Urbana News

When Jim McConnell borrowed $400 and loaded it onto a prepaid card he bought at a local check-cashing store near his home in Urbana, Ohio, he didn't realize he was beginning a cycle of debt that would last for more than a year.

One reason is that the addictive substance is now being made in spaces as small as a large soda bottle.

A man accused of trying to steal a woman's purse outside of Big Lots store in May has been indicted by a Champaign County grand jury.

"I think it will be similar to last year - with decent demand all the way through," said Loren Buurma, co-owner of Willard, Ohio-based Buurma Farms Inc. The unemployment rate in Ohio was 7% in April 2013, compared to a national average of 7.5%.

The company could build a $5 million to $8.5 million addition at its Johnson Twp.

Musicality has always come easy for Judith Lohnes who, at age 5, began playing the piano, performing at weddings on the organ in eighth grade and teaching senior citizens how to master the keyboard between her graduate years in college.