Five Things You Might Have Missed: 5-19

Top articles from this weekend's editions of The Blade

Jeep Wranglers, built at the Chrysler Toledo Assembly complex, are a hot item. Chrysler is having a tough time meeting global demand.

The Blade/Lori King
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Jeep Wranglers, built at the Chrysler Toledo Assembly complex, are a hot item. Chrysler is having a tough time meeting global demand.

1. Toledo back as successful auto leader

By next month, employment at Chrysler’s Toledo Assembly complex is expected to top 6,200 workers — nearly three times as many as the complex had when Chrysler Group LLC came out of bankruptcy in 2009.

In the midst of the automotive industry’s all-out collapse, Toledo’s future as an automotive town was met with plenty of skepticism, even from people who had spent their whole lives on an assembly line.

Five years later, the uncertainty has faded. Toledo is still an automotive town, and a successful one.

“I don’t know a city in North America that has had this kind of growth,” said Bruce Baumhower, president of United Auto Workers Local 12. “I think the best example of the automotive turnaround in the nation would be right here in Toledo, Ohio.”

About 12,000 people in Toledo and its suburbs are now employed in the auto industry, up from a low of about 4,800 in 2009. READ MORE

2. ProMedica takes on the Federal Trade Commission

ProMedica’s dominance in the Toledo-area health market and charges that the health system uses its position to command much higher reimbursement rates from insurance companies — in comparison with its competitors — has been revealed in court documents to be the crux of the ongoing anti-trust case with the Federal Trade Commission.

ProMedica, the area’s largest health system, is embroiled in a lengthy battle with the FTC over its acquisition of St. Luke’s Hospital in 2010.

ProMedica officials dispute many of the assertions made by the FTC in various documents pertaining to the four-year court battle, but the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with the government agency last month and denied ProMedica’s petition to overturn the FTC ruling issued in 2011.

A three-judge panel of the court ordered ProMedica to divest St. Luke’s, stating that it would be illegal and anti-competitive for ProMedica to merge with St. Luke’s. ProMedica officials immediately announced they plan to petition for a rehearing at the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. If that is unsuccessful, they intend to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. READ MORE

Riders enjoy the Maverick ride at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky.

3. Ohio summer activity guide 2014

Summer is here and as ever there is no shortage of activity anywhere across our great state. Read on as we break down activities in the northwest, northeast, central, southwest and southeast parts of Ohio with everything from beaches to festivals to amusement parks.

Northwest Ohio is a traveler’s paradise, especially come summertime. From amusement and water parks to a noted baseball stadium, museum, and zoo, the list of activities worth doing will almost certainly exceed the time you have to do them.

There might be no space in all of Ohio more elegant than the new, light-filled atrium of the Cleveland Museum of Art. The museum, founded in 1913, has just completed a stunning eight-year, $320 million expansion and renovation. And though there is much to love about the entire museum, the atrium — the city’s newest gathering place — tops the list, with its dramatic skylights, marble walls, and wood-and-steel accents.Seeing Cleveland’s cultural grand dame updated with 21st-century style should top any traveler’s to-do list in northeastern Ohio this summer. But there’s more — much more. From the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum to the rolling hills of Amish country, this area of the state offers a diversity of attractions, from city sophistication to simple living. READ MORE

Riverdale teacher Barb Williams has been suspended for 10 days after a security camera showed her pushing Ian Nelson, 6, of Wharton, Ohio, against a wall.

4. Boy’s family: Suspension of teacher is inadequate

An attorney for the family of a Hancock County kindergarten student who was seen being pushed around by his teacher in school surveillance footage said the family is very upset that the teacher has been given what they see as a slap on the wrist.

The family of 6-year-old Ian Nelson of Wharton has hired Cleveland attorney Dan Margolis to represent them now that the case against Riverdale school teacher Barb Williams is being investigated by the Hancock County Sheriff’s department as a criminal complaint.

Ms. Williams, who was Ian’s teacher, has been suspended for 10 days without pay after school officials discovered video footage from a security camera showing her confronting the student, pushing him against a wall, and then lifting him up by his shirt and face. READ MORE

5. Searchable online map gives areas of latest crime activity in Toledo

The crashes, bangs, and booms in the night may be a mystery no more with the launch of an interactive, online Toledo police crime-mapping system.

The map, at crimemap.toledo.oh.gov, launched Thursday and lets users plug in an address and search for nearly all crimes reported within a half-mile radius within the last two months.

Rapes and other sex-related crimes are excluded from the map to help protect the identities of victims, said police Capt. Mike Troendle.

“I think it’s going to be such a useful tool for people just to be able to go in and see what’s happening in your neighborhood or a prospective neighborhood,” said police Sgt. Joe Heffernan. READ MORE

One of the places cited by Perrysburg Police for serving alcohol to under age people was Te'kela at 25481 North Dixie Highway.

OUR TOWNS

11 Perrysburg businesses cited for selling liquor to minors

For the second straight day, Perrysburg Police sent minors into businesses to try to purchase alcohol and cited seven more businesses on Thursday.

In all, the police caught 11 businesses selling to minors in two days as they visited 54 establishments with liquor licenses, from stores to bars.

The police witnessed alcohol sales at five businesses at the Levis Commons outdoor mall: Blue Pacific Grill, 4150 Levis Commons Blvd.; Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi, 6190 Levis Commons Blvd; Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano, 1320 Levis Commons Blvd; Tea Tree Asia Bistro, 4100 Chappel Dr., and Poco Piatti, 3155 Chappel Dr.

Two other nearby locations also were caught in the sting: Te'kela, 25481 North Dixie Highway, and Buffalo Wild Wings, 26567 North Dixie Highway 142. READ MORE