Archive

Money, lots of it, is headed to every city, village and township in Portage County, thanks to the American Rescue Plan, a $1.9 trillion economic Covid-19 stimulus package signed into law March 11.

Time will tell if Indians fans who dislike the franchise’s choice of Guardians for the new team name will ever take to it. They have no choice, obviously, because that’s the nickname going forward when the 2021 season is in the books.

The Flower and Art Show on Tuesday went off without a hitch. The gardeners displayed garden and flower themed paintings and photos along with floral arrangements.

Having secured zoning that will allow an apartment complex to be built next to the Marc’s shopping plaza in Kent, MVAH Partners is forging ahead with its plans to provide affordable housing for working families and independent senior citizens.

The Kent Environmental Council presented Kent resident Doria Daniels with the 2021 Edith Chase Conservation Award for her work in Kent’s Historic South End.

That’s what seems to happen in Ravenna: We tear down the beautiful symbols of the city’s former ambitions and put up cheap, functional boxes, like the county courthouse. Or we replace them with parking lots.

Faced with the permanent closure of Kent’s emergency room, City Manager Dave Ruller and Fire Chief John Tosko are lobbying University Hospitals to reopen the facility.

Motorists who drive Silica Sand Road in northern Portage County will have to find alternative routes as the bridge over Eagle Creek will be closed for three months starting Aug. 2.

Residents who wish to honor a veteran have until Aug. 13 to purchase a memorial brick to be placed at the Portage County memorial site, located at the county courthouse.

Brush and yard waste pickup in the Village of Hiram is suspended indefinitely, leaving residents to find other ways to dispose of unwanted organic material.

The Raven Awards for 2019 and 2020 will be celebrated at a ceremony on Sept. 1 at the Ravenna Football Stadium from 6-8 p.m. The awards honor local businesses, business owners and residents, giving special recognition for new businesses.

So where are we with high school athletics and Covid-19? To answer that question, I turned to Rootstown High School athletic director, golf and baseball coach Keith Waesch to take a look at where we’ve been in the last year-plus and where we’re going with respect to the upcoming 2021-22 school year, particularly the rapidly approaching fall sports season, as we grind through a two steps forward, one step back post-pandemic America.

Sunday saw an unusually high number of accidents on Portage County’s waterways. We spoke with Shawn Baynes, the assistant dive team commander at the Kent Fire Department, and Adam George, senior firefighter at the city of Ravenna, about at least five calls the Portage County Water Rescue Team responded to on Sunday.

Through a Community Projects Funding application, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan obtained nearly $18 million for projects in the 13th congressional district, including $1 million for UH Portage.

In Downtown Kent on Saturday, Portage County turned out to hear live music during the largest local festival since the pandemic began. Although the day was rainy and cloudy, hundreds of people attended the Kent Blues Fest.

Freedom Township trustees and community members discussed the future of resident Michelle Filler’s dog training business, Duke’s K9 Dash ‘N Splash, and the high turnover rate of township zoning inspectors on Thursday.

In his report to Kent’s Finance Committee last week, Police Chief Nicholas Shearer proposed replacing 23 ballistic vests for city officers, noting that a grant from the Ohio Attorney General’s office will pick up 75% of the cost.

Building trust and accountability between police officers and citizens is more important than ever, and providing our local police with body cameras can help on both accounts.

Ohio is one of the most gerrymandered states in the United States. Our legislature is under a mandate to end the practice and replace it with fair districts— now. But, so far, not even the Ohio Redistricting Commission has been convened in advance of receiving census data on August 16.

The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the Portage County commissioners made an “impermissible end run around the Open Meetings Act” during Solid Waste Management District board meetings in 2019.