On Tuesday, Sept. 27, Cleveland VOTES will partner with local organizations to host a series of events for National Voter Registration Day 2016. The effort is part of a massive 50-state drive to register thousands of voters before Election Day, November 8. The theme for this year’s National Voter Registration Day is "Celebrating Democracy in America."
 
The day will be marked by an array of registration drives across the city, from a “Pop Up Cook Out” at Moulton/Scoutway Park, East 115th and Moulton Avenue from 2 to 5 p.m., to the “Pan pa’ Casa /Drive Thru Voter Registration” at Walton Elementary School, 3409 Walton Avenue, from 2:30 to 4 p.m.
 
In Ohio, the voter registration deadline for the November 8 election is October 11. Ohioans are encouraged to make sure their voter registration is up to date. If you have moved, changed your name or had any other changes since you last voted, you need to re-register by October 11.

Ohioans must register to vote in person or by mail. Click here for more information, or attend one of the more than 14 local registration activities on Tuesday, Sept. 27, National Voter Registration Day, at locations all over Cleveland and times to accommodate every schedule. Get the full list here.

Sanfilippo syndrome is a genetic disorder that effects young children, resulting in mental disabilities, blindness, nerve damage and seizures. Those afflicted may live into their teens, while others with severe forms of the disease die at an earlier age. There is no specific treatment for Sanfilippo syndrome, but a Cleveland-area startup owner literally climbed a mountain to help find one.
 
Tim Miller, CEO of Abeona Therapeutics,  joined a team of climbers representing the Team Sanfilippo Foundation to scale Mount Rainer in Washington. The 14,411-foot ascension represented the latest in a series of fundraisers designed to fight the deadly disease through research. Thus far, the effort has raised nearly $22,000.
 
Abeona, a company developing gene- and plasma-based therapies for rare genetic disorders, recently entered its first trial on replacing a Sanfilippo sufferer's malfunctioning DNA with a correct copy. The therapy produces an enzyme needed to dispose of sugar molecules that are otherwise stored in cells. This storage causes progressive damage in the patient.  
 
"We're the only ones in the world using this particular approach," says Miller. "Our next step is to enroll more patients."
 
Miller battled freezing temperatures, high altitudes and steep rock faces during the 36-hour climb to Ranier's crest. The early-September jaunt burned 16,000 calories and left him physically and emotionally exhausted. Disappointment Cleaver, a 70- to 80-degree rock incline located at 12,500 feet, was perhaps Miller's most harrowing challenge.
 
"You're scaling 1,000 feet of rock in the middle of the night with a short rope," he says. "You just have to keep moving."
 
Miller and his teammates - among them a father of two boys diagnosed with lethal Sanfilippo syndrome type A  - reached the summit at sunrise, a sight that washed away all previous trials.
 
"There was this great sense of joy when we reached the top," says Miller. "We got to see the entire world unmapped before us."
 
Tackling Mount Rainier was difficult, but nothing compared to what those dealing with Sanfilippo syndrome must endure, adds the medical entrepreneur.
 
"I had to live through mental, physical and emotional hardships (on Mount Rainier)," Miller says. "But parents whose children have (Sanfilippo syndrome) must live with the disease for years. That's courage." 

Cleveland's myriad charms continue to get noticed. The Cleveland Clinic and the new Public Square are among the amenities the New York Post cites in this roundup, putting our burg here on the North Coast at number 15.

To the credit of the authors, this group of cities includes towns that don't often get the spotlight - try Hoboken, New Jersey; Charlottesville, Virginia and Bend, Oregon.

Click here to get the whole list.
 

Tigers, flamingos and elephants aside, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo is also home to the world-class Sarah Allison Steffee Center for Zoological Medicine – a mecca of animal care, science, conservation, education and research.

The internationally recognized creator of 'My Friend Dahmer' reveals his complex relationship with the story – from how it saved his life to taking on one of its own in a forthcoming film.

The Bradford Exchange, purveyors of all things collectible from Thomas Kinkade to Disney, has set its latest sights right here in Cleveland - at Franklin Castle no less.

As part of its "America's Most Haunted Village Collection," the fave local landmark will be offered as Issue Two. Issue One will be the Amityville House. Structures measure 4.5 inches wide by 6.5 inches long by 5.25 inches deep.

Per the company's site: "Each sculpture illuminates and features a wealth of detailing like the ghoulish apparitions that are seen peering out from their windows. Plus, learn about the events that took place in each historic place and what is thought to haunt the space with the included printed newspaper cards."

Full information, including images of the fun and funky miniatures, is available here.

For those wishing to ditch the wheels (along with the expensive parking, insurance and not-so-green exhaust), USA Today taps Cleveland as the nation's top place to do so.

While locals may have other opinions of our public transit, the listing cites amenities such as the RTA Redline and the new UHBikes program as boons to those who'd just as soon opt for any mode of transportation over a private vehicle.

See which cities the 216 beat out here.