ELYRIA — President Barack Obama is scheduled to make his highly anticipated visit in Lorain County today.

Obama will hold a town hall meeting this afternoon at Lorain County Community College’s field house and will make other stops as well, but the White House was delaying releasing the other stops on his itinerary.

In addition to his previously announced town hall meeting at Lorain County Community College, Obama is also expected to visit sports equipment manufacturer Riddell in Elyria. Other stops are also on the president’s itinerary, but the White House hadn’t announced those Thursday.

Lorain County Commissioner Ted Kalo said he hopes Obama also will visit the college’s wind turbine program, which focuses on teaching students how to work on turbines. It’s a chance, Kalo said, to show the president the county’s efforts to be part of the green manufacturing industry.

“His visit will give us a chance to showcase what we’re doing and for him to see the challenges we face here,” Kalo said.

The Washington Post reported online that Obama had scheduled a visit to that facility.

Obama’s visit to the county is the second stop on the President’s “White House to Main Street” tour, and Obama plans to spend the day in the county meeting with workers, small business owners and local leaders, many of whom plan to attend the town hall meeting.

About 900 people have tickets to attend.

Ticket handout at LCCC from Whitehouse.gov:

Elyria police Capt. Duane Whitely warned that traffic throughout the city will be disrupted by Obama’s visit, but that he couldn’t release details because of security concerns.

“We will not close any road any longer than we have to,” he said.

North Abbe Road south of Cobblestone Square shopping center will be closed starting at around noon. Burns Road also will be closed for part of the day, Whitely said.

The city’s uncertain traffic patterns led Elyria Schools to cancel school for the day, the district announced Thursday. The college also has canceled classes during the day, but evening classes and events will go forward as scheduled.

The college said in a news release that the school’s north entrance off Abbe Road will be closed starting at 9 a.m. and the south entrance on Abbe Road will close around noon. Anyone on campus after noon will not be allowed to leave until after 4 p.m., the release said.

Those who have tickets to the town hall meeting at the college are being asked to arrive at campus before 11 a.m. Those with tickets will park in one area, while those who plan to attend live broadcasts in the Stocker Arts Center and Spitzer Conference Center will be asked to park in other lots.

Several parking lots and campus buildings are being closed for security reasons and those attending the town hall will have to pass through airport-like security. Bags, umbrellas, strollers, liquids, sharp objects and signs will not be permitted inside the field house.

LCCC Obama preparation from Whitehouse.gov:

A special area has been set aside for protesters. Known as the “free speech area,” it is on the college’s south side, near the open parking lots.

Among those who plan to be there to express his dissatisfaction is Mike Hellyar with the Lorain NorthShore Patriots.

He said he and others who plan to attend from his group aren’t happy with the direction Obama is taking the nation on issues like health care.

“Our main message would be listen to the people,” he said.

David Arredondo, vice chairman of the Lorain County Republican Party, said he welcomes Obama, even if he doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the president.

“We’re a little leery of his policies,” he said.

Watch the president

Watch video of President Barack Obama’s visit live on Chroniclet.com. Or go to one of a number of locations where LCCC will be showing live video.

Lorain County Community College will provide a live broadcast of the event from several campus locations, including the Lorain County Growth Partnership Learning Center at the County Administration building on the fifth floor in room 555 starting at 1 p.m.

The broadcasts are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis.

For more information, contact Margaret Box at mbox@lorainccc.edu or (440) 328-2373.

Broadcast locations include:

• Stocker Arts Center Main Theatre (main campus)
• Spitzer Conference Center Grand Room (main campus)
• LCCC Learning Center at St. Joseph Community Center (Lorain)
• LCCC Wellington Learning Center (Wellington)
• Midpoint Campus Center in (Brunswick)

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

LORAIN — A bomb threat to the Lorain Schools early this morning brought out precautionary measures as the school day got under way in buildings throughout the district.

The threat, Lorain Schools Superintendent Cheryl Atkinson described as “generic” and not relating to any specific building, was called in to 911, and the schools were notified about it by the Lorain Police Department a little after 5 a.m.

In each of two calls, a deep-voiced male caller tells a 911 operator there is a bomb in the Lorain Schools. In the first call, he says the bomb will go off at 10 a.m. In a second call, he demands Lorain Schools be closed. The operator tries to persuade him to stay on the line for police, but he disconnects.

Listen to the 911 calls:

Call 1:

Call 2:

Police and district staff inspected and secured all buildings prior to the start of the school day, and inspected all adults and students as they entered the buildings, and the school day got under way with little delay, Atkinson said.

The district had early dismissal due to a professional development day today, and the day wound down without incident.

“Other than a little bit of inconvenience, with everyone going in one door (at each buildling), we really didn’t have any issues,” Atkinson said. “We started on time, ended dismissed on time and had a great day. I have a great staff, and praise them for stepping up. Everybody did their part.”

The district let parents know about the incident through a voice mail, according to the district. Some schools allowed parents to keep their children out for the day without being penalized for the absence, but those decisions were made on a school-by-school basis.

Lorain police will handle the investigation into the threat, according to Atkinson.

ELYRIA — Elyria police are responding to a shooting on Eighth Street, and Elyria High School was briefly placed on exterior lockdown after initial reports that the shooter had fled.

Listen to scanner audio from the police call:

Police responded to the shooting about 12:15 p.m. at 215 Eighth Street. A man told a police dispatcher a masked gunman wearing all black entered his home, shot him and then fled on foot in an unknown direction.

Shortly afterward Elyria police reported stopping a man that matched that description. It was not immediately clear if it was the same man.

Photos by Chronicle photographer Chuck Humel.

Elyria High was placed on exterior lockdown as a precaution, according to schools spokeswoman Amy Higgins. She said exterior lockdown means school was still in session but no one was coming or going from the building. The lockdown lasted about a half hour and was over by 1:15 p.m.

At the Eighth Street scene, one victim, an adult male, was removed from the home on a stretcher and taken to the hospital by ambulance. His condition was not immediately available.

Check back at Chroniclet.com for more on this story as it becomes available.

The National Weather Service in Cleveland has issued a winter storm warning for Lorain County until 10 a.m. Saturday.

Most locations will see 3 to 5 inches of snow by Friday morning and another 4 to 6 inches of snow by Saturday morning.

A winter weather advisory and a lake effect snow watch are no longer in effect.

According to the warning, widespread snow spreading across the area will continue into Friday while transitioning to lake effect snow showers, which will then continue into Saturday before tapering to light snow showers and flurries.