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, October 17, 2008

Topics: Economy, Politics, Health, Other
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Newsmaker: Bonita Teeuwen, deputy director, Ohio Department of Transportation. Motorists using the downtown Cleveland inner belt are gritting their teeth and preparing for more delays brought on by the deteriorating condition of the half-century-old bridge. The span was narrowed to two lanes in either direction recently when inspectors discovered serious corrosion in key members of the structure’s steel skeleton. Travel restrictions will continue while ODOT makes repairs.

Roundtable: Brent Larkin, editorial page director, The Plain Dealer; Christopher Evans, associate editor, The Plain Dealer; Jay Miller, government reporter, Crain’s Cleveland Business.

Fraud, Corruption and Depravity: The state Inspector General used those words to describe what was happening behind the scenes at ODOT district 12, headquartered in Garfield Heights. In a 69-page report issued this week, the state says local Department of Transportation staffers traded lucrative public contracts for private favors including vacations and extra ‘services’ at strip clubs.

ACORN Questions: The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections is investigating allegations of wrongdoing on the part of canvassers who registered new voters while working for ACORN, a national community activist group. The board, along with a number of other public agencies across the nation, wants to know if registrations were faked and, if so, how many. ACORN has become a partisan issue with Republicans accusing the group of voter fraud aimed at favoring the Obama campaign. Democrats say allegations of fraud are overblown.

Eaton Loss: Eaton Corp., the Fortune 500 company, is apparently preparing to move to an eastside suburban location after nearly 100 years downtown. Eaton wants to build a new headquarters campus and reportedly favors vacant land in Beachwood over a nine-acre site in the Flats. How did the city lose a prime business? Mr. Feagler and the panel will discuss.

Debate III: Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain squared off at Hofstra University on Long Island for their third and final debate. The debate was seen as McCain’s best chance to make up ground lost in voter polls in recent weeks. McCain took an aggressive stance faulting his opponent for his stands on policy issues and for his associations with controversial individuals and organizations. Obama sought to tie McCain to some of the more unpopular programs of the Bush administration.

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