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Northeast Ohio will be represented at this year’s Grammy Awards. “Songs of Orpheus,” nominated for best classical solo vocal album, features Cleveland’s Apollo’s Fire and vocalist Karim Sulayman. It was produced locally by Erica Brenner of Shaker Heights. Brenner said she screamed with excitement when she saw the nominations included “Songs of Orpheus.”

Around noon on Wednesday, Cleveland’s West Side Market was unusually quiet. The temperature was a few degrees below zero, and over half of the vendors had decided not to open for the day, due to the same arctic conditions that had shut down schools, suspended city services, and forced many government offices to operate on a skeleton staff.

Two former Cuyahoga County officials and one current employee pleaded not guilty to charges in Common Pleas Court Monday. Judge Nancy Fuerst presided over their arraignments and set a $10,000 personal bond for each defendant. Former IT general counsel Emily McNeeley, former jail director Kenneth Mills and current Chief Talent Officer Douglas Dykes made their first appearances in court after a grand jury indicted them last month on a range of felony and misdemeanor charges.

A Cuyahoga County Inspector General’s report says there’s evidence former county jail director Kenneth Mills likely made anti-gay remarks about two employees. The report, which was completed in January, also outlines other allegations of derogatory comments made about County Executive Armond Budish and Sheriff Clifford Pinkney. “Three county employees separately heard Mills make different discriminatory comments regarding the perceived sexual orientation of a subordinate employee and a contractor,” the report concluded.

College students usually study Shakespeare if they're English or Theater majors. But this week at John Carroll University students from those areas along with other departments are reciting the words of the great "Bard." Actor Ffion Jolly works with John Carroll University students this week [photo: Sally Al-Qaraghuli]

For some in government, one of their major tasks is trying to anticipate the future and understand the present in global affairs. Such was the case for Mathew Burrows, who is now director for the Atlantic Council's Foresight, Strategy, and Risks Initiative. “I grew up in Rocky River through high school, and then I went off to college,” Burrows says during a recent visit back to Cleveland for an event with the Cleveland Council on World Affairs.

Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan touted numerous improvements and goals in his State of the City Address today(Wednesday) and it appears Akron and Cleveland share some common ambitions. Voters approved recent income tax hikes in each city and both have been cranking up services. Horrigan notes two new fire stations are being built and last year saw a 174% increase in roads repaved, and 1,000 new housing units. He says the city is hiring experts to determine potential new sites for the main police station although it may not be a single building.

Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson spent three hours talking budget with the city council Finance Committee Tuesday. He said an income tax hike voters approved in 2016 is paying for beefed up services. He reeled off the numbers from 2018: more police officers, more EMS, more tree trimming, more road services. It’s a far cry from the layoffs the city made in 2004 and 2008. But Jackson warned council to curb their enthusiasm. The mayor said he hasn’t forgotten the recession years.

The short-term spending bill avoids a partial government shutdown, but other major issues, such as suspending the debt limit, remain unresolved.

The Ohio House is set to take up the Republican-drawn Congressional map this afternoon, which some experts say will result in 12 districts for the GOP and 3 for Democrats. There were apparently some members of the majority who wanted to attach another controversial proposal to the map plan- banning mandates for COVID vaccines and other inoculations.