ELYRIA — The county’s Solid Waste Management District’s Policy Committee approved a controversial “pay-as-you-throw” trash program Tuesday, but it’s still far from a done deal. County commissioners, the city of Lorain and communities representing 60 percent of the county’s population must still sign off on the plan for it to become reality. The biggest stumbling [...]

Adoption center being closed in favor of spay, neuter program VERMILION — Faced with the reality that adoption will not curtail the growing homeless pet population, the World Animal Foundation has decided to close its pet adoption center. President Gary Barnby said the nonprofit organization, headquartered on Liberty Avenue, instead plans to focus on low-cost [...]

ELYRIA — The county’s judges are asking the Ohio Supreme Court to conduct a review of the security at the county Justice Center to help settle a debate over whether police officers can carry firearms in the courthouse. The ban on any officer not assigned to courthouse security carrying a weapon has been in place [...]

HUNTINGTON TWP. — A Huntington Township man has been charged with nine counts of animal cruelty after sheriff’s deputies discovered a pen full of neglected alpacas at his state Route 58 farm last month, deputies said. Dan Dailey, 41, was charged with nine counts of animal cruelty because deputies found two dead alpacas and squalid [...]

So nothing’s scarier than a Dementor? How about the feeding frenzy being conjured in area bookstores, theaters and towns at the marketing dream of a Harry Potter double-whammy? Today, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” opens on thousands of screens across the nation. And, if that wasn’t enough, bookstores, libraries and entire communities [...]

AVON — It’s officially up to Avon voters to decide if they want a recreation center, a minor league baseball team and other first-class athletics facilities. Council approved adding a 0.25 percent income tax increase to the November ballot during Monday’s meeting. The projects hinge on the tax increase, which would bring the city’s income [...]

VERMILION — Heather Schutes, 14, was feeling pretty good about herself around 9:30 p.m. Tuesday. “I never saved someone in my whole life,” Heather said, smiling and crying a bit as she stood on a lakeside cliff at Vermilion’s Showse Park.  Heather’s elation came after the unsettling event that she and her boyfriend, Ray Agront, [...]