12/20/18 – 5:29 A.M.

A Findlay Olympic hero has a new customized walking cane. After the story of Weldy Olson’s lost or stolen cane made national headlines, the company that made the cane out of a hockey stick said they would replace it at no charge.

Findlay High School hockey PA announcer Rich Fowler says Third Assists Canes found out about what happened and wanted to help. The owner of the company emailed back and promised to deliver a new cane to Olson’s specifications by Wednesday.

Findlay is hosting Springboro Friday night at the Cube. The team plans to recognize Third Assist canes at the game.

Olsen played on the U.S. Olympic hockey teams in 1956 and 1960. He earned silver and gold medals with those teams.

MORE: How a military charity is also benefiting from the lost cane story.

12/20/18 – 5:08 A.M.

Governor John Kasich has signed a bill that sets aside $15 million for Blanchard River flood mitigation. Senate Bill 51 also funds several other projects along the Lake Erie shoreline. The legislation says the money for our area will help pay for a mitigation project along Eagle Creek.

State Senator Rob McColley says the $15 million requires a 20 percent local match. He adds a state agency will hold the money until they can identify projects and administrators for them. McColley says the Hancock County commissioners or the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District will most likely manage state-funded projects locally.

MORE: Ongoing flood mitigation projects

12/19/18 – 4:22 P.M.

State Representative-elect Jon Cross has announced a local public swearing-in ceremony next month. The event will be at the Hardin County Courthouse at 1 p.m. on January 4. Cross was elected to the 83rd Ohio House district which includes Hancock and Hardin Counties, and a part of Logan County.

Cross also announced that Cort Everhart will serve as his legislative aide in Columbus.

12/19/18 – 4:06 P.M.

State Representative-elect Jon Cross has announced a local public swearing-in ceremony next month. The event will be at the Hardin County Courthouse at 1 p.m. on January 4. Cross was elected to the 83rd Ohio House district which includes Hancock and Hardin Counties, and a part of Logan County.

Cross also announced that Cort Everhart will serve as his legislative aide in Columbus.

12/19/18 – 3:40 P.M.

The American Red Cross is asking you for donations of your blood, time, and money. The agency reports that there is often a shortage of blood donations around the holidays. The agency adds that as many as 44,000 blood donations are needed every day across the country. You can find a full list of blood drives at redcrossblood.org.

The agency is also seeking volunteers. Volunteers help out through disaster response but also by providing administrative help in the offices in Findlay, Marion, Bucyrus and Mount Gilead.

You can also help the agency through a monetary donation. You can do that by visiting redcross.org/NCOhio.

12/19/18 – 3:22 P.M.

The City of Findlay will help administer the taxes for the Village of Carey. City Income Tax Administrator Andrew Thomas said that they’ll be kept busy by the move.

Andrew Thomas

Thomas explained that the city won’t keep any of the taxes.

Andrew Thomas

The city also administers income tax for Arlington, Mt. Cory, and Vanlue.

12/19/18 – 2:08 P.M.

State Treasurer Josh Mandel joined us on WFIN to talk about businesses paying state taxes with BitCoin. He said that the Ohio Crpyto Initiative aims to make things easier and to create options.

Mandel added that this also makes Ohio the first state in the country to accept cryptocurrency as a tax payment. He explained that this shows Ohio is ready to embrace new technology and bring in business.

Mandel said that they wanted to start with only businesses just to be safe.

He explained that this initiative is a pilot program and they want to make sure it works before allowing anyone to pay their taxes through cryptocurrency.