NEW RUSSIA TWP. — Detectives don’t think the fatal shooting of a 46-year-old man during a gunfight at this brother’s Russia Road home was random. (more…)
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911 AUDIO: Sheriff’s investigators don’t think fatal shooting was random
Monday, November 14th, 2011Gulf Road bridge fixes expected to be done at month’s end
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2011
The Gulf Road bridge over Interstate 90 awaits concrete Tuesday. ODOT officials say wet weather has delayed the reconstruction of the bridge. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)
The Ohio Department of Transportation said Tuesday it plans to reopen the rebuilt Gulf Road bridge over Interstate 90 by late November.
“We’ve had questions of late over how weather has delayed us,” said Christine Myers, spokeswoman for the ODOT District 3 offices in Ashland, which oversees all work on state roads and bridges in an eight-county area of Northeast Ohio that includes Lorain County. “Weather has been huge for us. We’ve obviously had significant delays of three to four weeks due to rain.”
Crews had hoped to pour the bridge’s new concrete deck last week, but that work was delayed by rain as well, Myers said.
“With the rain we had last week, that work was not likely completed,” she said.
No specific date has been set for the bridge being reopened, but Myers indicated it would most likely occur the week after Thanksgiving.
Work on the $2 million state-funded project began in April and was originally slated to be completed by Oct. 31.
The project calls for replacement of the 308-foot-long bridge built in 1970. When completed, the new span will include a composite reinforced concrete deck and three new vertical piers at both ends of the span, as well as a fourth new pier in the middle of the bridge.
The bridge reconstruction is being done by Mosser Construction, a Fremont firm whose credits include the Ohio Turnpike bridge over the Maumee River and the Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies at Oberlin College.
Heavy rainfall in September and October led to construction work being halted on a number of days, and limited to a few hours on others, according to Myers, who explained that bad weather was factored into the project’s timetable.
“We had about three to four weeks of rain delays built in, due to the weather we’ve been having,” she said.
The exceedingly soggy weather was also blamed for delaying welding work on the bridge’s steel frame.
Any work that remains to be done — principally painting of the bridge — may wait until next spring, Myers said.
The state also repaved a portion of Abbe Road at the same time work began on the new bridge. The repaved road, which was completed some weeks ago, runs from the state Route 57 bypass north to Loyola Street near Lorain County Community College.
Northbound Gulf Road traffic will continue to be detoured to Burns Road, east on Burns Road to state Route 301 (Abbe Road) north on Route 301 to state Route 254, west on Route 254 to Gulf Road. The reverse route applies for southbound motorists.
Contact Steve Fogarty at 329-7146 or sfogarty@chroniclet.com.
Tribe picks up veteran starter Derek Lowe
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
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The club acquired the 15-year veteran pitcher from the Atlanta Braves on Monday for a minor leaguer, a low-risk move designed to bolster Cleveland’s starting rotation.
The Indians got the 38-year-old Lowe, who has 166 career wins, in exchange for left-hander Chris Jones. As part of the deal, the Indians will only have to pay Lowe $5 million of the $15 million he’s scheduled to make in 2012.
Lowe signed a four-year $60 million deal as a free agent with Atlanta before the 2009 season.
General manager Chris Antonetti said Lowe immediately assumes a spot in the Indians’ starting staff, where he’ll join Ubaldo Jimenez, Justin Masterson, Josh Tomlin and Fausto Carmona.
Before the deal for Lowe was announced, the Indians picked up Carmona’s $7 million option for 2012.
“He’s a quality pitcher with durability, pitching 180 innings or more every year since 2002,” Antonetti said. “The last time he was on the disabled list was 1995. In addition to his durability, there’s some leadership potential. His experience will complement a very young rotation. One of our goals was to improve our starting pitching.
“This goes a long way towards that. Stability is important. Also, he can be a positive influence on young starting pitchers with similar skills.”
The Indians contended for most of 2011 before injuries and inexperience dropped them from the AL Central race. And while Lowe has some mileage on his right arm, Cleveland believes he has enough left to help next season.
Lowe has pitched in both leagues, as a starter and closer. One of just three pitchers in history with more than 160 wins and 80 saves, Lowe went just 9-17 with a 5.05 ERA in 34 starts last season, his third with Atlanta. His 17 losses led the league.
But with right-hander Carlos Carrasco out for the season following Tommy John surgery, the Indians, who traded top prospects Alex White and Drew Pomeranz to Colorado for Jimenez in July, needed another established starter and made finding one an offseason priority — through trade or free agency.
Atlanta had a surplus of young arms and were looking to move Lowe, a sinkerball pitcher.
Lowe was 0-5 in September for the Braves, and struggled with his mechanics for much of the season. After Atlanta faded down the stretch and missed the postseason, GM Frank Wren said, “It’s hard to project him as one of our starters at this point.”
However, the Indians have a spot for him and hope he can impact and mentor their young pitchers the way veteran Kevin Millwood did when they signed him in 2005.
“We checked with former teammates and believe he can evolve into that type of (mentoring) role,” Antonetti said. “He’s a guy who loves the game, enjoys talking baseball, likes to help.”
The Indians understand there is the risk that a 38-year-old pitcher won’t be any better when he turns 39. However, Antonetti is confident Lowe can bounce back from a tough season and he’s not concerned about him switching back to the AL after seven seasons in the NL.
“Derek relies a lot upon contact,” he said. “He is reliant on his defense, but we are confident that if he pounds the strike zone, gets groundballs and we pick up the ball behind him, he should have a better year.”
Lowe is 166-146 with a 3.94 ERA in 356 career starts. In addition to Atlanta, Lowe has pitched with Seattle, Boston and the Los Angeles Dodgers since breaking into the majors in 1997. His 334 games started since 2002 is the most in baseball over the 10-season span.
Jones, 23, went 7-1 with a 3.36 ERA in 43 appearances for Kinston (A).
Indians exercise 2012 option for Fausto Carmona, decline Grady Sizemore
Monday, October 31st, 2011Carmona
Sizemore
The Cleveland Indians today announced the club has exercised the 2012 club option on pitcher Fausto Carmona.
Also today the Indians declined the 2012 club option of outfielder Grady Sizemore, who is now eligible for free agency.
Carmona went 3-5 with a 4.49 ERA in his final 15 starts from July 1 through the end of the season and had a combined ERA of 2.93 in July and August.
He has made at least 32 starts and logged more than 188 innings over each of the last two seasons in 2010 and 2011. Overall in 2011 he went 7-15 with a 5.25 ERA in 32 starts.
Carmona is now signed through the 2012 season with club options for 2013 and 2014.
