Americans would rather avoid politics at Thanksgiving dinner: The Wake Up for Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023

Holidays are hard enough without politics.

Less than a third of Americans say they’re hungry for a political discussion over Thanksgiving dinner, according to a Quinnipiac University poll.

You might expand the term “political” to encompass any hot-button issue, including climate change, abortion and gun laws, over which an August Gallup poll found that polarization grew significantly in the past two decades.

Feeling anxious about clashing with Uncle Bob while passing the cranberries?

Take a deep breath. Experts recommend planning ahead, being realistic about your expectations, setting healthy boundaries and focusing on positive family traditions.

If all else fails, there will be pie.

- Laura

Overnight Scores and Weather

Northeast Ohio weather forecast: Showers return

Top stories

Holiday politics: Americans would prefer to talk turkey rather than politics when they celebrate Thanksgiving this year, according to a nationwide poll that indicates more than 60% of voters want to avoid discussing politics during holiday visits with family or friends. Sabrina Eaton reports the poll from Connecticut’s Quinnipiac University also asked voters which of four options they held most responsible for divisions among Americans. Social media got the blame from the most respondents – 35%.

Busy travel: Prepare for crowds, plan for parking, pack your patience – it’s gonna be a busy week of travel, both in Cleveland and across the country. Susan Glaser reports AAA is projects that 55.4 million travelers will head 50 miles or more from home over the Thanksgiving holiday travel period, the third highest number since the agency started tracking holiday travel in 2000.

Today in Ohio: Ohio House Republicans are trying to hold a vote on overriding Gov. Mike DeWine’s veto earlier this year of a proposed ban on local tobacco restrictions - at least in part because of calls from lobbyists. We’re talking about legislators’ blatant bent on Today in Ohio , cleveland.com ’s daily half-hour news podcast.

Statehouse and Politics

The Ohio Redistricting Commission approved new state House and Senate district lines in September, as seen in these posters unveiled at its meeting. A proposed state constitutional amendment would remove politicians from the process of drawing maps. (Jeremy Pelzer, cleveland.com)

: Backers of a plan that would strip Ohio politicians of power over drawing state legislative and congressional boundaries can begin collecting signatures for a proposed state constitutional amendment – again, reports Rick Rouan . The Ohio Ballot Board, led by Secretary of State Frank LaRose, voted Monday to advance the proposal for the second time after organizers restarted the process because of a typographical error in the summary of the petition.

Elliott Forhan: State Rep. Elliot Forhan, a South Euclid Democrat under fire for repeated confrontations with constituents and other lawmakers, has been stripped of his Statehouse badge access and legislative aide by House Speaker Jason Stephens and is now facing calls to resign from more than two dozen local officials in his district. Jeremy Pelzer reports a House Democratic memo documents how Forhan repeatedly had “apoplectic, incidental interactions with House staff, representatives, and community members” since taking office in January, “culminating in a series of incidents during which he threatened to take his own life or challenged others to kill him.”

Northeast Ohio News

ADAMHS board: Cuyahoga County Council has proposed cutting $2 million in funding for the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services board, citing the organization’s expected multimillion-dollar surplus. Rather than sending that money to the ADAMHS board, County Council proposes giving $2.5 million more to MetroHealth, Lucas Daprile reports .

Mild Thanksgiving: While winter jackets had to be pulled out for Halloween this year, they will not be necessary for Thanksgiving, reports Zachary Smith . Currently, the forecast for Thursday is sunny during the day with a high of 49 degrees.

Orchestra budget: The Cleveland Orchestra released its 2023 annual report on Monday, reporting a surplus for the fifth year in a row. On a budget of $61.3 million for the fiscal year that ended June 30, the orchestra had a surplus of $15,000, a near-perfect balance in a period of continuing recovery from the pandemic, reports Zachary Lewis .

The Blue Angles are headed to Cleveland for the 2024 Cleveland National Air Show.Associated Press

Blue Angels: The Cleveland National Air Show will feature the Navy’s Blue Angels over Labor Day weekend in 2024, reports Marc Bona . Six demonstration pilots will entertain air-show fans with a one-hour choreographed aerobatic presentation.

Healthcare and Business

Holiday spending: Reports for both Ohio and the nation call for an increase in holiday spending this year, but Greater Cleveland sales are predicted to shrink, reports Sean McDonnell . Holiday sales in the Cleveland metro area are forecasted to total $5.48 billion, shrinking 4.4% from the $5.73 billion spent last year.

Labor force: When compared to the citizens of other states, a smaller share of Ohioans are either working or actively looking for work. But a new report found the Buckeye State is also performing better than anticipated, given its demographics, reports Sean McDonnell . The report from the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland says that Ohio and the neighboring states in the Cleveland Fed’s jurisdiction, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and West Virginia, all have labor-force participation rates that lag behind the national average.

Cheap gas: Sheetz is making cheap fuel, and puns, somewhat of a holiday tradition. And now drivers can save with Sheetz’ Happy “Tanks-giving” promotion, reports Sean McDonnell . Sheetz has discounted its unleaded 88 fuel, sometimes called E15, to $1.99 a gallon.

Weight watching: Thanksgiving can leave folks feeling gorged, tired and unhealthy. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Marc Bona speaks with Kim Shapira, a registered dietitian in Los Angeles, and April Thompson, a Greater Cleveland chef, businesswoman and author, about easy-to-take smart approaches when it comes to holiday cooking and eating.

Crime and Courts

Building rubble: Firefighters on Monday found the body of an elderly woman in the rubble of a Mount Pleasant neighborhood apartment building that exploded Sunday, reports Olivia Mitchell . The blast happened around 7:50 p.m. in the 3400 block of East 139th Street after a car struck the apartment and then a nearby house, according to spokesman for the Cleveland Division of Fire Lt. Mike Norman.

Couple sentenced: Two men who broke into their friend’s Lakewood home, shot him in the chest, slit his throat and strangled him during a planned Christmas Day robbery in 2021 received life sentences on Monday. Prosecutors say Brian Mobley used his prior relationship with 57-year-old Chris Vo, a Vietnamese refugee who ran a hairdressing business out of his Lakewood Heights Boulevard home, to set Vo up to be robbed by Mobley’s boyfriend, Chad Webb, Cory Shaffer reports .

Drug deaths: A Cleveland-area duo’s cocaine and fentanyl mixture killed three people in one day, according to federal prosecutors. Jarad Paster, 30, of Cleveland, and Matthew Jarrell, 43, of Lakewood, are charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine and fentanyl and possessing the drugs, with automatic sentencing enhancements for causing the three deaths that carry a minimum 20-year prison sentence, Adam Ferrise reports .

Former officer charged: A former Chester Township police officer has been indicted on a sexual battery charge after being accused of meeting up with a teenager while working, reports Molly Walsh . A Geauga County grand jury handed up the indictment Monday charging Nicholas Iacampo, 29, with the third-degree felony and a first-degree misdemeanor charge of contributing to the unruliness of a minor.

Gun sentence: A Strongsville man shot in the face by a police officer as a teenager was sentenced Monday to more than nine years in prison on a federal gun charge, his second lengthy prison sentence in the last 10 years. Adam Ferrise reports Malcolm Hoyle, 37, of Strongsville, was sentenced to nine years and three months in prison, including one year and three months on a post-prison release violation from his 2014 conviction.

Drug ring: A North Royalton man who led a drug ring that made more than $20 million in sales in three years was sentenced Thursday to more than a decade in federal prison, reports Adam Ferrise . Marc Mahoney, 45, turned to drug dealing after he was fired in 2019 from his job at a recycling plant. His drug operation grew so fast, he and his crew dumped 1,350 pounds of cocaine in Cleveland in three years.

Murder-suicide: Police suspect murder-suicide after a family of four was found dead inside their Lorain home on Sunday. The shooting remains under investigation, but police suspect Tyler Young, 29, shot himself after he fatally shot his wife, Skylar Young, 24; their son, 4-month-old Bandin Young; and Skylar Young’s daughter, Angel Isaac, 9, reports Olivia Mitchell .

Arts and Entertainment

OSU coaches: Ryan Day is 1-2 against Michigan. Jim Harbaugh is 2-5 against Ohio State and because of his suspension won’t be part of this year’s Ohio State-Michigan game. What neither can rival - at least yet - in what is often referred to as The Game is the 16 wins each by Ohio State’s Woody Hayes and Michigan’s Fielding Yost, reports Rich Exner . Nor has any coach from either school topped the perfect record of Urban Meyer, who was 7-0 against Michigan.

Best donuts: Jack Frost Donuts has been cranking out your favorite donuts from scratch in Old Brooklyn since 1937, report Yadi Rodriguez and Peter Chakerian . Your third-place winner in the Cleveland.com/The Plain Dealer “Best of” readers’ poll is first place in the hearts of many far and wide, including the neighborhood community that surrounds them.

RV Rocking: Jeff and Patti Kinzbach are in Palm Springs, California - where many RVers converge for the winter – and they decided to have a bit of fun. Jeff plugged in his microphone to a GoPro and embarked on a journey to answer the question: What weird, dumb or strange things have you seen while RVing?

Thanksgiving leftovers: It is an unwritten rule that hosts must cook too much for Thanksgiving dinner. Leftovers are fun. For a while. But turkey can become boring and tedious by Sunday, not to mention approaching its expiration date. Paris Wolfe asks a number of chefs around Northeast Ohio what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers.

Magic of lights: The Magic of Lights are returning to Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds, reports Marc Bona . More than 2 million lights will be set up in assorted displays for drive-through viewing in the eighth season for the lights festival, which uses LED technology and digital animation to present themes like prehistoric Christmas, 12 days of Christmas, 32-foot-tall waving Barbie, Bigfoot Monster Truck, an enchanted tunnel and more.

You’re all caught up

Don’t forget, you can always find the latest Cleveland news by visiting cleveland.com . If you value the hard work of Cleveland journalists, consider becoming a cleveland.com subscriber .

— Curated by Laura Johnston with contributions by Cliff Pinckard

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