Hungry Kids Rejoice: Free Meals Coming to Akron!

It's the akron podcast for June 6, 2025.

We've got good news for hungry kids.

The Wall of Widges restaurant citations, body cam footage, Lock three keeps getting better.

DEI resources at Kent State and the event calendar.

Our website is akronpodcast.com Starting Monday, June 9, the City of Akron will provide free meals to all eligible youth.

Now that's 18 years of age or younger.

And summer day camp program participants that meet the income guidelines for reduced price meals in the National School Lunch Program.

The meals will be prepared by the Akron Public Schools and passed out at a variety of community centers and other city locations.

The program is going to run Monday through Friday from June 9 through August 1, excluding holidays.

Children who are part of households that receive food stamps or benefits under the food distribution program on Indian Reservations, better known as the fdpir, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, better known as tanf, are automatically eligible to receive the free meals.

So good to hear that the kids that find themselves in a bad spot are not going to go hungry.

Hey, with summer upon us, you're probably one of those people.

It's like, man, I can't wait to get to Cedar Point and ride that new top thrill too.

Well, you might want to check some things.

Like, is it midge season?

Yep.

Some visitors posted on Reddit that basically midges are these little itty bitty bugs.

And there's video these poor kids that are just covered.

They basically became, I guess they were in the front row of the ride and just became a human windshield because they go up to the top of this thing and they're coming down that roller coaster at 120 miles an hour and just getting pelted head to foot in midges.

Oh, this is always fun.

It's time to talk about what restaurants in Summit County.

Yeah.

How'd they place along with violations.

And so when it comes to this, the ones that had the most critical violations, Luna's, which is in Northfield, the Merriman, that's in Akron.

2009, Merriman wrote, inspectors found six critical violations, including an inaccessible hand washing sink.

Yeah, that's not good.

Single use gloves being used improperly and unclean food contact services, Masa Asian Express, that's on Exchange Street.

Inspectors found again six critical violations, including unclean food contact services.

It was corrected during inspection.

Food not being cold, held at the proper temperature, which was also corrected during inspection and refrigerated ready to eat food not being properly date marked.

Oop.

But again, corrected during inspection.

If you're at the richfield Brewing Company.

That's in Richfield.

Shocking that you would think that when it's called the Richfield Brewing Company.

Again, six critical violations, including the improper use of poisonous material that was corrected, food not being cold, that's corrected during inspection, and improper labeling of containers with poisonous materials.

That one makes me nervous.

But it was corrected during the inspection.

Lucas New York style pizza that's on Darrow Road in Stowe.

Again, what's up?

It's always 6 critical.

The improper washing of hands, foods not being cold, temperatures not right, and containers of poisonous materials not being properly labeled, so don't accidentally mistake the poison for sugar.

All those were corrected during the inspection.

Casa Del Rio.

That's on Market Street.

Five critical violations, including refrigerated ready to eat foods not being properly date marked that was corrected, improper temperature of wash solution in mechanical washer, and no available sanitizing solution.

Mr.

Zubs Deli.

I've never heard of some of these places on West Market Street.

Five critical violations.

You know what?

Forget it.

I'll put a link to this article.

Kid Friendly academy in Northfield.

Mr.

Chicken in Northfield.

The Tamar Mediterranean Grill in Northfield.

So basically, you don't want to eat in Northfield is what it looks like.

The original is Bob Hamburg.

Bob's Hamburger on East Avenue in Akron.

Tyler Pattaya on Portage Lakes Drive in Akron.

And I was surprised at this one.

Swensons in Stowe.

Inspectors found five critical violations, including employees not washing their hands as required, improper use of time as a public health control.

That's a weird one.

And foods not being cold, held at proper temperatures which were corrected during the inspection.

So I was kind of glad to hear that.

It wasn't anything crazy like rat feces or things like that.

But I'll put a link to this article if you want to dig in a little deeper.

You know, it's.

It's hard being an Akron policeman.

And Akron is looking.

So if you're looking for a job and you have an inkling to being a policeman, check that out.

They're definitely looking for folks.

But they released some body cam footage of a case where people actually shot at police officers.

And as much as I was kind of appalled on the one where the police officers were punching some guy they had held down and they kept punching him in the face.

This one is just spooky because out of nowhere you just hear gunshots and those shots are coming your direction.

So you see the cops kind of try to figure out where to hide and where to aim.

But very Spooky stuff.

And, you know, I'm glad those guys are out there and women are out there keeping us as much as they can.

Safe, I guess.

I'll throw this in here.

The shooting is out of control this week.

There was one street that had two houses that just found bullets in their house, like in their house.

And they found casings all over the neighborhood.

So apparently, you know, some bored teenagers will guess maybe, I don't know, were just shooting up the neighborhood.

Like, what are you doing?

I don't know, let's go shoot up people's houses.

And then somebody, some man got shot.

The thing that they say.

And I'm kind of like, well, that's not really a good thing.

But a.

They came out with a study saying how there was a decline.

Homicide totals are down.

Well, yeah, but that's because apparently the new criminals have bad shots.

I would like to know how many shootings we've had.

But they said as of June 3, there have been 13 homicides across the country.

I'm sorry, not the country, the county.

In this case, Summit.

Since the beginning of the year, 13 homicides, and that's down from 20 in the first half of last year, which is January through June, and 22 homicides from the first half of 2023.

So, yes, murders are down, but I'd love to know shootings because it just seems like everybody shooting everybody in 2022.

There were 30 homicides in the first half of the year, and in 2021 there were 29.

So, yes, homicides are coming down, but there were multiple shootings this past week.

And I'm just like, can we come up with some stuff?

And the mayor did announce some programs.

There is one that I was like, well, I guess that's good.

They announced the launch of a hospital linked violence intervention program aimed at addressing gun violence.

The key points included.

The program will engage with victims of gun violence at their hospital bedside to disrupt cycles of violence, prevent retaliation and address trauma.

So I know somebody just shot you, but just let it go, you know, let's stop the cycle.

I get that addressing trauma is good.

The other thing I think we should do is, I don't know, help them with their hospital bill.

That would be good.

I don't know, but maybe find out why people are shooting each other.

The initiative.

I'm sorry?

Yeah.

The initiative has received support from local healthcare providers.

Well, of course, you know, they're like, hey, look, repeat offenders, send them over.

Specifically Summa Health and Cleveland Clinic, Akron General.

Yeah, they're like, well, you know, guns are good for business, but at least I guess, you know, in terms of the mental trauma, I'm glad they're getting help.

And, you know, obviously we don't want people bleeding to death.

The announcement was made during the State of the city eventually.

Overall, the initiative seeks to provide immediate support to victims and to tackle the broader issue associated with gun violence in the community.

So they intend to launch this again violence intervention program.

And I hope it works.

We need people to figure out, you know, maybe we should sit down and talk things out.

It's kind of crazy, but good for everyone involved, and we need to do something because it just keeps getting worse.

Here's some good news.

You know, Lock three is a great place.

If you haven't been downtown, it's amazing.

It was down there with the three blimps flying around.

It was great.

And the one thing they've added that could be really cool, because if you're like, ah, you know, or if you just want to sit in some of the new trees that are providing shade and chill out with your laptop.

That's right.

Lock 3 now has free WI fi.

And so you can basically chill out.

You know, go down, check out some music, hang out, check your emails, cross some things off your to do list and hang out at lock 3.

Kent State has announced it's set to close its LGBTQ+ center, the Women's center and Multicultural center, on June 27, 2025, due to the enactment of Senate Bill 1.

This decision is a direct response to a state mandate that impacts diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on campus.

The closure reflects broader implications of the legislation on university support systems for marginalized communities.

And so what they're saying is there's an emphasis on the significance of these centers and promoting inclusivity and the potential negative impact their closure may have on students and the campus community.

If you go out to akronpodcast.com events, you will see our event calendar this week.

Sarah Millikan on her Late Bloomer tour.

She's a comedian that's going to be at the Playhouse Square up in Cleveland.

And the Allman Betts Band will be out at MGM Northfield.

That's on Saturday the 14th.

And Sarah will be at the Playhouse Square on the 7th.

For more information, again go out to akronpodcast.com events.