For its latest ranking of the Best Hospitals in the Unites States, U.S. News studied nearly 10,000 specialists and almost 5,000 hospitals to rank the best in 16 adult specialties, from cancer to urology. Among the factors considered in evaluation are death rates, patient safety and hospital reputation.

Out of those 5,000 hospitals, only 140 were nationally ranked in one or more specialties. The Cleveland Clinic was ranked nationally in 16 adult and 10 pediatric specialties, landing it once again on the Best Hospitals Honor Roll.

For the 17th consecutive year, the Clinic was ranked #1 in cardiology & heart surgery, a spot it has owned since 1994. Other adult specialties rankings include #2 in gastroenterology, #2 in nephrology and #2 in urology. The Clinic also ranked favorably in among pediatric specialties.

Examine the full report here.

Cleveland Public Library has partnered with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame to offer its patrons free weekly music downloads.

"CPL knows how passionate Clevelanders are about music, and the importance of music in our community, its history, and its future," CPL director Felton Thomas explained. "CPL has a history of providing our patrons with access to music -- starting as far back as sheet music and records and evolving to CDs. In today's digital world, providing free downloads is the logical next step to give our patrons a way to experience their favorite music."

The music download service launched this week. Library patrons access the available music through a new MyTunes page on the library's website. Cardholders can download up to three songs a week and over 150 per year from Sony's entire catalogue. Patrons get to keep the songs they download forever, legally, and at no cost to them.

To learn more about the service click here.

Multiple sources are reporting that key scenes in director Joss Whedon's film "The Avengers" will be shot at NASA's Plum Brook Station. The 6,400-acre test facility near Sandusky boasts the Space Power Facility, the world's largest space environment simulation chamber. The massive chamber can simulate a low-earth orbiting environment.

Shooting is scheduled to begin next month and will include Earth-bound stars Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Evans.

Other principal scenes for the Marvel Comics-based flick are being shot in and around Cleveland throughout the summer. Countless residents have enlisted their services to act as extras in the film in the hopes of snagging a frame of screen time.
 

Neighborhood Progress Inc. has approved more than $1.8 million in grants that will support nine community development corporations in Cleveland. The grants were awarded based on the organizations' history of carrying out transformative programs as well current market conditions that will enable these programs to spark additional investment and growth.

That money will go toward making those neighborhoods safer, healthier, more prosperous places to live and work. The grants will support a wide range of projects, including real estate development and restoration, urban green space transformation, commercial-property renovation, and efforts to improve streetscape safety and appearance.

Joel Ratner, president of Neighborhood Progress Inc., said in a release, "We see this financial support as the catalyst for new businesses in the Waterloo commercial district in Cleveland's Collinwood neighborhood. And, as a lifeline for residents in the Fairfax neighborhood who are raising grandchildren and need access to safe, affordable housing that can easily accommodate non-traditional families."

Here's a complete list of the organizations and the amount each was awarded:

Buckeye Area Development Corp. $195,000
Burten Bell Carr Development Corp. $190,000
Detroit Shoreway Community Development Corp. $225,000
Fairfax Renaissance Development Corp. $190,000
Famicos Foundation $190,000
Northeast Shores Development Corp. $195,000
Ohio City Near West Development Corp. $195,000
Slavic Village Development $221,500
Tremont West Development Corp. $195,000

Last weekend, the Cleveland Orchestra opened up Blossom's backstage doors to area bloggers and media types for a casual "meet the musician" panel discussion. With nary a string, reed or drumstick in sight, the cultured quartet performed with understated charm as they chatted about starting out.

"Every Korean kid has to take piano lessons," said Jung-Min Amy Lee. Alas, her teacher reported that she did indeed have musical talent, but it wasn't in piano. Lee considered the cello, but her mother nixed those aspirations. "My mom said, 'No. That thing is so big, I'm going to have to carry it around for her!'" so Lee settled on the infinitely more manageable violin.

She wasn't the only one who struggled. Principal timpanist Paul Yancich detailed his long family history with classical music and how he started out as a bit of a black sheep.

"They could not find an instrument that I liked," said Yancich. His father suggested the French horn. "I had one lesson and that was it." So it went until he saw a pair of drumsticks sticking out of a schoolmate's pocket. Yancich was hypnotized and never looked back.

Principal clarinetist Frank Cohen succinctly explained why he chose the clarinet as a kid. "It was the only instrument I could get a sound out of."

The rocky start-ups notwithstanding, when the musicians joined the rest of the orchestra, their performance of the John Adams Violin Concerto and Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 9 dazzled the audience.

Principal violinist Stephen Rose summed up the orchestral experience thusly:

"You do really feel like one small, small part of this massive, beautiful, round sound. It's a special kind of feeling." Judging from the audience's thunderous applause, that feeling spread throughout Blossom amphitheatre.

The Orchestra's line up for the 2011 season at Blossom features shows from Broadway Classics to the music of Irving Berlin and the Joffrey Ballet. They run every weekend though September 10. With incredibly reasonable ticket pricing from $19 to $53, and books of 10 flexible lawn tickets for $139, everyone can afford to enjoy this staple of cool Cleveland culture.


Writer: Erin O'Brien

Groundbreaking Cleveland rock music critic Jane Scott made as many fans as she did cover them for the Plain Dealer. Thus, upon learning of her recent passing to that great Green Room in the sky, a national outpouring of affection bubbled up in the national media.

A New York Times obituary wrote, "At a time when newspapers were famously inhospitable to women, Ms. Scott made her career by tackling a beat that few writers of either sex wanted -- a beat that barely existed when she began writing about rock 'n' roll in the mid-1960s."

"In Cleveland, Ms. Scott could scarcely walk down the street without fans stopping to take her picture. But she was known far beyond the city, profiled in print, on radio and on television throughout the country and abroad."

Clearly. Read the whole obit here.

Writing for The L.A. Times music blog Pop & Hiss, Holly Gleason says, "If Jane Scott leaves a legacy, beyond thousands of stories filed, it's the artists who knew they were somebody because she turned her notebook toward them. As Reed enthused for her 80th birthday, "I love Jane Scott. I always have, I always will. When I was in the Velvet Underground, Jane was one of the only people I can remember who was nice to us. Interested in the music, the styles -- a very smart, guileless lady who loved music and musicians and had unbiased attitudes towards the evolving culture."

"Her writing gave music deeper context for generations in the city hailed as the "Rock & Roll Capitol of the World." She captured the essence of rock coming of age, growing into maturity and finding its way into the 21st century. Her mark will be felt for years to come."

Read the rest here.

According to a ranking produced by Grist, an environmental news magazine, Cleveland is the best-suited U.S. city to stand up to climate change. Writer Jeff Opperman compiled his list based on readily available information, such as risk for climate-related disasters, water-supply disruption, and heat-stress rankings.

The top five cities that are most resilient and least vulnerable to climate change are Cleveland, Milwaukee, Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis.

"Why do Rust Belt cities do so well in my rankings?" asks Opperman. "Because they have a sustainable water supply (in four of the cities, the Great Lakes); their heat stress rankings are relatively low; and they are less vulnerable to natural disasters that will be exacerbated by climate change, such as floods, landslides, and wildfires."

Looking at the bottom five -- Phoenix, Houston, Sacramento, Las Vegas, and Miami -- Opperman states:

"One obvious observation is that the most climate-vulnerable cities include some of the fastest growing regions of the country, while the most climate-resilient include several cities with flat or even declining populations. So the country's population is shifting away from places that are better-equipped to deal with climate change and toward areas that may face the greatest disruptions from climate change. Many of the most resilient cities are former industrial giants in need of new economic drivers. Transforming our economy to one that runs on much cleaner energy will require significant expansion of "green industries" with associated job growth. So, despite the relatively lower vulnerability of the Clevelands and Milwaukees and Detroits of the world, these cities should still pursue the investments required to prevent climate change. Those investments could provide an important spark for economic revitalization."

Read the rest here.

Grub Street, the New York Magazine food blog, posted a recent mention of Jonathon Sawyer's soon-to-open Cleveland restaurant, Noodlecat.

Titled, "Ex-Parea Chef Opens NYC-Inspired Noodlecat Next Week ... in Cleveland," the article reminds readers that Sawyer once led Michael Symon's short-lived Parea restaurant in New York City. (It also reminds readers that he accidentally poisoned himself with a false chanterelle.)

"Last year, Food & Wine named Sawyer Best New Chef for his work at Cleveland's Greenhouse Tavern. Noodlecat's menu, inspired in part by Sawyer's after-work trawls through New York's subterranean noodle houses, will feature ramen, soba, and udon. The chef told the Daily Meal that David Chang makes New York's best ramen, but that he also looked to Hung Ry, Rai Rai Ken, and Yakitori Taisho while researching the menu for Noodlecat. Menu research also took Sawyer to Japan, Canada, and even Australia."

Read the rest of the scoop here.

In an article titled "Go Big, Get Air, Get Fit" in the July 2011 issue of Wired magazine, Ray's Indoor Mountain Bike Park is included along with other off-beat exercise options.

"Weights. Treadmills. Spin classes. Let's face it," begins the article, "workout innovations just haven't kept pace with advances in TV, iPad, and snack-food technology. That said, a few forward-looking gyms offer activities that might actually compete with our Twitter/Netflix/PizzaRanch fixations."

Writer Steven Nereo calls Ray's the only brand of indoor park in the country built specifically for mountain bikes. "There are separate areas for beginners and experts, with wood ramps and assorted obstacles (like rocks and logs, for example) connected by looping trails. The buildings are closed during the summer months, when Ray's can't compete with Mother Nature's gym."

Ray's will re-open October 1, 2011 -- bigger and better than ever.

In a Fast Company article titled "The Rise Of Shared Ownership And The Fall Of Business As Usual," writer Jeffrey Hollender calls Cleveland's Evergreen Cooperatives, "the economic model of our future."

"A new model in Cleveland -- in which workers own companies that are supported by the city's big businesses -- has the potential to change the economics of the city and its workers," he begins.

Evergreen Cooperatives, which has been featured in Fresh Water, is an economic model that pairs anchor institutions like the Cleveland Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, and University Hospitals -- which spend over $3 billion per year on goods and services -- with new employee-owned businesses.

"Together," explains Hollender, "these organizations collaborated on a business model that is designed to create community wealth in the city's poorest neighborhoods. They do this by committing to invest in businesses not with venture capital, but by purchasing services from them. These purchasing decisions by large institutions fund the development of a network of sustainable, community-based businesses that are partially owned by the workers themselves, which develops a workforce skilled at democratic and participatory management and creates a new generation of leaders committed to rebuilding their communities."

Following a research visit to Cleveland, Hollender had this to report:

"Ohio Cooperative Solar was profitable in its first five months in operation; current annual revenue is projected to be $1.3 million. At the end of the fiscal year, a portion of profits will be allocated to each OCS employee owner's capital account, furthering the idea of people-focused business.

"The Green City Growers, a hydroponic greenhouse, expects to break ground on the construction of a four-acre greenhouse this summer, with its first crop ready for harvest in the spring of 2012. When fully operational, it will produce 5 million heads of lettuce and 300,000 pounds of herbs annually and employ between 30 to 40 workers year-round."

Read the whole of Hollender's examination here.

"A rare case of Cleveland envy is helping to fuel the latest proposal for improving transit service between Downtown [Pittsburgh] and Oakland," begins a recent article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

What local officials in that town to the east covet in our own beloved town is the RTA HealthLine, which uses energy-efficient bus rapid transit vehicles to connect Public Square with University Circle and beyond.

Writing for the Post-Gazette, Jon Schmitz says, "Local officials who visited that city's HealthLine, a 6.8-mile bus route with many of the attributes of a light-rail line, want to build a similar system here."

His research pointed out that Cleveland's HealthLine trimmed a formerly 30-minute ride to 18 minutes, while boosting ridership and fueling some $4 billion in investment along the Euclid Avenue Corridor.

While Pittsburgh officials were skeptical that the BRTs would be a suitable (and far more affordable) alternative to light rail, they left Cleveland as supporters.

"This had the feel and the comfort of light rail," Allegheny County's development director Dennis Davin said in the article.

"We see this as a major regional economic development and real estate project," said Ken Zapinski, senior vice president for transportation and infrastructure for the Allegheny Conference on Community Development.

"This is really an urban revitalization project that happens to have buses involved," said Court Gould, executive director of Sustainable Pittsburgh.

Read the rest here.

People, if you haven't noticed, want to know as much as humanly possible about their favorite celebrities. Like what they wear, where they shop, and what kind of car they drive when they are not being chauffeured around town. But more than anything, people want to know what famous people do when they are not busy being famous.

Along those lines, a recent Travel + Leisure article asks well-known chefs around the country about their favorite places to eat. Included in the piece is Michael Symon, owner of Cleveland's Lola and Lolita restaurants.

"I hang at the Happy Dog," he tells the mag's writers, "a retro 1940's bar with great beers, live music, and killer hot dogs with an endless array of toppings. After a hard night there's nothing better than a dog topped with kimchi, hot sauce, bacon, and a fried egg, with a side of Tater Tots and a cold Great Lakes IPA. And does anything say Cleveland better than polka happy hour?"

Devour the whole feast here.

Unless you were sharing an underground bunker with Dick Cheney, you likely heard the news that Lady Gaga's impish "meat dress" landed in Cleveland. Now part of the "Women Who Rock" exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the dress first appeared at last year's MTV Video Music Awards.

Well, the media has been on a bit of a meat-fueled feeding frenzy since the news broke, publishing stories with carnivorous impunity. Fresh Water writer Erin O'Brien was one of them, penning this piece last week.

Writing this piece for the New Times Broward-Palm Beach, Laine Doss explained the process that it took to ready the dress for its Cleveland debut.

"How do you store and display raw meat for days, weeks, and months without flies, maggots, and the rotting stench of decay?" she asks rhetorically. Well, you turn it into beef jerky, of course. "The outfit, made of Argentine beef, was kept in a meat locker, placed in a vat of chemicals, and dried by a team of taxidermists over a period of several months."

Dee-lish.

In this article, the Montreal Gazette reminded readers of the "meaning" behind the meat.

"Gaga later told talk show host Ellen DeGeneres that the dress had many interpretations," among them, "If we don't stand up for what we believe in, and if we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And, I am not a piece of meat."

In this MTV article, writer Jocelyn Vena chats with the Rock Hall's chief curator Jim Henke, who explains other tactics the museum is using to keep the meat mountain fresh.

"It's going to be in a case and we are putting some canisters in there to control the humidity, and then we have this other canister that soaks up the glutens," Henke explained. "But it's in a sealed case and we have the gels to control the environment in there."

Henke says that as weird as Gaga's dress may be, it's not the oddest item in the collection.

"Definitely one of the stranger pieces," he says, but adds "There are some other weird things. We actually have [pioneering radio DJ] Alan Freed's ashes."

Green chemistry, also known as sustainable chemistry, is the design of chemical products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use of hazardous substances. Among the host of benefits derived from green chemistry technologies are reduced waste, safer products, reduced use of energy and resources, and improved competitiveness for the companies that utilize them.

Each year, the U.S. EPA bestows its Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Awards to five individuals and organizations. Claiming one of those five spots is Cleveland's Sherwin-Williams, who was awarded the Designing Greener Chemicals Award for its water-based acrylic alkyd technology.

Oil-based "alkyd" paints have high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that become air pollutants as the paint dries. While other paints contain lower VOCs, they can't match the performance of alkyds. Sherwin-Williams developed water-based acrylic alkyd paints with low VOCs that can be made from recycled soda bottle plastic, acrylics and soybean oil. These paints combine the performance benefits of alkyds and low VOC content of acrylics. In 2010, Sherwin-Williams manufactured enough of these new paints to eliminate over 800,000 pounds of VOCs.

Read the whole report here.

Relying on data from its most recent job posting volume, as well as figures from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Monster compiled a list of the top 10 metro areas with the highest number of open positions per worker. Greater Cleveland claimed the fifth spot.

Monster Senior Editor Charles Purdy says the data shows that "we're seeing an increase in job postings in cities on both coasts as well as in the heartland."

Although the national unemployment rate ticked up slightly in May, he explains, large cities like Cleveland are actually seeing an increase in private-sector hiring and a drop in unemployment.

Despite a slow recovery, he adds, we're seeing a dramatic increase in the number of employed workers who have ridden out the recession and are now job searching again.

The "Industries to Watch" in Greater Cleveland, says the article, are consumer-driven sectors (food preparation/serving and personal care), management and IT.

Cleveland trailed Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Minneapolis-St. Paul, but beat out Boston, Seattle and Pittsburgh.

Read the whole report here.

In an article penned by Aaron Glantz, the San Francisco-based Bay Citizen reported that "rust-belt cities of Pittsburgh, Cleveland and St. Louis are all drawing a higher proportion of highly skilled immigrants than Silicon Valley." The numbers were announced in a recent Brookings Institution study of census data.

In that study, the Brookings' Matthew Hall points to efforts by cities such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh to recruit and welcome foreign workers to town in an attempt to rejuvenate the economy. Also of great importance is the cost-of-living disparity.

"Pittsburgh is an easier place to afford to live the American dream and get your foot in the door," Hall said. "That might sound like a pretty good option to a lot of people."

And perhaps contrary to popular opinion, highly skilled immigrants now outnumber lower-skilled ones in the United States, the report found. They found that 30 percent of the country's working-age immigrants, regardless of legal status, have at least a bachelor's degree. Only 28 percent lack a high school diploma.

Read the entire article here.

In the making-it-look-easy category, this inspiring video condenses the monumental task of building Ohio's largest wind turbine into one scant minute. In reality, it took approximately three months for the turbine to go up, though it won't be fully operational for some time.

At over 440 feet tall at blade tip, the 2.5 MW turbine is not only the largest in the state, it is one of the largest in the nation. For comparison, the turbine at Great Lakes Science Center is one-third the size.

Who knew that fish farming was such big business in Ohio?

According to this article in the Columbus Dispatch, annual aquaculture sales in Ohio stand at $6.6 million, up from $1.9 million in 1997.

"In 1998, there were about 35 fish farms in Ohio," OSU's Laura Tiu says in the article. "Today, we have 150 licensed farms and about 50 more farms that are in pilot-scale or experimental-scale operations."

Factor in associated businesses like equipment suppliers, feed mills, and seafood shops and the industry's economic impact jumps to $50 million a year.

Ohio's "aquapreneurs" are raising everything from rainbow trout and catfish to goldfish and walleye. Markets include baitfish, ornamentals and those for human consumption.

Insiders only expect the industry to grow.

Read the rest of the fish tale here.

What started out as a sad tale of elephant grief has ended on a high note.

Shenga, 28-year-old, 7,900-pound female had been at Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo since 2003. When her elderly exhibit mate died late last year, zookeepers knew the best thing for Shenga would be to move her to an exhibit with other companions. The Cleveland Metroparks Zoo was selected because of its new five-acre African Elephant Crossing exhibit, which debuted in early May.

An animal care manager from Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo accompanied Shenga on her trip to town, even staying for a few days help her acclimate. Her new exhibit mates include one male and three other females.

This item in the Omaha World-Herald says, "If anyone has any doubts about how Shenga likes it in Cleveland, check out the video of her in the swimming pond."

Read the article and watch the fun here.

In an article titled "To get jobs, areas develop industry hubs in emerging fields," USA Today writer Paul Davidson singles out Northeast Ohio as a region combating the loss of traditional factory jobs by developing industry clusters.

Clusters are groupings of manufacturers, suppliers, training programs and researchers.

"Cluster theory holds that manufacturers and suppliers often want to be in proximity to collaborate on product design. Companies want to be near universities to benefit from the latest innovations. And bigger clusters attract still more companies that seek access to a large pool of skilled workers."

Supported by Ohio's Third Frontier and other initiatives, Northeast Ohio's hub of medical, pharmaceutical and bioscience continues to flourish. Since 2001, the number of biomedical firms has more than doubled to 600, and VC investments have increased to $150 million a year compared to just $30 million.

Now on its way, the $465 million Cleveland Medical Mart & Convention Center will be the world's first marketplace for medical industry buyers and sellers.

Read the whole report here.