Cleveland court employees charged
Two Cleveland Municipal Court employees have been indicted, accused of pocketing about $5,000 in fines and court costs.

Facing charges of theft in office and tampering with records are 53-year-old Glenn Webb of Cleveland and 50-year-old Aisha Muhammad of Euclid.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason says they took money from traffic-court violators and minor offenders for about a year and a half.

He says Webb was a bailiff, who would approach people after a magistrate heard their cases and tell them he could accept their payments – and would pocket those payments. Mason accuses Muhammad, a clerk, of then recording that the fees were dismissed.

The charges are all felonies of the third degree.

Older voters are pessimistic about retirement
A new survey shows voters over 50 have serious reservations about when – or if – they’ll be able to retire. And because of that, they’re saying the presidential candidates need to talk more about Social Security and Medicare. The poll commissioned by AARP surveyed voters in Ohio and five other states, and pollster Guy Molyneaux (MAHL-eh-noh) says overall, baby boomer voters are pessimistic.

“A large number of baby boomers are not sure today they will ever be able to retire. Only 48 percent expressed some real level of confidence that they will be able to retire at some point in their lives.  While 50 percent says they are either somewhat or not at all confident they will be able to do that.”

The numbers are worse in Ohio – 50 percent believe they will retire at some point, but 64 percent think they will have to delay retirement plans. And two-thirds say they believe the recent economic downtown will force them to rely more on Social Security and Medicare. The survey sought to measure boomers’ concerns about what the AARP calls its “anxiety index” about prices rising faster than incomes, health expenses, financial security in retirement, and taxes.

Dispatch says another state lawmaker will be charged
The Columbus Dispatch is reporting that a second state lawmaker is expected to be charged with a felony.  The paper cites sources who say Dayton Democrat Clayton Luckie will is facing criminal ethics violations.

Luckie was appointed to the Ohio House in 2006 and had been a member of the  Dayton Board of Education.

Ohio law prohibits felons from holding office, but not from running, and for now, Luckie remains on the November ballot. He would have to back off the ballot by Monday for Democrats to pick a replacement.

In mid-June, Columbus Democrat W. Carlton Weddington resigned and pleaded guilty to bribery and ethics violations.

Northeast Ohio Sikhs to gather with other faiths Sunday
Northeast Ohio’s Sikh community plans to hold a special interfaith prayer service Sunday at a Richfield temple to commemorate the six Sikhs a gunman killed in a Wisconsin temple last Sunday.

The temple is on Broadview Road.

Organizer Jusleen Sodiwal says the service is a show of solidarity of religious communities and with the Wisconsin victims.

Northeast Ohio man due in court on theater weapons charges
A North Ridgeville man, Scott Smith, is due in court this afternoon on weapons charges. He’s accused of bringing a loaded gun, ammunition and four knives into the Regal Cinema in Crocker Park, which was showing The Dark Knight Rises. 

Smith’s lawyer has said he brought the weapons to protect himself against a potential attack like the one in a Colorado theater on July 20^th. Police say he lied when questioned about what he was carrying into the theater.