Pickle Fest: The Wildest Competition You Didn't Know You Needed

Dave Jackson00:00:19

Today on the Akron Podcast, the Akron Canton airport is going to get an upgrade. We got a pickle fest coming. The WNBA is adding a team in Cleveland.We're going to get an update, actual stats on those Flock cameras and you have to watch a video in the show notes from HBO that explains just how creepy these things are. We got some news from First Energy and the whole data center thing. And where does Akron rank when it comes to getting a job?Akron podcast for Wednesday, August 5th. Our website is akronpodcast.com hey, welcome to the Akron Podcast.I'm Dave jackson from the schoolofpodcasting.com first up at a Ward 6 meeting, Brad McKittrick brought up the flock cameras. We talked about this and he pushed back on the criticism against the surveillance tools and said they are a valuable tool for fighting crime.Now I'm going to put a link to an HBO last week tonight report on flock cameras. Yeah, we don't want any of those here. And Akron began installing flock cameras in 2022 with the goal of having 145 devices across Akron.There is an open source volunteer run website that shows the locations of those cameras. I'll be having those in the show notes. But the the representative asked Akron police officer Eric Wagner to answer questions.And I love the fact he said that the police are not continuously using the flock cameras to track everyone. Okay. It's not continuously. Only what, 23 and a half hours a day. Yeah.He said that officers need to have a reason to search for information on the system. Yeah, like, hey, there's a hot chick by the pool. Yeah, all sorts of interesting things.Again, I'll put a link to that out in the show notes, but I didn't realize that there were this many flock cameras already in our beloved city. Some good news if you're flying out of Akron Canton.The airport is receiving $9.1 million in a federal grant to repair passenger boarding bridges and reconstruct several key airport facilities.The funding is part of an $870 million program from the U.S. department of Transportation that's helping airports across the country improve safety, modernize terminals, upgrade baggage systems, and rehabilitate runways and taxiways. Akron Canton has been seeing strong growth, serving nearly 939,000 passengers last year.That's a 23.5% increase over the previous year, and airport officials say the improvement should help create a smoother, more reliable travel experience as passenger numbers continue to climb. We don't talk a lot of sportsball on this show, but this seemed noteworthy and that is that Cleveland is getting women's NBA in 2028. That's right.The expansion team will debut. It's the Cleveland Sirens.Yeah, after a mythological creature, you know, from mythology, Greek mythology, which makes about as much sense as calling the Indians the Guardians. But, you know, that's what we do here in Northeast Ohio. Why didn't they go back to the Rockers, which was our WNBA team until 2003?Basically, the answer is, well, that team wasn't any good. That's why they went out of business. And so they're hoping a new name will bring a new change.And you know, this thing called winning that will be happening in 2028. We are going to put this in the I'm not making this up category. Get ready Aug. 9 at Lock 3, the fifth annual Akron Pickle Festival.Yep, at this pickle extravaganza, folks can eat pickles galore and take part in ridiculous pickle competitions in the Pick Olympics, according to the organizers. Everybody's really revved up for all things pickle this year, considering the Festival's Akron Pickle 5K race has sold out with 450 runners.I don't think that has anything to do with pickles, but probably more with people like to run. Proceeds from the race benefit Akron Promise, which provides scholarships and student support for Akron public school students. That's cool.The race starts at 9am at Lock 3, which is 200 South Maine. New for this year's festival is the Akron Pickle Path for charity from 11am to 4pm at the adjacent Lock 4 area.For $10, guests can eat pickle samples from each of the eight local charities and cast their vote for Best Pickle. Proceeds from ticket sales will be shared equally among the charity. I'll have a link to this out in the show, notes.Akron based FirstEnergy says demand for data centers is exploding across its six state service area.The utility says requests for power have jumped about 30% since last quarter, reaching nearly 25 gigawatts, and of that, 6.4 gigawatts are already under contract, and the company expects even more deals to be signed soon.Now, much of that growth is happening in West Virginia, where FirstEnergy is looking to capitalize on its proximity to Northern Virginia's data center.The company is planning a new natural gas power plant, several solar projects and is even considering creating a separate power generation business to help meet the growing demand financially.FirstEnergy also reported higher revenue and profits compared to the same quarter last year, while continuing to invest billions of dollars into its electric grid and infrastructure.So the bottom line AI and data centers are driving a massive increase in electricity demand, and FirstEnergy is positioning itself to cash in on that growth. If you're a recent graduate thinking about sticking around Akron to start your career, well, here's some good news.According to the job website Monster, Akron is the second best city in America for launching a career.The rankings looked at two big factors, which was how many job opportunities are available compared to the size of the local workforce and how affordable it is to rent an apartment. Now. Akron scored in 86 overall, thanks to a strong career opportunity. That score was 77.4 and an impressive rental affordability score of 94.7.Ohio dominated the rankings, putting five cities in the top 10. Dayton came in at number three, followed by Cleveland, Toledo, and Columbus. The only city that ranked ahead of Akron was Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.So if you've been wondering whether you need to leave town to build a successful career, this ranking suggests Akron is one of the best places in the country to get started, and we'll just take a quick look. Here's what's coming up real quick. Riley Greene will be at Blossom Music center on his Cowboy As It Gets tour.And then Laney Wilson will be down in Canton at the Tom Benson hall of Fame Stadium, and she'll have her bell bottoms on. And I got to see her in Washington, D.C. at a Tiny Dust concert at NPR. And she's a little thing, but man, she can belt it.So for more information, go to akronpodcast.com events.