Smaller enrollment means the Akron Public Schools will do without 32 staff positions. And ending a sometimes contentious relationship, the Akron district moved to do without sponsorship of the Akron Digital Academy charter school.

Akron taxpayers who have had to freeze their credit after a hacker attack on the city's website are getting some help.

Credit reporting agencies will charge to freeze your credit, but could waive fees if you file a police report.

The City of Akron has posted its own police incident report on the hack (link leads to PDF file on the city's website), which can be used by those who need a police report to share with credit agencies, banks and other institutions. There's also a copy of the report appended at the bottom of this story.

The report can be found on the city of Akron website, and is also posted on AkronNewsNow.com.

The city also says the website that originally posted the information has been disabled, and has no City of Akron taxpayer information.

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(City of Akron) Late last week, a cyber-attack was launched against networks across the country, including the City of Akron.  The attackers infiltrated the City of Akron’s computer network in spite of all of the efforts by the City to meet top national standards of intrusion protection systems, firewalls, and virus protection software.   The City is continuing to work closely with the FBI to determine how the City’s site was accessed and to determine the full extent of the information hacked.

Yesterday, the City of Akron filed a police incident report, Report Number 13-011564, which is attached to this press release.  Citizens can access this release for use with banking institutions, credit agencies, and to keep on file.

Also, the public website where the cyber attackers originally posted the stolen information has been disabled as of Saturday, May 18, 2013, and currently contains no City of Akron taxpayer information.

The City has already contacted 5,369 individuals by email, 5,714 individuals by Reverse Alert phone calls, and will follow up by sending a letter by mail to all affected individuals.

To find out whether your information was compromised, you should call 3-1-1 (330-375-2311 from a mobile phone) or call the City’s income tax office at 330-375-2290.

If you are on the list of individuals whose information was released, the FBI recommends that at this point, you monitor all your financial accounts very carefully until we have more information. 

In the meantime, here are some resources to help you protect your credit:

  The Identity Theft Resource Center, a nonprofit agency in San Diego, offers free victim assistance at 888-400-5530 or online at www.idtheftcenter.org.

   The Ohio Attorney General’s Consumer Identity Theft Unit can assist consumers after they’ve been ID theft victims by helping them straighten out accounts. Also, the office can provide a self-help assistance guide. A police report must be filed. Call 800-282-0515 or go online to www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov.

   Your Homeowner’s Insurance may include ID theft coverage.  If not, you may be able to add that coverage

You can also contact one of the Credit Report services and put a freeze on your credit.

   Equifax: 800-685-1111 (Option 3), Equifax Security Freeze, P.O. Box 105788, Atlanta, GA 30348 or www.equifax.com

   Experian: 888-EXPERIAN (888-397-3742), Experian Security Freeze, P.O. Box 9554, Allen TX 75013 or www.experian.com

   TransUnion: 888-909-8872, TransUnion, Fraud Victim Assistance Department, P.O. Box 6790, Fullerton, CA 92834 or www.transunion.com

A new Hilton hotel is planned for the area near the former Goodyear headquarters site in East Akron.

The Beacon Journal reports that the $18 million dollar hotel will be a 136-room, five-story Hilton Garden Inn off East Market Street, and should open in June 2014.

It's part of the East End development spearheaded by Industrial Realty Group, which is redeveloping the former Goodyear campus.

The company recently officially opened its new world headquarters on Innovation Way.

Groundbreaking for the proposed Hilton Garden Inn in East Akron is set for this summer.

IRG plans to add offices, retail and residential projects in the former Goodyear campus.

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On the Web: Akron Beacon Journal, www.ohio.com

The search resumes this morning for a missing Norton man at a lake in Portage County.

43 year-old Jeffrey Hathaway has been missing since late Wednesday night, when his car was found in the Berlin Wildlife Area near Berlin Lake in Portage County.

NewsChannel 5 reports that foul play isn't suspected, but Hathaway's family says this isn't normal behavior for him.

The Portage County Sheriff's office had help in the search from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Army Corps of Engineers and Portage County's Emergency Management Agency.

The search of the dense, wooded area was suspended last night and will resume again this morning at 10 AM.

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On the Web: WEWS NewsChannel 5, www.newsnet5.com

The mother of a young Akron woman missing for two weeks is trying to keep the spotlight on her case.

Carmilla Robinson will be at a rally Saturday at 2 PM at Summit Lake Community Center called "Bring Our Baby Home".

Police said 19 year-old Taylor Robinson was last seen the night of May 3rd, after she was dropped off at a house on Kipling Street, when she went to work as a home health care aide.

"We don't want people to forget that she's still not home, that she's still missing, that we're still looking," Carmilla Robinson tells AkronNewsNow.com, "that we still need help from our community" to find Taylor and others still missing.

Carmilla says she and her husband have been passing out fliers in many Akron neighborhoods, and that Akron police detectives are going door to door in the area where Taylor went missing.

She urges anyone with information to call Akron police.

The Cleveland Browns have signed another quarterback.

Northeast Ohio native Brian Hoyer has signed a two year deal. He played college football with the Michigan State Spartans.

He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the New England Patriots in 2009, and played 15 games over the years, including one start with the Arizona Cardinals late last year. He was also with the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2012, but did not play.

Browns head coach Rob Chudzinski says Hoyer brings "experience and a solid reputation" to the team.

Hoyer is a North Olmsted native who attended Cleveland's St. Ignatius High School.

A cyber-attack, apparently from those interested in the Middle East, has had Akron tech workers fighting back.

The message visible to some trying to reach city of Akron information Thursday afternoon appeared to come from a group called "TurkishAjan".

The message, in Turkish and in English, decried U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Akron city chief information officer Rick Schmahl says the database attack appeared aimed at public information databases, not at workers or sensitive city information.

"At this point, it appears that everything was public facing data," Schmahl tells AkronNewsNow.com, "that there wasn't any personally identifiable information involved or anything."

An Akron-based security consultant tells AkronNewsNow that the group's Twitter account linked several files posted to a hacker website that have various names, passwords, Social Security and old credit card numbers.

Tyler Hudak of KoreLogic Security says the information looks like it could be legitimate, but there's no way yet to know if it came from city of Akron servers.

Schmahl says they're still looking into the nature of the attack.

"Whether that happened as a concerted effort from a group of people, or whether it was an automated attack that just rolls every website in the world trying to find this vulnerability just to wreck havoc," Schmahl says, "that, we're not sure of yet."

He says Akron information workers are analyzing the attack, making sure it, or one like it, doesn't happen again.

Hudak says that may be a difficult task, depending on how far the hackers got into city computers.

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(Earlier ANN coverage) The city of Akron's website is under a hacker attack this afternoon.

Those who can get through to the city's website at all may see messages claiming to be from a hacking group called "TurkishAjan".

AkronNewsNow.com encountered the messages at around 2 p.m. Thursday afternoon.

The messages in Turkish and in English decry the United States for its involvement in the Middle East.

City information officials say they're aware of the attack and are working to thwart it.

The mother of a young Akron woman last seen May 3 made her plea to Akron City Council Monday night.

Carmilla Robinson spoke of the pain of spending Mothers Day without Taylor.

"She's 19, this is my first Mother's Day I ever spent without her," Carmillla told council members and those attending council's Monday meeting. "She's my first kid, so this is...she's the reason I was a Mom."

Carmilla says she doesn't want to be like Gina DeJesus' mother had to be

"I don't want to be like Gina's mom and the only one still hoping and believing for 10 years that my baby's still alive," Carmilla Robinson said to Akron City Council. "I just don't want people to forget that I'm still looking for her."

In a story that captured worldwide attention, Gina, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight were found in a Cleveland home after being missing for 10 years.

Carmilla says she wants to ensure Taylor Robinson is not just a name.

"I don't want people to just let Taylor be a name in a newspaper or a face on a telephone pole," Carmilla said. "She's not just that."

Council president Gary Moneypenny said the body has the Robinson family in their hearts and prayers.

Earlier, Carmilla Robinson had expressed frustration over the slow pace of the police investigation into her daughter's disappearance.

Moneypenny said he talked to police over the weekend, including Akron Police Chief James Nice, and was assured they had the case at the top of their agenda.

"(Chief Nice) says it's their top priority," Moneypenny responded to Carmilla Robinson, "and informs me that even the FBI is greatly assisting in this investigation."

Carmilla Robinson says forgetting her missing daughter isn't possible for those who love her.

On a very light agenda Monday for Akron City Council was one major piece of business.

Council voted to sell a building at 1240 Triplett Boulevard that has been used by the city's communications department to local company J.W. DiDado Electric.

The electrical contractor is paying $845,000 for the building, near Kelly Avenue and I-76.

Councilman at large Jeff Fusco says the communications operations will move to an existing city building, and that the Triplett Boulevard location is convenient for its new owners.

Ohio's Attorney General came to Akron on Thursday, launching a statewide anti-crime initiative.

The "Safe Neighborhoods Initiative" is aimed at decreasing violent crime by targeting the most violent offenders.

At an event at Akron's House of the Lord Church flanked by local officials and law enforcement, Attorney General Mike DeWine recounted recent high profile violent events in Akron, and promised state resources to help.

But DeWine said the community's cooperation is important to fixing the problem.

"We all know only it's up to the community to make it work. Because it is, the people behind me, it's their community," DeWine noted, looking at a crowd filled with Akron officials and law enforcement officers, including Akron police chief James Nice. "It's up to the community to retake the streets."

DeWine said kids only grow up once, something that's hard to do in violent neighborhoods.

"We need to give kids in these violent neighborhoods their childhood back," DeWine said. "We need to give them their neighborhood back."

Akron mayor Don Plusquellic says he welcomes the program starting in Akron, and notes cooperation between local, state and federal law enforcers in the city.
 

A number of Summit County voters had something to vote on today, and the votes are now all in in Summit and Portage Counties.

The May 7 ballot featured a number of school issues, including levy requests in the Barberton, Coventry, Cuyahoga Falls, Manchester, and Mogadore districts.

Winners include Barberton, which passed a 8.45 mill additional emergency levy that superintendent Patty Cleary says will forestall possible cuts in elementary art and music programs, end the possible doubling of pay to participate fees, and which will restore busing to a 1-mile radius in the district starting next school year. Buses in the Barberton district were picking up students 2-miles from school under state minimum guidelines.

Efforts to get an issue passed in Coventry finally bore fruit; an additional six-mill levy will help consolidate schools and go toward building a new high school. The measure passed by a comfortable 11 percentage point margin.

Voters in the Manchester district passed a 9.8 mill renewal levy.

Cuyahoga Falls voters rejected a 3 mill additional levy that school superintendent Dr. Todd Nichols tells AkronNewsNow would have increased safety, security and technology in the district and updated school buses. Dr. Nichols says he's "disappointed" with the final, unofficial returns, which have voters rejecting the levy by a 57 to 43 percent margin.

The final, unofficial returns showed Mogadore's levy going down to defeat, with voters in both Summit and Portage Counties rejecting the 5.9 mill additional levy by a vote of 350 to 252.

In Portage County, returns show Kent City Schools' additional levy winning with about 61% of the vote.

The final, unofficial results from the Summit County Board of Elections and the Portage County Board of Elections are shown below.

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SUMMARY REPORT        2013 Special Election            Final Unofficial
Run Date:05/07/13     Summit County
RUN TIME:09:27 PM     May 7, 2013

                                                       VOTES PERCENT

           PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 67) .  .  .  .  .        67  100.00
           REGISTERED VOTERS - TOTAL .  .  .  .  .    72,965
           BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL.  .  .  .  .  .  .    14,228
           VOTER TURNOUT - TOTAL  .  .  .  .  .  .             19.50

          Issue 1 - City of Macedonia
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Renewal) 1 mil, Fire, 5 years
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 6 OF 6 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       412   79.54
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .       106   20.46

          Issue 2 - Village of Reminderville
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Replace) 3 mil, Road, 5 years
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 2 OF 2 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        36   57.14
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .        27   42.86

          Issue 3 - Barberton CSD
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Add) - 8.45 mil, Emergency, 5 yrs
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 15 OF 15 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,378   54.63
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,975   45.37

          Issue 4 - Cuyahoga Falls CSD
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Add) - Improvements, 3 mil, 5 years
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 26 OF 26 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .     2,091   57.22
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .     1,563   42.78

          Issue 5 - Coventry LSD
          Bond/Tax Issue - (Add) - 6 mil total, Const, 34 years
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 15 OF 15 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           FOR THE BOND ISSUE AND LEVY  .  .  .  .     2,184   55.22
           AGAINST THE BOND ISSUE AND LEVY .  .  .     1,771   44.78

          Issue 6 - Manchester LSD
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Renewal) - 9.8 mil, Cur. Exp., Cont
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 6 OF 6 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       711   72.04
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .       276   27.96

          Issue 7 - Mogadore LSD
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Add) - 5.9 mil, Cur. Exp., Cont.
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 2 OF 2 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .       337   57.41
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .       250   42.59

          Issue 8 - Canal Fulton Library
          Proposed Tax Levy - (Add) - 1 mil, Cur. Exp., Continuing
          (Vote for Not More Than )  1
              (WITH 5 OF 5 PRECINCTS COUNTED)
           AGAINST THE TAX LEVY.  .  .  .  .  .  .        69   63.30
           FOR THE TAX LEVY .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .        40   36.70



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