Wednesday, 08 March 2023 06:58

Local Chef Alejandro Najar on Hell's Kitchen

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Chef Alejandro Najar, Barberton native, was a contestant on the 21st Season of Hell's Kitchen, finishing in 3rd place. Alejandro joined Ray to talk about the experience.

The Student Athlete of the Week segment is powered by NECA-IBEW and Akron Children’s Hospital. 


This week's athletes are from Manchester High School.

Jaydyn McKinney is a junior wrestler with a 3.678 GPA. She has a 15-0 record going into states (14 pins 1 technical fall). Jaydyn finished in 1st place in the Columbia Station Girls Tournament, the Carrollton Lady Warrior Tournament, and the Northeast Regional. She won the state title last year and is looking to get another one this weekend. Jaydyn was also a key contributor on the girl's soccer team, who made the Final Four this past season. 

Evan Kusmits is a sophomore wrestler with a 3.975 GPA. He has a 30-7 record and is going into the state tournament this weekend. Evan has finished in 1st place in the Waterloo D3 Classic, the PAC-7 league Tournament, and the North East Sectional Tournament. Evan excels in football, wrestling, and track. He has a twin brother, Trevor, and they are both coached in wrestling by their father, Andy Kusmits. 

The spate of car dealership thefts in Northeast Ohio continued over the weekend, this time at a BMW dealership in Middleburg heights.

3News reports that 3 luxury vehicles with a combined value of over $185,000 were stolen early Saturday morning from the dealership on Pearl Road.

This is at least the 7th car dealership theft since December 2022 but police have not yet said if the thefts are related.

Akron City Council President Margo Sommerville says she believes that despite being unable to reach an agreement for the past two weeks about who should be on the City's new Citizens Police Oversight Board; they'll be able to get it done on Wednesday at a special City Council meeting. 

That's because, she says, they're going to remove the key sticking point from the mix; Akron attorney, Imokhai Okolo, from the list of candidates. Okolo has been strongly supported by some City Council members, and opposed by others, causing a deadlock at the past two regular City Council meetings.

Listen now, to find out more, as she talks about it with our Morning Show Host, Ray Horner.


Tuesday, 07 March 2023 07:38

Impact Sleep Has On Heart Health

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Jennifer McNeil, Communications Director with the American Heart Association, joined Ray. They discussed the importance of getting the right amount of sleep. Jennifer says that not sleeping enough can heavily impact your heart and overall health.  

A 55-year-old Akron man was arrested in Springfield Township on Sunday, but he didn’t come easy. 

Springfield police tell the Akron Beacon Journal that the suspect, Vincent Mann, has a history of violating protection orders and that this was the 11th time in the past 12 months they’ve been called to deal with him. 

On Sunday authorities say a woman called them saying that Mann, who is her ex-boyfriend, came to her house on Salmon Drive, violating a protection order. He then proceeded to barricade himself inside her home. 

After Mann fired off one shot at the police, authorities brought in a SWAT team, used tear gas, and eventually made their way inside the home to arrest him.

Mann was taken to the hospital for a mental health evaluation and is facing several charges including inducing panic and improper discharge of a firearm.

Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown says Ohioans "should not be forced to live in fear of another disaster".

This, in response to the Norfolk-Southern train derailment near Springfield, Ohio on Saturday, which, Brown notes, is the fourth one in Ohio, in the past five months. The others occurred in Steubenville, Sandusky, and in East Palestine, which remains the site of an ongoing major toxic disaster.

The derailment near Springfield on Saturday night did not involve a toxic chemical spill, and no one was hurt, though, as you will hear from Senator Brown in the ABC News video clip below; Brown is not entirely convinced there wasn't at least some chemical residue left behind, and he'd like to see that investigated.

Find out more, as Brown talks about derailments and the need for new rail regulations, on "This Week" with ABC News host, George Stephanopoulos:

In other developments related to the East Palestine derailment, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine released an update on Saturday.

Some highlights include that despite what appeared to be greater flow of potentially contaminated water from near the crash site; a dam there did not fail. In addition, Norfolk-Southern Railways employees began dismantling tracks in preparation for removing contaminated soil, but didn't get very far because the ground was too wet from recent rain.

Also, East Palestine officials held an open house for the public at their water treatment plant on Saturday, again telling residents they have not seen any evidence of contamination in municipal water wells.

Click here to read the full update on the Ohio Emergency Management Agency website.

Monday, 06 March 2023 07:12

Auto Industry Update & 2023 Outlook

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Tim Elliott, Executive VP of Northeast Ohio's Auto Dealers Association joined Ray. They talked about inventory, computer chips, and hopes for 2023. 

At-Large Akron City Council member, Linda Omobien is pushing back hard against against allegations from Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan, Police Chief, Steve Mylett, and Fraternal Order of Police President, Clay Cozart,  that her recent characterization  of last year's Akron police shooting of an unarmed black man, Jayland Walker, as "murder" was "irresponsible".
 
Omobien, who allows she could have used the word "killed" instead of "murdered" by police, challenges the criticism coming her way now, in light of years of public service, during which she says she has been a strong supporter of Akron Police, voting time and again to get them the resources they need.
 
She's also pushing back against the Union's vote of "No Confidence", and Cozart's allegation that her comment could influence the Grand Jury which will be meeting soon to consider whether or not any criminal charges ought to be filed against any of the police officers.
 
She calls that "ludicrous" in light of all of the video, and other evidence connected to the shooting which is still under review by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
 
Walker died in a hail of police bullets fired by from eight Akron Police officers, after he jumped out of his car, and allegedly made threateneing gestures at them, following a highway chase, during which police claim he shot at them.
 
That version of the story is being challenged by Omobien, though, who says Walker was "running away" from police when he was shot.
 
In a press release, Mayor Dan Horrigan asks the community for patience as the independent review being conducted by the State Bureau of Criminal Investigations continues.
 
Police Chief Steve Mylett, and FOP President, Clay Cozart also issued statements.
 
In his, Mylett says in part, "I find the remarks irresponsible and reprehensible".  But he adds, "While I am very disappointed with these remarks, I appreciate that Councilwoman Omobien has offered to retract her statement accusing APD officers of committing murder and to make amends." Cozart's statement characterized O'mobien's comment as "reckless, irresponsible, inflammatory, defaming".
 
In response, Omobien levelled some allegations of her own; including that she believes the reason she is being so heavily critized, is to deflect attention from the fact that three city council members made an agreement with the police union to to keep a  young black attorney, Imokhai Okolo, off the new Citizen's Police Oversight Board, and that members of the Mayor's staff dug up the social media comments Okolo made that were used to try and torpedo his appointment.
 
City Council was unable to reach an agreement on the makeup of that board last week, and will revisit the issue on Monday, at which time, Omobien predicts, Okolo will be appointed anyway.

The U.S. Senate is set to hold hearings on the East Palestine train derailment where Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will face questioning. 

News 5 reports that the hearing scheduled for next Thursday March 9th will also include questioning of the senators from the area including Sherrod Brown and JD Vance, as well as the Ohio EPA director, among others.

The hearing comes as the federal government moves to address rail safety, with Vance and Brown introducing a new rail safety bill on Wednesday. With Brown saying, “It shouldn’t take a massive railroad disaster for elected officials to put partisanship aside and work together for the people we serve” adding that this legislation “will finally hold big railroad companies accountable.”

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