During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ohio parents and community members showed up in droves to their local school board meetings. They took to the podium to debate masking, learning loss and curriculum.
Blake Mathys grew up on a central Ohio farm, going to exotic animal auctions with his father. They collected Scottish Highland cows, Jacob sheep and even peacocks. If it had fur or feathers, it was fair game.
"So when we moved back to Ohio about 12 years ago, I decided I wanted some livestock and maybe something a little unusual," Mathys said. "I thought 'Why not yaks?'"
Schools in impoverished areas tend to have lower rates of reading proficiency. But one Ohio district is bucking the trend: Steubenville City Schools.
The Rust Belt district boasts one of the highest reading proficiency scores in the state despite its high poverty rate.
Ahead of their rehearsal at a small theater in Yellow Springs, members of a community choir pulled out sheet music to the tune of a tinkering piano.
As their chatter turned to whispers, guest conductor David Brown launched the group into its first song: not Beethoven, but Beyonce.
Dan Ramey Jr. was just starting his senior year of high school in September 2001. He watched the Twin Towers fall during lunch.
"That's really what was the deciding factor of selflessness for country," he said. "That really struck me as a call to arms."
The decision to serve in the U.S. Air Force was easy, he said. Coming home as a veteran six years later was not.
Kalen Howell can map his family history without moving a single step.
From one spot on Market Street in Urbana, he pointed to the former living spaces of much of his lineage. The home where his grandmother grew up is on the corner, and just to the west, his great-grandparents made their home. He grew up in this neighborhood too, just a couple doors down.
High school sophomore Joel Buyer is almost always on the go. He's on a bowling team, a part of his local 4-H club and he loves to travel. He recently visited New York City for his sweet sixteen.
"I have a favorite part: the train," said Joel, who has cerebral palsy and speaks through an augmentative and alternative communication device.
In November, an Athens city employee got an email regarding payment for the construction of a new fire station.
Shortly after, the city paid an invoice for more than $700,000. But the money never reached the construction firm it was intended for.
Wittenberg University in Springfield is in financial distress, according to the Higher Learning Commission, a private nonprofit that accredits colleges and universities across the country.
That means it has more debt than income.
NASA's lease on its Washington, D.C. headquarters expires in three years. Some Ohio legislators say that's enough time to complete an important mission: convince the federal government to relocate the nerve system of NASA to Cleveland.
