Exactly two weeks to the day after the Village of Yellow Springs mandated face masks in downtown Yellow Springs to slow the spread of COVID-19, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced masks would be required in public across the whole state.

Yellow Springs’ recent charter change allowing noncitizens to vote on local matters came under fire yesterday from the state’s chief election official.

Organizers of recent weekly anti-racism rallies downtown aired criticism at Council’s July 20 virtual meeting of Village efforts to address racism.

The soon-to-be-vacated Miami Township fire station at 225 Corry St. is for sale by the Yellow Springs Development Corporation. Originally built in 1956, and updated in the ’60s and ’70s, the commercial building is listed for $400,000.

Council unanimously passed an emergency ordinance mandating facial coverings downtown and on Village-owned properties when physical distancing of six feet is not possible.

The News spoke with leaders at a variety of local institutions who are adapting to a new normal in the fifth month of the coronavirus pandemic, including the Yellow Springs Senior Center, Friends Care Community, Yellow Springs Community Children’s Center, Antioch College Wellness Center and the John Bryan Center/Youth Center.

The trend holds true for Greene County, which saw its per capita case rate more than double over the last month, even as the county remains relatively better off than the rest of the state and country. As of July 6, there were 99 active COVID-19 cases in Greene County, up from 58 on June 18.

All the organizers interviewed this week also said the decision was influenced by the voicemail from a man purporting to be affiliated with the KKK, a notorious hate group with a long history of violence against Black people.

At a special meeting on Wednesday, July 8, Council passed several new laws to improve the safety of downtown Yellow Springs in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The most significant was an ordinance that requires masks downtown.

Body cameras worn by every Ohio police officer. Psychological evaluations of those who hope to become an officer. More training in implicit bias and de-escalation. Requiring officers to report on another officer’s misconduct. Those are a few proposed law enforcement reforms Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced at a press briefing last week in response to national outrage after high-profile killings of Black people by police in recent weeks.