The Land

10/12/2026

What’s being done to solve our community’s challenges—and is it actually working? 🔎

While speaking on a panel at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law Library, The Land Executive Director Chris Mosby explains our approach to Solutions Journalism:

✅ Examining how communities respond to problems
✅ What’s working
✅ What isn’t
✅ And whether effective solutions can scale

It’s not about endorsing an idea. It’s about asking the questions that help us understand its impact.

thelandcle.org

10/10/2026

The layoffs — occurring just three days before Donald Trump’s rally on Saturday at a nearby high school — were large enough to basically erase an entire year of job growth in the greater Dayton, Ohio area.

This year’s election is a test for the working-class coalition that lifted Trump into the White House and gave majorities to Republicans in the House and Senate. The outcome will be decided in places like Dayton, which once sprouted factories but shed about half of its 90,000 factory jobs since 1990 after the North American Free Trade Agreement and trade with China made it cheaper to buy auto parts from abroad. 🗞️

Read the full AP here: https://bit.ly/46YciB1

The November midterms are a test for the working-class coalition that lifted Trump into the White House and gave Republicans control of Congress. The outcome will be decided in places like Ohio.

10/09/2026

Ask yourself this...
“How much of Cleveland do I pass by without knowing the story?” 🤔

Take a Hike Walking Tours offers 45 unique tours and more than 200 tour dates from May through December. The Winter Series promotes the accessibility of self-guided tours available via the website and guests can pick up a passport sticker after taking a tour at Destination Cleveland.

A bonus Holiday Series begins after Thanksgiving and includes the Holiday Grand Department Store Tours, Holiday Historic Hotels Tour and Timeless Traditions, Modern Celebrations Exhibit. 🗞️

Read the full story, by Tim Zaun: https://bit.ly/4i4bNvl

10/08/2026

𝐈𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐁𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐝’𝐬 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭 — 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐮𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞: 𝐎𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐧
𝐵𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝐶. 𝑆𝑢𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑘𝑖 🍀

"At 230 years and counting since the founding of Cleveland, one can hardly walk the streets and alleys and green spaces of this city without stumbling on some evocative piece of history or other. And yet, to me the slice of Cuyahoga riverfront long called Irishtown Bend is especially symbolic and evocative of Cleveland’s past — and of our future, too.

Much like the city itself, Irishtown Bend flourished with the arrival of successive waves of working-class immigrants, first from Ireland, then from Eastern Europe. Like the city, it hosted heavy manufacturing and subsequently watched as its terrain was scarred in the name of industrial progress. And like the city, the Bend lost inhabitants as the 20th Century advanced, and for a long time it was a weedy shadow of its past." 🗞

Read the full piece: https://bit.ly/4yBWhNg

10/08/2026

Bankston teaches people that even when they think the worst has happened and they’re struggling with their mental health they can still move forward. Each day is an opportunity to make choices, including getting out of bed, making a cup of coffee, leaving the house and feeling the sunshine on your face. She urges people to choose life, knowing there is always hope, nothing is the end. 🗞️

Read the full story 𝐂𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞: 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐚 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐮𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞, 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐞, by Tim Zaun: https://bit.ly/47zzOV5

10/07/2026

The first national school choice scholarship program, the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit, will launch Jan. 1, establishing a taxpayer-funded incentive for families to choose private or homeschooling in participating states. Taxpayers who donate to an organization passing out the scholarships will receive a federal tax credit, a perk expected to further fuel the conservative school choice movement.

School choice scholarships have been available for decades in conservative-led states and throughout the South, giving individual students taxpayer-funded grants ranging from a couple thousand dollars to more than $30,000 a year. In places where they are available to all students regardless of income, such as Florida and Arizona, the majority of students using the money were already in private or home school or were from affluent neighborhoods, an analysis by The Associated Press showed. 🗞️

Read the full AP story here: https://bit.ly/4doskI5

About 96% of children in those states should be eligible, according to the department. Children attending public schools could use the scholarships for extra learning expenses.

10/07/2026

Rent and utility assistance are indeed two key services SVDP [@375939612426029] provides. Last year alone, the organization helped some 1,100 Northeast Ohio families keep up with their monthly bills. 💸

But rent and utility aid aren’t the only or even the most conspicuous of the group’s efforts. At the moment, SVDP is leaning most heavily into the 40th anniversary of “Blanket Sunday,” its flagship campaign to purchase and distribute blankets, linens and other essentials to the unhoused or impoverished across Northern Ohio. The $400,000 campaign – up from $315,000 last year – officially kicks off Sunday, Oct. 4.

“It’s our single biggest fundraiser, by a long shot,” said Marketing and Development Manager Kelly Shaw, noting the effect inflation has had on the group’s goals and operations. “Everything all around has gone up.” 🗞️

Read the full story, by Zach Lewis: https://bit.ly/4hKy0gO

10/06/2026

𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐒𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐝 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐍𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐎𝐡𝐢𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐬 [𝐕𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐨]

“With roughly six weeks remaining, the survey finds a race open to either candidate. Brown’s support among unaffiliated voters keeps him competitive, while Husted’s strength among Republicans and rural voters keeps the contest level. The remaining undecided vote is more than sufficient to determine the outcome,” Quantus Insights wrote. 🗞️

Footage from both campaign stops are embedded in this article, courtesy of The Land’s partnership with C-SPAN: https://bit.ly/47B2Mns

10/06/2026

Lakewood City Council President Sarah Kepple said she called the meeting with FirstEnergy to get the company’s “plans…on the record.”

“We have not lived up to your expectations or our own, and that’s something we’re here today to say we need to correct,” said Sally Thomas, FirstEnergy vice president of distribution engineering. “We apologize.”

Thomas presented a plan whereby FirstEnergy would commit $19 million to upgrades in Lakewood, $7 million of which was allocated to the installation of smart meters. This was essentially the same plan outlined at the 2025 town hall, but Thomas promised a further plan by year end, assisted by an independent firm, to provide what she called a “holistic plan for investment in our sub-transmission, in our substations, in our distribution systems to set Lakewood up for safer and more reliable performance going forward.” The word “plan” was invoked 35 times in her presentation. 💡

Read the full story, by John Chacona: https://bit.ly/4yA6XMp 🗞️

Lakewood City Council President Sarah Kepple said she called the meeting with FirstEnergy to get the company's "plans...on the record."

10/05/2026

The new traffic circle on Miramar Boulevard near John Carroll University is slowing traffic 🚙 and changing how residents and students travel through the intersection, while the city continues to address concerns about pedestrian safety and drivers adjusting to the new design.

The city added the traffic circle at the intersection of Meadowbrook, Miramar and Washington Boulevards recently as a pilot program in an effort to slow traffic and create a safer intersection for drivers and pedestrians. 🗞️

𝑇ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐿𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 The Carroll News. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐶𝑎𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑙𝑙 𝑁𝑒𝑤𝑠.

Read the full story, by Phoebe Rinaldi: https://bit.ly/4j5Xk3a