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When Cuyahoga County social workers announced last July that kids were sleeping at the Jane Edna Hunter office building for weeks or months at a time, assaulting staff and being sexually exploited, Chris Ronayne called the situation a crisis.

“Nothing should be off the table to fix this crisis,” tweeted Ronayne, who was then running for county executive.

Now that he has the job, he suggested to the Department of Children and Family Services board that media coverage might have been overblown as a ploy to increase profits.

“That became a political football in the campaign and it was just a terrible bias,” he said in a Wednesday meeting. “Our staff is working really hard.”

Recent data compiled by the DCFS board shows the average number of children spending more than five hours in the Jane Edna office has decreased significantly from a peak of nine in December to four today. But the average length of stay for those few children has slightly increased.

Ronayne said the county is planning a new campus to provide 24-hour mental health, behavioral and other support services in a “safe and enriching environment for children and staff.”

- Laura

Overnight Scores and Weather

Guardians vs. Boston Red Sox: Jose Ramirez’s three homers lead Guardians to 10-3 victory over Red Sox

Northeast Ohio weather forecast: Warmer weather to return

Top Stories

DCFS: Cuyahoga County Executive Chris Ronayne campaigned last year on a promise to fix problems in the Division of Children and Family Services. Now, Kaitlin Durbin reports, he is seemingly minimizing some of the concerns first raised by social workers at the Jane Edna Hunter Social Services Center, while simultaneously taking steps to correct them.

Senate cuts: Ohio Senate Republicans’ budget proposal would slash programs designed to feed, house and cover healthcare costs of some of the state’s poorest citizens, reports Jake Zuckerman. Compared to a budget passed by the House, the Senate’s whittles down funding for state food banks, guts a program that funds housing for pregnant women, nixes entirely a $500 million tax credit for developers who build affordable housing, eliminates a proposed free school meals program for poor children, calls for new work requirements for Medicaid and food stamp recipients, and establishes several anti-fraud measures for those seeking public aid.

Today in Ohio: Ohio Republicans’ two-year budget plan would establish universal eligibility for some portion of publicly funded school vouchers for K-12 private schools and remove the House plan for $62 million for Cleveland’s proposed land bridge. We’re talking about Senate priorities on Today in Ohio.

Statehouse and Politics

Unemployment: Ohio lawmakers are trying to patch financial holes in the state’s long-ailing unemployment benefits system – by significantly cutting benefits. Jeremy Pelzer reports that Senate Bill 116, introduced by two Senate Republicans, would cut the number of weeks jobless Ohioans can receive benefits from 26 weeks to a range of 12 to 20 weeks, and would stop allowing Ohioans who qualify for the maximum unemployment payout of $561 per week to get an additional $119 to $204 per week if they have dependent children.

Northeast Ohio News

Drought: The U.S. Drought Monitor has declared much of Ohio is officially in a drought, though not Cleveland and several nearby suburbs. Due to a lack of rain and hotter-than-normal temperatures, 62% of Ohio has entered moderate drought conditions, reports Zachary Smith.

Air quality: If you still have some high-quality protective masks laying around from your battles with COVID-19, you might want to strap one on if you go outside during levels of unsafe air quality, reports Peter Krouse. A free website named AirNow provides live air-quality information from any location -- from city, state, national and world levels, reports Zach Mentz.

Sunset photos: With all this haze, you might be wondering “how can I get a cool photo of the orange sun setting over Lake Erie with my cell phone?” It’s actually pretty simple, writes David Petkiewicz. You need to make sure your exposure is slightly underexposed, or darker than you would normally want.

Railroad bridges: City leaders have identified 23 railroad bridges across Cleveland with “critical” structural problems and they are demanding action from rail operators, and state and federal regulatory agencies, Courtney Astolfi reports.

City Club: America’s Citadel of Free Speech is getting ready to come down to earth so it can retail big ideas from a storefront on the sunny side of the street. Steven Litt reports the 111-year-old City Club of Cleveland plans to move by September from its current home in an upstairs space west of East Ninth Street downtown to the ground floor in a former F.W. Woolworth store in the heart of Playhouse Square.

Business and Healthcare

Sunny disposition: Sunlight is a powerful agent of health. It improves mood, creates positive social interactions, raises serotonin levels and strengthens bones, physicians and sociologists say. Bright days (without smoke haze) also encourage us to get out and do something fun, which makes our mood even sunnier, reports Julie Washington.

COVID-19 numbers: The number of new COVID-19 cases in Ohio continued its weeks-long tumble, to 1,346 this week from 1,612 last week. The weekly case number has fallen nearly every week since March 9, from a recent high of 9,325 on March 2, reports Julie Washington.

Extra mortgage payments: Should you pay off your mortgage early? There’s no easy answer, Sean McDonnell writes in his weekly Saving You Money column. It depends on how long you plan to live in your house.

Crime and Courts

Church threat: An Avon Lake man is accused of threatening to attack some churchgoers after a Mass at St. Raphael Catholic Church was interrupted over Memorial Day weekend, reports Molly Walsh. William Ruda, 63, was charged Wednesday with two counts of aggravated menacing, in relation to a disruption at Mass after the Rev. Tim Gareau criticized the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence being awarded the Community Hero Award by the Los Angeles Dodgers for service to the LGBTQ community.

Spontaneous combustion: A Cleveland Heights woman sued the makers of a popular wood stain after she said the product spontaneously combusted and burned her house down, reports Adam Ferrise. Erica McCloud sued Rust-Oleum over its Varathane Wood Stain product and Home Depot stores for selling the product knowing that it could cause fires and is seeking at least $143,000.

Dance teacher: After years of allegations made against him, a prominent Cleveland dance instructor was sentenced to life in prison for raping several of his students over a 20-year career. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Kevin Kelley ordered Terence Greene, 57, to serve 365 years for sexually abusing dance students at the Cleveland School of the Arts and Cuyahoga Community College, reports Molly Walsh.

Arts and Entertainment

Things to do: Northeast Ohio comes alive in summer with warm weather and longer days. Outdoor venues -- think Blossom Music Center and Jacobs Pavilion -- are open and indoor venues are offering outdoor activities. This week has so many great choices for entertainment, including The Cure at Blossom, Parade the Circle and 23 other events, Paris Wolfe reports.

You’re all caught up

Don’t forget, you can always find the latest Cleveland news by visiting cleveland.com. If you value the hard work of Cleveland journalists, consider becoming an cleveland.com subscriber.

— Curated by Laura Johnston with contributions by Cliff Pinckard

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