05/22/18 – 4:59 P.M.

It’s Tire Safety Week and Cooper Tire and Rubber Company is urging people to check their tires. Cooper’s Megan James explained that their Tread Wisely campaign teaches young people what to do.

Megan James

James said that it is important to have your tires checked once a month and before long road trips. You can learn more at treadwisely.org.

5/22/18 – 11:08 A.M.

The unemployment rate has dropped below 3 percent in Hancock and Wyandot counties. April numbers from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services show both counties stood at 2.9 percent unemployment. The jobless rate in March was 3 percent in Hancock County and 3.1 in Wyandot.

Putnam County also has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Ohio, at 3 percent. That’s down from 3.2 in March.

Most of the region is at 4 percent or below, including Wood (3.5), Hardin (3.6), Seneca (3.9), and Allen (4.0). The jobless rate in Henry County was 4.7 in April.

5/22/18 – 7:01 A.M.

A company in North Baltimore is getting a grant from the state to aid job growth. The State Tax Credit Authority is giving Keystone Foods a $165,000 tax credit to help in adding 50 workers. The positions would pay an average of about $40,000 per year.

Keystone is a supplier of fresh and frozen poultry, beef, fish, and pork. The company currently has 221 workers.

As part of the tax credit deal, Keystone must maintain operations at the North Baltimore site for at least 10 years.

MORE: The Courier

5/22/18 – 6:47 A.M.

Carey is getting a grant from the state to repair a crumbling road in the village. Village Administrator Roy Johnson says they’ll use the $107,000 grant to repair and widen Wyandot County Highway 96. Carey will have to pay $59,000 for the project. JobsOhio is pitching in another $54,000.

The project is in an effort to support Continental Structural Plastics. The company is adding 186 jobs. The plant already employs around 1,140 people.

MORE: The Courier

5/22/18 – 5:27 A.M.

Arlington Council members are working toward finding a way to deal with a fire-damaged home on Main Street in the village. The fire damaged the home a year and a half ago, and nothing has changed since then. Mike Best lives next to the home and brought his complaints back to council Monday.

Council members said they would contact the owners and give them a list of repairs. Beyond that, they may move to tear the home down.

MORE: The Courier

5/22/18 – 5:14 A.M.

A Toledo man is facing drug charges in Hancock County following a Monday arrest. The Hancock METRICH Enforcement Unit took 40-year-old Nick Lampkin into custody at the Rodeway Inn on Broad Avenue in Findlay around 4:45 p.m.

Investigators say officers found fentanyl, crack cocaine, drug paraphernalia, and other evidence in Lampkin’s room. He faces charges of possession of crack cocaine and possession of fentanyl.

Additional charges are pending.

5/22/18 – 5:07 A.M.

Another telephone scam is making its way through the area. The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says someone is calling people, impersonating deputies. The callers first say they are with ARA Legal Company, and that they are calling about a delinquent loan. They then say they are with the Sheriff’s Office and will arrest you unless you pay off the balance of the loan with a credit card.

What’s making this scam a little tricky is that the number the person is calling from shows up as a sheriff’s office number, 419-424-7097.

The sheriff’s office says you shouldn’t give out personal or financial information to these callers. Call the sheriff’s office if someone calls you to try an con you out of money.

MORE: The Courier

05/22/18 – 3:30 A.M.

Findlay City Schools is looking at increasing security measures following a safety forum a few months ago. Superintendent Ed Kurt said that they are looking at getting more officers and upgrading audio and video equipment. He said that they can’t talk about all their plans though.

Ed Kurt

He explained that these measures will come at a cost though.

Ed Kurt

Kurt said that it is up to the school board to pursue the issue but that he thinks any price is worth protecting the students. He said that the upgrades they have planned will allow Findlay City Police to have a live feed of the school system. It will also put more officers in the school.