Area News

By BOB MOREHEAD BGNN senior staff writer BARBERTON  The Barberton Board of Education has been discussing its fiscal straits in public session for several months, but March 16, it invited whoever wanted to come to the middle school to hear it all in person and ask questions. Board President Tom Harnden declared the gathering a…

PHOTOS PROVIDED LaShawn Taylor and her husband, Freeman, have been featured as part of a campaign by Lifebanc.org and their faces can be seen on the side of Metro buses in the area.   By EMILY CANNING-DEAN BGNN staff writer BARBERTON  It has been three years since LaShawn Taylor underwent a kidney transplant and keeping…

This story originally appeared in the Jan. 8, 2026 edition of The Barberton Gazette & Norton News PHOTO BY CHRISTINA McCUNE | BGNN Danyell Allen, administrator and owner of Crowned Crayons Academy (center holding scissors), public officials, staff, supporters and others celebrated the licensed child care center’s first year anniversary with a ribbon cutting Dec.…

Josh Gordon, Barberton Community Foundation executive director, provides his monthly column to The Barberton Gazette & Norton News. Previous On Community columns can be viewed through this website as well as the BCF website  On Community – Barberton Community Foundation. This column appeared in the Dec. 25, 2025 edition of The BGNN. PHOTO PROVIDED Barberton…

PHOTO PROVIDED Myriam Raber on her naturalization day “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” — 1883 Emma Lazarus poem at the base of the Statue of…

Alexandria, Candace and Mike Hughes, new owners of The Coffee pot. By BOB MOREHEAD BGNN senior staff writer BARBERTON  Summit County’s oldest diner will go on. The Coffee Pot, serving up hot tasty breakfasts since 1923, has new owners and they told BGNN they expect to reopen sometime this summer. “The earlier we open, the…

Barberton High School presents “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” Thursday through Sunday, March 19-22. By CHRISTINA McCUNE BGNN managing editor BARBERTON  Co-directors Nicole Petrarca and Tyler Jensen have their work cut out for them by choosing “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” as this year’s spring high school production. Barberton High School has brilliantly…

PHOTOS THANKS TO BARBERTON HS YEARBOOK STUDENTS By CHRISTINA McCUNE BGNN managing editor BARBERTON  Everyone came out as winners last week as Barberton High School students threw a Las Vegas-themed senior prom for residents at Pleasant View Skilled Nursing and Rehab. Nursing students organized the special event with help from other students at the high…

PHOTO PROVIDED From left, Jada Young, Lake Anna YMCA staff, Jim Sawin, Akron Area YMCA Vice President, and Audrey Sims, Lake Anna YMCA patron. By JIM COLLVER Celtic Club The Celtic Club Green Man Project banner honoring the Tuskegee Airmen- the Red Tails- America’s first Black fighter pilots in World War II is once again…

BGNN staff report BARBERTON  City resident Tiffany Mead has spearheaded a Community Easter Egg Hunt in the city. The egg hunt is free and open to anyone and will take place 10:30 a.m. Saturday, March 28 along W Tuscarawas Avenue in downtown Barberton. Here’s what you need to know: Q. What made you want to…