Episode Notes

This week we use Independence Day as the reason for a special episode of This Week in the CLE, in which we celebrate the spirit of debate central to the founding of this nation by having a debate about a topic of big interest in Northeast Ohio -- Lake Erie wind turbines.

And, with July 4th being about the founding of a new nation and government, we use the holiday as a reason to discuss what is happening in another new form of government, the one we voted into place in Cuyahoga County a decade ago. A criminal investigation of that government is more than 18 months old, and the reporters who have covered it explain how it started and where it stands.

Okay, so our maybe the connection to July 4 is a bit contrived, but that doesn’t make the discussions any less entertaining or informative. The cleveland.com team brings passion to these conversations.

Regular episodes of the This Week in the CLE podcast feature unique discussions about the news by the people who bring you that news, the reporters and editors at cleveland.com. We publish new episodes most Thursday evenings, so that you can listen during your Friday morning commute. Because July 4 is a Thursday, we will publish this week’s abbreviated news episode on the morning of Wednesday, July 3.

For this special episode, the wind turbine debate features columnist Mark Naymik as well as reporter Pete Krouse, who has been writing about the turbine proposal for years; Laura Johnston, who has been paying attention to opposition to the turbines by recreational users of the lake in her role as coordinator of our rockthelake.com website; and Kris Wernowsky, whose expertise in wind turbines comes from covering the issue in Pennsylvania as a reporter before he joined Cleveland.com.

The discussion about the Cuyahoga County investigation involves Mark and Cuyahoga County beat reporter Courtney Astolfi, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court reporter Cory Shaffer and crime reporter Adam Ferrise. They are the only reporters in Northeast Ohio who have been on this story at every turn, and no one understands the case better than they do.

We’ve been publishing This Week in the CLE for a few months now and would love to know how you think we are doing and what we could do better.

Do the regular news episodes give you the summary and analysis of the news that you want?

Would you like to see more special episodes devoted to longer discussions of significant topics?

We’re thinking about bringing in newsmakers for discussions. Does that interest you?

Let us know by sending an email to [email protected].