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Gerald Clayton admitted to not knowing much about Piedmont blues until Duke University commissioned him to create a multimedia performance to celebrate the rich cultural landscape of the region. But once he heard Elizabeth Cotten’s recording of her early 20th century piece, “Freight Train,” the celebrated jazz pianist was hooked.

The Cuyahoga County jail is seeing a rise in intake after months of trying to keep the inmate population down during the coronavirus pandemic. The jail has added an average of 44 people per day so far in July, according to jail administrator Rhonda Gibson, compared to roughly 36 per day in June. “The courts are doing a slow rollout, trying to get back to some sort of normalcy in their operations, so that doesn’t surprise me,” Gibson said.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler concluded his tour of Northern Ohio Tuesday with visits to Akron and Cleveland and announcing more than $2 million in federal grants. Akron will receive more than $1 million for the Gorge Dam removal project as part of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Homeroom: A Return to Learning This story is part of ideastream's special series examining the challenges and perils of returning to school during the coronavirus pandemic. As schools around the state begin their fall semesters, rising seniors were looking forward to their final year of high school. But for many, it won’t be the year of dances, pep rallies or Friday night football games.

Updated: 10:08 a.m., Friday, Aug. 28, 2020 The University of Akron and Cleveland State University may soon merge law schools. The two Northeast Ohio schools announced a joint exploratory group Thursday to consider the creation of a unified school housed on both campuses. Such a merger would create the largest law school in Ohio and one of the largest public law schools in the country.

Statues honoring certain historic figures are coming down across the country as a nation reckons with its past. The Cleveland Restoration Society is looking to flip that script by installing a series of public markers to trace the Civil Rights struggle in Northeast Ohio. They’re conducting a survey to help determine likely sites.

When it comes to larger-than-life characters, writer Edward McClelland, author of “Folktales and Legends of the Middle West,” said our region of the country takes a backseat to no one. For example, long before there was a “man of steel,” there was a man “made of steel” who lived in Pittsburgh and worked in the mills 24 hours a day, every day.

If you were hoping to mail that last-minute gift in time for Christmas, it’s probably too late unless you plan to overnight it. The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is trying to keep up with increased demand caused by the pandemic but it’s been a rough ride, especially through the holiday shopping season. Local post offices are facing staffing shortages and increased mail volume as residents send out gifts and packages for the holidays, said USPS regional spokesperson Naddia Dhalai.

Updated: 5:50 p.m., Thursday, Dec. 10, 2020 Cleveland-area Democrats are leaping to fill the void in Congress that will be left by Rep. Marcia Fudge’s nomination to the Biden cabinet. Cuyahoga County Democratic Party Chair Shontel Brown and Nina Turner, a top supporter of Bernie Sanders’ presidential run, filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission to create campaign committees on Wednesday. Jeff Johnson, a former state lawmaker and city councilman, told ideastream he also is running for the seat.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last year, Cleveland ice cream shop Sweet Moses added three picnic tables in the street outside, protected from Detroit Avenue traffic by a wall of Jersey barriers. “Which may not sound like a lot, but that pretty much triples what our seating was, versus the sidewalk,” owner Jeff Moreau said. “It was really well received.” The additional tables were possible under a special city permit allowing restaurants to claim stretches of street for outdoor, socially distant seating.