4/4/19 – 5:18 A.M.

Hancock Public Health will move to a new location later this year. The agency announced in its “Hancock Health Beat” newsletter this week that it is moving to 2225 Keith Parkway. The building formerly housed the Rolling Thunder skating rink. The newsletter says the health board voted to approve plans to buy the building and convert it to office space during a February meeting.

The health board says the new location will help with the national accreditation process.

They expect renovations to wrap up in August.

4/4/19 – 5:11 A.M.

We could see new voting machines at our polling locations by the November general election. The Hancock County Board of Elections is looking into options to replace the current machines, which are 8-years-old.

The Ohio Secretary of State’s office told election boards they could start buying new equipment through the Voting Equipment Acquisition Program. Hancock County is getting more than $836,000 from the state. That should cover the majority of the upgrade costs.

The board is looking at two systems. Dominion Voting Systems has a machine similar to what we currently use in Hancock County. Unisyn Voting Solutions makes a machine that has voters insert their ballot into a machine that scans and records it. Both systems use a touch screen.

MORE: Why any changes have to be made this year.

4/4/19 – 5:00 A.M.

Plans are moving forward for a new recovery housing option for pregnant women and their babies in Findlay. The facility will be on Crystal Avenue and will include three one-bedroom apartments and an onsite manager. Blanchard Valley Health System donated the land for the facility. They haven’t announced the exact location yet.

ADAMHS Board Executive Director Precia Stuby says housing is an issue for women in the Maternal Opiate Medical Support program. The MOMS program is a joint effort between Blanchard Valley Health System and A Renewed Mind. It helps pregnant women using opioids get off them in a safe way.

Local funding for the recovery housing will come from the ADAMHS levy and the Findlay-Hancock County Community Foundation. The county commissioners approved moving $700,000 in levy funds into the ADAMHS capital projects account earlier this week. The state is paying for 75 percent of the project.

MORE: Full details about the planned recovery housing.

04/03/19 – 8:23 P.M.

ODOT announced that they are closing the auxiliary lane on I-75 northbound between U.S. 68/State Route 15 and State Route 12 Thursday or Friday. According to a recent tweet, they will be closing the lane for pavement work. The day depends on the weather. ODOT added that they will keep the exit ramp to State Route 12 open during the project.

04/03/19 – 8:19 P.M.

Hancock County is following a national trend of opioid deaths and overdoses are declining. ADAMHS Board consultant Dr. Michael Flaherty said that it’s good news but may be short-lived.

Flaherty said that there are programs and services being implemented that should show longterm results. He predicts that there will be a sustainable decline by 2025.

ADAMHS Executive Director Precia Stuby added that Hancock County ADAMHS has implemented a new categorization of people suffering from addiction. Stuby explained that their new “floor” system works like stages of cancer where the higher someone is on the scale, the more help they need.

This allows treatment providers to better assess the level of care a person needs. Interventions for the first floor include things like community education, peer support, and a continuum of care. Third-floor interventions include arrests, needle exchanges, and involuntary admission to a treatment center.

4/3/19 – 6:46 A.M.

Calvert Elementary School in Tiffin went on a soft lockdown following an alleged threat Tuesday afternoon. The Advertiser-Tribune reports the incident happened around 1:15 p.m. A man walking by the school allegedly threatened to come back and shoot children at recess.

The Tiffin Police Department said they couldn’t verify if the man said that or not. The man lives in the neighborhood and walks by the school on his way to work. Investigators say children on the playground made rude comments to the man, which caused him to tell the teachers on playground duty to do their job and pay attention to what the children were doing.

After the man left, some children told teachers that he threatened to come back with a gun.

MORE: Advertiser-Tribune

4/3/19 – 5:27 A.M.

Municipal employees in North Baltimore will get raises this year. Village council approved the pay hikes during their Tuesday meeting. Most increases will be 1 or 2 percent. Some positions will get a little more than that.

MORE: North Baltimore gets grant for road and sidewalk project.

4/3/19 – 5:21 A.M.

Fostoria now has a permanent hydrogen sulfide monitor in place. The Ohio EPA installed the equipment outside the municipal building last week. The EPA will use the monitor to keep an eye on odors from the Sunny Farms landfill south of the city.

Fostoria Mayor Eric Keckler told city council the EPA will track readings in Columbus and report back on what they find. The city had hoped to install three gauges to keep more consistent records, but that would have cost around $80,000. Fostoria does have two hand-held monitors.

Keckler says a four-hour period showed readings around 23 last Wednesday. The goal is to get under 15. As a result, a hotline set up to report odors from the landfill received 19 calls that night.

MORE: Details about how the monitor works.

4/3/19 – 5:12 A.M.

Mercedes-Benz has picked Cooper Tire & Rubber to provide the tires for its new SUV. The Mercedes-Benz GLE will roll out of the factory on Cooper Discoverer SRXLE tires. The tires are made in Cooper’s Tupelo, Mississippi factory.

4/3/19 – 5:06 A.M.

The Hancock County Convention and Visitors Bureau had a record-setting 2018. Director Alissa Preston updated Hancock County Commissioners Tuesday. Preston says the bureau saw nearly $717,000 in revenue last year. The CVB gets a 3 percent tax revenue when people stay at hotels in Hancock County. The rest of the bed tax goes to the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts and the Hancock County Agricultural Society.

The convention and visitors bureau provided around $130,000 in grant funds to various organizations and events last year. The organization also supported nearly 1,300 events in the community. That’s a 44 percent increase over 2017.

MORE: Details on the support provided to area events from the CVB