canton schoolsMusic hall additionCANTON: The Canton Symphony Orchestra plans to make $5.5 million in improvements to Umstattd Hall, the performance venue it shares with McKinley High School.The school board on Monday approved an agreement that will allow the symphony to put a three-story addition on the hall.The addition will be named the Zimmerman Symphony Center in honor of Gerhardt Zimmerman, the orchestra’s 30-year music director.The project will allow the orchestra to move its administrative offices from the Cultural Center for the Arts to the same location as its major performances.The addition will include dressing rooms, a 2,000-square-foot reception hall, storage, a music library and a community resource room.Umstattd will get new seats and carpet. The lobby and restrooms will be upgraded. A gravel parking lot will be paved.The work is to be done without local tax money. The schools will own the new space, as is the case with the existing structure.KENT STATEProgram honoredKENT: The Fashion School at Kent State will be named an Ohio Center of Excellence in Cultural and Societal Transformation today.Jim Petro, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, which coordinates higher education statewide, will be at KSU to announce that the school is a distinctive, nationally recognized program.The ceremony will be held at 11:30 a.m. at Rockwell Home, home of the Fashion School, where students study design and merchandising.The chancellor’s office has named five other Centers of Excellence that relate to Ohio’s growth industries, including advanced energy, biomedicine and health care, at Kent State and other institutions statewide.LAKE TOWNSHIPBids unsealedLAKE TWP.: Trustees opened bids for the construction of a truck storage building at their meeting Monday night.M&W Masonry and Construction of Hartville was awarded the masonry contract at $29,826 and Pauli Electric Co. of Alliance will do the electrical work for $24,068. The storage area will be built behind the road department garage at 1499 Midway Ave.MEDINA CountyFracking talk setMEDINA: A community meeting on drilling for natural gas will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at the Unity Life Enrichment Center, 787 Lafayette Road.The meeting will look at the potential benefits and risks associated with natural gas drilling and hydrofracturing, or fracking, plus what elements are in the best leases.For more information, call 330-334-8107.NORTHEAST ohioContest finalistsCLEVELAND: Two area teens are among 10 northern Ohio finalists for the “Searching for Teen Leaders” award sponsored by the Walmart Foundation and a Beachwood character-building organization, Project Love.Cassidy Jester of Richfield and Madison Simpkins of Munroe Falls were selected from among 150 nominations for the honor, which recognizes middle and high school students for their leadership in schools and communities.The finalists will compete in an essay-writing contest describing their leadership and community service.The winner will receive a $2,500 scholarship at the annual Kickoff to Kindness rally in early November.STARK COUNTYFatal crashLAWRENCE TWP: A Massillon man died early Tuesday morning when the motorcycle he was operating collided with a car on state Route 93.Sean M. Weber, 41, of Rio Grande Circle, was driving west on Strausser Street at 1:40 a.m. and was killed when his 2006 Harley-Davidson Street Bob motorcycle struck a 2005 Toyota Corolla driven by a 53-year-old Canal Fulton woman, the Highway Patrol said in a news release.Authorities believe Weber failed to yield at a stop sign, striking the right front of the woman’s car. She was driving north on Route 93, the release said.Weber, who was thrown from the motorcycle, was pronounced dead at the scene. He was not wearing a helmet, troopers said.The woman drove her vehicle off the west side of the road following the collision. She and a 47-year-old female passenger from Barberton, were transported to Akron General Medical Center, where they were treated for nonlife-threatening injuries.Both women were wearing seat belts, authorities said.The crash remains under investigation. STOWMeth lab foundSTOW: Police arrested two men early Tuesday and charged them with operating a methamphetamine lab.Police, acting on an anonymous tip, raided a home in the 2100 block of Uniondale Drive around midnight and found the men producing meth in the garage as well as throughout the residence. Police arrested Stephen Gene McKinney, 41, of Norman Drive, and Lewis Butler Jr., 38, of Uniondale Drive, and charged them with illegal manufacturing of drugs.The charge was elevated to a first-degree felony because a 2-year-old child was in the home.Police said McKinney had a weapon in his hand and tried to flee the scene, but officers were able to arrest the pair without incident.McKinney also was charged with having weapons under disability for having a loaded .40-caliber semiautomatic pistol in his possession and a loaded .38-caliber revolver in his truck. He was also charged with possession of drugs.Authorities say both men have prior drug-related arrests. Man faces chargesSTOW: Police arrested a man found hiding inside a closet in a vacant house Tuesday morning.Michael Korn, 43, who told police he was homeless, was located by a Stow police officer and his K-9 partner, Colt, about 9:20 a.m.The seller of the vacant house located in the 4000 block of Stow Road was accompanying a potential buyer to the property when they found the lockbox on the door had been forced open.The seller told police that they were about to enter the house when they heard noises coming from the second floor.The police dog was released into the home when Korn, who was hiding upstairs, failed to come out.Korn has been charged with safecracking for forcing the lockbox open, burglary and resisting arrest.SUMMIT COUNTYFlooding meetingsNORTON: Meetings and work sessions will be held Thursday and Friday with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to discuss flooding problems in the Barberton and Norton area.The meetings will involve city engineers, service directors, mayors and council members.Residents or council members who have pictures of damaged or flooded property are asked to call Joyce Anderson at 234-788-4945 so those pictures can be copied by this evening for use at the meetings.The first meeting is scheduled for 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday at the Norton Community Center, 4060 Columbia Woods Drive. Another session is scheduled at the same location from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.On Friday, the Army Corps will inspect watershed and flood areas in Norton from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and in Barberton from 10:45 a.m. to noon.WadsworthSenior housingWADSWORTH: The Planning Commission Monday recommended City Council adopt a series of new regulations concerning senior housing.Those regulations would allow some types of senior housing in commercial areas and set requirements for recreation space for this type of housing.Planning Director Jeff Kaiser said a study of the city’s codes concerning senior housing was prompted by a developer’s request to build a facility in a commercial area, but ordinances did not allow for this type of housing in commercial zones.The council will make the final decision on incorporating the regulations after a public hearing.In other action, the commission approved a solar-powered electric generating system for Soprema, 125 Quadral Drive. This system will allow the company to generate electricity on site to offset electrical consumption.A series of fire safety guidelines were incorporated in the approval to provide emergency responders with warnings and guidance in dealing with the solar electric system.