Loveland, Ohio – On November 9th the weather outside was more Summeresque than almost winter. Inside the Chuck Schmidt Auditorium at Loveland High School, the reception for student-athletes was even warmer as proud parents, school staff, coaches, and fellow athletes gathered to witness the signing of letters of intent to further academic and athletic careers at institutions of higher learning.
When you view this video, pay special note to the grade-point averages of these student-athletes.
Athletic Director Rich Bryant introduced:
Sophia Kapszukiewicz – Soccer at at Northern Kentucky University
Campbell Massey – Soccer at Taylor University
Courtney Haneline – Soccer at Webster University
Madison Conatser – Cross Country/Track and Field at the University of Cincinnati
Callum McGill – Baseball at Morehead State
Victoria Blum – Cheer at Mt. St. Joseph University (could not attend the ceremony)
Below is a release issued by the University of Cincinnati today.
Updates
Spring 2022 Return to Campus
Due to the recent increase in local, state, and national COVID-19 cases, and the high transmission rate of the Omicron variant, the University of Cincinnati will transition online January 5, 2022 and pivot back to full in-person activities on Monday, January 24, 2022.
To minimize the disruption that the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant and subsequent quarantining and classroom absences would have on our operations, classes, along with academic support services, will be conducted online for the first two weeks of the academic semester.
The goal of this in-person delay is for us to assess the impact of Omicron on our populations; let the spike in transmissions run its course; implement additional measures for screening testing and vaccination; and allow faculty, staff, and students the opportunity to receive booster shots.
We want to ensure that, when we come back, we come back to a safer, healthier and fully vibrant face-to-face experience.
Vaccine Requirement
In response to full FDA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the University of Cincinnati is requiring students, faculty and staff to be vaccinated against COVID-19. The university is taking this step to promote the health and safety of our university community. Research shows vaccines are the most effective form of protection against COVID-19.
All World Health Organization endorsed vaccines, including those in the U.S. made by Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson, will fulfill the vaccine requirement. Booster shots may also be required in the future.
The university’s physician-led COVID Response Team is closely monitoring, local, regional, national and global trends related to COVID 19. Current standard policies apply to university-related domestic travel. International travel, is subject to additional review in light of changing circumstances.
Effective December 6, 2021, due to the Omicron variant you will need to have a COVID-19 viral test (regardless of vaccination status or citizenship) no more than 1 day before you travel by air into the United States. You must show your negative result to the airline before you board your flight. If you recently recovered from COVID-19, you may instead travel with documentation of recovery from COVID-19 (i.e., your positive COVID-19 viral test result on a sample taken no more than 90 days before the flight’s departure from a foreign country and a letter from a licensed healthcare provider or a public health official stating that you were cleared to travel).
Effective November 29, 2021, students and scholars from Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe will not be able to enter the U.S. as a result of the Omicron Coronavirus variant. Currently, no exemptions or an expiration date have been issued. Additional details will be added as they become available.
Facial Coverings
Given the most-recent developments with the virus, and in keeping with guidance from the CDC, individuals, both fully vaccinated and those not fully vaccinated, are required to wear a facial covering indoors (unless you have received an exemption or accommodation; or when eating, drinking or alone in a private room). See more details on facial coverings.
Those who are not fully vaccinated are required to wear a facial covering when outdoors and unable to maintain social distancing. Individuals who are not wearing a facial covering when outdoors are attesting to compliance with this requirement.
Spring 2022 Screening Testing
Currently, the university is offering weekly COVID screening testing. The testing site is located on the ground level of Steger Student Life Center.
Faculty, staff and students can submit proof of vaccination, which consists of a snapshot of your vaccination card, via the UC COVID Check app and the web-based version of the COVID Check app. Please do not submit other materials at this link.
The university may revisit these testing practices and protocols, depending on testing needs and the changing context.
Quarantine and Isolation
Given that broad access to vaccines is available, on-campus quarantine and isolation housing is on reserve for student use but may be limited depending on events. Thus, on-campus quarantine and isolation housing cannot be guaranteed at any time. All students should have individual plans for isolation and quarantine housing in the event they are required to do so. Let’s remember that vaccination is currently the best way to prevent the need to quarantine or isolate.
UC COVID Check App
The UC COVID Check App will remain in use and operation during the Spring 2022 Semester.
Students are required – and faculty, staff and visitors are strongly encouraged – to report via the UC COVID Check App if they develop viral symptoms, receive a positive COVID test result or have been in close contact with a COVID-positive person.
To Remember
As we move forward together as a community, let’s also remember our campus practices may need to change as conditions change. As such, all COVID-19 practices and policies are subject to revision and updates.
Questions
Please read the above information, links and other navigation on this page. If you still have questions after reviewing the available information, please email campusreturn@uc.edu Please check this site regularly as all COVID-19 practices and policies delineated throughout this site are subject to revision and updates.
Loveland, Ohio – The 2021 Fall National College Signing Day, a day that so many Senior student-athletes look forward to, finally took place Wednesday at Loveland High School’s Gymnasium!
The yearly ceremony aims to not only celebrate the hard work and dedication that Loveland’s top student-athletes have put in the last 4 years but also brings together the student-athlete’s family members, coaches, teachers, staff, and peers to witness the big “signing” moment.
Director of Student Athletics, Brian Conatser, introduced the student-athletes, as they sat down at the college signing table surrounded by their biggest supporters and loved ones. We of course couldn’t be prouder of these student-athletes and wish them the best of luck in their future collegiate athletic endeavors!
The following LHS Senior student-athletes signed to play athletics collegiately in 2022:
• Sarah Madix – University of Cincinnati, Cross Country, and Track and Field
• Ryan Chevalier – Virginia Tech, Cross Country and Track and Field
• Jesse Gibbins – Central Michigan University, Cross Country and Track and Field
• Emmy Sager – University of Cincinnati, Cross Country, and Track and Field
• Leiah Goedde – Ashland University, Soccer
• Jackson Lux – University of the Pacific, Baseball
Check out the exclusive video shot by David Miller on Loveland Magazine TV of the LHS Fall National College Signing Day Ceremony!
Congratulations to these OUTSTANDING Tiger student-athletes for getting the opportunity to fine-tune their crafts at the collegiate level! It has been a joy watching each and every one of you thrive as students and excel as athletes. We will be cheering all of you on as you take the next step in your athletic and education journey! LONG LIVE THE LOVELAND TIGERS! GOOD LUCK SENIORS!
For more Loveland sports updates stay tuned to the Sports 411 With ME, Cassie Mattia!
A Butler County judge ruled in favor of a woman last week who sought to force a hospital to administer Ivermectin — an animal dewormer that federal regulators have warned against using in COVID-19 patients — to her husband after several weeks in the ICU with the disease.
Butler County Common Pleas Judge Gregory Howard ordered West Chester Hospital, part of the University of Cincinnati network, to treat Jeffrey Smith, 51, with Ivermectin. The order, filed Aug. 23, compels the hospital to provide Smith with 30mg of Ivermectin daily for three weeks.
The drug was originally developed to deworm livestock animals before doctors began using it against parasitic diseases among humans. Several researchers won a Nobel Prize in 2015 for establishing its efficacy in humans. It’s used to treat head lice, onchocerciasis (river blindness) and others.
Estimated number of outpatient ivermectin prescriptions dispensed from retail pharmacies — United States, March 16, 2019–August 13, 2021. Data are from the IQVIA National Prescription Audit Weekly (NPA Weekly) database. NPA Weekly collects data from a sample of approximately 48,900 U.S. retail pharmacies, representing 92% of all retail prescription activity. Source: CDC.
Julie Smith filed the lawsuit on behalf of her husband of 24 years. He tested positive for COVID-19 July 9, was hospitalized and admitted to the ICU July 15, and was sedated and intubated and placed on a ventilator Aug. 1. He later developed a secondary infection he’s still wrestling with as of Aug. 23, court records say.
The lawsuit doesn’t mention whether Jeffrey Smith is vaccinated against COVID-19. However, overwhelming majorities of people currently hospitalized with COVID-19 are unvaccinated — data from the Ohio Department of Health shows of roughly 21,000 Ohioans hospitalized with COVID-19 since Jan. 1, only about 500 were vaccinated.
Julie Smith found Ivermectin on her own and connected with Dr. Fred Wagshul, an Ohio physician who her lawsuit identifies as “one of the foremost experts on using Ivermectin in treating COVID-19.” He prescribed the drug, and the hospital refused to administer it.
A hospital spokeswoman said she can’t comment on litigation and federal patient privacy laws prevent her from commenting on any specifics of patient care.
The Ohio lawsuit makes reference to the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, a nonprofit of which Wagshul is listed as a founding physician. The organization touts Ivermectin as both a preventative and treatment for COVID-19. Its “How To Get Ivermectin” section includes prices and locations of pharmacies that will supply it, from Afghanistan to Fort Lauderdale to Pennsylvania to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
In an interview, Wagshul said the science behind Ivermectin’s use in COVID-19 patients is “irrefutable.” The CDC and FDA engaged in a “conspiracy,” he said, to block its use to protect the FDA’s emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines. He said the mainstream media and social media companies have been engaging in “censorship” on Ivermectin’s merits, and that the U.S. government’s refusal to acknowledge its benefits amounts to genocide.
“If we were a country looking at another country allowing those [COVID-19] deaths daily … we would have been screaming, ‘Genocide!’” he said.
Wagshul said he had no financial interest in the sale of Ivermectin.
Dr. Leanne Chrisman-Khawam, a physician and professor at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine, called the FLCCCA “snake oil salesmen.” She reviewed the association’s research on the drug’s uses and said there are some serious problems with its cited studies: many of them don’t show positive results, and those that do bear design flaws like small control groups, unaccounted for variables, non-blinded studies, not accounting for mitigations like vaccines and masking practices, and others.
“Based on evidence-based medicine and my read on this large number of small studies, I would find this very suspect, even the positive outcomes,” she said.
Several state authorities declined to comment on the matter. Cameron McNamee, a spokesman for the state Board of Pharmacy, referred inquiries to the state Medical Board, the attorney general, and the Ohio Hospital Association.
A spokesman for the state Medical Board, which licenses physicians, said its jurisdiction is over the practice of doctors and how they uphold standards of care — not lawsuits.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Dave Yost declined comment and referred inquiries to the Board of Pharmacy and Veterinary Board.
An Ohio Hospital Association spokesman called the lawsuit “interesting” but said he’d need to confer with his legal team before commenting.
It’s unclear why the hospital didn’t mount any defense under a new law passed in the state budget this summer that grants health care providers the “freedom to decline to perform” any service which violates their “conscience,” as informed by moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
No attorney information for West Chester Hospital was available on the court docket as of Friday afternoon.
Symmes Township, Ohio – Emma Rudnicki, was honored to present a check on behalf of the Ride Cincinnati Foundation for local cancer research in the amount of $500,000. Emma is a 13 year-old 8th grader at Loveland Middle School and led a team of Youth Ambassadors to raise funds for this year’s virtual ride/campaign.
The check was presented to the Barrett Cancer Center at the University of Cincinnati.
Emma plays tennis for Loveland Middle and the Club atHarper’s Point, and has danced at Premier Tumbling & Dance here in Loveland for several years. She has cheered for Loveland Youth Football in the past as well.
Emma reached out to family and friends to raise over $1,000 for her team (one of several pelotons). She formed a team and sent communications out on a regular basis during the 2020 campaign year.
She rode her bike on the Loveland Bike Trail, usually with her father Mike and posted her rides on social media to promote the cause and helped others to understand the need for the Foundation.
Mike Rudnicki said, “Our family has been a part of the event for 10 years. Under the new format for the ride, the minimum age to ride is 14 or older. While not quite 14, Emma asked me how she could continue to be a part of the event.” Together, they came up with the idea of forming a team of young people, Youth Ambassadors, to be able to participate and get involved in the annual fundraising campaign. “We pitched the idea to the Foundation’s planning committee and they approved the idea. In addition, they commissioned a Youth Ambassador tee-shirt for those that raised funds and were a part of her team,” Mike said.
Emma was the first Youth Ambassador, however, several of her friends helped her with spreading the word. She was identified by the Ride Cincinnati Foundation as the Youth Ambassador for 2020. Her father said that this year, and in future years, they hope to have a Youth Ambassador program to identify another Youth Ambassador to get other young people involved, raise funds, and spread the word regarding the work of the Foundation.
Mike Rudnicki
Mike Rudnicki is the foundation’s treasurer and a board member. He has helped raise funds for the event for several years. “I recently became involved, along with the founders, the Harris Family, to help transition the organization to raise funds similar to other events like Pelotonia in Columbus which benefits the James Cancer Center and VeloSano in Cleveland benefitting the Cleveland Clinic/Taussig Cancer Center.”
Mike said that Cincinnati is the largest area in the country without a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated cancer center. Should UC/Cincinnati Children’s/UC Health get the designation, that would be a benefit to all area health systems in the region. “Mercy, St. Elizabeth’s, TriHealth, and Christ have all joined in to support the cause and are forming teams. There are several companies who have made significant pledges toward a capital campaign for this project. Ride Cincinnati aims to be the annual fundraising arm to help raise significant funds for cancer research and care,” said Mike.
Emma’s ultimate goal is raising money to bring a NCI center to Cincinnati. Normally, they have an in-person event, but that was cancelled this year. They hope to host an in-person event September 17-18 of 2021.
ABOUT Ride Cincinnati
“Choose a ride distance and fundraise a recommended amount or simply elect to establish your own goal as a virtual rider without a distance. Don’t forget, regardless of your choice, there are no fundraising requirements or minimums. As an important reminder, 100% of every participant-raised dollar is proudly directed to cancer research and care in the Greater Cincinnati area. How many organizations can say every penny you raise goes to research and care?”
“Born in 2007, Ride Cincinnati’s objective is to become the leading grassroots organization funding cancer research and care in Greater Cincinnati. 100% of every rider-raised dollar goes directly to life-saving cancer research and care right here in our community.” https://ridecincinnati.org
A reoccurring theme rang at the visitation, funeral, and two nights of Shiva for Loveland resident Judy Leever.
This is a reprint of an Editorial Published in Loveland Magazine on October 17, 2012. October 12 is the anniversary of Judy Leever’s passing
Judy always made us see things from the perspective of others, and we all tried to plant in our subconscious, the lessons of her life and vowed to attempt to spend our remaining days living a life wearing HER shoes.
Judy owned a thousand pairs of shoes, nearly all belonging to other people. She possessed an uncanny ability to make these shoes fit our own feet as well.
We wore each other’s shoes three weeks ago, during our mourning time. We listened to one another’s other’s sadness at her too early passing at age 59 on September 29, 2012 after battling breast cancer and its drugs – because we were sure she had more to teach us. Truth be told however was that if we were listening and watching – her life was one lived, always… with certitude and steadfastness. She had nothing more to teach, because Judy wasn’t going to change and suddenly teach a more profound lesson. She had already lived her quite profound life. She saw life’s complexities and confusion, it’s conundrums, its needs filled, from the perspective of others.
About 400 family and friends, standing room for the late arrivers, attended the service, at midweek, a mid-morning service at Congregation Beth Adam, just outside of Loveland. A hundred or more helped bury her humble poplar coffin; waiting in silence until a entire mound of earth was put back in place by family and friends shoveling, not departing until finished by a backhoe at the United Jewish Cemetery in Montgomery.
Later, hundreds gathered in the side yard at her downtown home in Loveland for two nights of Shiva. Prayers, and songs on the bank of a popular stream. Lovers holding hands. On one side O’Bannon Creek. On one side the “Loveland Bike Trail”. A fitting setting now decorated for Judy with homegrown flower bouquets, brought by mourners and adorers in simple household jars scattered about and placed on any available ledge, garden rock, or garden table. Loud crashing walnuts thumped to the earth on this late summer evening looking to get to the earth and begin a new life – punctured the sometimes silence like drumbeats. From the not to distant Nisbet Park, children sounds of late summer evening play. Muffled chinwag from couples walking nearby. Runners, joggers, and bicyclists along the Little Miami Scenic Trail, most unaware of the contributions Judy made to preserve its natural beauty and oblivious to the sadness nearby.
During prayer, “It’s a dangerous thing to love what death will take away.”
Six stacked canoes on top of one another nearby. A bicycle leaning against a tree. A clothes line with faded brownish grey pins. Sparks from the fire pit near the creek aided conversation. Wooden garden cart. A weeping willow. A hammock tied to Maples starting to turn. A sitting bench also. All of it spoke to the family lifestyle. Absent her home was a TV. Inside the home was now packed almost beyond capacity as mourners filled plates of potluck. Two by two faces, memories shared until they had to again go outside to make room for others. Outside again… resumed these intimate, quiet, two on two conversations. The downtown chimes on top of the nearby, old water works plant wept sentiment. Newborns clenched to mother’s breasts.
Judy’s mate was her husband Bruce. They shared a real estate business. They lived in a passive solar home they crafted in Maineville before moving to Loveland in 1994. The Leever family once spent the entire summer living in a modest tent in their back yard in Maineville, to “teach their children well.” They were married for 32 years. Three tall proud successful sons, Glen, Will, and Michael. A brother Robert from Silver Spring Maryland. And, a cast of thousands of close friends and acquaintances; recipients of her generosity of devoted personal time, a gentler community because of her console, a cleaner river, cleaner drinking water, green space that condo projects and “progress” once threatened, food on the food bank shelves.
She welcomed teens into her home. She loved and nurtured her close religious community, helped organize concerts in the park and celebrations of Martin luther King Day in Loveland. She sang in the Martin Luther King Chorus in Cincinnati’s celebration.
We were recipients of her grace as she lost the fight with her disease.
Was Judy the community weaver? Didn’t she straighten our fibers? Did she stretch our seams?
The town cobbler?
All that aside, even though more than enough public service for ten long lifetimes, Judy left behind shoes to fill. What was it about Judy? How did she so often see that you would fit into the shoes of others if only given some of her wise second thoughts? No one quite had the answer to “How” but, non-the-less it was the subject of most of the conversation, because most knew it was her most inspiring legacy – that should be imitated in a fair, just, town… for raising children and growing old in.
Judy genuinely loved the outdoors… loved walking errands, walking on the grounds of Grailville several times a week. Walked 400 miles of the Appalachian Trail. It felt as if she belonged on the ground some how or another. Rode her bike to the library and Kroger.
Judy made you feel at home in her own house as if you belonged. “Yes. Yes.” She was well grounded.
Judy hosted meet the candidate nights for presidential campaigns, locals, and judges – and grant writing workshops for non-profits.
She was active in fermenting plans for “Heartland Eco Village” at Grailville. She wrote the first prospectus for what may some day be a worldwide example of self sustainable community living. She volunteered in the organic Grailville Gardens.
She wrote the 501-C-3 the application for the Loveland Farmers Market and often volunteered on market day.
She and family were early members of Leaves of Learning, a cooperative home school network. Her sons were home schooled, or “unschooled” until they entered high school. Each son has since graduated with honors from prestigious liberal arts colleges. Judy earned a teaching degree in Special Education from the University of Maryland, and a Masters Degree from the University of Cincinnati in Special Education. She taught middle school in Maryland for three years, and at Mason Middle School for four years. She was born in Hyattsville, Maryland, near D.C.
When Loveland’s annual Martin Luther King Day celebration seemed faltering, Judy dove head long. When efforts to save the Simpson Farm from a condo project seemed faltering, Judy put on muck boots and got muddy. She was that kind of person. She would change shoes – jump in anywhere she was needed. A doer.
Judy was a faithful volunteer with the Shalom Initiative (now the Loveland Initiative) opening her house to their Teen Group for meetings, games, and just relaxing. She served them a Passover meal one year, teaching them her Jewish traditions. One of those young teens, Judy placed under her wings as she graduated high school; helping her apply for college and financial aid, continuing to mentor into young adulthood. Sobbing uncontrollably now with the reality of moving on without Judy. She said, “Judy was like a mother to me. I always wanted to live here with her family. I will miss her so much.”
Years ago Judy taught GED classes for adults at the Shalom Initiative. She recently jumped in again when the Initiative was going through a difficult transition.
She served as a Trustee for Little Miami Inc., for twenty-years. The Little Miami is 125 miles long. A lot of property owners, swimmers, canoers, kayackers, fishers and hunters benefit from the work of Judy Leever. A lot of birds, critters, and fish as well. We drink cleaner water along those 125 miles because of Judy. She participated in annual river cleanup programs adopting the river banks nearest her home. In the early 90’s, she brought regional attention to areas around the Peters Cartridge site along the Little Miami Scenic Trail and adjacent to Kings Island, that was contaminated with hazardous waste. It was her first foray fighting city halls, township commissions, county commissioners, the EPA, and the Army Corps of Engineers. The men who scoffed, eventually crowded before TV cameras to be aside the truth teller because they were now wearing Judy’s shoes. A few weeks before her death, the site was at last placed on the USEPA’s Super Fund Priorities List for cleanup.
Judy was active in the Loveland Greenbelt Community Council’s establishment of the East Loveland Nature Preserve.
Her house was opened for a week to “Open House” an international Jewish, Arab, and American teen exchange program.
Judith Barbara Leever, nee Ginsberg often spoke about community issues at city council meetings, and was on city committees that directed downtown development. She was passionate about keeping downtown comfortable for existing residents. She wanted more housing downtown not overshadowed by boutiques and bars. Leaders listened to her because she wore all of our shoes in these roles, seeing each perspective through the eyes of a diverse community and its needs.
When people went to Judy seeking personal advice about a community problem, she always made the person see the problem through the eyes of the perceived problem maker. She said in her insightful way, “Try to put the other fella’s shoes on for a moment.” When leaving, your own shoes felt more comfortable, because she stretched them a bit for you.
Late after Shiva, the basketball court in the Cul-de-Sac again filled with young people.
Judy could put a businessman’s shoes on a housewife. Put the renter’s shoes on the landlord. Put the water drinker’s shoes on the polluter. Because she did these things, she lived a life of extreme optimism.
Some of Ohio’s colleges and universities have begun moving students in, but the navigation of a school year amid a pandemic is still a balancing act.
For Miami University, classes began this week, with all undergraduate courses online or remote. The plan is to keep it that way until at least Sept. 21, according to the plan posted to the school’s website.
“When we began planning last spring, we had hoped that the COVID-19 pandemic would be in significant decline before classes were scheduled to begin,” Miami president Greg Crawford told students. “Instead, cases are rising in many states. With 40% of our Oxford students coming from outside Ohio, we’ve been monitoring the situation closely.”
Those that are on campus are required to wear masks, and as students come back, they can be reported to the Office of Community Standards if they repeatedly refuse to comply with an instructor’s direction to use a mask or face covering.
Mask requirements are the norm among Ohio’s public colleges and universities, as are 14-day quarantines for students coming from states considered COVID-19 hotspots.
Also the norm this school year are phased reopenings, like those at The Ohio State University, Ohio University, Kent State University, Shawnee State University, Cleveland State University, and the University of Cincinnati.
The first move-in dates for UC, Aug. 14 and 15 were considered “drop-off only,” meaning students could bring their stuff to campus, but then had to return home until the 16th.
Another regular part of public colleges’ and universities’ schedules is a return to at least some form of in-person class instruction that ends after Thanksgiving break. The last two weeks, including final exams, will be taken remotely at OSU, Central State University, UC, KSU and Wright State University, among others.
Kent State and the University of Toledo have eliminated their fall break to allow students to receive a full semester despite adjusted opening dates.
Toledo said they adjusted their Fall semester “based on the possibility of having a second wave of COVID-19 in late fall,” taking into account CDC data on the pandemic and state recommendations for higher education.
Bowling Green State University went so far as to cancel their Winter 2021 session and provide a $1,500 credit for the first 2,000 students who cancelled their housing assignment before the school year began this week.
“It is important you understand that we are HIGHLY encouraging you not to live on campus this fall,” information on the university’s COVID-19 plan page stated.
BGSU started their staggered move-in this week for those that had no other option than to take up residence, and are set to begin classes on Aug. 31. Students there will also be online only beginning Nov. 30.
OU phased in their reopening by allowing certain graduates and undergraduates “in a carefully selected set of academic programs” to begin their time on campus. Most students will begin remotely on Aug. 24, but students like third-year students in the College of Health Sciences and Professions’ nursing program and juniors and seniors in the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) are eligible to participate in the university’s first phase of schooling.
Universities throughout the state sticking with in-person instruction have instituted class-size reductions, along with “hybrid-remote” forms of teaching. Central State spelled out a “cohort attendance” model in its reopening plan, which would break large classes into groups, with the cohorts attending classes on alternating days. This model goes along with a 50% reduction in class sizes, something Wright State anticipates as part of its plan as well.
“At this time, the university conservatively estimates that one-third of classes will have in-person components while the majority of in-person classes will also deliver all content remotely to provide flexibility to students who are unable or do not feel comfortable returning to campus,” said Wright State president Susan Edwards in a letter to the university community.
Many of Ohio’s public higher education institutions have also created pledges for students connected to prevention of coronavirus, and in some cases can spur disciplinary action if not signed.
Testing and contact tracing for COVID-19 are a regular part of all public school plans, though the ways in which the testing is done vary from school to school.
The spring semester plan is still to be determined for most schools. The University of Akron plans to continue hybrid online and in-person instruction into the spring, but others are still watching the success of their fall semesters to plan for the future.
“Decisions are forthcoming,” stated the UC reopening plan.
Susan Tebben is an award-winning journalist with a decade of experience covering Ohio news, including courts and crime, Appalachian social issues, government, education, diversity and culture. She has worked for The Newark Advocate, The Glasgow Daily Times, The Athens Messenger, and WOUB Public Media. She has also had work featured on National Public Radio.
LOVELAND MOM’S LONG RACIAL AWARENESS JOURNEY AND WHY WHITE AMERICANS NEED TO FOLLOW HER PATH
by Daniel P. Finney
Kristi Kinne-Hayes grew up in Jefferson, a Green County, Iowa city made of 4,200 almost all white people. Kristi played six-on-six girls’ basketball and became one of the best players in the state.
A Guest Column by Independent journalist Daniel P. Finney who writes for paragraphstacker.com
She knew local police officers by their first names and thought of them as just another face in the crowd rather than law enforcement.
Kristi played college basketball at Drake University, leading the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament berth her senior season in 1995. She seldom thought about race even though she played alongside and was friends with people of different races.
She had a longtime friend who played softball at Drake who was mixed race and never knew until someone asked her friend about her race in a Kansas City bar.
But life, love and motherhood changed her perspective and her long journey from racial indifference, maybe even racial ignorance, to awareness and empathy is one all Americans — especially whites — need to take right now.
A background like Kristi’s makes it seem unlikely that she would comment on the ghastly death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. But life, love and motherhood changed her perspective and her long journey from racial indifference, maybe even racial ignorance, to awareness and empathy is one all Americans — especially whites — need to take right now.
Kristi graduated from Drake, survived ovarian cancer and met and married Jonathan Hayes, a former University of Iowa tight end who played for the legendary Hayden Fry during the famed coach’s revitalization of the program in the early 1980s.
Hayes is also African-American. But a mixed-race relationship didn’t expose Kristi to the racial hatred the corrupts America’s soul.
The first time Kristi brought Johnathan home to Jefferson to watch a ballgame, fans swarmed the Hawkeye hero for autographs.
“That was so traumatic for me because when I was at the game, people came up for my autograph,” Kristi said. “I told Jonathan they only wanted his autograph because they already had mine.”
The couple settled in Cincinnati, where Jonathan served as tight ends coach for the NFL’s Bengals.
They had four children. Yet it wasn’t until their eldest daughter, the couple’s second child, turned 16 that evil racism finally struck the mother of four mixed-race children.
Kristi and Jonathan bought a new car and gave their older vehicle to their daughter. They put the old plates on their daughter’s vehicle and paid the fees, but Ohio Department of Transportation computers hadn’t yet processed the transaction.
One evening their daughter came home pale.
She said, ‘I was sure they were going to shoot me.
Kristi asked her what was wrong.
She had been pulled over by police. The car tags were wrong.
“She said, ‘I was sure they were going to shoot me,’” Kristi said. “I thought, ‘Why would you think they would shoot you?’”
And the privilege of being a white star athlete from small town Iowa evaporated. She was now the mother of four children whose facial characteristics most white people would identify as black.
“If there’s a little bit of brown, to other white people, you’re black,” Kristi said.
Living with racism did not limit her children’s success. Eldest son, Jaxson Hayes, was a first-round draft pick by the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans last year.
Daughter Jillian is a highly prized women’s basketball recruit committed to the University of Cincinnati.
Jillian Hayes and her family on the night she accepted her commemorative 1,000th point ball.
Kristi reminds them that she doesn’t care if other people label them black only, just remember that their white mother and her family loves them just as much as their African-American father and his family.
“Your name is clean,” Kristi tells her kids, “keep it that way.”
Still, she worries. Jaxson is off in New Orleans, just turned 20 years old and having the time of his life as an NBA rookie despite the league shutdown due to coronavirus.
She tells her children that if they are pulled over, put their hands at 10 o’clock and 2 o’clock on the steering wheel.
“I never thought I would have to tell my children that,” Kristi said.
The true horror of this event: None of those officers moved to stop their fellow officer from committing a crime. It was depraved indifference.
Kristi saw the news reports and videos of a Minneapolis police officer putting his knee in the back of George Floyd, an African-American man suspected of forgery.
Three other police officers stood by and did nothing. They were all fired. As of this writing, it’s unknown if they will be criminally charged.
The killing of Floyd is a complete institutional failure by the Minneapolis police. That officer pressed his knee into the back of that handcuffed man’s neck as he pleaded for mercy, he could not breath and eventually lost consciousness and died.
He stared into the crowd almost as if he was daring someone to tell him he was wrong. The crowd pleaded with him to render aid, to check Floyd for injury or get him some water.
The officer refused.
A friend of mine made this observation a few years ago: “There’s two things we learned from everybody having cameras on their phone: There are no UFOs and police sometimes kill people for no reason.”
The true horror of this event: None of those officers moved to stop their fellow officer from committing a crime. It was depraved indifference.
Here in Des Moines, some of my police sources told me they were aghast at another cop so drunk on power that his defiance led to the death of a man.
“When you have him in cuffs, get him up and in a car and off to the station,” one cop told me. “That diffuses the situation right there.”
Another cop told me police administrators were circulating a video by a top training instructor illustrating the dangers of the knee in the back hold and all Des Moines cops will have to sign off on having watched it.
There’s been little local backlash at Des Moines police because of the Minneapolis killing, but the danger of using national stories to paint local pictures hangs over every police station.
Kristi saw that news and it moved her. She lives in Cincinnati, a city that saw race riots in 2001 after police shot an unarmed African American teenager. Kristi and her family moved to Cincinnati after that terrible period.
So what does all this have to do with Kristi Kinne-Hayes, the great Iowa basketball star?
But motherhood long ago took the woman from Jefferson’s ability to be color blind.
Moved by the story, Kristi posted to her Instagram a trending meme of the officer with his knee in the back of Floyd’s neck and former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem. The caption read: “This is why.”
So what does all this have to do with Kristi Kinne-Hayes, the great Iowa basketball star?
ESPN commentator Emmanuel Acho pleaded with white America in a video posted to his Twitter feed Tuesday.
“My white brothers and sisters, we need y’all’s help,” Acho said. African-Americans have been outraged as people continued to die unnecessarily, but white Americans have remained mostly indifferent or hesitant to raise their voice in protest.
We need to take the journey Kristi Kinne-Hayes took in her 46 years. She went from living blind to race because it never directly affected her to having a profound understanding of just how horrible racism is in this country.
I’m not saying you need to repost the meme or start hashtagging everything #blacklivesmatter.
But we must all do our very best to engage empathy for people who are not like us.
It’s very hard for anyone to see life through the perspective of someone who has lived so differently.
Our failure to do that is already too late for so many, the latest being George Floyd.
Daniel P. Finney, independent journalist – Cut loose and cashiered by corporate media, lone paragraph stacker Daniel P. Finney makes his way telling stories about his city, state and nation. No more metrics or Google trends, he writes stories about people and life ignored by the oligarchy. ParagraphStacker.com is reader-supported media. Please consider donating at paypal.me/paragraphstacker.
Hamilton County, Ohio – Hamilton County Health Commissioner Tim Ingram has announced he is retiring from Hamilton County Public Health to pursue other opportunities. He is being replaced on an interim basis by Assistant Health Commissioner for Environmental Health Services, Greg Kesterman.
“It has been an honor and privilege to lead this agency,” Ingram said. “Our staff is top-notch, passionate about their work and dedicated to customer service. We’re in a much better place that we were in 27 years ago.” Ingram says he is considering opportunities in teaching, health care and continuing to work with the disease of addiction, in addition to enjoying family time, travel and other activities.
According to Hamilton County Board of Health Chair Jim Brett, “Tim’s leadership has advanced this agency light-years from where he began. Under his leadership, we have seen numerous awards, national and international recognition. The Board of Health thanks Tim for his leadership and expresses the utmost confidence in interim commissioner Kesterman. Under Greg’s leadership, we will continue to advance what we feel is one of the best public health programs in Ohio – and beyond.”
Kesterman is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and received a master’s in public administration from Northern Kentucky University. He began his career as a sanitarian in the agency’s Environmental Health Division, moving up to division director before assuming the role of assistant health commissioner.
“I am most excited to lead this team,” he says. “This is an incredibly important time in public health, as our global society necessitates new approaches to public health and safety. We are well positioned in Hamilton County to take on challenges, as we continue to expand our work on the disease of addiction, ensure the safety of our food service, and maintain sanitation for our focus areas. We have a world-class staff and I can’t wait to get going!”
Loveland, Ohio – Loveland High School Winter sports have kicked their seasons off with a bang! One Tiger team has really made a mark for themselves in the ECC, improving their record to 7-1 with a 7 game winning streak! The Women’s Loveland High school Basketball team is currently at the top of the ECC with several individual Tigers at the top of the conference for their own personal stats, one Tiger, in particular, being senior Jillian Hayes.
Jillian Hayes and her family on the night she accepted her commemorative 1,000th point ball. The ball was presented on Friday, December 20 during the Men’s basketball against Milford.
Hayes, a 6’2 forward, reached her 1,000 point milestone at home against Walnut Hills on Saturday, December 7, 2019. Prior to the big game, Hayes needed 27 points to reach her 1,000 points and impressively enough Hayes had 27 points and 10 rebounds. Loveland ended up grabbing the win 78-67! This was the Tigers’ first win over former ECC champs Walnut Hills since the start of the 2016 basketball season. Currently, Hayes is in 4th place in the ECC for points averaging 16.4 per game, 2nd in defensive rebounds averaging 9.1 per game, 2nd in blocks averaging 2.0 per game, and 5th in steals averaging 2.8 per game.
The scoresheet when Jillian Hayes reached the milestone of 1,000 points of her Tiger basketball career (Click image to open a new window and see a larger view)
Since Hayes’ big 1,000 point moment she has had some other very high scoring games. She scored 17 points at Turpin, 23 points at Milford, 15 points at home against Withrow, and 13 points at West Clermont giving her a total now of 1,068 points. Earlier this year Hayes committed to Coach Heard and the Cincinnati Bearcats to continue her already stellar basketball career.
Jilian Partin was the last Tiger to reach the coveted 1,000 points on December 2, 2004. Partin played for the Loveland Tigers from 2001-2005 under Head Coach Wray Jean Conner. Partin totaled 1,356 points for her beyond impressive high school career. At the time Assistant Varsity Coach, Ken Tracey decided to do some research into the world of the “1,000 point club” and said that fewer than one percent of Ohio high school basketball players, either men or women ever reach 1,000 points in their career!
Currently, Partin is at the top of the board as the All-Time Leading Scorer in Loveland Women’s Basketball history with 1,356 points. Partin also holds the Loveland Highschool Women’s Basketball record for Most Free Throws made with 329.
Jillian Hayes is officially 288 points from the All-Time Leading Scorer record! Hayes will get the opportunity to get closer to this memorable accolade on Monday, December 30th at 7:30 PM at St. Ursula.
In this video is Hayes scoring 993 through 1,000 points, receiving the game ball, and a post-game interview with her and Coach Darnell Parker.
This slide show is photos of Jillian Hayes when she scored 27 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Tiger’s win over Walnut Hills on Saturday, December 7, 2019.
![[VIDEO] A national ritual: 5 LHS Student-Athletes on “National Signing Day”](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/sdudent-signing.jpg)
![[EXCLUSIVE] Video of LHS’s 2021 Fall National College Signing Day!](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/2021-college-signing.jpg)
A Guest Column by Independent journalist Daniel P. Finney who writes for 
![[Video/Photos] Tiger basketball star Jillian Hayes reaches 1,000 points](https://lovelandmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/jillian-hayes-1000-points.jpg)
Jillian Hayes is officially 288 points from the All-Time Leading Scorer record! Hayes will get the opportunity to get closer to this memorable accolade on Monday, December 30th at 7:30 PM at St. Ursula.
