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.

• Miami Township— Trustees broach cemeteries, fiscal transition

  By Lauren ShowsApril 3, 2026

  

  Budget questions — particularly around cemetery spending, future capital needs and how Township funds should be used across departments — have been at the center of recent Miami Township Trustees discussions, first at their March 2 regular meeting and again at a March 9 work session focused on cemetery appropriations.

• ‘Iden: A Story of Love’— Documentary tells story of transition, family

  By Lauren Shows

  

  “Iden: A Story of Love” is a feature-length documentary that follows local resident Iden Crockett through the early years of her burgeoning identity as a transgender woman and explores how that process reshaped not only Crockett’s life, but also the lives of those closest to her.

• Dr. Mark Lomax II returns to Yellow Springs with “Unity Suite”

  By Lauren Shows

  

  The nine-movement “Unity Suite,” organized in three sets of three pieces, draws on Lomax’s experiences in the Black church and his long-standing belief that music can bring people into deeper communion with one another.

• Yellow Springs United Methodist Church aims for Easter renewal

  By Lauren Shows

  

  The 178-year-old church aims to open its doors with renewed vitality on Easter Sunday, April 5, as both a place of worship and as a place the congregation hopes the wider community will once again feel called to enter.

• School board talks safety, start times and exam exemptions

  By Lauren ShowsApril 2, 2026

  

  Traffic safety around district campuses, new school start times and a student proposal to revise the high school’s exam exemption policy were among the topics discussed at the school board’s regular meeting Wednesday, March 11.

• ‘The Outside Presents’ experimental sounds in new space

  By Lauren Shows

  

  This weekend, those who love or are curious about experimental music will get the chance to hear some new sounds in a very new space: “The Outside Presents,” the experimental music series curated by WYSO 91.3 FM host Evan Miller, will be the first public event held in the community space at WYSO’s new Union Schoolhouse studio.

• New mail station in Clifton

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 31, 2026

  

  Earlier this month, Clifton residents celebrated the opening of their new mail station, which they erected after their post office was unexpectedly closed late last year, the day after Christmas.

• Open Air Village eyes home-based move

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 13, 2026

  

  Beginning this summer, Open Air Village expects to relocate to a home on President Street, provided the Village approves a zoning variance that would allow the Gays to operate an in-home child care program there.

• Art auction to benefit Senior Center

  By Lauren ShowsMarch 12, 2026

  

  The Ageless Art Auction will be held Thursday, Feb. 19, 6:30–9 p.m., at the Mills Park Hotel. Tickets are $50 in advance and $75 at the door.

• MTFR responds to second fire of the year

  By Lauren Shows

  

  A Jan. 19 house fire at 3711 State Route 72 N., just outside Clifton, was quickly contained thanks to a rapid response, Miami Township Fire Chief James Cannell told trustees at their Jan. 21 meeting.