Mike Sigov

4 days ago | toledoblade.com | Mike Sigov

Lucas County and Wood County voters will cast their ballots in the May 6 primary election on proposals that could raise their property taxes. Harding Township voters will be asked to decide on a proposed fire and rescue services levy, with a renewal of 2.0 mills and the increase of 1.5 mills. It comes after voters rejected a 1-mill operating levy in November to support those services. If passed, the five-year, 3.5-mill levy will generate $79,000 annually for the township.

5 days ago | toledoblade.com | Mike Sigov

Robert “Bob” Bell, a music performer, teacher, administrator, and president emeritus of Toledo Symphony, died Tuesday in Hospice of Northwest Ohio, South Detroit Avenue. He was 86. The family did not report the cause of death. “He was all of those things,” said Zak Vassar, president and CEO of the Toledo Alliance for Performing Arts and a lifelong friend. “I always looked to him as kind of the connective tissue at the Toledo Symphony.

1 week ago | toledoblade.com | Mike Sigov

With her retired husband undergoing a series of surgeries, Thelma Coleman often had to choose between paying utility bills and buying medical supplies. Then, a couple of months ago, a social worker referred her to Blessings in Disguise, a Maumee nonprofit that provides free medical equipment and supplies to seniors, veterans, and the disabled without insurance or with insurance that won’t pay for it. “I feel so blessed,” Ms. Coleman, a retired Toledo healthcare worker, said.

1 week ago | toledoblade.com | Mike Sigov

Neighbors pushed back Tuesday against an amended $5 million proposal to widen a section of Secor Road in West Toledo, citing right-of-way, traffic safety, and property value concerns. “My experience in the four years I've been [living on Secor Road] has been a disaster: There’s been 10 [traffic] accidents right in front of my house,” said neighborhood resident Michael Wagenhouser. “People are speeding, going 50, 60, 70 miles an hour, and I don’t think that the widening project is going to help.

1 week ago | toledoblade.com | Mike Sigov

Area residents protested vociferously Monday against FirstEnergy Corp.’s request to increase electric distribution rates and called on the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to deny it. “There are many people — if you you just go north of here, two blocks up — who, I can tell you, can barely afford to put the food on their table,” Mike Kookoothe, a longtime Toledo resident, said addressing the commission.