 games after being up 3 games to 1.
And Youngstown State University’s football team is on an incredible run and will play James Madison on Jan. 7 for the FCS national championship. The Penguins last won a national title after the 1997 season.
The team made it to the title game after an amazing touchdown catch with 1 second left in the semifinal against Eastern Washington University.
The Penguins beat Eastern Washington without five players who were suspended for failing substance testing.