Bill Wills and Mike Snyder of WTAM 1100 AM This week on the Wills & Snyder show on WTAM AM/1100, Michael K. McIntyre talks with Dave Ramos about a suburban mayor's revealing book, a union complaint against RTA's boss... [...]
RTA General Manager Joseph Calabrese says he'll keep rolling up his sleeves and pitching in to help when things get busy. Union workers say he ought to stick to his own job.
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Seven Hills Mayor David Bentkowski shares intimate details of his anatomy in his self-published book about his efforts to meet celebrities and promote his city. [...]
The Cleveland Ideas Web site was supposed to generate great ideas to make life better in Cleveland. The most popular idea to date? A nude beach on Lake Erie. [...]
Kathleen Savage of Broadview Heights has a trademark on the phrase: "There's always next year." And the Browns make it easy for her to sell T-shirts and sweatshirts bearing the logo. [...]
Great news! The recession is over and Cleveland is rolling in dough. Why else would Cleveland City Council send seven council members – including a lame duck with a little more than a month left in office – to... [...]
Chuck Crow/The Plain DealerJudge Michael Ryan of Cleveland Municipal Court had a blast on Family Feud. The family of Cleveland Mu nicipal Court Judge Michael Ryan walked away with $22,000 – and plans to vacation this winter in Florida... [...]
Tipoff features offbeat takes on the news including, this week, a dustup over the misspelling of street sign in Seven Hills that has finally been corrected. [...]
Tipoff features offbeat takes on the news, including the story of Cleveland Comedy Festival organizer J.D. Sidley's courageous -- and sometimes comedic -- battle with cancer. [...]
Some familair names lost at the polls Tuesday, including several who had been part of the bold face gallery of Tipoff over the years. And Crooks retained a seat on Independence City Council. [...]
The piece, a woman carrying a water vessel, was created in Paris in 1931 by Egyptian sculptor Mahmoud Mokhtar, known as the father of modern Egyptian art for whom a museum is dedicated in Cairo. [...]
Kids in Rocky River will be missing a holiday fixture, and Bob Lintz feels much the same way after selling his Ecto-1. "It's just not going to be the same," he said. [...]
Amid much fanfare, Cleveland dignitaries assembled last week to unveil a new addition to the downtown entertainment scene in the shadow of The Q. It was . . . drum roll, please . . . a new recycling container in... [...]
The scene at Taste of Tremont turned suddenly frantic Sunday as a toddler stopped breathing and turned blue. A crowd gathered as several people took turns trying to dislodge the pretzel they thought the child must be choking on. One... [...]
Attempting to cross Euclid Avenue at East 93rd Street near the front door of the Cleveland Clinic has become so dangerous that the Clinic has assigned two police officers -- full-fledged cops from the hospital's own force, not security...
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Even the Cleveland Indians' biggest fan is on the injured reserve list. Sister Mary Assumpta, the cookie-baking nun who makes a habit of rooting for the Tribe, just had rotator-cuff surgery. Rotator-cuff problems have befallen pitchers Joe Smith and Rafael...
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The house owned by Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo, raided by the feds last year in a corruption probe, has been sold. The auditor's Web site lists the Wilson Mills Road property in Mayfield -- with its five bedrooms, quartz...
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The house owned by Cuyahoga County Auditor Frank Russo, raided by the feds last year in a corruption probe, has been sold. The auditor's Web site lists the Wilson Mills Road property in Mayfield -- with its five bedrooms, quartz... [...]
Courtesy of Chris HixsonLee Hixson and some friends The most compelling narative in the newspaper this week wasn't about public corruption, budget cuts or the death of a pop star. It did not make the front page. Under "Death Notices,"...
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CLEVELAND -- The "tomayto-tomahto" debate over how to pronounce "Cuyahoga" went national last week thanks to the 40th anniversary of the Cuyahoaga River fire. That's right. Tipoff uses the long "o." So? New York native Dan Bobkoff, a reporter...
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Parma's communications director, former TV anchor Jack Marschall, recently sent out a detailed report about how the city's unions voted on a proposal for unpaid furloughs to bridge a $2.4 million budget gap. He wasn't available to answer questions, though....
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Gov. Ted Strickland issued a rah-rah statement after the Cleveland Cavaliers traded for Shaquille O'Neal, welcoming the future Hall of Famer to Cleveland while giving the team and the city some love. "With some of the best fans in...
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Vincent Quinones, the man who sued Berea Municipal Court over excessive fees after his 2005 DUI conviction, has found another way to beat the system. Charged again with DUI on April 2, he convinced a jury of his innocence last... [...]
The cover of this year's Shaker Heights High School yearbook is a creative interpretation of a crowd of "Red Raider" mascots drawn by an artistically gifted student. But when administrators discovered a farewell message containing an F-bomb hidden in...
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CLEVELAND -- Keisha Cassel gazed in wonder at six finely crafted violins. One was hers for the taking. Nineteen-year-old Keisha and her twin, Tiesha Cassel, recently tugged at the heartstrings of Plain Dealer readers. Both overcame dire poverty to graduate... [...]
Larry Quesenberry was happy he brought his glove to the Tribe game Wednesday night and thrilled when he snagged two blasts by Kansas City Royals players. Though he admits he'd rather they had come off the bats of his beloved Indians.
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The folks at MMPI, formerly Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc., are serious about keeping information out of the hands of the city's daily newspaper. As we mentioned Monday in Tipoff (Read it here, second-to-last item), MMPI's executives refuse to talk to... [...]
The note, titled "Congatulation" Be there on time. Stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Don't chew gum. Do wear sensible shoes. Refrain from shouting, whistling or hooting. And: "The graduates will leave the state immediately after the ceremony." Everyone knows...
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The annual "Walk of the Roses," a tradition for graduating seniors at St. Joseph Academy in Cleveland's West Park neighborhood, took on historic significance this week. Students walked on Tuesday as they have for years down Rocky River Drive,...
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CLEVELAND -- Cleveland comic Mike Polk is now using his evil comedic powers for good. The funny man who caught some grief after skewering his hometown in two "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism" videos threw some harmonized haymakers at the... [...]
It's Memorial Day, the day for hot coals, cold beverages and police lurking beyond the next turn. Memorial Day Weekend is the first major driving holiday of the summer. According to the National Motorists Association, it's also the perfect time... [...]
The videos for the "official" Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism video contest are rolling in to Positively Cleveland, the city's convention and visitors bureau. As you may recall, Positively Cleveland decided if you can't beat 'em, join 'em after comedian Mike...
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The board voted Tuesday to remove him as its legislative liaison to the Ohio School Boards Association and as its liaison to the National Affiliate Advocacy Network of the National School Boards Association. [...]
It's odd enough that a Bedford father would actually call police after arguing with his son about cleaning his room. Stranger still, the sloppy son is 28 years old and serves on the Bedford school board. "I know this looks...
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It's odd enough that a Bedford father would actually call police after arguing with his son about cleaning his room. Stranger still, the sloppy son is 28 years old and serves on the Bedford School Board. "I know this looks...
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Melissa S. Brown thinks her sentence for embezzling money from the Painesville church where she worked was too harsh. Never mind that she'd embezzled from a bank she worked for once and then was convicted for another work-related crime, computer...
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This week, Tipoff chatted with host Bill Wills about the kindness of Cavs owner Dan Gilbert and the effort by Positively Cleveland to turn some funny Cleveland slams into a grand slam for Cleveland. Click here for more on the... [...]
Comedian Mike Polk and his cohorts in the Last Call Cleveland improv troupe swear they love Cleveland, even though their two "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos" are as devastating as they are self-deprecatingly funny. (Here's the sequel.) The YouTube videos...
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One of the ace pitchers for the upstart Lake Erie Crushers baseball team has moved into an assisted-living facility. No, the Frontier League team isn't signing World War II-era talent (though the Indians could do worse than to sign someone...
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Thursday night at The Q, as LeBron James and the Cavs thumped the Hawks in Game 2 of their playoff series, the night was more special for a VIP than the MVP. A 13-year-old cancer patient from Ashtabula receiving daily... [...]
Listen to Tipoff on the radio every Monday around 8:35 a.m. on WTAM 1100 AM as host Bill Wills interviews Mike McIntyre. Here's the interview on "The Big One" for Monday, May 4, 2009. We cover incoming CSU President Ronald... [...]
Griping about Cleveland? Making fun of its failings with YouTube songs or filling blogs with bile? King Hill has a better idea: Why not come up with some solutions? Hill, principal of DigiKnow, a digital marketing company in Cleveland, wants... [...]
The John Hay High School team won the 13th Mock Trial competition at Cleveland Municipal Court on Friday. It was the biggest ever, with 380 students from 17 high schools. Kids fanned out across 13 courtrooms to act as prosecutors,... [...]
They're not exactly going undercover, but soon Cleveland police may become unrecognizable. The classic black-and-white cruiser will be replaced in phases by cars that feature a mostly black paint job. One squad car in the 1st District sports a design...
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They're not exactly going undercover, but soon Cleveland police may become unrecognizable. The classic black-and-white cruiser will be replaced in phases by cars that feature a mostly black paint job. One squad car in the 1st District sports a design...
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The fight didn't wake the dead, but it wasn't for lack of trying. Cleveland police responded Wednesday night to the Craciun-Berry Funeral Home on Detroit Avenue on the city's West Side after a woman was accused of fighting at... [...]
Cleveland City Councilman Joe Cimperman wants to paint a big red "X" over a recent ruling by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Eileen A. Gallagher. Cimperman told constituents in an e-mail last week that the judge "completely trashed the...
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Cleveland Browns radio broadcaster Doug Dieken, who just turned 60, looks like he could suit up and return to the offensive line. He stands 6 feet 5 again, a couple of inches taller than he's been lately after knee... [...]
Chris Stephens/The Plain DealerLegendary Tribe broadcaster Herb Score Legendary Indians pitcher and broadcaster Herb Score will be honored at the Tribe's home opener Friday, and all season, as players wear a patch with his number (27), a microphone and his...
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Zydrunas Ilgauskas Cavs Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas is good at scoring points, blocking shots and, it appears, spreading joy. "Z" got his milestone ball back, the one he used to score his 10,000th point, and gave an autographed ball to the... [...]
Ohio Lottery Executive Director Michael Dolan handed out free promotional instant lottery tickets like they were business cards, except nobody has that many business cards. [...]
Ron Mottl CLEVELAND — Ron Mottl, the former U.S. congressman and Ohio legislator who is credited with bringing the Ohio Lottery Commission into existence, says Michael Dolan, the lottery's current executive director, should quit or be fired after being singed...
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Governor Ted Strickland has suspended Ohio Lottery Commission tickets giveaways after lottery chief Michael Dolan was criticized for sending 100 free instant lottery tickets to a state trooper who let Dolan off with a warning in a traffic stop. [...]
In case you missed it, Mary Schmitt Boyer quotes Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas in her story today talking about the lost ball Tipoff reported on Monday. I've also appended it here. After reading the quotes, you just get the impression...
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Associated PressElliott Yamin: Just say no to 'shrooms. This morning, in my weekly interview with the folks at Trapper Jack and the Morning Show on WDOK FM/102.1, co-host Terry Moir asked about how Tipoff is put together each week and...
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A message to the "fan" who stole a ball from "Z" at The Q at a recent game: Bring it back, ASAP. Seriously, stealing from a 7-foot-3, 260-pound guy with this many rabid fans? You're lucky you're not already DOA.... [...]
U.S. Sen. George Voinovich said he's "thrilled" that the state is committing $200 million in federal stimulus money to replace the Inner Belt Bridge. A day after the funding was announced, and after Voinovich got no mention in news coverage,... [...]
The Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority has decided to delay maintenance work on the Blue and Green rapid transit lines this weekend, to the relief of the folks running the Cleveland International Film Festival. As Tipoff reported Monday, RTA closed... [...]
The money collector, carrying a bag of cash from bar video games and jukeboxes, tripped on the sidewalk recently. Whoosh! A whipping wind swept up $20s, $50s, even a $100 or two. It was raining cash March 11 on Superior... [...]
When her first-floor bedroom window shattered into a rainbow of broken glass this week, Regina Rackoff swore a car had plowed into her house. "Then I looked up and saw a big wild turkey with wings spread," said the 89-year-old... [...]
The Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes & Drums Band, caught up in a media maelstrom after the suspension and resignation of its drum major, will march as usual in the St. Patrick's Day parade Tuesday. The booming voice of John... [...]
The Ohio Department of Transportation says the Inner Belt Bridge is not falling down, contrary to a persistent e-mail rumor that's been making the rounds for several weeks in Northeast Ohio, even after TV news reports debunking it. "Obviously, we...
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You know you're from Cleveland when you know the difference between "your " and "you're." But it takes you a while to prove it. A Facebook group about all things Cleveland has grown since its birth in 2007 to include... [...]
There was odor in the court Friday. Specifically, a foul-smelling lawyer in the courtroom of Parma Municipal Judge Tim Gilligan. So Gilligan cleared the courtroom Friday to talk to the lawyer, who smelled so bad he could have cleared the... [...]
The feeling in the pit of your stomach, library scofflaw, could very well be the guilt you feel over the book that's weeks, months or maybe years overdue. The feeling in the pit of the stomachs of many underprivileged Clevelanders... [...]
Courtesy of Valleycrest Prodcutions, Ltd.Roger Storm of Fairview Park won $250,000 on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Roger Storm, the NASA educator from Fairview Park, faced the half million dollar question on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" Tuesday... [...]
The 35-year Fairview High School Chemistry teacher, who now coordinates the digital learning network for NASA Glenn Research Center, answered the quarter-million-dollar quesiton correctly Monday night and opens the show Tuesday facing a decision on whether to take a stab at the half-million dollars. [...]
Opening day for the Indians brings a curve ball for Catholics this year. The April 10th home opener falls on Good Friday, when faithful Catholics abstain from meat. That means no ball park hot dogs. And don't expect dispensation from...
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Even without "Shaq Diesel," the Cavs are motoring toward the playoffs. And fans who want to come along for the ride are finally road legal. The Cavaliers specialty license plate will soon be available from the Ohio Bureau of Motor... [...]
The tears flowed for Mary Ellen Ryan last week after the death of the 49-year-old Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court bailiff. And after the funeral, her boss, Judge Thomas O'Malley, planned a genuine Irish wake at his Lakewood home. One problem:...
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Gentlemen (and ladies), stop your engines. Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone says engine exhaust is choking the environment, threatening the flow of future federal dollars to the region and thwarting economic development efforts. Instead of sitting idly by, he plans... [...]
Cuyahoga County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora, the Democratic Party boss in the crosshairs of a federal corruption probe, hasn't lost his self-deprecating sense of humor. At a swearing-in ceremony for Appeals Court Judge Larry Jones this week, Dimora had the crowd...
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Cleveland advertising and public relations firm Liggett Stashower had a bracket-style contest to rate Super Bowl commercials Monday. The winner might surprise you.... [...]
Cleveland Magazine's popular "Rating the Suburbs" issue, due out in June, already is making mayors irate in the suburbs. "I gladly offer my name for a new survey for Cleveland Magazine -- Top Ten mayors that think Cleveland Magazine should...
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When Tom Corpus Jr. and his dad watch the Super Bowl tomorrow, it'll probably go like this: Tom Jr.: "There's a clip!" Tom Corpus Sr.: "Did you see that clip?" Tom Jr.: "Clip, clip, clip, clip. The whole team. Clips!"...
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CNN, MSNBC, ABC's "Good Morning America." The Telegraph in London, and other papers and TV stations around the world. The publicity has the Firefighters Pipes corps manager worried that people will boo the group on St. Patrick's Day. [...]
Thomas Ondrey/The Plain DealerDrum Major John Coleman leads the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and Drums in the 2007 St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Cleveland. The six-month suspension of Drum Major John Coleman from the Cleveland Firefighters Memorial Pipes and... [...]
The Cleveland City Council has picked up some welcome allies as it tangles with local religious leaders who want to repeal a recently passed domestic partner registry. Last week, the Call & Post newspaper endorsed the registry, which could help... [...]
Drum Major John Coleman offered a quick nod, a fleeting wave and what looked like a wink -- all while keeping stride -- as he marched the Cleveland Firefighter's Memorial Pipes & Drums past President Barack Obama last week. Some... [...]
The employees of Cleveland Hopkins International Airport have their own numbers game going. No wonder the Ohio Lottery can't do any business there. "Every time we call the place, we run aground. We'd love to be in there," said Ohio... [...]
Click to see larger image The palette may be an Etch A Sketch, but the details of George Vlosich III's portrait of President-elect Barack Obama are anything but sketchy. The shading on Obama's forehead. His crow's-feet. The tiny stars... [...]
Mike McDaniel had just purchased the Red Rock Inn, a 168-room hotel on Rockside Road in Bedford Heights, when he saw a tow truck pull in with a wrecked minivan and a frazzled family. Joshua Cranston of Lawton, Okla., was... [...]
Robert Zelwin and his family and friends had 50 tickets to see an advance screening of the film "Defiance" this week. Tonight, he'll see it again with more friends and family, having bought out the whole house at the... [...]
Cuyahoga County begins shedding employees today in a plan that it's hoped will cut the budget and, for longtime employees, offer a going-away windfall. A yearlong buyout plan aims to cut about 850 from the work force. About 1,500 employees... [...]
The swearing-in of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brendan Sheehan attracted an inauguration-like crowd this week. More than 500 people, including more than two dozen judges, processed into the rotunda of the old county courthouse to the wail of bagpipes.... [...]
Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Kevin Rosenberg had a problem as he was arguing a case recently before Common Pleas Judge Timothy McCormick: He couldn't figure out how to get a projector to play a PowerPoint presentation for the jury. McCormick... [...]
Matisyahu, the Hasidic Jew reggae/hip-hop singer, had a problem backstage at the House of Blues Sunday. It wasn't that the meal wasn't Kosher or that his throat was too sore to sing. Rather, it was the small matter of John... [...]
Two quarterbacks are broken. The star wide receiver has silicone hands. Losses are piling up, and fans are begging for the Steelers' old coach to take over the team. What else can happen in this bizarre Browns season? Would you... [...]
With the big day just two weeks away, it's beginning to look a lot like . . . politics. The big day, of course, being the December 23 election to permanently fill Nina Turner's Ward 1 seat on Cleveland City... [...]
Cleveland City Councilman Matt Zone wants the council downsizing process to move out from behind closed doors. Anxiety at City Hall is high as at least two of the City Council's 21 wards will be eliminated next year as part... [...]
A few patrons have broached the subject with staff at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Where, they ask, is the brooch? The "Artistic Luxury" exhibit features lots of fine jewelry pieces from Faberge, Tiffany, Lalique and other designers. The marketing... [...]
