Growing up in the Cleveland suburbs, Wilbert Cooper was a member of a police family. Both his parents are retired police officers, his sister is a cop, and there's been an officer in his family going back as far as 1950. The Strongsville native chose not to follow in their footsteps, becoming a writer instead. But Cooper says he'd heard stories of his family members in the line of duty, and their involvement with The Black Shield, an organization of Black police officers in Cleveland that shapes...

On a Sunday afternoon, the sounds of young people having fun echoed outside Rocket Arena in Downtown Cleveland, in what was billed as a "teen takeover."The space was filled with activities for teenagers: a DJ playing music over loudspeakers, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament, a gaming truck, food trucks and booths with information from local mental health and community safety nonprofits.The event looked far different from the popular image of teen takeovers — large gatherings of teens in parks, pub...

Catholicism is on the rise nationwide, as well as in Ohio. Baptisms in the Cleveland diocese — a region encapsulating a number of counties in Northeast Ohio — have risen by 198% since 2020.But as the Church attracts more new members, it is still dealing with a priest shortage. The number of Catholic priests dropped by 40% between 1970 and 2024. However, some religious organizations are trying to fill the gaps by making women priests, even as the institutional Church forbids women from serving in...

The corner of St. Clair and Eddy Road in Cleveland’s Forest Hills neighborhood is a pretty busy intersection where cars speed past. There’s also trash everywhere — on the sidewalks, in the street gutters and especially in nearby vacant lots. Fortunately, there’s a group of brothers willing to do something about it.On a recent afternoon, brothers Drevian Arrington and Andre Willis used trash pickers and their own gloved hands to pick up old receipts, snack food wrappers and plastic bottles, and p...

Bill Patterson sweeps up after some turkeys and pigs he keeps in a barn at Patterson Fruit Farms in Chesterland — a Northeast Ohio institution most famous for its apples and fall pumpkin displays.Patterson, a sixth-generation farmer and president of the Ohio Farm Bureau, says farming has never been easy. But current financial pressures are making the profession particularly tough.“When the tariffs came into place, there's just this new reality for agriculture that the expenses spiked,” Patterson...

Bolton Elementary School’s annual community health fair has all the amenities you’d expect at a summer festival. In the parking lot, a DJ plays music over the loudspeaker. People are waiting in long lines at food trucks. Some kids are begging their parents to get them ice cream, while others jump around in a bouncy house.But this event in Cleveland’s Fairfax neighborhood — now in its fifth year — has a purpose that goes beyond warm weather frivolity.“I think that what this has become is really a...