Poor Will’s Almanack for the First Week of Middle Fall.

The English poet Shelly wrote about these days --

the noon of autumn’s glow,
When a soft and purple mist,
Like a vaporous amethyst,.....
Fills the overflowing sky.

ATHENS, Ohio (AP) - An environmental coalition has joined local officials and a university protesting the lease of land for oil and natural gas drilling in the state's only national forest.

The Buckeye Forest Council and six other groups wrote the federal Bureau of Land Management last week opposing the lease of about 3,300 acres of the Wayne National Forest. The letter challenges the legality of the leasing to begin Dec. 7, saying the bureau relied on an outdated environmental impact statement that does not mention the hydraulic fracturing drilling technique.

Also called fracking, the process uses chemical-laced water to break deep shale and release gas. The groups say flowback can contain toxins and the process could lead to air-quality issues.

This week features the hottest hip hop hospitalist in the nation, ZDoggMD. When not making videos, ZDogg is a hospital physician working at a Bay Area academic hospital. Along with some of his fellow physicians he moonlights in medical satire writing and producing his own videos and songs, claiming to be slightly funnier than placebo. This episode is about the man behind the name as we delve deeper into the mind of ZDoggMD.

The Ohio Statehouse is ready for electric vehicles to plug in and charge up.

Six new charging stations are being unveiled today in the garage beneath the Statehouse. Officials believe Ohio's is the first state Capitol building in the nation to offer an electric car charging facility to members of the public, who will pay 50 cents an hour to use it.

The nearly $36,000 project is funded through corporate contributions and a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and the nonprofit group Clean Fuels Ohio.

The head of the board that oversees the Statehouse says the addition of the charging station shows the Statehouse is committed to going green and promoting clean energy.

The stations are on the garage's top level, which happens to be color-coded green.

Authorities have raided a doctor's two offices and home in southwest Ohio, seizing boxes of records in an investigation of possible prescription drug abuse.

The Dayton Daily News reports that 69-year-old Dr. Han M. Yang says authorities are "off-base" in their allegations. He says he has surrendered his license to practice medicine in Ohio and will give up his practice. He also says he will seek an attorney.

Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly says patients were lined up outside Yang's Dayton office. Authorities say they suspect many people are getting prescription painkillers and other drugs to sell on the street.

Poor Will’s Almanack for the Fourth Week of Early Fall.

The last week of Early Fall is the week the first slate-gray junco arrives for winter.  Goldenrod is seeding now, pods of the eastern burning bush are open, hawthorn berries redden, wild grapes are purple, and the tree line that seemed so deep in summer just days ago is suddenly poised to break into its final glory of the year.

When juncos arrive, streaks of scarlet appear on the oaks, shades of pink on the dogwoods. The ashes show red or gold; the catalpas and the cottonwoods blanch.  Shagbark hickories, tulip trees, sassafras, elms, locusts and sweet gums change to full yellow, merge with the swelling orange of the maples to create a bright archway into middle fall.