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The City of Cleveland, MetroParks, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency and other local groups are asking what Clevelanders want to see in the Flats – and beyond. They’re looking for input on a long-term plan for the Cuyahoga River Valley, from Steelyard Commons to the lakefront. At a public listening session this week at Forest City Brewery, the groups explained the process and asked for ideas.

The Ohio Department of Education (ODE) will have to improve education outcomes for students with disabilities, under a settlement approved this week. The settlement calls for improvements over the next five years. The agreement also calls for the state to provide additional support for special education services. The plan will focus on student literacy, prepare disabled students for life after graduation, and provide training for educators.

At least one Cleveland program that addresses homelessness is ending its winter shelter program early, as shelters across the region face low staffing and high exposure risks during the coronavirus pandemic The Metanoia Project provided overnight shelter at three locations until March 23, but is now suspending operations.

Updated: 5:29 p.m., Thursday, March 19, 2020 As public services and buildings close during the coronavirus pandemic, Cleveland’s homeless population is still at risk and local advocacy groups are putting out the call for more protective policies. The Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless (NEOCH) aims to address gaps in protection against the virus in its Emergency COVID-19 Homeless Responses, released Wednesday.

The ACLU of Ohio is collecting complaints from inmates in Ohio through a new hotline and the organization is already pressing the state to play more of a role overseeing county and municipal jails through the coronavirus outbreak.

Cleveland officials continue to argue that people from outside the region were responsible for the destruction Downtown during what started as a peaceful protest on Saturday. The city has evidence to prove that while everyone arrested during Saturday's protest in Downtown Cleveland was local, that doesn’t mean they started the violence, said Chief of Police Calvin Williams. During a Thursday evening virtual town hall, Williams described the instigators outside the Justice Center as professional rioters from outside Ohio.

Longtime columnist Connie Schultz grew up in Ashtabula, the daughter of a nurse’s aide and utility worker. The characters of her debut novel hold those professions, too. “For most of my life as a reader of fiction, I couldn't help but notice that the working class, which is what I come from, was seldom represented in modern literature, certainly not in positive ways,” Schultz said. With the prompting of her editor at Random House, Schultz, now a Cleveland resident with her husband, Sen. Sherrod Brown, set out to do something about that.

The hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine is in full force, with hundreds of vaccines in development and a handful already in clinical trials. But a local immunologist, Dr. David Canaday with the Cleveland VA, published a paper calling for researchers to set more realistic expectations for a vaccine’s potential effectiveness. Canaday said we shouldn’t expect perfection from any of the COVID vaccine candidates, and that their effectiveness will not be 100 percent.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati has blocked a lower court’s order to remove hundreds of inmates vulnerable to COVID-19 from Elkton federal prison. The ACLU of Ohio is considering appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court, which had previously blocked the transfer of inmates until the circuit court made its ruling.

Cuyahoga County is searching for an operator for a new diversion center meant to redirect people from jail to mental health and addiction treatment. The long-discussed diversion center could relieve pressure on the typically crowded Cuyahoga County Jail. Potential operators have until June 24 to submit plans in response to a county request for proposals (RFP). The center would offer space for up to 150 beds, provide crisis intervention training and operate a 24-hour help line for law enforcement, according to the RFP.