What Happened Now? A Cleveland Newsletter
Issue 726: January 21, 2025
"What Happened Now?" is a lively roundup and analysis of the top stories of the day in Northeast Ohio from News 5's Joe Donatelli. It’s like getting the news from a friend who only knows calamity days. Subscribe Here.
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You get a pardon, and you get a pardon, and you get a pardon: Hours after taking the oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation that would enable all individuals charged in connection to the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, to receive a pardon or see their sentences commuted. That includes 18 individuals from Northeast Ohio, three of whom are still serving time in prison. Clay LePard has been covering those Jan. 6 prosecutions for years, and he’ll have a big update worth watching tonight in the 6.
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I am confident that these Trump pardons -- and Biden's preemptive pardons -- will not set a dangerous precedent that will lead to increased political violence and corruption undertaken by individuals who know that as long as their side is in power they will not face the consequences of otherwise illegal actions. I mean … what could possibly go wrong?
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It is very, very cold: And somehow it will get even colder tonight, with wind chills dropping to -30.
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Over 400 schools and districts canceled school today, and 300 have already canceled for tomorrow. My kids have already had more snow days this year than I had through all of grade school, and I know that sounds like “I had to walk uphill to and from school both ways” talk, but that’s not a joke. I grew up in Mayfield, which sits right on the edge of the snowbelt, and the legend was that if the superintendent could get his car out of the driveway, school was on. School was always on.
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Ohio State wins national championship: It’s nice to see one of our state’s pro sports teams win something.
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Cool idea: The Cleveland Public Library’s new Martin Luther King Jr. campus near University Circle is a project that’s been a decade in the making. The two-story branch has 207 apartments upstairs in a first-of-its-kind partnership between the library system and a private developer. It's a milestone in the library's push to renovate, expand or rebuild 27 neighborhood branches. Looks like a great idea. Watch Michelle Jarboe’s report.
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One more Big Chuck story: I enjoyed hearing about his career in his own words in this Cleveland magazine piece.