Glass City Jungle

It was hard to pick what to feature in the title of my summary for this week’s Toledo Free Press, there were quite a few articles that I found especially noteworthy. The exclusive interview with Bradley Mascho, Gillmor’s communications director is a must read, and it’s this week’s cover story. I’d recommend reading [...]

The past 84 some weeks I’ve been contributing to the Toledo Free Press, with Blog it! Toledo, here I was under the impression that it was a weekly newspaper…Imagine my surprise when I read in today’s Blade:
Two Republican insiders working on an account of the Ohio investment scandal involving Tom Noe are suing the Toledo [...]

Thanks to a phone call from Sue Fitzgerald, I was informed about a rally being held by parents and neighbors of the Beverly area to meet show their support for the Mayor’s recent veto and to talk about the petition drive to make their precinct dry this morning. District 2 Candidate Molly McHugh [...]

This morning was the Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum, hosted on WGTE where the candidates who are up for election are given the chance to make an opening statement and take a few questions from the audience. With of course the exception of judicial candidates, all they get to do is stand up and [...]

This information in via email from the campaign of Judge Michael Goulding for Toledo Municipal Court:
The Toledo Police Command Officers’ Association, representing Toledo police officers at the rank of Sergeant and above, has officially endorsed Judge Mike Goulding in his campaign to retain his seat on the bench at Toledo Municipal Court. The TPCOA’s [...]

Are the small percentage of union jobs we have in this city compared to the majority of employment here that is not union what is causing some of our economic issues? Apparently that’s what Allan Block, chairman of Block Communications Inc. seems to believe, in reading Unions called on to turn Toledo economy around. [...]

With a big curtsy to Michael Miller of the Toledo Free Press the results of a telephone survey done by Stanford H. Odesky And Associates has been shared with us. One hundred and ninety Toledo residents (who had voted in 2006, 2005 or 2003) answered the following questions:

“What do you feel are the [...]

This came in yesterday via email from the Robin Weirauch for Ohio District 5 campaign:
Democrat Robin Weirauch Files Petitions for Special Election in Ohio’s Fifth Congressional District
(Bowling Green, OH) – Democrat Robin Weirauch made it official today, filing petitions to be placed on the ballot in the special election for the Fifth District seat in [...]

While the focus of the story being reported by the Cleveland Plain Dealer is on who made the records requests, Records request from state officials the work of GOP operative an interesting side issue has been raised:

Lawyers for Strickland and Brunner have spoken with Thrasher about her request and in letters asked her to make [...]

This in from the Lucas County Commissioners:
LUCAS COUNTY TO “BUILD ON OUR SUCCESS” AT ARENA GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY
The Lucas County Commissioners and community partners will come together for the start of major arena construction at a Groundbreaking Ceremony on Monday, October 1, 2007 beginning at 10:30 a.m. in the arena construction site.
The 8,000-seat Lucas County multi-purpose [...]

This in via email from the Chris Myers for Toledo Public School Board campaign:
Chris Myers Hosts Education Forum in South Toledo
Toledo, Ohio. Chris Myers, candidate for Toledo Public Schools Board of Education, announces that he will host an education forum, open to the public, where he will listen to South Toledo residents’ issues, concerns [...]

At first glance I wasn’t sure exactly how to view Toledo mayor seeks moratorium on telecom boxes as to was this a good idea or a bad idea. I do know I wouldn’t be crazy about having one of their large boxes in my front yard but I also realize that the boxes and [...]

In 1994 the City of Toledo made the agreement with workers of American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Local 7 that they would start picking up the employee share of the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and that in 1999 they would contribute the City’s share and the employee full share of the [...]

Very creative and well done job in putting together this week’s Carnival of Ohio Politics by Pho of Pho’s Akron Pages. Make sure you stop by this week’s Carnival to read what some of Ohio’s best bloggers are focusing on this week.

I just returned from the Lucas County Common Pleas Court, for what was expected initially to be a quick appearance in Court where Richard Brown was expected to be arraigned, it ended up being a drawn out scenario that at this time is still not completed. Richard’s attorney, Ron Wingate asked for the indictment [...]

I think someone should take that phrase as their campaign slogan – Pavement not Posies! It is what immediately came to mind when I got to this portion of the Blade article on the possible eminent domain of Southwyck discussion:
Also discussed at yesterday’s committee hearing was the administration’s proposal to spend about $985,000 [...]

Since May when I first wrote about my concern with the Food Stamp Challenge, which was not the $21.00 figure, it was based on the concern that an opportunity to really educate/share/enlighten was being missed with the focus on poor eating choices and poor purchasing choices by the public officials who have taken this challenge. [...]

There will be a press conference today at 2:00 p.m. at the University of Toledo, Clean and Alternative Energy Incubator to release more information about the proposal written about in this morning’s Blade, Mayor calls for energy research center here. The Mayor has submitted this letter to the Governor and from there we’ll [...]

This in via email from the office of Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop:
Commissioner Konop to Discuss Experience of Food Stamp Challenge
Hosts Roundtable Discussion with area food pantry volunteers, food stamp recipients, and local clergy
Lucas County Commissioner Ben Konop will discuss his experiences taking the food stamp challenge at a roundtable discussion at today, Sept. 25 [...]

Judge Bill O’Neill is one of those people that I’ve never met but from what I’ve read from him and about him, it’s hard to not be impressed after you read some of his accomplishments. Currently he is running for Ohio’s 14th against Rep. Steve LaTourette but he’s doing more than campaigning, while he [...]

The report which focuses on Op-Ed pages of daily newspapers nationwide and on a state by state basis states that there is more of a conservative view presented, with rare exception. The Blade scored 50% Conservative and 50% Progressive:

A full listing of the daily newspapers in Ohio can be found here and if you [...]

This in via email from the Robin Weirauch for Ohio’s District Five campaign:
Robin Weirauch Declares Support for Striking GM Workers
Democratic candidate for Congress challenges Republican opponents to join her in supporting workers and their families
(Napoleon, OH) – With thousands of General Motors workers on strike in Northwest Ohio, including 1,540 at a GM Defiance foundry, [...]

It’s being reported that American Bar Association calls for Ohio to cease executions until it fixes problems. The key reasoning behind this:
“Despite the best efforts of a multitude of principled and thoughtful actors who play roles in the criminal justice system in the state of Ohio, our research established that at this point and [...]

If you have not already heard the news, Auto workers launch nationwide strike against General Motors.
UAW Local 14 at the Toledo plant began to picket shortly after 11 a.m. after getting word from national union officials.

First, look at the picture without knowing any details about it:

What’s your first reaction? When I saw the link to the story with the photo, before I watched the video at Fox Toledo, it appeared racially motivated to me, and with the Jena 6 trial it at first seems as if it was some [...]

This week’s cover story in the Toledo Free Press focuses on Melanie Flores and her goal to create Zane’s Law,” related to a mother’s right to breast-feed. The article, Breast-feeding mom proposes education law highlights Melanie’s recent experience at PacSun at Westfield Franklin Park Shopping mall and how that incident has made her decide [...]

I read this short article in the Blade, 19-year-old woman killed in hit and run:
Sasha Kemp was standing in the street, on Central Avenue near Jackman Road, trying to flag down a car when she was hit by another vehicle at 1:50 a.m., Toledo police Sgt. Mark Evanoff said. The driver of the car that [...]

The Blade article, Thieves take pedal-boat business’ gear mentions some of the items that were stolen that has put a damper on the new paddleboat business near the Docks. Yet, something else was stolen according to the news I heard on NBC 24:
Stolen were the boats registration paperwork, life vests, and navigation lights, a [...]

This in via email from the Cheryl Catlin for Toledo Public School Board campaign:
School board candidate Cheryl Catlin addresses discipline issues with recommendations for effective intervention practices
Toledo, Ohio – Cheryl Catlin began a series of news conferences last week to outline her plan for quality education for every school and every child of the Toledo [...]

Regardless of what happens with the charges facing former school board candidate Richard Brown, what I immediately noticed today was the story concerning the indictment and his stepping out of the race made the front page of the Blade. I’m not disputing the fact that such an incident is newsworthy, but I find it [...]