Eric Mansfield does double duty; first, as WKYC's Akron-Canton bureau chief he keeps the home fires burning in the newsroom the the north. He also serves as our fearless leader on PBS 45/49's NewsNight Akron weekly gabfest, so it makes his vacation time this week even harder to cope with.
Before leaving for camping time on the Lake Erie islands, Eric shot a quick note to Jody Miller, Steve Hoffman and I asking that we keep a close eye on things while he was out of the loop but returning Friday.
Turns out this week may have been THE week for Akron looping!
Last night saw Sylvester Small's final school board meeting; it also saw a feisty battle at City Council pitting Mayor Plusquellic against the folks who don't like his Sewers for Schools plan, and neither side seems willing to give an inch at this point with a November ballot issue looming large as the winner take all vote will ultimately decide.
Down at the courthouse trial began for the first of the Summit County jail deputies charged with murder in the death of inmate Mark McCullough; there was also news on a man charged with being a serial rapist stalking the U of A campus. Children's Hospital decided it's OK to discriminate by not hiring smokers (hey, that's perfectly legal!) on health grounds.
Oh, the folks up north in Cuyahoga County have their hands full, too, thanks to the FBI, IRS and I imagine even the EPA swooping down to yank records and evidence from top politicians in an ongoing corruption probe.
Hey, at least it isn't Akron, right?
Gee, and today's huge news came from South Main where Bridgestone-Firestone used a fairly private low-key affair to announce Akron won the Tech Center sweepstakes.
Because Akron's just part of the big Cleveland market it isn't surprising none of the TV stations were there when the message came down but at least Larry States was on hand. Cleveland's TV stations were too busy covering W's visit to Lincoln Electric, where he said nothing fundamentally new but at least their reporters got an easy political story to take a bite out of and look serious in front of Air Force One.
Nice pictures.
Keep this in mind the next time we go off-the-mark on NewsNight talking about how important it really is to have vigorous debate and many voices in our community. Personally, I think sending a reporter and camera to join the herd being spoon-fed by any national political figure is trumped by news a local community will save a thousand high-paying jobs but that's just me.
Oh, while we're at it those little get-togethers called the World Golf Championship and Pro Football Hall Weekend are underway in Akron and Canton this weekend, too.
It's a nice week to be south of 303...
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