In case you missed it: As a defending conference champion, Ohio University Football expects to get the best effort from all of its opponents. And that was the case Saturday afternoon at Peden Stadium as Bowling Green rolled into Athens for Eddie George’s first Mid-American Conference game.

Mid-American Conference play is always delivers exciting results and coming into week five of the season there have already been a couple of MAC Football games. This week, both Ohio (2-2) and Bowling Green (2-2) will open their conference schedules against one another in Athens.

This database, named the Peaceful Encounter Program, went live recently, and since then people have been signing up at a pretty steady clip.

An opinion issued by the Athens city law director this week could complicate a zoning proposal to allow three temporary housing shelters in a North Congress Street parking lot.

A decision Wednesday by the Ohio Supreme Court leaves Nelsonville residents with no clarity when it comes to what form of government they will have starting next year or who will represent them.

The Ohio Supreme Court has denied the city of Nelsonville’s request that certain candidates for office be removed from the ballot.

More than a dozen Athens residents gathered at a City Council meeting Monday night to discuss the proposed installment of three emergency housing shelters on a parking lot next to The Gathering Place, also known as the Conestoga Hut project.

Yankovic’s Bigger & Weirder Tour features an expanded band and production accompanying him, taking him to venues like Blossom Music Center on Saturday, Columbus’ Palace Theatre on Sunday and Newport, KY’s MegaCorp Pavilion on September 16.

Ohio University has eliminated what was described as a significant number of information technology positions in a move to reduce expenses and realign operations. The job eliminations and other changes were announced today in emails to IT staff.

@woubnews.bsky.social Athens, Ohio, is facing a significant budget deficit due to recent budget cuts, not just federally, but also statewide. www.nbc4i.com/news/local-n...

Ohio will have its opportunity to rebound next week in the team’s home opener against West Virginia.

Ohio University reportedly submitted its proposal to suspend future entry into 11 academic programs and merge others to comply with Senate Bill 1. It requires public universities to eliminate undergraduate degree programs that graduate fewer than five students a year over a three-year period.

Nearly all of Ohio’s Appalachian counties include child care deserts, according to the Center for American Progress. The Corporation for Appalachian Development, said finding child care options like the Boys and Girls Club is rare for parents in southeast Ohio — especially during the summer.

More cuts will need to be made to carry the station through the following fiscal year, which starts on July 1. The station’s NPR and PBS programming will be spared during the current fiscal year because content for the year has already been paid for after negotiations were made to lower the cost.

Commissioner Bryan Davis faces 13 felony counts as part of an ongoing investigation into alleged bribes and public contracts involving the Southern Ohio Port Authority and a Portsmouth-area business park.

Nelsonville City Council is asking the state Supreme Court to reconsider its decision to dismiss a request that the names of certain people running for city offices be removed from the ballot. The court dismissed that request on Tuesday saying the council missed a filing deadline the day before.

Following a two-week trial, a Washington County jury found a Waterford man guilty of murdering a mother and her 17-month-old son three decades ago. Scott Hickman was convicted of four counts of aggravated murder and two counts of murder for the 1995 deaths of Kimberly Fulton and her son, Daniel.

The Nelsonville City Council’s request that certain candidates for office be removed from the ballot was dismissed Tuesday by the Ohio Supreme Court. The court did not address the merits of the request but said the city missed a filing deadline on Monday.

JUST IN (8/7/25 2:28 p.m.): OUPD has sent out an alert regarding a reported shooting in Athens on West Union Street in the Depot Street Area. Law enforcement is on the scene. OUPD asks that people avoid the area. More information as this story develops.

Nearly 3 million people, including over 100,000 in Ohio, are projected to lose all #SNAP benefits under the Trump Administration’s megabill. CBPP's Ed Bolen calls “the largest cut in SNAP’s history.” #GreatRead via @woubnews.bsky.social woub.org/2025/07/29/c...

Labor force participation in Appalachian Ohio is starting to move in the right direction, according to data from the Appalachian Regional Commission. From 2019-2023, participation was 1.2 percentage points higher than in 2014-2018, matching national growth.

After cuts to a federal program used to buy food from local growers and producers, Shagbark Seed and Mill, an Athens organic food business, will lose about $500,000 this year.

A former Nelsonville City Council member has filed a countersuit against the city alleging officials retaliated against him for exercising his First Amendment rights.

A critical piece of evidence will be admissible in the criminal trial of a woman arrested at a Nelsonville City Council meeting in April. The evidence is a legal opinion given to Margarita Nguyen by former Nelsonville Law Director Mathew Voltolini.

The board voted unanimously on Monday to move forward with a levy on the November ballot. The levy would be a 1% earned income tax over five years, funding the district about $665,000 annually.

A state appeals court has ruled the city of Athens’ ban on plastic bags is unconstitutional. The court said in its decision last week the ban directly conflicts with a state law that gives people the choice to use whatever bag they please.

Crime rates in several southeast Ohio counties dropped significantly over the past decade, contrary to public opinion crime is increasing. Data from the FBI for Athens, Hocking, Meigs, Vinton and Washington counties show violent crimes and property crimes fell drastically between 2014 and 2023.

The House gave final approval to President Donald Trump’s request to claw back about $9 billion for public broadcasting and foreign aid early Friday as Republicans intensified their efforts to target institutions and programs they view as bloated or out of step with their agenda.

The Senate has passed about $9 billion in federal spending cuts requested by President Donald Trump, including deep reductions to public broadcasting and foreign aid, moving forward on one of the president’s top priorities despite concerns from several Republican senators.

Thank you @woubnews.bsky.social @ohiouniversity.bsky.social for the Foothills Feature! youtu.be/yqxFQPbNGfs

The rescission package would mean funding cuts for Ohio public radio and television stations across the state. For WOUB, federal funding makes up around a quarter of its operating budget, with an additional 16% of its indirect costs being covered by the CPB.

Since the start of 2025, Narcan — also known by generic name naloxone — has reversed a known 5,635 overdoses in Ohio, according to state figures. Overdose deaths dropped by 9% last year, far exceeding the nationwide 2% decrease.

The water company that provides drinking water to six counties in southeast Ohio is suing several chemical companies, claiming they made and sold toxic “forever chemicals” that have contaminated its property.

Dressed in costume, bearing signs and waving flags, hundreds crowded along East State Street as part of the nationwide “No Kings” movement on Saturday. Athens’ protest was one of thousands across the country – all protesting President Donald Trump and his policies.

A long vacant gas station on Columbus Road in Athens is set to be transformed into a 21st century electric vehicle charging station. It’s part of a larger project to make the rural areas of southern Ohio more accessible for drivers of electric vehicles.

Athens’ Mayor Steve Patterson was in Kiev, Ukraine, last week when he was awakened by the sounds of a massive drone attack. He and other hotel guests took shelter in a reinforced bunker in the hotel basement as Russia continued its retaliation for Ukraine’s recent strike on Russian aircraft.

A committee of Nelsonville citizens is moving forward with a proposal to seek candidates for one-month terms on the City Council. This is intended to solve the city’s looming “December problem,” in which the city might have only one council member for that month.

During the winter, spring and fall months, Southern Ohio Copperheads Assistant Coach Ryan Grimm coaches’ various sports at Federal Hocking. But when the team begins its season Friday, he said it will feel like he’s in a whole new ballgame.

Nelsonville residents can now draw their own ward maps to be considered for the final proposed plan. At Thursday’s ward map meeting at the Nelsonville Public Library, Trevor Martin introduced a program to Nelsonville citizens called Dave’s Redistricting.

Residents in the Trimble Local Schools District will know by late September what further cuts will be made in an ongoing effort to address the district’s financial crisis. A commission tasked with stabilizing the district’s finances met for the first time Wednesday and outlined the process.

It would add new requirements to SNAP and Medicaid and shift some costs onto states, potentially putting a strain on local administrators who have more rules to follow and fewer resources to do so. Advocates think enrollment in both programs will go down — not because of waste or fraud.

We're thrilled to partner with WOUB/Independent Lens and the Friends of the Athens County Public Libraries to host a free screening of this new and important documentary! 📖 FREE FOR ALL: THE PUBLIC LIBRARY will show at 3pm on Sat 5/31 Info: athenacinema.com/freeforall/

Ryan Black, a former Hocking County prosecutor, has been suspended by the Ohio Supreme Court for two years, with six months stayed, for inappropriate conduct in his office. Black won his election back in November 2020 and stepped down in 2024.

Earlier this month, the National Park Service added six Ohio sites to its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. That’s in part to the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative, which is on a mission to identify and successfully nominate historical sites to the national network.

In an unexpected twist, the Trimble Board of Education voted 3-1 not to cut additional teaching positions at its meeting Thursday evening. The reduction in force would have eliminated an elementary preschool teacher and a kindergarten teacher, among others.

The City of Athens wants to create a path along much of Columbus Avenue to make it easier for people to walk or bicycle down the road. One City Council member says he doesn’t see the point. “I see this as a path from nowhere to nowhere,” Alan Swank said at Monday night’s council meeting.

State officials have dismissed a challenge Ohio University filed last month after faculty voted overwhelmingly to form a union. With this decision, the State Employment Relations Board has certified the results of the vote, meaning the union can now move forward on negotiating a contract.

A union that recently won a vote to represent Ohio University faculty says it did nothing wrong in holding members-only meetings before the election. And if the meetings were prohibited by state law, the union says the law should be considered unconstitutional.

Over the course of 18 years, Ohio and its communities are receiving about $2 billion in opioid settlement money from pharmaceutical companies to compensate for harm. For smaller Ohio communities, the payouts don’t come close to the millions heading to the state’s major metros.

Today is the day to directly support students as part of OHIO Giving Day at Ohio University. Support students at @woubnews.bsky.social who get paid for working for news and information at WOUB Public Media. Go to this link: bit.ly/WOUBOHIOGivi...