Metro Burger

By Michael K. McIntyre

Inventors in Akron, the nation's invention capital, have solved one of the most vexing issues of our day: Deciding between a burger and a wing.


What if you wanted a cheeseburger and buffalo wings, but you could only order one item. Voila. The deep fried cheeseburger was born, and it will debut at the National  Hamburger Festival in Akron this weekend.

The slider-sized burger – cheese, bun and all – is dipped in batter and deep fried, giving it that wingy crust and that cheese-burgery insides. It's the creation of Drew Cerza, the festival's founder, and Scott Buford, chef/owner of MetroBurger.

Among the events at this year's festival, the sixth in Akron, is "bobbing for burgers." Don't worry, it has nothing to do with the deep fryer. Instead, three goggles wearing contestants will bob for foam burgers in a baby pool full of ketchup. We're sure they'll relish that.

There's also a hamburger eating contest that puts those wimpy wiener wolfers at Nathan's to shame. And there's a contest to name the "cheesiest" couple. Now doesn't that warm your groaning heart?

Check out the festival schedule at hamburgerfestival.com.

Watch where you breathe: You might want to sit down for this.

But do not, repeat, do not take a deep breath.

Ready?

It turns out the air around here, if we're to believe a group of Colorado researchers, contains "airborne bacterial communities" in winter time that "most closely resemble those communities found in dog poop."

Quick, somebody, open a door. Or, on second thought, close it.

In a news report that first appeared on denverpost.com, the University of Colorado researchers report that their study of four Midwest towns found that Detroit and Cleveland both had winter air as fresh as a pick-up bag.

Robert Bowers, lead author of the study, says the data "suggests that dog poop may be a potential source of bacteria to the atmosphere at these locations."

Noah Fierer, associate professor of microbial ecology at University of Colorado and supervisor of the study, said the research is by no means comprehensive and does not indicate whether the levels of dog poop bacteria in Cleveland and Detroit are different than those found in other U.S. cities. "It's no reason for anybody to get paranoid," Fierer said.

Though it does seem like a perfectly good reason to hold your breath or at least add SCUBA gear to the winter wardrobe.

Only one location in each of the four cities was tested, Fierer said. (Let's hope the Cleveland sample was at the Clark Avenue Dog Park.) Leaves and soil were the primary sources of airborne bacteria in samples taken during the summer, he said, but they dropped off in winter, and dog poop bacteria became more prevalent.

Fierer said the study points out the need for more research on the bacteria in the air we breathe.

Tipoff says it points out the need for dog owners to pick up after their pets.

-- With reporting by Pete Krouse  

Party politics: Cleveland Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich is firing up talk about a potential run for Congress in Washington State with yet another trip to the left coast over the weekend - this time to be a headline speaker at Seattle's "Hempfest," which advertises itself as "The World's Largest Protestival."
Sabrina Eaton, The Plain Dealer
Dennis Kucinich

Kucinich is scheduled to address the event on Saturday afternoon, right after Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn. Other luminaries slated to address the three-day gathering at Seattle's Myrtle Edwards Park include Wayward Bill of the United States Marijuana Party, representatives of "Moms for Marijuana" and "Gramma's for Ganja," (ganja is slang for marijuana) as well as someone from High Times Magazine who goes by the name "Stinkbud."

According to an online publication called "The Weed Blog," a record crowd is expected. Last year's festival drew 150,000 people over two days.

Kucinich's congressional district here in Ohio is in danger of elimination because of redistricting, so he's weighing a run for office in Washington state. Ohio will lose two congressional seats next year because of slow population growth. Washington state is adding a seat.

On Friday, Kucinich said he hasn't decided where he'll run for office. But he's addressing the Hempfest because it's one of Seattle's largest community events, and he believes marijuana use should be decriminalized. He said his congressional campaign committee pays for trips he takes to Washington to appear before nonprofit groups.

Kucinich said he's returning to Washington on the redeye (is Tipoff the only one giggling at that?) and is scheduled to visit Cleveland on Aug. 28 when he'll attend a sculpture dedication at the Ukrainian cultural garden.

He said he also plans to be a grand marshal at Cleveland's Labor Day parade, and attend the weekend's Polish festival at St. John Cantius, as well as the St. Elias and St. Rocco's church festivals, where he is likely to meet plenty of grandmas, but, we'd bet, not one who's for ganja.  

-- With Sabrina Eaton in Washington.

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