Adrian Ma
Adrian Ma is a business reporter and recovering law clerk for ideastream in Cleveland. Since making the switch from law to journalism, he's reported on how New York's helicopter tour industry is driving residents nuts, why competition is heating up among Ohio realtors, and the controlled-chaos of economist speed-dating. Previously, he was a producer at WNYC News. His work has also aired on NPR's Planet Money, and Marketplace. In 2017, the Association of Independents in Radio designated him a New Voices Scholar, an award recognizing new talent in public media. Some years ago, he worked in a ramen shop.
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The state agency that oversees gambling addiction services in Ohio is expecting a spike in calls to the state's problem gambling helpline this month. “We have more gambling at certain times of the year,” head of the Bureau of Problem Gambling Services, Stacey Frohnapfel-Hasson. “March is one of them.” -
In a special election Tuesday, voters in Toledo said yes to a ballot measure that amends the city charter to include a Lake Erie Bill of Rights. With… -
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was in Cleveland Monday on the first leg of what he's calling his week-long "Statewide Workforce Tour." The goal is to highlight vocational training programs that provide pathways to well-paying jobs. Speaking with executives and students at Tech Elevator, a computer coding school in Cleveland, Husted asked what the state can do to support programs like it. One suggestion: stop requiring bachelor's degrees for state government jobs that focus on computer programming. Husted was receptive to the idea. -
Next Tuesday, Feb. 26, the residents of Toledo will have the chance to vote on an unusual (some might even say radical) proposal: whether to give the fourth largest lake in the United States its own Bill of Rights. If the ballot measure passes, it would be a win for the small but growing “rights of nature” movement, which aims to deter activities that pollute the environment by granting legal rights to ecosystems.
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In a small Wickliffe strip mall, tucked between a tax account’s office and a diner, the first medical marijuana dispensary in Greater Cleveland, called The Botanist, quietly opened for business on Wednesday. Despite a constant drizzle of rain, and the only signage being a small plaque by the door, more than 50 people showed up in the dispensary’s first hour of business. Because only a limited number of people were allowed to be inside the store at a time, a line of about a dozen people formed outside. -
On Jan. 1, Ohio’s minimum wage rose automatically from $8.30 per hour to $8.55 per hour for workers who aren't tipped. (For tipped workers, the base wage increased from $4.15 to $4.30 per hour.) -
The head of the Ohio realtors' association says the partial shutdown of the federal government is making it harder for prospective homebuyers to get a loan. When it comes to financing a home purchase, roughly 1-in-5 buyers rely on the help of an FHA loan, which is basically a mortgage that's insured by the Federal Housing Administration. But since the partial government shutdown went into effect, delays in the approval process are starting to stack up, said Anjanette Frye, President of Ohio REALTORS. -
With the first legal sale of medical marijuana in Ohio expected to occur as early as next week, the Cleveland Clinic wants its patients to know that its doctors will not be prescribing it. Dr. Paul Terpeluk, Medical Director of Employee Health Services at the Cleveland Clinic, said many of the Clinic's patients have asked whether they can get a script for medical marijuana. For now, he said, the official answer is: "Not yet." -
The number of Ohioans who lost their jobs in "mass layoffs" was higher in 2018 than the year before. Generally speaking, when a company with more than 100 employees decides to lay off 50 or more people, a federal law known as the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) considers that a "mass layoff." But before that can happen, an employer must provide employees with at least 60 days written notice. -
Twenty-nine union employees at the Plain Dealer —mostly copy editors, page designers, and illustrators —will be laid off after March 2019, according to George Rodrigue, the paper’s Editor and President. The plan is to outsource most of those jobs to a New Yorked-based company called Advance Local, which is a subsidiary of the PD’s parent company, Advance Publications.
