Local News

As a result of federal budget cuts, the national Air Force museum in Dayton, Ohio, is closing some galleries beginning in May.

According to Jack Hudson, the director of the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in southwest Ohio, the presidential and research and development galleries will be closed until further notice beginning May 1.

Popular exhibits in the affected galleries include the high-altitude 1950's bomber, the XB-70 Valkyrie, and President John F. Kennedy's Air Force One. Hudson says that museum officials hope to reopen those galleries as soon as possible.

A portrait of Jesus that had been hanging in an Ohio high school since 1947 has been taken down due to a federal lawsuit against the display.

The Jackson City School District was being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio and the Freedom from Religion Foundation after a student and two parents, hwo remain anonymous, thought it was unconstitutional to have a portrait promoting religion in a public school.

The district's superintendent, Phil Howard, determined that due to the potential for high litigation costs and the district's insurance company declining to cover them, that the portrait would have to come down. The faculty adviser and two student members of the Christian service club, Hi-Y, which owns the portrait, took it down after Howard ordered its removal.

Howard told reporters:

"At the end of the day, we just couldn't roll the dice with taxpayer money. When you get into these kinds of legal battles, you're not talking about money you can raise with bake sales and car washes. It's not fair to take those resources from our kids' education."

Hiram Sasser, an attorney with the Liberty Institute, says that the Hi-Y Club could file a counter lawsuit for their right to show the portrait, but it is not clear if the club intends to.

The tired, run-down Thistledown horse race track, which has been a fixture in the Cleveland suburb of North Randall, Ohio, since 1931, will finally have some new life breathed into it. On April 9th, the new Thistledown Racino, which now includes slot machine-like video lottery terminals and a host of other renovations, will open to the public.

The racino also includes a number of new dining and entertainment options. Owned by Rock Ohio Caesars, a collaboration between Dan Gilbert's Rock Gaming and Caesars Entertainment Corp., Thistledown is also a part of Caesars' "Total Rewards" networks, which means the points you earn at Horseshoe Casino Cleveland (and other Caesars' properties) will be valid here and vice versa.

The Cleveland Indians have partnered with Dominos for a new promotion that will feed hungry fans for half price. The offer gives Tribe fans half-price pizza from Dominos - the Official Pizza of the Cleveland Indians - every Wednesday throughout the 2013 season.

Dominos new "Wahoo Wednesdays" begins today, and will run each Wednesday for the entire season. Indians fans can order online at dominos.com and enter the promotional code "Wahoo" to receive half off their menu priced pizza.

Fans ordering online with the Wahoo code will also be entered to win Indians autographed items and fan experiences. The grand prize is an on-field workout, including batting practice, shagging fly balls, and running the bases at Progressive Field. The promotion lasts all season, but only orders placed through July 31 will be entered to win prizes.

Congress is currently considering legislation that would help curb the act of "showrooming", which is when a customer goes into a brick-and-mortar store to check out products and prices and then later goes online to actually order the product to find a cheaper price and avoid paying sales tax. Ohio retailers argue that they cannot compete with online retailers who aren't required to charge sales tax, and are now encouraging Congress to close the tax loophole.

Both Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Rob Portman (R-OH) voted in favor of a Senate proposal that would allow states to collect sales tax for online purchases made from out-of-state retailers. The proposal, which is called the Marketplace Fairness Act, was added in as a part of the budget debate in March.

Portman's spokeswoman, Caitlin Dunn, commented:

“Sen. Portman believes that our tax system should be neutral."

Meanwhile, Meghan Dubyak, a spokeswoman for Brown, says that the proposal would "create a level playing field for Ohio businesses," adding:

“All business should be treated the same – whether they do business at a storefront or on the Internet."

In a little more than 24 hours, the 2013 Cleveland International Film Festival, which runs from April 3rd to 14th will officially kick off with its Opening Night Benefit Gala and showings of two films.

The festival, which is held annually at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland, will also feature several satellite screenings this year. These satellite screenings will be held at the Capitol Theatre (April 8th), Shaker Cinemas (April 9th), the Apollo Theatre in Oberlin (April 10th), and Cedar Lee Theatre (April 11th). For more information about these showings, visit clevelandfilm.org and select "satellite screenings" under the "festival" tab.

With over 180 feature films and over 165 short films, this year's festival is bigger and better than ever, and best of all, there's something for everyone.

Tickets are $12 for members and $14 for non-members. You can become a member to immediately be eligible for discounted tickets, and receive other members-only benefits like exclusive invitations, advanced mailings, and creating your own personal schedule, amongst others.

Cleveland's new medical mart and convention center, which was recently renamed the Global Center for Health Innovation, was slated to open in July but may now open earlier. The project is now scheduled for completion on June 1, and it is coming in under budget.

The $465 million venture, which was funded by taxpayers in Cuyahoga County, first broke ground in January 2011. Doors will open in time for the National Senior Summer Games to be held in Cleveland in July. This event expected to attract 15,000 athletes aged 50 and older. Soon after, Cleveland will host at least 59 conventions and events in the new spaces.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations Task Force is now assisting Cleveland police in its investigation of the murder of two women and one assaulted in a one-mile area on the city's east side, and are developing a profile of the suspect.

According to the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner's Office, Jazmine Trotter, 20, and Christine Malone, 45, both died from blunt head trauma and strangulation. Both were killed within the past week. On Saturday, a third woman was a victim of an attempted kidnapping at around 5:30am.

The two murders took place near East 93rd Street and Bessemer Avenue. The attempted kidnapping took place on East 116th Street. Fortunately the woman got away from her attacker after people drove up in a car and shouted at the man to get away from the woman.

In 2011, the largest algae bloom in Lake Erie's recorded history resulted in a toxic blob that covered nearly one-fifth of the lake's surface during the summer and fall. The giant algae bloom not only clogged boat motors, but it also sucked oxygen from the water and washed ashore in rotting masses that was enough to make many beach visitors sick to their stomachs. According to a report released on Monday, 2011's algae bloom was likely only a sign of more serious things to come and Lake Erie's algae bloom is only likely to get worse.

Modern farming practices combined with the warming climate have created the ideal conditions for massive algae formations on Lake Erie. This could be potentially disastrous for region's multi-billion dollar tourist economy.

Lake Erie is both the shallowest and most southern of all of the Great Lakes and contains just 2 percent of their combined waters, but it contains about half of the five lakes' fish.

The report says that the gigantic 2011 algae bloom was fueled by phosphorus-laden fertilizers that were swept from corn and soybean fields during heavy rainstorms. Calm winds and weak currents prevented the churning and flushing that could have put a halt to the algae's rapid growth.

The report's lead author, Anna Michalak of the Carnegie Institution for Science, says that the combination of circumstances "is unfortunately consistent with ongoing trends" and means that "more huge algae blooms can be expected in the future unless a scientifically guided management plan is implemented in the region."

Residents and businesses of Lorain and Medina counties, as well as the western half of Cuyahoga County awoke to discover that their garbage had not been picked up. The reason the garbage was still on the curb was because garbage workers briefly walked off the job in what they call a "sympathy strike" , where sanitation crews show support for their brothers and sisters officially on strike at a waste site in Youngstown.

Dozens of teamsters from Local 20 walked off the job on Monday morning, joining the members of Local 377, who extended their picket lines outside the Republic Services site on Butternut Ridge Road in Elyria for 15 hours.