Film Study Professor, Joe Fortunato, joins Ray every Friday for Film School. This week Ray and Joe discussed Rebel Without a CauseFilm Study Professor, Joe Fortunato, joins Ray every Friday for Film School. This week Ray and Joe discussed Rebel Without a Cause, the 1955 Drama/Romance.  

*Updated: 3-6-23

This week, we're taking a deep dive into clean water technology.

We decided to look into it, in response to the big train derailment and toxic chemical release in East Palestine, Ohio, which is about 76 miles Southeast of Akron.

Is anything going on with their water going to affect us? Could the kind of thing that happened there, happen here?

These are the kinds of questions that guided our conversations, but along the way, we encountered some surprises.

For example: Did you know that breathing in the steam from your bathroom shower is actually (at least somewhat) hazardous to your health, because of the chemicals they put in the water to make it safe to drink? No? Well, we didn't either.

So, listen now to find out more, and get the whole back story on where we get our water, what is being done to protect it, and how there is always some give and take when it comes to reducing risk; including when you turn on the tap at home.

Our featured guests today, are City of Akron Water Supply Bureau Manager, Jeff Bronowski, and Chris Miller, who the founder and CEO of Fontus Blue, a technology company that provides drinking water quality management software and services for communities in a number of different communities nationwide, including Akron.

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*Please note, this story was updated to correct technical issues, on 3-6-23

Jeff Bronowski, Manager, City of Akron Water Supply Bureau

Chris Miller, CEO, Fontus Blue

The City of Akron is celebrating the award of a $960,000 dollar federal transportation grant, which they plan to use to help redevelop the land left vacant by the recent demolition of the old Akron Innerbelt.

It's a project really custom-made for the funding, which is designed to reconnect communities cut off from opportunity because of past transportation infrastructure decisions--which is exactly what happened when the Innerbelt was built, back in the 1960's.

Click here, to read the City's announcement about the award, and click below, to hear a clip from the Ray Horner Morning Show featuring Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan talking about why he's so excited about the possibilities the grant opens up for the city.

To learn more about the Innerbelt, check out the the City of Akron's new Innerbelt History Collection, which includes a compilation of audio and video recordings, photographs, and maps, and tells the story of the neighborhoods that were displaced by the old roadway.

The public corruption trial of former Ohio Speaker of the House Larry Householder, continued in Columbus yesterday, with Householder taking the stand in his own defense.

Householder is accused of taking a $61 million dollar bribe in exchange for passing legislation that gave a $1 billion dollar bailout to FirstEnergy.

During his testimony, Householder continually spoke about how much money he needed to raise to run his political campaign. And legal experts believe Householder's defense is trying to emphasize the narrative that he accepted money only for political reasons, and not as a bribe.

While some were surprised that Householder chose to take the stand, Case Western Reserve University criminal law professor Michael Benza tells News 5 that he believes Householder needed to take the stand saying "If he doesn't testify, the jury is left with the very logical road map that the government has set out showing the money and showing its impact — equaling this was corruption.”