Afternoon catchup: 5 Butler County stories you need to know today

Dean Baker, 9, enjoyed painting at The Studio on Thursday. The Studio soon will be moving four blocks west to 547 Main St., and should open there Sept. 17. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Dean Baker, 9, enjoyed painting at The Studio on Thursday. The Studio soon will be moving four blocks west to 547 Main St., and should open there Sept. 17. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Here’s a look at five big Butler County stories today to catch up on the news:


Hamilton pottery and painting business moving into former funeral home

The Studio soon will be moving four blocks west to 547 Main St, a former Zettler Funeral Home location. The Zettler location on Pleasant Avenue remains open. The Studio should open there Sept. 17. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

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The Studio, where customers can paint pottery and canvases, soon will move four blocks west of its present location at 118 Main St.

The shop, owned by Lori Noga and daughter Erin Noga, will temporarily close when its lease expires in July. Its owners plan to reopen at 547 Main St., in a former Zettler Funeral Home property, Sept. 17, The Studio’s five-year anniversary.

Zettler’s Pleasant Avenue location remains open.

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Butler County school funding: How much will local districts get?

Though the $10 million expansion of Middletown's Rosa Parks Elementary has had some unexpected challenges due to nationwide shortages of construction materials, trucking services and other problems, city school officials say the project is on schedule to open by start of classes in August. The expansion will add 13 classrooms and dramatically modernize some learning areas in the school. (Provided Photo\Journal-News)

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Some local school officials are both encouraged and discouraged by the just-completed state budget changes for school funding.

Ohio’s new two-year budget makes K-12 education advocates happy on one hand, because its thorough approach likely solves decades-long constitutionality problems with Ohio school funding.

On the other hand, lawmakers removed the Fair School Funding Plan’s language for a six-year funding phase-in. Legislators could potentially decline the plan’s funding increases in future two-year budget cycles, leaving only the principles in place, without the money.

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Hamilton’s smart traffic signal installation getting closer in $5.2 million project

The High/Main Bridge in Hamilton will be the site of a party celebrating the city’s 17 neighborhoods on Sunday. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

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HAMILTON — Hamilton is getting closer to starting the installation of $5.2 million smart traffic signals that can adjust to traffic conditions and ease congestion on the streets.

Once the installation starts late this year, it may be 18-24 months before the system is fully in place, allowing hoped-for congestion fixes along the crowded east-west corridor of High and Main streets, and easing the expected heavy traffic to and from the under-construction Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill indoor sports facility.

The city next week will start the bidding process for the installation project that will link all the city’s 97 signals to a central computer.

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Manufacturing jobs: Butler County community colleges working to fill need for skilled workers

Sinclair Community College student Conner Elliott talks about his experience in the program during an open house for the new Smart Manufacturing and Automation Lab Tuesday, June 29, 2021 at the Sinclair Community College Mason campus. NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

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Credit: Nick Graham

Recent national studies are showing what area community colleges saw coming: Manufacturing jobs are going unfilled even as the coronavirus pandemic is waning.

And years-long expansions of career learning programs at area two-year colleges are taking on new urgency to fill that gap as illustrated by Dayton-based Sinclair Community Colleges recent $1.2 million enlargement of its industrial maintenance and technology lab at its campus in Mason.

Enrollment projections for the coming school year are still being calculated but Sinclair, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, which has a campus in Middletown, and Miami University’s regional campuses in Hamilton and Middletown are all seeing or anticipating higher enrollments this fall.

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Townships now included in federal coronavirus relief money after months of confusion

Some Butler County township leaders say they were relieved to finally get some of the millions of dollars in federal monies designed to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. After months of uncertainty, more than 1,300 of Ohio’s townships - including Liberty Twp whose central office is pictured - are now assured part of $422 million in American Rescue Plan funds sent to the state. (File Photo\Journal-News)

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Some Butler County township leaders said they were relieved to finally get some of the federal monies designed to offset the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

After months of uncertainty, more than 1,300 of Ohio’s townships are now assured part of $422 million in American Rescue Plan funds sent to the state.

A bill Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed last week also released funds to the state’s smaller cities and villages, which were not included in direct relief funds released from the U.S. Treasury earlier this year to counties, along with cities and townships with populations over 50,000.

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AND, for an extra sixth story of the day ...

Middletown looking for ‘right people’ to lead city through its revitalization, major projects

The three flags outside the Middletown City Building were lowered to half-staff Tuesday in honor of Anita Scott Jones, the city's former vice mayor who died April 11. RICK McCRABB/STAFF

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Weeks after losing its finance director and city engineer, Middletown continues looking for the “right people” to fill the positions and may hire a recruiting firm to assist in the search, said Susan Cohen, assistant city manager.

Middletown is experiencing the same hiring challenges seen throughout the public and private sector: There are more job openings than qualified candidates, especially for positions that require high degrees, she said.

“Recruiting is getting more challenging,” she said. “We’re all looking for the same talent, but there’s not enough talent to go around.”

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