President Obama, Lake Effect Snow & Weird Crime: A Week In Review

1. President Barack Obama area this year.

(Though it probably won't be his last -- you know, election year; bellweather state.)

He announced the appointment of Richard Cordray, a former Ohio attorney general, to run the new consumer protection agency.

Obama told a crowd at Shaker Heights High School that people need a consumer watchdog to defend and advocate for them.

"For way too long, we’ve had a financial system that was stacked against ordinary Americans," Obama said.

2. We had our of the winter.

And, let's be honest, the snow was a lot more substantial in other places around the region.

We're expecting an unseasonably warm weekend, as well, so let's count our blessings while they last.

3. We had a surplus of unusual crime news this week.

For example, some Mentor teens seem to have foiled themselves.

They became suspects in a vandalism case , according to police.

4. Meanwhile,.

They were called and told their granddaughter had been arrested in Canada and needed money for a lawyer and bond, according to the Mentor Police Department Facebook page.

The caller let them speak to a female that they said sounded like their granddaughter and also had their personal information.

The victims were told to wire money to her via Western Union but the fake granddaughter also said for them to not tell Western Union what the money was for.

5. Also this week, the city of Mentor .

The city's next improvement involves the detention basin at the southeast corner of the Route 2 exit onto Center Street. The Ohio Department of Transportation owns the basin right now, but an agreement is in place for ODOT to turn over ownership of it to the city.

"(ODOT's) hoping to make the transfer this winter, hopefully by February," Mentor City Engineer David Swiger.

When the city takes ownership of the basin, it does not intend to increase the basin's existing capacity. Instead, it plans to make better use of the capacity the basin already has, Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak said.

The basin can hold 48 acre-feet of water now. (An acre-foot is acre of area and a foot of depth.) However, with some changes to the basin's discharge pipe, it could hold an additional 16 acre-feet during major storms, Swiger said.