Today From The Ohio Newsroom

Once a swing state, does Ohio have any shades of purple left?

The Bowling Green State University Democracy and Public Policy Research Network released its latest poll of 800 registered Ohio voters last month.

Enrollment trends are up at Ohio universities, with a notable exception

From Bowling Green State University to Youngstown State, universities across Ohio saw an uptick in enrollment this semester.

But one demographic was noticeably left out of the trend: international students.

Smart trick-or-treaters know Dum-Dums are Ohio made

When you step into the Spangler Candy factory, the air smells like sugar.

Trays of circus peanuts rotate overhead. Workers hand place pinstripes onto candy canes. And lollipops pour into bags the size of pillows.

"You're in a candy factory, there's magic everywhere," said company president Bill Martin, one of the people in charge of this Wonka-like paradise.

In Lorain County, a door-to-door naloxone delivery is quietly saving lives

On a bright September afternoon, a group of volunteers in purple shirts pulled a navy wagon through a quiet neighborhood in Elyria in northeast Ohio. Inside were boxes of Narcan — the brand name for naloxone, the medication that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose by restoring normal breathing.

These Ohio hunters are bagging bucks to feed their neighbors

At a hunting ground in Butler County, Don Boling walked down an overgrown wooded path, littered with fall foliage. It's one of his favorite spots to hunt deer in southwest Ohio.

Although there are no bucks or does in sight, the lifelong hunter still saw signs of them everywhere.

Politicians are focused on city crime. What about rural communities?

President Donald Trump has made headlines in recent months for sending federal troops to major metros from Memphis, Tennessee to Portland, Oregon.

A new Ohio council will bring nursing home residents together to voice their needs

More than 122,000 Ohioans live in long-term care facilities, like nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

Meet the Ohio pumpkin carver turning gourds into gallery pieces

Like a lot of Ohioans, Gus Smithhisler gets the itch to carve a pumpkin each autumn. But, instead of going to a grocery store or a pumpkin patch, he brings in a forklift.

"We haven't had one this big for a while," the forklift operator told Smithhisler, as he directed a massive pumpkin onto a wooden pallet.

Wooster High students finally get a promised concert, five decades on

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels are performing in Ohio this weekend. But instead of playing the Agora Theater or the Beachland Ballroom, the octogenarian Rock and Roller will be playing the slightly more intimate venue: Wooster High School's Performing Arts Center. That's all because of an effort by Wooster High School's Class of 1971.

In Ohio, corn mazes are serious business

This story was originally published October, 21, 2025 on Midstory, a nonprofit newsroom based in Toledo.