Around the Miami Valley

SPRINGFIELD - A busted water pipe has caused the student run radio station at Wittenberg University to temporarily go off the air.

WUSO (89.1) FM) was knocked off the air over the Easter weekend, when four feet of water flooded the basement of Firestine Hall the home of the radio station and approximately 200 students.

A Cincinnati-area family services agency that's come under recent fire over child abuse deaths is likely to receive $2 million to hire more caseworkers, supervisors and case reviewers.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reports the director of the Hamilton County Job and Family Services asked for the funds in an April 5 memo and two of the three commissioners who'll vote on the request say they support it.

They say the money will come from $28 million set aside for a possible fine in an investigation into agency bookkeeping.

Dayton Dragons players and one of the team's mascots, Heater, will visit four Clark County elementary school classrooms today and tomorrow.  The visits are part of the Dragons MVP program. An initiative developed by the minor league baseball team to help it better connect with local communities.

Tom Nichols of the Dayton Dragons, says the MVP Program, is an educational tool for fourth and fifth grade teachers around the Miami Valley area, that helps them motivate and reward students for success in and out of the classroom. 

The City of Dayton is spearheading a project aimed at extending Patterson Boulevard Canal Parkway. The Dayton Daily News reports that the city will be using a $2.2 million dollar grant in to expand the Parkway the length of four blocks.

The State of Ohio awarded the grant to the City in 2008 to begin construction on a cultural project. Original plans were to fund a mixed-use project in the RiverScape area.  Those plans  fell through.  

The City was allowed to use that money for the Canal project.