MuRrAy HiLL

I hate to be one of those people of "has anyone heard anything?"--but nonetheless the updated delay release states that opening night is infact tomorrow.... so, who's heard anything?

Top 10 best (super-human) highlights of Lebron James: 2008 (so far): http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/kia/kia_mvp_cand_james_l_2008.asx&video=blank&nbasite=nba 2007: http://broadband.nba.com/cc/playa.php?content=video&url=http://boss.streamos.com/wmedia/nba/nbacom/top10s_specialties/best_of_2007/top10_lebron_plays_2007.asx&video=blank&nbasite=nba

Some interesting statistics and lack of government intervention in recent years... ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080217/OPINION01/802170547/1069/OPINION FREE PRESS EDITORIAL SERIES: Fight must start in cities Federal programs, local strategies, individual efforts are all essential for new urban war on poverty Drive through Detroit's east side, the north side of Philadelphia, the south side of Chicago or Milwaukee's near north side. Parts of urban America look like battle zones -- burned-out buildings, decaying streets, vacant lots strewn with trash, empty factories and abandoned homes. There are blocks where it's much easier to buy alcohol than apples, where life expectancy is similar to that in a Third World nation's, where far more young men go to prison than to college. In the last 15 years, massive public and private investments have resurrected dying downtowns, including Detroit's, into vital entertainment, retail and housing centers. But such redevelopments have so far changed little in the low-income neighborhoods of U.S. cities. Nearly 40 million Americans are officially poor -- meaning an annual income of less than $16,000 for a family of three. Eight in 10 of them live in urban areas.

A long, but good article on Cleveland's Delonte West: Traveling West finds Cleveland Posted by Mary Schmitt Boyer March 09, 2008 17:22PM Categories: Cavaliers The 10-year-old dropped to his knees, placed the ball in front of him and spoke the words in his heart. "Lord, this is all I ever want to do," he said, referring to playing the game of basketball. "It's all I know how to do. I never asked you for anything. Well, I did ask you that one time to put a treasure chest full of gold coins under my bed, and you never put those under my bed. But just help me get to the NBA. That's all I ask. I'll forgive you for the gold coins." Up until that time, life had been hard. "A mean story," is how the new Cavaliers guard summarized his youth. More at Cleveland.com http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/03/traveling_west_finds_cleveland.html

New construction for Akron? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEOUCOM, UA, Akron hospitals could join together in multi-million-dollar, 10,000-square-foot facility Medical training center on the table By Cheryl Powell Beacon Journal medical writer Published on Monday, Mar 10, 2008 Preliminary talks among Northeast Ohio's public medical college, the University of Akron and Akron's three hospital systems could bring a multi-million-dollar medical training center to the city. Within the next two years, the Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy wants to open a clinical skills training center in Akron's biomedical corridor, near Akron General Medical Center and Akron City and Akron Children's hospitals. More at ohio.com http://www.ohio.com/lifestyle/health/16439671.html?page=all&c=y

Little Italy donated all its pictures and artifacts, including the old sicilian cart, to the western reserve after the neighborhood musuem had to close last year . Hopefully, there will be a good display of the material under the new president.

2-0 baby! I went to the game Sunday. It was definitely worth the ticket price. The next home game is against, which they kept emphasizing on the announcements, John Elway's Colorado Crush. There was also a decent amount of people downtown today for a cold, snowy Sunday--I'm guessing IFF, MAC Tournament, and the arena game helped though.

and one more cool story coming from CWRU: -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little more international for Case: http://observer.case.edu/Archives/Volume_40/Issue_20/Story_2533/ The Observer, March 7, 2008 Volume XL, Issue 20 International flavor covers KSL lower level Nimit Kapoor, Contributing Reporter Renovations at KSL might remind students more of their local Starbucks than a campus library. Futuristic diner-style benches line KSL's lower level, where students can stop in and grab a cup of vending-machine coffee to caffeinate themselves while they study or do homework. The background noise to these academic pursuits is SCOLA, the international television network, playing on a new plasma-screen TV. This broadcast is part of a movement by KSL to establish an environment that caters to the international community. SCOLA plays news broadcasts 24/7 from countries including Croatia, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Serbia. Broadcasts switch roughly every thirty minutes. Foreign languages can also be picked up at an international newspaper stand. Over a dozen different newspapers are printed daily in the news commons with a subscription from PressDisplay, an online resource for world papers. "I appreciate the ability to connect and stay current with my foreign roots on a day-to-day basis with the current editions of the Hindustan Times available each day," said sophomore Shalin Patel. The printed foreign newspapers remain in the shelving bins for about a week or so before being discarded. Online, students maintain the ability to gain an even greater abundance of international flavor. PressDisplay provides access to papers for up to 60 days past their publication. Students are able to read over 500 newspapers in 37 different languages, with foreign characters able to be translated to familiar letters and numbers. Joanne Eustis, university librarian, took special interest in the lower level of KSL. She felt it needed to be remodeled in a unique manner. Her vision has prompted the removal of the individual carrels and the placement of modern furniture. "The new furniture in the basement of KSL has been really nice. It gives everyone a more relaxed environment but it is still a nice quiet place to study. The only thing I can hope for now is more reliable vending machines that won't break or run out of caffeine the nights before midterms and finals," said sophomore Kabir Gulati. "The new couches provide unique comfort. It is unfortunate there are so few available," said sophomore Esha Pillai. Whiteboards and projectors complement individual study rooms that are also on the lower level. Eustis hopes that will "appreciate the opportunity to globally connect students to the bigger international student community." An international bulletin board will make its way to the wall space in the lower level. Students will be able to find information about study abroad trips as well as information pertaining to international student groups. The international language center stems from the Freedman Digital Library, Language Learning, and Multimedia Center, which has a heavy focus on technology and digital resources. The library staff hopes to provide more print newspaper resources for students to appreciate daily, and incorporate other services and resources for students to learn about other languages and cultures. On March 20, Kelvin Smith Library will hold a reception from 2 to 4 p.m. to inaugurate the International News Commons in the lower level. Fitting to the international theme, varied international food will be available to graze on as well as freebies. Faculty from the modern languages department as well as the political science department will be invited to the launching of this international service. All students are also welcome to attend. Librarians and staff will be showing features of the SCOLA channel on the plasma screen and the MediaVision Courseware site, where SCOLA programs can be viewed, including those in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Russian, and Spanish. Librarians will also present the PressDisplay online foreign newspapers, and provide demonstrations of other newspaper resources for study and news. More information about the International News Commons is available from the KSL homepage under the Services link, at http://library.case.edu/ksl/services/newscommons/.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=280680325 Cleveland St. 78, Valparaiso 73 INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- Cedric Jackson scored 22 points, J'Nathan Bullock added 19 and Cleveland State held off Valparaiso 78-73 in the semifinals of the Horizon League tournament Saturday. The Vikings (21-11), the tourney's No. 2 seed, will play 14th-ranked, No. 1-seed Butler on Tuesday night for the conference championship and an automatic NCAA tournament berth. Butler advanced with a 66-50 win over Illinois-Chicago in the second semifinal at Butler's Hinkle Fieldhouse...

from http://mvn.com/nba-cavaliers/2008/03/08/the-top-5-reasons-to-look-forward-to-the-playoffs/ The top 5 reasons for Cavs’ fans to look forward to the playoffs By James | March 8th, 2008 The Cleveland Cavaliers are a team in transit. That may be the understatement of the century after the 11-player deal that saw 4 new players take the place of 6 departures. Most agree that the players that were added, at the bare minimum, will give the Cavaliers better spacing to allow LeBron James more room to get the job done. Some believe that when this group finally becomes a team, they could challenge the Pistons and Celtics for the top spot in the East when it’s all said and done. The new players have had their struggles fitting into the system. This, combined with injuries to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Anderson Varejao, Sasha Pavlovic and Daniel Gibson, have left the Cavs in a state of flux. Fortunately for Cleveland, LeBron James doesn’t deal well with Flux. Fortunately for LeBron, come playoff time, this team should be ready to showcase it’s new look. Let’s take a look at the top five reasons why Cleveland should be a force in the playoffs: 5. The Frontcourt has the potential to be one of the best in the NBA, and should be at full strength come playoff time 4. The Point Guard play will be vastly improved, and varied enough to put opposing defenses on their heals 3. Cleveland might have the best depth in the league, once healthy 2. The Cavs finally have outside shooting 1. LeBron James is entering a new level of play. *** No, the Cavaliers aren’t a team yet…but when they are…

Walking along Murray Hill tonight, it felt the end-of-the-world type erie. There was just a steady amount of pedestrians (15-20 in eye sight walking both ways) in the middle of the road since the side walks were over 3 feet deep due to the plowing. Fun night all around.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23519203/ http://msnbcmedia4.msn.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photo_StoryLevel/080307/080307-archaeology-hmed-9a.hmedium.jpg Rome subway site is home to ancient treasures New find includes sixth-century pots and pans, as well as Renaissance fare By Marta Falconi The Associated Press updated 12:50 p.m. ET, Fri., March. 7, 2008 ROME - A sixth-century copper factory, medieval kitchens still stocked with pots and pans and remains of Renaissance palaces are among the finds unveiled Friday by archaeologists digging up Rome in preparation for a new subway line. Archaeologists have been probing the depths of the Eternal City at 38 digs often set up near famous monuments or on key thoroughfares. Over the last nine months, remains including Roman taverns and 16th-century palace foundations have turned up at the central Piazza Venezia and near the ancient Forum where works are paving the way for one of the 30 stations of Rome's third subway line. ....... The $4.6 billion project is due for completion in 2015, but parts of the line are scheduled to open in 2011, sporting high-tech automatic trains transporting 24,000 passengers an hour.

Here's a VIDEO interview discussing the games a little more in depth: http://www.wkyc.com/video/player.aspx?aid=56493&bw=

I agree with the KJP here on liking the "nooks and cranies" it seems to create. The parking is also mostly out of site, which is very nice. I look forward to seeing what the actual buildings will look like here in the next month. And the Fortress of Eaton?--I think it's only missing walls.

http://blog.cleveland.com/business/2008/03/planners_ok_moving_clevelands.html Planners OK moving Cleveland's port eastward Posted by Tom Breckenridge March 07, 2008 12:32PM Cleveland's port leaders won a key approval today for their plan to move the port from the downtown lakefront to a manmade peninsula north of East 55th Street. ...

On another note, cleveland.com actually has a pretty decent blog relating to the Rock Hall: http://blog.cleveland.com/rockin/2008/03/rockin_video_update_23.html

From NBC: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Analysis by the PD (in pdf): http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/03/p1pdf.pdf

Yep I watched the game tonight--he also told Spike Lee he was going to score 50 during the 3rd quarter. Madison Square Garden even gave him a standing ovation after the game...so please stay in Cleveland Lebron. Game Recap from USAToday: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James has 50 points, 10 assists, 8 rebounds, leads Cavs over Knicks NEW YORK -The "MVP!'' chants weren't enough for one fan, who had to come on the court to tell LeBron James how much he appreciated the superstar's spectacular performance. James had 50 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds to win over the Madison Square Garden crowd and lead the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 119-105 victory over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night. He shot 16-of-30 from the field, including 7-of-13 from 3-point range, in his second 50-point game this season. He exited with fans standing and chanting ``MVP!'' in the final minute. One fan in a Cavaliers jersey ran onto the floor toward the Cleveland bench, even saying a few words to James, before being turned away by security and arrested. More at http://www.usatoday.com/sports/scores108/108065/NBA777015.htm

Well here's a news story. http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5ji-WIc-YzW3prgQH8GhjGyo2wBRA

Beacon Place and Woodhaven may have helped pave the way for this project to happen--baby steps in a way. This really is exciting news. This project should be a catalyst for the neighborhoods around Euclid and Chester to continue to be developed on a larger scale. I'm also really liking the storefront aspect as well. Now if only the schools could be improved/fixed to help influence more families to move in...especailly those working at the clinic who have children.

From Crains: http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20080304/FREE/940200151/1048/newsletter01 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Case Western Reserve taps new trustees By SHANNON MORTLAND 1:02 pm, March 4, 2008 Case Western Reserve University has appointed two Northeast Ohio developers to its board of trustees and has elected a new chairman. Brian Ratner, president of East Coast development for Forest City Enterprises Inc., and Scott Wolstein, chairman and CEO of Developers Diversified Realty Corp., will serve four-year terms that will end in February 2012...

Gladiators win Cleveland debut, 61-49, in front of big, lively crowd March 03, 2008 - 23:37PM Gladiators President Bernie Kosar said at the outset of training camp that he expects his club to contend for the Arena Football League playoffs. It was a bold statement given the franchise's 2-14 record last season in Las Vegas. Kosar based his optimism largely on the acquisition of veteran quarterback Raymond Philyaw, who signed as a free agent from Kansas City after a relentless pursuit by Kosar. Philyaw made his boss look very smart Monday night at The Q. Philyaw completed 18 of 23 passes for 240 yards and five touchdowns as the Gladiators defeated the New York Dragons, 61-49. A crowd of 17,391, energetic from the start, watched the first arena game in the Cleveland area since the Thunderbolts of the early 1990s. Full story at http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/03/gladiators_win_cleveland_debut.html

Football in Cleveland rules anytime, anyplace, anyhow March 03, 2008 - 23:33PM You know Cleveland is a football town when it's March 3 and there are 17,391 at Quicken Loans Arena on their feet, clapping, screaming and barking for two linemen! The fans nearly blew off the roof when Browns left tackle Joe Thomas and defensive lineman Shaun Smith were introduced before the first Arena Football League game in Cleveland Gladiators history. Then Bernie Kosar walked to midfield to a chorus of "Ber-Nee," "Ber-Nee" and a few chants of "Steelers stink," only they didn't say "stink." Kosar is the Gladiators' man of many titles: minority owner, president, CEO, recruiter of star quarterback Ray Philyaw -- and, by his own admission, a bit of a meddler drawing up plays for the coaches. Full story at http://blog.cleveland.com/sports/2008/03/football_in_cleveland_rules_an.html