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Alton Northup is a graduate of Kent State University's School of Media and Journalism. He oversaw The Kent Stater and KSTV as inaugural news director. He completed a reporting internship with The Chautauquan Daily.

Articles

KentStater •

Kent State must take action against homophobia

On Sept. 17, LGBTQ+ students across campus woke up to see homophobic graffiti on Korb Hall.
In an email to students, Chris Jenkins, interim director of public safety and chief of Kent State University Police, repeatedly stressed the graffiti damaged university property.
He said nothing of the students the graffiti targeted.
“Criminal damaging and the people who carry it out have no place in our Kent State community,” Jenkins said.And while he’s right that vandalism is wrong, Jenkins failed to un...
ABC27 •

Maps show where Wanda Williams lost support in Harrisburg mayor race as Dan Miller continues campaign

(WHTM) — After losing the Democratic primary for Harrisburg Mayor by just 80 votes, Harrisburg City Treasurer Dan Miller is betting the numbers are now in his favor.


Miller, who stressed he has not switched party affiliation, announced Monday he will campaign on the Republican ticket after earning enough write-in votes for the nomination.


“The way I see it, it’s really a run-off between the top two vote getters,” Miller said at his campaign launch.
Miller sees that deficit as proof voters...
KentStater •

Portage County Sheriff signs agreement with ICE to identify, arrest immigrants

Portage County’s sheriff, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, has become one of the first in Ohio to enter an agreement with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to enforce federal immigration law.
Signed last month by Republican Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski, the agreement allows the office to act as a task force for federal immigration authorities while performing regular police duties. The department will receive no additional revenue from federal authorities.
Under the agreement, t...
KentStater •

Tahini owners fire back at Kent State

The owners of Tahini Mediterranean Cuisine allege Kent State set their restaurant up for failure.
The university unexpectedly shut down the popular campus eatery in October after terminating its lease agreement. Ayham Abuzeid, co-owner of Tahini and associate lecturer of English, disputed the university’s claim that it did not address repeated health code violations.
“Kent State, from the beginning of the semester, has been cooking to get us out,” Abuzeid said.
University Culinary Services sent...
KentWired •

A majority of Kent State students say in survey they plan to vote for Harris

Kent State students who participated in an election survey from The Kent Stater/Department of Sociology and Criminology overwhelmingly supported Kamala Harris.
In the survey of 253 students, Harris led Donald Trump 65.1% to 29.3%. The survey also included questions on the Ohio senatorial election and issues of importance going into Election Day.
The survey ran from Oct. 7 to Oct. 25, and students could participate in it by scanning a QR code on flyers around campus, in The Kent Stater print edit...
KentWired •

Kent State eliminates race from scholarship criteria after review

As a high schooler, Za’Nya Henderson helped start the first new NAACP chapter for students in Portage County in decades. When she saw an opportunity to apply for a Kent State University and Portage County NAACP scholarship, she was determined to get it.
For her application, Henderson wrote an essay on her experience starting the chapter after hearing people in neighboring communities make racist comments. It earned her the scholarship — worth roughly four years of tuition.
“Some students, they d...
KentWired •

Cannabis-induced psychosis cost their sons their lives. More could be next.

In December 2006, Brant Clark went to a party at a friend’s house. It was the 17-year-old’s winter break. He would be graduating high school soon, and like many teenagers, he enjoyed smoking cannabis socially.
Brant excelled in school and planned to attend college in the fall. He mowed lawns in his neighborhood and worked part-time as a busboy.
“He was the joy of my life,” said Ann Clark, his mother, “and then things went terribly wrong.”
When Brant returned home the next morning, his mother sai...
KentWired •

‘Pretty pest’: the invasive species taking over the Midwest

In late August, Diana Sette interrupted her usual commute through Cleveland’s University Circle district to tend to an injured squirrel.

The sidequest was not unusual for Sette, a horticultural therapist at University Hospitals Rainbow Babies and Children’s. Whether she is caring for the hospital’s rooftop garden, or bringing plants for a patient to water, nature consumes a great deal of her life.

“We are nature,” Sette said. “The more that we can connect with nature, the more that we can heal
The Chautauquan Daily •

When imagination is targeted: Henry Reese delivers long-awaited talk on City of Asylum

On Aug. 12, 2022, Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, and prolific author Salman Rushdie were set to close Week Seven’s theme, “More than Shelter: Redefining the American Home,” with a discussion on persecuted writers – the lecture never happened after an attacker stormed the Amphitheater stage, injuring both men.

On the one-year anniversary of the attack, Reese sat down with Chautauqua Institution President Michael E. Hill to ensure Chautauquans were not robbed of that dis
Kent Wired •

Marijuana laws cause conflict on campus as dispensary opens

Editor’s note: the student with the medical marijuana card was granted anonymity for his concerns about disciplinary action.

A medical marijuana dispensary will open across from a campus prohibiting the drug and next to the courthouse students will go to if charged for possessing it.

Bliss Ohio, located at 331 E. Main Street, is set to begin sales April 21. Once open, the dispensary will be first of its kind in

Kent and joins more than 70 dispensaries across the state that have opened since J