Erin Gottsacker

Reporter, Ohio Newsroom at The Statehouse News Bureau

Radio reporter for The Ohio Newsroom. Previously @WXPR and @PeaceCorps Ethiopia. Seeking small town stories. Reach me: [email protected].

Articles

How Bucyrus became the ‘Bratwurst Capital of America’

1 week ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

In 1929, just months before the Great Depression, Harry and Alta Carle opened a neighborhood grocery store in the north central Ohio city of Bucyrus. Generations later, the store — and the city — has developed a reputation. “Bucyrus is definitely on the map for bratwurst,” said Carla Koepke. Granddaughter of Harry and Alta, she now operates Carle’s Market with her sister and a number of their kids.
New podcast shares stories and 'Culturas' of Southern Ohio

1 week ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

Ohio’s Latino population has more than doubled since 2000. Much of that growth has concentrated in and around the state’s big cities — but it’s reached southern Ohio too. A new bilingual podcast aims to share “the richness and diversity of cultural traditions of Latine communities in Appalachia”. Cassie Rosita Patterson is the executive director of Southern Ohio Folklife and a co-producer of the podcast Las Culturas del Sur de Ohio. She joined The Ohio Newsroom to discuss the project.
USPS is ‘modernizing.’ Here’s what that means for Ohio mail

1 week ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

When Chuck Klein gets his mail, he doesn’t walk. He drives down a long gravel driveway onto a narrow one-lane drive, which eventually widens into a rural road surrounded by rolling farm fields. “The property is 130 acres, of which 100 is woods,” he said. “It's at the end of a dead-end road, very, very private.
As cities call off Cinco de Mayo parades, one Ohio community celebrates in full color

1 week ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

At Painesville’s Cinco de Mayo festival in northeast Ohio, a troupe of folkloric dancers prepared to take the floor. They held up full, brightly colored skirts decorated with ribbons of red, green, blue and purple and waited for the music to start. Then, they spun and swooshed their skirts, creating swirls of color through the air. Daniela Nicasio and Rosario Chavez have been dancing like this for years.
These Ohio med students want to improve rural health care with cell phones

2 weeks ago | wvxu.org | Erin Gottsacker

Accessing health care in rural Ohio can be difficult. A shortage of providers, worsened by recent hospital closures, means some people have to go long distances to get care. With an older population and inconsistent access to broadband, telehealth is an imperfect solution. A group of Ohio medical and pre-medical students wants to help bridge the gap by teaching rural residents how to navigate the technology.
These Ohio med students want to improve rural health care with cell phones

2 weeks ago | wyso.org | Erin Gottsacker

Accessing health care in rural Ohio can be difficult. A shortage of providers, worsened by recent hospital closures, means some people have to go long distances to get care. With an older population and inconsistent access to broadband, telehealth is an imperfect solution. A group of Ohio medical and pre-medical students wants to help bridge the gap by teaching rural residents how to navigate the technology.
These Ohio med students want to improve rural health care with cell phones

2 weeks ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

Accessing health care in rural Ohio can be difficult. A shortage of providers, worsened by recent hospital closures, means some people have to go long distances to get care. With an older population and inconsistent access to broadband, telehealth is an imperfect solution. A group of Ohio medical and pre-medical students wants to help bridge the gap by teaching rural residents how to navigate the technology.
These Ohio med students want to improve rural health care with cell phones

2 weeks ago | ideastream.org | Erin Gottsacker

Accessing health care in rural Ohio can be difficult. A shortage of providers, worsened by recent hospital closures, means some people have to go long distances to get care. With an older population and inconsistent access to broadband, telehealth is an imperfect solution. A group of Ohio medical and pre-medical students wants to help bridge the gap by teaching rural residents how to navigate the technology.
How one Ohio county is celebrating its maple syrup making history

3 weeks ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

Thousands of people are descending in northeast Ohio this weekend for a sweet annual tradition: the Geauga County Maple Festival. Founded nearly a hundred years ago in 1926, it claims to be the oldest maple festival in the country and the largest in Ohio. “[Tree tapping] is basically an American tradition that started way back with Native Americans here,” said Jerry Tvergyak, the festival’s historical display committee chairman.
The paper mill is a Chillicothe icon. How would its closure impact the local economy?

3 weeks ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

Last week, Pixelle Specialty Solutions announced plans to close its Chillicothe paper mill. The announcement sparked local outrage — the mill is one of the biggest employers in the southern Ohio city and its closure would cost upwards of 800 workers their jobs. So, after a conversation with U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno, it changed course. Now, the paper mill says it will stay open through the end of the year as it looks for an interested buyer.