With the new school year just getting underway; there have already been a couple of security issues reported in local school districts.

In Hudson, a teacher who had been suspended,  was arrested on Thursday , and then again on Friday, last week, after allegedly showing up at the High School. 

Akron Beacon Journal reports after his second arrest, a judge revoked the 34 year old man’s $2,500 bond on charges of misdemeanor criminal trespass and inducing panic, and ordered him held in the Summit County jail pending a competency evaluation

In Medina, after police got calls on Saturday about a possible threat to Medina High School; they reportedly detained an “individual of concern” on Sunday.

Nationwide, parents, teachers, and students have been concerned for years about school violence, following multiple mass shootings, including the one that resulted in 17 deaths at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, back in 2018, and the one that claimed 21 lives at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde,Texas, just last year.

Here in Akron, teacher concerns about violence at the hands of students was a major sticking point in the school district’s efforts to get a new contract ratified with the teacher’s union last year, which it eventually did; but not without a great deal of time and attention on what the schools planned to do to keep their teachers safe.

With all that in mind; WAKR Morning Show Host, Ray Horner, talked to Akron Public Schools new Director of Safety & Security, Don Zesiger, about safety measures in place as APS students head back to the classroom starting this Thursday, August 24.

Listen now to hear about new backpack scanners, metal detectors, teacher security badges that include a panic button, locked bags for student mobile phones, and even bullet-resistant film for first floor and classroom windows. 

Imagine driving down the road on a dark night.

Suddenly; your car slows and rolls to a gentle stop, just before a big deer that had been completely hidden from sight in the woods, darts out onto the road exactly where you would have been, if advanced thermal imaging sensors hadn't saved you from a potentially fatal crash.

Sound far-fetched?

Well, according to researchers at Purdue University, that could actually happen within the next few years, if their new HADAR technology is adopted by the automotive industry for both human-driven, and autonomous vehicles.

HADAR is short for "heat assisted detection and ranging"; and according to our featured guest today, Purdue University Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering , Dr. Zubin Jacob, it takes existing thermal imaging to the next level with improved sensor hardware, and AI-powered software.

Listen now to find how HADAR could be used in many different industries, including medicine, and defense, but why Jacob's first goal, is to get it adopted by the automotive industry.

Dr. Zubin Jacob, Purdue University

Bio: Zubin Jacob is currently an Elmore Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Department of Physics (by courtesy) at Purdue University. He is the fellow of the Optical Society of America (now called Optica), winner of the Indian Institute of Technology- Bombay Young Alumnus Achiever award (2021), European Association of Antennas and Propagation Leopold Felsen award for excellence in electrodynamics (2021), DARPA Director’s fellowship (2019), National Science Foundation CAREER award (2017), DARPA Young Faculty award (2017) and Purdue ECE Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award (2018). He served on the editorial board of Journal of Optics from 2016-2018 and was the technical committee chair for nanophotonics at the IEEE Photonics meeting 2018 and OSA CLEO 2019-2020.

Ohio Department Of Health Director, Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, today stressed the importance of childhood vaccinations, including the brand new RSV vaccine that will be available soon, during a press conference centered on back to school issues for children and students.

He opened his remarks with some good news. While COVID is still an issue; the number of cases and hospitalizations are way down, compared to last year. In addition, he says the new RSV vaccine is a major breakthrough that can help keep very young children and infants safe from an illness that last year sent many children in Ohio to the hospital.

For more detailed information on why the new RSV vaccine is a welcome tool for combatting a potentially severe illness, he talked with Dr. Michael Forbes, Chief Academic Officer at Akron Children's Hospital. 

Children's mental health was also a focus, and an issue that Vanderhoff addressed with Dr. Mary Carol Burkhardt, Associate Division Director for Primary Care at Cincinnati Children's Hospital.

Click below to watch the entire press conference, and learn more about what you can do to ensure your children stay healthy both mentally and physically, as they get ready to go back to school in a few weeks.

The City of Akron is putting out a request for proposals from solar energy developers to lease land at the city's Hardy Road Landfill, to construct, own, operate, and maintain a ground mounted Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System and associated equipment necessary for interface with electrical distribution facilities.

The landfill, at 1505 Hardy Road, was closed in 2002, and is listed as a Superfund Site, by the US EPA.

In a press release, the City of Akron outlined the following goals for the project:

• Provide the City with a consistent and sustained revenue stream by leasing and/or otherwise utilizing a former City-owned landfill to a private company or developer to construct a Solar PV System on the Property.
• Provide greater access to renewable power capacity to the electric grid.
• Provide a positive re-use of the closed landfill where environmental or other attributes make traditional, alternate land uses difficult.
• Advance the City’s sustainability goals.

The City is looking for qualified vendors interested in the lease or other potential land-use of the landfill to allow for the construction and installation of a Solar PV System to be installed on approximately 77 acres of the property.

“We believe this could be a uniquely mutually beneficial project which would allow the city to lease land for an additional revenue stream, and for a solar energy developer to utilize currently vacant land for their business,” said Mayor Dan Horrigan. “I look forward to seeing the responses to our RFP.” 

Putting a Solar PV System on a closed landfill provides an important opportunity for increasing localized generation of renewable electricity on a parcel of land that is currently unused. In addition to the desired revenue stream, the City’s goal is to add resiliency to the electric generation system and promote further reductions in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, by increasing local renewable electricity generation.

See the full RFP here. Applications, questions, and comments can be submitted through the city’s Bonfire system. To register and submit your proposal, click here. Applications are due by Sept. 19, 2023.

Akron Police say a "person of interest" they had identified in connection with the death of 45 year old Veronica Bell, turned himself in, and has now been charged with murder.

Bell was found with multiple gunshot wounds outside a residence in the 2200 block of 8th Street Southwest, in Akron's Kenmore neighborhood, on Saturday August 12. She died Tuesday, August 15 as a result of her injuries, at Cleveland Cleveland Clinic-Akron General. 

Police allege that 40 year old Dakinga York got into an altercation with Bell, and then left shortly after the shooting.

US Marshals have arrested a 19 year old suspect in connection with the death of Arteyon Cannon, the one year old boy who was found unresponsive in an apartment on Hancock Avenue in Akron, last Thursday, August 10.

Ian Belcher of Akron, is charged with murder. 

He was reportedly left to care for Arteyan Cannon by his godmother, when the child suffered what the Summit County Medical Examiner's office describes as blunt force trauma. However, they say they are continuing to investigate, and that the autopsy results they have reported so far, are only preliminary.

Akron police say efforts to resusciate the boy when they arrived on the scene last week were unusuccessful, after they responded to a report the child had suffered cardiac arrest. 

The City of Akron has lifted its boil water advisory for all customers along the Akron Peninsula Road corridor north of Bath Road.

This included some Akron Water customers located in Cuyahoga Falls and Boston Township.

Streets impacted included: Akron Peninsula Road north of Bath Road, Steels Corners Road West, Towpath Blvd., Deepwood Drive, Smokerise Drive, Laurel Valley Drive, Deepridge Drive and Circle, Bolanz Road, Riverview Road between Bolanz and Everett, Everett Road, Oak Hill Road, and Major Road to Stine Road. 

Water testing completed over the past 18 hours has confirmed the drinking water is safe. 

Yesterday morning, the City of Akron issued a precautionary boil advisory because of depressurization related to a water main break on Akron Peninsula Road near Bath Road. The water main break was repaired within a few hours and pressure was completely restored to all customers in the affected area.

EPA regulations require the City to perform testing to ensure that the drinking water is safe before a precautionary boil water advisory can be lifted. At this time, all affected Akron Water customers are no longer required to boil their drinking water or take any special precautions. Water is safe to consume and can be used normally.

City officials advise that you may experience periodic discoloration or cloudiness of water for the next day or two.

Discoloration is faint yellow or brown in color, while cloudiness can have the appearance of weak milk. Discoloration results from drinking water scouring the inside of water mains due to the main break. If this should happen, open every cold-water faucet and bath/shower fixture in your home at the same time and flush for five minutes until clear. Cloudiness is the result of dissolved air and will eventually clear itself out. Neither discoloration nor cloudiness are reasons to be concerned about the safety of the water over the next couple of days.

Questions should be directed to Akron Water Distribution Dispatch at (330) 375-2420.

41 year old Leander Bissell, the hit-skip driver who killed veteran Cleveland Firefighter Johnny Tetrick on I-90 last year, has been sentenced to life in prison.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Timothy McCormick, sentenced Bissell today. He won't be eligible for parole for at least 16 years.

Bissell was found guilty on multiple charges connected to the crime, and News 5 reports during sentencing, Bissell said "My actions make my soul shake. I have to live with what I have done.”

The crash occurred last November on I-90 eastbound at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Witnesses reported that Bissell hit Tetrick, and then kept going. Tetrick, who was assisting with a crash, had been with Cleveland Fire for more than 27 years.

Bissell was found guilty of the following crimes:

• One count of Murder
• Two counts of Felonious Assault
• One count of Involuntary Manslaughter
• One count of Aggravated Vehicular Homicide
• One count of Failure To Stop After Accident
• One count of Failure to Comply