Now You Know Akron

In the latest edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Akron Beacon Journal consumer columnist and medical reporter Betty Lin-Fisher speaks Dr. Nilesh Shah and Laura McElrath to preview the upcoming Akron marathon. During this edition we talk who comes out for this event and the different type of athletes that will be running and or walking in this event. Finally, we hear tips and advice for all ability levels provided by these experts.

In the latest edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Akron Beacon Journal consumer columnist and medical reporter Betty Lin-Fisher speaks with Dr. Deborah Plate regarding fatigue. During this edition we talk about why chronic fatigue might be an issue with patients, what some of the signs and symptoms might be regarding this, and how drinking plenty of water daily can have multiple benefits.

In the latest edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Akron Beacon Journal consumer columnist and medical reporter Betty Lin-Fisher speaks with is Dr. Eileen Wong, University Hospitals East Region Sleep Lab Medical Director. During this episode we talk about what makes for a good night’s sleep, when you might need to see a sleep expert, and why good sleeping habits are important to your overall health.

In the latest edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Akron Beacon Journal medical reporter Betty Lin-Fisher speaks with Dr. Grosel who is the Chief Medical Officer for UnitedHealth Care for Ohio. During this podcast episode we discuss what Agoraphobia is, what Agoraphobics have had to deal with, and how the Coronavirus pandemic has impacted this.

In the latest edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with Cedar Point spokesman Tony Clark regarding the new offerings this season, including the Frontier Festival and new food items, as well as construction work going on in the park.

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with Stow-Munroe Falls High School junior AJ Garduño to discuss his viral talent show performance. During this edition we talk about when he started playing guitar, his love for music, and what he wants to do after graduating high school.

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with special guests Akron Promise founder Tom Ghinder and Executive Director Néna Roy. During this edition we talk about what the Akron Promise is, what it is trying to accomplish, and preview the start of the Akron City Race series. Read more:Akron Promise

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with special guest Emyrson Flora on her experience after her Top 10 run on American Idol. During this edition we talk about the opportunities that Emyrson has had with American Idol and how she now plans to purse a career in music.

Akron Children's Hospital sports psychologist Allyson Weldon joins the Akron Beacon Journal's Betty Lin-Fisher to discuss mental-health challenges for youth athletes in the relaunch of the Healthy Actions column.

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with Akron Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans and special guest Jamie Keaton to discuss retirement and his current situation regarding this topic. Next, we discuss what a panel of others said about retirement, how likely they are to do so, and what it means for their long-term plans.

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with Akron Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans and special guest Chris Harvey to discuss beginning or switching careers. Chris shares his experiences as a freelance graphic designer, talks about freelancing vs. a full-time 40-hour workweek, and his time so far spent in the military.

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with Akron Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans and special guest Jennifer Ash to discuss the pros and cons of raising children. Jennifer shares her experience with raising her kids as a single mother, provides insight into tough times and shares advice for new parents.

In this episode of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with ABJ reporter Tawney Beans and special guest Erin Bushea-Chapman on the topic of marriage. During this edition they discuss a medical condition that Erin was diagnosed with 4 months after getting married, why Erin choose to get married in the first place, and talk what the general conclusion on marriage is for residents in Akron and Summit County.

Akron Beacon Journal reporter Betty Lin-Fisher sat down with colleague Marla Ridenour to talk about her career, the reason she decided to unveil a 47-year-old secret about being sexually assaulted and the "staggering" responses she's received from around the country.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb speaks with ABJ reporter Tawney Beans and special guest Jo Bayer, who is a current resident of Cuyahoga Falls. During this episode we discuss the pros and cons of homeownership, Jo’s outlook on life, and some advice she shares with us about what to do if you unhappy in your current situation.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, reporter Craig Webb speaks with guest Dan Flowers who is head of the Akron-Canton Foodbank to discuss what services and campaigns the foodbank provides and how the concept of foodbanking got its start.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, reporter Kerry Clawson interviews actress and Copley native, Carrie Coon. Coon stars in the HBO period drama, "The Gilded Age," which has gotten a lot of buzz since its Jan. 24 premiere. It was renewed Feb. 14 by HBO for a second season, and Coon expects to be filming again by April or May. Coon discusses playing the role of the ruthless Bertha Russell. "To me, she was in some ways the best role in the series because she is driving so much of the action," Coon said.

On this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Beacon Journal reporter Betty Lin-Fischer talks with Eva Velasquez, the CEO of the Identity Theft Resource Center, about the effect the war in Ukraine could have on cyberattacks in Akron and the surrounding region.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Stephanie Warsmith are joined by Ashley Kline, director of services for the Rape Crisis Center. Many people might think of stalking as something that happens to celebrities with crazed fans who take their adoration too far. But local victim advocates say stalking happens to regular folks who are targeted by someone with whom they had a relationship. “Overwhelmingly, people are more likely to be stalked by a spouse or ex-partner than a stranger,” said Kline.

In this special edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Beacon Journal reporter Jennifer Pignolet is joined by University of Akron professor and political and security expert Dr. Karl Kaltenthaler to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He also serves on an advisory group of academics and other experts, consulting for the U.S. government on national security issues. “This is a big deal,” he said. “This is a very destabilizing invasion in Europe. It’s shocking, despite us seeing this coming for a while. We’re in a very dangerous time right now. This could completely upend how we thought about peace and stability in Europe.”

In this special edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb catches up with Dion Stentz, owner of Uniquely Inspired Gift Baskets in Fairlawn. “All of our gift baskets are customized or personalized,” Stentz said. “None of our gifts are sitting on the shelves waiting to be purchased by a random recepiete who wants a gift.” Uniquely Inspired Gift Baskets was featured earlier this year as part of the Beacon Journal’s ongoing “Focus on Black-owned businesses” series. The Now You Know Akron podcast will also begin to highlight entrepreneurs from this series on a regular basis, discussing the challenges for young, minority business owners as well as the variety of goods and services they offer to the community. For more info, visit Uniquely Inspired Gift Baskets on Facebook. 

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans talk with Jim Brandenburg, a tax partner at accounting and professional services firm Sikich LLP. Brandenburg discussed change in tax law that could affect users of Venmo, PayPal and other cash apps. 

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Seyma Bayram are joined by Pastor Gregory Harrison. Harrison, a retired Akron police officer and reverend of Antioch Baptist Church, tells the story of his family being displaced by construction of the Akron Innerbelt when he was just a child.  “It really shook my sense of security,” Harrison said. "We were moved to pretty much what I would consider a foreign land.”

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by reporter Stephanie Warsmith to discuss the latest episode in the Unresolved series. The latest installment looks at the 1980 stabbing death of Jeffrey Sauber at a drive-in theater in Coventry Township.  Sauber, an 18-year-old Marine from Lawrence Township, was stabbed by a stranger in a long black trench coat who walked past him. Sauber followed the man and the two exchanged words. Sauber then stumbled back to his friend’s car, told him he’d been stabbed and fell down.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Krista Kano are joined by Tallmadge city employee Kelli Funk, who talks about her experience working through the pandemic as an administrative assistant in the planning and zoning department and cemetery department. Funk and fellow Tallmadge city employee Tara Ripple advocated to city council for hazard pay for working through the challenges of COVID-19. 

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, reporter Krista Kano sits down with Copley’s own Michael Allio to talk in depth about his memorable appearance on “The Bachelorette.” Allio, who became a fan favorite, joined the show two years after his wife, Laura died, of breast cancer, but self-eliminated right before the “hometown” dates to be with his young son, James, now 5.  Nine months after leaving the show, Allio is using his new found celebrity to continue to support families dealing with cancer through his nonprofit, the L4 (Live Life Like Laura) Project, and to bring attention to others who need help. He’s doing it all while still trying to find a balance between fame, charity, work, family and love.  

In this special edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, we catch up with Brent Wesley, owner of Akron Honey. “I wasn’t intending on it being a business,” Wesley said of getting his business started. “But then folks started figuring out what we were doing and saying, ‘Hey, can we get some of that honey? How much you selling it for?’” Akron Honey was featured earlier this year as part of the Beacon Journal’s ongoing “Focus on Black-owned businesses” series. The Now You Know Akron podcast will also begin to highlight entrepreneurs from this series on a regular basis, discussing the challenges for young, minority business owners as well as the variety of goods and services they offer to the community.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by recent record-setting Jeopardy champion Matt Amodio. They talk about Matt's historic run on the popular game show and what's next for the Medina native. 

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, sports reporter George Thomas sits down with new University of Akron football coach, Joe Moorhead. The university introduced the soon-to-be former offensive coordinator of the Oregon Ducks earlier this month. Moorhead inherits a team that’s gone 3-28 in its past three seasons and is looking to improve its fortunes in the Mid-American Conference.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Jen Pignolet are joined by Olyvia Raber, a senior at Akron Public Schools' Firestone Community Learning Center. They talk about discipline and behavior issues at public schools since districts have returned to in-person instruction. They also highlight the importance of mental health awareness and care among students.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, reporter Kerry Clawson shares her exclusive interview with Canton native and Broadway dancer Amanda Kloots. Kloots talks about her journey of healing on ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” following the death of her husband, Broadway star Nick Cordero, to COVID in 2020.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by reporter Amanda Garrett to discuss the Beacon Journal’s comprehensive look at employee and supply shortages across the Akron area. On Nov. 18, an editor, four photographers and 18 reporters visited numerous area businesses to discuss employee and supply shortages among a wide variety of establishments including hospitals, veterinarian offices, schools, daycares, toy stores, grocers, hardware stores and many more. The full story will be published on BeaconJournal.com on Thursday, and a slightly abridged version will appear in the Beacon’s print edition on Sunday.  Garrett led the effort in compiling the numerous scenarios highlighted, and most businesses are facing multiple challenges.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, Craig Webb is joined by Stan Hywet Hall & Garden’s “Queen of Christmas,” Chloe Wingard. The curatorial projects specialist talks about the historic home’s Hollywood-based holiday theme, “Lights, Camera, Christmas.” “Throughout the whole tour route, all of our visitors are going to see nods to old Hollywood, some historic movies for Christmas as well as themes of family-favorite Christmas movies,” Wingard said.

In this special edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, we catch up with Savannah Griggs, owner of Sweet and Savvy, a home-based baking business that specializes in custom cakes, cupcakes and chocolate-dipped items. The business also has a new storefront on the way in downtown Akron with plans to open in the summer of next year. Sweet and Savvy was featured earlier this year as part of the Beacon Journal’s ongoing “Focus on Black-owned businesses” series. The Now You Know Akron podcast will also begin to highlight entrepreneurs from this series on a regular basis, discussing the challenges for young, minority business owners as well as the variety of goods and services they offer to the community. For more information, visit https://www.sweetandsavvy.shop/.

On this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by opera singer and music teacher Brian Keith Johnson. Johnson, a 32-year veteran of Akron Public Schools, recently sang the national anthem at the Browns-Steelers game in Cleveland. “There are two songs, this is my personal opinion, that you don’t mess with,” Johnson said. “You don’t mess with the school’s alma mater, you do it as it was written. And for the most part, you do the national anthem as it was written, as Francis Scott Key wrote it. So that is what I do out of respect for the composer, out of respect for the music and out of respect for the country.”

In this week’s Now You Know Akron (NYKA) podcast, Tania Nemer, the community outreach prosecutor for the Summit County Prosecutor’s Office, and Nicole “Niki” Clum, the legislative policy manager for the Ohio Public Defender’s Office, debate the merits of Senate Bill 256, a new state law that provides parole eligibility for juvenile offenders based on the amount of time they’ve served and what they were convicted of, as well as prohibiting life without parole sentences, except in rare circumstances.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by Beacon Journal reporters Mark J. Price and Tawney Beans to talk all things about Akron food. Webb, Price, Beans and fellow reporter Kerry Clawson contribute to a regular Beacon Journal food feature, Local Flavor. The group reviews and spotlights area eateries and grub spots from the Akron restaurant scene every week, and here they discuss some of their favorite finds and preview what’s next in the popular series.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, 10-year-old Cuyahoga Falls student Kaylan Park and her mother Kenyona “Sunny” Matthews join host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Phil Keren to talk about Park’s speech at a recent school board meeting. Park stepped up to the microphone at a contentious gathering in the Cuyahoga Falls Natatorium to discuss the importance of wearing masks. “I could see that so many kids were not bothered by masks,” Park explained on the podcast. “We don’t want to wear them, but we are not bothered by them.”

On this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston are joined by a panel to talk housing issues and how a group of residents from a pair of East Akron apartment complexes banded together to form a tenants union after a variety of concerns about their living conditions were going unheard.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by one of Akron’s most well-known and prolific artists, Don Drumm. They discuss his legendary career and talk about his studio and gallery at 437 Crouse Street which is celebrating its 50th anniversary.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, it’s a podcast about a podcast as host Craig Webb interviews “Live Your Purpose” podcast host John Morgan Jr. An Akron native, Morgan uses the inspiration of entrepreneurs to help others find their purpose in life. “I really want to be able to highlight entrepreneurs,” Morgan said. “Being myself a new entrepreneur, I really have a firm appreciation for the mentality that it takes to have foundational skills to be an entrepreneur, which I consider to be taking risks, facing fear and really having a certain level of faith and belief in yourself to be able to pour into yourself and ultimately be able to provide value and do things for others.” It’s also about highlighting opportunities and breaking cycles among minorities. “A lot of my story has really happened so organically. It does come from a place of me feeling like I understand the big picture of the opportunities that are out there.”

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by Beacon Journal reporter Phil Keren to recap and discuss the latest developments in the Hudson schools book controversy. Recently, Hudson mayor Craig Shubert asked all five school board members to resign or face possible criminal charges over high school course material that he said a judge called “child pornography.”

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Amanda Garrett talk to Ohio's Long-Term Care Ombudsman Beverely Laubert about the state of nursing homes in Ohio. Laubert said long-term care during a pandemic is a complex issue. “It’s difficult enough, and then faced with COVID … it just is nothing that anyone ever expected,” she said.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb is joined by George Hessler, a 9/11 terrorist attack survivor and Silver Lake native who was in the north tower of the World Trade Center when it was struck by a hijacked airplane. He talks about his harrowing escape just minutes before the building fell and his life since that terrible attack.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Betty Lin-Fisher are joined by Dr. Robert McGregor, Chief Medical Officer of Akron Children’s Hospital, to talk about delta variant COVID concerns with school-aged children and its impact on hospitals as case numbers rise. “We’re seeing an increased number of kids that are coming in symptomatic, and we’re seeing an increased positivity rate among kids who come in with respiratory symptoms,” McGregor said. “The delta variant is much more contagious. It tends to make the kids sicker, faster.”

Akron and other major cities across the country are experiencing a wave of gun violence and an increase in homicides. In this edition of the podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Sean McDonnell are joined by Lt. Michael Miller, head of Akron’s community relations department for Akron police; Russ Neal, the councilman serving Akron’s Ward 4; and Tim Anderson, founder of the Fallen Father’s Foundation. The group has a roundtable discussion on the recent rise in gun violence in Akron and what can be done about it moving forward.

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, guest host B.J. Lisko is joined by Akron native and former Judas Priest singer Tim "Ripper" Owens. The accomplished heavy metal/hard rock vocalist talks about his new band with fellow Judas Priest alum, KK Downing, KK's Priest. "Ripper" also chats about getting the gig with Judas Priest, his connection to Akron and more.  Song clips used in this podcast: "Brothers of the Road" - KK's Priest; "Hellfire Thunderbolt" - KK's Priest; "The Way" - A New Revenge. 

In this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Sean McDonnell are joined by new Akron police chief, Steve Mylett. Mylett talked in the midst of his journey from Bellevue, Washington to Akron, where he started on Aug. 9. The new chief says he’s anxious and excited to being building relationships with the city.

On this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal education reporter Jennifer Pignolet are joined by new Akron Public Schools Superintendent Christine Fowler Mack. Fowler Mack is starting her second month in the position, and she’s the first woman and first Black woman to hold the job. An Akron graduate herself from East High School, she comes to Akron from Cleveland schools, where she helped oversee the Cleveland Plan to transform high schools similarly to the way Akron has implemented College and Career Academies. 

On this edition of the Now You Know Akron podcast, host Craig Webb and Beacon Journal reporter Doug Livingston are joined by Shontel Brown and Nina Turner, frontrunners in the Democratic primary of the 11th Congressional District that includes Cleveland and parts of Akron.  As reported by Livingston, fundraising totals and polling point to a two-woman race. Brown, a councilwoman and party chair in Cuyahoga County, has gobbled up endorsements from party establishment figures, including Hillary Clinton, while former state Sen. Nina Turner leads the left wing of the party with the backing of progressives, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.