Newark Advocate

A silent epidemic is taking its toll in Ohio, killing more people every year than motor vehicle crashes.The cause? Accidental drug overdoses -- especially of heroin and prescription painkillers. Full Story »

NEWARK -- A Heath businessman pleaded guilty Tuesday to a multi-county mortgage scheme in which he stole about $475,000 from investors alone and used the funds to finance personal bills, a cruise and a Hummer before his company collapsed. Full Story »

WASHINGTON -- After days of secret talks, Senate Democrats tentatively agreed Tuesday night to drop a government-run insurance option from sweeping health care legislation, several officials said, a concession to party moderates whose votes are critical to passage of President Barack Obama's top domestic priority. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Licking County Municipal Court Judge Michael Higgins set bond at $15,000 on Tuesday for a St. Louisville woman investigators say sexually abused a former foster son. Full Story »

A person was injured in a one-car crash near 7208 Licking Valley Road around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Jena Pugh and two fellow AmeriCorps VISTAs spent Tuesday morning the same way they've spent the previous six: At the library assisting Newark second-grade students during a visit. Full Story »

ETNA -- Area township officials are worried Pataskala's funding woes could spill across the city's borders, affecting their coverage by the Licking County Sheriff's Office. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Herb Koehler has been appointed to Newark's Civil Service Commission, but for the moment, he will not relinquish his title as the group's secretary. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Town Common Park may be the city's oldest park, but it also is one of the least well-known. Full Story »

LUCASVILLE -- Ohio executed a killer Tuesday by performing the nation's first lethal injection using a single drug, a supposedly less painful method than previous executions that required three drugs. Full Story »

PATASKALA -- Licking County Sheriff Randy Thorp informed council on Monday his deputies could not run regular patrols within the city if the city cannot afford a police department of its own. Full Story »

NEWARK -- A Denison University student has been charged with corrupting another with drugs after authorities say she gave another student a marijuana-laced brownie. Full Story »

COLUMBUS -- A condemned killer scheduled to become the first person in the U.S. put to death with a single drug -- in an execution that could take longer than previous procedures -- arrived Monday at the Ohio death house. Full Story »

PATASKALA -- Council on Monday agreed to purchase the prior retirement service credit of Police Chief Chris Forshey, allowing him to retire Jan. 4. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Newark police have determined a Sunday night shooting was accidental and self-inflicted. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Licking County Common Pleas Court Judge Thomas Marcelain rejected a drug offender's claim that he wasn't offered proper rehabilitation after several other convictions. Full Story »

COLUMBUS -- Ohio State University will give a greater share of its billions in construction work to minority contractors in the future and would make sure new construction criteria are carried out responsibly, president E. Gordon Gee told state lawmakers during a rare Statehouse appearance Monday. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Frosty's smiling face keeps disappearing. Full Story »

HEATH -- City Council decided Monday night it wants the new Licking County Building Code Enforcement Department to do both commercial and residential inspections in the city. Full Story »

COLUMBUS -- Condemned killer Kenneth Biros could become the first person in the country put to death with a single dose of an intravenous anesthetic instead of the usual -- and faster-acting -- three-drug process if his execution proceeds Tuesday. Full Story »

UNION TOWNSHIP -- A Newark man died early Sunday morning in a one-vehicle crash at 2:24 a.m. on Interstate 70 in Union Township. Full Story »

A 24-year-old man was reportedly shot at 451 Henderson Ave., south of Cedar Street at around 8:15 p.m. Sunday. Full Story »

NEWARK -- Grace Ayers thought she was locked into a career for the rest of her life when, after 20 years, she realized she wanted something more than being a sales rep at grocery stores. Full Story »

FREDONIA -- A two-car crash Sunday resulted in one of the cars landing on a neighbor's front porch, but no injuries. Full Story »

Trisha Boehmer talks to visitors about her cloth and of the rumors circulating in the Bethlehem marketplace about the birth of Jesus Christ. Boehmer was one of the 150 volunteers working on this year on St. John's United Church of Christ's nativity reenactment. Full Story »