The threat of widespread damaging winds has prompted FirstEnergy to put plans in place in case there are major power outages.

"We have company wide conference calls where we start looking at all the different resources that might be available," said FirstEnergy Spokesman Mark Durbin.  "Those would include our line workers, our workers who deal with hazards, workers who deal with forestry issues."

Durbin says there are advantages to being such a large company -  FirstEnergy has 10 utilities in six states.  It allows the company to relatively easily shift workers from one region to another, depending on which locations need the most help.

You may be surprised to know that FirstEnergy wants you to call and report any outage, even if you believe everyone else in your neighborhood already did it.  Durbin says some people make that assumption and that leaves FirstEnergy ... well, in the dark.

Durbin says that people should never touch downed power lines. In addition, he recommends all the typical things that anybody from an emergency management agency recommends that you have handy every day:  batteries, bottled water, non-perishable food that does not need to be cooked, a radio, a flashlight and other essentials.

We've been hearing all day about an anticipated storm moving toward Ohio that could include a "derecho." 

What the heck is a derecho and will it impact the Akron area?  We can define derecho, but, like most weather systems, precise time and level of impact involve a lot of guessing.

First, the National Weather Service describes a derecho as straight-line winds that are about 60 miles per hour - plenty strong enough to do some damage.  The difference between the derecho and heavy winds that are associated with many severe thunderstorms is that they are widespread, not isolated.  In fact, derecho winds are what knocked out power to tens of thousands in a region that included central Ohio, but stretched west to Illinois and east to Washington, D.C.. last year.

"Some of the more severe thunderstorms could be off to the Findlay and Mansfield areas and then Akron and Canton would be right on the edge," said Frank Kieltyka with the National Weather Service.

Whether we experience a derecho or not, Kieltyka says up to 1.5 inches of rain is possible.

A Flood Watch is in effect tonight at 10:00 until Thursday at 5:00 P.M.

An Akron man serving prison time following a mortgage and securities fraud scandal thought he was going to get a break - and it was looking that way, until today.  The Ohio Supreme Court ruled that David Willan's original prison sentence needs to be reinstated. 

Willan was convicted of nearly 70 criminal counts in 2008.  Part of his sentence included what was deemed to be a mandatory 10-year prison term.  The 9th District Court of Appeals reversed all convictions except one, which resulted in most of the prison term being thrown out with them, including the decade the Willan was to spend on a count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt behavior.  The Ohio Supreme Court did not accept Willan's appeal request on the remaining conviction, but did accept the state's request to appeal the decision from the 9th District.  The justices reversed the latest ruling, saying that Willan's original conviction stands. 

Much of the debate centered around the way the sentencing portion of that particular law was written, but the 4-3 majority did not find it to be ambiguous.

One of the dissenting opinions was written by Justice Paul Pfeifer:

I join Justice Lanzinger's well-reasoned dissent, but write separately to highlight the General Assembly's failure in legislative drafting exemplified by former R.C. 2929.14(D)(3), which the majority opinion relegates to a footnote to fully accommodate its 24 lines of unrelenting abstruseness consisting, remarkably, of the sum total of 307 words and a mere one period, a punctuation mark set out as a lone sentinel facing odds similar to that of the Spartans at the Battle of Thermopylae, a battle that occurred over the course of three days during the second Persian invasion of Greece, and is estimated by historians to have occurred in either August or September, or perhaps both, in 480 B.C., pitting an alliance of Greek city-states, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, against the Persian Empire of Xerxes I, bravely standing before the onslaught of invaders but ultimately unable to stanch the unrelenting tide of the overpowering hordes of words and statutory numbers including R.C. 2903.01, 2907.02, 2903.2, 2925.04, 2925.11, 2025.02, 2025.06, 2925.36, 3719.07, 3719.08, 3719.16, 3719.161, 4729.37, 4729.61, 3719.172, 4729.51, 2941.1410, 2929.20, without so much as a helping hand from a single, solitary semicolon, colon, or parenthesis, other than the parentheses surrounding the capital letters denoting the divisions of statutory sections that are sprinkled throughout the statute, a statute that purports to inform the citizenry of the potential penalty for certain enumerated criminal acts, but by cramming so many words about sentencing into one sentence, sentences itself to uselessness, especially in the case of an offender involved in a patter of corrupt activity, regarding which R.C. 2929.14(D)(3) surprisingly is completely without specificity, in that it fails to cite a statuatory section outlining what constitutes corrupt activity when it otherwise lists specific statuatory sections relating to all the other offenses to which it applies, a statuatory circumstance up with which we should not put.

In case you are wondering, his single sentence opinion (which does not contain colons or semicolons) contains 306 words.  Perhaps Pfeifer wrote this tongue-in-cheek to further drive home his point?

(Editor's note:  This story was modified June 7th at 12:35 P.M. at Dr. Cheng's request.  Specifically, the name of the company he is visiting was deleted.  While his original disclosure was intentional, Cheng now believes it was premature and could result in the denial of funding for a project that not only satisfies scientists, but also includes job creation)

The destruction caused by earthquakes could be much less significant if there was a way to add a little flexibility in buildings.  That's exactly what University of Akron College of Polymer Science and Polymer Research Dean Dr. Stephen Cheng wants to do. 

Cheng is in Texas this week making a pitch to officials at a major corporation that has a proven interest in various natural and synthetic resources, as he looks for help funding a thermoplastic elastomer research center in Akron.  While the concept is not only established, but actually being used, Cheng says there is not much going on with the idea around here.  In fact, Akron would immediately become the leader, at least in this part of the world.

"There is nobody in the world that have had any research center in this area (discipline)," said Cheng.  "We will be the first one if we can succeed."

Rubber buildings?

Cheng is quick to point out that polymers and rubber are not the same, but in the most basic terms, thermoplastic elastomers represent a blend of rubber and plastic.  The key - which Cheng believes can be found through laboratory research - is to create the right blend that can be used to create flexible construction products without sacrificing durability. 

Cheng says this branch of research represents a new focus area in his college.  He says that it may not be as glamorous as the use of polymers in high-tech, retail-friendly products, but it's important for scientists to also focus on practical applications that have a direct impact on the health, safety and happiness of people.

Somebody associated with Cayahoga Falls City Schools needs a proofreader.  Make that "Cuyahoga." 

New graduates - 348 of them - received their diplomas with a nice jacket that misspells "Cuyahoga." Somebody put an "a" where the "u" is supposed to be.

The Beacon Journal reports that it's not clear whether a school administrator doesn't know how to spell the full name of their employer or whether Josten's, the company that provided the jackets, didn't follow directions.

A message on the district's website says that new diploma jackets will be mailed to the new grads. Josten's (not Jausten's) told the newspaper they'll eat the cost.

On the Web: www.ohio.com

A reward is being offered in connection with a weekend robbery in Green.   

Deputies at the Summit County Sheriff's Department say somebody forced a woman onto the ground in the parking lot as she walked to her car Saturday at the Arlington Ridge Shopping Center.  He got away with her purse and other items. 

Some witnesses unsuccessfully chased the guy, but deputies got a break a little while later as the man tried to use one of the victim's stolen credit cards at a gas station on Brown Street in Akron. 

A $2,000 reward is up for grabs.

The suspect is described as a thinly built white man, between 6' and 6'3" with a scruffy beard.  He may own a red minivan or small SUV.

A little reaction from Akron Public Schools on announcement of a new charter school that is expected to open in August at Goodyear's former headquarters 

"Well, it will effect us because it's competition and competition is good,"said James.  "What I've been telling people here is that we have to improve our game.  We need to offer great programs."

Among those "great programs," that James is considering is restoring in middle schools and also band and choir for elementary school students; however James stresses that those programs can only be offered if the current budget holds out.  .

 "I Can Schools" Akron Preparatory School recently announced its intention to set up on the city's east side and expects about 270 students to be enrolled when the doors open in August.

You might have noticed an upswing in the price of gasoline ... a weekly survey by GasBuddy shows that we're paying about 23-cents more per gallon in the last week with prices averaging 3-85 a gallon Sunday in the Akron area. Nationwide, the price dropped a penny or two. Around here, gas costs 20-cents more than a month ago and 33-cents more than a year ago.

The best prices are scattered this morning in the 3-50's, according to gasbuddy.com ... you'll also pay as much as 3-99 a gallon in Copley.
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Average retail gasoline prices in Akron have risen 23.4 cents per gallon in the past week, averaging $3.85/g yesterday, according to GasBuddy's daily survey of 372 gas outlets in Akron. This compares with the national average that has fallen 1.5 cents per gallon in the last week to $3.64/g, according to gasoline price website GasBuddy.com.

Including the change in gas prices in Akron during the past week, prices yesterday were 32.7 cents per gallon higher than the same day one year ago and are 20.0 cents per gallon higher than a month ago. The national average has increased 13.1 cents per gallon during the last month and stands 3.1 cents per gallon higher than this day one year ago.
"While the national average has given up some ground to start the driving season, motorists have certainly seen a lot of ups and downs in different areas of the country," said GasBuddy.com Senior Petroleum Analyst Patrick DeHaan. "One thing remains the same throughout the United States, and that is we're still reliant on oil refineries to process crude oil into gasoline. When they go partially offline whether expected or unexpected, there's going to be tightness in gasoline supply, and that has an almost immediately impact at the gas pump," DeHaan said.

City officials in Green are thinking about building a new park - central park, according to Mayor Dick Norton. He says they already have the land and some parking in the location, which is near Green Memorial Stadium and the Central Administration Building.  The initial design calls for an amphitheater, splash pools, an area for the farmers' market, plus playgrounds and walking trails. Norton says the city could pay for it all within five years.

Norton says the central park will be great for residents to enjoy, but it would also serve as an economic development tool when companies consider making Green their home.

"They look at all of those things," said Norton.  "What it will be like for employees to live and work in that city and I think it becomes a competitive factor."

Norton says the Green Park Board supports the idea and he expects Green City Council to do the same.  Norton says any financial investment would be paid off in five years.