Ohio approves $30 million in Progressive Field upgrades: The Wake Up for Friday, Dec. 16,

Subscribe to the Wake Up, cleveland.com’s free morning newsletter, delivered to your inbox weekdays at 5:30 a.m.

Last January, the newly minted Guardians agreed to stay in Cleveland until 2036 as part of a $435 million upgrade deal to Progressive Field.

Over 15 years, the city plans to pay roughly $117 million, the county would pay about $138 million, the state would pay $30 million and the team would pay $150 million.

About $200 million will improve the fan experience, with a reconfigured upper deck concourse, a “friendlier and more democratic” social space in the dugout, and an overhaul of the areas off left field, including the underused Terrace Club. The work could start after next season.

The bill, now awaiting the signature of baseball fan Gov. Mike DeWine, would also allocate $30 million of COVID-19 grants to six minor-league baseball teams and two minor-league hockey teams.

That will give hometown fans (voters) lots to cheer about.

– Laura

Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens: 4:30 p.m. Saturday, FirstEnergy Stadium, Cleveland. TV: WEWS Channel 5, NFL Network. Radio: WKRK FM/92.3, WNCX FM/98.5, WKNR AM/850.

Northeast Ohio weekend weather forecast: Colder weather, slight chance of snow

Progressive Field: The Ohio General Assembly on Thursday during its lame-duck session approved $30 million to make updates to Progressive Field, the home of the Cleveland Guardians. Jeremy Pelzer reports that House Bill 66 also would codify in state law a recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling that Maple Heights can’t charge fees to Netflix or Hulu that typically are paid by cable companies.

Lame duck: The Ohio General Assembly passed no shortage of law changes during the busy, monthlong post-election legislative session heading into its end-of-year break, reports Andrew Tobias. But one of the most notable aspects about the lame-duck session, which culminated in a marathon overnight session that ended around 6 a.m., is what didn’t pass: three of the most controversial measures that earlier on had seemed teed up for approval.

Spending bill: The General Assembly passed a mammoth spending bill after 5 a.m. Thursday at the tail end of a marathon session, doling out nearly $6 billion of mostly federal funds to cap off the biennial legislative session. Jake Zuckerman reports some of the federal coronavirus relief dollars that the bill allocates needed to get out the door by the year’s end. One of the biggest categories: $1.75 billion for Ohio’s schools, allowed to be used for activity under existing federal education funds — with at least 20% to address pandemic-related learning loss.

Today in Ohio: The 134th Ohio General Assembly was working until dawn Thursday to finish its two-year session. Lawmakers passed key bills dealing with everything from election law changes to barring cities from passing tobacco laws that are tougher than state standards. We’re talking about what lame duck procrastinators passed at the last minute on Today in Ohio, cleveland.com’s daily half-hour news podcast.

Transgender sports: The high school transgender girls sports ban in the state legislature is kaput, despite negotiations among lawmakers that included adding a 2,100-page amendment that contained an anti-vaccine provision and a measure stripping the Ohio State Board of Education of most of its authority. Laura Hancock reports House Bill 151 began as a relatively uncontroversial bill about mentoring teachers. It was amended on the House floor last summer to include the so-called “Save Women’s Sports Act,” which prohibited trans girls from playing girls sports.

Sex-abuse education: The Ohio legislature passed a bill that will require schools to provide age-appropriate sexual-abuse prevention education but bars the use of educational materials provided by entities associated with abortion. Erin’s Law was inserted into Senate Bill 288, a criminal justice bill, at around 1:30 a.m. Thursday, reports Laura Hancock.

Guns: Police would be banned from stopping guns from being sold or carried in areas where a riot is happening or might take place under legislation passed early Thursday morning. Jeremy Pelzer reports Senate Bill 16, which now goes to Gov. Mike DeWine’s desk, also would declare gun stores an “essential business” that can’t be shut down by the state during a declaration of emergency.

Unemployment fraud: Ohio lawmakers gave final approval early Thursday morning to a bill designed to cut down on unemployment fraud, a rampant problem during the coronavirus pandemic, reports Jeremy Pelzer. Senate Bill 302 seeks to tighten rules for verifying the maddeningly long delays in processing jobless benefits.

Criminal justice: The Ohio General Assembly passed an enormous criminal-justice reform bill after adding a raft of amendments, including a provision to prohibit drivers in Ohio from holding their phone while behind the wheel. Senate Bill 288 also would toughen penalties for “aggravated vehicular homicide” in cases where the victim is a firefighter or an emergency medical worker, reports Jeremy Pelzer.

Stimulus Watch: Cuyahoga County and its adjacent counties received a total of $6.3 million in grant funds to hire firefighters, paramedics and to boost mental health services available to them. Though 16 fire and police departments received money through the Ohio First Responder Recruitment, Retention, and Resilience program, the lion’s share went to Akron for its fire department to hire 25 more firefighters and paramedics, reports Lucas Daprile.

Pronoun lawsuit: A teacher in Stark County says she was forced out of her job teaching middle-school students because she refused to refer to two students by their preferred pronouns. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Akron, Vivian Geraghty sued the Jackson Local Schools in Massillon, alleging the district violated her freedom of speech and the freedom to exercise her religious beliefs.

RTA: The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has been promising a new rail fleet for three years, but it hasn’t been able to secure all of the funding it needs or lock in a contractor to move the project forward. Now, Kaitlin Durbin reports, the agency has raised $209 million in cash and grants and hopes a new grant next year can help bring the project to the finish line.

Arts and culture: Cuyahoga Arts and Culture trustees voted Wednesday to award $560,500 in grants for artist support programs and resident-led arts and culture projects in 2023, reports Steven Litt. The government taxing subdivision distributes money gathered through the 10-year, 30-cent-a-pack tax on cigarettes approved by county voters in 2006 and renewed in 2015.

Abortion travel: While a majority of Northeast Ohio residents believe low-income women seeking abortions should obtain the procedure in states where it’s legal, they aren’t crazy about using public funds to help pay for the travel costs. Laura Hancock reports on a Baldwin Wallace-cleveland.com poll that found 27.9% of respondents believe low-income women need access to abortion, and that tax dollars should be used to subsidize transportation costs.

Walleye hatch: The walleye hatches in the western and central basins of Lake Erie were above average this year, as was the hatch for yellow perch in the western basin. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources says the story was different for yellow perch in the central basin, where hatches there “continue to be well below average,” Peter Krouse reports.

Boutros lawsuit: Ousted MetroHealth System CEO Dr. Akram Boutros filed a second lawsuit against the hospital system on Thursday, with the new suit claiming defamation of character and breach of contract. Julie Washington reports the suit comes just over three weeks after the MetroHealth board dismissed Boutros, saying an investigation determined he took $1.98 million in unauthorized bonus payments since 2018.

COVID-19 numbers: The number of new COVID-19 cases in Ohio ticked up slightly this week, from 16,061 last week to 16,719 this week. Ohio has been over 10,000 cases per week every week except for brief dips since the beginning of May, reports Julie Washington.

COVID-19 tests: Additional free at-home COVID-19 tests will be available as part of the Biden Administration’s plan to deal with an increase in COVID-19 cases this winter, reports Julie Washington. The federal government’s COVID-19 Winter Preparedness Plan also includes asking hospitals to offer COVID-19 vaccinations to patients before discharge and expanding access to high-quality masks.

Shopping memberships: Costco, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club are known for offering low prices on bulk purchases. But are the savings worth buying a…