Here are your morning headlines for Tuesday, December 11:
- Activists to protest inhumane jail conditions;
- Two charged in planning attacks near Toledo;
- Homeless tent city operator proposes boarding house;
- MetroHealth expands to Medina;
- Akron approves $3.6M relocation grant for Babcock & Wilcox;
- Sarasota flights added at Hopkins;
- Kasich calls for revamp of education program;
- Goodyear to halt production in Venezuela;
- Youngstown fire kills 5 children;
Cuyahoga County jail protest planned
Community activists are planning to protest at Tuesday's Cuyahoga County Council meeting amid reports of inhumane conditions at the county jail. The protest comes three weeks after the U.S. Marshals released a report that detailed food deprivation, violation of inmates’ rights and lack of access to hygiene products at the jail. The NAACP Cleveland chapter, Black Lives Matter, the Ohio Student Association and several other groups plan to attend. The groups are demanding regular progress reports on the jail and change from County Executive Armond Budish.
Two charged in planning attacks near Toledo
Federal authorities have charged two people involved in planning separate large-scale attacks — one who wanted to carry out a shooting at a synagogue and another who had been plotting a bar shooting and blowing up a pipeline. The FBI and Department of Justice said the alleged attacks were in the planning stages, and were never an immediate threat to the public. Both suspects are from the Toledo area. The two have been under investigation for months and had talked about their plans with undercover FBI agents.
Homeless tent city operator proposes boarding house
Homeless advocate Sage Lewis is asking Akron officials to allow him to open a boarding house adjacent to his shrinking homeless encampment. The Beacon Journal reports that Lewis is seeking a conditional zoning change that would allow 10 unrelated people to live in the single-family home – double the current code. The city has set a January deadline for the remaining homeless people camping on Lewis’s commercial property to be out following a failed attempt to rezone the property as a campground. Despite a pending lawsuit Lewis’s homeless charity has worked with the city to find housing for 46 tent city residents. About a dozen people are still at the site.
MetroHealth expands to Medina
MetroHealth System has opened a new primary care office in Medina, its first expansion outside of Cuyahoga County. State lawmakers passed a bill over the summer that allows the county-owned MetroHealth to provide facilities and services in seven other counties. The new Medina health center employs six people and offers walk-in as well as scheduled appointments.
Akron approves $3.6M relocation grant for Babcock & Wilcox
Akron City Council has approved a $3.6 million relocation grant for Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises. The coal-based company announced in September that it would move its Barberton location to Akron, along with 700 jobs. The Beacon Journal reports that Akron plans to collect about $11 million in payroll taxes from the company in the next seven years and will send $2 million of that back to Barberton in the next five years.
Sarasota flights added at Hopkins
Northeast Ohioans can now fly directly to Sarasota, Florida for the first time in 10 years. Frontier Airlines began offering twice-a-week flights out of Cleveland Hopkins, Allegiant Air will start its Cleveland-to-Sarasota route in April. Frontier added nonstop services from Cleveland to West Palm Beach in Florida last month. Next month, it plans to add new flights to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
Kasich calls for revamp of education program
Gov. John Kasich says Ohio’s education system needs a “fundamental restructuring” to better prepare for the workforce. At a meeting Monday with JobsOhio, the state’s non-profit economic development agency, Kasich said Ohio’s education system needs to partner more with the business community. Kasich had earlier proposed putting business executives on local school boards, and requiring teachers to shadow business leaders as part of their license renewals. Both proposals failed in the legislature. Kasich said Ohio’s economy is changing and students need high-tech skills to thrive in the workplace.
Goodyear to halt production in Venezuela
Akron-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. is halting production in Venezuela, making it the latest international corporation to abandon a South American nation in economic crisis. The company had endured tens of millions in losses in recent years as the Venezuelan currency plummeted in value against the U.S. dollar.
Youngstown fire kills 5 children
A fire in Youngstown killed five young children, including 1-year-old twins Sunday night. Firefighters said the mother jumped from a second-floor window and was hospitalized with injuries. No one else was in the home. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
