Cuyahoga County: What's next?

There's a certain thrill to watching the unraveling of the Cuyahoga County political patronage machine. We (Dan and I) spent the evening speculating with neighbors about how deep the deception lies, what the FBI and IRS are searching for, when (if?) charges will be filed, how long this has been going on and who will benefit.

Today's PD is reporting that D-A-S Construction CEO Steve Pumper is singing. Russo's attorney, Richard Lillie, claims there was no quid pro quo. But as Valdis Krebs has shown here and here, there are ways around direct quid pro quo.

The question percolating in my mind today, in addition to when will we learn more, is what kind of long-term impact this will have on important county services that residents depend on—MetroHealth Medical Center, Board of Mental Retardation/Developmental Disability, Children and Family Services and Support Enforcement Agency. Cuyahoga County residents, dwindling in numbers, are not going to support tax increases without some serious changes in how government is delivered and held accountable.

Yesterday's reporting focused primarily on the scope of the search warrants executed. Now it's time to look deeper into the fallout from this public corruption.

The Sound of Ideas will be discussing shortly.

"Hearing America" on the radio

American Public Radio has compiled Hearing America: A Century of Music on the Radio, an interesting look at radio's evolution over the century. The following could just as easily describe the early days of the blogosphere:

George Schubel's story is typical of the time. Station owners like him were improvising American broadcasting. They were figuring out what audiences wanted to hear by trial and error. By the mid-1920s, in a big city like New York or Chicago, you could tune in to upwards of 35 different stations, with a remarkable diversity of programs. Some more appealing than others.

It was interesting to read the transcript, but I'd much rather listen to this on the radio. Some programming just works better that way. I'm reminded of Ken Burns' "Jazz" program, which premiered on PBS in early 2001. It was just OK on TV, but it was spectacular on radio. I love this cover image from one of the last issues of Avenues magazine, promoting the program. It's the incomparable Billie Holiday singing while Duke Ellington looks on.

The podcast of "Hearing America" will be available Dec. 18.