Formerly made up of the NBA's 30 general managers, the league's competition committee has gotten a makeover and now features two owners, four general managers, three head coaches and one player association representative. Cleveland Cavaliers' majority owner Dan Gilbert has been selected to serve on the committee and will join Joe Lacob of the Golden State Warriors for the ownership representatives.

General managers named to the committee include Mitch Kupchak of the Los Angeles Lakers, Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, Kevin O’Connor of the Utah Jazz and Bryan Colangelo of the Toronto Raptors. Coaches on the commitee include Rick Carlisle of the Dallas Mavericks, Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics and Lionel Hollins of the Memphis Grizzlies.

The players association representative has yet to be determined.

While the make-up of the committee has been altered, the process of changing a rule will be the same. To change a rule, a recommendation from the committee would be brought before the NBA's Board of Governors for a vote.

FirstMerit Corp. is planning to save $15 million this year by closing eight branches in Northeast Ohio and eliminating 338 positions.

The company told the plan to investors on Tuesday. The changes will save the Akron-based bank an additional $30 million next year.

FirstMerit currently has 206 branches. It will close eight and convert another to drive-up service only. It has not been revealed which branches will close.

On Tuesday, the Ohio House approved by an 82-12 vote, the state Senate's changes to House Bill 99, legislation that would ban texting while driving in the state. The bill now moves on to Governor John Kasich, who has said that he will sign the measure into law.

Enforcing the bill will likely be impossible for law enforcement agencies, as shown by other similar local bans that are already in place. Adults can still talk on the phone, and the text ban allows for a number of exceptions.

The Ohio Fraternal Order of Police supported HB 99, but the group's president, Jay McDonald, said that they preferred that texting be a primary offense for all drivers because it would make the law easier to enforce. However, he said that the law is a good first step.

Enforcement of the ban will rest on the discretion of officers, said Lt. Anne Ralston, spokeswoman for the Ohio Highway Patrol. She says that troopers will sometimes warn drivers and attempt to educate them about driving safely.

43 other states already have in place some sort of texting ban.

There are many histories of Cleveland. Not just one history of the city. No history that would tell us, "This is the way it was."

There are many ways to report history. It could be from the view of different people. Different movements. Different economics. Different heroes. Different villains. Different reasons why the city went this way or that way.

Now, there is a new history examining this city through the eyes of what many people might see as odd or unusual.

Daniel Kerr's "Derelict Paradise - Homelessness and urban development in Cleveland, Ohio," does this. It is a remarkable testament of how - through the city's history - the poor (especially black poor) have been pushed aside to make way for what the wealth of the community deemed Progress.

It tests the matter of who enjoys Progress and who doesn't.

As Cleveland media hail and promote casino gambling (isn't it media disgusting) and a new convention center as the latest city comebacks, Kerr has some reminders that there are losers and winners. We pretty much can bet on which will be which in this contest.

The Cleveland Browns sported white-on-white uniforms for all 16 games of the 2011 season, but this year the team will revert back to a more typical style and will revive the brown version of their uniform for 2012.

Tony Gross of ESPN Cleveland reports that Browns head coach Pat Shurmur hinted that the team would wear the brown uniforms for at least four of their eight regular season home games during 2012.

In 2011, the Browns opted to honor the Paul Brown era by wearing white at home. Opponents chooseto wear dark jerseys on the road, which forced them to wear white the entire season. Fans were not pleased with the all-white look of last year, and it seems that the Browns may be listening.

The city of Detroit has a $265 million budget deficit, $13.2 billion in long-term structural debt, and is currently operating under a consent agreement with the state of Michigan as an alternative to being taken over by an emergency financial manager. Already in poor financial shape, Detroit's treasury is expected to take another hit as four new casinos open in Ohio and compete with Detroit's three casinos.

According to a new report from the global management company McKinsey & Co., Detroit could lose up to $30 million in annual casino tax revenue by 2015 as some gamblers switch to using Ohio's casinos. Anticipating the opening of the casinos, especially the ones in Cleveland and Toledo, Detroit has already lowered casino revenue estimates for the upcoming fiscal year.

The Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland opens on May 14, which is today. The Hollywood Casino in Toledo opens on May 29. The openings of the casinos in Columbus and Cincinnati will follow.

Lst year, $177 million of Detroit's $1.2 billion general fund budget in the last fiscal year came from taxes on MotorCity, Greektown, and MGM Grand Detroit casinos. These casinos get about 80 percent of their revenue from people who live within 150 miles of the casinos.

Kyrie Irving, who was selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2011 NBA draft, is expected to be named the 2011-2012 Rookie of the Year sometime early this week.

Irving played in 51 games this season, averaging 18.5 points and 5.4 assists per game. He played an average of 30.5 minutes per game, and shot .469 from the field and .399 from three. Meanwhile, the Cavs finished off the season with a 21-45 record, which was the third worst in the Eastern Conference.

Irving will be the first Cavalier to win the Rookie of the Year award since LeBron James.

On Monday, U.S. Attorney Steven Dettelbach, who represents the northern half of Ohio, announced that the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is launching a new task force dedicated only to the issue of prescription drug abuse.

The announcement comes just as a two-day conference on the abuse of prescription drugs like painkillers begins.

Drug overdose deaths that are fueled by prescription painkiller addiction are now the leading cause of accidental death in Ohio, as well as more than a dozen other states, and surpasses car crashes.

More information about the new unit should come to light soon.

Golfsmith, the United States' largest specialty golf retailer is opening is very first store in the Cleveland market. The 85th store opened, Golfsmith's location on Richmond Rd. in Warrensville Heights is a 20,000 square facility that offers golfers the ability to try out equipment inside one of its four indoor, high-tech hitting simulators or an indoor putting green.

The store is located at 4063 Richmond Rd. in Warrensville Heights at the Harvard Park shopping center, which is just across the street from University Hospitals Ahuja Medical Center. More than 20 associates will be hired at the new location.

The new store opened last week, and kicked off its grand opening with a series of prize giveaways and drawings.

According to a new survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, half of U.S. adults under age 30 say that they've had a sunburn at least once in the past year, which the agency says is a sign that young people are not heading the warnings about skin cancer.

The highest prevalence of indoor tanning was reported among white women aged 18 to 21 years residing in the Midwest (44 percent) and those aged 22 to 25 in the South (36 percent). Overall, 6 percent of all adults said that they'd done indoor tanning in the last year, but the 18 to 21 and 22 to 25 age groups across the U.S. had much higher statistics of around 32 percent.

The rate of sunburn has stayed about the same as what it was 10 years ago, which is a reversal on progress that was reported five years ago.

Doctors say that just one bad sunburn can significantly increase your chances of developing skin cancer.

Dr. Len Lichtenfeld, the deputy chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society, commented on the study results saying:

"I don't know that we're making any headway."

Even more shocking is the fact that 13 percent of women with a family history of skin cancer had done indoor tanning.

Ohio leaders report that the state's tourism industry sales increased by $2 billion in 2011, reaching a total of $40 billion. Ohio Tourism director Amir Eylon says that this is a sign that Ohio has returned to it's pre-recession levels.

Eylon's office also revealed that tourism generated $1.6 billion in state taxes and $1.1 billion in local taxes during 2011. The industry also added 4,000 jobs as compared to 2010.

Ohio's director of the Department of Development adds that state officials are pleased by the benefits of getting millions of visitors to Ohio, and believe tourism is an economic driver for the state.

The Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority has received a federal subpoena for records that deal with parking lot leases with the Cleveland Browns.

The subpoena was issued by U.S. Attorney Antoinette Bacon, who was one of the prosecutors involved in the Jimmy Dimora/Cuyahoga County corruption case.

No official word has been given as to why the subpoena was issued, however it is speculated that the feds may be investigating a discounted parking lot lease deal that the port made with the Browns last year. The subpoena requests that all paperwork regarding that deal be turned over to an FBI agent for possible presentation before a grand jury later this month.

The Ohio Senate could be voting on a gambling bill as early as today that would help bring order to the multiple types of gambling in the state, including casinos, racetrack slots parlors, and other kinds of gambling.

On Tuesday, the Senate Government Oversight and Reform Committee stripped from the gambling bill a controversial provision that would have permitted each of Ohio's 88 counties to designate a single privately run card room using professional dealers to run Texas Hold 'Em, poker, blackjack and other card tournaments for charities. Gov. John Kasich an House Speaker Bill Batchelder (R-Medina) both opposed that provision.

The bill also includes a moratorium running through June 30, 2013, on the opening of any new Internet sweepstakes cafes in Ohio. These business are largely unregulated at the time, and provide Internet time or phone minutes to allow customers to use electronic machines that may have cash payouts.

The National Organization for Reformation of Marijuana Laws are seeking to change the currently illegal status of the possession of marijuana in Ohio. On Saturday, the Ohio and Local Cleveland chapters of NORML made two proposals, one involving the recreational use of marijuana, and the other involving the use of the drug for medicinal purposes.

The amendment seeking to legalize marijuana in Ohio for medicinal use is called the Ohio Medical Cannabis Act of 2012, which would establish a regulatory system modeled after the Ohio State Liquor Control system. It would put in place an Ohio Commission of Cannabis Control, as well as a state devision and superintendent to run it. If approved by voters, marijuana purchases would require a doctor's prescription and would be subject to state and local sales taxes.

Those qualified to make purchases under the Ohio Medical Cannabis Act of 2012 would be permitted to buy 60 grams of marijuana at a time, and could possess and transport up to 200 grams (7 ounces). They would also be allowed to grow up to 12 marijuana plants for personal use. Permits would be required for growing and selling marijuana.