Newsletter: As electric vehicle sales slow, Honda remains a believer

Still, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t believe EVs are destined to make up a steadily growing market segment as time passes. Among the believers: Honda.

Honda will start making electric vehicles next year

Honda will be ready to start making electric vehicles next year, having configured a Marysville production line to make both EVs and internal combustion engine vehicles, a company executive said Friday.

Meanwhile, a new EV battery plant less than an hour’s drive from the Dayton area in Jeffersonville should be ready by the end of 2024.

Investment: In all, Honda expects to invest more than $4 billion total into creating an “EV Hub” in Ohio, not only for the battery plant, but through retooling its Marysville and East Liberty assembly sites and its Anna engine plant. The company says employment statewide should stay “stable.”

Rainbow Lakes has new owners

A decades-old fishing lakes property that sat idle in recent years has reopened under new management, Aimee Hancock has reported.

Michelle and Cassidy Helregel, of Springfield, said they would often drive by the Rainbow Lakes property. Their interest was piqued when the property was put up for sale.

Good stuff: “We thought there was just so much potential, so we decided to give the place a shot,” Cassidy said. “I think we can do a lot of good stuff here and help out the community.”

A rough two weeks for some local restaurants

Credit: Natalie Jones

Credit: Natalie Jones

In the last two weeks, four restaurants in the Dayton region have announced they are permanently closing, Natalie Jones has reported.

Closings: Jones outlines the situation at Flyboy’s Deli in Oakwood, Frisch’s in Beavercreek, The Gourmet Deli in Dayton and Time4Noodle in Huber Heights.

Please read the story.

New home construction poised to bounce back?

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

A recent decline in new home starts in the Dayton area due to rising costs of materials and labor is expected to be short-lived, some industry experts told Eric Schwartzberg

Total permits for new home starts dropped 14.8% last year, from 1,992 in 2022 to 1,697 in 2023, according to the Home Builders Association of Dayton.

Rising costs: John Morris — who led the association before recently taking a job in California — said this year will likely see two things happen: the easing of interest rates and people figuring out that waiting to buy a new home doesn’t save them anything because the cost of materials and labor continues to rise.

Behind the badge: An arresting examination

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Credit: Marshall Gorby

Our community — both neighborhoods and businesses, citizens and employees — needs well-trained police officers.

With that in mind, check out our new series on how local officers are trained.

Training: We sent reporter London Bishop to attend the Sinclair Police Academy, where for six months she will learn alongside recruits what it takes to wear the badge, tell their stories, and help the public understand how police are trained to do their job. Visit the Behind the Badge page on our website for more about this project.

Here’s one of the latest stories in the project.

And here are some photos.

Please check it all out.

Quick hits

Developer Jason Woodard: Is withdrawing a local housing proposal.

OUR VIEW: It’s past time to reform the deeply unfair Ohio Medicaid estate recovery program

Gem City Market: Has a new raw juice bar.

The search for a new Oakwood city manager: Oakwood Mayor Bill Duncan and others on the next steps.

“The whole thing’s been a ball:” Remembering Don Donoher