Editors note: The name of the House of Hope resident is fictitious to protect her privacy.

CELINA - Kay has been a heroin addict since she was 17 and her 10-month-old daughter was born with the drug in her system. [More]

MINSTER - Village council on Monday night held an executive session to interview five candidates for a vacant position.

No action was taken. Council is expected to decide in January, village administrator Don Harrod said.

ST. HENRY - Village councilors meeting Monday increased the 2015 budget by about $300,000 to help pay for a proposed $1 million street project.

The new budget is $4.1 million, an increase over this year's $3.8 million budget.

Mercer County has solely held the lowest unemployment rate in Ohio for three consecutive years, according to information released today by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services.

Celina resident Jill Thomas has been elected to the Mercer County Farm Service Agency Committee for Local Administrative Area 2, becoming the first woman to serve on the county committee. Area 2 includes Butler, Jefferson, Liberty and Washington townships. No one ran against Thomas.

CELINA - Celina players told coach Toma Hainline after their game against St. Henry that their shooting in warmups has been a little off.

It didn't show. [More]

Later this week, we'll be running a sports year in review highlighting the key moments in local sports in 2014, but I thought for my last column of 2014, I would share two moments that happened this year that kind of transcended the actual events.

Compiled by Gary R. Rasberry

Coldwater closed out its game with Van Wert with a 22-2 fourth quarter run to improve to 5-3 on the season with an 81-36 win over the Cougars on Monday night at the Cougar Den in Van Wert.