, - Katie Rausch / The Blade
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeInvisible and pervasive, the scourge of childhood lead poisoning is a persistent problem often caused by exposure in housing. Though lead paint was banned for home use in 1978, many older properties remain contaminated. Many families in rental properties are unaware of in-home contamination, and low-income home owners struggle to afford lead abatement as children incur irreversible lead poisoning. Children play outside a house with identified lead hazards in Cleveland. The house was one of nearly 90 in Cuyahoga County for whom the Board of Health has issued Orders of Eviction. The identified houses were noncompliant with ordered lead abatement, a process triggered once a child staying at the residence tests positive for elevated lead levels. The family living at this property said they weren't interested in learning of the eviction order.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeSiblings, from front left, Adelisse, 6, Yadier, 3, Joseph, 5, and Gilberto, 8, play together as their mother Yadelis Lopez, back left, keeps an eye on them at their home in Rochester, New York. Ms. Lopez moved to Rochester six years ago and has rented in the city ever since. Her son, Joseph, 5, tested positive for lead at one rental property, though the family has since moved to a house that was cleared by the city. In 2005 the city of Rochester adopted legislation to aggressively lower the number of children exposed to lead in rental housing. Their law is the basis for Toledo's new lead ordinance, which requires rental buildings built before 1978 with up to four units and day-care centers to be certified “lead-safe.”
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeA neighborhood is reflected from the porch of a house with a posted Order of Eviction in Cleveland. County boards of health can order homes vacated if the owners don't abate the lead contamination. While proponents say the laws force compliance, many neighborhoods are left with empty and blighted properties.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeAllyse Goolsby pauses as she discusses the voluntary lead abatement updates she and her husband had made to their new rental property at their home in Toledo. The house is one of 27 in Toledo whose residents have been given orders to vacate by the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department due to ongoing excessive lead contamination. Ms. Goolsby and her family had moved into the property about a month earlier and were unaware of the eviction order. She said they had preemptively been working to renovate the home and abate the existing lead issue in hopes of buying the property.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeAlbert Algerian, a Rochester Code Enforcement Officer, uses his phone light to check for flaking paint on a window during an inspection demonstration at a rental home in Rochester, New York. A new Toledo law, based on Rochester's decade-old lead law, requires rental buildings built before 1978 with up to four units and day-care centers to be certified “lead-safe.”
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The Blade"I'm really worried now," India Gaston, 15, said as she held up her three-month-old son Ozzie Banks at their rental house in Toledo. Ms. Gaston said she and her parents, with whom she shares the rental house, had no idea they were supposed to vacate because of lead contamination. Though her niece had tested positive for lead when she was living at the property three years ago, India was under the impression that issue had been resolved.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeFlaking paint in a windowsill would be flagged as a potential lead hazard in a rental home in Rochester, New York. The city of Rochester inspects all rental homes for, among other things, potential lead hazards. Inspectors perform visual inspections and, in areas of the city designated high-risk for lead poisoning, also administer dust wipe tests. Flaking paint and dust are two sources of high lead contamination.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeVelma Rollins has kept extensive records of her struggle to stop evection order from the Cuyahoga County Board of Health. She has lived in her house off and on since she was a small child and has raised children and grandchildren there. Now, her son owns the property and the pair have been trying to sort out the Board of Health's ordered lead abatement, which was triggered after Ms. Rollins' grandson tested positive for elevated levels of lead. Their house was one of nearly 90 in Cuyahoga County for whom the Board of Health has issued Orders of Eviction after noncompliance with lead abatement.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The Blade"It's a scary situation," Mesha Wallace said as she held her granddaughter Mariah Gaston, 3, at their home in South Toledo. Mariah was diagnosed with lead poisoning at the age of one while living with Ms. Wallace in the home they rent. Mariah was treated, and the family's landlord repainted the interior of the house. Ms. Wallace was alarmed to learn two years later that the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department had included her home on a list of houses unfit for human habitation due to lead contamination. With another grandchild, three-month-old Ozzie, living in their home Ms. Wallace said she had started working 60 hours a week in hopes of saving enough money to move. She is now having her three children and two grandchildren tested for lead.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeJeremiah Slaughter, 5, left, plays on the front porch of his grandmother's house in East Cleveland. His grandmother Brenda Slaughter, right, said her family was moving out of their rental property after nine years because their landlord hadn't complied with ordered lead abatement. Their house was one of nearly 90 in Cuyahoga County for whom the Board of Health has issued Orders of Eviction after noncompliance with lead abatement. The process triggered once a child staying at the residence tests positive for elevated lead levels.
First Place, News Picture Story - Katie Rausch / The BladeMariah Gaston, 3, played with the security door at her grandmother's house in South Toledo. Mariah was diagnosed with lead poisoning at the age of one while living with her grandmother Mesha Wallace in the home the family continues to rent. Mariah was treated, and the family's landlord repainted the interior of the house. Ms. Wallace was alarmed to learn two years later that the Toledo-Lucas County Health Department had included her home on a list of houses unfit for human habitation due to lead contamination. With another grandchild, three-month-old Ozzie, living in their home Ms. Wallace said she had started working 60 hours a week in hopes of saving enough money to move. She is now having her three children and two grandchildren tested for lead.
, - Andy Morrison / The Blade
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeFor a city that was without water in 2014 due to water contaminated with microcystin, a potentially lethal toxin, when a section of the Maumee River in Toledo turned green from potentially toxic algae, fears were renewed that another water crisis was at hand. While this time the city did not have to shut off the water this, calls were increased to designate Lake Erie as "impaired" with the hope that Ohio and Michigan would further reduce the amount of algae-producing phosphorus pouring into the lake through connecting tributaries. Teams race up a green Maumee River during the Frogtown Regatta. Blue-green algae, potentially toxic, turned the river green.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeLucas County Commissioner Pete Gerken tours the Toledo riverfront, viewing the algal bloom.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeUniversity of Toledo graduate student Eva Kramer retrieves a multiparameter sonde as they study water quality on Lake Erie.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeA pair of common terns rest on a University of Toledo water quality monitoring buoy on Lake Erie.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeCows are fed at Hoffland Dairy near Clayton, Mi. Many scientists blame mega farms, such as Hoffland Dairy, and the runoff they produce, for increasing algae-producing phosphorus pouring into the lake.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeThe sun rises over a field west of Hoffland Dairy near Clayton, MI. The Rice Lake Drain, a tributary of Bear Creek, which flows into Raisin River and eventually Lake Erie, is thick with green algae and duckweed. Stationed in the field is the traveling irrigator that Hoffland Dairy uses to pump liquid manure from their lagoons to these fields. Scientists point to the runoff from the liguid manure for the algae-producing phosphorus pouring into the lake.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeA catfish, still breathing, washes ashore in the algae-filled waters at the end of 113th Street in Toledo.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeScott High School junior Juzarien Shoulders takes a water sample from Swan Creek at Highland Park in South Toledo. The students were looking for for the presence of phosphorus, E. coli, pH balance, turbidity, and more.
Second Place, News Picture Story - Andy Morrison / The BladeMike Ferner dumps algae tainted Lake Erie water and dead perch into the fountain as members of Advocates for a Clean Lake Erie protest at One Government Center in Toledo.
, - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning Journal
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalThe county sheriff’s office is investigating an incident in which the Youngstown Bomb Squad was called to remove an incendiary device from a mailbox on King Road. The Youngstown Bomb Squad arrived on the scene and began the process of removing the device from the mailbox. Initially, a robot was used to try and retrieve the device, but when that was unsuccessful, two bomb squad officers removed it by hand, placing it into a box.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalYoungstown Police Lt. Doug Bobovnyik (center) speaks with county Deputy Kevin Shulas, bomb squad officer Brad Ditullio,Winona Fire Chief George Brantingham and bomb squad officer Bob DeMailo.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalThe Youngstown Bomb Squad deployed its robot to try to retrieve the bomb from the mailbox, but it was unable to get it.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalBomb squad members Lt. Doug Bobovnyik and Officer Brad Ditullio remove the bomb by hand from the mailbox and place it in a case.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalWinona firefighter Brandon Good shovels dirt into a burlap sack held by bomb squad officer Brad Ditullio. The bomb will be placed into the sack to open it.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patrica Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalThe bomb squad team, Bob DeMalio, Brad Ditullio and Lt. Doug Bobovnyik, go back to hook up the detonation cord.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patricia Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalBomb squad officer Bob DeMalio strings the detonation cord around the side of the bomb squad truck.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patrica Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalA small explosion sound and a puff of dust is seen as the bomb squad opens up the bomb.
Third Place, News Picture Story - Patrica Schaeffer / The (Lisbon) Morning JournalA small puff of dust is seen rising from the sandbag when the bomb is opened up by the bomb squad.
, - Aaron Self / Kent State Univeristy
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityCharlie Chappell is a retiree who lost his home to the destructive force of hurricane Irma. Flood waters ripped out the bottom floor of his house on Big Pine Key and the winds took the top floor walls and ceiling. His roof was found two houses over in a neighbors yard and his boat was ripped of its mooring, overturned one hundred yards away in the canal behind him. Charlie will continue to search the rubble for mementos and anything salvageable until the state tears down what is left of the structure.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State University "Its not a matter of if it will happen, its a matter of when" says Charlie Chappell regarding hurricanes and their destructive capabilities.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityCamp manager Taylor Hunt and Program Director Cliff Freiwald of the South Florida Boy Scout Council stand in the remains of the camp meeting hall. The only intact piece of the building is the roughly one hundred thousand pound concrete slab that was the foundation. The flood waters picked up the slab and with high winds twisting the walls the entire structure crumbled.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityOver a month after Hurricane Irma made landfall multiple electric companies work around the clock to bring power back to the middle keys. Many lines were damaged during the hurricane and need to be repaired or replaced.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityCharlie Chappell walks through the destroyed upper level of what was his home on Big Pine Key searching for mementos and anything that can be salvageable.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityCharlie's home was not the only one to be destroyed during Hurricane Irma's pass through Big Pine Key. A house just up the road is missing half of its structure from the crashing waves and the two homes adjacent to Charlie's have extensive damage from when the winds picked up his roof and smashed it into them.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityTrash and debris cover the Florida Keys, ranging in size from this tiny children's shoe all the way up to cars and large boats.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityCharlie Chappell examines postcards he recovered from the remains of his home on Big Pine Key. The postcards are from his mother's trip to see the empire state building in 1912.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityHurricane Irma heavily damaged man-made structures across the Florida Keys, most of which are still in the process of being cleaned up and repaired. Meanwhile the well adapted native plant and animal species have already started to bounce back.
Award of Excellence, News Picture Story - Aaron Self / Kent State UniversityA boat sits capsized near route 1 across the road from the boy-scout reservation on Scout Key. The boat has been featured by numerous media outlets as the vessel was wrecked on an easily accessible piece of shoreline with a little parking lot just in front of the ruined watercraft.
