Welcome to The Polished Beat, our weekly wrap-up of all the newsworthy happenings throughout the city. With our hectic schedules, it’s tough to keep up with all the news. Here’s what’s going on in Cleveland.

Got an old ticket in East Cleveland? Well, the city is offering fee amnesty to those who haven’t paid what they owe. The city, which was already suffering prior to the economic downturn, is offering the amnesty until April 3rd.

Want to shoot to Columbus to catch the Buckeyes? Or how about Cincinnati to cheer for the Browns taking on the Bengals? Soon, you’ll be able to do both without having to worry about gas money or parking. The USDOT recently announced that the state will be receiving a $400 million grant to build rails connecting Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. The USDOT awarded the grant to the state and hopes that it becomes “part of an envisioned Midwest train network.” The goal is to have the system running by the end of 2012.

The economic downturn has motivated the Cleveland Police and other city agencies to become greener. Police headquarters will be installing light switches in to allow the building to go dark at night. Because of a previous design flaw, many rooms in the building had no light switches, and as a result the lights stayed on all night. With taxes increasing and the city charging fees in other areas, it’s nice to see that they’re taking measures to save money.

Law schools are struggling with diversity in classrooms. Pick up a LSAT practice guide and let’s take over Marshall and Case! Seriously, many see this as a problem and blame lawsuits against race-based admission as one of the reasons for the decline. Are race-based admissions still necessary in a “post-racial” America? It seems that they are.

President Obama, a champion for education since he’s entered the White House is proposing increasing the number of Pell Grants, and the amount of the grants. In his State of the Union speech, President Obama stressed that college affordability would be an integral part of the 2011 budget. This is his first move in bringing that to fruition.