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Portage County’s new director of budget and financial management, Joe Harris, discovered he had a knack for working with money early — when he and his brother spent visits with his grandmother playing blackjack. “We didn’t play with money, obviously, because I was 6,” he said, laughing. “But it was always blackjack, and I had to count it all myself. I think that’s where I got my quick counting skills.”

Trustees are installing temporary speed bumps on Skeels Street and nearby side streets in response to reports of vehicles speeding through the Skeels allotment. The traffic control devices will be removed later this year to allow snow plows to keep the roads clear, Trustee Vince Coia said.

Roger Di Paolo, a historian and journalist whose work enlightened Portage County residents about their own community for over 40 years, died June 18 at the age of 66.

Kent City Council extended hours for the city’s Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area (DORA) to 11 p.m. Council had proposed only extending the hours for Saturday, June 26, when the city will host multiple bands and a fireworks display, but ultimately determined that it would be easier to enact a blanket extension.

Mantua Mayor Linda Clark created a work environment in the village administration that some employees called hostile, directing constant criticism and inappropriate sexual comments at certain employees, causing at least three of them to resign in distress and prompting an investigation into workplace bullying by the Portage County Prosecutor’s Office.

Streetsboro residents would be allowed to keep their livestock a little bit closer to the road or their neighbors’ property lines under the latest version of a zoning update targeting chicken ownership, the Streetsboro Service Committee decided Monday.

Kent resident Katie Sekelsky will appear in her fourth straight Jeopardy! episode on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Mantua Village Council appointed Tammy Meyer as council president Tuesday night following Matt Rosolowski’s resignation last week on June 7.

The movement to revive the Portage County League, although still in its infancy, would seem to have the wind at its back.
Gregg Isler, who is serving as acting league commissioner for the proposed new PCL, along with assistant commissioners Tom Nader and Brittany Dye, are well aware that convincing superintendents, athletic directors and school boards why it’s a good idea to leave their current leagues and start a new one could be a tough sell.

Katie Sekelsky locked down a thrilling win on Friday’s Jeopardy! episode with a smart bet and a Final Jeopardy! comeback.

Matthew McMinn, owner of Dirty Skate Co., grew up in Kent and started skateboarding around the age of 15 after one of his best friends, Josh Wilson, got him into it.
After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School, McMinn moved to Medina to focus on his work and family. Once his children started to reach school age, they decided to move back to Kent for the school system.

Sekelsky started taking online contestant tests while she was in college, but always knew she wanted to be on the quiz show. “It’s basically been my favorite TV show since my parents moved my bedtime from 7 to 8 when I was like 6 years old,” she said. “It’s always been kind of my top goal in life to get on the show.”

A measure to increase compensation for the mayor and council members is headed for a final vote next month.
The legislation would increase the council president’s pay to $400 a month, council members to $350 a month and the mayor to $24,700 a year.

Atwater Fire Department will operate on an expanded schedule for the next two months, thanks to a 2-1 vote by township trustees.
The department has been staffed from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays by one full-time member and a revolving roster of part-timers. After hearing a proposal by Assistant Fire Chief Jay Brock, trustees approved extending department hours from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekends as well.

I think we have given this man enough money. Asking for more, especially right now when people are still trying to catch up on their own bills after all the problems caused by the pandemic, is ridiculous. Plus the idea of bringing in federal prisoners and earning money for it is too close to prisons for profit for me to stomach.

On June 10, 1910, Mary Denny was born in a log cabin. Her father had bought a home in Suffield on Waterloo Road just after she was born. He built a barn and plated “1912” on the roof to mark the year it was built.

The Portage County Sheriff’s Office is seeking another $1.7 million from taxpayers to hire 13 new corrections officers to staff the massive expansion at the county jail, which cost $21 million and has never been full since construction finished in December.

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a movement has begun to reverberate throughout the hamlets and farmlands of Portage County, a movement to unite the county’s schools under one banner, to become reacquainted with old friends, to connect with each other once again culturally, historically and geographically. This is the first in a three-part series for Portager Sports.

Sponsored by state Reps. Brian Stewart and Diane Grendell, House Bill 7 passed both the House and the Senate and is set to become law as of Aug. 17, 2021. The purpose of this bill was to revise numerous issues regarding Ohio probate, guardianship and trusts. What is changing, and what do you need to do about it?

Commissioners removed Covid restrictions, including social distancing and mask requirements, as of June 2 in all offices under the commissioners’ control.