WKYC And Cleveland Indians Team Up For Weather Education Day 2016

Special to the Director's Cut Blog

By Mac Mahaffee

The Cleveland Indians and WKYC are once again teaming up for Weather Education Day at Progressive Field on Thursday, April 21, 2016.

Sponsored by the Northeast Regional Sewer District, Weather Education Day brings thousands of students, teachers and parents together to participate in a pre-game weather education program, presented by WKYC's Weather Team, before the start of the game.

Each student will be given a Weather Education Day workbook that is packed full of useful weather information and activities.

Weather Education Day at Progressive Field has become one of Northern Ohio's premier field trips for school groups. The program begins at 10:00 AM and all participants will then take in the game between the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners that begins at 12:10 PM.

The on-field program is created and produced by WKYC-Channel 3 Chief Meteorologist Betsy Kling. Kling, along with meteorologists Hollie Giangrecco and Greg Dee will do demonstrations and give explanations on the special relationship that weather has with the game of baseball.

Of course, Indians mascot Slider will be there along with the rest of the Indians squad.

Tickets are available at a reduced rate for school groups in attendance. Tickets include the pre-game Weather Education Day program as well as seats for the game.

Lunch packages are also available. All homeschool and non-traditional school participants are also offered a reduced rate.

For more information on the Weather Education Day program and to inquire about tickets, contact Jackie Plys with the Cleveland Indians at 216-420-4162 or click here.
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Indians Baseball Returns to WKYC With The Home Opener

The Cleveland Indians are back on WKYC for 2016 with the Indians Home Opener on Monday, April 4th.

Our live coverage begins at 1 pm with our Channel 3 News sports special called "Tribe Time: Opening Day" live from Progressive Field

At 3 pm, it's Sporstime Ohio's "Indians Live" with Al Pawlowski and Jensen Lewis.

Then at 4 pm, the Indians take on the Boston Red Sox for the sold out game.

You can join the conversation on Twitter. We'll have the hashtag to use during our live coverage.

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Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

'Between The Lines' Returns In 'Politics And People'

By Tom Beres

WKYC Senior Political Correspondent

CLEVELAND -- It's a time of big events and important change in Northeast Ohio.

At the top of the list is the looming Republican National Convention in July.

But other key decisions are being made this year.

Ohioans will choose whether to retain Republican Senator Rob Portman or replace him with the Democratic former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland.

Cleveland voters will decide this November whether to renew a levy for Cleveland's troubled, but improving school system.

Cleveland's police department is in the midst of a federally mandated upgrade to make it more accountable, better trained and less prone to excessive violence.

With so much happening, it requires more insight and perspective than what can fit into normal newscasts.

The national events will have a specific impact on our state and region.

That's why WKYC Channel 3 is reviving its political discussion segment "Between the Lines," hosted by Senior Political Correspondent Tom Beres.

It will be the leadoff hitter in a half-hour block called "Politics and People."

"Between the Lines" will be followed by "Seven Minutes with Russ Mitchell" and "Sara's Circle," a segment hosted by Sara Shookman.

Mitchell will interview newsmakers and people making a difference. Shookman profiles women making big contributions to life in the region.

"Between the Lines" will feature rotating teams of commentators bringing a spectrum of viewpoints to the table.

Some faces are familiar. Some are newly added.

The teams will include:

• Graham Veysey, one-time Democratic candidate for Congress
• Julie Kirk, political director for Cuyahoga County's Republican Party
• Dennis Eckart, former Democratic congressman
• Mary Anne Sharkey, former newspaper reporter, columnist and editor
• Henry Gomez, a politics writer
• Mark Naymik, a plugged-in columnist for Cleveland.com
• Blaine Griffin, vice chairman of Cuyahoga County's Democratic Party
• Bob Frantz, a conservative radio talk show host.

"Politics and People" will debut Saturday, April 2 at 7 p.m.

Give it a try for an informative and insightful half hour about people and decisions that impact your job, schools, quality of life and community well-being.

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Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook

WKYC News & Notes: 3/8/16

By Frank Macek

It's time for another "behind the scenes" look at what's happening inside the WKYC Digital Broadcast Center celebrating our 15th year at 13th and Lakeside.

Just a couple of notes to add to the mix for this month of March as we get ready for Spring in Northeast Ohio.

The February book is now a distance memory and once again Channel 3 News is the number one newscast at 11 pm in households, Adults 24-54, and several other key demographics. Channel 3 News at 6 & 7 pm ranked in 2nd place in the demos, as well as the Channel 3 News Today from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Channel 3 has new room mates starting this week after Fox Sportstime Ohio moved to their news studios in early February located at the Huntington Building on Public Square.

The Greater Cleveland Film Commission Team

We welcome the Greater Cleveland Film Commission team of Ivan Schwarz, Seema Jayaswal, John Luteran, Tabitha Mensch, Meghan Newman, Raan Shalom and Laura Stringer. We are sincerely hoping we get to see some movie stars stop by when they are filming in Cleveland or at least some free movie passes.

Congratulations to the following people who have either joined the Channel 3 team or been promoted since our last update.

• Jasmine Monroe comes to the Channel 3 News team from WFMJ-TV/Youngstown as our new Akron/Canton multimedia journalist. (Click to read our previous feature on Jasmine)
• Tricia Stuckey joins our morning news team at the Executive Producer of Channel 3 News Today from 4:30 am to 7 am. Tricia comes to us from FOX 8 where she had been a producer of their 8 am newscast and special projects for 15 years, along with being a fill-in Executive Producer.
• Current morning EP Jennifer Jordan moves to our dayside Executive Producer position overseeing our early evening newscasts of Channel 3 News at 6 pm and 7 pm.
• Leo Rypinski joins our engineering and IT staff from Mature Services, Inc. in Akron where we recently worked as a Desktop Support Specialist.

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Follow Frank Macek on Twitter @frankmacekwkyc and on Facebook