Five Things You Might Have Missed: 1-27
Top stories from this weekend's editions of The Blade
1/27/2014
A male inmate sleeps in a cell originally intended as a women's municipal court holding area which is now used as additional space for the booking area.
The Blade/Katie Rausch
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A male inmate sleeps in a cell originally intended as a women's municipal court holding area which is now used as additional space for the booking area.
1. Lucas County jail packed beyond capacity
here’s no turning away guests when they show up at the front counter, even if there doesn’t seem to be any place to keep them.
On Monday morning, the booking area at the Lucas County jail, built to “comfortably” hold 45 people, was stuffed with 92 inmates.
The high occupancy rate is unusual for January, but some of the extra bodies could have been there because of the long weekend when courts were closed for the holiday, said sheriff’s Lt. Jim Williams, who oversees booking. READ MORE
Robert Geis holds a sheaf of job applications in his city home. Mr. Geis, who has been jobless since February, 2013, applies for 15 jobs per week on average.
2. Many struggle with dead-end job hunt
Robert Geis spent 40 years working as a welder, a fabricator, a shop supervisor. He built a solid, middle-class life. Bought a house. Saved for retirement. Avoided debt.
He wasn’t living the high life, but he wasn’t just scraping by. At one time he was salaried, making $65,000 a year as a floor supervisor. Best job he ever had.
But as the economy weakened, his wages fell. In February, he lost an $18-an-hour job where he’d spent the last five years. Eleven months later, he still can’t find work.
“I feel helpless,” Mr. Geis, 58, said recently. “I’ve got three different job agencies working for me, plus what I’m signed up for online — Monster, CareerBuilder — and I just can’t get anywhere.”
Millions of Americans are facing the same circumstances. READ MORE
3. Gap widening between power conferences, MAC
The latest wave of football coaches to crash the Mid-American Conference consists of a man gone mad.
That’s how Miami’s Chuck Martin views his decision to take a $200,000 pay cut to be a head coach in major college football.
Martin, who served the past three seasons as Notre Dame’s offensive coordinator, wore golden handcuffs at the Golden Dome, aware he someday might have to accept lesser pay in order to run his own program.
He’s not alone. Rising salaries among assistant coaches is altering parameters of MAC coaching searches and requiring league athletic directors to — in sports parlance — grab a lob wedge instead of swinging away with a driver. READ MORE
Bert Gilbert of Toledo Public Schools charges bus batteries affected by the cold weather. The weather has forced the district to close repeatedly this year.
4. Schools push limit of calamity days
Enjoy the days off now, students. You’ll likely pay for it later.
Winter’s a long way from over, but many northwest Ohio school districts have used their allotted snow days, meaning school may stretch into the summer.
The snow and cold have wreaked havoc on school schedules. Dangerously cold temperatures closed many area districts Friday, pushing them to or beyond their schedule’s capacity.
The closures bring scheduling chaos, could extend school years, and, for some districts, complicate implementation of a newly mandated teacher-evaluation system. READ MORE
Tam, a baby male Francois' langur monkey, tries to escape the grasp of his mother, Ashes, in the Primate Forest area at the Toledo Zoo. Tam is a week old.
5. 1-week-old Francois’ langur goes on display at Toledo Zoo
A tiny baby born last week at the Toledo Zoo is now on public display in the Primate Forest.
The male Francois’ langur born Jan. 17 has been named Tam — pronounced like “Tom” — which means “heart” in Vietnamese.
The baby is the sixth born to a female named Ashes and her mate, Dong Puong, at the zoo. Both parents arrived at the zoo in May, 2000, on recommendation from the Francois’ langur Species Survival Plan, a cooperative breeding program coordinated by the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums. READ MORE
OUR TOWNS
Yvonne Fey, shown massaging Gretchen Mikolajczak of Toledo in her Perrysburg business, moved a step closer to being able to go to an Olympics games.
Perrysburg massage therapist moves step closer to Olympics
Yvonne Fey's goal of working as a massage therapist for a summer Olympics became closer after an email last week asked her to go to San Diego for a week to work with the United States men's cycling program.
The Perrysburg resident worked the 2002 Salt Lake City winter Olympics, was invited too late to the Athens 2004 summer games, and barely missed out of going to Sochi next month for the winter games. She's hoping working with the men's cycling program for a week is a step toward Rio 2016 summer games.
She left Friday and returns Feb. 2.
She received an email recently asking her to go to San Diego to help the team train. After hearing she'd be paid for her work and travel, unlike other trips, Mrs. Fey just had to get caught up on her Body and Sole Massage Therapy and Reflexology Center business in Perrysburg. READ MORE