Features

A woman reads a book on a couch.

If you’ve been following along with the “Survive and Thrive: A New Theme for 2016!” series, you know that I’ve launched an aggressive campaign against overtired, over-stressed parenting. Hopefully by now, you’ve been able to focus more on your family by reconsidering your time commitments and making room for memories. This month, however, I want you to shift your focus from your family to yourself. That’s right. I want you take time out to read a book.

Train tracks covered in snow.

On March 29, 1916, at roughly 3:45 a.m., a speeding train plowed into two other trains that had collided in the town of Amherst in Lorain County, near Lake Erie, as part of one of the worst train wrecks in Ohio history.

To help observe the 100th anniversary of the deadly crash, Echoes in Time Theatre will present The Amherst Train Wreck at the Ohio History Center in Columbus, home of the Ohio History Connection (OHC), formerly the Ohio Historical Society.

What happened in Vegas won’t stay in Vegas, not if it concerns CES® 2016, the world’s largest tradeshow for consumer electronic technology and the biggest U.S. trade show of any kind.

Held Jan. 6-9 in Las Vegas, the 49th CES — formerly known as the International Consumer Electronics Show — introduced innovative items and electronic technologies affecting most every walk of life, including many powered by the electricity your cooperative provides.

A black and white portrait of Granville T. Woods

The Black Edison. Such was the nickname bestowed upon Granville T. Woods, an African-American inventor who held more than 50 patents. Born in Columbus in 1856, he attended school only to age 10, leaving due to family poverty and the necessity of work.

Villagers of La Soledad smile for a group photo.

Late this month, 17 volunteers from Ohio’s electric cooperatives will fly to Guatemala, take a two-hour ride up a very steep mountainside and spend 14 days helping to electrify the remote village of La Soledad. The project, undertaken through the auspices of the international program of the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association (NRECA), has had monetary and material support from all 24 of Ohio’s electric cooperatives and from employees and other friends of the statewide network of electric cooperatives.