In a surprise move, the leaders of the new Antioch College recently announced that they’re scrapping plans to reopen the school as an independent liberal arts college. Instead, they plan to launch a center for the production of alternative energy, specifically, converting bovine feces into biogas.

For Jewell Graham, the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s were exhilarating times to live in the village. Having come to Yellow Springs as a young African-American woman with her new husband, Paul, who after graduating from Antioch had been offered a job at Vernay Laboratories, Graham was impressed with the quality of relationships between blacks and whites. Many businesses were integrated in a way unusual for the time, and a passion for the civil rights movement further brought people together. There was considerable socializing between blacks and whites in her world, as well as a sense of shared purpose.

The recent holiday season was better than the one before for many downtown merchants, and other stores had sales either comparable or slightly down from last year, according to recent interviews with a dozen owners. Most merchants felt satisfied with their sales, given the state of the national economy. However, they had to work hard and be smart to weather the holidays in a recession, and several linked their stability to their own adjusted business practices.

Are there ways for the Village to increase revenues and/or decrease costs? Village Council members considered this subject at a special general fund budget workshop on Saturday, March 6. Contributing to the urgency of the discussion was the projected 2010 drop in the fund’s year-end surplus, which was caused by an increase in contracted services and a large unexpected repair project, according to Village Finance Director Sharon Potter.

At a recent convention of Ohio newspapers, the Yellow Springs News won awards for in-depth reporting, features, editorials, headlines, overall design and advertising design.

At their March 1 meeting, members of Yellow Springs Village Council unanimously approved contributing to the preservation of two farm properties, one of which includes the headwaters of the Jacoby Creek and is the first farm preserved within the Jacoby greenbelt.

At its Feb. 16 meeting, Village Council took a first step toward using Village greenbelt funds to conserve two pieces of farmland considered critical by Tecumseh Land Trust, or TLT. One of the properties is the first piece of the Jacoby greenbelt to be officially preserved as farmland.

The Yellow Springs visioning process is entering its final phase, according to organizers at a special meeting Monday, Feb. 22, between Village Council, the Miami Township Trustees, and leaders of the process that began almost a year ago.

A significant outreach effort to find outstanding candidates for the position of Yellow Springs school superintendent is currently taking place, according to the leaders of the Yellow Springs school board at the board’s Feb. 11 meeting.

A zoning code update. Safety improvements and upgrades for the skate park. Energy improvements for Village buildings.