GRAND LAKE - Shock and helplessness enveloped the community a year ago when thick algae blooms carpeted Grand Lake, stole business profits and nearly shut down Ohio's largest inland lake. [More]

GRAND LAKE - Optimism is in bloom this year as Grand Lake area business owners and patrons note the one-year anniversary of what some call the lake's worst algae bloom ever.

NEW BREMEN - Using, possessing and/or selling synthetic drugs such as bath salts is now banned in the village.

Council members approved the emergency legislation at Tuesday's regular meeting.

CELINA - The Main Street reconstruction project, which has forced motorists to enter the city from alternative routes, is winding down.

Paving from

WAPAKONETA - Picnics, family reunions and other outside get-togethers can be marred by spoiled food.

Dr. Juan Torres, medical director for the Augl

ROCKFORD - Parkway school board members on Tuesday hired a new high school English teacher, who also will serve as an assistant varsity football coach.

MINSTER - Council members Tuesday night approved ordinances for formal vacation of a street with no name and an alley covered by a building.

Village administrator Don Harrod explained councils in the 1970s and 1980s approved vacation requests but officials could find no official ordinances.

NEW BREMEN - Street reconstruction work in the Teton Subdivision will be completed this year as a result of action taken by New Bremen Village Council members Tuesday night.

CELINA - Officials finally have enough money to work on logjams that block the flow of the winding St. Marys River and contribute to periodic flooding. [More]

Christian Gabriel, who completed a six-year prison sentence Monday in connection with the disappearance and presumed death of a Dayton girl, is spending 10 days in the Mercer County Detention Facility on a local warrant.

ST. MARYS - The death of a 40-year-old man found stabbed in the middle of a street has been ruled a suicide.

Auglaize County Coroner Dr. Thomas Fr [More]

NEW BREMEN - Officials of the Ohio Department of Taxation will begin collecting a little-known tax from small business operators. The state can go at least three years back for the use tax, interest and penalties.

COLDWATER - An RBI bloop single by Josh Forsthoefel with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning allowed Christian Schramm to score the game-winning run as the Coldwater Cavaliers won a pitcher's dual against Parkway 2-1 at Veterans Field.

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

The Ohio Fury 14U softball team out of Minster earned an automatic bid to play in the National Softball Association World Series after winning the Western Ohio Invitational last weekend in St. Marys.