PERRY

Feds say plant needs to improve safety

Federal regulators want the nuclear power plant in northeast Ohio to show more improvement in worker safety programs.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials say the improvements made at the Perry plant in Lake County aren’t enough to address problems. Special inspectors spent months at the plant last year to check on charges made since a 2011 incident that briefly exposed contractors to radiation. They weren’t hurt, but officials say the incident could have been avoided.

Cleveland’s Plain Dealer reports that regulators have told the FirstEnergy Corp.-owned plant that it must make more improvements in worker training and procedures, or face more intensive investigations.

A plant spokeswoman says the plant is well on its way to meeting the goal.

COLUMBUS

State school audit release set Feb. 11

A statewide audit following evidence of manipulation of attendance reporting in some Ohio school districts is set for release Feb. 11.

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost says in a statement that fieldwork has been completed. He says there are now consultations under way with the Ohio Department of Education and with school districts that appear to have “scrubbed” attendance data.

The audit began after an internal audit found irregular practices in Columbus City Schools, and questionable practices also surfaced at Toledo Public Schools and the Cincinnati-area Lockland City Schools.

The schools reportedly were trying to improve state performance ratings.

CLEVELAND

Simon, Springsteen give exhibits to hall

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has added some rock star items to its exhibits.

The rock hall says it has put on display in recent weeks pieces from the collections of Paul Simon, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.

Simon’s 1967 acoustic guitar was used onstage during a Simon and Garfunkel appearance at Monterey Pop. He used the guitar throughout the 1960s.

Springsteen’s Gibson acoustic guitar also has made it into the rock hall. It was given to him as a Christmas present in 1988 by a record engineer who bought it in a pawn shop in 1972.

Huge amplifier stage props conceived by Young for his 1978 Rust Never Sleeps tour have been added to the main exhibit hall.

COLUMBUS

Museum of art expanding

The Columbus Museum of Art in central Ohio expects to break ground this spring for a $37.6 million expansion project.

Museum officials presented renderings of the project to the Columbus Downtown Commission this week.

WBNS-TV in Columbus reports the expansion will add 50,000 square feet to the building’s east end and include renovation of one wing and a lobby.

The addition will be used for special events. It also will feature a full-service restaurant and more space for the museum’s permanent collection.

Museum officials say that money raised through a capital endowment program will pay for the expansion.

The project is the third and final phase of a multi-year expansion plan.

BRECKSVILLE

Bald eagles nesting in state’s only national park

The frigid weather hasn’t kept a pair of bald eagles from nesting again in a northeastern Ohio national park.

The pair is nesting in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park in Brecksville south of Cleveland. To provide privacy, rangers have closed the area and restricted use of trails.

The restrictions will be in place through July 31. The Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail, popular with joggers and cyclists, remains open.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer says bald eagles returned to the Cuyahoga Valley park in 2006, after an absence of 70 years.

Nestings failed in 2009 and 2011, but eaglets have successfully hatched other years.

PORT CLINTON

Birders worry about wind turbines near lake

A plan to build a wind turbine along Lake Erie near a well-known spot for migrating birds is worrying environmentalists.

Conservationists say wind turbines are a threat to the birds and the thousands of tourists who come to the area east of Toledo every spring to see the migration.

The News-Herald newspaper in Port Clinton reports that one and possibly two wind turbines are planned in Ottawa County.

Mark Shieldcastle is research director for the Black Swamp Bird Observatory. He calls the area one of the best for migratory birds in the nation.

He says one wind turbine has been in the works for a while, but he just learned another one might be in development.

Tourism officials say bird tourism brings in over $300 million to the county.