Two Akron schools temporarily locked down after seventh grader brings gun to school

AKRON, Ohio — Two men, one of them armed with a firearm, robbed two people in the parking lot of a gas station near the Firestone Park neighborhood, taking their vehicle. Police say the victims, a 58-year-old woman and a 34-year-old man, were walking to their car Monday at the Marathon gas station on the corner of East Archwood Avenue and Inman Street when the two males approached. One of the males took out a gun and demanded the keys to the victims’ vehicle, a silver 2014 Mitsubishi Outlander.

CLEVELAND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- A local couple was settling back down at ground zero this week after their backyard pizza oven finally had its day in court. It actually turned out to be four days in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, for a lawsuit filed in July 2021 -- although the dispute over air quality goes back years before that.

RICHMOND HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Police Chief Thomas Wetzel, who strived to make the department “the gold standard of policing” and who worked to build a bond between the department and the city’s youth, has announced that he will be retiring from the position in March. Wetzel was...

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Depending on how you feel - or where you live - Cleveland is either a relatively clean place or has room for improvement. A study released in January says that both opinions could be accurate. Out of 152 of the biggest cities in the United States, Cleveland...

Subscribe to the Wake Up, cleveland.com’s free morning newsletter, delivered to your inbox weekdays at 5:30 a.m. Steve Hammett was sworn in as Cuyahoga County sheriff in May, after more than 30 years of law-enforcement experience. He resigned Monday, surprising at least some county officials with a two-week notice....

SOLON, Ohio -- Two parents of children who have disabilities expressed their frustration to the Solon Board of Education Monday (Feb. 6). One parent has moved his young daughter out of the Solon City Schools because he and his wife felt the district was not meeting her needs. The other parent said she is also considering relocating her son to a different district for the same reason.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Adam Morris of Barberton was voted the best freshman boys wrestler in Northeast Ohio this week, collecting 28.4% of the votes cast in our fan vote. Morris was a Suburban League placer and has a 19-16 record this season. Padua’s David Bania and St. Vincent-St. Mary’s Ryan Taylor rounded out the top three vote getters.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Each morning, Jasmine Purifoy ties an apron around her waist and gets to work. She starts organizing the catering order. While she waits for an appetizer in the oven, she begins marinating chicken for the next meal. At the end of her shift, she eats lunch...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s rare that an important local art exhibition requires viewers to ponder America’s epidemic of gun violence, but that’s the case with the new show of works by the late sculptor and painter John Jackson at the Artists Archives of the Western Reserve in University Circle.

CANTON, Ohio — A man who is wanted on multiple charges in Cuyahoga County is now facing a murder charge after he was arrested Monday and accused of the shooting death of a 52-year-old Alliance man. Canton police say Jamarri Harper, 22, tried to run from police, jumping from...

BRUNSWICK, Ohio — Defending Brunswick’s 3-point shooting got the better of Mentor for the first two quarters Tuesday night on the road with the Greater Cleveland Conference championship hanging in the balance. It took those two quarters — and 10 3-pointers by Brunswick — for the Cardinals to...

BEACHWOOD, Ohio – Archie Garner arrives at his Beachwood bake shop most mornings before dawn. “When I come into the shop in the morning, I am in my own little world,” he says. “It’s one in which I get to do what I love doing. And everything I bake, I sprinkle a lot of love into it.”

BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio -- The gardeners of Greene Acres will celebrate 10 years of coaxing tomatoes, beans, carrots and all other sorts of produce from the fertile soil of the beloved green space from 4 to 6 p.m. March 28 at Valenti’s Italian Ristorante, 203 E. Royalton Road. The...

CLEVELAND, Ohio – A Garfield Heights man has been arrested involving a slaying on the city’s West Side on Wednesday, police said. Mycah L. Smith, 23, was charged with aggravated murder in Cleveland Municipal Court. His bond was set at $1 million. Smith is accused of fatally shooting Anthony Castrero, 44, of Cleveland in the thigh on Wednesday, police said.

CLEVELAND, Ohio — An estimated 88 pounds of suspected fentanyl and other drugs have been seized by a Cleveland FBI task force, enough to kill 20 million people, according to authorities. “The sheer volume of drugs recovered during this seizure is astounding,” FBI Cleveland special agent-in-charge Gregory Nelsen said...

COLUMBUS, Ohio—Gov. Mike DeWine said Tuesday his administration has decided to apply for federal money to study the feasibility of expanding Amtrak service in Ohio for the first time in decades. The acceptance, DeWine told The Plain Dealer/cleveland.com editorial board, marks the “first step” toward possibly adding new Amtrak...

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- A family’s request to rezone a 7½-acre parcel on Ohio 82 from industrial to residential is in limbo. Linda Acierno and James Erskine of Brook Park applied for the rezoning in August after they inherited the parcel from a family member, according to city and Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office records.

PARMA HEIGHTS, Ohio -- After three successful classes, the Parma Heights Police Department, in partnership with Tri-C, is bringing back its Citizens Police Academy. “Citizen academies help to teach the public how we operate and sometimes why we do the things the way we do them,” Police Chief Steve Scharschmidt said.

CLEVELAND, Ohio – For those who like to try restaurants they haven’t been to, this is a good time: Cleveland Restaurant Week is set to run from Monday, March 6, through Sunday, March 18. More than 30 members of Cleveland Independents, a consortium of local restaurants, are scheduled...

AKRON, Ohio — Two men are facing criminal charges after an 80-year-old woman was knocked to the ground in a parking lot and her purse was stolen. Police say the incident occurred at about 4:50 p.m. Saturday on the 1300 block of North Portage Path. The victim tells police a male approached her in the parking lot and pushed her down, then forcefully took her purse. The woman suffered a cut to her arm in what police call a “heartless” attack.