It’s time to pause and reflect on some of the biggest and most insightful stories we featured in 2018. Our reporters dug into a number of social issues through the past year, those affecting so many of our family members and neighbors both young and old, rich and poor.
Here is a sampling of some of the most impactful issues and news developments we examined. For much more, pick up the Jan. 3 edition of the Lorain County Community Guide, which includes the Amherst News-Times, Oberlin News-Tribune, and Wellington Enterprise.
Voters chose in early November to elevate state attorney general Mike DeWine to lead Ohio’s executive branch, shape the state’s policy, and define its priorities via the biennial budget. Voters, by a four percent margin, chose the Republican candidate DeWine and runningmate Jon Husted over Democrats Richard Cordray and runningmate Betty Sutton.The old Central School on Church Street in Amherst is getting a second chance at life, as we’ve seen in tours through the year. Sprenger Health Care is pumping $9.5 million into the once-derelict building, transforming its long-dark interiors into an assisted living facility. The project is possible thanks to about $3 million in Ohio and federal historical tax credits.A decade of debate over Oberlin school facilities was put to the test in the form of Issue 11, which asked voters to fund construction of a new PK-5 campus. Board of education president Anne Schaum breathed a sigh of relief when the results came back: 54 percent for a $17.8 million bond issue and 46 percent against. “I know this was a lot of work, but it’s really just the beginning,” she wrote in a congratulatory email to fellow board members.We wished the village of Wellington a happy 200th birthday this year! The bicentennial drew the community together with historical presentations, the naming of the new Union School Park, a military history fair, an antique car and bicycle festival, vintage baseball game, the release of a documentary about the village’s past, and more.When it comes to teenagers, mood swings and odd behavior are to be expected. What parents are learning, and what we wrote about in March and April, is just how prevalent clinical depression and anxiety are among young people. “We’re worried about so many things,” Wellington High School student Grace Broome said at the 2018 Youth Summit in New Russia Township. “We’re even worried about whether we’re not worrying enough about certain things.”
