AKRON
Citizenship class
AKRON: A free Citizenship Assistance Workshop will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Dec. 1 at the International Institute at 207 E. Tallmadge Ave.
Volunteer attorneys and immigration counselors will help applicants apply for U.S. citizenship. Low income applicants can apply for waiver of fees.
Participants should bring a permanent resident card (green card), two passport photos and evidence of income. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Citizenship. For more information, call 330-376-5106, ext. 15.
NORTHEAST OHIO
Pro-labor forum
NORTON: John Wagner, executive secretary-treasurer of the Tri-County Regional Labor Council, will be a guest speaker at a meeting of the Barberton, Norton, Wadsworth Peace Group at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
His topic will be the Future of Workers in America. The public is invited to the meeting at Grace United Church of Christ, 3285 S. Cleveland-Massillon Road in Norton.
STARK COUNTY
Event at museum
CANTON: The McKinley Presidential Library and Museum, 800 McKinley Monument Drive NW, Canton, will hold its annual Christmas open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Nov. 30.
The event will include science and planetarium shows, crafts for kids, stories, refreshments, and visits from Santa Claus and Christopher Pop-In-Kins. Music will be provided by the St. Thomas Aquinas High School Choir. Canned goods will be collected for local food banks. Tickets are $5 or free for museum members.
AROUND OHIO
Stokes to retire
CLEVELAND: A 30-year member of Congress from Ohio who retired from the House at age 73 is ready to retire again at age 87 to write a book.
Democrat Lou Stokes of Cleveland says he will retire at year’s end from a Cleveland law firm and wants to complete a book about his three decades on Capitol Hill.
Stokes told the Plain Dealer that he also wants to spend more time with his wife and travel.
Stokes will continue teaching at Case Western Reserve University, where he is a distinguished visiting professor.
Home-grown tree
MANSFIELD: The city’s Christmas tree for this year began as a 6-inch sapling from a fast-food children’s meal.
The News Journal reports resident Harold Masters and his grandsons got several saplings in 1996 when McDonald’s distributed them to mark Arbor Day. Masters planted them in his yard, and one grew into the 39-foot Canadian blue spruce chosen to be decked out in lights downtown this year.
City officials had told Masters to trim or cut it down because it was so big it was blocking drivers’ vision. Masters didn’t want to trim one side, so he jumped at the city engineer’s suggestion to cut it down as the city’s holiday tree.
The 84-year-old says he’s glad the tree isn’t going straight into a wood chipper.