Mariah Thomas

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This is what local news does: It brings us together, and it holds the leaders in our communities accountable. We need it. And if you want to support our work, you can become a member here: www.ashlandsource.com/members/.

Also, a thank you goes out to Ashland City Schools Supt. Steve Paramore and treasurer Kyle Klingler, Ashland Mayor Matt Miller and Savannah village administrator Bruce Richards for sitting on a panel and letting a live audience pepper them with more questions about how they spent their funds.

This reporting wouldn’t have been possible without grant funding from @poynterinstitute.bsky.social.

Then, we presented our findings to the community — both through writing stories about it, and through a free community event. It was accountability journalism through and through, ensuring county residents understood how millions in federal aid impacted them.

We tracked down how every. single. dollar. of American Rescue Plan Act money was spent in Ashland County, Ohio — $46.6 million in total.

That included money that went to Ashland University, the county, the city of Ashland, villages, townships and six public school districts.

Dillon Carr and I have spent the last few months poring over public records requests, interviewing county, city & school officials, and writing… a lot.

It all culminated in @sourcemediaprops.bsky.social’s series, “Follow the (ARPA) Money” : www.ashlandsource.com/tag/ashland-....

Let me tell you a story – one of the more haunting I’ve seen in 20 years of journalism. It’s about greed, death and denial. It took two years to unravel one doctor’s myth, a hospital’s complicity in creating it, and a documented trail of suspicious deaths…🧵

“They would have learned that the hospital had financial incentives to look away.”

“If the residents of Helena had seen those files, they would know how Weiner built a high-volume business that billed as much as possible to public and private insurance, all the while sending numerous patients through a carousel of unnecessary and life-threatening treatments.

For years, I’ve seen the signs in support of Dr. Weiner across my hometown of Helena. I knew, vaguely, that it had something to do with allegations he’d misdiagnosed patients with cancer.

It was so much more than that. This story is a harrowing must-read.

obsessed with this for you

Have you been here? The view serves as a reminder of what we are working to protect.

I LOVE YOU ❤️

Just two Helena gals gabbing about education, journalism, politics, American Girl dolls and more ❤️
@mariahthomas.bsky.social

How did school districts in Ashland County spend ARPA money? Public school districts in Ashland County received roughly $13.1 million between 2021 and 2022 through the American Rescue Plan Act.

Hi! I’m new here! I’m Mariah, and I write about education for @sourcemediaprops.bsky.social 🤗

This week, a big series from my coworker and I is dropping. We looked at how local school districts spent their ARPA money. An overview below ⬇️ www.ashlandsource.com/2024/11/18/h...

Education News Starter Pack Join the conversation

An U.S. education news reporter starter pack! 🎉 Please let us know if we missed anyone. ❤️ You're going to want to follow these folks to make sense of what promises to be a tumultuous presidential term.

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Our first Bluesky post! Like this if you're a Source reader from Richland, Ashland or Knox County 💜