Your WYSO Noonish News Update for September 20, 2022, with Chris Welter:
Beautiful belt sander racing
(WYSO) People love to race things: bicycles, cars, even drones. Over the weekend, a different kind of race took place at the Front Street Studios & Galleries in Dayton: belt sander racing.
Keep plastic out of schools
(EPA) The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has awarded Recycling and Litter Prevention grants to some local schools. The grants will allow schools to retrofit water fountains with water bottle filling stations. Local grants include $10,000 for Piqua City Schools and $5,000 for St. Christopher School in Vandalia.
Turns out Dayton man is not a Ghanaian prince
(United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio) A jury has convicted a Dayton man on 10 counts of federal fraud crimes. Daryl Robert Harrison defrauded at least 14 victims for more than $800,000 and now faces up to 20 years in prison. From 2014 until 2020, he told people they were investing in African trucking and mining companies. He claimed to be a royal prince with direct connections to those companies. Prosecutors say Harrison used the investment funds to rent a house in Colorado, purchase luxury vehicles, airplane tickets, hotel accommodations and rental cars.
Bread and Puppet theater on a Tuesday
(Bread and Puppet) The Bread and Puppet Theater is coming to Dayton today. The show is at University of Dayton’s Humanities Plaza at 5 p.m.. The free show is called The Apocalypse Defiance Circus. It’s a politically satirical puppet show that includes a brass band.
DPS leaders optimistic about district’s future despite lackluster state report card
(WYSO) Dayton Public Schools earned two stars in gap closing and in progress, and one star in achievement, literacy and in graduation. According to Superintendent Elizabeth Lolli, one factor contributing to the low scores was chronic high school absenteeism–often due to students needing to work to support their families. In response, Dayton schools said they will now use a more personalized approach to truancy. Staff will start to make home visits to see why the student is absent, and try to remove barriers to attendance for individual students. Lolli also said the Covid-19 pandemic made students less accustomed to attending school.
Soap box derby and the Corvette, the impressive life of a local man
(Dayton Daily News) Myron Scott was born in Camden in 1907. Scott was working at the Dayton Daily News as a photographer when a photo of some boys racing homemade cars down a street sparked the idea for the first soap box derby in 1933. He was later hired in Chevrolet’s advertising and marketing department, where he came up with the name for the legendary Corvette sports car. The historical society will honor the new class of inductees at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the outdoor amphitheater in Eaton.
Chris Welter is a reporter and corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms.
