A McArthur woman has sued a former nurse/supervisor at the Appalachian Behavioral Health Center in Athens over an incident in early 2011 when she was allegedly subjected to sexual contact while a patient at the state mental-health facility. The suit asks for more than $2 million in damages.

Rhonda Bentley, director of the Nelsonville Community Center, said Friday that she first fully realized her organization was truly broke when she went to put up homemade signs in the front window, announcing it would have to close at the end of the year.

The building that now houses a craft wine-and-beer shop on Stimson Avenue is likely to be torn down, to make way for a new, small apartment building aimed at Ohio University student tenants.

Just because local environmental activist Chad Kister may have been diagnosed with mental health problems, a judge ruled Wednesday, this does not mean he is not competent to stand trial for allegedly making threats against the Athens County sheriff and a radio talk show host, or even to – possibly – act as his own defense attorney.

Way back in the day – to be a bit more exact, we're talking about pre-2006 – a local civic group in Athens was working to achieve a uniform, attractive look for uptown Athens buildings.

As Athens County landowners line up to sign leases to allow oil drilling on their properties, a dispute has arisen over whether attorneys representing two local landowners' groups, and who are trying to market a multi-party lease to the drilling industry, are telling the truth about which companies they're actually negotiating with.

Athens attorney John Lavelle reported Saturday that a series of lease-signing events for oil-and-gas drilling on the lands of county residents have resulted in far more local landowners signing up than he had initially expected.

In 1977, Guy Philips started as a freshman at Ohio University. Coincidentally, that was also the year that The Athens NEWS started publication. While still in college, Philips took a job selling advertising space in The NEWS. Today, 30 years later, he is still an ad salesman for the paper. He is also, however, a part owner of the business, and has been so for many years.

A local company that makes ultra-cold laboratory freezers using free-piston engine technology is suing a Dutch firm, claiming the European company reneged on a deal to swap design secrets for shares in a new corporation. At stake in the litigation is ownership of industrial designs worth an estimated $16 million, and possibly a number of potential new jobs in Athens County.

Inside a livestock building at the Athens County Fairgrounds Tuesday, dozens of local landowners queued up to sit at big cafeteria tables and talk with attorneys about possibly leasing their properties for oil drilling.