AKRON
UA rating upgraded
AKRON: Moody’s has upgraded the University of Akron’s financial outlook, citing improved operating performance, a conservative debt structure and strength is science, technology, engineering and mathematics study and research.
The school’s bond rating stays at “A1” while its outlook improved from “negative” to “stable.”
The rating company noted the school’s challenges in dealing with reduced state funding and a reduction in the number of Ohio high school graduates.
UA President Luis Proenza and Vice President David Cummins said in a joint letter that “Moody’s also commented on the challenges we face here at the University of Akron due to our significant level of debt, or a ‘highly leveraged balance sheet’ as we have borrowed to fund our campus expansion and the significant improvements that have made us such an attractive urban campus.”
Improved ratings can reduce borrowing costs.
CANTON
Solar show planned
CANTON: The Hoover-Price Planetarium will present a new planetarium show, Solar Max, at 1 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays.
The new show on the solar cycle now at its peak in its 11-year cycle will begin Jan. 7 and run through Feb. 24.
Admission to the planetarium is included in admission to the McKinley Presidential Library & Museum, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW. For information, call 330-455-7043.
CUYAHOGA FALLS
Dam razing is topic
CUYAHOGA FALLS: Two public meetings are scheduled for early 2013 as Cuyahoga Falls prepares to remove two city-owned dams on the Cuyahoga River to boost water quality.
The first meeting will be at 2 p.m. Jan. 16 in the Sutliff Room of Cuyahoga Falls Library, 2015 Third St. The second meeting will be at 7 p.m. Feb. 20 at the library. They are being organized by the city of Cuyahoga Falls.
The city is looking to begin demolition of the two dams in early summer, depending on weather conditions and water levels. The removals are expected to take a couple months.
The city and its project team, RiverWorks, and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, are finalizing demolition plans.
The removals were approved Dec. 12 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This was the final approval that had been needed.
The dams to be removed are:
•The Sheraton Suites Dam. It is about 50 feet wide and 9.8 feet high and is between the hotel and Broad Boulevard. It is also known as the Mill Dam.
•The LeFever or Powerhouse Dam north of Portage Trail behind the Samira restaurant, formerly LeFever’s restaurant. It is about 100 feet wide and 11.1 feet high.
MEDINA
Pay bills online
MEDINA: Medina is offering online utility inquiry and payment for city residents interested in paying their water and garbage bills online.
To sign up, visit the city’s website at www.medinaoh.org under the Meetings and Notices section.
MONTVILLE TOWNSHIP
Crash injures two
MONTVILLE TWP.: Two men were injured Friday morning in a violent crash captured on video involving a school bus, a tractor-trailer and a sedan.
Thomas States, 69, of Brunswick, and James Sell, 63, of Wadsworth, were being treated for undisclosed injuries.
The driver and staff inside a bus owned by the Medina County Board of Developmental Disabilities were not harmed. No children were on the bus.
Montville police Sgt. Chris LaFond said Sell was driving west on Poe Road inside a late-model Buick sedan about 7 a.m. when he drove through a stop sign at state Route 57.
LaFond said the sedan was then struck in the side by States’ truck, which was heading north on state Route 57 and carrying a load of sand.
The collision then caused Sell’s vehicle to collide with the school bus that was southbound on the state route.
The tractor-trailer flipped on its side and skidded onto the lawn of the Montville Police Department building, LaFond said.
Sell was being treated at MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland. States was taken to Akron General Medical Center. Hospital officials would not disclose the extent of their injuries.
LaFond said traffic citations had not yet been issued.
The crash was captured on a nearby security camera attached to the police station. Traffic in the area was diverted for about seven hours while workers tried to move the tractor trailer and debris.
STARK COUNTY
Fraud alleged
COLUMBUS: A North Canton man has been indicted on 44 counts of theft and securities fraud after authorities said he diverted more than $160,000 of investment funds, much of it from the elderly, to his bank account.
The Stark County indictment charges William F. Morgan, 67, with six counts of grand theft, nine counts of theft from the elderly, 14 counts of selling unregistered securities and 15 counts of securities fraud, according to a spokesman for the securities division of the Ohio Department of Commerce.
Morgan is accused of selling $162,000 in unregistered securities to at least 15 investors, primarily from Stark County.
The commerce department said the investors thought they were investing in a firm called MA & P Partnership and were led to believe their money was safe, with no chance of losing the initial investment.
Instead of investing the funds, however, Morgan placed the money in his own bank account, authorities said.
The indictment was returned by a grand jury Wednesday, and Morgan was being held at the Stark County Jail.
SUMMIT COUNTY
Holiday closings
AKRON: All Akron-Summit County Public Library locations will be closed Monday and Tuesday, as well as Jan. 1.
Libraries will be open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Dec. 31.
For more information, go to www.akronlibrary.org.
