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The Portage County District Library will again ask for help from taxpayers after at least a dozen previous levy attempts have failed at the ballot box, leaving the district as the third-worst funded library in the state. Last week, county commissioners approved the library’s request to place a 1 mill levy on the Nov. 2 ballot.

With parking at a premium in downtown Ravenna, Portage County commissioners are reviewing proposed layout options for the deteriorating parking lot behind the county courthouse building.

Bernadine Christensen, 86, of Kent, has entered into paradise and is no longer in pain or discomfort. She died on June 2 and leaves behind her husband, Stanley Christensen and a full legacy of children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Bernie (as she was mostly known) was married to Stan for almost 65 years.  Bernie was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1935 and graduated from Ames High School in 1953 and married Stan in 1956. She was a chemical tech while attending Iowa […]

Every terrible bill needs a boogeyman, and HB 322, the legislation introduced by State Rep. Don Jones last week, has one: Critical Race Theory, or CRT.
Critical Race Theory is an academic concept that simply helps us understand and examine the continued, insidious impact of systemic racism in American life. It explores the root causes behind the “systems” of racism — the laws, policies and practices — that have denied the American dream for far too many Black and brown citizens for hundreds of years.

One glance at the career resume of Mike Haney tells you that the Kent Roosevelt High School baseball coach has a boatload of impressive career accomplishments.
In fact, the lengthy list of numbers and honors is virtually overwhelming — and they’re why the 1992 Roosevelt and ’99 Kent State graduate is headed toward induction into the Greater Akron Baseball Hall of Fame later this year.

If you want to go maskless today at the police department or invite more than 10 people over for a gathering, that’s now legal in the city of Kent. Kent City Council voted unanimously last night to lift the mandate that limited gatherings to 10 people. It also voted 7-1 to rescind the mask requirement in city buildings for anyone who has been vaccinated.

After granting Portage County employees conservative 1.5% wage increases across the board during the pandemic, the county commissioners will now need to accommodate significant increases in payroll expenses they’ve already approved in 2021, in addition to those that have been requested for 2022.

I would like to thank and commend the Editorial Board of the Record-Courier for their statement that the invitation to Marjorie Taylor Greene is disgraceful and divisive. But there is one very significant issue that has been overlooked.

It has long been the custom in Hiram each year to provide a program for the Memorial Day ceremony held at Fairview Cemetery. The program brochure includes a “Roll Call of Veterans.” The names of eight veterans have inadvertently been omitted from the roll call lists for 2020 and 2021.

Randolph trustees are weighing their options to provide recycling services, but they are reluctant to privatize the service and risk sticking township residents with increasing prices.

A motorcycle and a car crashed on Haymaker Parkway and Stow Street around 6:30 p.m. Sunday night, leaving the motorcyclist with “very serious injuries,” Kent Police said.

Michelle Ripley-Crombie, a 15-year veteran of Portage County government, will start as the county’s first full-time administrator on June 1, a position that places her at the helm of an operation that spends $120 million a year on public services.

There’s no arguing Ohio has good beer. Ranked fourth in craft beer production and home to 290 breweries, Ohioans seem to know what they’re doing.

A small group of influential sports leaders is hoping to revive and update the Portage County League, building on the tradition of the original PCL, which was founded in 1922 and slowly dismantled over the last two decades.

We spoke with Steve Sosebee, a Kent native and founder of the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, a humanitarian NGO that supports children in the Middle East. During the 11-day bombing of Gaza, the Israeli military killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed many soft targets, including the office of the PCRF.

Portage County Retired Teachers has granted four $2,000 scholarships to aspiring teachers.

Council members are “supposed to direct everyone to me. I’m the only one that’s supposed to be releasing a press release,” she said. “They should be telling you, ‘No comment, you need to speak with the mayor.’”

From the late 1950s and into the ‘90s, Edinburg Township had a gas station in the center of town. Then it was abandoned and eventually condemned, demolished and spent two decades as a vacant lot, too contaminated for redevelopment. Now the property has a chance to take on a new commercial tenant, thanks to the Portage County Land Bank and a state cleanup grant.

The Portage County NAACP held its 2021 scholarship celebration May 15 at Ravenna High School. Brianna Boykin was the keynote speaker. Scholarship recipients included Joitashe Miller, Tyonna Caples, Zakya Jones and Breanna Larkin of Ravenna High School; Jade Coates of Windham High School; and Olivia Gallardo of Theodore Roosevelt High School.

Suffield trustees are set to host the first Suffield Community Cruise-in car show from noon to 6 p.m. June 13 at the Suffield Town Hall and Fire Station.