Morning Briefing | Springfield City Hall evacuated due to bomb threat

Springfield City Hall and other city buildings were evacuated Thursday due to a bomb threat.

In today’s Morning Briefing, we give you the details of the bomb threat and what buildings and schools were effected. We also talk an early look at a new park planned for Dayton.

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The newsletter should take about 3 minutes, 13 seconds to read.

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Springfield City Hall, school, county hit by threats tied to Haitian issue

Multiple city, county and school buildings around Springfield were closed Thursday after a bomb threat “to multiple facilities throughout Springfield.”

• Origin of threat: The threat came from someone claiming to be from Springfield, and mentioned frustration with the city related to Haitian immigration issues.

• City Hall: Springfield City Hall was evacuated around 8:30 a.m. Mayor Rob Rue said everyone who was in the City Hall building was moved out and is safe.

• Other buildings closed: All Clark County buildings were also closed to the public, including all commission departments, the Department of Job and Family Services, the Common Pleas Court, the Board of Elections and the A.B. Graham Building. Drivers license bureaus were also closed.

• Schools: Students were evacuated from Fulton Elementary. Parents were told to pick up their children.

• What they are saying: “The most important thing to me is that all of my employees and the public are protected from any threats,” City Manager Bryan Heck said. “We take these very seriously and investigate them to the full extent.”

Dayton to build a new park in Old North Dayton

Credit: Katie Lunne

The city of Dayton is going to turn an underutilized gravel lot in Old North Dayton into a new park that will likely serve as a trailhead to access the Mad River.

• Hopes for the park: That the new “Point Park” will be a community amenity and popular gathering place that supports recreational activities and draws people into the neighborhood.

• Park features: A turf lawn space and new sidewalks, trees, lighting and electrical hookups that could be used for food trucks.

• The cost: Dayton leaders recently approved spending about $654,000 to cover the cost of constructing a flexible parking lot and community gathering space on the site.

• What they are saying: “The Old North Dayton park expansion project aims to expand and reimagine an important gateway park into the Old North Dayton neighborhood,” said Katie Lunne, senior project manager with CityWide.

What to know today

• One big takeaway: A hotel management company is working to help turn the former Crowne Plaza Hotel into a new business called the Dayton Vitality Hotel.

• Tip of the day: Cessna 44L, the Civil Air Patrol aircraft that “owned the skies” in the bleak hours after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, is now where it belongs, at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force.

• Big move of the day: The Dayton Regional STEM School plans to break ground on its new elementary school at Kettering’s Miami Valley Research Park next week.

• Person to know today: Andy Lawrence. He’s the person running the Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) initiative at Wright State called the 1903 Collective.

• Happening today: The Lewisburg Haunted Cave is gearing up for Halloween season and is reopening today.

• Featured column: MARCANO: Turn down the temperature, stop the cat-eating Haitian nonsense.

• Things to do: Eighteen local stand-up comedians will deliver their humorous routines at Bellbrook’s first ever FunnyFest, to be held this Saturday at Bellbrock Park.

• Photo of the day: Reporter Natalie Jones provided us with a sneak peek inside Skeleton Dust Records. See all of her photos here.

Credit: Natalie Jones