Most adolescents anxiously await their first year of college. In addition to the new people they're about to meet and the new friends they'll no doubt make, kids look forward to the first time they'll be away from home and free to do as they please without the supervision of Mom and Dad.

While freshman year of college is a time for many firsts, it's also the first time many kids are trusted to handle their own money. With that trust comes great responsibility, and oftentimes a few financial mishaps as well. Students about to enter their first year of college should consider the following financial tips in the hopes that some of the common pitfalls college freshmen face can be avoided.

As a student living with three girls – my twin sister and two friends – I know a thing or two about roommate conflicts. It’s never of the hair-pulling or glass-smashing variety; rather, it mainly involves awkward passive-aggressive silence that looms over even those uninvolved in the dispute.

According to the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 47.9 percent of college students said they had “frequent” or “occasional” difficulty getting along with their roommates/housemates. I’m willing to bet the other 52.1 percent stay at their significant other’s place most of the time.

A community-university health partnership received one of 12 grants awarded nationally to promote the health and wellness of children 8 years old and younger. The local funding will benefit more than 11,000 children living in Athens, Hocking, Vinton and Meigs Counties, according to a news release.

In recent years, more and more people have embraced organic products as a part of their daily diet. Whereas a decade ago grocery stores may not have had any organic products, nowadays most grocery stores offer an abundance of organic items – and not just those in the produce section. Organic dairy products have increased in popularity, and many stores now even sell organic frozen pizzas.

A drug developed by an Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) faculty member has the potential to treat cancer of the breast, prostate and colon, as well as some brain cancers, according to a news release.

In 1989, a team of researchers led by John Kopchick, Ph.D., Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar and professor of molecular and cellular biology, found a compound that inhibits growth hormone (GH) action. They discovered that it could treat acromegaly, a chronic disease that causes swelling of facial features and/or internal organs, and they also suspected its potential to stop, prevent or even reverse the growth of tumors, according to a press release.

By Paul Kleyman and Viji Sundaram
New America Media

Evidently, the swine flu upholds an old American tradition, after all: It doesn't discriminate by age — especially when it comes to death.

Community organizations and agencies in 21 southeast Ohio counties are eligible to receive between $500 and $1,300 to plan and conduct conferences, workshops, health fairs and other events to promote the second annual Ohio Women’s Health Week, scheduled for May 1-15, 2010.

This year, the Area Health Education Center (AHEC) at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine (OU-COM) will award at least four grants, each between $500 and $1,300, according to a news release.

In order to protect patients, visitors and associates from the effects of tobacco use, all campuses of the O’Bleness Health System will become tobacco free beginning Monday, Nov. 16. The week also coincides with the American Cancer Society’s Great American Smokeout, which is Thursday, Nov. 19.

The decision to become tobacco-free was recommended by O’Bleness’ medical staff and approved by O’Bleness’ board of directors early in 2009, a news release from the hospital reported.

College is a time for changes, some of which are good. And some of which are, well, not so good (like the decision to drink those eight beers last night).

One habit that should change for the better, though, is your diet. This is an ideal time to develop a healthy eating regimen to follow through college and beyond.

Everything you need to know about Athens Halloween

For the first time since 1998, the Halloween block party in uptown Athens on Saturday will actually fall on All Hallows’ Eve, Oct. 31.

Costumes and masks there will be on Saturday, in abundance, as Athens celebrates the 34th year of the tradition that’s become known as the “Mardi Gras of the Midwest.”

This year’s event will again feature a beer garden, costume contest and Halloween Village. A brochure from the Athens Clean & Safe Halloween Committee estimates that crowds of more than 25,000 costumed tourists, students and area residents attend the celebration each year.

The committee has announced the return of two stages on North and South Court streets, featuring 15 bands and DJs. The Budweiser Beer Garden is back as well, and will be set up on East Union Street, near the College Green and the corner of Court and Union streets.

As with last year, the beer garden will be encircled by a snow fence in order to keep people from sneaking in, and a security crew will patrol the perimeter. Guests to the beer garden will have to show picture IDs in order to get into the fenced-in area, and show their IDs again in order to purchase beer. No one under the age of 21 will be allowed in the beer garden. The main idea behind a beer garden, committee chair Jonathan Holmberg has said, is to raise money to help the city pay for the event.

An ode to canine anarchy circa '70s Athens

You think Athens is a dog-friendly place now? Ask anyone who lived here 30 to 40 years ago, and they’ll tell you that the city is now a veritable concentration camp for dogs compared to the old days.

It’s autumn in Athens, and as Ohio University upperclassmen know, the race to sign a lease for the 2010-2011 school year began at the same time that classes did.

Because good housing tends to get snatched up quickly in Athens, students often find themselves signing away a year of their lives without fully considering the pros and cons of their living arrangements.

Skeeter, a 6-month-old Australian cattle dog and boxer, chases other dogs around the Athens Dog Park on West State Street as his owner, exercise physiology graduate student Joe Kelley, sits on a bench studying.

"I try to get him out here at least once a day, and I take him on short walks, too," Kelley said as Skeeter followed two other dogs through the agility course at the park.

As President Barack Obama addressed the nation on health care, the California Nurses Association revealed that health insurers have rejected about one-fifth of all medical claims in the state over the past seven years.

Using data culled from California's Department of Managed Care’s Web site, the CNA said it found that the state's five largest insurers rejected 31.2 million claims for care from 2002 through June of this year. According to the nurses’ union, PacificCare denied the largest percentage of claims (40 percent), followed by Cigna (33 percent), HealthNet (30 percent) and Kaiser (29 percent).