ICYMI: Your top six stories from the weekend

TOM GILLIAM / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Credit: Tom Gilliam

Credit: Tom Gilliam

TOM GILLIAM / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Here are the top six stories you might have missed from this weekend in the Dayton area.

Where is winter? Area nears record-breaking streaks on temperature, heavy snow

Snow fall in the Dayton area Sunday morning. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

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In a series of tweets, the National Weather Service in Wilmington detailed these stretches, jokingly calling them the “Where is Winter?” series. It is a question many people in the area have asked, though others are just fine with the situation.

The NWS first tweeted on Wednesday that it had been 687 days since Cincinnati saw single-digit weather, which is the second-longest streak on record. The last day with single-digit temperatures was March 5, 2019.

The longest stretch ended Jan. 21, 2013, and was 711 days long.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE:


DeWine orders state budget cuts, restores from education funding

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine toured the Ohio Department of Health's Receipt, Store and Stage warehouse Nov. 30, 2020, to see the facility and review the process that will be used to redistribute the COVID-19 vaccine in Ohio.

Credit: CONTRIBUTED

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Credit: CONTRIBUTED

In an executive order signed Friday, Gov. Mike DeWine called for $390 million in across-the-board budget cuts for state agencies but also gave the go ahead to release $160 million to K-12 and $100 million to higher education.

The education funds had been previously held back when the DeWine administration made budget cuts last year.

The budget cuts don’t apply to debt service, pension payments, building rents or some other expenses.

The state’s cost savings measures, such as limiting employee travel and raises and a hiring freeze, remain in place.

The Ohio Constitution requires that the state budget be balanced.

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Dayton withdraws liquor objection. Operators say it will not be a night club

1Eleven Flavor House is opening in first-floor space in the 111 W. First St. building. CORNELIUS FROLIK / STAFF

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1Eleven Flavor House is a new “comfort and Caribbean” restaurant located on the ground floor of the office tower at 111 W. First St. in downtown Dayton.

Dayton’s law and police departments originally recommended the city object to the business’ liquor permit request because one of its owners and operators once ran a downtown club that police say was the scene of fights, gun violence and drug and weapons offenses.

But city leaders decided to withdraw the objection after the operators signed a cooperation agreement with a variety of conditions that officials hope will prevent the business from becoming a source of problems.

READ THE FULL STORY HERE:


First Black woman Dayton city commissioner Bootsie Neal dies

Idotha Bootsie Neal called her final Dayton city commission meeting Wednesday "emotional" and "bittersweet." Here she watches video highlights from her 12 years on the commission. Neal lost her seat in November to newcomer Matt Joseph.

Credit: Chris Stewart

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Credit: Chris Stewart

A prominent Dayton politician and redevelopment champion died today, Jan. 24 at Kettering Medical Center.

Idotha “Bootsie” Neal was 68 and died of natural causes, a Montgomery County Coroner’s Office official told this newspaper.

In the early days of her political career, Neal was often the only Black person or woman in a male-dominated arena. Later in her life, Neal mentored other women running for office or looking to run for office.

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Dayton owner: ‘We’re going to be a ghost town’ if people don’t support small businesses

John Napier, co-owner of Tuffy Brooks Sporting Goods is thankful that the store received a CARE Act small business grant and a paycheck protection program loan to continue operations through the pandemic. MARSHALL GORBY\STAFF

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Montgomery County will keep open its Office of CARES Act through the end of this year and extend an important deadline for recipients, a move now permitted under recent federal legislation.

While the grants are now closed, it gives recipients a year longer to spend the money, Montgomery County Administrator Michael Colbert said.

“It doesn’t actually extend the funding, it just lets them know they have until the end of the year to spend existing funding,” he said.

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Experts eye militia groups as a growing threat

Jessica Watkins allegedly posted this to Parler after storming the U.S. Capitol with a militia group, according to a federal affadavit.

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Anti-government groups — like one in southwest Ohio which has two members facing federal charges that they stormed the U.S. Capitol — have been growing for the past decade.

Organizers of some of the groups say they are focused on community service and preparing to assist during times of national or local emergency. But members of such groups are also facing charges for participating in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and experts fear participation in such groups could grow during a Democratic president’s term, as it has in the past.

The Oath Keepers are one of 32 anti-government groups listed as operating in Ohio in the most recent report from the Southern Poverty Law Center.

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