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

Less food, more demand: Ohio’s rural food pantries cope with federal cuts

5 days ago | statenews.org | Erin Gottsacker

As a steady trickle of cars pulled into a gravel roundabout one morning in Stockport, a tiny village in southeast Ohio, volunteers loaded cardboard boxes into truck beds and passenger seats. They were filled with pantry staples: apple juice, corn flakes, kidney beans and elbow macaroni. “We try to provide a three-day supply of food,” said Stefanie Thompson, the executive director of Morgan County United Ministries, which runs this mobile food pantry.
Earthquakes in Ohio? It is more likely than you think

1 week ago | exbulletin.com | Erin Gottsacker

Earthquakes in Ohio? It is more likely than you thinkWritten by: Erin Gottsacker | The newsroom was published in Ohio: Thursday, May 29, 2025Sensinati (Ohio's news room) – At the end of last month, a simple earthquake in Nobel County in southeast Ohio. After a few days, the population was another. Then another. By May 8, the Ohio Naio Ministry of Naio discovered 53 earthquakes in the province, prompting the agency to stop hydraulic cracking – or cracking – at a well pillow there.
Earthquakes in Ohio? It’s more likely than you think

1 week ago | wcsufm.org | Erin Gottsacker

At the end of last month, a minor earthquake rattled southeast Ohio’s Noble County. A few days later residents reported another. Then another. By May 8, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had detected 53 earthquakes in the county, prompting the agency to halt hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – at a well pad there. “This part of the continent doesn't have a plate boundary now, but it did in the past,” said Mike Brudzinski, a professor of seismology with Miami University.
Earthquakes in Ohio? It’s more likely than you think

1 week ago | wyso.org | Erin Gottsacker

At the end of last month, a minor earthquake rattled southeast Ohio’s Noble County. A few days later residents reported another. Then another. By May 8, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had detected 53 earthquakes in the county, prompting the agency to halt hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – at a well pad there. “This part of the continent doesn't have a plate boundary now, but it did in the past,” said Mike Brudzinski, a professor of seismology with Miami University.
Earthquakes in Ohio? It’s more likely than you think

1 week ago | statenews.org | Erin Gottsacker

At the end of last month, a minor earthquake rattled southeast Ohio’s Noble County. A few days later residents reported another. Then another. By May 8, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had detected 53 earthquakes in the county, prompting the agency to halt hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – at a well pad there. “This part of the continent doesn't have a plate boundary now, but it did in the past,” said Mike Brudzinski, a professor of seismology with Miami University.
Earthquakes in Ohio? It’s more likely than you think

1 week ago | wosu.org | Erin Gottsacker

At the end of last month, a minor earthquake rattled southeast Ohio’s Noble County. A few days later residents reported another. Then another. By May 8, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources had detected 53 earthquakes in the county, prompting the agency to halt hydraulic fracturing – or fracking – at a well pad there. “This part of the continent doesn't have a plate boundary now, but it did in the past,” said Mike Brudzinski, a professor of seismology with Miami University.
From the banana split to the waffle cone, Ohio’s ice cream heritage is pretty sweet

2 weeks ago | statenews.org | Erin Gottsacker

When it comes to ice cream innovation, Ohio takes the cake. From the waffle cone to the banana split, pioneering Ohioans have shaped the way the treat is consumed for over a century. That’s because, as recently as 2002, more than 3,000 dairies were sprinkled across the state. “When you've got extra milk, you make cheese, you make yogurt, and then eventually you make ice cream, thankfully,” said Renee Casteel Cook, author of Ohio Ice Cream: A Scoop of History.
Six Ohio sites added to national Underground Railroad network

2 weeks ago | statenews.org | Erin Gottsacker

Earlier this month, the National Park Service added to its National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom — a program meant to preserve and honor “the history of resistance to enslavement.”That’s thanks in part to the Appalachian Freedom Heritage Tourism Initiative, which is on a mission to identify and successfully nominate more than two dozen historical sites to the national network. “I really wanted to preserve our local history.
How Bucyrus became the ‘Bratwurst Capital of America’

4 weeks 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 month 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.