Five Things You Might Have Missed: 3-3

Top articles from this weekend's editions of The Blade

3/3/2014
BLADE STAFF
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    Mike Bell lauded Mayor Collins for his handling of a number of issues to hit the city this year, including several snowstorms and the deaths of two firefighters.

    THE BLADE/JETTA FRASER
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    • 1. Winter brings more headaches in ‘Pothole Alley’

    Pothole Alley.

    The buzz phrase doesn’t refer to a specific road, street, boulevard, or avenue in metro Toledo, though many certainly would qualify for such a nickname.

    Nor does it appear on any map, at least not ones most people use.

    Pothole Alley refers to a band of midlatitude cities across America’s heartland that are more vulnerable to the effects of severe weather than cities to the far north or far south.

    “We’re right in that section of the country that constantly has freezes and thaws,” said David Welch, Toledo’s streets, bridges, and harbors commissioner. READ MORE

     

    Manager Jordan Salkil, left, and sales clerk Austin Zaborowski ‘vape’ an ecigarette behind the counter at the Revolver Electronic Cigarettes & Vapor Lounge.
    Manager Jordan Salkil, left, and sales clerk Austin Zaborowski ‘vape’ an ecigarette behind the counter at the Revolver Electronic Cigarettes & Vapor Lounge.

    2. Policies on puffing ecigarettes at work or in public are cloudy

    Just seven years since Ohio’s smoking ban went into effect, the thought of lighting up a cigarette at the office seems almost as foreign as the idea that drinking radioactive water once was thought to ease the pains of arthritis.

    But just as technology eventually trumped medical quackery, it’s now caught up with America’s smoking policies.

    Industry groups estimate at least 2.5 million Americans now regularly use electronic cigarettes, with millions more having tried it. Those numbers are expected to grow, forcing many businesses to consider whether to allow ecigarette use by employees and customers. READ MORE

     

    Zadie Smith is the award-winning author of 'White Teeth' and 'On Beauty.'
    Zadie Smith is the award-winning author of 'White Teeth' and 'On Beauty.'

    3. Authors! Authors! guest Zadie Smith to answer the question: Why write?

    Teaching, grading essays, caring for small children, and unloading the dishwasher, Zadie Smith dreams of four uninterrupted hours to write.

    “I have a novel maybe in mind but I barely have time to occupy my own life,” says Smith, 38, gifted author of the award-winning White Teeth, On Beauty, and NW, novels that chronicle race, class, and identity. “Maybe the good thing about that is, by the time you get [to write], you really want to be there.”

    A sensation in her twenties for White Teeth, Smith will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Stranahan Theater as part of the Authors! Authors! series sponsored by The Blade and the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library. READ MORE

     

    The WoodTrac by Sauder product line of customizable closets is featured on the DIY Network’s show ‘Rev Run’s Renovation.’
    The WoodTrac by Sauder product line of customizable closets is featured on the DIY Network’s show ‘Rev Run’s Renovation.’

    4. Sauder grabs some cred, featured on DIY show

    As one of Fulton County’s bedrock employers, Sauder Manufacturing Co.’s roots may be traditionally rural, but recently the ready-to-assemble furniture maker grabbed some hip-hop cred for its street rep.

    Home customizable closet systems offered by its WoodTrac by Sauder division were chosen last year to upgrade the New Jersey home of hip-hop legend Joseph “Rev Run” Simmons, one of the founding members of Run-D.M.C., a pioneering group of the hip-hop music genre.

    The closet systems were featured in four segments that aired in January and February on Rev Run Renovation, a home remodeling TV series — appearing on cable’s home improvement DIY Network — about Mr. Simmons and his family as they upgrade their house. READ MORE

     

    Mike Bell lauded Mayor Collins for his handling of a number of issues to hit the city this year, including several snowstorms and the deaths of two firefighters.
    Mike Bell lauded Mayor Collins for his handling of a number of issues to hit the city this year, including several snowstorms and the deaths of two firefighters.

    5. Diverse crowd heralds Collins’ inaugural event

    An unlikely assemblage — consisting of labor leaders, businessmen, elected leaders, city workers, bankers, lawyers, and those who once opposed Toledo’s current mayor — turned out Friday night to rally behind the man and the city.

    Four hundred people attended Mayor D. Michael Collins’ inaugural party at SeaGate Convention Centre downtown. The event adopted the mayor’s campaign slogan: “Collins Cares.”

    “We will bring Toledo back to a position it has long sought to be,” the mayor said to the crowd after dinner. “We will be a gem of northwest Ohio.”

    The mayor opened the event by presenting a key to the city to former Toledo Councilman Betty Shultz, who was his transition team’s honorary chairman. READ MORE