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, March 6, 2009

Topics: Economy, Politics, Other
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Newsmaker: Cuyahoga County Commissioner Tim Hagan. A final decision appears imminent on the site of a new Cleveland Convention Center. An engineering study is expected to show that the foundation of Cleveland’s old convention center is strong enough to hold the new building. The final decision rests with Merchandise Mart Properties, which will operate the adjoining Medical Mart.

Roundtable: Joan Mazzolini, reporter, The Plain Dealer; Kevin O’Brien, editorial writer, The Plain Dealer; Bob Dyer, columnist, Akron Beacon Journal.

Convention Center: We’ll kick off the roundtable with a discussion of the latest developments in the convention center/Medical Mart project.

Church Closings: Cleveland’s Catholic Diocese is about to undergo the largest planned shrinkage in its history. Bishop Richard Lennon is expected to announce next weekend the closing of dozens of churches, most in what used to be the local church’s urban core. As the population has moved away from the inner city, the need for urban parishes has diminished. A decline in the number of priests has also made the churches harder to staff.

Orange Barrel Cameras: The state of Ohio is thinking about using cameras to enforce speed limits in highway construction zones. It’s the same technology used by many cities to police traffic lights and school zones. Public officials insist the cameras are all about safety. Motorist groups say it’s all about turning drivers into cash cows.

Economy Sinks Some More: Ohio’s jobless rate is going north while the stock market continues to head south. The state unemployment rate hit 8.8 per cent last month, a figure not seen since a recession in the mid-80s. The Dow Jones Industrials fell through the 7,000 mark Monday and have continued to plummet.
Akron’s FirstEnergy laid off hundreds of staffers, many of them white collar employees; John Carroll University ordered non-teaching staff to take a two-week unpaid sabbatical.

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