Corky & Lenny's, the much-loved Eastside restaurant known for its overstuffed corned beef sandwiches and matzo ball soup, has inked a deal to open a location inside the Horseshoe Casino in Cleveland.

The deli will be one of three food court eateries located inside the casino. The food court promises to offer a variety of both casual and quality dining fare in a quick-serve setting. There will also be a 400-seat buffet restaurant in addition to the food court. The other two food outlets have not yet been named.

The Horseshoe Casino is slated to open sometime this spring.

For the first time in nearly 20 years, the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo once again has Mandrills on exhibit.

The mandrills, which are the world's largest species of monkey, are housed in the zoo's Primate, Cat & Aquatics Building. There are two males and two females. The males - Dwezill and Woody - came to Cleveland from Disney's Animal Kingdom, and the two females - Zenani and Eebi - came from the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.

The Cleveland zoo has exhibited mandrills beginning in the 1950s, but hasn't had any since 1992.

Native to the western African nations of Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabo, mandrills are the largest species of monkey and are closely related to baboons and drills. Mature adult male mandrills feature one of the most brightly colored faces in the animal world, with a long muzzle with red and blue stripes, red nose and lips, and a yellowish beard.

Earlier this week, Democratic Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson announce an ambitious new plan to overhaul the city's failing public schools. Ohio Governor John Kasich, a Republican, quickly announced his support for the plan. The reason these two politicians find themselves in agreement over the plan is because Jackson's school overhaul includes many of the same tenants as the controversial, Kasich-backed Senate Bill 5.

Jackson's plan calls for changes to state law, which would give the Cleveland Metropolitan School District more autonomy. It also plans to eliminate seniority as the deciding factor for employee layoffs and assignments, and will require differentiated pay to attract talented teachers and principals. Furthermore, it would require that Cleveland schools and unions start future contract negotiations without carryover items from previous agreements. The plan would also provide targeted funding for year-round schools, high-performing charter schools and other initiatives.

In his State of the State speech on Tuesday in Columbus, Gov. Kasich said:

“I’m counting on Cleveland to deliver the goods. We can change urban education in Ohio and change the urban education in America. And that is worth fighting for and risking for.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced on Thursday that six additional groups would be inducted into the 2012 class, which had already been announced. The Blue Caps, the Comets, the Crickets, the Famous Flames, the Midnighters, and the Miracles will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 14, 2012, along with Guns N' Roses, the Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Small Faces/The Faces, Cosimo Matassa, Don Kirshner, Freddie King, Tom Dowd, and Gyln Johns.

The six additional groups were added to the 2012 inductees as a result of a special Rock Hall committee that identified situations in which groups should be recognized along with their lead singers, who were already inducted. In these groups' cases, that would be Gene Vincent of the Blue Caps (inducted 1998), Bill Haley of the Comets (inducted in 1987), Buddy Holly of the Crickets (inducted in 1986), James Brown of the Famous Flames (inducted in 1986), Hank Ballard of the Midnighters (inducted in 1990), and Smokey Robinson of the Miracles (inducted in 1987).

Joel Peresman, president and CEO of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation, said:

If you watched the Super Bowl this past weekend from the Northeast Ohio region, you may recall seeing an intriguing commercial by the University of Akron which featured contact lens for diabetics that will change color with blood sugar levels. Researchers at U of A have been working on the diabetic lens since 2003, but they won't be ready for human use for at least three years.

The lens are currently in the prototype phase and are not approved for human use. The model in the advertisement did not actually wear the lens, and the images shown were simulated.

At best, it will be at least three years before such a lens could be made available commercially. As it is dependent upon clearing various funding and regulatory hurdles, the wait could end up being longer.

Jun Hu, an associate professor of chemistry at Akron, has been working on the sugar-sensing chemical that is key to the lens since 2003. He and his lab discovered a molecule known as a probe that binds well to sugars. In order to make it visible, they combined the probe with a dye. So, when sugar concentrations increase, the sugar binds to the probe, knocking loose the dye which will then be seen as a color change. When the sugar normalizes, the probe molecule picks the dye back up.

On Monday, Cleveland City Council passed an ordinance that would grant the Cleveland Browns $5.8 million for repairs to Cleveland Browns Stadium. The measure passed 16-2, with one councilperson absent.

The ordinance includes accepting the donation of plans and the advancement of funds from the Browns to make the repairs, determining the method of making the public improvement of constructing cpital repairs to the stadium, and authorizes the Director of Public Works to enter into one or more public improvement contracts for the making of the improvement.

The Browns will lend Cleveland $5.8 million at 0 percent interest, and the city would repay the team with money generated from the sin tax.

On the heels of her Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday, Madonna announced the details of an extensive, upcoming world tour featuring more than 90 dates. One of those stops will be in Cleveland, on November 10 at the Quicken Loans Arena.

The last time Madonna performed in Cleveland was more than 20 years ago in 1987 on August 4 and 5 at the Richfield Coliseum for her "Who's That Girl" tour. This alone should help tickets sell rather quickly.

Madonna's tour will kick off on May 29 in Tel Aviv, Israel, but the North American leg won't start until August 28 in Philadelphia. The tour will support her new album, "MDNA", which will be released on March 26 by Live Nation Entertainment/Interscope Records.

Tickets for the Cleveland show will go on sale on March 5 and will be available from both Live Nation and Ticketmaster. A presale for fan club members and VIP packages will begin on February 28 at 10am.

While L'Oreal announced last week that they'd be shutting down their remaining hair products factory in Solon, Ohio, this week brings better news for the city. Nestle USA announced on Monday that it had decided to move their Hot Pockets and Lean Pockets business teams from Colorado to Solon, which will create new job openings for the Northeast Ohio region.

It is not yet known just how many jobs the relocation will bring to the area, as it is dependent on how many of the 70 or so Nestle employees from Englewood, Colo., will make the decision to move to Ohio.

Some of the positions will be consolidated, and "way more than half" of the team, which includes positions in marketing, finance, and product development, has been invited to transfer to Solon.

Nestle Prepared Foods Co. of Solon also oversees Stouffer's and Lean Cuisine frozen meals, Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough and baking ingredients, Libby's 100-percent Pure Pumpkin, Nestle Carnation milks, and Buitoni refrigerated pastas and sauces.

The Ohio Department of Transportation has asked the state Controlling Board for approval to pay $2.85 million for a controversial study of how Ohio could make money off of the Ohio Turnpike.

According to a state request for funding, ODOT has asked for the money to be paid to KPMG Corporate FInance LLC to help it evaluable its options in leveraging assets of the turnpike, as well as rest areas along the 251-mile toll road.

The Controlling Board is scheduled to meet on February 13 and will consider the request at that time.

Governor John Kasich has lobbied for the leasing of the turnpike as a way to generate money. Statehouse Democrats, however, strongly opposed the idea.

An infestation of hemlock trees in the state of Ohio has led the state's agriculture officials to cut down and burn invested trees. An aphid-like insect native to Asian known as the Hemlock Woolly Adelgid currently threatens eastern hemlock and Carolina hemlock in the eastern United States, and the infestation has spread to 16 states from Maine to Georgia.

The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid was first spotted in the U.S. in 1951. It was discovered in Ohio in January 2012, and at the time just five trees were infected. The state is trying to prevent it from spreading.

The Adelgid attacks of the base of the needles at the tips of branches. Systemic insecticides are applied to protect tens of thousands of hemlocks annually.

There are now 24 universities, seven institutions in both China and Japan, 20 state agencies, four federal agencies, and nine private organizations involved in the effort to combat the bugs.

Photo: An infected hemlock tree.