One of the longest-running sports-broadcast affiliations in sports will have another five years of bringing baseball to Akron. The Cleveland Indians and 1590 WAKR have agreed to a new, five year contract keeping the Tribe on Akron's station for news, talk and sports.  

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(WAKR, Cleveland Indians) 1590 WAKR and the Cleveland Indians have inked a new, five-year contract that extends the love affair between the team and the Akron station, one of the longest-serving radio affiliates along the Indians Radio Network line.

"Nothing says spring, summer and hopefully autumn in Northeast Ohio better than Indians baseball," said 1590 WAKR President and General Manager Thom Mandel. "Our heritage as a key affiliate for the Tribe continues through this decade, and we are proud to continue our support of the Cleveland Indians on the station greater Akron relies on for Indians baseball."

"The Cleveland Indians are very excited to extend our successful partnership with Rubber City Radio Group," said Cleveland Indians Sr. Director of Communications Curtis Danburg. "We are fortunate 1590 WAKR continues to be Akron's radio home of the Tribe in 2016 and beyond."

WAKR will begin the season with most spring training games live beginning March 1, 2016 with Tom Hamilton and Jim Rosenhaus calling play-by-play. WAKR also carries "Tribe Talk" through the year and "Indians Hot Stove Report" during the off-season to help keep fans in the loop for all things Indians baseball.

1590 WAKR began broadcasting on October 15, 1940 and for much of the station's history has served as the affiliate for Indians baseball. WAKR also serves as the Akron affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ohio State football and men's basketball, and also simulcasts select Cleveland Browns programs and games in conjunction with 97.5 WONE when available.

1590 WAKR and WAKR.net are owned by the Rubber City Radio Group.

Hats off to TimkenSteel after a North Canton Hoover High School senior got an oversized check from the company, part of a $140,000 scholarship promise to senior Logan Stahl. First installment is $35,000 and he will be getting that the next three years too for college. It's a scholarship the company has for children of it's workers.

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(North Canton Schools) "This is one of the best parts of my job," said Ward J. "Tim" Timken, chairman, CEO and president of TimkenSteel Corp., as he waited in anticipation for Logan Stahl to arrive at the Guidance Office in North Canton Hoover High School.

Stahl, a senior at Hoover, was soon to find out that he won a TimkenSteel Charitable Fund Awards Scholarship worth $140,000.

As Stahl came into the room, he was greeted by Timken who shook his hand and presented him with an oversized check for $35,000, renewable for up to three years. As he congratulated Stahl, Timken explained this contest was extremely competitive, with children of TimkenSteel employees from all over the world applying.

"It's amazing," said Stahl later as he recounted the experience. "I am so grateful."

Timken had arranged for Stahl's parents, Duane and Trish Stahl, to be there for the surprise. Duane Stahl works as a steel purchasing controller for TimkenSteel.

Later that morning, Elaine Russell Reolfi, vice president of communications and community relations of TimkenSteel, also visited Hoover to present a $5000 scholarship to senior Makayla Sutter. Sutter called her father, Daniel Sutter, director of marketing, automotive at TimkenSteel to share the good news.

"Thank you for all your help Dad," Sutter said through tears of happiness.

In all, eight high school seniors, all children of TimkenSteel Corp. employees, were awarded $245,000 in scholarship funds throughout the morning. Scholarships were awarded based on academic and extracurricular achievement. Stahl won the largest of the scholarships awarded.

"These students are all standouts in what they do both inside and outside of the classroom," said Reolfi. "And we're proud to support their academic development as they follow in the footsteps of their talented parents."

Stahl plans to attend Grove City College, Case Western Reserve or Carnegie Mellon University and study computer science. Sutter plans to pursue a degree in nursing and play tennis for Otterbein Universit

The shoe dropping for Summit Council Ward 4 Councilwoman Tamela Lee, under investigation the past year by the feds that includes a raid on her home, subpoenaes for public records and even notification to other politicians their conversations with her may have been recorded.

All four were arrested this morning and are scheduled to appear before Judge Vecchiarelli in Cleveland this afternoon.

Lee was named in an 11 count indictment announced today by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and the Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Cleveland office.

They charge her and three others with a bribery scheme and conspiracy that rewarded her for support of a liquor license application and a continued pattern of corruption. Also indicted was Omar Abdelqader of North Canton, Abdelrahman Abdelqader of Canton and Samir Abdelqader of Fairlawn.

In addition to her position representing Ward 5 (Copley, West Akron, Bath Township and Fairlawn), Lee's biography also notes she is the second vice-chair of the Summit County Democratic Party and was a founding member of the Summit County Progressive Democrats. 

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(USDOJ) A Summit County councilwoman was named in an 11-count federal indictment, charged with taking cash bribes and other things of value in exchange for official actions, including help with court cases, impeding a pending IRS investigation and assistance obtaining a liquor license, said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Cleveland office.

Tamela Lee, 57, of Akron, was indicted on six counts: conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud, honest services mail fraud, Hobbs Act conspiracy, violating the Hobbs Act, obstruction of justice and making false statements to law enforcement.

"The charges in this case are extremely serious, because our public officials owe the community the highest level of integrity and honesty," Dettelbach said. "Working with the FBI, we will continue to pursue corruption allegations so that the public can trust its elected officials."

"Ms. Lee and the three other defendants must be held accountable for their crimes," Anthony said. "She was supposed to lawfully represent the people that elected her, but rather, was motivated by her own self interests. The FBI will continue to root out public corruption, whether it is elected officials that violate their oath and the law or citizens that bribe them to do so."

Three others were also indicted.

- Omar Abdelqader, 49, of North Canton, was indicted on seven counts: conspiracy to commit honest services mail and wire fraud, honest services mail fraud, Hobbs Act conspiracy, violating the Hobbs Act, obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements to law enforcement.

- Abdelrahman Abdelqader, 42, of Canton, was indicted on two counts: obstruction of justice and making false statements to law enforcement.

- Samir Abdelqader, 19, of Fairlawn, was indicted on one count of making false statements to law enforcement.

Omar Abdelqader was affiliated with several convenience stores and other businesses in the Akron area, including the Bi-Rite on Diagnonal Road. Abdelrahman Abdelqader is his brother and Samir Abdelqader is his nephew, according to the indictment.

Lee solicited and accepted things from Omar Abdelqader, including money, loans, campaign contributions, home improvements, home maintenance and consumer goods. These were provided directly by Omar Abdelqader, or through Bi-Rite, according to the indictment.

In return, Lee performed and promised to perform official acts for Omar Abdelqader and other businesses in Akron for which he served as a conduit to Lee. These actions included helping Omar Abdelqader and his designees navigate government bureaucracy, achieve favorable outcomes in judicial and administrative proceedings and obtain streamlined access to information, according to the indictment.

For example, on July 5, 2013, Lee caused to be sent a letter to the State of Ohio Liquor Control Commission on behalf of Person 7's store, recommending approval of a liquor license application.

On June 8, 2014, Omar and Samir Abdelqader discussed Samir obtaining a bond regarding criminal charges he was facing. About 40 minutes later, Omar and Lee discussed the councilwoman emailing or calling the judge. On June 12, Lee called Judge 2's chambers several times. The next day Lee asked Omar for money, and he directed her to the Bi-Rite to collect the money, according to the indictment.

On June 14, 2014, Lee sent a text message to Omar informing him that the judge and bailiff returned her call. She then sent a text message to Omar stating: "I am going to bed, I am angry and frustrated and broke...bye," according to the indictment.

Later that day, Omar instructed Lee to send her daughter to the Bi-Rite to pick up cash. Three days later, Lee spoke to Judge 2 and told the judge she was related to Samir Abdelqader, according to the indictment.

In July 2014, Lee and Omar spoke repeatedly about fundraising for her campaign. Omar told Person 9 that he had collected $800 in donations for Lee. Omar explained the Lee provided service. "In other words, I am keeping her because we need her, man," Omar told Person 9, who responded: "She is better than an attorney to us!" according to the indictment.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Antoinette T. Bacon and Linda Barr following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, with assistance from the Akron Police Department.

If convicted, the defendants' sentences will be determined by the court after a review of the federal sentencing guidelines and factors unique to the case, including the defendant's prior criminal record (if any), the defendant's role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation.

An indictment is only charge and not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

A Massillon native is dead following a California skiing accident over the long Thanksgiving weekend.

Natalie Altieri was a 2013 graduate of Jackson High School and working an internship with fashion retailer and manufacturer BCBGMAXAZRIA in Los Angeles; she was a second year student of the University of Cincinnati's fashion design. She had also worked a fashion internship in Singapore as part of her studies.

Family members posted on Facebook; her sister Audrey noted "...I cannot imagine my life without her. My family and I are heartbroken. We truly appreciate your prayers and positive thoughts." In Cincinnati, a group of ski enthusiasts the Cincy Snowcats posted "...It is never easy to lose a member of the skiing community, but especially not one so close to home. A terrible reminder of the dangers of the sport that we all have such a passion for; this tragedy will not soon be forgotten. Rest easy, Natalie."

Funeral arrangements are pending. 

Sheriff's deputies arresting a 15-year old after a traffic stop turned into a chase over a stolen vehicle. Deputies noted the driver crashed near Prosser Avenue and Sauer Drive in Coventry Township, then took off on foot. The deputy caught up to him after a short foot chase.

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(Summit County Sheriff) On November 19, 2015, at approximately 12:00 p.m., the Summit County Sheriff's Office was dispatched to Manchester Road in Coventry Township in regards to a stolen vehicle.

The deputy confirmed that a 1997 Mercury Mountaineer was stolen, and at approximately 3:00 p.m., the deputy located the stolen vehicle in Coventry Township.

The deputy initiated a traffic stop and the driver of the vehicle did not comply with the deputy's order. The stolen vehicle crashed near the intersection of Prosser Avenue and Sauer Drive in Coventry Township.

The driver of the vehicle exited the stolen vehicle and fled on foot. The Deputy pursued and eventually apprehended the suspect a short distance away without any furhter incident. The suspect was identified as a 15-year old male from Coventry Township.

He was arrested and charged with Receiving Stolen Property (F­4), Failure to Comply with an Order of a Police Officer (F­3), and Criminal Damaging (M­2). He was transported to the Summit County Juvenile Detention Facility.

Not only is a former Akron attorney not allowed to practice law -- she's being chided again by the Ohio Supreme Court for not surrendering the documents that lawyers need to practice. Jana Bassinger DeLoach was first suspended back in 2010, publicly reprimanced in 2012, charged with misconduct by the Akron Bar Association in 2013 and ordered in May of this year to turn in her registration card and certificate of admission to practice law.

The Court today ruled she's in contempt for not turning the documents to the Supreme Court. DeLoach's practice concentrated on immigration, civil and criminal cases.

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(Ohio Supreme Court ruling 11/19/2015) In re Resignation of DeLoach. It is ordered by this court, sua sponte, that Jana Bassinger DeLoach, Attorney Registration No. 0071743, last known business address in Akron, Ohio, is found in contempt for failure to comply with this court’s order of May 14, 2015, to wit: failure to failure to surrender her attorney-registration card and her certificate of admission and failure to file an affidavit of compliance on or before June 15, 2015.

Background May 2015:

(Ohio Supreme Court) The Supreme Court first suspended DeLoach’s law license in December 2010 for failing to comply with her CLE requirements. In August 2011, the court issued a six-month stayed suspension and a two-year period of monitored probation for engaging in dishonest conduct during a disciplinary investigation, and in October 2012, she was publicly reprimanded for failing to notify clients that she lacked professional liability insurance.

In May 2013, the Akron Bar Association charged DeLoach with professional misconduct for neglecting a client matter, charging the client an excessive fee, and failing to deposit the client’s retainer into a trust account. The disciplinary board recommended a two-year suspension, with both years stayed if DeLoach met certain conditions. The court, recognizing that the actions questioned by the bar association took place during the same time she was being sanctioned for other rule violations, decided to issue one year of actual suspension with the second year stayed.

The suspension is the result of DeLoach taking a $7,000 retainer from Rose Warren in April 2008 to investigate the murder conviction of her son, OsRouge Turner, and obtain Turner’s release from prison. DeLoach told Warren she would charge $250 per hour until she reached $7,000 and if further work was required, she would continue without charge.After taking the fee, DeLoach failed to obtain a trial transcript and public records in Turner’s case. She did not file a motion for resentencing, the first step in the process for obtaining Turner’s release, until May 2010, two years after his mother retained DeLoach, the court noted.

The resentencing motion was three pages long, and DeLoach failed to file a brief in reply to the state’s 10-page memorandum opposing Turner’s resentencing. “She told Turner that she would update and resubmit the brief, but she failed to file anything additional with the court,” the per curiam opinion stated.

DeLoach admitted to the disciplinary board that she did not act with diligence in filing the motion and some of her early work was not necessary. The board found she made bad tactical decisions and failed to manage her caseload so that she could handle the Turner case competently. Both the board and the court found DeLoach violated the professional conduct rule requiring a lawyer to act with reasonable diligence and promptness when representing a client.

Warren asked for a full refund of her $7,000 retainer, but DeLoach declined to refund the money and did not provide a billing statement to her. During the disciplinary proceedings, an expert testifying on behalf of the bar association said it was likely DeLoach spent 16.6 hours working on Turner’s case and could have charged Warren $4,150, leaving Warren a $2,850 refund. DeLoach then agreed to pay the refund, but waited 36 days after the disciplinary hearing to pay. The court deemed that DeLoach violated the rule prohibiting lawyers from charging a clearly excessive fee, and that DeLoach never placed the money into a client trust account where she could withdraw payments after documenting the time spent working for the client.

In determining the sanction, the opinion explained that actions leading to her prior disciplinary charges had taken place within months of the wrongful conduct in handling the Turner case. “Thus, DeLoach committed some of the underlying misconduct while her first disciplinary case was pending,” the opinion noted. “More importantly, we would have sanctioned DeLoach differently in her prior cases if we had been aware of the extent of her misconduct.”

The court ruled its stay of the second year of suspension is contingent on DeLoach not committing further misconduct, completing 12 hours of legal education in law practice management and recordkeeping, and submitting to monitored probation.

The National Transportation Safety Board released its first report on last Tuesday's jet crash on approach to Akron Fulton Airport that killed nine. The preliminary report doesn't contain much new that hasn't been reported previously. It does note some of the wreckage including airframe, engines, primary flight controls, and landing gear were recovered and forwarded for further testing along with the voice data recorder.

Former FAA investigator Jeff Rich explains the information in the NTSB's preliminary report

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(FAA) Nonscheduled 14 CFR Part 135: Air Taxi & Commuter
Accident occurred Tuesday, November 10, 2015 in Akron, OH
Aircraft: BRITISH AEROSPACE HS 125 700A, registration: N237WR
Injuries: 9 Fatal.

This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed. NTSB investigators traveled in support of this investigation and used data obtained from various sources to prepare this aircraft accident report.On November 10, 2015, about 1452 eastern standard time (EST), Execuflight flight 1526, a British Aerospace HS 125-700A, N237WR, departed controlled flight while on approach to landing at Akron Fulton International Airport (AKR) and impacted a 4-plex apartment building in Akron, Ohio. The pilot, copilot, and seven passengers died; no ground injuries were reported. The airplane was destroyed by the crash and a postcrash fire. The airplane was registered to Rais Group International NC LLC and operated by Execuflight under the provisions of 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 135 as an on-demand charter flight. Instrument meteorological conditions prevailed, and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed. The flight departed from Dayton-Wright Brothers Airport (MGY), Dayton, Ohio, about 1413 EST and was destined for AKR.The airplane, which was based at Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, departed Cincinnati Municipal Airport-Lunken Field, Cincinnati, Ohio, about 1112 EST on the day of the accident and arrived at MGY about 1125 EST. The airplane remained parked on the ramp at one of the fixed-base operators until departing for AKR.According to Federal Aviation Administration air traffic control and radar data, about 1438 EST, the Akron-Canton terminal radar approach control facility provided radar vectors to the accident airplane for the localizer runway 25 instrument approach procedure at AKR. A Piper PA-28-161 airplane performing flight training at the airport completed the localizer runway 25 instrument approach procedure at AKR before the accident airplane began its approach. According to the flight instructor on board the Piper PA-28-161, the airplane "broke out at minimums" on the localizer runway 25 approach and landed on runway 25. After the Piper PA-28-161 exited the runway, the flight instructor reported that he heard one of the pilots of the accident airplane state "Hawker Jet on a 10 mile final localizer 25" over the Unicom frequency. Subsequently, the flight instructor radioed to the accident airplane and stated "we broke out right at minimums." According to the flight instructor, one of the pilots of the accident airplane acknowledged this transmission with "thanks for the update." About 1452 EST, a motion-activated security camera located about 900 ft to the southeast of the accident site captured the airplane as it came in over the surrounding trees in a left-wing-down attitude about 1.8 nautical miles from the approach end of runway 25 at AKR. An explosion and postcrash fire were observed on the video just after the airplane flew out of the security camera's view.The postcrash fire consumed most of the airplane; however, the airframe, engines, primary flight controls, and landing gear were all accounted for at the accident site. The airplane was equipped with a Fairchild GA-100 tape unit cockpit voice recorder, which was recovered and sent to the National Transportation Safety Board's Vehicle Recorders Laboratory for examination. About 1450 EST, the surface weather observation at AKR was wind from 240 degrees at 7 knots; visibility 1 3/4 statute mile in mist; ceiling broken at 600 ft above ground level (agl); overcast ceiling at 900 ft agl; temperature 11 degrees C (52 degrees F); dew point 9 degrees C (48 degrees F); and altimeter 29.95 inches of mercury. 

A woman is dead, her daughter and a Uniontown police officer injured after an early morning blaze today on Cleveland Avenue North near State Route 619. Officer Joshua Pirogowicz scaled to a balcony near a window where the victim was reportedly waiting for help, but the Canton Repository reports he was unable to get through a door and the heat and smoke inside was too much to get inside.

The fire broke out around 2:30 a.m. When police and fire arrived, the daughter was in the driveway shouting for help for her mother, who was still in the house on the second floor but near a window.

The daughter of the victim and Pirogowicz were taken to the hospital. There was no word on the condition of the woman but Pirogowicz reportedly suffered smoke inhalation and burns to the throat. 

The woman's name has not been released; an autopsy from the Stark County Coroner is scheduled. Two family pets, a dog and a cat, were also killed in the fire. 

Fire departments from nearby Hartville, Green, Greenville and Lakemore also responded with mutual aid.

The world still processing the Paris attacks, including Akron.

Akron native and Black Keys band member Dan Auerbach's latest project, "The Arcs," played in Paris last night on their European tour. Family and friends say all are OK and were on their way out of Paris following their show at the Le Trianon theater. The band is on European Tour before returning home; they play the Akron Civic Theater December 8th.

The American "Eagles Death Metal" band playing in the theater where 100 hostages were murdered were also reported safe, extracted from the scene by police and security. 

AT least 127 people were killed in the attacks at different locations in Paris; most were among the 100 killed in the theater where they were being held hostage. The eight attackers are also dead, seven reportedly by blowing themselves up with suicide vests. ISIS is claiming responsibility.