Here are your morning headlines for Tuesday, Sept. 20:
- Cleveland City Council approves American Rescue Plan spending on social services
- Cleveland wants to use artificial intelligence to fight illegal dumping
- Remembering Plain Dealer columnist Michael Heaton
- UA's plan to renovate Polsky building grows with $20M Knight gift
- University Hospitals chosen to help study effectiveness of COVID, flu shots
- Guardians thump Twins 11-4
- Your weather forecast: Muggy this morning, with areas of fog
Cleveland City Council approves American Rescue Plan spending on social services
Cleveland City Council approved $10.6 million in federal stimulus funding for social service programs in the latest round of spending from the city’s $512 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation. Council on Monday night approved about $2.7 million to give early childhood education workers signing and retention bonuses. Another $1.9 million would help families pay for childcare. The Cleveland Rape Crisis Center will receive $2.5 million. Journey Center for Safety and Healing was approved for $1.75 million. Canopy, which serves children who have survived abuse, will receive $500,000. [Ideastream Public Media]
Cleveland wants to use artificial intelligence to fight illegal dumping
The city of Cleveland will work with Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland State University, as part of its Internet of Things Collaborative, to use smart cameras to develop and test an AI model designed to identify illegal dumping. Such work would be performed in a controlled environment, likely on campus, “where students will walk into the field of view of a monitor” and leave an item behind, said Roy Fernando, chief innovation and technology officer under Mayor Justin Bibb. Once the model has been perfected, the city intends to deploy smart cameras on two corridors known for being dumping hotspots. One would be deployed on the city’s East Side and one on the West Side, Fernando said. [Cleveland.com]
Remembering Plain Dealer columnist Michael Heaton
Longtime Cleveland writer Michael Heaton, known to many as the “Minister of Culture,” died this weekend at the age of 66. Heaton wrote his weekly “Minister” column in the Plain Dealer’s Friday Magazine for three decades, his last in 2018 when he left the paper. He offered his unique spin on life or, as he put it, he wrote “entertainingly about entertainment.” He also reviewed movies, albums and rock concerts during his stint there, wrote penetrating profiles in the paper’s former Sunday Magazine and covered news stories, including reporting from Ground Zero on 9-11. [Ideastream Public Media]
UA's plan to renovate Polsky building grows with $20M Knight gift
The University of Akron is planning a substantial renovation to its 400,000-square-foot central Downtown building now that it has received a $20 million commitment from the Knight Foundation. UA President Gary Miller said the university is planning a multi-phase project that would be paid for mostly through private fundraising and without adding to the university's debt. There is not yet an estimated cost. [Akron Beacon Journal]
University Hospitals chosen to help study effectiveness of COVID, flu shots
University Hospitals has been selected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to serve as one of seven locations across the country to study the effectiveness of flu and COVID-19 vaccines. The CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Disease has awarded UH $12.5 million in grant funding to identify laboratory-confirmed cases of acute respiratory illness due to influenza, SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19), and other viruses of major public health concern. [Fox8]
Guardians thump Twins 11-4
Cal Quantrill kept his home unbeaten streak alive as the Guardians topped Minnesota. Quantrill is 13-0 at Progressive Field in 32 career starts. The right hander is one win away from matching Vic Raschi’s record for dominance in one ballpark. Raschi went 14-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago from 1947-55. Quantrill’s latest win gave the American League Central-leading Guardians a four-game lead over the second-place Chicago White Sox, who were idle. [The Associated Press]
Your weather forecast: Muggy this morning, with areas of fog
Turning mostly sunny later with more comfortable humidity. High 80. Tonight, increasingly cloudy, with showers and thunderstorms overnight. Low 62. Tomorrow, Wednesday, a second round of storms in the late afternoon. Some of these storms may be strong to severe, with heavy rain and damaging winds. Chance of rain 50%. High 88. [National Weather Service]
