WOUB News & Culture, Ohio University/Radio Television Building/35 S College Street, Athens, OH (2025)

10/17/2025

Ohio University Football (3-3, 1-1 MAC) returns to Peden Stadium this week for the first time since Sep. 27 as they host Northern Illinois (1-5, 0-2 MAC) on homecoming weekend in Athens.

Saturday’s meeting will mark the 26th all-time matchup between the Bobcats and the Huskies dating back to 1968. NIU holds the series lead with a 14-11 mark against Ohio, however, the Bobcats have won three of the last four meetings since 2018. Each of the last 10 meetings between the schools have been decided by less that 10 points.

The Huskies did take arguably the most important meeting between the two schools in 2011 when they faced off at Ford Field for the MAC Championship.

This year the two will meet for potentially the last time for a while. With NIU set to leave the MAC after this season, it may be many seasons before Ohio faces the Huskies again.

NIU was picked No.5 in the conference preseason coaches’ poll but have struggled through its first six games. The Huskies have just one win and it came in their opening game against Holy Cross.

ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB) – Ohio Football (3-3, 1-1 MAC) returns to Peden Stadium this week for the first time since Sep. 27 as they host Northern Illinois (1-5, 0-2 MAC)... Read More

10/17/2025

Health care workers with Ohio State University have begun driving a mobile lung cancer screening unit across the state.

It’s meant to expand early detection efforts in underserved parts of Ohio, like Perry, Morgan, Noble and Monroe counties.

“We still have very limited services in these counties,” said Darla Fickle, a program director with the university’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Without a hospital, you don’t have access to [a low-dose CT scan] unless you bring it on a mobile unit, and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

The effort is especially important in rural Ohio, she said, because smoking rates there tend to be higher than in urban and suburban parts of the state.

“And if you look at the lung cancer incident rates and mortality rates, they’re usually the top in every county that we’re going to in Appalachia,” she said.

Health care workers with Ohio State University have begun driving a mobile lung cancer screening unit across the state.

10/17/2025

Ace Frehley, the fiery lead guitarist and founding member of KISS, has died at age 74.

Frehley passed away Thursday in Morristown, New Jersey, surrounded by family, following a recent fall at his home.

Known to fans as “The Spaceman,” Frehley helped define KISS’s sound during the band’s 1970s heyday with his blues-influenced solos and stage presence.

He wrote some of the group’s most enduring songs, including “Cold Gin” and “Shock Me,” and scored a solo hit with 1978’s “New York Groove.”

Born in the Bronx in 1951, he co-founded KISS in 1973, helping shape their hard-rock theatrics and eventual global success.

KISS founding guitarist Ace Frehley, writer of classics like “Cold Gin” and “Shock Me,” has died at 74 following a recent fall.

10/17/2025

A lawsuit filed against the Ohio High School Athletic Association will force a vote of member schools on changing rules on name, image and likeness. The suit comes from a Dayton student who’s one of the top football players in the country and has verbally committed to Ohio State.

Wayne High School wide receiver Jamier Brown is missing out on more than $100,000 from NIL deals, according to the lawsuit filed by Columbus attorney Luke Fedlam. Brown’s mother Jasmine is named as the plaintiff in the lawsuit.

“There are 44 states across the country and the District of Columbia that allow for name, image, and likeness for high school student athletes. Ohio, unfortunately, is not one of them,” Fedlam said in an interview. “It prohibits opportunities to high school student athletes here. The more elite those student-athletes are, the larger the risk that they may then go to another state or somewhere outside of Ohio to be able to earn compensation based on their abilities.”

Fedlam said that kind of money can cover all the expenses that top athletes rack up.

“There’s a lot that it takes to be elite, from training costs, recovery costs, etc., and that can be a significant strain on families,” Fedlam said. “A lot of families are struggling these days, and so the opportunities for student-athletes to be able to provide back to their families is significant.”

Schools that make up the OHSAA voted against changing NIL rules in 2022, but the organization was planning to hold another vote in May 2026. The OHSAA said in a statement after the lawsuit was filed that the vote will happen sooner, but it’s unclear exactly when.

Wayne High School wide receiver Jamier Brown is missing out on more than $100,000 from NIL deals, according to the lawsuit.

10/17/2025

During Tuesday night’s roundtable for Nelsonville candidates, voters had one main question on their minds: What happens to the government Jan. 1?

The answer? City Manager Fred Holmes said he is not sure.

“It’s still a question, it’s going to be decided,” he said.

Holmes is one of three mayoral candidates running for a position that does not currently exist and may not even after the election.

Current Councilmember Jonathan Flowers and former Council Vice President Nancy Sonick are also running for mayor, but Sonick was unable to attend the League of Women Voters’ roundtable.

Jan. 1 marks when Issue 23, a citizen-led ballot initiative voters passed last November, mandated a change from the city’s charter government to a statutory government with an independent mayor and partisan council.

However, the council repealed Issue 23 in August, citing concerns over the lack of a transition plan between when the current councilmembers’ terms end Nov. 30 and the new government would take effect Jan. 1. This gap became known as the December problem.

The city then asked the Ohio Supreme Court to remove all candidates running under Issue 23 from the November ballot. The court denied Nelsonville’s request but did not rule on the validity of the council’s repeal of Issue 23.

Now, a candidate for auditor under Issue 23 is challenging the repeal in the Athens County Court of Common Pleas, but it is unlikely the court will resolve the issue before Election Day. This means there may be two governments Jan. 1, one under Issue 23 and one under the charter.

However, until the court makes a decision on the validity of the repeal, Issue 23 is no longer in effect.

During Tuesday night’s roundtable for Nelsonville candidates, voters had one main question on their minds: What happens Jan. 1?

10/16/2025

A former treasurer for Northern Local Schools in Thornville has been indicted in Perry County for allegedly using a district credit card for personal purchases.

Elizabeth McCarthy faces two counts of theft in office and one count of telecommunications fraud, all felonies, under the indictment filed in Perry County Common Pleas Court Wednesday afternoon.

She is scheduled to be arraigned on Nov. 5.

The Ohio auditor’s Special Investigations Unit opened an investigation in October 2024 after the new treasurer for Northern Local Schools identified potentially improper purchases by McCarthy.

Elizabeth McCarthy was named in the indictment filed in Perry County Common Pleas Court Wednesday afternoon.

10/16/2025

A year’s worth of Marysville’s water laps in a reservoir north of the city. Public service director Jeremy Hoyt said the water level normally sits above the dock, which now sits exposed to the sun.

“You can kinda see the staining,” he said pointing to where the stone wall changes in color. “We just have not been able to fill it with the drought.”

More businesses have come to rely on this 1.4 billion gallon reservoir in recent years. Hoyt said two data centers, south of the city in Jerome Township, are estimated to drink up around 10% of the central Ohio city’s daily water capacity. And, nearby, another Amazon data center plans to come online in the next couple of years. The city has planned for growth, Hoyt said, but they recently came to a realization:

“We should start curtailing and limiting the use that the data centers have on our water system,” he said.

Ohio ranks fifth nationally in its number of data centers. Among the factors bringing businesses like Meta, Amazon and Google into the state, is a perceived abundance of water, which the centers need to cool their servers.

But as data centers move in, Ohio communities are grappling with how to promote growth while managing the finite resource.

As data centers move in, Ohio communities are grappling with how to promote growth while managing the finite resource.

10/16/2025

In his Now Playing columns this week, film scholar Dr. Gordon Briggs explores a curious subgenre of cinema: films told from an animal’s point of view.

Earlier this week he reviewed "Good Boy", a new horror film gaining attention for unfolding entirely through the eyes of a dog.

In today's column, Briggs highlights three other films which focus on a non-human POV.

He begins with 2022's "EO", a Polish film that follows a donkey on a surreal and sometimes harrowing journey through modern Europe.

The column also considers "White God" (2015), a brutal yet poignant allegory about a dog uprising against human cruelty set in Budapest.

Rounding out the trio is "Bad Moon" (1996), a B-movie that casts a family dog as the unlikely hero in a classic werewolf story.

A look at horror and drama films told from an animal’s perspective, from the haunting "EO" and intense "White God" to the cult werewolf flick "Bad Moon."

10/16/2025

With next year’s U.S. Senate campaign starting in Ohio, the current climate for farmers is a growing issue.

Former U.S. Sen Sherrod Brown, the Democrat in the race, said there’s no question Ohio farmers have been hurt by tariffs and ineffective federal trade policy. China was a major customer of soybeans produced in Ohio, but since the 20% tariff was put in place, the country hasn’t purchased any soybeans from the U.S. Brown said farmers should be made whole.

“If you are going to put farmers out of business with tariffs, with cutting off their markets, sure, we owe something to those farmers,” Brown said in an interview, adding he has one big question of President Trump: “Why didn’t he let the market work?”

Brown is running against current U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH), who has announced he’ll seek re-election. Husted’s office said they were not able to make him available for an interview.

His office sent a written statement reads in part: “My record shows that I support Ohio’s farmers and consumers. I voted for the working family tax cuts, which allows farmers and job creators to immediately expense investments in new factories, capital investments in machinery and equipment, and in research and development—all of which Democrats opposed.“

With next year's U.S. Senate campaign starting in Ohio, the current climate for farmers is a growing issue.

10/16/2025

Mayor Justin M. Bibb and the ownership group of the Cleveland Browns have reached a $100 million settlement that will clear the way for the franchise to build its new suburban stadium while preparing the site of the current lakefront stadium for future development by the city of Cleveland.

The proposed $2.4-billion domed stadium would be built in Brook Park, next to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and about 15 miles (24.14 kilometers) south of downtown Cleveland. The Browns are looking to begin construction next year and start playing in their new home in 2029, following the completion of their 30-year lease at Huntington Bank Field.That venue opened in 1999 as Cleveland Browns Stadium. It replaced Cleveland Municipal Stadium, which was in operation from 1931 until its demolition in 1996.
The Haslam Sports Group — the company founded by Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam, their daughter and son-in-law — has agreed to pay the city $25 million by Dec. 1 and to raze the current stadium to a “pad ready state.” The cost of the demolition is estimated to be $30 million.

The Haslams will also pay Cleveland $5 million annually from 2029 through 2033 as well as $2 million per year from 2029 through 2038 for community benefit projects.

The deal still must be approved by Cleveland’s City Council.

“This $100M investment continues our lakefront momentum and economic resurgence,” Bibb said in a statement. “This agreement puts the lakefront on the path to transformational development and the Browns on the path to a world-class facility in Brook Park. This is the right solution for the city and the region. Cleveland’s time is now. We are a city that leads the region, that’s open for business, and that knows how to get big things done.”

Mayor Bibb and the Browns have reached a $100 million settlement that will clear the way for the franchise to build its new suburban stadium.

10/15/2025

At a five-star resort tucked in the mountains of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the cryptocurrency industry was celebrating a historic start to the year on Capitol Hill. Its priorities were sailing through Congress with unusual speed and one senator did not hesitate to say why.

Sen. Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, was asked during the August panel what had changed to clear the way for such progress.

“I got to tell you,” said Scott, R-S.C. “Thank you, to all of y’all, for getting rid of Sherrod Brown,” he said, referring to the Ohio Democrat who lost his Senate seat in 2024 to Republican Bernie Moreno.

Laughter and applause rippled through the room. “Literally, the industry put Bernie Moreno in the Senate,” he added, according to a video from the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium.

In 2024, crypto interests poured more than $40 million into that race — more than four times their spending in any other Senate contest. Brown, who headed the committee when Democrats held the majority from 2021 to 2025, had long been one of Washington’s toughest critics of digital assets. That spending on behalf of Moreno, a businessman, sent a clear message: Challenge crypto, and the industry will come for you.

Brown, in a comeback bid, is seeking a fourth term next year, and Democrats are hopeful of their chances in an election without Republican President Donald Trump at the top of the ballot. But crypto has even more to spend this cycle and is enjoying a Congress that, without Brown, has turned sharply in its favor.

In 2024, crypto interests poured more than $40 million into that race — more than four times their spending in any other Senate contest.

10/15/2025

Police officers, firefighters and paramedics face higher rates of depression and PTSD than the general population. They’re more likely to die by su***de than they are to die in the line of duty, according to a white paper commissioned by the Ruderman Family Foundation.

That’s why Boardman Township is creating a wellness center that will address the mental health needs of first responders across three counties in northeast Ohio. It will offer space for counseling, a gym and training areas for 152 responding agencies in the area.

Boardman Township police chief Todd Werth said he’s proud to see the Mahoning Valley area work to protect its public safety workers.

“The healthier our first responders are, the less sick days, the less distractions, the less trauma, first responders [can better] focus on their jobs … keeping the community safe,” Werth said.

Boardman Township is creating a wellness center that will address the mental health needs of first responders across three counties in Ohio.

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