For the second straight night, the two high school boy’s basketball tournament games that were scheduled to be heard on 100.5 WKXA from Miller City have been postponed due to weather.
The Liberty Benton vs Coldwater and Riverdale vs Tinora games that were rescheduled to Thursday night have been postponed again.
They were originally to be played on Wednesday night but were postponed to Thursday because of weather.
The new date for the games is to be announced.
Blowing snow was causing treacherous driving conditions Thursday afternoon in the Findlay area, especially on State Route 37.
There were stretches of SR 37 a little south of SR 15 where it was virtually whiteout conditions at times.
Drivers are reminded to slow down and to give themselves plenty of stopping distance.
Hancock County was placed under a Level One Road Alert on Wednesday night as the snow started making the roads dangerous.
And then some more snow fell on Thursday but the bigger concern was the high winds causing blowing and drifting.
Thursday night is forecast to be mostly cloudy with a low of 18 and then Friday mostly cloudy and a high of 26.
The Findlay Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office are teaming up to take distracted drivers off the road.
Details are in the following media release from the highway patrol.
The Findlay Post, and the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department will be conducting a Distracted Driving effort February 23rd-29th in Hancock County.
Last year, 95 traffic crashes were related to distracted driving which resulted in 1 person losing their life, and more than 32 were injured in Hancock County. Sending or receiving a text message takes a driver’s eyes off the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field when traveling at 55 mph.
“Every time someone takes their eyes off the road – even for just a few seconds – they put their lives and the lives of others in danger,” said Lt. Matthew Crow Commander of the Findlay Post. “Distracted driving is unsafe and irresponsible. In a split second, its consequences can be devastating.”
In October of 2018, Ohio passed House Bill 95, a law which broadened what is considered distracted driving and increased the fine if it was a contributing factor to the commission of the driving violation.
Distracted driving is any non-driving activity with the potential to distract a person from the primary task of driving and increase the risk of crashing. Distractions can be visual, taking eyes off of the road; manual, taking hands off the wheel; or cognitive, taking the mind off driving. Texting while driving is an example that results in all three types of distraction.
As a reminder, Ohio law bans all electronic wireless communication device usage for drivers under 18. Texting while driving is illegal for all drivers and is a secondary offense for adults 18 and above.
During the course of the Distracted Driving effort the Ohio State Highway Patrol and the Hancock County Sherriff’s Department will also enforce Ohio’s mandatory seatbelt law, and other crash causing violations.
Dozens of Central Ohio military recruits are now enlisted following a special ceremony at Newark High School.
The recruits recited their oath of enlistment in the school’s auditorium, which was administered by U.S. Army Colonel Andrew Morgan, who is currently stationed on the International Space Station.
NASA helped set up the link between locations across the country and the station, which is in orbit 250-miles above the Earth.
The oath ceremony is part of a new Army initiative encouraging young people to get involved in STEM education to help them secure future employment.
A semi crashed into the parking lot of Brinkman’s on U.S. 68 south of Findlay on Thursday morning.
The semi was southbound when it went off the road and hit a porch of a house before continuing into the parking lot of Brinkman’s where it hit eight vehicles and narrowly missed a greenhouse worker.
None of the vehicles was occupied at the time and no one was injured.
Co-Owner Gene Brinkman says if the semi hadn’t hit the vehicles it would’ve ended up crashing into the greenhouse.
The crash is under investigation by the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
Strong winds had been blowing snow across U.S. 68 in spots on Thursday.
(ONN) – The Ohio Senate wants the U.S. Congress to permanently put the country on daylight saving time, eliminating the twice-a-year changing of the clocks.
The Dayton Daily News reports the Ohio Senate voted 31-to-1 in favor of a resolution sponsored by Republican Kristina Roegner of Hudson.
Roegner called changing between standard and daylight saving “government-induced biannual jetlag”.
The resolution urges adoption of the Sunshine Protection Act, which is pending in congress.
Eight states have passed similar legislation to that being proposed in Ohio, but congress must first rescind a federal ban on states adopting daylight saving year-round.
Voters had a chance to hear from three candidates running for a Hancock County Commissioner’s seat during a forum on WFIN Wednesday night.
Republicans William Bateson, Miranda Lobdell and Michael Recker are vying to take over the seat of Commissioner Mark Gazarek, who decided to not run for re-election.
Flood mitigation efforts, county finances and economic development were just a few of the topics discussed during the forum.
The winner of the primary will face Democrat Ronald DeCooman in the fall.
The forum, at the University of Findlay’s Alumni Memorial Union, was aired live on WFIN and on UFTV’s YouTube channel.
A week ago a forum was held involving the three candidates for Hancock County Sheriff.
Ohio’s primary election is March 17th.
Ohio Treasurer Robert Sprague stopped by Arlington High School to present counselor MaryBeth Hutcheson and the high school with Compass Awards for exemplary work with financial literacy programs.
“They do very unique things to provide their kids opportunities in the community to see what that next step career choice is going to be like,” Sprague said.
Principal Nate Sorg accepted the Compass Award that went to the high school as a whole.
The treasurer says his Compass Awards shine a light on organizations, programs and individuals across Ohio who are working to advance financial literacy and empowerment.
Students had a chance to ask Sprague, who is from Findlay, a few questions during the assembly.
The two high school boy’s basketball tournament games that were scheduled to be heard on 100.5 WKXA Wednesday night from Miller City have been postponed due to weather.
The Liberty Benton vs Coldwater and Riverdale vs Tinora games have been moved to Thursday night.
Sectional Finals will still be held on Friday.
Also, the game between Cory Rawson and Carey in Fostoria Wednesday night has been postponed as well.
The Hancock County Board of Developmental Disabilities is asking voters to renew their 1.9 mill five-year levy in the primary election on March 17th.
“We are very blessed that voters in Hancock County believe in what we do and are passionate about what we do,” said Superintendent Kelli Grisham.
Kelli says the 1.9 mill levy and a 2.5 mill levy that voters renewed last May, provide 75 percent of their funding, allowing them to support people with developmental disabilities their whole life.
Kelli says they’re excited about a new program.
“We’re working on a transition program for kids 14 to 22 that will prepare them for employment once they leave school, so we’re very excited about that.”
She says they keep finding ways to do more with less, and that’s why they haven’t had to ask for any new taxes since 2005.
Learn more about the Blanchard Valley Center here.