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WKSU News Headlines Primary Format : News Language : English Also Listed as: News City : Kent State/Province : OH Country : USA Region : NA User Tags: User Votes: RSS Feed Website People found this Podcast Searching for: View this Podcast on a Google Map. Podcast iTunes Link Text Only listing of WKSU News Podcasts Methings.com listings of WKSU News Podcasts If you like this podcast, you might also like:

Monty Python's "7th member" is performing his humorous numbers in Northeast Ohio Neil Innes is an English musician whose mark on British humor has come through several channels, not the least of which are his contributions to Monty Python. This has gained the unofficial title of "7th Python." But it all started when he met fellow students who had a quirky band. Innes spoke with WKSU's Joe Gunderman. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Former Cleveland Indians owner Dick Jacobs has died Former Cleveland Indians owner and commercial real estate developer Dick Jacobs has died after a long illness. Though his developments have been going up around the country for more than half a century, Jacobs is probably best known as the owner who turned the Indians around in the 1990s. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Morning Newscast - Kent State trustees delay vote on next year's budget until state budget is settled. - Chrysler dealerships take the stand in the car company's bankruptcy trial. - Four blocks in Cleveland evacuated after police find explosives in a garage. - LeBron James fined $25,000 by NBA for skipping press conference after Eastern Conference Finals loss. - Twins 11, Indians 3 - Carmona lasts 2 innings, gives up 7 runs, 3 walks. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kent State waiting for state lawmakers before approving 2010 budget Kent State University trustees have decided to postpone voting on their next fiscal year budget until the state budget has been finalized. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Frustration over Cavs still lingers, but now fans focus on Cleveland's other two teams With the Cleveland Cavaliers season ending short of a championship, attention has shifted to superstar LeBron James. Plan Dealer sports columnist and WKSU commentator Terry Pluto talks with Amanda Rabinowitz about the fallout from James's conduct after the team's loss and his future with the Cavs. He also weighs in on Cleveland's two disappointing teams, the Indians and Browns. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron General Hospital sells Stark County affiliate Akron General Hospital announced the sale this week of its Stark County facility to minority partner Community Health Systems. It's part of the effort to stem the flow of red ink at one of Summit County's largest employers. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website BASF reaches deal to bring large ion battery facility to NE Ohio A deal reached by the U.S. Department of Energy and chemical giant BASF Wednesday sets in motion plans to build the largest ion-battery-material plant on the continent in northeast Ohio. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kent State Graduate Stephen Donaldson and The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant When Kent State graduate Stephen Donaldson wrote a fantasy trilogy in the late 1970s called The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, he threw away the stereotypes of the good-natured, perfect and all-knowing protagonist. His hero is confused, angry, scared, and unaware of his power. And to make matters worse, he's a leper. WKSU's Chris Boros has more. Chris Boros reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website More recovery dollars coming to help Northeast Ohio workers U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis is announcing millions more in emergency funding for laid-off autoworkers in Northeast Ohio. She and car czar Ed Montgomery also met with local foundations and toured a job training site to learn what leaders here say they need for long-term recovery. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website FirstEnergy cuts pay, offer buyouts to salaried workers Akron-based FirstEnergy is cutting the pay of salaried workers by at least 5-percent and offering some salaried employees early retirement packages. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website More jobs coming to Cuyahoga Valley National Park U.S. Secretary of Interior Ken Salazar says the Cuyahoga Valley National Park will become a stronger economic engine under President Obama... WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM to close one major Ohio operation: Mansfield stamping plant Despite high productivity and good labor relations, General Motors decides to cease all operations at the plant next year. Between 800 and 900 jobs will be eliminated. At its peak the plant employed more than 3,000. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM spares Northeast Ohio's Lordstown plant The largest of GM's Ohio operations will survive at least the first round of plant cuts, saving about 2,000 jobs. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland following up on the F.B.I's building inspector investigation The City of Cleveland is picking up where the F.B.I. left off in it's corruption investigation in the city's Building and Housing Department. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM Parma stamping plant to stay open Workers in Parma are celebrating a reprieve today after General Motors announced it will keep the Parma Stamping plant open and retain about 14-hundred workers. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM to close three Ohio operations In a move to trim production and labor costs under bankruptcy protection, General Motors is closing plants, including one in the Mansfield area and part of another in Parma. A service and parts warehouse in Columbus also will be closed. U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) issued a statement regarding this morning's bankruptcy filing. "This is a challenging time for Ohio auto communities and for manufacturers across the state. My thoughts are with GM workers, their families, and the thousands ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A new professional baseball team hopes to drive economic development in Avon Like much of the economy in Northeast Ohio, the professional sports industry is suffering. But a Lorain County community is hoping that building a multi-million dollar stadium for a new independent baseball team will be a tool for economic recovery. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Columbus Symphony will return for a new season in the fall This weekend, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra concluded its classical concert season. During the past year, the Symphony lost its popular conductor, nearly went bankrupt, and musicians took salary and benefit concessions. Still, the symphony is planning for a new season this fall. From member station WOSU, Sam Hendren reports on the future of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. WOSU's Sam Hendren reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Two Israeli companies open offices in Akron Travelers may soon be able to move more quickly through airport security thanks to two Israeli companies which today announced they're moving to Akron. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Urban League spared for now The Urban League of Greater Cleveland will not completely shut down next week as expected. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website National Inventors Hall of Fame School in Akron to showcase inventions, student learning Next year some Akron middle schoolers will be sharing space with Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and scores of the most brilliant inventors in American history. A tour of the new Inventors Hall of Fame School shows they'll be sitting side-by-side. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio GM workers overwhelmingly support concessions Even if UAW members throughout the country follow Lordstown's lead and accept major concessions with GM, many worry if, in the end, it will matter. A bankruptcy proceeding for the company could change everything, and then there's the auto industry itself ... with no clear view of where it will go. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wells Fargo in Cleveland housing court fight Wells Fargo Bank is in Cleveland's housing court. The bank is fighting a temporary restraining order prohibiting it from selling any of the foreclosed homes it owns in the city. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio fuel cells and components going into forklifts, power packs After seven years and more than 79-million dollars of state funding, Ohio's fuel cell industry is beginning to send some products to market. But others have stalled due to the economy. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gas prices on the rise again There were good signs for the economy this week - consumer confidence was way up, along with the stock market. But another thing that's been rising this week is the price for a gallon of self-serve unleaded gas. In Ohio, drivers are now paying an average of $2.49 a gallon for self-serve unleaded, according to Triple A. That's $0.10 higher than a week ago and more than $0.38 higher than a month ago. Ohio Petroleum Council lobbyist Terry Fleming says ironically, rising gas prices are a by-pr ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gay rights advocates push for expansion of rights in Ohio For the fourth straight legislative session, gay rights advocates are once again pushing Ohio legislators to expand the state's civil rights law to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Advocates for low income families plead with state senate for funding Advocates of programs that help low income, young mothers are pleading with leaders in the Ohio Senate to make sure there is enough money to fund those programs. They provide home nurses, educational assistance for low income mothers, and services to help with parenting skills. Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly says these services are sorely needed in his community. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Off-stride and against long odds, the Cavs head into game 5 When Plain Dealer and WKSU sports commentator Terry Pluto headed to Orlando, the Cavs and Magic were split 1-1 in the Eastern Conference finals " and most Northeast Ohio fans hadn't even considered Chinese partners as Cavs owners. But a lot's changed in a few days. M.L. Schultze caught up with Pluto at the Charlotte airport on his way back to Cleveland, where the Cavs face a must-win game 5 Thursday night. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ex-lawmakers advice on tax hikes Hard work and tough circumstances can turn friends into enemies - or they can create common ground between very different people. Two political operatives are polar opposites - but agree on one point. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM autoworkers to vote Wednesday on contract concessions Members of the two Lordstown United Auto Workers locals will be voting tomorrow on contract concessions with General Motors as the automaker inches closer to Chapter 11 bankruptcy. One union leader says while many of the give backs were painful, they are vital if GM is to return to profitability. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website National Urban League looking for ways to keep Cleveland chapter open The National Urban League is trying to keep the Urban League of Greater Cleveland from closing next week. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland loses another round in legal fight over hiring practices Another judge says Cleveland's hiring practices are unconstitutional because the city hires employees without civil service tests. But the city isn't giving up. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Former congressman launches campaign for governor In less than a week, a former Congressman will launch his campaign for the Republican nomination for governor on next year's ballot. But the Republican who's already in the race says he's not backing out. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Local auto group appealing Chrysler's bankruptcy plans No dealership in the United States was hit harder than Spitzer Auto Group by Chrysler's plans to eliminate one quarter of its dealerships. And Spitzer is fighting back, saying its seven dealerships have been targeted for elimination because Spitzer hasn't always played along with the car company. Anthony Giardini is Spitzer's lawyer, and is appealing Chrysler's plans in U.S. Bankruptcy court. He says Spitzer has done a lot to keep Chrysler in business. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Coach Keith Dambrot muses on what makes LeBron great The Cleveland Cavs are down 3-1 in the Eastern Conference finals and are facing a must-win situation Thursday night. That's led to NBA analysts like Charley Rose talking about the teamwork of the Orlando Magic beating the one-man magic of Lebron James. But one of his early coaches says no one knows better than LeBron James the value of teamwork. And Keith Dambrot also says no one is more likely than James to draw superior play from all his teammates. Dambrot coached James first in weeken ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Local pols turnout for mayor Supporters of Don Plusquellic seek to raise public awareness and spur voters to turnout against the recall aimed at unseating him WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Chinese businessmen want a piece of the Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers could soon have one of biggest marketing opportunities in China of any American sports franchise. A group of Chinese investors want minority ownership of the team. And a signed deal would give the Cavs and its star LeBron James unprecedented access to China's lucrative, growing pro basketball fan base. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Jewish News editor retires When she cleans out her Beachwood office at the end of this week the editor of the Cleveland Jewish News will take away more than photos, award plaques, and 30 years worth of newspaper clippings. She has a trove of treasured memories of the personalities and events that shaped Cleveland's Jewish community. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio fuel cell researchers concerned about federal cuts to automotive research In the wake of massive cuts to automotive fuel cell research in the 2010 federal budget, researchers meeting at Kent State's Stark Campus this week say they're concerned about funding for other projects tied to the alternative hydrogen fuel technology. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Worker coops in Cleveland to build wealth for inner-city residents A group of Cleveland non-profits is backing a socially-conscious, eco-development in an inner-city neighborhood. They hope the environmentally-friendly workers cooperative will help build wealth for impoverished residents. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The value of reading literature This is the time of year when people start planning their Summer reading list. The National Endowment For The Arts released a survey showing that over the last six years, the percentage of adult Americans who read works of literature has increased by about four percent. According to the N-E-A, more than half of adults read fiction, poetry, or drama. That's good news, says the N-E-A. But WKSU commentator Paul Gaston isn't so sure. WKSU's Paul Gaston reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website WKSU Crow comes a-callin' A common crow has uncommon taste in music and news and has apparently adopted WKSU as his/her favorite radio station. Each morning the curious corvis comes a-callin', and often bangs the glass doors until shooed away. What is he/she after? We're not quite sure here at 89.7 fm. It may be NPR and classical music, OR the foam insulation that lines the glass front of the building. The bird has committed itself to removing every last bit of it from around the molding. Look for more updates ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Obama point man visits NE Ohio Ed Montgomery told auto workers and local business leaders that programs to help with retraining of workers and repurposing of facilities is available. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland praises visiting Car Czar for federal help for unemployed autoworkers Governor Ted Strickland told the Obama administration's visiting automobile czar that the state needs all the federal help it can get now that the state unemployment rate is over 10-percent. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland E. coli death could be linked meat recall Northeast Ohio health officials are still trying to determine if the death of a young Cleveland girl is related to an e-coli outbreak stemming from tainted ground beef. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New study on smoking ban is promising for businesses A new study shows smoking bans do not cause job losses in bars and resturants. Ohio State University health professor Liz Klein looked at employment trends in eight Minnesota cities that have different types of clean air policies and two cities that have no laws restricting smoking. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Supporters of early childhood programs worried about funding from state Supporters of an early childhood program that provided preschool for low income three and four-year old children are worried about the future. Linda Neugabauer with the Columbus Montessori Education Center says state lawmakers have proposed budget cuts that could leave up to 4,000 preschoolers stranded in the middle of the summer. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Career college students rally again Supporters of for-profit career colleges came to the Statehouse today for the second time in a month to protest cuts in state grants. Some 22,000 Ohioans go to those schools with state and federal support, which the career colleges say has been slashed by 81% in the House version of the budget. And the colleges say most of their students are low-income, so they won't be able to continue their education. Scarlett Mitchell graduated from a career college and now works at National College in S ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Group proposes new bicycle roadway laws If you're a motorist passing a bicyclist on a roadway, make sure your car stays at least three feet away from the bicycle. That's the safety rule that bicyclist groups want to put into Ohio law, so that drivers who violate it could be handed a traffic ticket. Chuck Smith is chair of the Ohio Bicycle Federation. He says that a dozen other states already have that kind of law. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website AG Cordray backing the new credit card law Attorney General Richard Cordray thinks Ohioans will be happy with the bill just passed by Congress to ban credit card companies from unilateral rate hikes. Cordray has traveled the state during the past couple of years, taking more than 5,000 complaints from Ohioans about credit card practices and he says this new bill speaks to many of those situations. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio businesses pushing for passage of American Clean Energy and Security Act Some Ohio businesses are pushing for Congress to pass the American Clean Energy and Security Act. That would force car companies to make more fuel efficient cars. Shawn Grimes is with Cobasys, a Dayton area company that makes batteries for three hybrid General Motors cars. He says business is down right now but it wouldn't stay that way if Congress passed the environmental measure. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio getting $38 million to fight crime The U.S. Justice Department has announced that Ohio is about to get 38 million Federal Recovery Act dollars to increase public safety and retain law enforcement jobs. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State legislators take on a number of issues this week Home foreclosures, gay rights, speed limits, and health insurance are all on the schedule for state legislators to consider this week. Plus, there is the continuing and deepening state budget mess. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio House okays foreclosure moratorium Thousands of Ohio home owners who are facing foreclosure could get a six-month reprieve, if Democrats who control the Ohio House of Representatives get their way. After a spirited debate today, the Democrats outvoted Republicans and got the House to approve a proposal for a six-month moratorium on some foreclosures. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website William Wegman celebrates the dog in all of us Artist William Wegman has made a career of collaborating with non-human people, namely, his dogs. Wegman's pictures fuse the animal and human attributes of man's best friend to create a new creature, the 'dog-person'. A new exhibit of Wegman photographs at the Akron Art Museum features his weimeraner, and muse, Fay. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Morning Newscast - Cleveland's tourism agency asking to keep $6.6 million in hotel taxes. - KeyBank announces another 300 job cuts. - KeyBank breaks ground on new office building in downtown Akron. - Death of 7-year old Cleveland girl could be linked to tainted beef, 100,000 pounds of hamburger patties from Valley Meats LLC being recalled. - Car Czar Ed Montgomery to visit with Twinsburg workers today. - NEOUCOM looking for a new president, Lois Margaret Nora stepping down at the end of the year. - Indians ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron Mayor defends going after business At the ground breaking for a new combination bank branch and office complex in downtown, Akron's mayor argues that if he operated as his critics who are campaigning for his recall from office want him to the city's economy would languish. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New building for downtown Key Bank's Eastern Ohio Region President says the decision to build is meant to show both that the bank is financially strong, and committed to Akron. The ground breaking came at the same time the Chairman of parent KeyCorp announced 300 additional layoffs companywide. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio exhibit shows concern over terrorism and torture is nothing new As President Barack Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney take on the issue of terrorism and torture in separate venues this week, an exhibit at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood shows the debate is nothing new...and unlikely to be resolved anytime soon. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New type of care emerging for terminally ill children in Northeast Ohio In Northeast Ohio, a new type of care is emerging that redefines a period of life that is often lost to terminally ill children and their families. A doctor at Akron Children's Hospital founded the region's first palliative care system for children, bringing back and expanding the concept of the house call. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Why can't Northeast Ohio be more like Minneapolis Northeast Ohio can spent its money wiser, govern better, control sprawl and even out the disparities of rich and poor communities. And it can have a structure in place to do all that by Jan. 1. That's the sales pitch communities throughout the region are hearing from backers of the new "regional prosperity initiative." WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Obama aide to visit Twinsburg The visit will not deal with the decision to close the Chrysler plant. Instead it is part of the process of determining what federal programs to route to Northeast Ohio for short-term assistance to workers and communities, and to stimulate new job creation. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Minority leaders assess loss of Cleveland Urban League Greater Cleveland minority leaders are assessing the potential damage from the loss of one of the city's oldest social service agencies. The Urban League of Greater Cleveland will cease operations at the end of the month because of financial problems. For more than nine-decades, the chapter has helped minorities find jobs and start businesses through training programs and other support. Now, these services will either disappear or come from another provider. Other Northeast Ohio Urban L ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cavs face a tough test against the Magic The Cavs have one more opponent standing in the way of a berth in the NBA championships " the Orlando Magic. The Magic are coming off a seven game series win against the defending champion Boston Celtics. Plain Dealer sports columnist and WKSU commentator Terry Pluto tells Amanda Rabinowitz that the Cavs are in for a challenge as the series begins tonight. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website One of NE Ohio's smallest dealers survives the Chrysler cuts Malvern Ohio's Furey Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep, will have to take on some of the new car and parts inventory from dealerships Chrysler is closing, and says owner John Furey, that's a decision that can only be made after careful consideration. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Demjanjuk deported The beginning of the final chapter in the decades-long war crimes case against John Demjanjuk is playing out in Cleveland today. An ambulance pulled up to his suburban Cleveland home and transported him to a U.S. immigration office. He was then taken to Burke Lakefront Airport where he was to be deported to Germany to stand trial. From WKSU's Cleveland studios, Kevin Niedermier reports. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Twinsburg pushes Chrysler to reconsider closing plant At a 4 p.m. rally today, Twinsburg plans to protest Chysler's plans to close its stamping plant -- plans that will cost the town some 12-hundred jobs. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Denny Laine's Musical Journey Songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Denny Laine is best known for his roles in The Moody Blues and Wings with Paul McCartney. He stopped by our studios to discuss his career with WKSU's Bob Burford. Bob Burford reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear Akron Riverwalk project gets initial financing Bonds will be purchased from the Summit County Port Authority which will then loan funds to the project. The deal was worked out between PNC, the Port Authority, Summit County, the City of Akron, and the Industrial Realty Group. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website High schools students join the budget debate at the Statehouse As soon lawmakers have been questioning the numbers in the upcoming state budget - especially in light of the huge hole in the current spending plan - hundreds of high school students came to the Statehouse to add their voices to the debate about education reform. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Major Northeast Ohio construction projects at stand still due to stalled labor talks Work is on hold at several large Northeast Ohio construction projects after contract talks with a labor union stalled this week. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Big cuts could come in order to balance state budget Big spending cuts in programs for the poor, elderly, and mentally ill could be looming. Ohio legislators have learned they may have billions less to spend during the next two years then they had hoped for. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New polls have Strickland looking at re-election Several recent public opinion polls show that Governor Ted Strickland remains popular with Ohioans, but his popularity is slipping a bit as the state's economy flounders. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Supreme Court rules against nursing home arbitration lawsuit The Ohio Supreme Court says a voluntary agreement signed by a resident as she moved into a nursing home can't be thrown out just based on her advanced age. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Charter schools campaign against new education budget Backers of charter schools are starting to wage a controversial campaign against Governor Strickland and teachers unions. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio relaunches raccoon vaccine campaign It is spring, and that means it's time for Ohio to re-launch its yearly battle against raccoon rabies in the northeast corner of the state to keep it from spreading. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Plain Dealer, Beacon Journal, Repository editors talk about struggle to make money, serve readers, find advertisers A $2 newspaper to go with a $3 cup of coffee. Online content people pay for. Electronic delivery of the morning paper. The editors of three of the biggest papers in northeast Ohio are talking together about their future and the struggle to find a new media model that pays the bills. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fourth generation preserves "master carver" Mooney Warther's train collection at Dover museum Just off I-77 in Tuscarawas County is a museum that houses more than 60 minutely-detailed, working steam engine models. They were made by a man dubbed the world's master carver and took nearly five decades to complete. Mooney Warther turned down millions to preserve his carvings in his hometown of Dover. Now, a fourth generation keeps his legacy thriving. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Regional Ohio bank needs to raise billions of "stress test" dollars The federal government's "stress test" result are in, and three regional banks with large footprints in Ohio will need extra capital to prove they can survive if the economy gets worse. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Bicycling makes a comeback in Northeast Ohio High fuel prices and low expectations for the economy are cited as reasons for a strengthening interest in bicycling seen by area retail and repair shops. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Recall advocates turn in additional signatures If the latest petitions contain enough valid signatures (about five hundred, fifty are needed) the recall election would have to be held no less than thirty days and no more than sixty days after official certification, which could come in about a week. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Garfield Heights soldier remembered Twenty-one year old Army Specialist Brad Davis of Garfield Heights, Ohio was killed in Iraq last week by a roadside bomb. High school friends and faculty remember him as a gregarious, fun-loving kid who loved football and who also played matchmaker for a member of his combat team. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Deadline for Akron mayoral recall Today was the deadline for the second and final filing of petitions by the group trying to recall Northeast Ohio's longest serving mayor. Tim Rudell reports from Akron. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New Cuyahoga County sheriff working to right disgraced department Cuyahoga County's first new sheriff in more than 30 years officially takes over the position on Friday...but he's spending this week transitioning into the job, and trying to take steps to turn the discredited department around. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Demjanjuk loses another court battle over deportation A court in Berlin, Germany has rejected one of John Demjanjuk's latest attempt to block his deportation to that country for trial on tens of thousands of World War II war crimes charges. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website WKSU Crow comes a-callin' A common crow has uncommon taste in music and news and has apparently adopted WKSU as his/her favorite radio station. Each morning the curious corvis comes a-callin', and often bangs the glass doors until shooed away. What is he/she after? We're not quite sure here at 89.7 fm. It may be NPR and classical music, OR the foam insulation that lines the glass front of the building. The bird has committed itself to removing every last bit of it from around the molding. Look for more updates ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Two more confirmed cases of swine flu in Northeast Ohio The state Health Department has confirmed two more swine flu cases in Northeast Ohio, bringing the total in our region to three, and the total statewide to 5. The new area cases, joining one from last week in Lorain County, are in Portage and Holmes counties. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Most Northeast Ohio biotech companies ahead of national trend A new report says the U.S. biotech industry as a whole became profitable last year for the first time. According to a Northeast Ohio biotech official, this region's biotech industry has been profiting for some time because of the products it makes. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A big success at a small library A village library in Stark County is one of just 22 libraries in the nation, and the only one in Ohio, to have the exhibit on display. It has been at Minerva library since early April and will close and move on Wednesday after what library officials describe as a very successful run. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A firefighter's all-vegetable diet Orange High School grad Rip Esselstyn's great-grandfather founded the Cleveland Clinic. His father once headed the Clinic's staff. One of Esselstyn's grandfathers pioneered partial mastectomies and the other was Lou Gehrig's personal physician. Rip Esselstyn isn't a doctor; he fights fires for a living. But he has found another way to save lives : an all-vegetable diet. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Cavs LeBron James returns to Akron to talk of dreams, awards and the mission LeBron James said almost everything everyone packed into the St. Vincent-St. Mary's high school gym wanted to hear, including that his heart and success belong to Northeast Ohio. But the NBA's newly crowned most valuable player pulled up just short of commiting to a permanent career in Cleveland. From WKSU's Akron studios, M.L. Schultze has more... WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland, Cuyahoga County agree on convention center sale A new Cleveland convention center and medical exhibit hall moved one-step closer to becoming a reality today. Officials from Cuyahoga County and the City of Cleveland have agreed on the sale of the city's old convention center to the county. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Plant closing is challenge for Twinsburg Another NE Ohio manufacturing facility will close for good. With the December 2010 shutdown of the Chrysler stamping plant now confirmed, the city of Twinsburg will seek new sources of economic development. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lake Erie wind farm feasible The final feasibility study released today for building an experimental wind turbine farm off Cleveland's lakeshore shows funding and getting governmental approval are the remaining obstacles. Supporters believe the completed project could generate thousands of wind turbine-related jobs for the region. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Chapter 11 may speed dealer cuts by Chrysler According to a number of Northeast Ohio Chrysler dealers, the idea is to filter out weaker dealers so those that remain can be financially stronger. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Concurrent exhibitions in Cleveland and Akron showcase photographer Lee Friedlander's five-decade career as well as Northeast Ohio's industrial history Here's Cleveland Museum of Art curator Tom Hinson's take... on Lee Friedlander, "One of the finest and most prolific photographers in the history of the medium." The largest ever display of Friedlander's work concludes a world tour this month in Cleveland. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports the Cleveland Museum of Art's retrospective runs concurrently with a smaller show in Akron with a regional focus. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Concurrent exhibitions in Cleveland and Akron showcase photographer Lee Friedlander's five-decade career as well as Northeast Ohio's industrial history Here's Cleveland Museum of Art curator Tom Hinson's take... on Lee Friedlander, "One of the finest and most prolific photographers in the history of the medium." The largest ever display of Friedlander's work concludes a world tour this month in Cleveland. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports the Cleveland Museum of Art's retrospective runs concurrently with a smaller show in Akron with a regional focus. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Chrysler to shut down plants for up to two months Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Chrysler will have less flexibility to make deals with the local unions and take other measures to keep the big stamping plant open. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Glimpses of Hollywood's Golden Age offered at Kent State's museum Ann Rutherford's rhinestone studded glasses, slowed but graceful walk and a strong, deep voice announce she was part of Hollywood's Golden Age " and that's even before she shares stories with names like Clark Gable and Gene Autry and Greer Garson in them.Rutherford will speak tonight at 7 p.m. at the Kent State University Museum, with a reception to follow. She then heads to Cadiz " birthplace of Clark Gable. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Glimpses of Hollywood's Golden Age offered at Kent State's museum Ann Rutherford's rhinestone studded glasses, slowed but graceful walk and a strong, deep voice announce she was part of Hollywood's Golden Age " and that's even before she shares stories with names like Clark Gable and Gene Autry and Greer Garson in them. Rutherford will speak tonight at 7 p.m. at the Kent State University Museum, with a reception to follow. She then heads to Cadiz " birthplace of Clark Gable. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Glimpses of Hollywood's Golden Age offered at Kent State's museum Ann Rutherford's rhinestone studded glasses, slowed but graceful walk and a strong, deep voice announce she was part of Hollywood's Golden Age " and that's even before she shares stories with names like Clark Gable and Gene Autry and Greer Garson in them.Rutherford will speak tonight at 7 p.m. at the Kent State University Museum, with a reception to follow. She then heads to Cadiz " birthplace of Clark Gable. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New C.S.U. president outlines plans Cleveland State University's incoming president says he will make the university a bigger economic development tool for the city. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website D-Day comes for Chrysler The rank and file went to the ballot boxes at their locals to say "yes" or "no" to an agreement negotiators reach over the weekend with Chrysler. It would allow the company more flexibility in hiring entry-level workers, and reduce Chrysler's cash contribution to retiree benefits in exchange for company stock going to the union trust that oversees benefits. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland port move expected to add life to downtown One of the biggest engineering projects in Cleveland history is getting underway...and the result could be a more developed lakefront, more vibrant downtown, and more shipping business for the region. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Army Specialist Brad Davis comes home to Garfield Heights Garfield Heights high school students lined the street in front of their school today as the body of Army Specialist Brad Davis came home from Iraq. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Safer teen drivers is goal of scholarship program Drive Team, a Cuyahoga Falls company that trains police and fire department personnel and professional truck and transit drivers joins with Akron Area Automobile Dealers Association to provide skills training for young drivers who win an essay contest at their schools. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM dealership cuts may hit local economies hard Akron Area Automobile Dealers Association head says losses to local tax bases will be significant, and so too could be losses in support for community programs from what have traditionally been locally focused businesses owned for generations by families or home town investors. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Examining a life worth living Krista Tippett isn't sure just how the conversation at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland will go tomorrow (Wednesday) night. But the host of public radio's Speaking of Faith told WKSU's M.L. Schultze she's fairly certain of two things: The gathering is likely to include tough questions and diverse perspectives on what it means to lead a worthy life. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Examining a life worth living Krista Tippett isn't sure just how the conversation at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland will go tomorrow (Wednesday) night. But the host of public radio's Speaking of Faith told WKSU's M.L. Schultze she's fairly certain of two things: The gathering is likely to include tough questions and diverse perspectives on what it means to lead a worthy life. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Examining a life worth living Krista Tippett isn't sure just how the conversation at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland will go tomorrow (Wednesday) night. But the host of public radio's Speaking of Faith told WKSU's M.L. Schultze she's fairly certain of two things: The gathering is likely to include tough questions and diverse perspectives on what it means to lead a worthy life. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Examining a life worth living Krista Tippett isn't sure just how the conversation at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland will go tomorrow (Wednesday) night. But the host of public radio's Speaking of Faith told WKSU's M.L. Schultze she's fairly certain of two things: The gathering is likely to include tough questions and diverse perspectives on what it means to lead a worthy life. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website First Merit says there are good signs the economy is turning. One of Northeast Ohio's few healthy banks says there are good signs in unemployment and hope the economy is turning. But commercial loans continue to be a dodgy business. FirstMerit paid off the feds a week ago. And in a time when flat is the new growth for banks, its first quarter 2009 earnings report is a good one :... a profit of better than 29 million dollars. That's a slowdown from a year ago, but FirstMerit Chairman Paul Greig says the pace may be picking up. Greig says Firstmerit ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Twinsburg U.A.W. voting on future of Chrysler plant tomorrow The 800 members of U.A.W. Local 122 in Twinsburg vote tomorrow on contract concessions that could determine the future of Chrysler's Twinsburg stamping plant. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The chairs of the Ohio Democratic and Republican parties square off over budget Republican state auditor Mary Taylor says Ohio will be $8 billion in the hole two years from now because there's too much one-time money in Governor Strickland's budget. That prompted the Democratic governor to ask what she and other critics would do instead. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler sat down with the chairs of both of Ohio's major political parties to hear their thoughts. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Huron County's mobile job unit taking jobs to the people who need them If you're looking for a job, instead of going to the unemployment office, what if the office came to you? In Ohio, workers at one county agency are doing just that. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Timken making job cuts Stark County's largest employer is cutting about a quarter of its workforce by the end of the year. From WKSU's Canton studios, M.L. Schultze has more. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Elyria school closed to prevent further spread of swine flu Ohio is reporting one confirmed case of swine flu contracted by a 9-year old boy who was recently in Mexico, where the illness is suspected of killing nearly 150-people. While no other Northeast Ohio cases are being investigated, officials in the city of Elyria have taken the precaution of closing the elementary school where the boy attends third grade. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wait and see best approach for swine flu scare As details emerge about cases of swine flu in Mexico and the United States, local health officials are preparing for the worst, but hoping for the best. The University of Akron's Terry O'Sullivan says a cautious approach is best. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Bio-med grows to $5 billion business in Northeast Ohio Northeast Ohio's biomedical industry has been growing at a pace that's outstripped the national rate. And while Team NEO acknowledges a slowdown now, it says the region has the "perfect trifecta" to capitalize during a national economic recovery. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron mayor may try "different" approach The EPA is trying to force Akron to spend hundreds of millions upgrading its sewer system. The city does not want to commit that kind of money to today's technology when the project won't be completed for decades. So, the mayor says Akron may propose this: the city will agree in general to the long-term project the EPA envisions, but in five year phases with a review before each phase to assess changes in technology and practices that may have develop over time. WKSU's Tim Rudell report ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Another new tenant for old NE Ohio industrial landmark One of Northeast Ohio's high profile redevelopment projects takes a major step forward. North Canton Mayor David Held announced that Altercare, a regional health care provider with facilities in Northern and Central Ohio and Western Michigan, will consolidate its headquarters at the former Hoover Company campus in North Canton. Altercare's CEO, Dennis Conley says the company's growth made the move to larger facilities necessary. About 250 employees will work in the new management and sup ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Garfield Heights soldier dies in Iraq The sister of Army Specialist Brad Davis of Garfield Heights says her brother was killed by a roadside bomb this week while serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. Davis' high school football coach remembers the 21-one year old as a young man who always finished what he started. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website "Enough" say Lordstown workers As economic challenges keep coming for Northeast Ohio -- like GM extending the summer shutdown at Lordstown from two to six weeks -- workers and communities are starting to say it is time to fight back. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM plant in Lordstown to shut down six weeks this summer WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Jim Cramer brings Mad Money to OSU campus A new Harris poll found 33 percent of respondents say they blame the current economic crisis on the media. Nearly 1 in five single out radio and TV talk shows as playing a major role in what's been happening with credit, foreclosures, and other money matters. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler spoke to one controversial pundit who some feel has been a big part of the problem. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website PNC touts profits and credits National City acquisition The bank that took over Cleveland-based National City says the merger is a key reason its profits are better than expected. But that profit has come at the cost of National City jobs. WKSU's M.L. Schultze and Dan Nawrocki report. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Moves by Key Bank normal for times Northeast Ohio's largest banks are setting aside more of their current earnings to off-set possible losses, and some are cutting dividends to strengthening their capital positions, as payback potentials on many outstanding loans become more uncertain. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Museum of Art hands over fourteen Italian antiquities The Cleveland Museum of Art today handed over to Italian authorities 14-antiquities that may have been looted or stolen before the museum acquired them. Demands for repatriation of art have been growing in recent years, challenging museum resources. One Ohio antiquities expert believes there's a better solution. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website If deported to Germany, Demjanjuk could be one of few recently convicted of war crimes The last time the German government convicted someone of Nazi atrocities was 17-years ago, though many suspects have been put on trial since. And it's preparing to try again. German prosecutors have accused John Demjanjuk of complicity in 29,000 murders and are awaiting his deportation from Cleveland. Law experts say the case is very similar to most of those being tried in Germany. And for many reasons, convictions are harder to come by. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Port move raises concerns about public lake access Reduced access to the lakefront is the leading concern of residents protesting plans to move the Port of Cleveland from its base near Browns Stadium.... WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New sewer bill would help cities pay for 'unfunded mandates' Ohio's two Senators have introduced federal legislation to help cash-strapped cities pay for costly sewer upgrades. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What's next:Jobs of the future will likely refine the jobs of today No one is predicting the next big thing when it comes to the job market. Job growth is more likely to be for the better trained and flexible people in fields we already know exist. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lights Out Ohio is poised to hit the switch Tens of thousands of Northeast Ohio students are turning off the lights in their classrooms while other Lights Out Ohio participants do the same in churches, offices, government building and stores throughout the area as part of Earth Day 2009. The idea is to eliminate unnecessary lighting between 8:00 am to 9:00 am as a demonstration of energy awareness. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Federal government dropping Lockheed Martin contract to pay military retirees The federal government is dropping a private contract to process pay for the nation's military retirees and returning the work to government workers in Cleveland. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Bridge jobs:Making the most of the time after graduation The days of going straight from college into your career job are over. But the days of paying off college loans are not. Some recent grads are finding ways to pay those bills and beef up their credentials in anticipation of the time when the job market thaws. WKSU's M.L. Schultze and Will Wells report. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New community college to serve students in previously under-served area Ohio Chancellor Eric Fingerhut says a new community college that will serve residents in four counties in the Eastern Ohio-Mahoning Valley region will open this fall. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lordstown GM plant likely to see cuts of salaried workers The mayor of Lordstown says expected cuts to the Lordstown GM assembly plant's salaried staff will further damage a community already suffering from hundreds of lost jobs. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron psychologist counseled Columbine students A rash of violent school shootings began in the 1990's - but one in particular came to symbolize the epidemic. April 20, 2009 marks the tenth anniversary of the 1999 Columbine shooting. Dr. Carol O'Connell heads a program at Akron Children's Hospital that helps teens deal with mental health issues. She counseled several Columbine students, and a teacher in the days following the shooting. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The dream job deferred: The fabled nursing shortage may no longer apply in Northeast Ohio      The once recession-proof healthcare industry is now catching the economic cold. But even as more hospitals announce hiring freezes, more job seekers are flooding into the field. The balance of supply and demand of healthcare workers is finally shifting. With persistence, it can shift in your direction. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website John Gorka One of the most respected singer-songwriters in folk music performed last night in Kent. John Gorka has recorded more than a dozen albums and yet the front page of his website features not some self-indulgent blog but his family recipe for . . . pierogis. Jim Blum reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A pair of veteran Cleveland City Council members resigning Two veteran Cleveland City Council members have made surprise announcements that they're stepping down next month. The news adds to the recent turbulence in city council. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A career overhaul: A tight economy leads some to re-work their entire work life For some, massaging what you've done won't do. Your career field is collapsing and you need to look at a far more drastic change, say from journalist to RN. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County Commissioners sign deal with Merchandise Mart despite protests The Cuyahoga County Commissioners have unanimously approved a deal to build a medical equipment exhibition hall in Cleveland...notwithstanding the protests of developers, and the owner of the Cavs. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Gas back over $2 a gallon The price of a gallon a gas has broken the two-dollar ceiling once again, with the average price hitting $2.01 according to the Ohio Triple A. In an interview with statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles, Terry Flemming with the Ohio Petroleum Council explains a couple of reasons for the increase. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney back in the spotlight Three years after pleading guilty to federal corruption charges, former Ohio Congressman Bob Ney is back in the public spotlight. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Newest casino proposal will be just one propsal on the ballot Don't be surprised if someone approaches you on a street corner or a mall, asking you to sign a petition to put yet another gambling casino proposal onto the Ohio ballot. State elections officials have just clearned the way for the signature-gathering effort by ruling that this latest casino is indeed one proposal. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website AG Cordray offering grants for summer drug prevention Summer is coming, and Ohio Attorney General Ricahrd Cordray is worried the warm weather and poor economy will be a dangerous combination. In an interview with statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles, Cordray explains how his office is making grants available to help make summer safe for kids. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio begins developing industrial cooperatives Northeast Ohio is taking Spanish lessons. The Employee Ownership Conference this week will include a close look at of the largest business groups in Spain -- a group whose core mission includes social responsibility as well as making money. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mayor's recall may be a product of personality Efforts to recall Northeast Ohio's longest-serving mayor remain in limbo for about week while elections officials vet signatures. Regardless of the result, the fact that there is such a recall attempt aimed at an official so often reelected, and that it is arising from his own political party, remains a curious item in the news. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The gig economy: Many people are cobbling together part-time jobs or juggling free-lance contracts for a full-time paycheck. The drawbacks include a lack of benefits and a lot of uncertainty. The benefits include working at home, making your own schedule and answering to yourself. It's dubbed the "gig" economy and some think the new workstyle will stick around even after the economy picks up. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lebron the MVP? Even when Lebron James is not in a Cavs game, Terry Pluto says his impact is felt. And that's what makes him the MVP natural. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio Bank reports strong performance CEO tells shareholders meeting the bank is ahead of competitors and national averages across the board, and is setup to take advantage of growth opportunities when the region's economy rebounds. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fiat wants more concessions from Chrysler unions for deal A U.A.W. official at Twinsburg's Chrysler plant says he doesn't know how his local can meet the latest demands of Italian automaker Fiat. Fiat's president says he will walk away from negotiations to buy 20-percent of Chrysler, unless all Chrysler U.A.W. members agree to more concessions. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio plays a big part in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra Tonight at Carnegie Hall seven Ohioans including 5 from Northeast Ohio hope to make music history performing the world debut of Tan Dun's " Internet Symphony Number One". They are among 90 musicians from 30 countries in the first online collaboration of its kind, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra: WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Looking back for the future: Agriculture grew Ohio and growing things may be the key to its economic rebound Ohio's job future may well be tied to its oldest economy -- agriculture. In today's story on good jobs in bad times, WKSU's Tim Rudell reports that the definition of agriculture is expanding almost daily, and that the new and old jobs connected to it add up ... WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Judge rules against Cleveland for civil service violations again The City of Cleveland plans to appeal the latest court ruling against it's hiring practices. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland bans texting while driving The city of Cleveland is baning text messaging while driving. There's no similar state law, but city council members are urging state lawmakers to consider one. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website College optional: Jobs that don't fit the four-year mold      The mantra is simple: if you want a job in this economy, get a four-year college degree. And look anywhere -- everywhere -- but manufacturing. The mantra is wrong.     Vo-tech and apprenticeships are still the path many are taking to the job market -- bypassing the four-year college route. The difference from the old days of going straight from high school to work is three-fold, though. The jobs are increasingly technical, increasingly competitive and increasingly likely to ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Federal job training legislation aimed at helping to fill unfilled Ohio jobs Though the state's unemployment rate is more than nine-percent, some Ohio employers cannot find people to fill thousands of good paying jobs in high-tech manufacturing. Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown wants federal aid to fund tailored, 2 year training programs to fill vacancies in growing fields. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mid-skill jobs represent best hope for growth U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is expected to continue stumping today for federal funding to help the nation's two-year colleges develop training programs for industry. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website High pay, higher hopes: Fast-growing jobs require more training      Research indicates that in the current economy as well as post-recovery, the greatest opportunities for job-seekers will be in the higher-paying sectors. Northeast Ohio may have suffered because it has been late in adapting from heavy manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy, but it is well-positioned for future growth in higher-pay, high-tech jobs not only because of job-training programs at its colleges and universities but also because of the region's many innovative comp ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Recall petition deadline met. Opponents of Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic have met the deadline to file petitions with the Summit County Board of Elections, which means the mayor may face a recall election this summer. Warner Mendenhall is leader of a group called Change Akron Now which opposes the mayor's spending policies and personal style. Earlier this year, Mendenhall launched the recall effort and he has now hand-delivered 4,200 signatures on petitions to the Board of Elections. If 3,179 or more of those are ruled v ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Amy Goodman comes to Northeast Ohio She risked her life to cover elections in East Timor for the independent Pacifica radio network in the 1990's. Journalist Amy Goodman has spent the rest of her career giving voice to alternative views of politics in this country. The host of the public television and radio program Democracy Now! is in Northeast Ohio to promote her new book, Standing Up to the Madness. WKSU's Jeff St.Clair asked Goodman about her career outside mainstream media. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website President's "Car Czar" looks for industry solutions in Cleveland President Obama's car czar came to Cleveland in his search for answers on how to turn around the American auto industry. He says a one-size fix will not fit all. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Car Czar comes to Cleveland President Obama's car czar came to Cleveland in his search for answers on how to turn around the American auto industry. He says a one-size fix will not fit all. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sweating the small stuff first The credit crunch is the problem. Two thirds of the financing for the Goodyear Headquarters project is to be from the private sector but given the current economic environment funding is just not coming in. To get the project moving developer Stuart Lichter, government leaders, and Goodyear, are changing the order of activity in their plans. Major elements like building the new headquarters complex itself are being set back and smaller, preliminary work will go forward. The idea is t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Prison guards seek safer working conditions A spokesman for the state prison guards union says he's optimistic that conditions will improve at the Mansfield Correctional Institution. Andy Douglas says union leaders have met with the Ohio Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and hope the talks will bring about safer working conditions for guards. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State to pay interest on unclaimed money The Ohio Supreme Court has just ruled that when people claim "lost" money that's been sitting for years in the state's Unclaimed Funds Program, the state must pay interest. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website "Puppy mills" back in legislation A familiar piece of legislation has been reintroduced in the Ohio house -- a bill that cracks down on puppy mills. In the past, dog breeders have rallied against the measure. Democratic state representative Bob Hagan is one of the sponsors of the newly introduced bill. In an interview with statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles, Hagan explains how this bill is different than in the past. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Secretary of State and former Speaker squabble over residence Ohio's Secretary of State is asking the state's former speaker of the house to give her more information about his legal residence so that her office can decide where he lives. Statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles reports. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Play House moving The move of the Play House from midtown to downtown will consolidate Cleveland's theater district. And it will consolidate some of its theater programs as well. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Summit County becomes the Mecca for high school basketball later this month The 4th annual King James Shooting Stars classic draws nearly 600 traveling boys' basketball teams from the U.S. and Canada. The three-day tournament is played school gyms in Akron and surrounding communities and draws national college scouting agencies. The Classic generates more than 2 and a half million dollars in the greater Akron area. This year's event also adds a girl's tournament with about 20 teams. Akron-native Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James lends his name to the event t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear headquarters a go despite delays due to the credit crunch Developer Stuart Lichter and local government leaders are "re-phasing" the project, delaying main construction to buy time for the private credit markets to loosen up. Meanwhile, Goodyear accepts a stop-gap agreement to remain in the old headquarters buildings for up to five year, with the company's 20-year commitment to remain in Akron to begin after the new headquarters are built. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website NOPEC signs deal to provide discount on electricity for Northeast Ohio customers Northeast Ohio's largest bulk-power buying group has struck a deal to discount the price of electricity for 600-thousand customers. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear says it has costs under control Goodyear will cut nearly 5,000 more jobs by the end of 2009, and CEO Robert Keegan says that may not be the end. He says the Akron-based tire maker has contingency plans if the economy doesn't turn around. But he also says the Goodyear is well-prepared to recover its economic fortunes as well. From WKSU's Akron studios, Tim Rudell reports WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website John Demjanjuk is waiting on another deportation appeal Another attempt to stop John Demjanjuk's deportation to Germany is underway. Today the alleged Nazi guard's attorney ask an immigration appeals board to block his deportation, and to reopen the war crimes case against him. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Norwalk struggles with highest unemeployment rate in state One town in north central Ohio has become a poster child for the impact of the global recession. Last fall, more than 450-people lost their jobs when the 100-year old Norwalk Furniture closed its doors. But within a few months a group of local investors had re-started the business and re-hired 125-workers. That can-do attitude predominates in this rural county seat with the highest unemployment rate in the state. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Demjanjuk deportation stay revoked If the latest court ruling stands, former Cleveland auto-worker John Demjanjuk will be deported to Germany this week to face war crime charges. His family plans another appeal. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Largest Ohio city in fiscal emergency in suburban Cleveland The largest among the 16 cities now on the state's fiscal emergency list is Garfield Heights in suburban Cleveland. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Economic recession hits Cleveland pro sports teams Professional sports teams are feeling the effects of the recession " In Cleveland, some struggle more than others. The cash-strapped Arena Football League shut down this year... and the Cleveland Gladiators went down with it. The Indians open the season today with pressure to make the playoffs in order to break even financially. But next door at the Q, the front offices of the virtually unbeatable Cavaliers are unfazed. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland center of Rock and Roll universe Saturday night Rock music was centered in Cleveland last night. The city hosted the 24th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Induction Ceremony at Public Hall. While Rock's influences usually dominate the night, Cleveland's role in the genre was also on display. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Medina General Hospital to be rolled into Cleveland Clinic healthcare network Medina General Hospital is the latest addition to the Cleveland Clinic's growing healthcare network, but the hospital will continue to focus on local healthcare needs. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland getting ready for Saturday Rock Hall Induction The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in Cleveland is still 2 days away. But the city is already seeing a boost from hosting this year's event honoring rock music's legends...including the group that made hip-hop mainstream, and a Cleveland native.WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron public safety director to retire Akron's public safety director is retiring after just a year on the job, but he says the Akron police department is in good shape. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A surpise death row stay and a lot of questions Even Brett Hartmann's attorneys thought it was at best a 50-50 shot that he would NOT be executed next week. But federal judges handed down a surprise reprieve Tuesday, citing "uncertainty" about whether Hartmann really kidnapped, killed and mutilated Winda Snipes of Akron. Raising much of that uncertainty is Akron Beacon Journal reporter Phil Trexler. WKSU's M.L. Schultze spoke with Trexler about the questions in the case ... WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Burger plant to be fueled by biomass FirstEnergy has decided to convert its Burger power plant from burning coal to using biomass for fuel. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stark County Treasurer employee fired over missing money; investigation underway The second in command of the Stark County Treasurer's office has been fired and an investigation is underway into what may amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in missing money. WKSU's M.L. Schultze has more ... WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Area congressmen back FIAT deal Republican Steve LaTourette objects to what he sees as the Obama Administration picking winners and losers in business, but says a merger with FIAT, forced or not, could be good for Chrysler and the Twinsburg plant. Democrat Tim Ryan supports the President's assessment of the auto makers, and also says the FIAT deal could be good for Chrysler and area auto workers. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Convicted Akron man gets temporary stay of execution A federal appeals court is delaying the execution of an Akron man convicted of killing an Ohio woman who was stabbed more than a hundred times. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New cost study for Medical Martpossible Cleveland mayor says he'll consider pushing for an independent study of the costs of a massive medical exhibition complex...but not at the cost of stalling the project. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Panel recommends more testing for teen depression At least six percent of American teens are diagnosed as clinically depressed, and a government panel says all teens should be tested for signs of depression. A doctor at Akron Children's Hospital says such testing may be easier than many think. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website UAW local supports Chrysler-FIAT merger Local 122's president says this is an economic storm and he and the rank and file are committed to doing what has to be done to weather it; and are just as committed to growing again once times are better. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Orchestra announces 2009-2010 season Despite deep pay cuts for the administrative staff and a 20 percent salary cut for Music Director Franz Welser Most, the orchestra's 2009-2010 Severance Hall season will include a wide range of works and only a slight reduction in the number of concerts. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland International Film Festival sets record attendance It's a good couple of weeks for Cleveland arts. This week the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame holds its induction ceremonies. And yesterday (SUN) the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival finished up a ten day run by setting attendance records. Associate Director Patrick Shepherd told audience members at the close last night (Sun) that the festival started last weekend with three record-setting days . WKSU's Mark Urycki reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland International Film Festival sets record attendance It's a good couple of weeks for Cleveland arts. This week the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame holds its induction ceremonies. And yesterday (SUN) the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival finished up a ten day run by setting attendance records.Associate Director Patrick Shepherd told audience members at the close last night (Sun) that the festival started last weekend with three record-setting days .WKSU's Mark Urycki reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County Sheriff investigated for obstructing justice and theft in office No replacement for controversial Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul was announced today as expected. The county judge who is choosing the interim replacement needs more to time contact the potential candidates. Meanwhile, there is more information about the raids on McFaul's office. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron police to work with county, state and federal forces Police in Akron are planning a little spring cleaning. Over the next two months they'll work with county, state and federal forces to clean up crime hotspots in the city. A key element of the operation is to get community involvement in law enforcement. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron police to work with county, state and federal forces Police in Akron are planning a little spring cleaning. Over the next two months they'll work with county, state and federal forces to clean up crime hotspots in the city. A key element of the operation is to get community involvement in law enforcement. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cedar Point holds another job fair. The economic downturn has brought unprecedented interest in the seasonal jobs at Cedar Point, and other amusement parks around the country. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cedar Point holds another job fair. The economic downturn has brought unprecedented interest in the seasonal jobs at Cedar Point, and other amusement parks around the country.WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Steve Inskeep speaks with chief Obama economic adviser Christina Romer The Glen Oak High graduate has been pushing the administration's plan to help banks get toxic assets off their books. She spoke with Steve Inskeep on this morning's Morning Edition. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 'Molecules That Matter' opens at the College of Wooster From DDT to Prozac, a new exhibition at the College of Wooster chronicles the 20th century one chemical at a time. 'Molecules That Matter' pairs 10 chemicals with modern works of art and cultural artifacts to help us understand the science that shapes our lives. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Additional federal stimulus money comes to Ohio The federal government is sending more than 85-million dollars to Ohio's state, county and city governments for energy efficiency projects. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor awards stimulus funding for transportation projects Northeast Ohio communities are getting tens of millions of dollars in federal transportation stimulus funds announced today by Governor Strickland. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Texting while driving ban considered in Cleveland The City of Cleveland could ban texting while driving. City Councilman Zak Reed proposed the law earlier this year, and Mayor Frank Jackson recently voiced his support. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Replacement sought for resigning Cuyahoga County sheriff Cuyahoga County officials will now begin looking for someone to replace controversial sheriff Gerald McFaul, who's announced he's resigning after 32 years on the job. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Wrecking Crew rocks at Cleveland International Film Festival Next week the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct some rock stars and three sidemen. Those are musicians who performed on notable recordings but rarely ever left the studio. Often they were never even credited on the albums. This weekend a documentary at the Cleveland International Film Festival will pay tribute to such musicians. It focuses on a select group that performed in Los Angeles during the 1960's that were nicknamed "The Wrecking Crew." WKSU's Mark Urycki reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga sheriff McFaul announces resignation Long-time Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul has submitted his resignation after weeks of speculation that he would soon step down. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 60,000 area students join in LightsOut Ohio effort Organizers of LightsOut Ohio say that giving people a sense of what it is like to make better energy savings choices day to day is a goal. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Diebold chief financial officer steps down The chief financial officer of Diebold Corporation has stepped down after being notified that the Securities and Exchange Commission may bring civil enforcement actions against him. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland's public transportation system facing more cuts The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority faces another round of cuts if it cannot redirect federal funds for operating costs. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Summit County residents gearing up to grow more local fresh produce A group of Summit County residents are working to ramp up local food production to address economic, health and social justice concerns. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Celebrating Northeast Ohio's ties to rock and roll Joe Vitale's a rock musician. And after nearly four decades of performing, he remains a rock fan. So much so that he's written a book celebrating the fun life and the time when northeast Ohio and rock were nearly synonymous. WKSU's M.L. Schultze sat down with Joe Senior and Joe Junior to talk about "Backstage Pass." WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Potholes are fewer this spring in NE Ohio The cycle of freezing and thawing causes road surfaces to deteriorate, but if it is consistently cold, as it was during this past winter, the cycle can't play out as often, and the roads are in better shape when spring arrives. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Retraining resource fair for laid off union members As the number of laid-off U.S. auto and steel workers grows, organized labor and local colleges are urging union members to take advantage of re-training funds in their contracts. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A brother's take on the Iraq war A much publicized " and much personalized -- documentary centered on the war in Iraq will premier in Akron this weekend WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fully-staged opera returns to Severance Hall Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro" opens Monday night and good luck if you haven't got your ticket. The best seats are already sold out. This will be the first time the Cleveland Orchestra has performed a fully-staged opera at Severance Hall in more than three decades: WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website $5 billion in bailout money could help Ohio Ohio is the leading auto parts producer in the country and Governor Strickland says if the federal funds stabilize the industry it will benefit every county in the state. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New Cleveland convention center and Medical Mart closer to reality Another hurdle has been cleared in the long-running process to bring a new convention center and medical equipment exhibition hall to Cleveland. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County sheriff leaving? Cuyahoga County officials say long-time Sheriff Gerald McFaul is expected to step-down soon.... WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Youngstown's plan to shrink is slowly coming together Youngstown got a lot of national and even international attention two years ago when it formally decided to shrink the city. Since then the former steel town has been tearing down abandoned houses with the goal of pulling out of some neighborhoods and turning them into urban gardens or public green space. Some say the plan is working " others aren't so sure. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website AEP customers will pay more starting this year State regulators have approved a nearly 41-percent rate increase over the next 3-years for Northeast Ohio customers of American Electric Power. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kent State offers buyouts, raises room and board The buyout offer is a year's pay to long-time university employees who quit -- anyone with 15 or more years of full-time service is eligible and the payouts are capped based job category. The room & board hike amounts to 5.9%, which will be about $440 per year for the average on-campus student. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland in running to host Gay Games Cleveland and two other U.S. cities are the finalists to host the 2014 Gay Games. The 27-year old international event draws thousands of people and million of dollars to its host cities every four years. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland convention center site announcement could come tomorrow An official announcement could come tomorrow on where Cleveland's new, multi-million dollar convention center and medical mart will be built. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The inventors museum officially finds a new home Akron's days as the showplace for the nation's inventors and inventions officially ended this week. But backers say the relationship between Akron and the National Inventors Hall of Fame has a future, as well as a past. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 2009 Cleveland International Film Festival The 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival kicks off this Thursday evening. Last year, even with a huge blizzard, the events managed to set a new box office record for its ten day run. This year the Film Festival is presenting more movies than ever. WKSU's Mark Urycki reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Film studio locating in Cleveland An independent film and television production company has agreed to set-up a studio in Cleveland. Nehst Studios of New York City has signed a one-year, rent free lease with the city to use space in the old convention center. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website What to do with abandoned churches? Finding ways to reuse church buildings is going to become a big issue in Northeast Ohio next year. That's when dozens of churches will be vacated through the Cleveland Catholic Dioceses restructuring program. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio's rural areas seeing growth in foreclosure rates Policy Matters, an advocacy group for low and moderate income Ohioans, has come out with a new study that finds foreclosure rates growing even in areas far from the state's urban centers. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Christina Romer defends the Obama administration's recovery plans on Meet the Press A Northeast Ohio native and key economic advisor to President Obama says the core of the economy is strong if it is defined by the fundamentals of workforce know-how, infrastructure and technology. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New study shows number of adults without health insurance in Ohio rising A new study shows that, compared to 2004, Ohio now has fewer children without medical insurance. But the number of adults without coverage has risen. The study was released this morning. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio legislature has a full plate this week Seat belts, home foreclosures, meningitis, blood donations, and salamanders. Those things might nor seem to have much in common but they do. They are all topics that Ohio legislators plan to consider this week. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Forum Health union members react to bankruptcy filing Union members at the Mahoning Valley's second largest employer, Forum Health, are uneasy about the company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Four years running, Cuyahoga leads in foreclosures A new report on foreclosure in Ohio shows they're leveling off, but simultaneously spreading WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio urban school leaders get U.S. Education Secretary's attention Leaders from several of Ohio's urban school districts met in Washington today to discuss reforms with the U-S Education Secretary. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Catholic Diocese announces church closings and mergers Parishes across the eight county Cleveland Catholic Diocese are adjusting to this weekend's announcements on which churches close their doors. After 2 years of study, Bishop Richard Lennon plans to close 29 of the 224 parishes and merge 41. The decisions are the result of too few priests, parishioners moving from the cities, and dwindling funds. From WKSU's Cleveland studios...Kevin Niedermier takes a look at the restructuring...and its impact on one parish. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier r ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron Peanut Shoppe still in business, despite poor economy A peanut shop in Akron that opened as the nation was emerging from the Great Depression is struggling to survive this economic crisis. The Peanut Shoppe is one of 11-stores that remain of the original 500 started by Planters Peanuts in cities across the country during the 1930's and '40's. The peanut salmonella scare hasn't hurt business, but the long, hard winter and tight economy have. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Social service agencies working together to save cash The weak economy is driving more people to social service agencies for help. And many of these agencies are tight on cash as funding decreases. Some agencies are cutting back, and others are joining forces. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Wage Freeze and Buyouts in Summit County Losses of revenue, especially funds from the federal government, are causing another belt-tightening in Summit County. But, in his State of the County address, County Executive Russ Pry says the plan for now avoids layoffs. He also says continued cooperation among area leaders is keeping economic development efforts on track, even if the credit crunch means having to move more slowly...as is the case with the Akron Goodyear Headquarters project. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio trying to make adult education access easier Many of the growing number of Ohioans losing their jobs due to the weak economy are heading back to college. And the head of Ohio's public university system says it needs to do a better job of serving this growing population. Board of Regents Chancellor Eric Fingerhut Fingerhut spoke today at The Center for Community Solutions' 67th annual Human Services Institute. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Running The Sahara screening in Canton Charlie Engle is one of the extreme runners featured in "Running the Sahara," the documentary about three ultra-marathoners and their 4,300 mile run across the span of North Africa. The film is narrated by Academy Award winner Matt Damon, who was also it's executive producer, and it was directed by another Academy Award winner, James Moll. Engle is in Canton for a screening of the documentary this evening (Friday) and he visited with WKSU's Tim Rudell at our Canton studios. WKSU's Tim Ru ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Germans charge Demjanjuk with accessory to murder The German government has charged Clevelander John Demjanjuk with over 29,000 counts of accessory to murder. The charges stem from his time working as a guard at the Nazi's Sobibor death camp. One legal expert thinks this could be the end of Demjanjuk's 30-year fight to stay in the United States. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Canal Basin Park plan set to go to Cleveland planning commission The future of the Canal Basin Park as the exclamation point on Northeast Ohio's towpath trail now rests with Cleveland's planning commission and, perhaps, the federal stimulus package. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohioans overwhelm job fair Northeast Ohio's tough economic times were reflected at a job fair near Cleveland today. More than 1000 people had to be turned away for safety reasons. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Oversized truck fees going up Permit fees for overweight and oversized trucks in Ohio are going up -- from 55-dollars to 2-thousand dollars. Trucking companies and Republican lawmakers are outraged about it, but transportation officials and Democratic lawmakers are defending the fee hike. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website 145 laid off at Akron General Akron General Medical Center is announcing another round of layoffs. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Site Selection Magazine says Ohio leads the nation in major business expansion Every week brings more news about another big company shutting down in Ohio and laying off hundreds of workers. But often lost in the crisis is some good news - some companies are expanding here. A major business magazine has just called Ohio a national leader in company expansions and many Northeast Ohio communities are at the top of the list. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Senate bill to let local police to enforce federal immigration laws An Ohio lawmaker is resurrecting the idea of letting local police and sheriffs enforce federal immigration laws. An Ohio Senate committee plans to begin considering the plan this week, but it has its share of critics. Among them is a Columbus resident who didn't want to give his name. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Art and power in the Central African Savannah Fetishes, or wooden sculptures of human figures, are part of the artistic heritage of Africa. A new exhibition at the Cleveland Museum of Art shows how four central African cultures used these objects to work magic and consolidate power. We took a tour with the curator: WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Most of Ohio's provisional ballots counted according to study Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has released a study showing that most Ohio provisional ballots were ruled valid in last year's presidential election. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website President Obama attends Columbus Police recruit graduation Columbus Police recruits had a special guest at their graduation ceremony today. President Barack Obama. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio drivers could be watched by Big Brother cameras A bill in the Ohio legislature would allow the state to use cameras to take pictures of license plates for the purpose of making sure cars, trucks, and vans on the state's highways are insured. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio House approves transportation budget for next two years The Ohio House of Representatives has approved a $9.8 billion state transportation budget for the next two years. Republicans criticized it as too bloated. Democrats defended it. But, much of the debate wasn't so much over the budget itself as it was over the side issues. For example, passenger trains and using cameras to catch speeders. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sherrod Brown and Steven LaTourette join bipartisan summit on healthcare reform Ohio's 1.4 million uninsured residents became the forefront of the Washington agenda this week. President Obama began discussions on overhauling the nation's healthcare system. Senator Sherrod Brown took part in the bipartisan summit at the White House. Sara Sciammacco reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Department of Aging looking for Ohioans who lived through Great Depression The Ohio Department of Aging is looking for Ohioans who lives through the Great Depression. Agency spokeswoman Karla Warren told Statehouse Correspondent Jo Ingles that the department wants those who experianced the Great Depression to share their stories. All stories should be abour 500 words long and can be mailed to the Aging Department or submitted online through the agency's website by April 10th. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Highway Partol will start patrolling within city limits You can expect to see Ohio Highway Patrol cars in places they usually don't patrol - areas within the city limits of Ohio's largest cities. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio AG warns about home foreclosure scams Democratic Attorney General Richard Cordray is supportive of President Obama's plan to deal with home foreclosures, but he has strong caution for Ohioans who are at risk for foreclosure. He also warns about giving personal information to potential scam artists. Cordray says anyone who thinks they have been scammed through a home foreclosure deal should contact his office immediately. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Senate approves more job creation money Last year, Ohio legislators approved a $1.57 billion measure to create an estimated 57,000 jobs. Lawmakers have allocated most of the money but not all of it, and are now beginning to allocate what's left for the next two years. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State legislators could look at regulating bank fees Last year, Ohio legislators and Ohio voters approved a plan to limit the interest rate that payday loan stores could charge. Now, a key lawmakers says the legislature should look at limiting what banks can charge for some services. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Supreme Court gives wildlife officers stronger powers to enter private property Ohio wildlife officers have the legal authority to go onto private property, even when they don't have "good cause" to believe that the law is being violated. That's the ruling today from the Ohio Supreme Court. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Hospitals not happy with the Governor's budget The Ohio Hospital Association is upset with Governor Strickland's proposed budget. Spokeswoman Tiffany Himmelreich says hospitals would lose more than $400 million. Himmelreich says hospitals are already underpaid by Medicaid and the Governor's proposed budget would make it worse. She says hospitals could lose more than $140 million in managed care contracts because of the way the bill is written. Himmelreich warns further losses will result in layoffs, reduced services, and increased costs ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Debate goes on over movie and TV tax breaks Ohio legislators keep talking up the idea of handing income tax credits to people and companies that invest in movies and TV productions that are shot on location in Ohio. But the lawmakers have yet to agree on how big the tax credit program should be. Yesterday, the House and Senate each passed different tax credit plans. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Veterans bonuses on November ballot Ohio voters will decide in November the fate of a proposal to give bonuses to military veterans of recent conflicts. State legislators took final action today to put the plan onto the ballot. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stay at home and search the stars The park currently being developed will feature public access to a 36-inch, reasearch-grade telescope, and it seeks to be an International Dark-Sky park. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland mayor says city is o-k for now Cleveland's mayor says his city is doing O-K for now...but it will take cooperation to keep the city and region from moving backwards. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website House approves transportation budget The Ohio House of Representatives has approved a 9.8 billion dollar state transportation budget for the next two years. Republicans criticized it as too bloated. Democrats defended it. But, as statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports, much of the debate wasn't so much over the budget itself....as it was over SIDE issues --- for example, passenger trains and using cameras to catch speeders. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stimulus money update Nearly 18-thousand proposals have come in to the website the state set up to take in ideas on how to use the money that's coming to Ohio from the federal stimulus package. And the state is releasing some more details about where the money will go and how it will be used. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New Cleveland convention center site almost certain The results of an engineering study released today confirm Cleveland's old convention center foundation can support a massive new convention center and medical equipment exhibit hall. More than $40-million in taxes have already been collected for the project...but it's still far from a done deal. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sheffield Lake putting up two wind turbines Two wind turbines will be going up soon along Lake Erie in the small town of Sheffield Lake in Lorain County just west of Cleveland. It's part of an effort to make the lakefront community a leader in the green-energy movement. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The 3-C Corridor, a thing of the past The Ohio House has approved a seven-and- a half billion dollar state transportation budget. Part of the bill calls for development of a passenger rail line connecting Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati: a three-C corridor. WKSU commentator Paul Gaston looks hopefully to the future from a perspective of 70 years ago. WKSU's Paul Gaston reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Syphilis cases up in Northeast Ohio cities A syphilis outbreak in Cuyahoga County has health officials calling for stepped up screening of every sexually active patient. Other areas of Northeast Ohio are also seeing a spike in the sexually transmitted disease. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pork makes a comeback Republicans and Democrats alike are pledging to put the federal government on a diet to cut the deficit. But when it comes to pork, they have the same big appetite. This year's first budget bill in Congress comes with eighty-five hundred pork barrel spending items"or federal money for home state projects. As Sara Sciammacco reports, Ohio Senators proudly stand by their claims. Sarah Sciammacco reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Headlines - March 4th, 2009 FirstEnergy lays off. An Akron hospital pushes employees for pay cuts. And state lawmakers haggle over tax credits for film makers. More on today's headlines... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Pulitzer-winning biologist says Darwin's legacy will help anticipate the future of humanity The Harvard biologist widely considered to be father of the modern environmental movement says Darwin's legacy will be a field of biology that will help anticipate the future as well as figure out the past. And E.O. Wilson says for the sake of the planet's future, it's essential to include those who don't agree with Darwin's theory of evolution. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website No apologies for Pluto's demotion Michael Brown helped demote Pluto " and says the pseudo planet deserved it. The astronomer defended the downgrade at Kent State's Stark campus last night (Tuesday). WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website First Energy announces layoffs Akron based First Energy has announced 335 layoffs of it's management and support staff. The economic downturn is being blamed for the re-organization of the company, despite the company's report of record profits in 2007 and 2008. Spokeswoman for the company, Ellen Raines says today's decision wasn't easy.Raines says the cuts of 4 percent of it's staff will effect staffing in Ohio Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She says there are no plans to cut union workers. Heidi Weber reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fred Krum, the force behind the exponential grown of Akron Canton airport, dies The man who oversaw the massive expansion of the Akron-Canton Airport has died following a battle with brain cancer. Former airport director Fred Krum is credited with turning a small regional airport into a thriving hub for lost-cost airfares attracting more than 1.5-million passengers a year. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio small private colleges seeing financial strains The dozens of private colleges in Northeast Ohio are feeling the economic pinch of crashing investments. John Carroll University administrators and staff have been ordered to take unpaid leave to help shore-up the school's dwindling endowment. And faculty members are expected vote on a pay cut. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Summit County Port Authority issuing bonds to advance stalled Goodyear project The Summit County Port Authority is offering to help get a stalled project to rebuild Goodyear's headquarters underway in Akron. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio's development efforts may be more successful than they appear Key players in the Goodyear Headquarters redevelopment say it is still going forward despite the company's announced cutbacks. And, the man who perhaps more than anyone else is at the center of the plan tells WKSU's Tim Rudell why he remains optimistic about the Akron project, and has been so heavily involved in economic development in Ohio. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Timken to lay off 400-salaried workers Steel and roller bearing maker Timken is cutting 400-salaried jobs this year as it reduces costs to meet slowing demand. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County corruption probe follows long history of vice In the 1930s, crime fighter Elliot Ness came to Cleveland to clean up government corruption. Today, the F.B.I. is still trying to finish the job. An ongoing Cuyahoga County corruption probe began with alleged kickbacks to county officials Jimmy Dimora and Frank Russo. Now it stretches to more than a dozen other public institutions and office holders as far south as Canton. The F.B.I. says the investigation could become the agency's biggest corruption case ever. From WKSU's Cleveland s ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland bank's new owner slashes dividends PNC bank's purchase of Cleveland-based National City Bank is costng shareholders and turning out to be pricier than anticipated. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website NPR editor says tech can't replace roots Dick Meyer acknowledges "hate" is a strong word. But the head of editorial content for npr.org says his book would have been a harder sell had he called it "Why are we always made cranky and irritable by a culture that's increasingly obnoxious and coarse?" So he settled for "Why We Hate us: American Discontent in the new Millennium." Meyer elaborated on his themes of isolation and happiness during a visit to Northeast Ohio last night. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron mayor revamping relations between residents and police Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic says he's forming a citizen group to develop a new crime control plan to improve relations between police and the public. In his state of the city address today Plusquellic also announced he's permanently reassigning the Akron police narcotics squad to the Summit County drug task force. And the 6-term mayor says he may be fighting the battle of political life over a recall petition. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Holy Modal Rounders The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has inducted artists who are known for psychedelic music and artists who are known for folk music. But it has no inductees who are known for psychedelic folk music. There was an odd group from the 1960s that pushed the traditional music into weird and psychedelic realms. The old folkies hated it, but the oddballs loved it. They were called The Holy Modal Rounders and their members included the actor and playwright Sam Shepherd. The group's inf ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Enrollment Jumps as Economy Slides Spring registration figures for two-year colleges across Ohio are showing double digit increases over last year, like the 15% jump at Stark State Technical College. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Passenger rail may be back on track in Ohio The economic stimulus bill allocates 8 billion dollars for passenger rail improvements across the country. Advocates in Ohio say the time may be right to fast-track the 3-C corridor plan. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Learning The Paczki Way Today is Fat Tuesday but it is also Paczki Day-- an old Polish tradition alive and well in northeast Ohio. Paczki is the plural form of a donut-like pastry with prune or other jelly filling. In Europe the indulgence in paczki usually happens on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday. But with the influence of Mardi Gras here in the US, Paczki Day coincides with Fat Tuesday and with the pastries, lots of other eating, drinking, and music is involved. Listen as WKSU's Renita Jablonski learns how t ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Natural History Museum, Case School of Medicine team up for environmental health A new partnership of two Cleveland institutions aims to educate the public about environmental health hazards, including how to make their homes healthier. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lincoln Electric's fourth quarter earnings plunge Less than a month after announcing cutbacks in the things that have made Lincoln Electric stand out for decades, the Cleveland-based company is issuing a bleak forecast. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio mayors start to map out stimulus spending The nation's mayors have moved from chief lobbyists for the economic stimulus package to some of the primary architects determining how that money will be spent. WKSU's M.L. Schultze has more on the timetable and logistics two northeast Ohio mayors are calculating for the spending. WKSU's M.L. Schultze and Sarah Sciammacco report. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Industry users say FirstEnergy deal gives market stability An industry group that was concerned about electricity price spikes says FirstEnergy's deal with state regulators will at least make prices more predictable. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Former Norton CPA indicted again Former Norton CPA, James A. Stamp, who lost his license in 2007 was indicted today on 25 felony counts, including securities fraud and grand theft. The charges are in addition to the 13 felony counts he was indicted for on January 25th. Ohio Department of Commerce spokesman Dennis Ginty says Ohio investors should protect themselves by asking three questions before letting anyone handle their investments. Ginty cautions people to be leery of investments that are guaranteed to have extrem ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Old case could mean criminal charges against Cuyahoga County Sheriff A special prosecutor will look into a more than two-decade old case involving Cuyahoga County Sheriff Gerald McFaul... WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Senator Brown says Buy America protections will help workers Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown told steel workers in Cleveland today that Buy America provisions in the recently-signed stimulus package will help protect American jobs. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Columnist E.J. Dionne speaks to Akron Roundtable For a guy who wrote a book called "Why Americans Hate Politics", E.J. Dionne sure seems to love politics. The Washington Post columnist was in Akron yesterday exploring whether U.S. politics is in the midst of a sea change or a small change that will quickly ebb. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lee Fisher says Republican tax reform has been good for Ohio Four years ago, Republicans who dominated the Ohio legislature pushed through a major tax reform plan. It changed taxes on families and on businesses. Every Republican lawmaker voted yes and ever Democratic lawmaker voted no. Despite that clearly partisan vote, the man who's been Ohio's top jobs official for the past two years - a longtime Democrat - is now praising the Republican tax reforms, especally the ones impacting companies. And that, plus Ohio's economic mess, are sparking renewed ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Youngstown's hero fights for city pride It's the first professional title fight staged in the city of Youngstown. Saturday's middleweight match between contender Marco Antonio Rubio and local hero Kelly Pavlik means more than a night's entertainment for the city. The champ is also fighting for Youngstown's badly bruised civic pride. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Crime Forensics Questioned Professor Jane Moriarty of the University Of Akron School Of Law is an expert in forensic evidence. Reacting to the Academy report, she says methods for applying science to criminal investigation need better standardization, and more effective quality control. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio medical school tackling schizophrenia A new national center for the treatment of schizophrenia could be taking shape in Northeast Ohio. With a 5-million dollar grant from the Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation, the Northeast Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy is launching a local training, research and clinical outreach center to improve the quality of life for schizophrenics and their families. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State legislators vowing another crackdown on payday loans Some Ohio payday loan stores are charging borrowers nearly the same amount they were charging them last year, before state legislators okayed tough new limits on interest rates. Statehouse Correspondent Bill Cohen reports that some legislators are vowing to approve yet another crackdown. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fire cancels classes at Lorain County Community College until Monday College officials continue to clean up smoke and damage from Wednesday's fire. And firefighters say damange will top $1 million. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear Survival Strategy Includes 5000 Job Cuts Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company will eliminate 5000 positions in 2009 as part of a plan to cut $700,000,000 in expenses. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kids not welcome Theater says it's responding to complaints that unaccompanied kids are just too rowdy. Will Wells reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron General eliminates 20 managers Akron General Health System trims management staff and executive pay. Heidi Weber reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear says headquarter plans are secure Goodyear is laying off 5-thousand employees worldwide. CEO Robert Keegan says global economic problems are forcing the company to shed another $700 million in expenses -- that's over and above the $1.8 billion in austerity measures already in place for 2009. A salary freeze, the sale of some assets, and putting some capital projects on hold are also part of the plan. However, spokesman Scott Bauchman says the much-publicized Goodyear headquarters project in Akron will not be affecte ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear announces cuts Akron-based Goodyear Tire and Rubber is eliminating 5,000 jobs following its fourth quarter earnings report. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website PNC suspends foreclosures PNC Financial Services Group said Tuesday that all foreclosures will be halted until March 13th, or the start of a government loan modification program. PNC is the 4th major bank to make such a move. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website First lady's inauguration suit designer comes to Kent You would expect to find the designer of Michele Obama's inauguration day dress in New York this week for Fashion Week, the annual runway show of shows. Or... in Los Angeles dressing-up celebrities for Sunday's Oscars. Instead, Isabel Toledo and her fashion illustrator husband, Ruben, are in Kent for a lecture tonight at the Kent State Fashion Museum. We invited them to our nearby studios for a fashion chat: WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio manufacturers and bankers meet to talk credit Northeast Ohio bankers are telling northeast Ohio manufacturers that credit is not as expensive, nor as hard to come by, as they fear. But, there's a but ... consumer credit continues to weigh down everybody. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Rubber From Russian Dandelions The Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center at Wooster is cultivating "taraxacum kok-saghyz", a type of dandelion native to the former Soviet republics of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan. It is a hardy plant that grows well in a climate that gets both hot in the summer and cold in the winter, and its roots, when processed, produce latex from which natural rubber can be made. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Court ruling opens way for Cleveland Hopkins to start new taxi service In the wake of a federal appeals court decision, Cleveland Hopkins International Airport plans to implement its new taxi service in March. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State budget put on hold for now A delay in the governor's budget bill has led to some schedule changes for state lawmakers this week. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Auto dealers waiting to see if Big Three get bailout Today is the deadline for America's auto manufacturers to make their cases to Congress and the President for continued federal loan assistance. In the meantime, Ohio's auto retailers are waiting, watching, and expressing some optimism. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio House Democrats trying to push through foreclosure moratorium If Democrats who control the Ohio House of Representatives get their way, Ohio will soon have a moratorium on home foreclosures, and judges will get the power to lower the interest rate on mortgage agreements. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio celebrates Lincoln's 200th birthday As the nation celebrates President's Day, Ohio's leaders also celebrate former president Abraham Lincoln's 200th birthday. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohioans chime in on what may stimulate the economy As state officials wait to see how much Ohio gets from the federal stimulus package, pundits and experts are still debating how effective it will be at getting the economy moving again. And Ohioans have their own ideas about what's needed to fire up the economy's engines. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website StimulusWatch.org measures popularity of local projects While Ohio is expected to receive about 8 billion dollars from the stimulus package, no one knows how that money will be spent. An independent group has launched a website to help citizens track the wish-list of American cities lining up for Federal Money. The online effort by a group of computer scientists from George Mason University in Virginia is to help make the stimulus more interactive. The U.S. Conference of Mayors provided data to StimulusWatch.org for cities in all 50 states, i ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohioans hoping administration's foreclosure plan will help them Some Ohioans are hoping a 50-billion dollar proposal the Obama administration plans to roll out this week will keep their homes out of foreclosure. Despite a slight drop last month, Ohio remains among the top ten states nationwide in foreclosure filings. But as one Akron woman's story shows, holding onto a home can go well beyond working out a payment plan with the bank. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website House vote on stimulus plan Ohio's House Democrats failed to convince their Republican colleagues to support an economic stimulus bill. It is expected to boost the economy and create more than one hundred thousand jobs in the state. Sara Sciammacco reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stimulus plan Now that federal lawmakers have approved an economic stimulus plan, questions are surfacing about how government money set aside for public works will be spent. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland becomes symbol of world economic crisis A photograph taken in Cleveland has garnered journalism's top photo prize. Anthony Suau's image taken last spring of an officer conducting an eviction has become a world-wide symbol of the foreclosure crisis. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Credit eased for auto loans While sales of new and used vehicles continue to lag compared to previous years, local dealers report business as usual in securing loan approvals for customers. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Public finally gets briefing from Merchandise Mart on convention center plans For the first time in nearly four years, the city's private partner in a half-billion dollar exhibition complex is explaining its plans to the public. And at least some of that public is skeptical. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Proprosed program will give grants to keep grads One Ohio lawmaker has come up with an idea of how to keep Ohio college graduates from taking their skills to another state. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor visits suburban Akron school to spread reform message Education has become the message of the Strickland administration, and the governor was on message Wednesday when he visited Springfield High School southeast of Akron. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website No more phone book at the door for AT&T customers Ohio AT&T customers who want a printed copy of the white pages will have to take the initiative to get it. State regulators say the phone company is no longer required to send the phone book to all its customers. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland trying to keep state money in federal stimulus bill Ohio's governor is not happy with the stimulus proposal passes by the US Senate earlier today. Governor Ted Strickland says he's working to make sure more money will be given to Ohio when the proposal is sent to a conference committee that will work out the differences between the Senate version and the plan that recently passed in the House. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM stock rises on announcement of more job cuts GM's stock briefly surged Tuesday after the auto maker announced 10,000 more job cuts. But that was short lived. More lingering are questions in GM towns like Lordstown about why the feds are pressing for such deep cuts. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Less federal money could be a problem If Congress approves the Senate version of a financial rescue package instead of the House version, it could blow a huge hole in Ohio's proposed two-year state budget, and dozens of government programs would have to be slashed even more. Some say Ohio shouldn't be depending on so much federal money. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Second Northeast Ohioan dies from salmonella A second Northeast Ohioan has died from the salmonella outbreak tied to contaminated peanut butter products. In an interview with statehouse correspondent Jo Ingles, Ohio Health Department spokesman Kristopher Weiss says the number of people who've died or been sickened by the outbreak continues to grow. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Compromise econ stimulus bill splits Ohio senators The Congressional compromise stimulus bill provides less than one Ohio senator wanted and more than the other says the country can afford. WKSU's M.L. Schultze has more. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Lincoln Portrait with the Akron Symphony Orchestra He's utterly familiar yet remains mysterious. His face is on every penny and the five dollar bill, but still we struggle to understand the man, Abraham Lincoln. In celebration of Lincoln's 200th birthday, the Akron Symphony commissioned photographer James Westwater to create a visual vignette to accompany the music of Aaron Copeland's Lincoln Portrait. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Lincoln Portrait with the Akron Symphony Orchestra He's utterly familiar yet remains mysterious. His face is on every penny and the five dollar bill, but still we struggle to understand the man, Abraham Lincoln. In celebration of Lincoln's 200th birthday, the Akron Symphony commissioned photographer James Westwater to create a visual vignette to accompany the music of Aaron Copeland's Lincoln Portrait. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Parma schools now part of F.B.I. corruption probe Parma's school district hopes to separate itself from the expanding Cuyahoga County corruption probe. A central figure in the broader investigation was the school board's president. Now the F.B.I. has subpoenaed the school's purchasing records. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Another Northeast Ohio death linked to salmonella Two elderly women from Summit and Medina counties are among the 92 people the Ohio health department has confirmed were sickened by a strain of salmonella in peanut products. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Federal EPA sues Akron Akron says a federal EPA lawsuit seeking more than $100 million in penalties is unfounded. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Strickland's paddling ban Govorner Ted Strickland's proposals to change education in Ohio and the way schools are funded have prompted dozens of news reports and plenty of debate. Most of it has focused on plans to change the way schools are paid for. the way teachers are trained, and the way students are tested. But buried in the governor's plan is something that hasn't gotten much attention - Strickland's proposal to ban corporal punishment. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Tobacco money stays put A Columbus judge says the state can't take the remaining funds from it's anti-tobacco agency and use it for economic stimulus. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron Art Museum exhibition offers optical illusions to open our eyes to other distortions of reality When it comes to politics or religion we look at things differently, but scientists say the way we look at images is very similar. With his artistic process, painter Neil MacDonald uses that knowledge to show us how easily we're deceived. And not by OPTICAL illusions alone. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lordstown looks ahead General Motors moves forward with massive cuts in its salaried work force even as hourly employees ponder last week's buyout proposal to them. The company is facing some of the biggest financial challenges in its history, but where Lordstown is concerned, it may be a look at the future rather than the past that determines how the rank and file react to the offer. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Brown votes for stimulus bill, Voinovich opposes GOP Sen. George Voinovich says the package won't spur jobs or consumer spending fast enough to justify the cost. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website President Barack Obama press conference 2-9-9 Audio selections about stimulus package, partisanship, economy, credit crisis, and Afghanistan Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Canton man escapes Madagascar David Poole wanted to do what a lot of people want to do -- go see the grandkids. In his case, though, the visit took him to the other side of the Earth, and the middle of a so-far unsuccessful coup. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Two strikes and you pay could be new rule for Ottawa County ice fishermen An Ohio sheriff involved in the weekend rescue of 134-ice fishermen stranded on Lake Erie wants to see future sportsmen pay for their rescue. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic plans another DC trip to push for stimulus funds Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic may head back to Washington after the Senate votes on the stimulus package this week. He wants to continue the push for direct funding for cities. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lordstown Buyout Offer Set $20,000 in cash and a voucher worth $25,000 on a new car, that's what General Motors will give hourly workers who are willing leave their jobs at Lordstown. But, UAW 1714 President David Green says he does not think a lot of his members will go for the buyout WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Medical Mart official previews next week's first public briefing on convention center Merchandise Mart officials will hold a public hearing in Cleveland next week to detail plans for a new convention center and medical equipment exhibit complex. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier got a preview from a Merchandise Mart official, who outlined the logic for building the half-Billion dollar tax funded project on Cleveland's old convention center site. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website FirstEnergy to announce layoffs in March Akron-based FirstEnergy Corporation has suspended pay raises and could start cutting jobs by the end of March. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kimono canvas makes rare trip outside Japan An exhibit of Japanese kimonos that became a canvas of artistic masterworks is opening this weekend at the Canton Art Institute. The exhibit is the centerpiece of a three-month celebration of Japanese art and culture. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ag research center seen as key to Ohio's business future One new economy touted for Ohio's future is built on its oldest economy -- agriculture. WKSU's Tim Rudell toured the state agriculture research center today (Thursday) with Ohio's Chancellor Eric Fingerhut. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland firefighters without backup radios during main system failure When the Cleveland safety force's radio system crashed this week for the third time since early December, the back-up plan worked for police, but not for firefighters. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State help is not coming fast enough for some struggling Northeast Ohio schools The governor may be talking about $1 billion more for schools. But some districts in Northeast Ohio face major sacrifices following levy defeats this week. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Room for multiple intelligence in governor's reform plan Most of the attention to Governor Strickland's education reform plan has gone to a longer school year and mandatory all-day kindergarten. But for Kent State neuro-psychologist Branton Shearer, the most exciting stuff was in proposals to revamp how kids are taught and how what they're taught is measured. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland wants to replace crashing emergency radio system By this spring, Cleveland hopes to have a picked a vendor to replace its aging and troublesome radio system. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron's mayor meets with Obama The nation's mayors are back in Washington, meeting with President Obama to explain why they think cities deserve a direct piece of the economic stimulus. And Akron's mayor is dropping some pretty big names to make the point " names like Goodyear and Bridgestone. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website LaTourette says 'Buy American' Although he joined fellow Republicans in voting no when it came before the U.S. House last week, Northeast Ohio Congressman Steve LaTourette says we do need an economic stimulus plan. LaTourette even supports part of the bill Senate Republicans are fighting "the Buy American clause. LaTourette says concerns of a trade war are overblown. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron schools face cuts Superintendent David James says Akron City Schools will downsize, and will do so regardless of what may develop from the Governor's education reform efforts. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Melissa Block interviews Chrysler's Twinsburg stamping plant All Things Considered's Melissa Block revisited with Brian Peshek Tuesday. He's a worker at Chrysler's Twinsburg stamping plant, and she first interviewed him before Christmas when he and the other Chrysler workers were facing a four week shutdown. He returned to work this week. Mellissa Block reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Habitat for Humanity founder dies Millard Fuller gave up his fortune to found the Christian non-profit group that has built hundreds of thosuands of homes worldwide. His friend and colleague, Bill Clark of Canton, says he was an inspiration. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Celebrating the marriage of medicine and music at Severance Hall with the World Doctors Orchestra The marriage of medicine and music is often a happy one, and not solely for music therapy. Many physicians perform for their own well-being. This weekend at Severance Hall, 80 doctors from all over the world, are volunteering their talents to promote global health through music. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kent State signs agreement with King Saud University Kent State continues to expand its global footprint as it signs an agreement with one of the leading universities of the middle east WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The job cut picture at National City is clearer The number of job cuts in the merger of Cleveland-based National City Bank to P.N.C. Financial Services grew today. But no one is predicting P.N.C. will renege on corporate promises. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Supreme Court looks at nursing home contracts One of the cases the Ohio Supreme Court is considering involves a Northeast Ohio nursing home and its policy of admitting residents. The outcome could limit elderly patients' right to sue. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Dozens of school money issues on Northeast Ohio ballots More than a dozen Northeast Ohio school districts have levies on today's special election ballots. These schools are competing against a struggling economy. And some are also competing against Governor Ted Strickland's promise of increased state education funding. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website The Chapel's Knute Larson reflects on his 25 years and the future of faith-based groups A pastor who helped grow one of the largest congregations in Northeast Ohio says he's encouraged the Obama administration will elevate some of the ideas he has preached for years. Knute Larson has worked for 25 years to integrate what's been called the most segregated hour in America. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Comic book curmudgeon Harvey Pekar makes his opera debut Harvey Pekar is best known for the autobiographical comics he began self-publishing in the 1970's, then illustrated by his friend Robert Crumb. Over the years, Pekar's caustic self-portraits have highlighted his struggles with everything from cell phones to Cleveland winters to cancer. His comic book success earned him guest appearances on the David Letterman Show and NPR. In 2003 the Oscar-nominated film American Splendor - closely based on Pekar's comics " gave many who had never read ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Strickland to unveil budget plan today Governor Ted Strickland has been very careful not to release too many details of his budget, but today Ohioans will learn more about how he intends to deal with a projected $7 billion deficit without raising taxes. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Generation gap prevalent in Ohio voting When in comes to the presidential election, nowhere was the age gap more obvious than in Ohio. MKSU's M.L. Schultze has more on a study of the generational divide... WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New public health college to start up at Kent State Kent State University trustees voted today to establish the state's second college of public health. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Renovations announced for Lakewood Hospital Clevelad Clinic Regional Hospitals is launching major upgrads in Lakewood, WKSU's Tim Rudell reports: WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland school reform to start in Cleveland Governor Ted Strickland's major school reform will start in the Cleveland public school district. The governor says Cleveland will be a pilot for the sweeping statewide changes he envisions. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Kent freezes tuition, looks for other ways to cut spending Kent State University will continue to freeze tuition following Governor Strickland's request, but the university is waiting for the Governor's budget before identifying where to cut to its own budget. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland hoping alternative energy could bring about economic benifits Ohio may not be the sunniest spot in the nation, or the windiest, but a broad manufacturing base could make the state a hotspot for renewable energy technology with government help. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Three salmonella cases reported in Portage County Add three Portage County cases to the list of people sickened in a national salmonella outbreak that has hit northeast Ohio especally hard. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Brown and Voinovich sharply divided over stimulus plan. Ohio's senators are sharply divided over the economic stimulus plan. One provision requiring U.S. steel to be used in stimulus-funded projects is stirring things up. Deirdre Shesgreen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Brown and Voinovich sharply divided over stimulus plan. Ohio's senators are sharply divided over the economic stimulus plan. One provision requiring U.S. steel to be used in stimulus-funded projects is stirring things up. Deirdre Shesgreen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland church bans marriage Joint tax returns, hospital visitation , adoption, and inheritance are just a few of the rights that marriage confers. Pilgrim Congregational United Church of Christ in Cleveland has decided that until every married couple in Ohio has them, including same-sex unions, they're not going to sign any marriage licenses. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Renewable energy needs help Ohio may not be the sunniest spot in the nation, or the windiest, still a broad manufacturing base could make the state a hotspot for renewable energy technology - with government help. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor's budget plans mean hard choices for services agencies Even as new ideas about the economy and about government seem to be cascading from Washington and Columbus, the problems they seek to address remain very familiar. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Strickland says he struggled with budget decisions When Ohio Governor Ted Strickland presents his 2 year budget proposal on Monday, he says it will be a mix of difficult decisions. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Strickland says preparation will land most federal stimulus dollars Ohio Governor Ted Strickland wants the state to be prepared so it can collect as much federal stimulus money as possible. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Some Dominion customers get a break in February The economic downturn is contributing to significantly lower gas bills for some Dominion East Ohio gas customers. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website From Washington to Mogadore ... A good part of Governor Ted Strickland's plan to keep the state afloat next year rests with the federal economic stimulus package. IT could be worth 3 billion dollars or more to Ohio. Northeast Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan is one of the Democrats who helped push the package through the House. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohioans react to State of the State For a speech that included some incredibly bad news, the governor's state of the state speech has earned him some generally good reviews. WKSU reporters spoke with Northeastern Ohioans working in education, social services, manufacturing and other fields to get their first reaction to Gov. Strickland's speech. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Snow storm slams northeast Ohio More than a foot of snow has fallen in many parts of Northeast Ohio closing schools and making travel treacherous. The highway patrol is advising people to stay off the roads if possible. The good news is the National Weather Service says the storm is moving east. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Teachers mostly pleased with Governor Strickland's education reform plan Northeast Ohio educators are generally encouraged by Governor Ted Strickland's major school reform plan announced today. In his State of the State address, Strickland called for a longer school year, more teacher accountability, and more state education funding. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lawmakers react to Strickland's speech Most lawmakers made it through the snow to see the Governor's state-of-the-state speech today. Statehouse correspondent Karen Kasler talked to several legislators to find out their thoughts on Strickland's speech. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland addresses state budget, education Ohio governor Ted Strickland delivered his third annual state-of-the-state address to legislators today. He proposed ways to fill a multi-billion dollar money hole in the state budget, in addition to changing the way Ohio schools teach children and the way they're funded. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Governor Strickland's State of the State Address Governor Ted Strickland to the General Assembly Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Educators looking to governor's state of state address Ohio public school educators will be listening closely to Governor Ted Strickland's state of the state address today. Education funding is expected to be a big topic. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland schools consider uniforms for high schoolers Cleveland public high school students may soon be dressing like the district's kindergarten through 8th grade students. The younger students have been wearing uniforms since the 2007 academic year. Now the school board is considering putting high schoolers in uniforms. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Canton icon dies Citizens in Canton are marking the passing of Northeast Ohio's longest service mayor, Stanley Cmich. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Peanut butter product linked to Summit County woman's death Forty products have been recalled. A Summit County woman is dead. The illness of 67 other Ohioans has been linked to salmonella contaminated peanut butter products. And health officials say they have no way of knowing when the outbreak will be over. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County sees foreclosure spreading to the suburbs Ohio's mortgage mediation program is now a year old, operating in all 88 counties and is lauded by the Ohio Supreme Court. But at least one Northeast Ohio intermediary says some lenders still haven't caught on to the alternatives to foreclosure " or even to the extent of the problem. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mayor Jackson voices concerns about convention site Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson is not completely sold on the evolving deal to build a new downtown convention center and medical equipment exhibition hall. And he's outlining issues he believes need to be closely watched. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website GM to cut more workers at Lordstown plant General Motors has announced today it will lay off an additional 800-workers at its plant in Lordstown. It's part of a nationwide effort to scale back production to meet falling demand for new cars. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Toledo-Lucas County shows the way The Summit County Health District and the City of Akron Health Department are cautiously considering talks of consolidation. The same discussions are happening between Stark County and the City of Canton. The time may be right to follow the lead of one Ohio Combined Health District that took the leap nearly a decade ago. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio leads in salmonella cases More than 40 people in northeast Ohio have now been hit by the salmonella outbreak that has spread to 43 states since October. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland school district faces multiple worries Cleveland schools are facing hundreds of teacher layoffs and a criminal investigation into more than 160 thousand dollars in district equipment purchases. Both are expected to come up at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Goodyear's Supreme Court win likely to be overturned by Congress Lilly Ledbetter and her lawsuit gained prominence during the presidential campaign, especially in Ohio. Now a bill named after her is likely to be one of the first passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress. NPR's Audie Cornish outlined Ledbetter's battle on Weekend Edition Saturday. Audie Cornish reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Medical Mart site could pose problems for land acquisition Local developers are disappointed with the choice of a site for a new convention center and medical mart in Cleveland. And County officials may be disappointed when they try to acquire the property - due to changes in Ohio eminent domain law. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website ODOT to get new director next month There are major changes taking places at the Ohio Department of Transportation. Statehouse Correspondent Jo Ingles has the details. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Finally... maybe Cleveland's new exhibition complex will be built at the old downtown convention center site. But the long awaited choice is contingent on an engineering plan that promises to cut more than one-hundred million dollars from the project. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland paint company suffers in housing crash Another Northeast Ohio company has been hit hard by the economy, and doesn't expect to recover any time soon. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cities challenge residency laws The state's highest court is deciding whether Ohio can override laws that require public employees to live in the cities they work. Both Akron and Cleveland have such residency requirements. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Reversal on judges parties In the space of 3 weeks, the Ohio Supreme Court has reversed itself on the issue of whether candidates for judgeships may advertise their party affiliation. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Women settle sexual harassment against the Attorney General's office. The two women who sparked the investigation of former Ohio Attorney General Marc Dann and his top aides have settled a sexual harassment claim against the A-G's office. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Libraries brace for cuts The state of Ohio is expected to continue slashing funding to libraries in light of a nearly six billion dollar budget deficit. But some have been adjusting their budgets in anticipation of the cuts. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio may get a bigger bailout A research group for governors and state legislators says Ohio may wind up receiving a lot more bail-out money from the federal government than even governor Ted Strickland has asked for. But, as statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen reports, Strickland isn't ready to celebrate...just yet. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sexual harassment suit against former AG Dann settled A sexual harassment claim against the Ohio Attorney General's office has been settled. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Fire deaths in Ohio on the rise The number of fire deaths across Ohio shot up considerably last year, according to the State Fire Marshall's Office. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Race to replace Voinovich is wide open according to a new poll A new poll shows the race to succeed Senator George Voinovich is wide open. It also shows the front-runners that they have a lot of work to do on name recognition. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cities challenge residency requirements The state's highest court is deciding whether Ohio can override laws that require public employees to live in the cities where they work. Both Akron and Cleveland have such residency requirements. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio Supreme Court reverses party ban for judge candidates In the space of three weeks, the Ohio Supreme Court has reversed itself on the issue of whether candidates for judgeships may advertize their part affiliation. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio high school kids hold onto brush with history Not all the Northeast Ohio visitors got out of Washington after the inauguration ceremony and celebration. Many stayed around to digest the inauguration experience, and to soak in more as the nation's capital gets down to business. WKSU's Tim Rudell caught up with a group of Nordonia High School students. Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website PNC shares rebound after sharp drop early in the week. Shares in PNC Financial rebounded today (Wednesday) after a steep plunge on the stock market Tuesday. Some analysts say instability in the banking sector may cause PNC to speed up its merger with Cleveland-based National City Bank. But the pain of job cuts will then be spread across both banks. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Regulators approve FirstEnergy rate hike on delivery of electricity FirstEnergy customers can expect to pay an average of two to four dollars more on their monthly electric bills. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Eaton Corp cutting more jobs Downtown Cleveland-based Eaton Corp's economic troubles apparently haven't changed the company's plan to move to a roomier location in the suburbs. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Browns Hall of Famer Lavelli dies A Cleveland Browns Hall of Famer who helped the team build a dynasty in the 1940's and 50's has died. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland riverbank at risk of collapse The Army Corps of Engineers is deciding how to prevent a Cuyahoga River bank near downtown Cleveland from collapsing. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Lordstown students travel to Washington to watch inauguration. A group of Lordstown High School students were among the millions packed into the national mall Tuesday to watch Barack Obama take the oath of office. Their day began at 3a.m. The students in Terry Armstrong's government class told WKSU about their expectations and hopes for the 44th president. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Inauguration of Barack Obama Ohioans students, veterans, marching band members and those who simply want to witness history, are among the millions who crowded into Washington today. Those watching the inauguration from the national mall include students from Nordonia and Lordstown high schools, and a native Clevelander who is one of the famed Tuskegee airmen. WKSU's Tim Rudell and Vivian Goodman report. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Free University of Toledo tuition expanding WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Passengers up at Akron-Canton airport While most airports across the country are reporting fewer passengers, officials at Akron-Canton say 2008 was the airport's best year ever. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A new way to read electronic books The Cleveland Public Library is the first library in the country to use a new file format that allows people to read e-books on nearly any computer or hand-held device. The Cleveland company that distributes the technology says .epub may soon become the new industry standard. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Conductor of World Doctor's Orchestra excited about Obama Inauguration This morning in Berlin, Germany we talked about the inauguration with the leader of an orchestra that will perform next month in Cleveland. Dr. Stefan Willich is an accomplished violinist and conductor as well as a cardiologist. He directs the Institute for Social Medicine in Berlin and founded the World Doctor's Orchestra in 2007. Dr. Willich will lead 80 doctors from 14 countries in music by Copland, Beethoven, and Brahms on February 8th in Severance Hall. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio Tuskegee airman witnesses inauguration Among the Northeast Ohioans with a special invitation to the inauguration is Roy Richardseon. He and his fellow Tuskegee airmen have been a part of history before - as members of the U.S. military's first segregated program for pilots and navigators...And of a group that refused to accept segregation when the war was done. WKSU's Tim Rudell caught up with Richardson as he arrived in Washington to witness what he calls a great day. WKSU's Tim Rudell reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County jail target of protest Protestors are calling for big changes in how Cuyahoga County tries and sentences people, and how it treats the people it jails. They're being spurred to action by a series of reports on sentencing statistics, jail policies. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Protesters call for changes at Cuyahoga jail Protests are triggered by death of R-n-B singer, but they go well beyond questions of jail medical procedures. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A cold weather phenomenon comes to Ohio Bitterly cold air from the arctic swept into the region this week, bringing not only sub- zero temperatures to Ohio, but also ideal conditions for an optical trick that's common in the far north but rare around here. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland's Rock Hall celebrates 50 years of Motown. As the nation celebrates the legacy of Martin Luther King and prepares for tomorrow's inauguration of the country's first African-American as president, we take a closer look at a recording company that in many ways reflected America's racial progress. A new exhibit is now open at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: "Motown: The Sound of Young America Turns 50." WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron mayor lobbies for cities in Washington Akron's mayor is in Washington this week to watch the inauguration. But his main order of business has been in the days leading up to the inauguration. He and other mayors have been pushing hard for a big piece of the economic stimulus package. WKSU's M.L. Schultze talked with Plusquellic after a meeting with President-elect Obama's chief economic advisor, Larry Sommers... WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Tim Ryan considering taking a run at the U.S. Senate Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan says he's considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat that will be vacated by George Voinovich in 2010. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Obama praises suburban Cleveland company, pushes for federal stimulus President-elect Barack Obama says a successful Northeast Ohio factory is one example of what could happen if Congress passes his massive economic stimulus plan. Obama touted his plan today at Cardinal Fastener in Bedford Heights. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Representatives from neighboring states want to fast-track Cleveland to Pittsburgh Tech Belt Two Congressmen " one from Ohio and one from Pennsylvania " are touting a new Tech Belt initiative to promote industrial and job growth along a Cleveland-Akron-Youngstown-Pittsburgh corridor. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website An old product with new uses President-elect Obama is putting the spotlight today on a northeast Ohio company making a fast transition from old industry to new. Cardinal Fasteners is capitalizing on the boom business of wind. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Survey says Northeast Ohioans are optimistic about the region's future. Northeast Ohioans worry about the economy, but many are optimistic that things will improve. They also recognize the importance of a college education, though many don't see it in their own future. And they say, the key to a stable economic future is cooperation among the cities and counties of the region. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website U.S. Figure Skating competition comes to Cleveland this weekend The U.S. Figure Skating championships begin Sunday in Cleveland and twenty-four year old Parker Pennington of Lakewood will be among those competing for the men's senior title. A native of Hartford, Connecticut, Pennington has lived in Lakewood most of his life, training with Olympic gold medalist and coach Carol Heiss Jenkins. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Two Perspectives on the Middle East The news from the Middle East is frightening enough to many in Northeastern Ohio. But for those who have family living under the threat of a Hamas rocket attack or an Israeli missile barrage, the anxiety is unrelenting. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Plusquellic to meet with Obama's chief advisor Akron's mayor and the leaders of other cities will meet tomorrow with President-elect Obama's chief economic advisor. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website How the Indians, Browns and Cavs will fare in 2009? It looks like an uncertain year for Cleveland sports fans. The Browns are restructuring after an embarrassing season and the Indians are investing millions to try to get back to the postseason. Just the opposite, the Cavaliers see this as THE year to bring home an NBA championship. Author and Cleveland Plain Dealer sports columnist Terry Pluto talks about whether the Cavs can go all the way, and if the other teams can rebound. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Regulators give FirstEnergy a break on recouping cost of electricity FirstEnergy customers could be paying 25 to 35-dollars more on month on their electric bills through the end of March. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio receives failing grade on tobacco control laws Healthe advocates give Ohio a failing grade when it comes to tobacco control laws WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County corruption probe growing The corruption probe centered in Cuyahoga County is growing, and spreading beyond the county's borders... WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Rock hall's Class of 2009 announced This spring's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction will bring acts ranging from Jeff Beck to Run DMC to Cleveland. WKSU's M.L. Schultze has more on the newly announced class of 2009. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Opera for all Well-established arts organizations are struggling to "go on with the show" in this down economy, but smaller , newer groups have to be even more creative about attracting audiences. One Solon-based company has been finding its voice: WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Environmental group promotes "green" infrastructure spending. A statewide environmental group is detailing ways it says the state and the nation can create millions of jobs, reduce dependence on foreign oil and cut air pollution. From WKSU's Akron studio, WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website A Palestinian / Jewish couple make a marriage work He's a critical care physician, she runs a yoga studio. He emigrated from Lebanon, she's from the East Coast. He's Palestinian, she's Jewish. Lutfi and Joann Aboussouan say it's unlikely they could ever be together in the middle east. But living here helps the Beachwood couple keep politics and religion out of their marriage...sometimes. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland auto show not drastically impacted by economy This year's Greater Cleveland Auto Show will be smaller than last year's...but not much smaller according to the shows sponsor. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Nearly 100 laid off workers show interest in free college So far about 100 people who have lost their jobs are showing interest in taking free classes at Kent State University's Trumbull campus. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Nearly 100 laid off workers show interest in free college WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Voinovich says he'll retire in 2010 Ohio's senior Senator is done at the end of next year. George Voinovich moved to the Senate in 1998, after serving 8-years as Ohio's governor. Before that, as the Republican mayor of a Democratic city, Voinovich brought Cleveland back from the edge of bankruptcy. Well-known as a fiscal conservative, Voinovich also has been seen as a party maverick, frequently voting with Democrats on tax cuts and other issues. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Solon company recalls peanut butter linked to nationwide salmonella outbreak A Solon-based company likely is linked to a nationwide salmonella outbreak. Although King Nuts Companies has recalled its peanut butter, federal officials say the investigation into the outbreak is continuing. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Top money watchers talk about the economic crisis gripping Ohio As talk of bailouts, budget deficits and job cuts continues to make news, some of the state's top money watchers say that the economic crisis that's gripping Ohio won't let loose anytime soon. WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohioans applying in mass numbers for unemployment continue to overload the system A deluge of Ohioans applying for unemployment compensation benefits, is continuing to overload the system. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Task force recommending a hike in gasoline tax A task force appointed by governor Ted Strickland is recommending that Ohio hike its gasoline tax, but the governor isn't buying the idea. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Group releases study that confirms the state's budget mess An Ohio group that advocates for low and moderate income families is releasing a study Monday that confirms the state's budget mess is as bad as Governor Ted Strickland says it is, And perhaps is even a bit worse. WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Rock Hall attendance relatively steady Fans of rock and roll are still traveling to Cleveland despite the bad economy. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum hasn't been hurt as badly as some museums recently. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New state superintendent Delisle says reform still in the works The year ahead for Deborah Delisle means running a big bureaucracy .. during a time of bid demand for change ... while facing big limits on the means to implement that change. In the last of our looks ahead with some of the northeastern Ohioans making news and shaping policy, WKSU's 's M.L. Schultze spoke with Delisle about the challenge. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Northeast Ohio remains corporate center Despite the high-profile takeover of Cleveland-based National City Bank, the newest analysisis by Team NEO says Northeast Ohio remains a big base for corporate headquarters. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Concealed weapons now allowed in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park Starting today you can carry a loaded, concealed gun in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, or almost any other national park in the country. The new gun law was finalized by the Bush Administration last month. But 2 separate lawsuits have been filed to block the law. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Budish, Batchelder promise to end partisan bickering, work together on budget shortfall Ohio's new House leaders " both from Northeast Ohio - say balancing covering the state's projected 7.3-billion dollar biennial shortfall will require more than state spending cuts and federal assistance. House Democrat Armond Budish and House Republican William Batchelder say they'll also be looking for new sources of revenue. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Long distance hiker Andrew Skurka A man that's been called "Adventurer of the Year" by National Geographic Adventure magazine and "Person of the Year" by Backpacker magazine will give a talk this evening (Fri) at the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. Andrew Skurka has completed three long distance hikes that totaled more than 16,000 miles, and he's only twenty seven years old. Jim Blum reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Sustainability leader says recession may slow, but won't stop change David Beach is Northeast Ohio's sustainable cities guru. The founder of EcoCity Cleveland, Beach last year merged his organization with the Cleveland Museum of Natural History to form the Green City Blue Lake Institute. Beach says he finds green incentives for transformation in hard economic times. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Mangini ready to lead Browns The Cleveland Brown's newest head coach is assessing players and starting to put together an organization he hopes will give long-suffering Brown's fans something to cheer about. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Arts and culture stayed the course and helped Northeast Ohio weather the economic storm in 2008 Artists in Northeast Ohio may look back at 2008 and ahead to 2009 like the two-faced Greek god of gates for whom this month is named: Janus ... peering through the twin masks of comedy and tragedy. The region last year lost some of its greatest artists and a few of its arts organizations. Looking ahead, big plans are in the works. But even bigger financial hurdles are in the way. WKSU's Vivian Goodman reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Regulators slash transition charge from some FirstEnergy customers' bills FirstEnergy's stock price has tumbled after state regulators cut special charges from the monthly bills of some customers. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland religious leaders will try again to repeal domestic-partner registry A group of Cleveland pastors has failed to collect enough signatures for a ballot referendum to repeal the city's domestic partner registry law. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cuyahoga County's hiring practices questioned A recent state audit blasts one Cuyahoga County office for its hiring and firing practices. It also raises questions about how the entire county government handles personnel. And the county's human resource director agrees. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Salmonella outbreak sickens hundreds in multi-state outbreak. The Ohio Department of Health says at least 50 Ohio residents are now sick in a multi-state outbreak of salmonella, and the cases appear to have a common source and that 14 of the cases are from Cuyahoga County. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland vetoes vet bonus bill WKSU's Karen Kasler reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website New AG Cordray ready to deal with the issues WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron Police getting the word out about diversity Most people find out about job openings through word of mouth. That is part of the problem the Akron Police department is facing in its efforts to diversify. WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron extends billboard moratorium. The Akron City Council wants more time to consider a new ordinance to regulate billboards in the city. The council voted last night (Monday 1/5)to extend a 4 month moratorium on new billboards by at least 3 weeks. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Dr. Ned Hill's prescription for economic recovery Cleveland State's Ned Hill is a Professor of Economic Development at the Levin College of Urban Affairs and a fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Hill has written extensively about Ohio's manufacturing sector, the need for investing in city centers, and the role higher education should play in the economy, a role he thinks we've got backwards. Ned Hill also has some advice for the incoming Obama administration... WKSU's Jeff St. Clair reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Targeted budget cuts hit Ohio colleges and universities This week's $25 million in state cuts to Ohio's public colleges and universities are gentler and more selective than many feared. But they're also a start, not a finish. WKSU's M.L. Schultze reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Medical Mart parent company seeking federal bailout funds The business working with Cuyahoga County to build a half-Billion dollar Medical Mart and convention center wants a piece off the federal bailout. The news adds to concerns over the viability of the project touted as the economic hope for Northeast Ohio. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Federal funding for Lake Erie watershed conservation projects now available State officials say groups can now apply for federal funds to preserve land along Lake Erie. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website FirstEnergy considering shutting down power plant FirstEnergy is asking for an extra 3-months to decide whether to upgrade pollution controls on one of its coal-fired power plants or shut it down. WKSU's Karen Schaefer reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Republican controlled Ohio Senate convenes. The Republican controlled Ohio Senate could play the spoiler during the next two years if it doesn't go along with legislation passed by the Democratic controlled house and Democratic Governor Ted Strickland. Senate President, Republican Bill Harris, says lawmakers in his chamber will be looking for ways to make government more efficient. He says making changes to Ohio's Medicaid program could be on option. HARRIS Q: "...money." :17 Harris says the top priority for the Ohio Se ... Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website State senators sworn in Members of the Ohio Senate were sworn into office earlier today (Monday 1-5-09) and Republicans remain in control. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Ohio General Assembly opens Monday With a sinking economy as the backdrop, the 128th session of the Ohio General Assembly has opened in Columbus. For many of the lawmakers, it's a totally NEW job....and with a growing budget shortfall, it promises to be a FRUSTRATING job. Statehouse correspondent Bill Cohen talked with several of the freshmen, and filed this report: WKSU's Bill Cohen reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Stark County gets coveted grants to help homeless young adults Stark County's Mental Health and Recovery Services Board is one of just a dozen groups in the country to receive a $2 million grant to create a pilot program. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson looks back at 2008, and ahead to this year Northeast Ohio's largest city recorded gains and losses in 2008, but managed to remain fairly steady as the national economy struggles. In the 2nd of our series of looks ahead with some of the region's newsmakers, WKSU's Kevin Niedermier talked with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson in his City Hall office, about this past year, and about what might lie ahead. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Cleveland sex ed program touted as success WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Akron unveils new "green" bus terminal Public transportation is getting greener in Akron. Metro RTA is set to open its $17 million bus station equipped with solar panels and an eco-friendly heating and cooling system. WKSU's Amanda Rabinowitz reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Canton fire injures nine firefighters A New Year's Day house fire in Canton quickly spread to two other homes and injured nine firefighters. WKSU's Tom Parkinson reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Strickland askes for money for states Ohio Governor Ted Strickland is joining forces with other governors nationwide to tell the federal government that any economic stimulus plan being considered must include money for individual states. WKSU's Jo Ingles reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Medical Mart site selection extended The site selection deadline for Cleveland's Medical Mart and convention center has been extended. The Cuyahoga County Commissioners made the decision this week. WKSU's Kevin Niedermier reports. Listen | Listen in your iPhone | Download | View full cache | Visit Website Audits of Cleveland and T