A retired Cuyahoga County detective and a new investigative summary are challenging the official account of Dawn Pasela’s 2012 death in Parma. The report alleges key evidence was missed, raises questions about the timeline and claims Pasela feared threats as she prepared to testify about alleged prosecutorial misconduct. Her family continues to push for a new investigation.

Dave Chappelle helped anchor WYSO Public Radio’s future in Yellow Springs, unveiling the station’s permanent new headquarters inside the restored 1872 Union Schoolhouse. The $15 million redevelopment and $3 million community push aim to keep the NPR affiliate rooted locally as public media faces growing financial pressure.

Mentor’s Natural Resources Division is gearing up for its annual Earth Day celebration April 19 at Springbrook Gardens Park. The free event runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and features guided wildlife and plant walks, trivia and bingo, a tree planting dedication, a kids scavenger hunt, vendor booths, live steel drum music and food for purchase.

From NASA’s long-awaited return to the moon to easier airport pickups, heartwarming Easter donations, and one beloved Euclid tradition, these are the stories that got people clicking this week. In one of the week’s most uplifting local stories, All City Candy delivered 100 handcrafted Easter baskets to children at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital. The effort was made possible by customer and community donations, continuing an annual tradition that hel

The display, located in a residential yard in Euclid, is rebuilt from scratch each year with a completely new design. Kaselak begins planning shortly after Christmas, sketching layouts, purchasing new inflatables, and carefully color-coordinating thousands of eggs. He spends the winter months assembling and stringing the decorations before installing everything roughly two weeks ahead of Easter.

The U.S. national debt has surpassed $39 trillion, with annual interest costs now approaching $1 trillion, according to Treasury data. Lawmakers remain divided over spending cuts and tax policy, while shifting foreign holdings and renewed talk of “de-dollarization” raise questions about long-term demand for U.S. debt.

NASA is launching Artemis II today, sending astronauts back to the moon’s vicinity for the first time in more than 50 years. Behind the headline moment are deep Northeast Ohio ties, with NASA Glenn in Cleveland and the Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Sandusky playing key roles in testing Orion and its European Service Module. Here is what to watch as the mission unfolds.

Cleveland leaders are considering a “Pothole Sponsorship Program” that would let residents and businesses fund specific road repairs in exchange for public recognition and temporary naming rights. The plan is still conceptual, with details not finalized, but it is already sparking debate over fairness, priorities and how repairs would be tracked as the city battles recurring damage from freeze-thaw cycles.

Cleveland’s National Air Show board is warning the event cannot continue if Burke Lakefront Airport closes. City leaders are studying a $600 million lakefront redevelopment vision and have asked organizers to consider remote or overwater formats, but the board says Cleveland’s geography and the show’s nonprofit finances make that impossible. The 2026 show is still on.

A major stretch of downtown Cleveland is set for a sweeping asphalt art installation aimed at boosting pedestrian safety. Veteran muralist Ryan Jaenke was chosen to transform parts of the Gateway District near East 4th to East 9th streets, with up to 17,000 square feet of hardscape painted through Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Asphalt Art Initiative. Work is targeted for completion in July 2026.

Redfin has listed Rocket Arena on its website, calling it the largest property ever featured on the platform. The unusual listing spotlights the Cavaliers’ home and promotes a public open house and garage sale with rare memorabilia, plus a sweepstakes offering experiences including dinner on the main court.

Cleveland Monsters fans will soon see a hometown favorite at Rocket Arena. Malley’s Chocolates has signed a multiyear partnership to become the official chocolate partner of the Monsters and the arena, with signature confections available at multiple locations, including CLE/MKT and private suites. The rollout aligns with the Monsters’ March 29 home game against the Utica Comets.

Cleveland Hopkins International Airport says operations are back to normal after major construction on the lower roadway, reopening all terminal doors for arrivals pickups. The work focused on the RTA-level pedestrian tunnel linking the terminal to the Red Line station, including structural reinforcement, waterproofing and electrical system relocation. More updates are posted on the airport’s website.

A night of new klezmer arrives in Cleveland as the Case Western Reserve University Klezmer Music Ensemble performs original instrumental and vocal works by director Steven Greenman. The program spans compositions from 1997 to 2025, drawing on Eastern European Jewish cultural traditions and the evolving sounds of klezmer and Yiddish music.

A free presentation in Mentor will offer a rare, up-close look at life during the American Revolution. Historian and collector Todd Brighton will showcase original artifacts from his private collection, sharing the personal stories of seven Patriot soldiers. The event is May 20, 2026, at 7 p.m. at the Springbrook Gardenhouse.

Demolition crews have moved in at Cedar and Miramar in University Heights, clearing a 2.1-acre site for a new Aldi. The project will raze the Waterstone Medical Center and a former Huntington Bank branch, with site work expected to take six to eight weeks. City leaders say the store will anchor broader Bell Tower Center redevelopment and traffic signal upgrades now underway.

Cleveland’s child poverty crisis is fueling an urgent demand for family shelter, with The City Mission reporting a wait list of more than 200 women and children. A new partnership with West Park Barber School is offering free haircuts to teen boys at Laura’s Home, adding a sense of normalcy and mentorship as families work to rebuild.

Great Lakes cruising is forecast to generate more than $300 million in economic impact in 2026, with officials citing rising shoreside spending and a jump in port visits. Ten ships and seven cruise lines are slated to run 148 itineraries, driving an estimated 175,000 passenger visits at regional docks and intensifying competition on the water.

Cleveland’s future WNBA franchise says it completed a major community pledge three months ahead of schedule, hosting 28 events for more than 2,600 girls and young women across Ohio, western Pennsylvania and western New York. The final event was an all-girls youth clinic at Rocket Arena as the team prepares to begin play in 2028.

Sandusky’s Ghostly Manor Thrill Center offers nearly a dozen indoor attractions year-round, from its nationally recognized haunted house to 3D blacklight mini golf, laser tag, a 4D dark ride, a roller rink, an arcade and more. The Epic Pass bundles multiple activities with a meal and an arcade card, giving families an all-in-one option just off Route 250 on Milan Road.

Dirty Dancing is headed to Severance Music Center with a concert-style twist. A digitally remastered screening will play on a massive screen as a live band and vocalists perform every song from the original soundtrack in sync with the film. An encore party follows, inviting fans to sing and dance along.

Rosinski, an award-winning choreographer who teaches dance throughout the region, designed both programs to be inclusive regardless of a persons previous experience. The Adult Hip Hop Dance Team includes a mix of professional dancers and people who have never set foot on a stage before joining. They have appeared on "New Day Cleveland" and performed at major local venues such as Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, Public Hall and the Wolstein Center. According to Rosinski, the group

Cedar Point is launching Barrels & Bites, a new summer festival running June 5-28, 2026, along the park’s Frontier Trail. The event will feature tasting stations for beer, bourbon and wine paired with dishes created by the park’s culinary team, plus local artisans, limited-edition items and rotating live music. Tastings cost extra, and the festival is closed Tuesdays.

A touring flock of 12-foot-tall “Giant Quackers” rubber ducks begins rolling through Northeast Ohio on March 19, building buzz for the Ohio Rubber Duck Dash Festival in downtown Cuyahoga Falls, April 23-25. The multiday event features a six-story “World’s Largest Rubber Duck,” an All-City Art Walk, food vendors, and a Saturday dash with prizes.

For SJ Santiago, the transition from the high-stakes environment of a hospital ward to the mystical landscapes of her debut novel was a process years in the making. Santiago, a registered nurse currently pursuing her master's degree, recently released her first fantasy book, "Blood Spells: The Awakening." The story follows a young woman named Aradia who, upon her 18th birthday, discovers magic is a tangible part of her biological heritage. According to Santiago, the narrative

A Cleveland garden expert says Memorial Day may be too late for some crops. Kelly Crotty of Kelly's Creations in the CLE has opened her Spring Cool Season Plant Reserve, offering starts timed for the region’s unpredictable spring. The reserve includes cool-weather favorites like lettuce, bok choy and herbs, grown locally and ready for outdoor beds or containers.

Two huge fireballs lit up U.S. skies in a single week, including the “Ohio Giant,” a 7-ton meteor that ended its 4.5 billion-year journey in Medina County. Researchers and collectors are now searching the strewn field for rare fragments that could offer a pristine look at the early solar system.

The Northern Ohio Mountain Bike Series has released its eight-race 2026 schedule, opening April 26 at Camp Tuscazoar in Dover and building toward the Ohio Mountain Bike State Championship on Aug. 2 in Ravenna. The lineup includes technical stops, a women-focused weekend at Mohican State Park, and a season finale with double points at Vultures Knob.

Firefighters from Parma Heights and neighboring departments responded to a house fire on Parkhill Drive, working quickly to keep flames from spreading to nearby homes. Officials said the fire was brought under control rapidly, with no injuries reported. The cause has not been released as investigators work to determine the origin.

Sandusky Bay Pancake House is becoming a go-to stop for locals and tourists along Milan Road, serving scratch-made classics alongside vegan and gluten-free options. With a family-friendly dining room, patio seating and steady daily hours, the restaurant is carving out a bigger role in Erie County’s fast-growing breakfast scene.

Nearly 90,000 bottles of Children’s Ibuprofen Oral Suspension are being recalled after consumers reported finding a gel-like mass and small black particles inside. The FDA has upgraded the action to a Class II recall, citing possible temporary or medically reversible health effects. Parents are urged to check lot numbers and stop using affected bottles.

BlueWater Chamber Orchestra continues its 16th season with “Bohemian Rhapsody,” a Prague-themed program at the Church of the Covenant in University Circle. World-renowned pianist Antonio Pompa-Baldi will perform Kabalevsky’s “Prague Concerto,” alongside works by Janacek and Mozart. Tickets are pay-what-you-wish, with multiple parking options nearby.

Cleveland physician and educator Dr. Kwaku L. Carlisle Woods has been inducted into the Marquis Who’s Who biographical registry. The honor highlights a five-decade career spanning medicine, entrepreneurship and community mentorship, including work with youth football programs and Coach Sam Rutigliano’s Aiming Higher initiative. Woods also leads the Prometheus Reborn Universal Foundation.

Ohio lawmakers advanced House Bill 84, the “Innocence Act,” requiring websites that distribute obscene material to geolocate users and verify ages for Ohio access. The bill also creates criminal penalties for using someone’s likeness in sexual imagery without consent and empowers the Ohio attorney general to enforce compliance with steep civil penalties. It now moves to the Senate.

Castaway Bay is doubling down on year-round family fun in Sandusky, with an indoor water park built to beat unpredictable Ohio weather. Its Rocket’s Canopy Coaster is billed as northern Ohio’s only water coaster, launching two-person rafts through hills and tunnels before a splashdown. The resort also offers an arcade, craft room and escape room to keep families on-site longer.

Many Clevelanders think they speak without an accent, but linguists say the city sits at the center of the Inland North dialect and the Northern Cities Vowel Shift — a sweeping change in vowels that reaches across the Great Lakes. From “cat” sounding like “kee-yat” to a sharp “cot-caught” split, researchers trace how history, class and generation shape the region’s speech.

Emergency sirens will sound across Northeast Ohio at 9:50 a.m. March 18 as the state conducts its annual Statewide Tornado Drill. Officials urge residents to treat it like the real thing, review tornado watch vs. warning guidance, and identify safe shelter options at home, work and school before severe weather strikes.

America’s data center boom is accelerating as AI replaces general-purpose cloud demand, driving massive new builds and unprecedented pressure on the power grid. A new outlook projects up to $3 trillion in investment by 2030, with 100 gigawatts of capacity coming online fast. Ohio is emerging as a key hub as policymakers weigh who pays for the upgrades.

More than 1,500 students are heading to downtown Cleveland as the 27th annual FIRST Buckeye Regional brings 42 robotics teams to the Wolstein Center. With alliances, rankings and a shot at the FIRST Championship in Houston on the line, the three-day competition highlights the region’s next generation of STEM talent.

Seven Hills has reopened its renovated fire station, featuring specialized sleeping quarters designed with University Hospitals Parma Sleep Medicine Center standards. City leaders say the upgrades, including expanded locker rooms, a new training room and remodeled kitchen, will modernize the aging facility and support the department’s ability to retain staff while serving roughly 11,000 residents.

A loud, low-frequency boom rattled homes across Northeast Ohio Tuesday morning, from the lakeshore west side to areas as far south as Akron. Officials ruled out earthquakes, industrial incidents and supersonic flights. Video and audio evidence, along with reports to the American Meteor Society, pointed to a daylight meteor airburst over Lake Erie.

Cleveland’s underworld was shaped less by gang wars than by a rare alliance between the Mayfield Road Mob and the Cleveland Syndicate. Together, they built a durable “open city” model that fueled bootlegging, gambling and money laundering, and helped bankroll the rise of Las Vegas. Records and surveillance logs from the era remain preserved for researchers today.

For three days in last week, downtown Cleveland transformed into a living, breathing celebration of pop culture as FAN EXPO Cleveland returned to the Huntington Convention Center. Thousands of fans filled the convention halls March 13 through March 15, creating a weekend packed with celebrity appearances, elaborate cosplay, charity outreach, and the kind of spontaneous moments that only happen when comic books, movies, television, gaming and fantasy all collide in one place.

A new theory about how the Great Pyramid of Giza was built is surging online with more than 10 million views. Architectural researcher Dami Lee highlights Huni Choi’s idea that the pyramid was “unbuilt” from a larger temporary stone mass with integrated ramps, later carved down and recycled across the Giza complex. The hypothesis remains unconfirmed.

The Cleveland International Film Festival is gearing up for its 50th anniversary, with the main slate opening April 9 and a special retrospective launching first. The 7x7+1=CIFF50 series runs Feb. 17 through April 4, featuring seven programs of award-winning shorts from the CIFF archives, plus a new bonus short made for the 50th season. Tickets are $15.

Pi Day is back, and Northeast Ohio shoppers can score $3.14 deals on circular favorites. Giant Eagle is discounting 8-inch apple and apple crumble pies, plus rotisserie chicken pot pies, as part of its March 14 promotions. Some deals run through the weekend, but popular items can sell out fast at high-volume stores.

Euclid’s Shore Cultural Centre is moving ahead with new renovations after landing a $19,327 Ohio History Fund grant. The project will modernize two restrooms near the historic auditorium, a key gathering space for thousands each year. Shore’s proposal was among just 15 selected statewide out of 68 applications, city officials said.

Two Westlake High School juniors are in the final 24 hours of a seven-week fundraising push for leukemia and lymphoma families. Maria Tadross and Claire Wenham, leading Team Hope, are aiming to reach an $80,000 goal before the Student Visionaries campaign deadline. Donations and corporate matching are still being sought.

Case Western Reserve University is now the fastest-growing research institution in the Association of American Universities, with R&D spending up 37.5% from 2022 to 2024, according to the National Science Foundation. The university reported $643 million in research spending in FY 2024 and plans to open a $300 million science and engineering building later this year.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are moving ahead with a plan to remake the “Meet Me Here” plaza into a permanent tribute to the team’s 2016 NBA championship. The redesign includes a full-size, Cavs-branded basketball court open to the public, along with tiered seating, landscaping and art. Construction is slated for completion by June 1, 2026.