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Halem, a Kent resident who ran the university’s glass program for nearly three decades before retiring in 1998, said he carried his grief and anger about 9/11 with him for about 10 years before he was able to make art about it.

As I sat and watched the opening moments of the “Field of Dreams” game Aug. 12 between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox amidst the cornfields of the legendary 1989 movie site in Dyersville, Iowa, I thought to myself: We need more of this.

Suffield Fire Chief Bob Rasnick announced the hiring of the department’s first three full-time firefighter/paramedics.

Comedian Steve Byrne headlined a night of comedy at the Water Street Tavern on Thursday night, along with Bill Squire, Anthony Savatt and Mike Polk Jr. 

Over the last several months, the Portage County Solid Waste Management District has broken agreements with cities and townships, largely because they don’t have enough drivers to collect recycling. The agency’s director, Bill Steiner, says drivers don’t want to work a difficult job for low pay. But exit interviews with former employees suggest there may be another reason: Steiner.

The Portage County Community Action Council has been swamped with families seeking housing assistance since the start of the pandemic. And this is just the beginning. Executive Director David Shea said these numbers are “probably going to get worse before they get better.”

With new owners and a vision, the historic Riddle Block 9 Building in downtown Ravenna is poised for a revival. 

Kent City Council is considering Main Street Kent’s request to place a public art display at the north end of North Water Street, just south of the bridge.

“Walking behind that American flag and marching into the stadium for Opening Ceremonies … there is nothing else like representing your country at the biggest competition. Goosebumps.”

Kent’s city leaders are considering raises so that some of them can continue to qualify for Ohio Public Employees Retirement System benefits.

Kent businessman Mike Beder’s recent run-in with the city’s Architectural Review Board has prompted city council to examine — and perhaps update — the design guidelines that inform the ARB’s decisions.

This year, it was Waterloo’s football players and cheerleaders who rose to the challenge of bagging all the litter discarded in the parking lots and the grandstand. And Field Falcons stepped up to work the admissions booths day in and day out.

Kent residents are shifting from weekly to biweekly curbside recycling service, starting this week. The change-over is because of a lack of resources, including driver availability, at the Portage County Solid Waste Management District.

The Ravenna School Board voted unanimously Monday to mandate masks for all students and staff, regardless of vaccination status. The mask mandate took effect Wednesday.

With the Covid-19 delta variant increasing rapidly in Portage County, can the government force you — against your will — to spend hours indoors in a room filled with total strangers, half of whom, statistically, have not been vaccinated (according to the Ohio Department of Health on Aug. 20)?

In a span of a few short years, Kreiner went from placing in three events at the state tournament as a senior at Mogadore High School in 1995, to trying a new event — javelin — as a freshman at Kent State University the next year, to becoming the best javelin thrower in the country by 2001.

“The Personal Librarian” by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray is a fictionalized biography of a real person, set in the years 1905 to 1948. Belle da Costa Greene was the personal librarian for the financier J.P. Morgan. But she was born Belle Marion Greener. Why did she change her name?

Kent City Council members unanimously voted Wednesday to consider whether the city should implement a mask mandate during a Health and Safety Committee meeting on Sept. 1. 

Mike Beder’s efforts to bring new retail to downtown Kent and further the decades-long mission of creating a “town and gown” community should be applauded. I believe the ARB’s objections to the facade’s color scheme are subjective, and indeed, misguided.

Ten days after adopting a masks-optional policy for the school year, Kent City Schools reversed course and decided to mandate universal masking for all students and staff members, regardless of vaccination status. In doing so, they were diverging from nearly every other school system in the county. What changed Superintendent George Joseph’s mind?