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Growing Erie By Feeding Erie [Erie Reader]
…the Erie region now lays claim to more than ten microbreweries, illustrating that the craft beer movement has found fertile ground in the soils just off of Lake Erie. And while greasy spoon diners and bar-food-slinging pubs still abound, craft food isn’t hard to find either.

Bangladeshis Transforming Buffalo, One Block At A Time [The Buffalo News]
New families are plunking down their life savings to buy and renovate hundreds of dilapidated properties, restoring them to the city’s tax rolls. It’s a transformation spearheaded by Buffalo’s newest immigrant group, the Bangladeshis.

‘One More’ For Sinatra, Who Took A Stand In Gary, Indiana [NPR]
“The eyes of the nation are watching Gary,” Frank Sinatra told the students. “You have a wonderful war production record. Don’t spoil it by pulling a strike. Go on back to school, kids.”

How Company Proposes To Clean PCBs From Kalamazoo’s Allied Paper Landfill [Kalamazoo Gazette]
That clean-up alternative, using a process called enzymatic dechlorination, eliminates the pollution instead of burying it … Upon completion, the land will be a clean field, returned to the city (or another party identified by the city) at no cost.

Report: Foreign-born Residents Strengthening Toledo [NBC 24]
A series of research briefs unveiled by Lucas County commissioners Tuesday offer insight into the ways foreign-born residents of Toledo and other Ohio communities have strengthened local tax bases and boosted the economy through entrepreneurship and increased housing wealth.

Midwest’s Economy Can Compete With Any U.S. Region’s [The Columbus Dispatch]
“Unemployment rates are at their lowest levels since 2001 and levels that are extremely low by historical standards. That says something in and of itself. That’s an economy that’s generating jobs. That’s an economy that works.”

Why Do We So Love ‘A Christmas Story’? Especially If We’re From Cleveland? We’ve Got Some Answers [Moviepilot]
…the bulk of the movie was shot in Toronto. And the story is set in fictional Hohman, Indiana. Still. Doesn’t matter. A Christmas Story is Cleveland through and through. How did this happen? And why is it so?

Banner photo of Erie, Pennsylvania by AndreCarrotflower, via Wikimedia Commons.