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Backyard chickens are still on Streetsboro City Council’s mind as the city’s service committee is floating yet another poultry-oriented ordinance.

Here are a couple tales from my career in journalism to help take the edge off, something I plan to do from time to time to keep things light.

Out of Portage County’s 12 public school systems, only Kent City Schools and Bio-Med Science Academy will require students to wear masks. Those two districts flipped their original decisions after public outcry against masks-optional policies. The remaining school districts, including Aurora, said that until they are required to enforce a mask mandate, they will leave the masking decision up to parents.

Ravenna City Schools’ former Superintendent Dennis Honkala and the Portage County NAACP have teamed up to add more civil rights education to the curriculum by purchasing 250 social justice coloring books to use in the 2021 school year.

Portage County residents will be driving in style Summer 2022 as PARTA introduces three trolley buses to its fleet. The trolleys will replace buses that are no longer in service and will bring a modern twist to the downtown Kent and Ravenna area.

Score a win for Streetsboro Mayor Glenn Broska, who recently took Portage County commissioners to task over reduced recycling pickups without any commensurate reduction in the price of the service.

The union representing Kent State professors issued a forceful call to action against Ohio House Bills 322 and 327, which mimic a nationwide effort to ban teaching critical race theory in classrooms.

Longtime Kent businessman Mike Beder has recently opened Kent Sportswear on South Water Street, selling university-themed apparel to the student market returning this fall.

If we have learned anything since March 2020, it is this: We need each other. The pandemic has revealed in large and small ways that our society and our very lives are an interdependent web tethered to one another.

As a parent of two young, unvaccinated children in Aurora’s public schools, I strongly urge our superintendent and school board to rethink the decision to not mandate the use of masks among this group of unvaccinated children.

As of July 26, JFS was responsible for 191 children, including 33 in foster homes in Portage County and 67 in out-of-county homes operated by for-profit agencies. Eleven children are in residential treatment facilities, seven are in group homes, 70 are with relatives, two are incarcerated, and one is with a family that is pursuing adoption.

About 175 musicians and friends of Rockin’ Robin Montgomery gathered at Kent’s Plum Creek Park on Sunday for a celebration of life to honor a great musician gone too soon.

Gregg Isler, serving as acting league commissioner of a potential new PCL, along with assistant commissioners Brittany Dye and Tom Nader, have been moving forward this summer with their aim of drumming up support to bring back the league that existed from 1922 to 2005.

With the 20th anniversary of 9/11 fast approaching, Streetsboro is holding a 9.11-mile Remembrance Run. Streetsboro City Council approved legislation for the Run on Monday, setting the date for Sept. 11.

Mantua township trustees declined to approve a Mantua Restoration Society proposal to renovate the first floor of the Center School building at their meeting Thursday night. They did, however, unanimously approve Trustee Matt Benner’s motions to correct problems with the school’s heating and sewer systems.

In the coming years, Kent’s East Main Street will be undergoing a transformation to address the street’s high crash rate, complete with two roundabouts and crossing improvements for pedestrians.

Cars revved and crowds cheered Wednesday night as the historic East Main Street in Ravenna kicked off the annual CelebratePortage! Cruise-In. Over 1,600 cars were present for the event, after last year’s cancellation because of the pandemic.

Portage County commissioners will soon be livestreaming their meetings, thanks to a $43,466 investment in equipment and software. BIS Digital will install a $38,054 integrated audio/video streaming system in the commissioners’ boardroom, along with $5,411 in related software. The commissioners expect to incur unspecified additional costs to support a second camera to record proceedings. Commissioners did not cite a timeline for when they go live. The Portager has offered a livestream on its Facebook page, free to taxpayers, since the […]

Bill Steiner, director of the Portage County Solid Waste Management District, had petitioned commissioners to close the drop-off service, citing too many people dumping trash and garbage instead of recyclables.

Thanks to a financial windfall in the form of American Rescue Plan funds, Brimfield residents will decided on a 1.95-mill police levy in November instead of the originally planned 2.38-mill levy.