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.

• Yellow Springs Senior Center eyes former lumber yard

  By Lauren ShowsJanuary 16, 2026

  

  Yellow Springs Senior Center leaders are eyeing the former lumber yard at 108 Cliff St. as a potential site for the organization’s long-planned new building — a possible shift away from a Livermore Street parcel the Senior Center purchased two years ago.

• A campaign for YS Schools

  By Lauren ShowsJanuary 15, 2026

  

  On Tuesday, Dec. 2 — Giving Tuesday — YS Schools officially launched its capital campaign, which aims to raise funds for some aspects of the facilities upgrades project currently underway at Mills Lawn and Yellow Springs Middle and High School.

• New Miami Township Trustees board settles in

  By Lauren Shows

  

  The Miami Township Trustees began their first meeting of the new year Monday, Jan. 5, by swearing in Trustee Chair Marilan Moir for her second term and newly elected Trustee Lori Askeland for her first.

• Young thespians stage ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’

  By Lauren Shows

  

  “The Diary of Anne Frank” is set to run its final two performances Friday and Saturday, Jan. 16 and 17, after an opening performance Thursday, Jan. 15.

• Electrical fire at Lawson Place home

  By Lauren ShowsJanuary 13, 2026

  

  Just after 2 a.m. Monday, Jan. 12, a resident at 11 Lawson Place noticed that an outside wall of their home had caught fire and called 911. According to Fire Chief James Cannell, MTFR firefighters were “on the scene within five minutes.”

• Miami Township Trustees hire financial consultant

  By Lauren ShowsJanuary 8, 2026

  

  Miami Township trustees agreed this week to bring in outside help as they work to untangle the Township’s books ahead of budget planning early next year.

• Concert to offer warmth in ‘midwinter’

  By Lauren ShowsJanuary 5, 2026

  

  “In the Bleak Midwinter” with Marna Street, violin, and Barbara Leeds, piano, will be performed Saturday, Jan. 10, beginning at 3 p.m., in Herndon Gallery at Antioch College. Admission is free.

• Villager gives the gift of listening

  By Lauren ShowsDecember 26, 2025

  

  Even in a small town, where people tend to know and be known by their neighbors, it’s not unusual for folks to feel alone around the holidays. With that in mind, one Yellow Springs villager is trying to meet that feeling head-on, offering a simple gift: half an hour of conversation.

• Miami Township Trustees approve new community paramedic position

  By Lauren Shows

  

  The first item Cannell brought forward for the 2026 budget was the creation of a 40-hour career community paramedic position, which the trustees unanimously approved; they later approved the hiring of Steffinie Brewer to fill the position, effective Dec. 27.

• Reichert to retire from Yellow Springs Schools

  By Lauren ShowsDecember 24, 2025

  

  A Yellow Springs graduate, JoFrannye Reichert served the district as a substitute teacher and paraprofessional before being hired as the full-time music teacher for Mills Lawn in 2007.