Cleveland/Cuyahoga County

More details are emerging on the death of Jennifer Jackson. Jackson, who appeared as a Playboy Playmate as a centerfold model in April 1989, died of a heroin overdose according to FOX 8 News. Her body was discovered this morning by her husband in Westlake home and was only 39 years old.

The last few years have been troubling for the former beauty. She had been arrested 4 times in the last five years with the most recent run in with the law coming in March of last year.

Anthony Sowell, the Cleveland man accused of killing 11 women and hiding their remains in and around his home, is now sending cards and letters to an online company that sells serial killer memorabilia. This week, two envelopes and two letters from Sowell were for sale on Serialkillersink.net.

In one of the cards up for grabs, Sowell wrote a California woman that he is available to correspond with her. Letters for sale on the site are priced at $200, and are addressed to employees at the company.

According to the Ohio attorney general's office, inmates are not permitted to make money from crimes by selling their stories to book publishers or filmmakers. The owner of the Los Angeles-based company, Erin Gein, says that inmates don't get paid for the letters and that their biggest customers are criminology professors who use the letters in their teaching.

Jennifer Lyn Jackson Thompson, a former Playboy Playmate who hailed from Cleveland and made headlines in July 2007 when she was arrested for drunk driving, died of what appears to be a drug overdose early Friday morning. Police were called to the mobile home park where she lived with her husband.

Cleveland's own Miss April 1989 was found dead. Police say that there is nothing suspicious about her death and that she has been abusing drugs for years.

Jackson, 39, was charged with a DUI in 2007 after she was pulled over by police in Oberlin, OH. Authorities also found in her car open beer bottles, marijuana, and rolling papers. Further allegations were that she stole the cigarettes and cigars found in her vehicle. She was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

My best laugh on a trip out West for warm air came when I read on line Sam Miller’s tribute to himself as part of Cleveland Magazine’s take on Cleveland’s most powerful people.

Sam’s powerfully funny. He may have lost a few steps at 88 years old but he’s still got the great one-liners. Possibly to some he’s even believable.

The man’s a genius of humbuggery. A combination of 2 percent Will Rogers and 98 percent P. T. Barnum. Maybe a touch of Henny Youngman. (The doctor says, “You’ll live to be 60!” “I AM 60! “See, what did I tell you.”)

What I can’t understand is why Cleveland Magazine doesn’t do the top charlatans in town. It would be much more interesting. Maybe it did. You just change use your imagination and switch. From Power to Faker.

“I hate journalist,” says Miller. Are you kidding? What journalist ever gave Sam some treatment other than deferential? He loves them as much as he loves politicians. Why not? So serviceable.

“Power is the ability to do good or evil. Once you depart from the path of goodness, you are now using your power for evil. You’re pulling God’s beard when you don’t have to,” he said.

The Annual Tackle the Tower event is Saturday, February 6, 2010 at the Galleria &Tower at Erieview. Two practice days will be offered for Tackle the Tower climbers on Tuesday, January 26thand Tuesday, February 2nd from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. at Erieview.

Tackle the Tower is a fundraising event for the Ronald McDonald House of Cleveland that raised over $30,000 in last year’s event! Participants race up 37 flights of stairs in the Tower at Erieview located at the Galleria on February 6th, 2010.

This year,The Ronald McDonald House is offering practice days for those participants who want that winning edge. Prizes will be awarded to the top male and female participants, the top racer, as well as the top three runners in each age division.

More prizes will be given this year to runners that reach certain pledge levels, with the starting level being $50. There are seven levels of pledges and each level awards an additional prize. The participant who collects the highest amount of pledges will win a special prize!

Pre-registration is $20 through February 2nd, but participants can register the dayof for just $25. The registration includes a T-shirt, breakfast, beverages, music and raffle prizes.

KeyCorp reported a net loss of $265 million, or 30 cents a share, for the fourth quarter.

In the year-ago quarter, the Cleveland-based parent of KeyBank had a net loss of $554 million, or $1.13 a share.

Revenue totaled $1.1 billion in the fourth quarter, up from $1 billion a year ago.

“Although this remains a challenging environment, we are encouraged by the continued stabilization in the economy and some positive trends in our fourth quarter results,” said Henry Meyer, CEO of KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY).

For all of 2009, the net loss was $1.63 billion, or $2.34 a share, on revenue of $4.4 billion. This compares to a net loss of $1.51 billion, or $3.36 a share, on revenue of $3.7 billion in 2008.

The Cleveland Clinic has announced that they will be giving free Swine Flu shots at their main campus January 25th-29th. Here is the information you need to know if you plan on getting vaccinated for the H1NI virus:

Monday, Jan. 25 through Friday, Jan. 29
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, 9500 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland

Sometimes we get some interesting things in our Twitter in box but the latest correspondence takes the cake. A local blogger and friend of Cleveland Leader on the microblogging site wants to help with relief effort in Haiti in very unique way. Twitter user CarlyJennifer is auctioning off a date with her sister with 100% of the funds going to OXFAM International. If a date with a very attractive 24 year old doesn't interest you, you may be interested their mother cleaning your house or their grandmother cooking you a good old fashioned meal.

The blog posting reads:

What happened in Haiti is horrible, and I KNOW that we can all agree to that. In an effort to raise awareness and money for the cause, I have made the decision to put up for auction something that’s somewhat important to me:

My little sister.

Lisa is 5′8, a graduate of Kent State University, and a former gymnast and cheerleader. She enjoys going downtown and her favorite restaurant is Brio. She is a brunette (as you can see above) and very fun to be around. Her favorite kind of music is hip hop and she recently turned 24.

If you think I’m kidding, better recognize fools.

Giant Eagle today announced that it had voluntarily recall on Food Club Frozen Loose Has Browns. Customers that purchased the tainted food are asked to return the items for a full refund

The press release announcing the recall reads:

The independent and unrelated manufacturer of Giant Eagle and Food Club frozen loose hash browns has been informed of the presence of a bacterium in products made in the same facility as these items.

Upon receiving this information, Giant Eagle immediately performed a voluntary market recall of all potentially affected products and engaged an independent laboratory to test samples of these products. Giant Eagle has confirmed that some of these products have tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, a bacterium that can cause listeriosis which is a potentially serious infection.

According to the Centers for Disease Control (www.cdc.gov), the risk of an individual developing a listeria infection after consumption of a contaminated product is very small. Listeriosis affects primarily persons of advanced age, pregnant women, newborns and adults with weakened immune systems.

The Cleveland Orchestra and its union came to terms on a contract one day after their musicians walked out. Terms of the deal are not year known and will have to be voted on by union membership at a vote later today. The orchestra is scheduled to begin their residency in Miami next week which has been a very profitable venture in the past few years for the orginzation who has been hit hard by the soft local economy.