Emmy Award-winning Feagler & Friends is a lively, weekly half-hour television discussion of local and national issues impacting lives in Northeast Ohio. Hosted by award-winning journalist and former Plain Dealer columnist, Dick Feagler, Feagler & Friends explores the various issues behind today's news. With a changing ensemble of "friends" ranging from journalists to community and political leaders, Feagler & Friends takes on issues from many different perspectives. Always entertaining and never boring, Feagler & Friends is the program for people "in the know" in Northeast Ohio.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Topics: Environment, Politics, Other
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Peter Lawson Jones, president, Cuyahoga County Board of Commissioners:
As the sun rose over a new week in downtown Cleveland, FBI and IRS agents were massing for what was likely the largest corruption raid in city history. 200 agents raided the homes and offices of three Cuyahoga County officials, including long-time Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and Auditor Frank Russo. They also seized records at a number of local businesses, but have made no arrests and announced no criminal charges. Absent official information, speculation has centered on work the officials had done on their private residences and possible links between the work and their status as public servants. Criminal charges, if any, are expected to be months in coming. Dimora and Russo have returned to work. Commissioner Jones, who has not been implicated in the federal probe, will talk with Mr. Feagler about his view of the week’s events.

Roundtable: Mike Roberts, freelance journalist; Tom Beres, politics reporter, WKYC, Channel 3; Mark Naymik, politics reporter, The Plain Dealer.

Cuyahoga County Government Under Siege: The roundtable will continue the discussion of the federal raids on county offices.

President Bush in Town: President Bush made a quick stop in Cleveland this week, touring Lincoln Electric and headlining a Gates Mills fund-raiser for Republican congressional candidates. While in town, Bush called on Congress to clear the way for more U.S. oil exploration. The President wanted the House to approve a bill allowing more offshore oil drilling but Republicans failed with an effort to bring the bill to the floor for a vote before the August recess.

No Smokers Need Apply: Children’s Hospital in Akron announced this week it won’t hire staffers who test positive for nicotine. The hospital joins a small but growing list of employers, including the Cleveland Clinic that first banned smoking from their campuses and then took anti-smoking measures a step further. Current staffers aren’t affected by the new policy, although they still can’t smoke on campus. The new policy will be phased in over the next three months.

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