- Jeremy Brown
After Covid-19 struck the U.S. in March 2020, the subsequent lockdown and social distancing protocols left many Americans stranded at home. But that didn’t stop one group of Portage Park District Foundation board members from getting together every week to enjoy the many parks Portage County has to offer.
- Wendy DiAlesandro
Families receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Emergency Allotments will soon see those benefits disappear.
- Wendy DiAlesandro
Officials throughout Portage County will have a few dollars more in their wallets, thanks to some communities that turned down their share of federal American Rescue Plan Act funds.
- Ben Wolford
The first time I heard about Covid-19, I put it in my mental file for Asian viruses that did not affect my life. SARS, swine flu, MERS and so on. The outbreaks came and went. Even ebola stayed put. I had such an impoverished understanding of contagion. Didn’t we all?
- Ben Wolford
The Ravenna School District announced Tuesday it will switch to fully remote classes from Jan. 10-21, hoping to avoid a spike of omicron Covid-19 cases that could keep students home for longer.
- Natalie Wolford
At Monday night’s meeting, the Aurora City Schools’ Board of Education approved a new policy that will make mask wearing optional in the school system effective Jan. 25. The resolution was approved in a 4-1 vote.
- Staff Report
The Aurora Board of Education will vote Monday night on a resolution that would make masks optional starting in January, according to an agenda posted on the district website.
- Wendy DiAlesandro
With over $50 million in federal aid pouring into Portage County, several local officials said they were hoping to use the money to patch up infrastructure and bulk up department budgets.
- Lyndsey Brennan
Aurora schools reopened Leighton Elementary on Monday, with a new “masks mandatory” policy, after administrators closed the school Friday because of a coronavirus outbreak.
- Natalie Wolford
University Hospitals is restricting the number of visitors patients can receive but has yet to issue a Covid vaccine requirement for hospital staff, saying they are “awaiting specific federal requirements.”
- Lyndsey Brennan
Crestwood Local School District administrators canceled in-person classes Tuesday for students in grades 7-12, after a quarter of the student body is in quarantine because they were exposed to confirmed coronavirus cases.
- Lyndsey Brennan
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.
- Letter to the editor
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)?
- Lyndsey Brennan
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.
- Lyndsey Brennan
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?
- Lyndsey Brennan
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.
- Letter to the editor
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.
- Letter to the editor
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.