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Granholm, Kaptur, Kapszukiewicz tout federal support for EV parts manufacturer
Standing in a Toledo factory operated by a subsidiary of Korean automaker Hyundai, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm Friday touted a $32.6 million federal grant to Mobis and American Autoparts to facilitate the production of battery casings and base plates for electric and hybrid vehicles. “Automobile manufacturing is an iconic American industry that defined American might for over 100 years,” Ms. Granholm said. “Then other countries lured manufacturers away while the federal government sat on its hands. State-level incentives were like bringing a knife to a gunfight, especially when you’re competing with China. Without federal help, we were losing. We...
YWCA says three women leaders 'On the Rise'
The YWCA of Northwest Ohio will honor three Toledo women as 2024 “On The Rise Honorees.” At a Friday morning news conference, YWCA president Lisa McDuffie announced this year's honorees: Amanda Kato, personal trainer and restaurateur; Jennifer Strauss, executive director of Nationwide Children’s Hospital Toledo; and Nina Corder, founder of the nonprofit Women of Toledo. “This award is to recognize and give accolades to three phenomenal women who are doing amazing things in our community,” Ms. McDuffie said. The Women on the Rise Awards recognize emerging leaders in Toledo who align with YWCA’s mission: “eliminating racism, empowering women.” Honorees were first nominated by members of the community. The award ceremony will take place at 4 p.m. on Aug. 8 at the Fifth Third Center at One SeaGate.
2024 high school football: 10 receivers to watch
Coming off a banner season for area receivers as far as statewide honors in 2023, this year's top crop of passing targets also promises to be productive sources for their respective teams. With 40 days remaining until the kickoff to the 2024 Ohio High School football season, here is a look at 10 promising receivers who are expected to play key roles in the success of their teams. Seth Elchert, Liberty-Benton As the lone first team All-Ohio player among this year's group of returning receivers, the 6-foot-4, 190-pound junior brings a load of promise with half of his prep career still remaining. Last season, in 11 games, Elchert, whose twin brother Zach is one of the area's top returning running backs for the Eagles, caught 74 passes for 1,052 yards and scored 13 touchdowns. Midway through his career, he has 123 receptions for 1,923 yards, and 24 scores. Elchert has Division I college offers from five MAC schools — Toledo, Bowling Green, Akron, Miami (Ohio), and Central Michigan.
Kaptur supportive and Brown quiet on President Biden's future
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) is sticking by President Biden’s campaign for re-election, despite many of her colleagues calling for him to step down. “If the Biden Administration keeps delivering like this today, then absolutely,” Ms. Kaptur said when asked if Mr. Biden should be the Democratic nominee. Ms. Kaptur was in Toledo on Friday for a news conference highlighting a $32.6 million grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy to help set up production of the Jeep Gladiator plug-in electric hybrid vehicle. The grant is part of Mr. Biden’s $1.7 billion Investing in America effort. Ms. Kaptur’s support for the President’s campaign comes as many Democrats are calling for him to step down from the nomination because of his age and concerns about his mental capacity. The Democratic Party is expected to nominate Mr. Biden as the presidential candidate at the party’s convention next month, but if he steps down, the party has the opportunity to nominate someone else.
3 family members killed in multivehicle crash in Seneca County
REPUBLIC, Ohio — Three members of the same family were killed in a multivehicle crash in Seneca County just before 11 a.m. Thursday, officials said. According to the Norwalk post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol, David Gaertner, 57, of Janera, Ohio, was westbound on Seneca County Road 24 when he failed to stop for a stop sign at State Rt. 18 and collided with a northeast-bound pickup truck being driven by Joseph Miller, 41, of Vickery, Ohio. The impact pushed Miller’s pickup into the path of a tractor-trailer being driven southwest on Route 18 by Aaron Knoll, 42, of Tampa. The tractor-trailer and Mr. Miller’s pickup both careened off the road and overturned, with the tractor-trailer striking a utility pole and the pickup catching fire. Mr. Miller and his passengers — his son, Conner Miller, 13, and his father Richard Miller, 67, of Sandusky — were all killed in the crash. Mr. Gaertner suffered serious injuries and was taken by air ambulance to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center.
Partial collapse of former church building affects traffic in Metamora
METAMORA, Ohio — A partial collapse of an unoccupied building has restricted traffic in the 100 block of Main Street in this Fulton Township community to a single lane, village fire authorities said. There were no injuries, according to a Metamora-Amboy Township Fire Department news release posted on the department’s official Facebook page. At 6:34 p.m. Thursday, fire crews were dispatched to 124 Ε. Main St. on a report of a possible building collapse. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters discovered that the upper northwestern third of the exterior wall of what used to be Metamora United Methodist Church building had fallen off onto a car and on the roadway. The crews then removed the remaining two thirds of the exterior wall for safety before securing the property and contacting the owner.
Tiffin manufacturing facility downsizing to idle 130 workers
TIFFIN — Canadian-based Dorel Home has notified the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services that it will be transitioning its Ameriwood Home furniture manufacturing facility to a distribution and warehouse operation. According to the notice of workforce reduction the company filed with the state on Monday, “the reduction is a result of a significant downturn” in the company’s business. About 130 hourly employees will lose their jobs. All production equipment will be removed from the Second Avenue facility by Sept. 5, and the building will be converted to the company’s Ohio Distribution Center.
Toledo ranks at top of list of easiest cities for saving money
The city of Toledo has ranked at the top of America’s easiest cities for saving money. FinanceBuzz ranked 125 cities with populations over 200,000 by analyzing recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau, Transunion, and the Federal Reserve to come up with the rankings. According to FinanceBuzz, Toledo’s cost of living is the second lowest of cities in its analysis, indicating that life is very affordable in Toledo. The city also ranks in the top three in terms of lowest median credit card debt, lowest rent costs relative to income, and lowest mortgage costs relative to income. Toledo has a median income of $46,637, with rent as percentage of income at 22 percent, mortgage as percent of income 27 percent, average effective tax burden at 18.05 percent, debt-to-income ratio of 1.08 percent, and median credit card debt at $2,220.
Toledo teacher aims to inspire students with NASA experience
Holding a grade-schooler’s attention in the classroom is a formidable task, but one teacher at Toledo’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Academy for Boys got help from NASA to keep his students engaged. “It's been my goal for a while now to stop teaching out of the book,” Luke McKinley, the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics specialist for MLK academy, said about his approach to teaching kids. “I teach pre-K all the way to sixth grade, STEM, hands on science,” he said. “The kids come to me twice a week, every student in the school comes to me twice a week, to do hands-on science.” And Mr. McKinley’s experiments go far beyond the classic volcano or solar system models associated with science classrooms of the past.
4-year-old one of 2 juveniles shot
A 4-year-old child was one of two individuals shot in Toledo Thursday night, police said. Police responded to to a ShotSpotter alert in the 600 block of Miller Street around 8:30 p.m. only to learn the victim, a 4-year-old boy, had been taken to Toledo Fire Station 16, on Dorr Street, by a private vehicle. The child was in a home in the 800 block of Blum Street when he was shot in the buttocks. He was taken to Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center for treatment. At 9:40 p.m. Thursday a 16-year-old boy showed up at an office building in the 4300 block of West Sylvania Avenue claiming he had been shot in the 4100 block of Talmadge Road, right around the corner. He was taken to ProMedica Toledo Hospital.
Public invited to see plans for Jamie Farr Park pool
The Toledo Department of Parks and Youth Services will hold a public meeting Thursday to discuss enhancement plans for the Jamie Farr Park pool. Enhancement plans will be unveiled as part of the 5 to 6 p.m. public gathering in the Jamie Farr Shelter House, 2140 Summit St. During the meeting, Brandstetter Carroll, Inc., will present various upgrade options and associated costs. Residents are encouraged to share feedback, ask questions, and gain insights into the proposed enhancements.
Chance to win Owens scholarship by attending registration event
Students planning to attend Owens Community College this fall could win a $1,500 scholarship just by registering for classes at One Day Registration on Monday. The registration event will be from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Toledo-area campus admissions office in College Hall, 30335 Oregon Rd., Perrysburg. Admissions application assistance, academic and financial services advising, placement testing, orientation, and registration for classes will all be available at the event. Fall semester 2024 classes begin Aug. 19. The $1,500 scholarship is open to degree-seeking students only. Participants must attend the registration event and register for fall semester 2024 classes to be eligible.
Kids take center stage at Croswell's School of Rock
ADRIAN — School of Rock, the musical adaptation of the 2003 comedy movie starring Jack Black, seems like a strange addition to Broadway legend Andrew Lloyd Webber’s groundbreaking oeuvre, but reception to the 2015 show places it among the impresario’s most celebrated works. Opening Friday at Adrian’s Croswell Opera House, School of Rock tells the story of Dewey Finn, a washed-up rock musician who takes his substitute class of elementary-aged prep school kids to the Battle of the Bands, where rockers of all ages learn a lesson along the way. Film fans will discover a fleshed-out version of the original tale, with expanded character development and music. One of the many drawn into the feel-good story is Aaron Roos, choir director of St. Francis’s choir, Singing Blue, who plays the lead role.
2024 high school football: Who are the returning stat leaders in Toledo area?
The 2024 high school football season is quickly approaching. Practice begins Aug. 1 in Ohio and Aug. 12 in Michigan. Here are the top returning stat leaders in The Blade’s coverage area. Stats used were submitted to The Blade following Week 10 of last season. RUSHING YARDS1,156 — Rocco Pillarelli, Ottawa Hills1,116 — Ja’ceous Shannon, Bowling Green973 — Cody Wulf, Maumee954 — Grant Kinnee, Anthony Wayne891 — Braden Gardner, Anthony Wayne
Partying on: Book about famous New York shindig has surprising ties to Toledo
As it approaches its 20th anniversary, the annual Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governors Island, N.Y., will be the subject of an upcoming coffee table book in partnership with Toledo’s own Social B. Creative marketing network. Every summer, thousands of wannabe flappers, prohibition partiers, and oil barons take the ferry to Governors Island off Manhattan to partake in the Jazz Age Lawn Party. Now a New York tradition, each year the JALP attracts returning fans and new participants for a weekend of Jazz Age reenactment and splendor. Governors Island’s lack of reliable cell service adds to the authenticity as well, amidst the vintage dresses, pinstripe suits, boaters hats, bowties, and, of course, the displays of live jazz entertainment. The party takes place over two weekends each summer — one in June and one in August. One such vintage frock at this past June’s festival was from Toledo’s own House of Dow vintage clothing shop, worn by Laura Upton of Social B. Creative, who was attending the party for her first time to promote the upcoming coffee table book about the event.
Editorial: Development deal important to city
The Toledo Warehouse District will soon be enhanced by the conversion of 163,000 square feet of abandoned blight into the new home of Fry Heating, Cooling & Plumbing. (“Warehouse District to get new business,” Tuesday.) The 94-year-old company is moving from Maumee to 152 Hamilton St. and plans to add five new jobs when they have the extra space. The sprawling property is a connection of seven buildings that can be used beyond the business. Read more Blade editorials It will take a zoning change from light industry to mixed-use commercial, but when that obviously beneficial move is made apartments can be added on the second story.
Omaha Storm Chasers break through late to sink Mud Hens 4-0
PAPILLION, Neb. — In a game in which both starters had quality performances, the host Omaha Storm Chasers eventually broke through, scoring four times in the bottom of the eighth inning to secure a 4-0 win over the Toledo Mud Hens on Thursday at Werner Park. Toledo starting pitcher Lael Lockhart went five innings, allowing zero runs on one hit with five strikeouts. Omaha’s Jonathan Bowlan went six innings, allowing no runs on five hits, also with five strikeouts. The Storm Chasers took advantage off Toledo’s third pitcher, Sean Guenther, in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on second and third, Drew Waters smacked a two-run single to left field to break the scoreless tie. Nelson Velazquez followed with a home run to left that extended the lead at 4-0. The Mud Hens (41-48) went down in order in their half of the ninth.
Author-illustrator encourages people to keep their childlike sense of wonder about birds and nature
Kenn Kaufman began a 90-minute talk about his latest book this week with an anecdote about how he thought he had “discovered” a bird himself when he was a 7-year-old boy. It was a Gray Catbird, a bird that got its name in part from its distinctive mewing sound. “I had been birding for a year. I thought I knew a lot about birds, but had never heard of this Catbird thing,’” the internationally renowned author, illustrator, and naturalist from Ottawa County, told nearly 500 people who attended a talk he gave via Zoom on Tuesday night. The event was organized by the Oak Harbor-based Black Swamp Bird Observatory, the group behind the annual birding extravaganza known as the Biggest Week in American Birding that’s held along northwest Ohio’s Lake Erie shoreline each May.
Rossford voters will see three tax renewals for rec, fire on Nov. 5 ballot
Rossford voters will be asked to renew three tax levies that support recreation and the fire department. City council on Monday approved the three issues to be on the Nov. 5 ballot. The 2-mill recreation levy generates $261,713 annually, and costs the owner of a $15,000 home $105 a year, said Chris Kirk, city finance director. The 1-mill levy for fire personnel raises $130,856 per year and costs the owner of a $150,000 home $52.50 a year.
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