Cincinnati council to vote on city manager buyout deal

CINCINNATI (AP) — The Cincinnati City Council is expected to vote Monday whether to approve a buyout deal for its embattled city manager after the mayor asked him to quit.

The offer made to City Manager Harry Black totals $393,000, the equivalent of 18 months’ pay.

Black said in a statement Saturday night that he hoped the council would approve the deal and bring a “painful week of tumult and chaos” to an end.

Mayor John Cranley in a statement Saturday said it was a “pleasure to work collaboratively” with Black, Cincinnati’s city manager since 2014.

Black had complained that “rogue elements” in the police department had tried to undermine him and the police chief. Black worked to have an assistant police chief retire early with around $400,000 in pay and benefits.

Amusement park company partners with college on new degree

SANDUSKY, Ohio (AP) — The parent company for Ohio’s Cedar Point amusement park is partnering with a nearby university to offer a new degree program to train students for management jobs in the tourism industry.

Bowling Green State University will offer classes on resort management at a new campus that will be built in Sandusky, home of Cedar Point and its parent company, Cedar Fair.

Students in the four-year program would spend the last two years at the Sandusky campus and will be able to work entry-level jobs at Cedar Point or another Cedar Fair park during summers.

Bowling Green President Rodney Rogers said existing hospitality management programs don’t cover all the issues that arise at amusement parks.

“In many ways, these general managers are running a small city,” Rogers told Cleveland.com. “It’s almost more like a city manager than hospitality management.”

Cedar Fair will build classrooms and dorms for 200 students on land provided by the city. The campus could open as soon as 2020.

Sandusky City Manager Eric Wobser acknowledged that the timeframe seemed tight, but said he thinks Cedar Point’s experience quickly erecting massive roller coasters will help.

“The good news is that Cedar Point is used to building fast,” he said.

University to honor US Rep. John Lewis’ civil rights work

OXFORD, Ohio (AP) — U.S. Rep. John Lewis will be honored for his civil rights accomplishments by a university in Ohio.

Miami University will award its Freedom Summer of ‘64 Award to the Democratic congressman from Georgia at the Sam Rayburn House Office Building in Washington on Monday. Lewis was a leader in the 1964 Freedom Summer voter registration drive of blacks in the South. College students were recruited to aid that effort.

Miami says nearly 800 volunteers came to the then-Western College for Women to train for that work and for nonviolent resistance. That campus is now part of Miami University.

Miami’s president, Gregory Crawford, says the award honors Lewis and the legacy of the civil rights movement and serves as a call for others to reconnect with civic service and civil rights.

Ex-police chief pleads guilty to receiving nude teen photos

AKRON, Ohio (AP) — A former northeast Ohio village police chief has pleaded guilty to a federal charge of receiving nude photos of a 16-year-old girl he’d met on the job.

Thirty-six-year-old Andrew Soloman entered the plea Friday in U.S. District Court in Akron. Prosecutors are expected to seek the dismissal of a child pornography charge during Soloman’s sentencing in June.

Soloman was chief in Craig Beach, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) west of Youngstown in Mahoning County. He was arrested in late December.

A federal arrest affidavit said the teen sent sexually explicit photos of herself to Soloman’s work account during an exchange of hundreds of emails last fall. Authorities say Soloman first encountered the teen in October while investigating an unruly child complaint.

Soloman’s attorney declined to comment Saturday.