Free Bus Rides on Voting Day

If you're like me, I'm tired of all the political stuff, but the good news is November

3rd is right around the corner.

It's the Akron Podcast for Wednesday, October 21st, the website AkronPodcast.com.

If you're worried about how you're going to get to the polls on Tuesday, November 3rd,

here's a cool thing.

RTA Metro RTA will provide free rides on Tuesday, November 3rd. Here's a cool thing. RTA Metro RTA will provide free rides

on Tuesday, November 3rd. And the free rides are only available on Metro Direct and Metro

ADA services. So election day polls are open from 6.30am to 7.30pm. And you can find the nearest

polling location to you

by visiting the Summit County Board of Elections website. I'll put a link to that in the show notes.

If you're like me and are just tired of, you know, political ads and you're still not sure who to

vote for. Well, check this out this Wednesday on October 20th at the Akron summit county

main library. The league of women voters of Akron is hosting the event. It's a place

where you can go and hear the candidates. So candidates for US House District 13 Ohio

Senate District 27 and Ohio Districts 31 32 33 and 34 are the focus of the forums. The event is intended

to give the community an opportunity to learn about candidates platforms and priorities

for the offices they are seeking. Let me guess, they're going to want lower prices, more

jobs, lower housing, lower gas. I always love that. Like, yeah, who's going to disagree with

that? The League of Women Voters of Ohio and the League of Women Voters of the Akron

area, those rules are going to be used in a modified format when only one candidate

in the race participates. So this might be a little bit like a debate. So if only one

candidate for a given contest

is participating in the forum,

the participating candidate will be permitted

to give an opening candidate statement only.

There will be no Q&A.

That's very interesting.

We're out to meet the public,

but like don't ask us anything.

Under the format, each candidate may make an opening statement

of up to four minutes. After the statements, each candidate may make an opening statement of up to

four minutes. After the statements, candidates will attendees will be invited to the lobby,

where candidates may set up tables with campaign materials and meet directly with voters

in kiss a few babies. And you know that whole nine yards. Now if you're interested in this and I am the form is free attendees can RSVP at LWA.

That's the, let's see, something League of Women Voters AA dot org.

There we go.

So LWA.org, more information about the event or the League of Women Voters of

Vachron area is available by again, emailing LWVA at you guessed it,

LWVA.org or you can call 3308367079.

Signal Akron has a great article that I'll put a link in the show notes. And basically what it shows is the big companies And so as we all to quote South Park can't figure out should we vote for the giant in douche?

Or the turd sandwich?

And so as we all know, the public can't figure out what we're going to do.

And so as we all know, the public can't figure out what we're going to do.

And so as we all know, South Park can't figure out,

should we vote for the giant douche or the turd sandwich?

On one hand, I will be the first to say,

we all need to get out and vote who you think would be better.

But I realize it's disappointing when it's giant douche

versus turd sandwich. It's it's just a Michael Chays

a comedian. And he just made an amazing point. He said, look, he goes, there are people

that know the top 500 quarterbacks in the United States. So that when it comes time to draft

one. we all know

who the best, you know, players are. And he goes, why is it that we always come down to

the lesser of two evils? But I'll put a link to that particular article that just shows

how much money is going into these campaigns. And I'm here to tell you a ton of it goes

write my mailbox and goes right into the trash. We have a quick traffic update east north street. That's

under the route eight bridge in Akron will be closed through late October. The eastbound

detour is Howard Street to Glenwood Avenue to Dan Street to north street. The Westbrown detour is Dan Street to Glenwood Avenue to Dan Street to North Street. The West Brown detour is Dan

Street to Glenwood Avenue to Howard Street. Now work tied to the Route 8 Bridge replacement

is estimated to wrap up in the fall of 2028.

State Route 303, just east of Interstate 77 in Richfield, Township will be closed through

late October for a covert replacement.

The detour is Interstate 271 South, the I-77 South, to State Route, I-76, Broadview Road

to Route 303.

So if you're using any of those lanes or streets, you might want to think about finding a way around it.

Hey, it's time to talk about flock cameras,

Akron's chief of public safety, Craig Morgan,

defended the cities nearly 150 flock surveillance cameras

before city council,

arguing the system helps solve crimes,

and that criticism is driven by fear rather than facts.

But a signal, you know, the local online website, they investigated and found that outside

law enforcement agencies can they conducted 8,829 immigration-related searches of Akron's

flocks database between December 2004 and June

2026. Those searches were part of 33.4 million external searches overall. The investigation

also found the system was used in a Texas sheriff investigating investigation. Now the city added filters in May to block searches

explicitly labeled as related to immigration or abortion.

However, many searches lack enough information

to determine their purpose.

Council members, Eric Garrett and Fran Wilson,

question whether Akron could guarantee its data

would not be used for immigration enforcement.

Wilson also raised concerns that flocks contract allows the company retain and share data

indefinitely.

And again, the public safety director Craig Morgan acknowledged the misuse is possible. But argued the cameras have helped solve shootings,

locate vehicles involved in a fatal hit and run and find missing people.

The mayor said the city would continue discussing concerns about internal and

outside access to the system.

But the bottom line is Akron has restricted certain searches, but city officials, they just can't guarantee

that that information that's collected by its cameras will never be used for

immigration enforcement. The debate centers on balancing the cameras

investigative benefits against privacy concerns and the potential misuse of data.

Well, here's something you don't hear every day.

Akron public schools have self reported academic eligibility violations involving the

book.

Bill and North high school football teams, resulting in forfitted wins.

Book.

Bill must forfeit four of its five victories this season, while

North has to give up its only win. So if you don't understand what we're talking about here,

the players didn't get good enough grades to play football. So we have one thing to hold

over them. Hey, you better get your grades up of if you're not going to be able to play.

Now we want to win.

The Ohio School Athletic Association confirmed the penalties on October 16th, saying several players on both teams were academically and eligible

underneath standard scholarship eligibility rule.

The school district investigated both cases, reported the violations to the OSHA and says it will accept the decisions

without appealing.

Amazing.

Leonardo's pizza of Elit, a beloved East Akron staple that has been in business for over

four decades, announced its immediate closure on Tuesday, October 13th.

Honor Ken Ileg, I guess is how you pronounce that who

purchased the restaurant three and a half years ago in June of 2023 shared the news via

social media. He cited out of control food and energy costs that made it impossible for the

business to keep pace with the current economy. Leon Ardos was founded in 1980. The shop served

of the elephant and good your Heights communities for 46 years, Leonardo's was founded in 1980. The shop served the ellet and good your Heights communities for 46 years.

Leonardo's was highly regarded for its fresh dough made daily.

It's original stone ovens and its signature.

And I can't even pronounce this, uh, Cian, Ciolla blend cheese, uh,

popular menu items included their chicken, pepperoni pizza and little Leo burgers. Now there is a fair lawn location.

And those two have been operating completely independently.

They terminated their franchise agreement. And the fair lawn location is not

affected by the closure. In his farewell message, Ken said that he praised his hard working

employees for keeping the shop running as long as possible.

Well, this is sad.

A 61 year old female instructor at the Kyoga Falls, Anatatorium has died after being shot

Inside the facility Sunday morning, October 18th.

Police say 63 year old Craig Allen's type of Akron entered the

Natatorium around 9 30 AM targeted the woman and then fled.

Authorities believe the shooting was domestic related.

Sip later turned himself into Kaga Falls police and has been charged with aggravated murder. He's being held at the Summit County jail and is scheduled to be a rain Monday.

Sight previously owned the Brooklyn Speakeasy and Akron, which was reported temporary closed

in July of 2025.

And so on one hand, I am, I don't know if pleased is the right word.

I'm glad it's not a bunch of people who are going know, please just the right word. I'm glad it's

not a bunch of 14 year olds. But now we got to worry about boomers with guns. This is sad.

It's just sad. Anytime somebody dies, figure out how to talk to one another, treat each

other with love and respect. The interesting thing is this is

this just in. He's pleaded not guilty. I'm sure there's plenty of camera footage of him

doing this. That's amazing. I know it's getting cold and maybe you are planning one last trip

to Cedar Point. That might be something you want to think about. They've closed a rollercoaster

after a part fell from it. Yeah, the Millennium Force after a man was killed, falling from a

coaster in Georgia, the theme park, of course, this was closed, like I said, on October 16th,

a bracket came loose from one of the cars and landed in a guest area.

No injuries were reported, but the right open Saturday evening, October 17th, following

the successful completion of maintenance inspections and all required safety checks.

Yeah, but shouldn't they do that?

I don't know.

You kind of think they do that every day.

A Cedar Point spokesman said in a statement, the Millennium Force incident happened

just four days again after and Atlanta man was killed falling from a coaster.

But I know I never rode, you know, like when a local carnival would come to town, I'm like,

I'm not getting on that.

I don't know, man, it makes

you wonder, but, uh, I'm sure they're going to have all sorts of Halloween stuff. Maybe,

maybe you pass on the coaster this year. And for our friends in the north, a new sheets

convenience store and gas station is opening at 4281 Kent road in Stowe. That's this

Thursday, the 22nd in the former Stowe Glenn property. The store is going to open up at

8 a.m. and we'll offer free self-service coffee and soda all day. A grand opening

celebration is planned for Friday the 23rd with giveaways and a chance to win free sheets

for a year. They're also going to be donating

$2,500 to both the Akron, Canton Regional Food Bank and Special Olympics of Ohio.

The particular sheets, this is the second location in Stowe and the 10th in Summit County.

It's also one of several businesses coming to the former Stowe Glen property.

A Dutch Brothers coffee plans to open its first Northeast Ohio locations in Stowe and Fairlond.

Fitworks.

It's back to move into a new 15,000 square foot building in December in pandex, press and

Chick-fil-A are also planned for that area for those of you living in Stowe.

Sounds like you're going to have some good eats.