On one of the hottest days this summer – with temperatures hovering in the high 90s – Lisa Vittorio and her Sunshine Team set up shop near the Kent State East Liverpool Campus and welcomed dozens of local kids to board the Sunshine Bus as they prepared to head back to school.Once inside the bus – clearly marked as a kids only “Kid Zone” – each child filled a free cinch bag with snacks, books, stuffed animals, school supplies and personal hygiene items that they selected themselves. There were plenty of smiles being shared, as well.The Sunshine Bus is a community outreach program offered by The...

A Kent State University student from Turkmenistan is making a name for himself in Northeast Ohio’s distance running community, as recently featured on WKYC-TV’s “Heartstrings” series.Gurban Ishanov, a 23-year-old sophomore double-majoring in finance and accounting, arrived in the United States in July 2025 from a country where organized running events simply don’t exist. After signing up for his first official race – the Goodyear 10K in Akron – he was hooked.“I never seen people running, the thousands of people running,” Ishanov told WKYC-TV. “The people in the road, in the streets, they’re sc...