This blog item is being placed here because it really doesn't fit well anywhere else.

But if over the next couple of weeks you look east at night you'll notice a bright, reddish-colored object in the night sky. It won't be a star, either. What you'll be seeing is the planet Mars, the brightest it's been in two years, says the experts at Astronomy magazine.

The experts say that Mars will appear 50 percent brighter and will rise earlier as well, appearing nearly overhead around midnight and setting just before the sun rises in the morning.

The only objects to appear brighter than Mars is the star Sirius (which lies well to Mars' right) and the planet Jupiter, which sets west not long after Mars appears, Astronomy magazine says.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com

Some interviewees utter things you can’t wait to get in the paper. The type of statements you can’t help but wonder what readers will think and feel when they see it. Then, I regretfully report, there are some who can nearly lull a reporter to sleep in seconds.

Kirtland attorney Tim Misny is certainly the former. I lost count of how many times during our conversation I said to myself, “this will make good copy, this will make good copy!”

To read more, click here

-- Brandon C. Baker

Despite some heavy times and sad stories, in the last month and a half, I’ve done a few stories that offer up quite a bit of inspiration for the dark and dreary days ahead.
One of my favorite parts of this job is going into a story unsure of what to expect from it and coming away having met someone amazing or hearing a story that resonated the kind of meaning that stays with you for the rest of your life.
For example, I was going to the Geauga Senior Center to find a few interview candidates for a regional story about traditional Christmas cards versus e-cards or not sending cards at all, and walked in at the tail end of an exercise class.
There were about two dozen senior citizens sitting in chairs and doing various breathing and arm exercises while I stood on the sidelines waiting for the class to be through.
I remember thinking to myself, wow, I bet there are so many amazing stories right here in this room.
The four people I spoke with and included in my story were charming, funny, and did, indeed, have a few anecdotal stories, including one of the women telling me she basically BS’s – though she actually did say the word – most of what she writes in her cards about what she’s been up to the past year.
Or when Russell Township resident Rosemary Mariola’s face turned wistfully sad as she recalled the previous year and how losing her husband that year influenced her decision not to send cards out for the first time in 30 years.
Not long after, I had the pleasure of interviewing Donna Peterson, a single mother of two children who is well on her way to moving out of public housing and into her own home due to help from the Family Self-Sufficiency Program of the Geauga Metropolitan Housing Authority.
Peterson is also working as a licensed practical nurse at Northfield Village Retirement Community, but hopes to continue her education to become a registered nurse.
I have enough trouble taking care of myself, my dog and cat, let alone two kids on limited income while working through schooling.
Luckily, Peterson has a helping hand that she is utilizing the way it’s meant to be used, but nonetheless, it’s stories like her’s that makes me feel I can pull through many of my own hardships or any that may come if I’m determined enough.
Just this past week, I wrote a story about how with unemployment rates being so high for so long, volunteering has increased in several organizations in both Lake and Geauga counties.
In addition, Kenston Schools just purchased the first hybrid school bus in Ohio, which will tie right into their other green efforts including a large wind turbine for the high school.
That’s not to mention the Willoughby Police Department pushing efforts to get more automated external defibrillators for its patrol cars after an AED in a Wickliffe police cruiser saved the life of a full-time Willoughby dispatcher last year.
While to some, it may seem like society has become more and more apathetic over the years or it’s been one sad piece of news after another, stories like these remind me it’s all in where you look.

-- Cassandra Shofar
Cshofar@News-Herald.com

“Why is Laketran buying new fareboxes? They can’t even run buses on Saturdays!”

It’s a sentiment I’ve seen on this Web site and one you’ve probably heard on the bus, if you ride it. It’s not just related to the fareboxes, though. People say this almost every time Laketran makes a move, be it obtaining federal grants, buying new buses with said grants, updating its scheduling system or announcing that it is nearing a balanced budget.

The problem is how misinformed those statements are.

To read more, click here.

This is one of those square peg postings looking for the proper round hole.

No matter.

The word from the National Weather Service is that we can expect late autumn wintry weather over the next few days. Highs will struggle to stay in the low to upper 40s: Or well below the seasonable average of the low to mid 60s.

And low temperatures will dip to below or near freezing.

If you have any tomatoes or other veggies left in the garden then today would be a good day to pick them. Wrap the tomatoes individually in newspaper and store in a cool, dry location. You'll be surprised at how they will mature and it is entirely possible that you'll be eating the last of them for Thanksgiving Day dinner.

As for precipitation, look for a rain-snow mix starting tonight and going through Saturday night.

Time to toss a log unto the fire, snuggle up with a warm comforter and enjoy a cup of hot soup/tea/chocolate.

Hopefully we'll see an improvement in time for Halloween and trick-or-treating.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
JFrischkorn@News-Herald.com

It turns out participating students weren’t the only ones with the jitters when Harvey High School’s E CITY program and course began.

Though she ultimately agreed to donate time and energy in order to mentor the corresponding competition’s eventual winner, senior Kirsten Yopp, California Imports owner Marcia Winfield wasn’t sure what to expect.

“To tell you the truth, I was scared to death,” Winfield said of her initial thoughts of entering a high school as a mentor to a teenaged, hopeful entrepreneur.

To continue reading, click here

-- Brandon C. Baker

It’s almost a given that teaching contract negotiations take some time, at least from what I’ve witnessed in the few years I’ve covered school districts.

However, the recent impasse between the Chardon Education Association and school board, is the first I’ve seen escalate to the degree it has.

Click here to read more of this blog.

-- Cassandra Shofar
CShofar@News-Herald.com