• Trip to Montgomery commemorates Cleveland man murdered in 1911 over a handful of cherries

    by Randy Cunningham    (Plain Press December 2025) The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, a project of the Equal Justice Institute in Montgomery, Alabama is a complex of sites dedicated to commemorating the black experience in America from slavery and segregation, up to today’s New Jim Crow of mass incarceration. I think it is…


  • Pilot aims to transform community response to mental health crises

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Monday, April 22, 2024; A sign sponsored by the Alcohol Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board of Cuyahoga County promotes calling 988 for mental health and addiction crisis services. by Abe Kurp    (Plain Press May 2024) Residents of some Cleveland neighborhoods will soon have access to a new tool…


  • Ray Petro, owner of Ray’s Indoor Bike Park, hosts “The Great Reveal”

    PHOTO BY CHUCK HOVEN Friday, September 9, 2022; The Big Reveal, Ray’s Indoor Bike Park, 9801 Walford: Artist Eileen Dorsey joined with Ray Petro, owner of Ray’s Indoor Bike Park, to design a mural for the entrance to the bike park. A scene of an outdoor mountain bike path now greets guests to Ray’s Indoor…


  • New Neighborhood Housing Court Kiosk opens at the South Branch Library

    New Neighborhood Housing Court Kiosk opens at the South Branch Library by Bruce Checefsky Plain Press, August 2022        Cleveland Housing Court and Cleveland Public Library have teamed up to bring the court to the community. Starting this month, the new Neighborhood Housing Court Kiosk at the South Branch of the Cleveland Public Library, located at…


  • Tamir Rice Butterfly Garden


  • Curbside Coffee set to reopen bringing karaoke and music back to Lorain Avenue

    Curbside Coffee set to reopen bringing karaoke and music back to Lorain Avenue (Plain Press, August 2021)                       Curbside Coffee, 9858 Lorain Avenue, will reopen on Monday August 2nd, bringing karaoke, and live musical performances back into its home on Lorain Avenue. Judy Fitch, owner of Curbside Coffee, says she closed the coffee shop in March of 2020…


  • Slavic Village effort takes HIV prevention to the neighborhood level in hopes of reversing trend

    Slavic Village effort takes HIV prevention to the neighborhood level in hopes of reversing trend by Rachel Dissell (Plain Press, February 2021)         On a crisp fall day, a small group of masked community researchers fanned out on the streets of Slavic Village to ask residents a few questions about their sex lives.    The effort was one…


  • American Legion Auxiliary Unit 421 First Vice President Cindy Boehnlein gets on her bike to raise funds for local veterans

    (Plain Press, January 2021)    COVID-19 has made it difficult for the American Legion Auxiliary to hold their traditional fundraisers this year, so when Cindy Boehnlein learned about the “Hundred Miles for Hope” fundraising campaign proposed by American Legion National Commander Bill Oxford to raise funds for the Veteran and Children’s Foundation, she was eager to give…


  • Census 2020


  • Reader weighs in with objections to coverage of Metanoia Project Shelter at Denison Avenue United Church of Christ

    Reader weighs in with objections to coverage of Metanoia Project Shelter at Denison Avenue United Church of Christ To the Editor: (Plain Press, April 2020) Re: February 2020 Plain Press article by Bruce Checefsky titled “Neighbors and homeless advocates defend Denison Avenue United Church of Christ’s offering of hospitality to the homeless” To all, I…