Alex Haley had been sober for five years when he tried to return to work in rural northwest Ohio. But he was first introduced to drugs when he was just 10 years old, and more than a decade of substance use has taken a toll on his health.
Dressed in full feathered headdresses and sequined regalia, a group of Mexican folk dancers gathered last week inside a church gymnasium in Willard, a small town in northern Ohio.
To the beat of pounding drums, they stomped and kicked out their feet, the beads on their outfits jingling with every move.
The process of fracking a well brings up gas or oil from deep underground. But it also brings dirt and rocks that could be contaminated with radioactivity and other chemicals.
As a totally blind person, Dawn Christensen has spent a lifetime navigating spaces that aren't easily accessible for the visually impaired.
For example, a nearby community college once invited her to survey their new braille signage shortly after the Americans with Disabilities Act was signed into law.
In the spring of 2010, then-Ohio University student Maddie McGarvey noticed more and more grandparents were raising their grandchildren in southeast Ohio – a symptom of the opioid epidemic.
As a sophomore photojournalism student, she wanted to document one family's experience. A social worker connected her to the Castos.
Across Ohio, there's a shortage of qualified court interpreters: people who can translate complex legal jargon for non-English speakers in the state.
If you're part of an orchestra, here's a line you probably don't hear often:
"The melody with this one starts in the lowest tuba part."
But those are the words Ben Herrick uttered during a one-hour rehearsal last Sunday, as the Heidelberg University director of bands led an ensemble of tubas, baritones and euphoniums through a rumbling rendition of "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen."
When London Studer was 11 years old, the central Ohio athlete had a big dream.
"To work harder, get stronger and become an MLB star," she said in a 2017 interview with WOSU Public Media.
Now, that dream is a step closer to reality.
Southeast Ohio's Vinton County recently unveiled a new mural honoring the state's first female sheriff: the prisoner-wrangling, homicide-solving single mother of five — Maude Collins.
Brown paper bags of flour and sugar might not seem like much, but the sustenance and sweetness within are part of a century-old Yellow Springs holiday tradition that connects community members.
Since 1894, staff members of this Greene County village have been delivering baking staples — and some good cheer — annually to their neighbors who have lost a spouse.
