- Tom Hardesty. After a sharp decline in traffic fatalities in 2024, Portage County experienced a grim 2025 on its roadways: 17 fatal crashes resulting in 18 total deaths. And it was the usual culprits of impaired and distracted driving that claimed most of the lives.
Concerned with the volume of traffic accidents at two intersections along state Route 261, Kent city leaders hope two changes will save lives and property.
Free snacks, blood pressure checks, flu shots and more will be available at a health fair set for 4-6 p.m. Nov. 5 at 575 Lake St., Ravenna.
- Ben Wolford.
Six-hour bread lines. A person digs through the garbage. A 75-year-old Army veteran wonders aloud: “What the hell am I going to eat?”
The loss of a single employee can make a huge difference. So when a handful of federally subsidized employees returned to their workplaces Oct. 6, their bosses indulged in a collective sigh of relief.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio on Sept.18 issued a Special Reconnect Order ensuring that people served by PUCO-regulated utilities won’t have their gas or electric service cut from Oct. 13, 2025, through April 15, 2026.
Starting this week, Axess Family Services is resurrecting a hygiene program that was one of many shuttered during the Covid era.
A FEMA program that has provided emergency food and shelter for over four decades has not released funding under the Trump administration, leaving local aid organizations to increasingly rely on local donors — if they can be found.
Here’s a PSA from the Portage County Combined General Health District: If you come across a strange-looking blister packet while you’re out and about, don’t pick it up.
Medetomidine, a central nervous system depressant that national experts have seen being used with fentanyl, has led to overdose outbreaks in major U.S. cities. Local law enforcement has not seen signs of it in Portage County just yet, but anticipate usage since the drug has reached the Cincinnati area. The Center for Forensic Science Research & Education released a public alert in May 2024 stating the use of medetomidine is rapidly increasing in use as an adulterant in the recreational […]
- Tom Hardesty.
Portage County’s roads were significantly safer in 2024.
Even though Kent is the county’s most populous city — the U.S. Census estimates 27,601 people, about 25% of whom live in poverty — Kent does not have an overnight warming center.
In November 2024, Mark Frisone, executive director of Axess Family Services, felt his hands trembling as he read the email from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. Axess Family Services was about to receive $5 million.
- Sally Kelly.
Hopefully you have stayed warm and safe this January. It has really been a trip back to the “old winters” we used to have.
The property at 645 S. Chestnut St., which includes 13 parcels totaling more than three acres, was once the site of Crest Rubber Co., a historic manufacturing concern that ceased operations in the summer of 2015. The buildings deteriorated, and the site became an eyesore that presented what the Ohio EPA termed in a flyer as “serious safety concerns for the community.”
Anyone who lived in the U.S. who is or was a patient at University Hospitals and logged into the UH patient portal or scheduled an appointment through UH’s websites between Jan. 1, 2016, and Dec. 31, 2022, may have some money coming their way.
- Tom Hardesty.
The Mental Health & Recovery Board of Portage County received $1,365,871 to invest in local treatment, prevention and recovery support to advance ongoing efforts to fight substance abuse and prevent overdose deaths.
First responders like fire, EMS personnel and police aren’t the only people who rush to emergencies. The all-volunteer Portage County Medical Reserve Corps stands ready, too, and is eager to recruit new members.