News of the Rust Belt from around the world, brought to you weekly by the staff of Belt. 

Bob Schieffer is right. The decline of local media is totally terrible. [Washington Post]
Less than a third of all newspapers in the country assign a reporter — part time or full time — to cover statehouses, according to the Pew study. Almost nine in 10 (86 percent) of local TV stations have no part-time or full-time correspondent covering the statehouse.

Biker Gangs, Tamir Rice, And The Rise Of White Fragility [Talking Points Memo]
The most dangerous uprising that’s threatening America’s stability isn’t black protests in places like Ferguson or Baltimore. It’s taking place among an aging white majority that is losing its bearing on reality and destroying the gears of government, media and public welfare. At its center is an inexplicable, illogical and dangerous fear that some sociologists are now defining as white fragility.

Police in Cleveland Accept Tough Standards on Force [New York Times]
The Cleveland police department, which has become synonymous with the racially charged debate over police tactics, has agreed to follow some of the most exacting standards in the nation over how and when its officers can use force, and it will accept close oversight to make sure those rules are not ignored, city and federal officials said Tuesday.

The agreement is part of a settlement with the Justice Department over what federal officials have called a pattern of unconstitutional policing and abuse in Cleveland. The department found in a review released late last year that police officers here used stun guns inappropriately, punched and kicked unarmed people, and shot at people who posed no threat. The episodes often went unreported and uninvestigated, investigators found.

Youngstown, Ohio, Reinvents Its Downtown [New York Times]
This city, long derided for its high crime, is starting to attract something once thought unfathomable downtown: permanent residents. A partnership between Pan Brothers Associates, based in Manhattan, and a local developer, Dominic J. Marchionda, coupled with a few assists from a local architectural firm, is bringing pedestrian traffic into what were once streets of desolation.

Bill Moyers: The Challenge of Journalism Is to Survive in the Pressure Cooker of Plutocracy [BillMoyers.com]
And we are left to wonder what will happen when the old business models no longer support reporters at local news outlets? There’s an ecosystem out there and if the smaller fish die out, eventually the bigger fish will be malnourished, too.

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