Lauren Shows was born to a preacher and a preacher's wife, and spent the majority of her earliest childhood years rollin' 'round the bible belt, to end up in Panama City, Florida. After graduating from Florida State University in Tallahassee, she spent the next several months in existential crisis, making lattes for snowbirds and spring-breakers, before moving to Kentucky to get an MFA in writing from Spalding University. A chance meeting at Spalding landed her in Yellow Springs. She was graciously hired by the News, though her only previous dealing with newspaper publication was in third grade, when she wrote a story about a bunch of skeletons rising from the dead on Halloween, which was printed in the Owenton News-Herald. Lauren enjoys cheese, giant squid, and Michael J. Fox.

• Name up in lights

  By Lauren ShowsAugust 9, 2025

  

  Last week, Elyria-based Wagner Electric Sign Co. installed an art deco-inspired marquee onLittle Art Theatre’s facade — its colorful flourishes nod to the visual motifs inside.

• School district urges state reps against overriding vetoes

  By Lauren ShowsAugust 8, 2025

  

  At their regular meeting Thursday, July 10, the members of the YS school board agreed to pen a collaborative statement to state representatives urging them to belay overriding Gov. Mike DeWine’s recent vetoes of state budget items affecting schools.

• Celebrating Helen Birch Bartlett and a shared history

  By Lauren ShowsAugust 5, 2025

  

  This year marks the 100th anniversary of Helen Birch Bartlett’s death — the namesake of Glen Helen. In her lifetime, she was a writer, musician, collector and tastemaker.

• Trustees talk cemeteries, zoning, defibrillators

  By Lauren ShowsAugust 1, 2025

  

  At their most recent regular meeting, held Monday, July 21, the Miami Township Trustees agreed to allocate additional funds for cemetery expansion, approved text amendments to the Township’s zoning code and discussed the future of Township-placed defibrillators.

• Muse Machine at ‘home’ in the Foundry Theater

  By Lauren ShowsJuly 30, 2025

  

  For the first time, Muse Machine’s Summer Institute for Educators was held in Yellow Springs, inside the Foundry Theater at Antioch College.

• EdChoice voucher program deemed unconstitutional

  By Lauren ShowsJuly 25, 2025

  

  Late last month, Judge Jaiza Page of the Franklin County Court of Common Pleas handed down a summary judgement ruling Ohio’s EdChoice voucher program as unconstitutional.

• Man arrested in connection to recent break-ins and burglaries

  By Lauren ShowsJuly 23, 2025

  

  On Tuesday, July 15, YS police arrested a 21-year-old man in Kings Yard, later announcing on social media that the individual is likely connected to a series of downtown business break-ins and burglaries over the last month, including three between July 11 and 14.

• Villager publishes new novel — a blend of fiction, memoir and baseball history

  By Lauren ShowsJuly 17, 2025

  

  If you could go back in time and change just one thing, what would it be? For the protagonist of villager Philip King’s debut novel/memoir, the answer is simple: He’d go back and make sure the Cleveland baseball team could clinch the 1950 World Series.

• Feast For Friends progressive dinner returns next month

  By Lauren ShowsJuly 16, 2025

  

  Five years ago, Yellow Springs’ biggest progressive dinner never made it to the table — but next month, it returns to finally fill local appetites: Feast for Friends, Friends Care Community’s longtime annual fundraiser, will be held Saturday, Aug. 23, beginning at 5:30 p.m.

• Township Trustees update agenda process, zoning code

  By Lauren ShowsJuly 15, 2025

  

  “Public bodies have a duty to keep the public informed if they’re making major decisions that affect the public purse and public well-being,” Trustee Marilan Moir said.