The Press news staff wins Touchstone award

        The Press news staff won a Touchstone award in the non-daily news category from the Press Club of Toledo for its three-part series, “Are we saving Lake Erie?”
        The Touchstone was awarded to News Editor Kelly J. Kaczala (project manager), Sports Editor and general assignment reporter J. Pat Eaken, News Editor Larry Limpf, Photojournalist Ken Grosjean, and senior projects reporter Melissa Burden for their work on the series.
        The judge commented that The Press “brought so many angles to this story and probably opened a lot of eyes to a major issue.”
        The series is a sequel to a three-part series, “Saving Lake Erie,” which examined the Toledo water crisis that happened in August, 2014. At the time, the City of Toledo had issued a tap water ban for three days after a toxin, microcystin, was found in its water supply. A high level of microcystin, created by blue green algae, was detected in samples taken from the city’s water treatment plant in East Toledo. The Press examined the causes of the toxic algae and how Northwest Ohio was dealing with the crisis. The series, published in January, 2015, also took an in-depth look at the challenges that lay ahead to restore health to Lake Erie. There was much hope that progress would be made to clean up the lake.
        As we approached the fifth year anniversary of the water crisis, The Press revisited the event with “Are we saving Lake Erie?” published in the August 2019 editions of the newspaper.