In a GreenBiz story titled “Megatrends: The power behind Eaton’s global green growth,” writer Anna Clark explores Cleveland’s history as a major manufacturing center since the time of John D. Rockefeller and its subsequent decline. 
 
But one of the city’s largest companies, Eaton Corp., is a proponent for efficiency, reliability, safety, and sustainability that is leading to a potential “green renaissance” in the Rust Belt.
 

In a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story titled “Cleveland’s HealthLine bus route could be a model for Pittsburgh,” writer Jon Schmitz praises Cleveland for its dedicated route that connects downtown with the Cleveland Clinic.
 
The new line transformed a 46-minute trip along the nine-mile corridor into a route with its own reserved lanes, and through traffic lights that are programmed to give the busses priority. Fares are paid via vending machines at the 40 stops along the route. 
 
“The $197 million project literally remade Euclid Avenue, replacing ancient underground infrastructure and crumbling sidewalks, reconstructing the road surface, adding station kiosks and landscaping medians between the stops.”
 
Schmitz goes on to detail other aspects that make the line a benefit to both riders and the surrounding community.

Enjoy the full piece here.

In a RustWire post titled “Imagining a Dream Rapid for Cleveland,” Christopher Lohr explores the impact that expanding the rapid transit system would have on the greater Cleveland metropolitan area.
 
Lohr was inspired by a pair of articles that related to the Baltimore and NYC systems in a somewhat playful fashion.  He opted for a more serious approach when creating the “Dream Rapid” for Cleveland that would both serve the community and allow for continued economic growth.
 
“These articles inspired me to create what I called the Dream Rapid. Rather than base it on existing Subway routes or plans from decades ago, I instead set out to base in on plausible rail and interstate corridors that could accommodate transit.”
 
The article goes on to detail the various routes and communities served by this dream expansion.
 
View the full piece here.

In a New York Times feature titled "For Its Latest Beer, a Craft Brewer Chooses an Unlikely Pairing: Archaeology," writer Steven Yaccino covers the efforts by Great Lakes Brewing Co. to replicate a 5,000-year-old Sumerian beer.

"By contemporary standards, it would have been a spoiled batch here at Great Lakes Brewing Company, a craft beer maker based in Ohio, where machinery churns out bottle after bottle of dark porters and pale ales," the article says. "But lately, Great Lakes has been trying to imitate a bygone era. Enlisting the help of archaeologists at the University of Chicago, the company has been trying for more than year to replicate a 5,000-year-old Sumerian beer using only clay vessels and a wooden spoon."

“How can you be in this business and not want to know from where your forefathers came with their formulas and their technology?” co-owner Pat Conway is quoted in the piece.
 
Because no detailed recipes have been found, attempts to recreate it have been based upon cuneiform texts and an ancient poem, Hymn to Ninkasi, that hints at the recipe.
 
Great Lakes has no plans to sell the beer, but rather use it as an educational exercise. The brewing vessels are a popular addition on the guided tours of the brewery, and they intend to showcase the Sumerian beer at events in Cleveland this summer.
 
Read more about the process here.

In a Rust Wire blog post titled “Questioning Cleveland’s Undying Faith in Development,” local writer Angie Schmitt discusses the appropriation of funding for public projects all in the name of “development.”
 
“We’re just emerging from the biggest real estate bust in a generation, but the lust for development doesn’t seem to have abated. Economic development officials have taken to touting how downtown Cleveland, or Cleveland, is currently seeing $5 ($7, $12?) billion -- as if that were indisputable evidence the city is rebounding.”
 
The story goes on to highlight one argument that public funds could be better used to help the communities this “development” is most affecting while shedding light on different trains of thought.
 
“I was complaining about this on Twitter recently and one of my followers asked: Is Cleveland growing? To which I replied: Ha! His response was: If Cleveland isn’t growing, it’s not really development, “but a spatial change in active/abandoned land distribution.” Which I thought was a pretty compelling point.”
 
Check out the full piece here.

In a New York Times story titled “The Big Five Orchestras No Longer Add Up,” James R. Oestreich explores days of old when the newspaper would refer to the premier orchestras of the day (Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Philadelphia Orchestra) as the "Big Five."
 
Other city’s representatives, namely the San Francisco Symphony, would argue against the term claiming it to be outdated. However, as a term of journalistic creation, it tended to stick despite the strength and quality of those not included in the “club.”
 
“The Times was by no means alone in using it. At least by the mid-1960s, soon after I had started to follow classical music, the term had become common coin in discussions of the American orchestral scene. And it proved remarkably persistent, even as the mighty handful started to suffer setbacks and other orchestras grew in budget and artistic stature, notably the St. Louis Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.”
 
The piece goes on to detail the struggles all orchestras are facing in modern days and touches upon Cleveland’s own orchestra and steps they have taken to remain relevant.
 
Enjoy the complete feature here.

In an Aspen Times article titled “Hello, Cleveland! Best New Chef Jason Vincent represents hometown,” Stewart Oksenhorn writes that while Cleveland may have its own culinary superstars living and working in the city, it also has some that profess their love for the great city while sharing their talents elsewhere.
 
“Vincent also is a huge fan of his hometown, Cleveland, going so far to call it the greatest city in the country. Vincent is aware that this is a minority opinion. Growing up there, he assumed that no one outside of Cleveland had any idea of what was going on in the city. So Vincent was amazed to learn, in 1998, that a local chef, Michael Symon, who had earned a following at the Caxton Cafe and then opened Lola, was named as one of the best new chefs by Food & Wine magazine.”
 
This year, Vincent joined Symon and Jonathon Sawyer as one of Food & Wine's Best New Chefs.
 
“The chefs were maybe the scariest people I’ve ever met. But also kind and patient,” Vincent said. He recalls being chewed out by Shannon for some misdeed. “He said to me, ‘Do you know how big my world is?’ He was telling me I need to use my brain, not use him as a crutch. That statement was really influential.”
 
Read the full story here.

In a Next City feature titled “The Post-Hero Economy,” writers Jennifer Bradley and Bruce Katz share an edited excerpt from their upcoming book "The Metropolitan Revolution."
 
While the book (and Next City feature) does not solely focus on Cleveland, it does pay a fair amount of attention to our city when it comes to economic development.
 
In an effort to boost the economy the Cleveland Plain Dealer offered a solution. “Talk to civic leaders, entrepreneurs, academics, builders, business people,” then-editor Doug Clifton wrote in 2001. “They all agree: Greater Cleveland must get serious about creating and backing a master plan for economic development or face economic extinction.”
 
"The problem was, 'Greater Cleveland' didn’t exist. There was no single, overarching entity charged with creating a plan for Cleveland and its neighbors in the northeast corner of Ohio -- and just as importantly, it was hard to imagine any single entity that could take on the task."
 
Read the rest of the feature story here.

In a Huffington Post Travel blog post titled “Instagram Tour: Five Reasons to Heart the Rust Belt, Courtesy of Cleveland,” Jason Clement highlights his recent mini vacation/sabbatical to Cleveland.
 
“Long story short: I get Rust Belt cities... and I think they get me. While a blanket on the beach is certainly nice, I look to places like Cleveland when I need a creative reboot, not just a cocktail with an umbrella in it. So before I pack my bags (again), I thought I'd share five reasons why I love this region so much.”
 
In the post, Clement goes on to highlight what it is about cities like Cleveland that recharge his batteries, including: space to dream big, exciting street art, good building stock, and a can-do attitude.
 
Check out the complete post here.

In this feature from the travel publication Matador, Cleveland is hailed as one of the 20 best beer towns in America.
 
"Craft beer in America is more popular than ever," the article states at the outset. Not only that, it's becoming increasingly common for travelers to book trips around craft beer and brewery tours.
 
Cleveland is fast becoming a beer-lover's destination thanks to old and new breweries.
 
"Across the river from downtown lies Great Lakes Brewing, a well-respected brewery with strong Midwest pride."

"Hoppin’ Frog Brewing in nearby Akron made a splash on the craft scene in 2008 by winning a gold medal at GABF in the hotly contested Russian Imperial Stout category. Odd name, great beer."

"The Brew Kettle sits just north of the I-80/I-71 intersection, which makes this brewpub a dangerously convenient pit stop for road warriors."

Drink up the rest here.

In a The Detroit News business section feature titled “Gilbert pledges $1.5M to bring college grads to Detroit, Cleveland,” Michael Martinez shares how Quicken Loans founder and chairman Dan Gilbert has pledged big bucks to lure top college grads from around the country to work in downtown Detroit and Cleveland over the next five years.
 
“We’re thrilled to bring a host of the country’s top college graduates to support Dan Gilbert’s vision to revitalize Detroit and Cleveland,” said Andrew Yang, founder and CEO of Venture for America. “Our Fellows have been hard at work helping to build businesses in Detroit this past year. With this commitment, Venture for America will be in Detroit and Cleveland the next five years and beyond.”

Martinez goes on to highlight Gilbert’s commitment to Detroit and Cleveland where he is actively involved in business in both cities.
 
Read the full story here.

In a Huffington Post blog item titled “Transit Initiatives Boosted by Employers,” Laura Barrett writes of the vast amount of good that follows support and investment in public transit.
 
In the piece, Barrett highlights numerous benefits, including job creation, as one of the key factors in drumming up support for new transit creation.
 
“For every $1 billion investment in transit, 60,000 jobs are created, making transit one of the best job generators in our economy.”
 
Our fair city was cited as an example of success when public support paired with corporate involvement work together for the greater good.
 
“Cleveland's two largest employers, The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals of Cleveland, were involved in a campaign for the HealthLine, one of the nation's most successful Bus Rapid Transit lines.”
 
Read the full post here.

In a Forbes feature titled “Cleveland Whiskey Ages Bourbon In One Week,” science, technology, and culture writer Alex Knapp explores the unique process Tom Lix developed to bring his product to market.
 
“After making the spirit, a distillery places it into charred, American oak barrels to age. Usually for several years, with premium bourbons often aging for nine years or more,” Knapp writes. “But in Cleveland, Ohio, Tom Lix aims to disrupt the traditional aging process of bourbon. He’s developed a process to accelerate the aging process of whiskey from years into about a week.”
 
While the story does not go into details of the proprietary aging process for obvious reasons, a bare-bones explanation of how it works is revealed.
 
“It definitely does not taste like a young whiskey, a common snark you’ll see at some whiskey tasting websites, where Cleveland Whiskey is seeing plenty of detractors,” Knapp continues.
 
Enjoy the complete feature here.

"Lou Reed is recovering after receiving a liver transplant last month," an article in the Rolling Stone begins. That life-saving surgery was performed at the Cleveland Clinic.

The 71-year-old rock god chose the Clinic over facilities in New York because of the "dysfunctional state of hospitals in New York," his wife reported.
 
"I am a triumph of modern medicine, physics and chemistry," Reed said. "I am bigger and stronger than stronger than ever."

Read the rest of the news here.

In a CBS News story titled “Public, charter schools team up in Cleveland,” Dean Reynolds writes of Cleveland’s historically poor performance in standardized testing and efforts to improve such data through specialized charter schools.
 
“The classrooms are quiet and small -- 15 kids or less. There's individual instruction from teachers on everything from public speaking to personal etiquette.”
 
While the traditional schools are struggling with behavior issues, large class sizes, and overall poor performance, Alan Roskamm, CEO of a group of charters, shares that in the right environment the children can thrive.
 
"Many people will say you have to fix poverty before you can fix education. We believe it is upside down. The only way to fix poverty is to provide our children with a quality education," Roskamm was quoted in the article.
 
Read the full story here.

In a Huffington Post Travel list titled “America’s Top 10 Memorial Day BBQs,” the editors tout the last weekend in May as the beginning of summer, and the unofficial way of celebrating is by firing up the grill and enjoying a cold beverage.
 
“Across the country on Memorial Day weekend, the BBQ tradition carries on in regional and national barbeque competitions and festivals, so wherever you'll be spending the long weekend, there's bound to be a smoker near you.”
 
Cleveland’s own Great American Rib Cookoff gets a nod thanks to its plethora of delicious offerings plus its rocking musical lineup featuring Buddy Guy, Rick Springfield, and Bret Michaels.
 
Check out the full list here.

In a Christian Science Monitor story titled “An art museum uses technology to lure young patrons,” writer Nicole Wallace explores Cleveland Museum of Art's use of technology to attract younger audiences.
 
"As cultural institutions across the country struggle to attract young visitors, the Cleveland Museum of Art is embracing cutting-edge technology to try to lure new audiences to its collection of masterworks," she writes.
 
“The goal is to make the museum more welcoming, especially to young people who mediate the world through the screen,” David Franklin, director of the museum, is quoted in the piece.
 
Wallace goes on to highlight the 40-foot touch-screen wall, the ability to create personal tours via an iPad, and even touches upon Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period in the La Vie exhibit.
 
Check out the full story here.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien covered the Cleveland Orchestra's novel efforts to reach new (read younger) audiences by performing outside Severance Hall. In this video, O'Brien follows the orchestra from Severance Hall to Happy Dog in Gordon Square as they perform to enthusiastic young crowds.
 
"It is often easier and cheaper to experience great orchestras online and while older music lovers might shudder at the idea, research shows that most Americans under the age of 30 actually prefer it. But Cleveland, Ohio, boasts one of the world's top orchestras and rather than accept the empty seats at Severance Hall, the musicians decided to seek out new audiences in an unlikely venue."
 
Enjoy the video here.

In a New York Times post titled “The Cure and Feeding of Small Business,” writer and economics professor at UMass explains that while big business is still able to garner generous grants and tax incentives by promising jobs within political boundaries, it often comes at a price to small business and other civic services.
 
Once such model that is working well to foster success for the smaller enterprise as well as create jobs for the community is the worker-owned cooperative, like those at Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland.
 
“Promotion of worker-owned cooperatives is a way to create entrepreneurs and jobs at the same time. The Evergreen Cooperatives of Cleveland represent a stellar example, recently called out by the Federal Reserve Board member Sarah Bloom Raskin as an effective model of local economic development.”
 
Check out the full story here.