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, January 30, 2009

Topics: Education, Economy, Politics, Other
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Newsmaker: William G. Batchelder, minority leader, Ohio House of Representatives. Governor Strickland’s State of the State message this week envisioned sweeping reforms for education and a balancing of a state budget that’s now spinning deeply into the red. Ohio House Republicans listened politely, but have their own ideas on balancing the budget including cutting the state work force by 20 per cent.

Roundtable: Joan Mazzolini, reporter, The Plain Dealer; Steven Litt, art and architecture critic, The Plain Dealer; Bill Sheil, weekend anchor, Fox 8 News.

State of the State: Governor Strickland told a joint meeting of the legislature and a statewide television audience that the state of state is ‘steadfast.’ The Governor delivered his third State of the State message Wednesday, promising a balanced budget with no tax increase and saying Ohio must build its education system ‘anew.’ The Governor wants to expand the school year by 20 days, start universal all-day kindergarten, and allow school districts to grow their revenues without repeated tax levy campaigns.

Medical Mart Doubts: A week ago, the Cuyahoga County Commissioners agreed that a new convention center and medical mart should be built on the site of the old convention center. This has been a week for second-guessing the decision. Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson wants assurances the old foundation will support the new facility—and the county promises an engineering study is forthcoming. Forest City Enterprises, meanwhile, is demanding further public review of the decision.

Drummed Out of the Corps: The Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums piped up a crescendo of national debate this week when the group’s drum major quit following an apparent violation of protocol. During the group’s march in the inaugural parade, drum major John Coleman gave President Obama a nod and a wave as the President waved at him from the reviewing stand. The gesture was a break with the corps spit-and-polish eyes-front tradition.

Towns on the Edge: Ideastream reporters David C. Barnett and Mhari Saito recently visited three Ohio towns heavily impacted by new economic realities. Their reports on how the towns coped—or thrived—were the subject of the WVIZ program Towns on the Edge. They’ll discuss their findings with Mr. Feagler.

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