Two of Portage County’s three Municipal Court judge seats are up for election on Nov. 2. Judges Mark Fankhauser and Kevin Poland are seeking re-election against challengers Wesley Buchanan and Joe Sontich.
Last month, the Kent Police Department and CSX, the rail transportation company that owns part of the land the community was camped on, asked those living on the property to vacate by Oct. 1, citing safety concerns.
In a sweeping resolution to the county’s curbside recycling conundrum, the Portage County recycling center will end all curbside pickup contracts at the end of the year and ask the communities to approve standardized annual agreements.
The Kent State Board of Trustees is expected to vote at its Wednesday meeting to merge WKSU, the university’s NPR-affiliated radio station, and Cleveland-based Ideastream, according to a person with knowledge of the plan.
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.
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.
A group of landlords and tenants in Kent say the city’s 2019 rollout of residential rental inspections is an invasion of privacy, and they’re suing the city to put an end to the practice.
Palmyra residents blocked a proposed Dollar General that could have put a local shop out of business
A crowd in the Palmyra Fire Station erupted in cheers as the Board of Trustees voted unanimously against rezoning a Tallmadge Road lot from residential to commercial, sinking tentative plans for a Dollar General.
The Village of Mantua’s clerk resigned from her position on Thursday, saying she could no longer tolerate Mayor Linda Clark’s micromanagement and abrasive leadership. By leaving, Jenny August joins a chorus of former village employees who have made similar allegations.
Over the last several months, the Portage County Solid Waste Management District has broken agreements with cities and townships, largely because they don’t have enough drivers to collect recycling. The agency’s director, Bill Steiner, says drivers don’t want to work a difficult job for low pay. But exit interviews with former employees suggest there may be another reason: Steiner.
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.
The Davises built this pantry on wheels themselves in the wake of the pandemic and food insecurity crisis that followed. Known as the Rural Relief Mobile Food Pantry, their mission is to meet the needs specifically of rural Portage County, where pockets of the population experience the additional difficulty of living in a food desert.