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Alton Northup is a senior at Kent State University majoring in journalism. He oversees The Kent Stater and KSTV as inaugural news director. He completed a reporting internship with The Chautauquan Daily.

Articles

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...
Insider •

I have Tourette syndrome. It took me 20 years to get a diagnosis.


• I started having tics when I was 7 years old.
• At first, doctors dismissed my mom's concerns as me just being a kid.
• Tourette syndrome can't be cured, but I want to have more control over my tics.

I’m sitting in a chair across from my psychologist. Two cameras point at me, and a white noise machine runs outside the door. I’m not supposed to move.

Keeping my neck tight and my chin tucked, there’s a wave of pressure building inside me. It’s consuming, and my neck starts to tremble.

Then,
KentWired •

Students spend pretty penny at Rosie’s Market

While Rosie’s Market in Tri-Towers offers students a convenient place to shop on campus, some say they’ll be shopping elsewhere because of its prices.

“I work in a grocery store, so I know a little bit about how pricing of food works, and I’ve noticed that it’s even pricier than it is at a grocery store,” said Hailey Moltz, a freshman human development and family science major.

Some items in the store, such as a pack of Oreos, cost as much as 130% more than in neighboring grocery stores. Even
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
KentWired •

Parking Services issued more than 30,000 tickets last year

Parking and Transit Services made more than $700,000 from fines in the 2022-2023 academic year, according to figures requested by KentWired.

While there are just under 10,000 student permits for the Kent campus, the $703,144.99 in revenue came from 32,091 tickets.

“That’s really high,” said Lucas Pollock, a fourth-year student at Kent State. “A lot of people do park where they’re not supposed to, but 30,000 in one school year seems like a very large amount of people doing that.”

Larry Emling,
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