The Medical Mart plan that was shoved down our throats as the potential savior of Cleveland's economy seems to be going the way that just about every other project in this city has before, and that's not a good thing. It looks like the project will go over its budget by tens of millions of dollars, if not more, and the site that MMPI, the firm in charge of the project, planned to use may not work out after all.

MMPI now says that the cost of renovating Public Auditorium is $60 to $100 million more than expected. Oil heating, plumbing and mechanical systems were much more pricey than anticipated. In addition, they've been unable to close deals on several parcels of land on St. Clair Ave.

Cuyahoga County Commissioner Peter Lawson Jones says that what this means is that the site of the Medical Mart will now most likely be the northern part of the mall, between Cleveland City Hall and the old County Courthouse. However, a number of nearby sites are also still an option.

Peter Lawson Jones says that the change would make it possible for more money to be put into the building and provide a lakefront view which would enhance the project. He says that the relocation will not change the overall timeline for getting the project built, but there are some other issues that could complicate matters.

A fourth victim of Cleveland serial killer Anthony Sowell has been identified as 43-year-old Nancy Cobbs. Cobbs was last seen in April and her family had filed a missing persons report to the police in June. Cobbs was a mother of 4 children.

In other news on the case, Sowell stated that he wanted the death penalty after being caught by police this weekend. And in a strange twist, Mayor Frank Jackson's niece said that she had a relationship with Sowell and even asked questions about the repugnent odor at the Imperial Ave residence. Sowell told her that the smell was from the sausage factory that the house was next door to.

As if the Cleveland police don’t have enough on their hands. Now they have another missing person: Mayor Frank Jackson.

Where is Frank Jackson?

I’ve covered a lot of mayors going back to Ralph Locher. I don’t know one of them that would not have had a strong public presence in a situation as the one where 11 women have been murdered. And where so much evidence points to an embarrassing lack of policy, execution and service from the city and its bureaucracy.

I don’t know any of the Mayors for more than 40 years who would not be very visible, trying to guide the city, calm the city and give it some assurance of action. I don’t know any of them who wouldn’t be consoling the residents, trying to reassure them in every way, every day that the Mayor has concerned for them, for what has happened and for a just resolution.

This Mayor is absent without leave. He can’t hide behind, “What is, is.”

It won’t fly. Not this time.

The city’s police department has been seen as embarrassingly inept or worse, seriously unconcerned. This is his police department. They represent him.

The absence of the mayor is unforgivable.

During their 11 o' clock broadcast, WKYC reported that suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell may be linked to a handful of murders that occurred in East Cleveland prior to his incarceration in 1990. The murders involved prostitutes who were also linked to drug use and the circumstances are eerily similar to the victims on Imperial Ave.

Sowell happened to live in East Cleveland at the time. All of the victims also died by strangulation, and the deaths stopped around the same time he began to serve his 15-year prison sentence.

Two detectives are now working on re-opening the cold case files. All of the detectives that worked on the case at the time are now retired, but will be contacted and consulted about the cases.

Alcoa announced today that it wll rebuild and enhance the forging press at its Cleveland plant. The company will put $110 million into the project.

“This could not have happened without the support of our employees, community leaders and leadership of United Auto Workers Local 1050,” said William F. Christopher, Alcoa executive vice president and president of Alcoa Engineered Products and Solutions. “When this project is completed, Cleveland Works will be the home of the most advanced, productive large forging presses in the world.”

State leaders applauded the news as well. Governor Ted Strickland stated:

Tanja Doss, 43, went up to suspected serial killer Anthony Sowell's third-floor bedroom for a beer and said that he seemed like a "civilized person", until, she says, he leapt up and began choking her and threatening to killer. Doss says she survived the night with him through a combination of calm, prayer, trickery and cajoling.

Doss says that she met Sowell in 2005 after his prison release, but did not know the real reason for his sentence. She said that she found him to be "a civilized person, siting outside drinking beer, a nice person." So she didn't hesitate to join him for a drink. However, things quickly turned ugly.

"And then he just clicked. I'm sitting on the corner of the bed and he just leaped up and came over and started choking me," she said.

In a state of shock, Doss said that she laid back and tried not to struggle. She said:

"He said, 'If you want to live, knock three times on the floor.' And I knocked on the floor."

With his hands still around her throat, Doss says that he then told her using a string of profanities that she could be "dead in the street" and no one would care. He then made her strip and lay on the bed. But she says that he did not attempt to rape her.

It didn’t even take a day for the Pee Dee to setup the next pillage and plunder of Cleveland.

Listen to what the Pee Dee said editorially the day after the casino issue, strongly backed by the paper, had to say about the use of its tax revenue:

“So consider this idea, which is already germinating among downtown boosters (read: looters): Divert some of the new property taxes the casino will pay – from the city’s share, not the school district’s – to complete the Towpath Trail and Canal Basin Park, to redesign Public Square and to add pocket parks, waterfront access and other residential enhancements.”

Forget about Imperial Avenue. Forget about all the Cleveland Imperial Avenues.

Let’s spend a few more million on a bike path and redo Public Square. Again.

Just read the intention of this proposal. You will see a community looting being pushed by the Pee Dee.

This is what the Pee Dee – acting as front for the Greater Cleveland Partnership and its corporate thugs – wants to do with any revenue that might come to the city from the casino. Disgusting.

Can you believe it?

How insensitive is that on the day following the discovery of multi-murders and a city police force and government that allowed what happened on Imperial Avenue to happen. As the bodies are being ushered out.

Police said that the Cuyahoga County Coroner's Office identified the body of Tishana Culver, 31, on Thursday. Culver also lived on Imperial Ave., and was not reported as a missing person. Telacia Fortson, 31, was also identified earlier on Thursday. Fortson, who resided in East Cleveland, was the mother of three young children and had been missing since May 31.

Culver's family said that they had not spoken with her in more than a year, indicating that they thought she was staying with her boyfriend in Akron. Fortson's family initially filed a missing person's report with East Cleveland police over the summer, and contacted Cleveland's 4th district on Sunday.

Fortson's body was one of two found on the upper floor of Sowell's home. Fortson's 6-year-old son supplied a DNA sample Thursday morning, which was used to determine her identity.

Cleveland Congressman Dennis Kucinich earned the highest highest civilian award presented by the Republic of Hungary in a ceremony today. The The Prime Minister of Hungary gives the Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit based on their achievements and outstanding efforts in support of the Hungarian Community.

A ceremony was held for Kucinich at the Hungarian Embassy in Washington, D.C. earlier today.

It's been a ceremonious couple of weeks for the liberal Democrat as he was awarded Thomas Merton Award for work in social justice late last month.