Dayton Daily News The Path Forward

Former Dayton police Detective Dennis Haller’s career spanned a dark time for the Dayton police department, giving him a front seat to the city’s criminal networks and questionable law enforcement tactics.

Haller was a source for Dayton Daily News reporter Wes Hills — who retired in 2004 after 30 years at the paper — and agreed to share information with Hills on the condition it stay confidential until Haller’s death, which happened in 2023.

This series uses Hills’ interviews and notes to shed new light on the largest police corruption scandal in city history, and how police wiretapping and a spurned bookie may have contributed to the downfall of baseball legend Pete Rose.

Over the past several months, The Ohio Country, a new series from local non-profit, public radio station WYSO, has been challenging the history of Ohio that many Ohioans likely learned in school. According to their website, the series “puts the experiences of Miami, Shawnee, Wyandotte, and other American Indian people at the center of a refreshed version of the state’s complicated past and undecided future.”

Community Impact Editor Nick Hrkman sat down with Neenah Ellis, who worked on the series for several years, to learn more about what she discovered while producing it and what our region can do to better understand its history and the people who had lived here long before the arrival European settlers.

We’re connecting local educators and parents as we approach the new school year. From concerns about academic performance, and the loss of learning over the summer, to hiring and retaining educators and support staff, and fears about school safety and mental health, we are listening to local experts to build local solutions.

Gas prices hit record levels. Monthly electric bills are soaring. The cost of essentials like food and housing keeps going up as the local economy gets squeezed. Find out what historic inflation means for your family in a Community Conversation on Wednesday, June 29.

Eric Spina is the 19th president of the University of Dayton and a member of the Dayton Daily News Community Advisory Board. For the Path Forward Dayton podcast, we're interviewing members of our Community Advisory Board, a group of leaders from around our region who help inform our coverage.

Billions of federal dollars and hundreds of local decisions are transforming our communities and fueling recovery from the COVID downturn. In addition to asking local governments to show how they’re spending taxpayer money and keeping an eye out for waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement, we’re asking our readers to see how you want to see this money spent in your communities.

That’s why we hosted a Community Conversation at noon on Wednesday, May 18 to discuss plans from around our region. The discussion was co-hosted by Dayton Daily News Community Impact Editor Nick Hrkman and investigative journalist Josh Sweigart. The panel included experts and decision-makers from around the area.

Maha Kashani is a senior account manager at IGS Energy, 2022 Dayton Daily News Community Advisory Board member and past president of the Dayton Arab American Forum. For the Path Forward Dayton podcast, we're interviewing members of our Community Advisory Board, a group of leaders from around our region who help inform our coverage.

In 2017, Dayton was the first city in the United States to earn the status of Certified Welcoming in recognition of inclusiveness and integration of immigrants through programs such as Welcome Dayton. What are the social and economic effects of immigration? What does the future hold for immigrants and refugees in Dayton and Montgomery County? The discussion included experts from around the area.

While the health risks of COVID to children are lower than those of older adults, the reduced social interaction, missed time in school and other consequences of the pandemic has affected children of all ages in ways we are just now beginning to understand. In the latest episode of The Path Forward Dayton, a Dayton Daily News podcast, we’re sharing the discussion we held on Wednesday, March 16 with a panel of local experts.

Kamran Afzal was sworn in as Dayton’s new police chief on Dec. 20, replacing former chief Richard Biehl after 13 years of service. He now leads a department of 368 sworn officers, 39 civilian employees and manages an annual budget of $57 million. We recently spoke with the new police chief in his office about his background and plans for the department.