FROM PLAIN DEALER: Cleveland, as everyone knows, is a place with spectacular winter weather, especially down by the lakefront. LMN Architects and the landscape architecture firm of Gustafston Guthrie Nichol, both of Seattle, know this, and they're taking it into account in plans for the new medical mart and convention center in downtown Cleveland. "Certainly, we are deeply considering the four seasons in the design process, as we must do in all projects and climates," Shannon Nichol, of GGN, wrote in an email.

FROM THE PLAIN DEALER: The Cleveland City Planning Commission is satisfied that the revised and more costly plans for a new downtown convention center will give the city a facility competitive with centers in cities including Cincinnati, Columbus and Indianapolis. Today, the commission voted 6-0 to approve the new plans, developed over the past month by MMPI Inc. of Chicago, which will build and operate the facility, along with a new medical mart, under an agreement with Cuyahoga County.