Regional Features: Archive by Date

June 2006

Making Change: Weathering the Loss of a Major Employer
Posted Friday, June 30
When we talk about business trends and the changing economy, we often overlook the human stories that live behind all the bar graphs and statistics. As part of Making Change: Building the Region's Future, ideastream's David C. Barnett brings us the story of a couple in Lorain and how they are weathering today's loss of a major employer.

Sanders’ First Day
Posted Friday, June 30
The new Cleveland Schools CEO, Eugene Sanders, began his new job today, and he's bringing a number of top level staff with him from Toledo - people who helped him turn around the struggling school system there. ideastream's Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports.

Potential Savings in School Renovations
Posted Thursday, June 29
A local preservation group says Cleveland's school district could save just under $20 million if it renovated four historic schools instead of building new ones. The Cleveland Restoration Society suggests the cost savings and cultural preservation it's report details could be just to tip of the iceberg. But the Cleveland Municipal School District isn't as optimistic. ideastream's Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports.

New Lease on Life with FES Technology
Posted Wednesday, June 28
This week in Boston a group of Cleveland patients are telling doctors at a medical conference their stories about how a bio-medical technology has changed their lives. All four patients have suffered severe spinal cord injuries. But today, thanks to a technology called functional electrical stimulation, they're able to breath on their own, stand and walk, even do needlepoint again. ideastream's Karen Schaefer prepared this report.

Poverty Summit
Posted Tuesday, June 27
Last week, the Brookings Institution released a study showing that middle-income neighborhoods in American cities shrank between 1970 and 2000. In metropolitan areas, a polarization took place in which poor people were more likely to live in poor neighborhoods and rich people were more likely to live in rich neighborhoods. Coincidentally, the same day that report was released, the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank was hosting a conference on the concentration of poverty. ideastream's Mark Urycki reports.

Limiting Greenhouse Gases
Posted Tuesday, June 27
Yesterday the Ohio Environmental Council released a plan to help the state reduce global greenhouse gas emissions that capitalizes on many of Ohio's traditional industries. But one critic charges the plan doesn't go far enough. ideastream's Karen Schaefer reports.

Ohio Hopes to Land Honda Plant
Posted Monday, June 26
Consider this, back in 1982, the New York Times ran a story titled, "In Ohio, the enemy is Japan." Today, though, Ohio is mourning the new Honda assembly plant they didn't get. Though they've long had extensive operations in Ohio, Honda's next U.S. expansion is happening in Indiana. So, how did Honda go from the Midwest's economic enemy to economic lifeline? We asked Dan Moulthrop to look into it.

Homeless Clinic Serves Many Needs
Posted Friday, June 23
You might think that society's most down-and-out have no place to turn for healthcare but the ER. But many major U.S. cities have built healthcare clinics specifically designed to treat the homeless. Cleveland's homeless clinic on St. Clair Ave. offers a full range of services, from to diabetes care to dentures. ideastream's Karen Schaefer prepared this report.

Delphi, GM Workers Must Decide Future
Posted Thursday, June 22
Union workers at Delphi and General Motors plants around Ohio will have to decide by Friday whether to stay with their present jobs. The companies are offering buyouts or early retirement but with both firms facing bankruptcy, it's a tough call for some employees. ideastream's Mark Urycki spoke with some and filed this report.

Children’s Health: A Lion in the House Premiere at Sundance
Posted Wednesday, June 21
Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar's documentary on childhood cancer had it's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City Utah this past January. ideastream's David C. Barnett spoke with the filmmakers at Sundance about the origins of A Lion in the House.

Children’s Health: Courage of a Lion: Bognar & Reichert Interview
Posted Wednesday, June 21
Filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert are intimately familiar with childhood cancer. They spent six years following five families who fought childhood cancer. And, unbeknownst to the doctors who asked them to make the movie about pediatric cancer and these children and families who fought it, their own daughter had survived lymphoma. They spoke with ideastream's Dan Moulthrop about making the movie and why it's so difficult to talk about the end of life.

The Spirit of Innovation Launches
Posted Wednesday, June 21
Akron-based Goodyear christened its newest blimp Wednesday, the Spirit of Innovation. The name came from a public contest. Hudson High School Chemistry Teacher Matthew Harrelson suggested the winning name. He and his family get to ride on the zeppelin. The blimp was built at Goodyear's Wingfoot Lake hangar in Suffield. Company spokesman Eddie Ogden told ideastream's Mark Urycki that the looks haven't change much but the airship has some innovations of its own.

Children’s Health: Who Helps the Healers?
Posted Tuesday, June 20
This week, we focus on the topic of children with cancer - stories of struggle, survival and loss. Starting Wednesday night on WVIZ, the PBS documentary A Lion in the House will plunge viewers into the lives of five families who are trying to cope with their children's struggle with cancer. Over the course of four hours, the filmmakers show how the stress of this often terminal disease affects not just the patient, but also nearly everyone he or she touches. It's the focal point of our look all this week at childhood cancer. This morning we begin with the perspective of those who are often left out of the emotional equation - perhaps mistakenly so. That's the medical staff. ideastream's David C. Barnett examines who helps heal the healers.

Children’s Health: Keeping Healthy with Fun Park Food
Posted Monday, June 19
Every summer, people flock to amusement parks to be slung around, twisted, dunked or otherwise made happily nauseous. Traditionally, it's also an occasion for indulging our culinary senses with corn dogs, funnel cakes and other fun food that is not particularly nutritious. Lisa Ann Pinkerton reports, however, that a healthy diet can be maintained these days - if you're so inclined and willing to work at it.

Violent Crime on the Rise
Posted Friday, June 16
The FBI's 2005 crime report released this week shows the first national increase in violent crime in more than four years. Some of the biggest increases are seen in Midwestern cities like Cleveland, where violent crime rose nearly seven percent. But some local safety experts say that's not an immediate cause for alarm. ideastream's Karen Schaefer reports.

Redefining Health Care: Michael Porter Interview
Posted Thursday, June 15
Skyrocketing costs, restrictions on care, millions uninsured - few of us would disagree that the U.S. healthcare system faces big challenges. Now there's a new approach to improving the system from the Harvard School of Business. Michael Porter is co-author of Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results. He was in Cleveland this week at the Cleveland Clinic, where he spoke with ideastream's Karen Schaefer. He says the basis for fixing healthcare is competition.

What Are You Reading?
Posted Thursday, June 15
Summer's just about here, so what are you reading? We sent our trusty intern to the Coventry neighborhood in Cleveland Heights to ask some folks at Mac's Backs Bookstore. ideastream's Dan Moulthrop asked Chagrin Falls branch Librarian-in-Chief Jim McPeak for his summer reading recommendations.

Ohio Primary Colors
Posted Wednesday, June 14
An independent committee is reviewing the primary election in Cuyahoga County after problems delayed the vote tallies to be reported until the week after election day. But for all those glitches, election officials are warning that the November voting could be much worse. ideastream's Mark Urycki reports.

Making Change: Growing Bilingual Attitude in Northeast Ohio
Posted Tuesday, June 13
A recent population report documents a striking increase in the number Hispanics living in the U.S. As a part of Making Change: Building the Region's Future, ideastream's David C. Barnett reports that some Northeast Ohio institutions and agencies are reacting to this demographic shift with a bilingual attitude.

Ted Strickland on News and Notes
Posted Monday, June 12
One of the hot topics for politicos in Ohio this year is whether gubernatorial candidate Ken Blackwell can take African American votes from Democrats purely by the color of his skin. The ultra-conservative Republican is black and told NPR's News and Notes show that he has attracted as much as 40% of the African American vote during his statewide election to Secretary of State. Blackwell's opponent, Democrat Ted Strickland, spoke on the show last week and was not willing to give up the Black vote. ideastream's Mark Urycki reports.

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