The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office wants more businesses and home owners to register their private security cameras to give police better access to video of potential crimes.

Canton City Council has approved installing security cameras in the city’s center.  The plan is in response to an increase in people visiting downtown.

The 10-camera system will provide continuous surveillance of the heart of the city.  That’s the area Canton has been revitalizing with an arts district and the conversion of old commercial sites into urban-life-style lofts. The city wanted cameras two years ago but couldn’t afford the $80,000 price from a national vendor.

Cuyahoga Valley National Park is trying to find anyone who attended a camp for Akron school children that closed nearly 70 years ago. Happy Days Lodge is now an event space and rental facility in Virginia Kendall area of the national park.

But when it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, it was a camp for children from the Akron Public Schools. Now, the National Park Service is collecting oral histories from people who attended the camp.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Carl Stokes becoming the first black mayor of a major U.S. city. Throughout 2017, Cuyahoga Community College will commemorate his election with a series of events focusing on the historical significance and on how it can be applied to current social challenges.

Two northeast Ohio hunger fighting organizations are joining forces:  Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank and Community Harvest of Stark County will merge on Jan. 1st. 

The foodbank supplied 500 relief programs with 14,000 tons of canned and non-perishable food in 2015. Community Harvest helped provide 80,000 meals a month of food that restaurants and cafeterias prepared but didn’t use. 

The U.S. Treasury has awarded Northeast Ohio more than $100 million in tax credits to help spur investment and economic development in low-income areas. 

Commercially available water pitchers with filters can rid drinking water of toxins produced by algae blooms. The research done at Ohio State University’s Stone Lab on Lake Erie shows some are better at the task than others.

Northeast Ohio Congressman Tim Ryan has just over a week to convince congressional Democrats that he should replace Nancy Pelosi as their leader. WKSU’s M.L. Schultze has more on Ryan’s campaign – which is focusing on process as well as philosophy.

Ryan’s bid to become House minority leader sprang from his conviction that, nationally, Democrats failed to recognize the economic issues that drove working-class voters to pick Donald Trump -- and to keep both the House and Senate under Republican control.

A prominent Republican Northeast Ohio state representative has joined a Democratic effort to push Gov. John Kasich to declare a statewide opioid emergency.

Ron Amstutz of Wooster and two other Republican lawmakers have signed on to House Resolution 510. It would allow use of the state’s rainy-day fund to pay for opioid intervention programs. Amstutz was not available for comment.

Mayors from Ohio’s 30 largest cities have formed a coalition to discuss state policy and lobby lawmakers about the issues their communities are facing. 

The 20 Democratic and 10 Republican mayors are concerned about the state’s economic development and about home rule. Democrat John Cranley of Cincinnati says lawmakers need to know some state policies can cause local problems.

“We’re educating the state that we are the golden geese. We’re the ones who pay the taxes, and it’s not good to hurt your golden goose.”