Summit County Judge Susan Baker Ross declared a mistrial in the state bribery case against two former FirstEnergy executives after a <a href="https://www.ideastream.org/2026-03-31/hung-jury-in-bribery-and-corruption-trial-of-former-firstenergy-executives-in-akron">jury failed to reach a verdict</a>. The trial began in January with jury selection and included weeks of testimony and exhibits. The jury deliberated over the course of nine days before telling the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked. The judge declared a mistrial the next day. The state has already said it plans to retry the case.
The story begins our discussion of the week’s news on the “Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable.”
The families of two innocent <a href="https://www.ideastream.org/law-justice/2026-03-30/families-of-women-killed-in-cuyahoga-sheriffs-deputy-pursuits-sue-those-involved">bystander women killed </a>in separate high-speed pursuits by the former Cuyahoga County Sheriff's Downtown Safety Patrol have sued the county.
According to a report from the <a href="https://www.ideastream.org/2026-03-30/aclu-of-ohio-finds-more-police-departments-and-sheriffs-are-signing-agreements-with-ice">American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio</a>, by the end of last year, 14 of the state's 88 counties had agreements to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts or the U.S. Marshalls Service.
<a href="https://www.ideastream.org/npr-news/2026-04-01/liftoff-nasa-astronauts-have-launched-on-a-historic-journey-to-the-moon">The crew of Artemis II </a>is on its third full day of its 10-day mission, lifting off from Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday. The mission is another step toward an anticipated lunar landing in 2028 with a goal of establishing a permanent lunar base.
Get ready, drivers. The official state flower of Ohio, the Orange Barrel Blossom, are blooming on roads everywhere. The Ohio Department of Transportation announced a slate of highway projects, including $3.4 billion in new ones and the continuation of several multi-year projects.
<a href="https://www.ideastream.org/government-politics/2026-04-01/cleveland-pothole-complaints-up-50-this-year-after-harsh-winter">Pothole season</a> is well underway and it's busy. On April 2, a giant hole on Interstate 90 kept poaching tires. Off the highways, Cleveland's roads are more of a minefield than ever. Ideastream Public Media Reporter Abbey Marshall crunched numbers and found more than 1,500 pothole repair requests this year, up 50% from last year.
A grassroots effort to ban data centers in Ohio cleared another procedural hurdle yesterday when the Ohio Ballot Board approved proposed amendment language. The group now needs to gather more than 400,000 valid signatures, drawn from at least half of Ohio’s counties to make the November ballot.
Guests:
- Glenn Forbes, Deputy Editor of News, Ideastream Public Media 
- Gabriel Kramer, Reporter, Ideastream Public Media
- Karen Kasler, Statehouse News Bureau Chief, Ohio Public Radio/TV

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