Butler County News

$The public is being urged by Lakota school officials to consider attending an upcoming meeting and presentation on how the school district may address its facilities needs in the coming years. Some of the two dozen school buildings in Butler County’s largest school system are aging or increasingly inadequate when it comes to providing modern learning spaces for 17,000 students or even more in the future, Lakota officials said recently. (File Photo\Journal-News)$

3 public meetings to present Lakota facilities’ proposals, answer residents’ questions

12h ago

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 275,000 additional nurses will be needed by 2030. (FILE PHOTO: Spc. Daniel Thompson/U.S. Army via AP)

Credit: Spc. Daniel Thompson

Healthcare’s demand for nurses prompts Butler Tech, Hamilton HS to partner on program

21h ago

The Butler County commissioners quarreled on Monday over spending $54,223 in Community Development Block Grant money on the Care Facility. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

County leaders quarrel over using federal funds to repair closing Care Facility

22h ago

Miami University President Gregory Crawford has purchased a house outside of Oxford but says the official president's home on campus is his primary residence.

Miami’s president buys house outside Oxford, says required on-campus home still primary...

Butler County Job and Family Services officials say they believe COVID-19 food stamp and Medicaid benefits will be extended to October. When the pandemic hit JFS and the Child Support Enforcement Agency set up a makeshift office in a conference room on the ground floor of the Government Services Center in Hamilton. NICK GRAHAM/FILE

Food stamp and Medicaid pandemic relief benefits likely extend through fall

Speed cameras might roll again in New Miami despite an Ohio Supreme Court ruling upholding punitive new laws.

Credit: NICK GRAHAM / STAFF

New Miami speed camera program might not be dead

The High St. Café Will have a different business model beginning Monday, May 23, 2022, as it will focus on catering and retail sales, with a pared down menu. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

High St. Cafe to feature favorites when it debuts new look Monday

Scenes from the Spooky Nook Sports Play Ball VIP Grand Opening gala held at the Champion Mill Conference Center in Hamilton, Thursday, May 19. Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill will be one of the largest convention centers and indoor sports facilities in the country once completed. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

Spooky Nook Sports ‘ushers in a new era in Hamilton’

Badin High School is seeking a zone change for its property at 571 New London Road, and two properties on Jerdan Lane it recently acquired to assist with parking and bus access to the school. As part of the rezoning request, the school submitted future possible developments with the land, which includes an athletic complex that features more parking, a new stadium and a practice facility. The zoning change would help with the development of the school's land. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

Badin High School to alter expanded parking lot plan

High water closes Butler County road

$Officials at the Community-Building Institute of Middletown (CBIM) say more than $2.2 million in state grants – spread out over two to three years – will help fund existing summer learning programs and pay for creation of new after-school instruction in coordination with Middletown Schools. Programs, such as the learning class pictured at the Robert "Sonny" Hill Community Center, will be expanded and offered for free. (Contributed Photo\Journal-News)$

Historically large state grants to offset pandemic learning losses coming to Middletown

The Ohio House voted 75 to 11 on Wednesday to allocate the second half of $843.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds to townships and other local governments that did not receive funding directly from the U.S. Treasury. CONTRIBUTED

Butler Co. townships getting relief funding may have to wait if Senate doesn’t act soon

High St. Cafe has been a staple in downtown Hamilton since it opened seven years ago next month. GREG LYNCH/STAFF FILE

High St. Cafe in Hamilton closed this week, will debut new look and concept Monday

The 233-room Warehouse Hotel at Spooky Nook Sports Champion Mill in Hamilton is now taking reservations. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/FILE

Sold-out Spooky Nook gala is tonight; first event in new space

Commuters head south on Winton Road toward the westbound Interstate 275 on-ramp in Forest Park in 2017. Traffic normally backs up a half mile north of the interstate interchange. MICHAEL D. PITMAN/STAFF

I-275 ramp in Fairfield to close Friday

$Lakota East High School graduating senior Zoey Chappell not only excelled in learning cyber security skills from the district's innovative Cyber Academy but also served as an ambassador for the program, say Lakota officials. Chappell, right, recently represented the academy as school superintendents from around the nation toward Lakota's many cutting-edge programs. (Contributed Photo\Journal-News)$

Lakota graduating senior among pioneers for district’s first cyber academy

The Butler County Veterans Service Commission passes a $3.3 million tax budget for 2023.

Butler County veterans board passes $3.3 million tax budget

Fatal crash on US 127 near Morganthaler Road

Man sent to jail for fatal steel coil crash on U.S. 127

Butler County's annual road salt bill is 12.6% higher for a bulk of Butler County communities for a total of about $2.7 million. STAFF FILE PHOTO

Road salt prices soar; Butler County’s annual bill up 12.6%

$Lakota Schools officials recently announced a series of public meetings to let residents and others learn more about not only the state of its 24 school buildings, but also what facility needs are projected in the coming years as the district’s two townships continue to grow. A “master facilities plan” is essential for Lakota’s future, say district officials. Pictured is Lakota's original high school, which was opened in 1959 and is now Lakota West Freshman School. (Contributed Photo\Journal-News)$

Lakota Schools will present facilities needs to public, provide tours

Pro Kleen, which does business as Porta Kleen, plans to begin construction on or before July 1 on a new 27,000-square-foot building at 1095 Tedia Way. PROVIDED

Credit: Provided

Pro Kleen expansion to add jobs in Fairfield

airfield High School senior Vincent Ariss is part of a rare handful of high school graduates this spring who achieved graduation credits for their school and a tuition-free, two-year college degrees simultaneously. CONTRIBUTED

Fairfield senior earns high school degree, college diploma simultaneously

The American Cornhole Organization is considering several location, including Butler County, to locate its world headquarters. PROVIDED

Credit: Provided

American Cornhole Organization considers locating headquarters in Butler County

The Butler County sheriff's office has to spend $200,000-plus on pharmacy bills and healthcare for inmates. GREG LYNCH / STAFF

Butler County Jail’s pharmacy bill: $200K contract extension approved

Grayson Morley, 17, a student at Butler Tech School of the Arts who has cerebral palsy, has created a rap song with a video on Youtube and available on music streaming apps. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

Physical challenges don’t stop teen rapper’s music

For the first time in two years, Middletown Schools put on their famed Middie Olympics for their special needs students.

Special Olympics day returns to Middletown with joyous tears, cheers

The Butler County land bank used Delinquent Tax Assessment Collection dollars to help raze the former Taylor School Thursday, Nov. 21, 2019 on Corwin Avenue in Hamilton. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

Butler County Land Bank adds another township

The death of a hospitalized family member in Ghana, West Africa due to a shortage of nurses both haunted and motivated Effe Addae, who later to come to America to earn a degree in nursing to ensure those suffering will never again lack those who care. Now an American citizen and married mother of four, Addae - shown her helping to instruct a nursing class - will step on to a stage this weekned during commencement at the Goggin Ice Center in Oxford and receive her Bachelor of Science in Nursing diploma earned through classes at Miami University’s Hamilton regional campus. CONTRIBUTED

Relative’s death from nursing shortage spurs mother of four to earn degree from Miami...

Christian Brothers Automotive wants to expand into Fairfield Twp.

Judge denies dismissal of most charges against Butler County Auditor Roger Reynolds

Butler County Commission Chambers inside Government Services Center on High Street in Hamilton. NICK GRAHAM/STAFF

Credit: Nick Graham

$10 million may buy high speed internet countywide

$Officials with Butler County's only Catholic high school have announced the adoption of a new leadership structure for the first time in the school's 50-plus year history. Brian Pendergest, left, will move from principal to President of Badin, while current Assistant Principal Patrick Keating, right, will take over as principal starting next school year. (Provided Photo\Journal-News)$

A first for Badin HS: New leadership structure created for school’s future