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Wayne Koestenbaum has written widely on a variety of subjects. While he is probably known best as a poet, he is also a distinguished professor of English at the City University of New York. In this interview he describes the process of creating an unusual new course of study for his students.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio may be paying $6.3 million to purchase a building that it helped pay to construct.

That's the amount Cuyahoga Community College requested Monday from a state legislative panel to buy a Cleveland building from the Visiting Nurses Association of Ohio.

Except Senate Finance Chairman Chris Widener, who sits on the board, pointed out the state gave the nonprofit association $1.6 million to help build the building in the first place. He says the state is essentially paying for the building twice.  Widener was the only no vote.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - The federal government is giving out $4.5 million to clean up Lake Erie.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency officials say the grants handed out Monday are part of nearly $30 million that will be announced for the Great Lakes over the next few weeks.

Just over $1.3 million will go to the University of Toledo so that it can build a wetland.  Money will also go to state and local agencies to combat invasive plants and fish and cut down on pollutants.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - A man who was among 11 charged in the cultivation of thousands of marijuana plants in Ohio has been sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

Court records show that U.S. District Judge Thomas Rose in Dayton sentenced Saul Vargas-Garcia on Monday.  He is among nine defendants who have pleaded guilty and received sentences ranging from a year to 18 months in prison. Two other men await sentencing on Aug. 17 th.

Defense attorneys say the men were poor day laborers trying to earn money for their families and didn't know what they were being hired to do.

On Saturday officials gathered in Clark County for a ground-breaking ceremony at the Springfield-Beckley airport. It kicks off an 11.6 million dollar construction project that will benefit the Air National Guard Base housed at the airport. 

The project will result in a new administrative building and a training complex for the National Guard. It's being built by Tamsah Marker. The Bellefontaine-based company will also construct a warehouse facility and a parking lot to support the new complex.