Our stories this week include:
‘He was on a mission.' Bishop Cox remembered for civil rights work, hospital push, ministry: Bishop Richard Earl Cox dedicated his life to speaking out against what he believed to be social injustice oppressing a community’s marginalized citizens. He died after a lengthy illness on May 2 at the age of 77. Bishop Cox was president of the Clergy Community Coalition. Its most recent campaign was to create a public hospital in West Dayton–after the closing and demolition of Good Samaritan Hospital. WYSO’s Kathryn Mobley covered many of the coalition’s efforts. She shares a remembrance of the group’s passionately vocal leader.
WYSO City Mayor Series: When Kettering Mayor Brian Suddith took office in January, he became the city’s 12th mayor. Suddith says he became interested in the position during his two years serving on city council. He calls former long-time mayor Peggy Lehner a friend and mentor and says he’s working hard to fill her shoes. For WYSO’s City Mayor Series, Jerry Kenney spoke with Suddith about his term so far.
This Ohioan won marriage equality at the Supreme Court. Now he's worried about what's next: Ohio resident Jim Obergefell was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide. While recently in Yellow Springs, he spoke about what he perceives as growing attacks on LGBTQ rights and efforts to challenge protections he fought to secure. WYSO’s Lee Wade reports.
Urbana begins walking back zoning changes that permitted data centers: The Urbana City Council has started the process to roll back zoning changes made last year that made it easier for data centers to be built there. They approved a resolution on May 4 to review those zoning codes. That follows a moratorium on new data centers that was passed in March. WYSO’s Nick Hrkman has this update.
Endangered audio is coming home to a historically Black Ohio college’s radio station: This week on Today from the Ohio Newsroom - Ohio is home to the nation’s first federally-licensed historically Black college radio station. And archivists have been working to preserve a collection of its historic audio recordings. Last year, a group of archivists took CDs and reel-to-reel tapes out of a dusty closet at WCSU – Central State University’s radio station in Wilberforce. They've spent months digitizing and restoring the recordings as part of a nationwide effort to protect radio history at historically Black colleges and universities.Now, those sounds are coming home – not in a box or in an email, but through a homecoming celebration at WYSO in Yellow Springs.
Spring-cleaning your personal finances: Some tips by Ohio's Department of Commerce: When we think of spring cleaning, we may think of organizing the house or garage or the car. But officials at the Ohio Department of Commerce want us to think about cleaning up our personal finances. WYSO’s Mike Frazier spoke with Robert Rutkowski. the Deputy Superintendent for the Division of Financial Institutions at the Ohio Department of Commerce. He offers some tips.
BirdNote: BirdNote tells vivid, sound-rich stories about birds and the challenges they face. Their mission is to "inspire listeners to care about the natural world — and take steps to protect it. As listeners tune in to the lives of birds, their connection with nature deepens. They become champions for conservation and stewards of places important to birds and people."
