Protests, Pumpkins, and (bad) Parents

Today on the Akron Podcast, we got protests, pumpkins, and

parents behaving badly. It's

the Akron Podcast for October 15th,

2026. Our website is akronpodcast.com.

Well, I'm personally, I

am a little confused by the No Kings

protests that are happening, but there's a bunch of them happening

October 17th, the No Kings Vote Early

protests, because I don't know if you know this or not, the

president isn't a king. Now, for the record, I've always

wondered, going back to Obama and then Biden and now Trump,

the thing with the— they just write something out

and it's a law. I'm like, when did that get put into action? But

they have them in Cleveland, they have them in Hudson,

Kent. Let's see if there are any— North Canton, North

Ridgeville, Shaker Heights, Stowe,

Wadsworth, Warren,

and Youngstown. I'll put a link to this. There's a whole article about this

in the Beacon Journal. So if you want to go protest, as

always, keep them peaceful.

Don't end up getting shot. If the police ask you to do something, here's

a novel idea. Do it.

I did that one episode about the 3 people ganging up on the

female Akron police person. Well,

an Akron man accused that one of them, uh, during— of

again, not only fighting her but, uh, biting her.

He was 56 years old. Leotis Daggett has been

indicted on charges of aggravated robbery, assault, cocaine

possession, and obstruction official Business, according to the

Akron Fraternal Order of Police President Brian Lucy, an

officer responded to the reported burglary in progress on

Copley Road on September 28th. The officer was

questioning 2 suspicious individuals when Daggett allegedly

emerged from a building. Despite being outnumbered 3 to 1, the

officer attempted to arrest him. Daggett allegedly punched and bit

the officer and to try to take her firearm. The

officer was treated at Akron General and released.

Daggett's pretrial hearing is scheduled for December 7th, and his

trial is set for January 26th.

I'm going to keep this one short in the same way that

I have the article about the No Kings protest.

The Beacon Journal has put together a list of all

the pumpkin patches and You know, different places to

go through a maze and all that stuff. Uh, and there's

a ton of these that I've never even heard of. So if you're interested in

it, uh, this is episode 150. Just go out to

akronpodcast.com/150, and the link

to that article will be in the show notes.

Well, there is a, uh, new place to surf the web.

The Boys and Girls Club of Northeast Ohio has opened a new

connected learning center at its Steve Wise Club. The

center provides 15 Dell computers, high-speed internet, and digital

learning resources to help local students and families build

technology skills and access educational and

employment opportunities. And this is due in part

to AT&T, who invested $50,000 in the

project and also donated 50 refurbished laptops to

local families during Thursday's ribbon-cutting Ceremony,

the mayor praised the investment, saying reliable internet and technology

access are increasingly essential to everyday life.

Club CEO Alan Smith says the new center will help

open doors for students and families in the community.

And in case you're wondering, the Steve Wise

Club is located at 889 Jonathan

Avenue. People are bummed

At the Akron Zoo. It was one of the oldest

ones in captivity, but the snow leopard

at the Akron Zoo has passed away. We wish

everyone our condolences. We know they work hard,

you know, to make sure the animals are healthy, but

sometimes the circle of life catches

up. This comes from

Akron Signal. Ohio regulators are cracking

down on prediction market companies that allow people to

wager on sports and other events. Hallelujah.

The only thing that's worse about this time of year, there is

a football start, so we get just a flood

of betting commercials, and about the time you come up for air,

it's nothing but political commercials. The only thing good about this time of year, all

the idiots that drive like, well, idiots on motorcycles.

It's getting a little cold to, uh, get the old bike

out. But on October 2nd, the

Ohio Casino Control Commission sent cease and desist letters to 10

companies including Polymarket, Robinhood, and

Coinbase. Regulators say these companies are

effectively operating illegal sports betting businesses

without the licenses, fees, and taxes required of

Ohio sportsbooks. The companies argue their products are

financially contracts regulated by the Federal

Commodity Futures Trading Commission, better known as the

FTC, I believe, rather than state gambling laws.

They were given until October 16th, so that's the end of the week here, to

respond to Ohio's demands that they stop offering the

contracts. This dispute follows a federal appeals

court ruling in favor of Ohio and other states in a

related case involving prediction market company

Kalshi. The court questioned whether contracts tied

to sporting events qualify as financial swaps

under federal law. Other federal appeal courts

have reached conflicting conclusions, potentially setting up a

U.S. Supreme Court showdown. Meanwhile, some of the

companies involved are spending heavily on

politics. Of course they are. This is how you get laws through. It's

called lobbying, and that's why we have stupid laws like these. But

Coinbase has contributed

$33.2 million to

Fair Shake Super PAC— that's their lobbyist— which

plans to spend $30 million opposing

Democrat Sherrod Brown in his campaign against Republican Senator Jon

Husted. The legal fight could determine whether

prediction markets operate under federal oversight alone Or must

also comply with state gambling laws. Y'all, I'm

not a fan of gambling. I'm like, isn't the game exciting enough

with having to put money on it that you could then, I don't know, feed

your kids with?

This is why we can't have nice things.

This is so weird. Akron Public Schools is moving the

remaining City Series high school football games

You know, high school football to Saturday mornings

following fights among the spectators that forced a

game to end early. The changes came after the

October 2nd game between Bookdale and Firestone was called

off at halftime. Now, Bookdale was leading 20 to nothing when

the fights broke out amongst the spectators inside and

outside Ellett Stadium. Police responded and

one person was arrested. arrested. Come on, it's a

game. No players or coaches were

involved in the fights. No, it's the parents, and

these are the parents that probably have kids that are bringing guns to school.

The district moved games scheduled for October 10th, 17th, and

24th to 10 AM Saturdays at Bookdale's Tim

Flossie Stadium and, uh, Ellet at Joseph B.

Yost Stadium and Kenmore Stadium. So yeah,

can't behave, now you got to get your kid up and get them to the

game by 10 AM. Well done. School officials

say the changes were made in coordination with the local law enforcement to

improve safety. Yeah, maybe people won't be drunk

on Saturday morning, they'll be hungover. This district is also

reviewing its security procedures and reminding families that student

spectators must attend one of the participating schools

or be accompanied by an adult listed on their emergency

card. Superintendent Mary Outley says the goal is to

keep students, families, and spectators safe while

allowing the football season to continue. And for the love of

God, it's a game. It's a

game. Oh, so stupid.

How did we get this stupid, people? How, you know?

We need to teach de-escalation. You know,

I remember when Richard Pryor was talking about not getting his butt

kicked, and he said, yeah, it was simple. I would just run.

You know, when people got in my face, I would just run.

Hey, let's get back to some good news. Akron will be in the spotlight

in a new PBS documentary. Film crews have

captured the highs and lows of Derby racers As in the

Soapbox Derby, and, uh, along with their families.

The documentary is called More Than a Race, and it takes a look at the

88th FirstEnergy All-American Soapbox Derby and

explores the stories of the racers. The More

Than a Race documentary, uh, is, uh, set to air

at 7 PM Sunday, November 1st on PBS Western

Reserve. I've never heard of the Western Reserve part, but anyway.

The racers explain the ins and outs of the cars, the tracks, the

strategy, how they got into the sport, what keeps them engaged,

and what they plan to do with their knowledge that they've learned after their

Soapbox Derby driving days are over. According to

Eric Welschenbaugh, who is the film's producer and

marketing and program director for the Derby, uh, the Derby

that got its start in Dayton way back in

1933 has a rich history in Akron ever since

it hosted the first national race. In

1934.

Here's one that should keep your water bill low. Uh, the city

of Akron announced that it has reached an agreement with the Ohio

EPA and the U.S. EPA on a proposed

4th amendment to the city's federal sewer consent decree.

The amendment, if approved by the district, would eliminate the

requirement to construct the enhanced high-rate treatment

Better known as EHRT. It's a facility,

and that project is estimated to cost over $300

million and to provide basically little to

no additional environmental benefit. So yeah, you can see

why city officials are like, hey, we'd rather not spend $300

million for, I don't know, nothing. In

December 2025, Akron shared that the city had demonstrated

It will meet its water quality allocation without

the treatment center. The agreement represents a

significant milestone in Akron's decade-long effort to overhaul

its sewer system and dramatically improve the health of

local waterways. Sadly, this will

be here before you know it. The city of Akron will begin its

annual leaf removal program. On Monday, November

9th, with several important changes to this year's collection

process. Most notably, residents are being asked to

place the leaves on the devil strip rather than in the

street, and the city will no longer publish anticipated

start dates for the individual wards. These changes

will allow leaf removal crews to work more efficiently,

cut down on repeated changes or delays to the schedule, And keep

piles of leaves out of the streets where they can impede the traffic.

Now, if you're like, wait, so how do you know what's going on? You basically

go to akronohio.gov/leaves.

And it says again, it's gonna start on November 9th. It's gonna

start with Ward 5, then 3, then 9, then 7, then 6, then you get

the idea. So you're wanting— gonna go to

akron.gov/leaves, and I'll put a link in the show notes

to this announcement. And, uh, 'cause if you're like, I have no

idea what ward you're in. Yeah, it's a little weird. So, uh,

it is a significant operation, uh, says the mayor,

to— it takes our crews into every neighborhood across Akron, and we

appreciate residents working with us to make some changes to the

process this year. The most important thing for them, again, is to

keep the leaves out of the street. Uh, do not leave leaves.

Again, do place the leaves in the devil strip,

not in the street. They may rake leaves to the devil strip at any time

before the crews reach their neighborhood. Watch for signs that will be posted

approximately 2 days before leaf removal is expected in each

ward. Do not mix branches, sticks, and other yard debris into leaf

piles. Do not park vehicles or, uh,

immediately adjacent to leaf piles where they could prevent crews from safely

collecting leaves. Yeah. That makes no sense. They're on the devil

strip and then 3 cars park in front of the pile. That's not going to

work. Do not allow children to play in leaf piles or

near the street. It's sad that that has to be said out loud. Don't

let your kids play in the street, but okay. Do not bag leaves,

uh, or for regular leaf collection. You just push them all out there.

So get yourself a, uh, a blower of some sort maybe,

or some, you know, do it the old-fashioned way with the rake. And, uh,

we'll get her done. All right, I realize we're

running a little long today, so as I go out to

akronpodcast.com/events, here's what is

coming up here towards the end of

October. Uh, Demetri Martin, the comedian, is at the

Goodyear Theater tonight. Joan Osborne, uh, remember, what if

God was one of us? She's, uh, singing songs of

Bob Dylan. at the Kent Stage on the 18th. Buddy Guy

is at Northfield Roxino, uh, it's on the 18th.

Uh, this one's interesting, it's at the E.J. Thomas, uh, Behind the

Scream, a live conversation with David Arquette following a

30th anniversary screening of Scream.

That makes you feel old, doesn't it? And then Puppy Pals Live

will be at the— it's an action-packed comedic stunt show

that That's at the Goodyear Theater on October 24th. Lots

of things coming up in November, but just want to

get you heads up on what's going on in October.