By Nick Pedone/Broadcast version by Mary Schuermann Kuhlman

Reporting for the Kent State-Ohio News Connection Collaboration

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The baseball world will be focused on Cleveland today as the city hosts the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

But a familiar face to Cleveland baseball, Chief Wahoo, won’t be on the field for the festivities. The team dropped the controversial logo from its uniforms last fall, although the Chief’s cartoonish face will surely be plastered on shirts and hats, in the stands and outside of the stadium.

The Cleveland Indians officially erased Chief Wahoo from the players’ jerseys and hats ahead of their 2019 season, and removed all signage from Progressive Field that portrayed the Wahoo logo. With the full rebrand underway, the team now sports the basic, red “Block C” logo.

Wahoo’s removal stems from pressures by the Cleveland American Indian Movement, as well as MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. Despite hesitation from the team’s ownership, both remained instrumental in campaigning to remove the image that many Native Americans feel is harmful and racist.

The Cleveland Indians organization would not comment for this story, outside its original statement that Wahoo would be removed from the uniforms in 2019 because of “ethical issues” surrounding the mascot.

Sundance, a member of the Muscogee tribe and the executive director of the Cleveland American Indian Movement, explained that his organization will continue to protest the use of the "Indians" team name and continued licensing of the Wahoo logo.

“I am happy that Major League Baseball took notice of us after a half century. But that’s a half century too late,” Sundance said of the logo’s removal. “It should have been stopped before it started.”

Although banned from the field, the team still holds the trademark to Chief Wahoo, and the licensing for his merchandise sold outside Progressive Field. Sundance described this situation as “problematic, exploitative and obscene.”

The team still makes money from Wahoo’s likeness, profiting from such retail establishments as Rally House using the logo on gear. In order to keep the trademark rights, the MLB and the Indians organization are required to prove some sort of retail presence.

“Quite frankly, it is basically to make money,” Sundance said.

Outside Progressive Field, Vern Thompson owns a retail business selling various teams’ sports apparel downtown, before home games and other big events.

Thompson’s business, Vern & Ozzy’s Sports, and other retailers stocked up on Wahoo gear in anticipation of the logo’s removal.

“It’s definitely made our Chief Wahoo inventory go quick,” Thompson said.

For Thompson and other merchandisers, the controversy creates a monopolistic opportunity. Since Wahoo is no longer available from the Indians’ MLB Shop, other retailers are striving to create a surplus of Wahoo merchandise, which they hope to sell at a premium for years to come.

Sundance isn’t the only person who disagrees with the ethics behind all of this. Indigenous people have protested in front of Progressive Field and Jacob’s Field for decades.

Sundance thinks one protest sign in particular caught the attention of the MLB.

“It meant that they were paying attention,” Sundance said of the Wahoo’s removal. “Especially once we were using the sign that said, ‘A Dollar Spent on Major League Baseball Equals a Dollar Spent on Racism.’”

He added that his group believes the removal of the Chief Wahoo logo from the field was merely a public relations tactic used by Major League Baseball and the Cleveland Indians to keep themselves safe from bad publicity, not to engage with indigenous people.

He said they will continue to protest profiting the logo, and to focus on to changing the team name.

“The logo is offensive, but no less exploitive than the name,” Sundance said.

So far, neither the Indians organization nor the MLB has shown any movement toward a name change. Retailer Thompson believes they understand the negative effect that a name change could have on their business.

“I think it would be detrimental,” Thompson said. “ I think you would see lower attendance, I think you would see lower sales across the board; and personally, I don’t think it will ever happen, because I know they’re aware of those negative effects that could happen from that.”

And Thompson doesn’t believe fans will give up Chief Wahoo.

“Chief Wahoo is an icon in Cleveland,” he explained. “It’s just something that people always love and always buy. I don’t see that going away, ever.”


This collaboration is produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by The George Gund Foundation.


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A New Mexico resident will attend President Joe Biden's State of the Union address tonight as legislation is pending to expand the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act.

The measure was passed in 1990, with money going to residents of the Southwest who were harmed, either from uranium mining or atomic tests in 1945. The original legislation included "downwinders" in Arizona, Utah and Nevada. But New Mexico was left out, despite the state being home to the world's first atomic bomb testing and explosion.

Tina Cordova, co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium, has made it her life's work to get New Mexico families compensated.

"I've been working for 19 years to bring attention to the negative health effects the people of New Mexico suffered," Cordova explained. "The Trinity bomb was detonated in the middle of our state and adjacent to a bunch of towns where 13,000 people lived in a 50-mile radius."

Cordova was invited to the annual Presidential address by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M. In the coming days, the Senate is scheduled to vote on legislation to reauthorize the act, now scheduled to end in June.

Cordova pointed out the more than 30-year-old compensation program was an admission of guilt on the part of the government but left out many of those harmed. She knows families who have lost relatives to cancer, some within 10 years of the nuclear bomb testing.

"I just hope that people who know I'm present, realize that we will never give up the fight," Cordova asserted. "We will work very hard to get the RECA amendments passed this year, but if by some chance that doesn't happen, we will continue to fight this fight for justice as long as it takes."

This Sunday, the Hollywood blockbuster, Oppenheimer, about the creation of the atomic bomb, is a favorite to win best picture at the 2024 Academy Awards. The film did not address effects to those downwind of the bombing site.


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A new report finds Connecticut's recently released prison population is facing reentry challenges.

The State of Reentry report found resources and services are lacking for formerly incarcerated people. Between 2022 and 2023, 14% of the population said they would be homeless upon release.

It is just the tip of the iceberg as many of the state's Reentry Welcome Centers reported most of their clients were housing unstable.

Scott Wilderman, president and CEO of Career Resources, said it can be attributed to numerous factors including the stigma of being an ex-offender.

"We have to do a better job of educating and working with landlords and try to encourage them to give individuals a second chance," Wilderman contended. "There's no doubt about that. The sad part is, with returning citizens or ex-offenders, there's really no such thing as an ex-offender since everybody always sees the offense."

He thinks Connecticut should focus more on justice reinvestment. Other criminal justice advocates have called for using funds saved by closing prisons to invest in reentry centers. The centers are not funded by the state and have been subsisting on American Rescue Plan funds. When the money expires at the end of the year, it is uncertain how they will be able to help people with life after prison.

Given it is the third year of the report, Wilderman acknowledged there have not been many changes, but he found it surprising, noting there has been plenty of time to make improvements, specifically in areas like education.

"We know education is the great equalizer and having a high school diploma is essential," Wilderman asserted. "It just opens a lot more doors for an individual as it's often a requirement for employment, or in some cases going after further education or job training."

The report noted 66% of incarcerated people with sentences ending in six months said they did not have a high school diploma. Enrollment is down in programs for incarcerated people to complete their degrees. One reason for it is Connecticut's ongoing teacher shortage.


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After a five-year court battle, New Jersey's medical aid-in-dying law has been affirmed by the state's Supreme Court, which rejected an attempt to overturn the statute.

Signed by the governor in 2019, the law was soon challenged by a physician based on religious, personal and constitutional grounds. It allows mentally capable, terminally ill adults with six months or less to live to get a prescription they can use to end their lives.

Dr. Paul Bryman, a hospice and palliative care physician, is an advocate for medical aid in dying for people who feel their suffering is intolerable.

"I think it's important that that option is available for people who choose to avail themselves of it. It's not for everyone and it's someone's choice whether they want to use that. No one's forced to do it," he explained.

Bryman practices geriatric and internal medicine and believes there are adequate legal safeguards to make sure patients are protected. The law was briefly suspended in August 2019, but reinstated 13 days later as court proceedings continued.

The nonprofit group Compassion & Choices expressed support for the decision as well as expanded and improved end-of-life care options.

Alan Howard, Compassion & Choices attorney, urged the justices to uphold a lower court's ruling.

"We are grateful that the Supreme Court recognized that there are terminally ill New Jersey residents who are counting on this end-of-life care option to bring them peace of mind during this difficult time," said Howard. "Dying people should have this compassionate option to peacefully end their suffering if it becomes unbearable."

Bryman added a total of 186 terminally ill New Jerseyans have used the medical aid-in-dying law and believes the court made the right decision.

"I'm glad that it's finally over and that this law's available for people in New Jersey who have the right to their own health-care decisions," he said.

In addition to New Jersey, Washington, D.C., and nine other states, which represent 22% of all Americans, have authorized medical aid in dying.