Individual Project – Reporting Public Policy

Will Kent State’s next presidential search be open or closed?

November 13, 2018November 13, 2018 Collin Cunningham 0 Comments Beverly Warren, closed search, kent state, kent state university, Lester Lefton, open search, policy, president, search, university

Words and podcast by Collin Cunningham On October 23, Kent State University President Beverly Warren announced that she would be leaving her position in July of 2019. Now that Warren’s five-year term has nearly reached its close, the university’s staff and students have turned their attention toward the Board of Trustees’ search efforts to find a new president. Currently, the board has only revealed that they are committed to a national search and will publicly announce their plans once they make decisions in the next few weeks. Their next public meeting will take place on Wednesday, December 5. The primary question here is will the board conduct an open or

County Individual Project Public Health

Fire hydrant Flushing in Portage County

May 8, 2018May 9, 2018 Julie Riedel 0 Comments

Words By: Julie Riedel Every spring, the Portage County Department of Water Resources flush Portage County’s fire hydrants. The fire hydrants are flushed to test the water pressure of the water distribution system. The EPA requires that a water distribution system is tested yearly and has a minimal pressure of 20-pounds per square inch for fire flow conditions. A Portage County water distribution operator who has the Ohio EPA water distribution license conducts these tests. “We’ve already flushed the transmission main from our facility to Streetsboro, we provide water to the city of Streetsboro as an example, then they continued the very next day, and started flushing into their system,”

City of Kent Council Individual Project

Resident outraged by the City of Kent deleting audio recordings

May 8, 2018May 8, 2018 Tierra Thomas 0 Comments

Follow along here. The City of Kent council’s process of recording their committee meeting minutes faces backlash from one resident. Landlord, Christopher Meyers, has spoken out against the council many times. In May 2015, when the construction of the new architecture building on Kent campus began, Meyers received word from his tenants that the dust going into the air affected their day-to-day living. Meyers went to the council about this issue to seek justice for his tenants, but councilman Garret Ferrara told him that since the land on which his tenants lived counted as state property, they couldn’t do anything about it. This eventually led to Meyers saying the

Courts Individual Project

How expert witnesses explain evidence and maintain ethics

April 14, 2018 Ella Abbott 0 Comments

Most people have seen an episode of some kind of crime procedural television show that depicts a court case with a witness on the stand, answering questions posed dramatically from either side as a jury watches on. “All the garbage criminal forensic shows that are on TV,” Victor Vigluicci said. “Those shows are not realistic.” Vigluicci is the Portage County Prosecutor with over a decade of experience in the office and said the biggest hurdle to making a jury understand a case can be those television shows. “We have to get away from what they see on TV because that’s often over-simplified and inaccurate,” Vigluicci said. How do courts go

From left to right: Bob Lange natural area steward, Andrea Metzler public engagement coordinator, Miranda Linscott intern, and Christine Craycroft, executive director, pose with taxidermy animals inside the Portage Park Districts office.

Individual Project

For Fun, For Health, For Life: The Portage Park District

April 11, 2018April 11, 2018 Julie Riedel 0 Comments Julie Riedel, Park district, Portage County, Portage Park District

Words and podcast by: Julie Riedel “We want to connect people with nature and we are more focused on passive recreation. So that’s one thing that distinguishes us from like city park departments, that are maybe more into league sports and team sports, that kind of thing” said Christine Craycroft, the Portage Park District’s executive director, “But we’re more about hiking and biking and anything we can do to get people out in nature.” Formed in 1991, as a citizen’s intuitive, The Portage Park District’s main mission is conserving Portage County’s natural environments. The park district is an independent organization from Portage County, and is created through Ohio

Individual Project Uncategorized

The GOP’s New Tax Plan Will Effect the Economy in a Big Way

December 7, 2017December 8, 2017 Robert Difranco 0 Comments GOP Tax, Individual Story

The year 2018 will bring in many changes for the United States, but perhaps the biggest one may be the ever-changing, GOP tax plan that may hit the President’s desk next year. For the past year, the Republican-led Congress has fought for legislature to be pushed through, with varying degrees of success. Throughout the first half of the year, their push to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare was met with defeat as there was no consensus on a new plan to replace Obamacare. Even a so-called “skinny repeal” of Obamacare was met with failure. Since the failure of the GOP’s largest promise from the 2016 election, the

Individual Project Kent State University Money Uncategorized

Kent State Women’s Lacrosse: the Title IX implications of adding a new athletic program

December 5, 2017December 5, 2017 Bruno Beidacki 0 Comments Athletics, Kent State Athletics, lacrosse, NCAA, Sports, Title IX

In the spring of 2019, Kent State University students will be able to watch an NCAA women’s lacrosse match on campus for the first time ever. The higher education institution is adding the sport to its athletics department, which will lead to an additional 12.6 full scholarships being provided for female athletes, an initiative motivated by more than sheer generosity. Since the institution of Title IX, back in 1972, universities are legally obligated to offer the same amount of athletic scholarship funding for men and women. The addition of the women’s lacrosse team is another step in meeting said requirements, a work in progress for Kent State athletics for over 45

Individual Project

Direction Home Akron Canton is offering alternative care programs besides nursing homes.

December 5, 2017December 5, 2017 Julian Wissinger 0 Comments

For senior citizens or individuals with limited living standards stuck with compromising to institutionalized care settings like retirement homes, there’s another alternative for assisted care that can save your money and living space. Privately owned, non profit, Direction Home Akron Canton is a sub sector of Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities that seeks to help the elderly and disabled, by providing guidance on the various care programs that provide for home and community living. The inception of the Area Agency came from the Older American Act that sought older persons not acceptable into other public and private systems of care. COO/CFO of Direction Home, Charles Alderson, explains the different

City of Kent Individual Project

City2City Update: City of Kent yet to see any benefits

December 5, 2017December 5, 2017 Brandon Bounds 0 Comments

When you step foot onto the sidewalks of downtown Kent, you’re bound to walk into one of the many local stores and restaurants the city has to offer. A Kent State alum wanted visitors to really explore the deals from the stores. Jonathan Zeit, founder/CEO of City2City, Inc., drafted an implementation plan back in December 2015. The draft outlined the placement of 100 beacons and 10 geofences within Kent. The City2City app uses the user’s location to share deals and coupons from different local businesses in the area. As of right now, the locations include Kent, Akron, Wadsworth, Hudson, Canton and Cuyahoga Falls. The app also includes a brief overview

Higher Education Individual Project Uncategorized

Kent State May 4 Site Receives National Landmark Status

March 24, 2017August 14, 2017 Eric Weaver 0 Comments

By Eric Weaver Kent State’s May 4 site has been awarded status as a National Historic Landmark. The designation was official December 23, 2016, but it was announced November 2, 2016 by then-Sec. of the Interior Sally Jewell. National Historic Landmark status is conferred by the National Park Service and includes over 2,500 locations nationwide. The site had previously received an Ohio Historical Marker in 2006 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010. The May 4 Landmark status covers 17.4 acres including the Commons, Prentice Hall, and Blanket Hill. It also includes Taylor Hall, home of the Kent State May 4 Visitors Center. Currently under renovations,

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