The Findlay-Hancock County Public Library has a levy renewal on the March 17th primary ballot.

Director Sarah Clevidence says the library continues to be a valuable resource for tens of thousands of people.

She says they have more than 30,000 card-holders and last year loaned out more than 1.1 million items.

“Our patrons, 90 percent of the things they check out are still physical items that they want to come get from the library, the book that you can hold in your hand and sit with your child and snuggle up and read that bedtime story.”

She says their children’s programming has grown tremendously over the last five years.

“Last year we had 417 programs for kids of all ages that were attended by nearly 20,000 people, so the last time we had a levy renewal on the ballot we’ve had tremendous growth within our children’s department.”

Clevidence says the state is funding public libraries at 1998 levels, making this levy renewal very important.

She says they are consistently ranked as one of the top 40 libraries in the state and had more than 300,000 visitors last year.

The 0.5 mill five-year levy would cost the owner of a 100,000 home $18 a year.

Clevidence recently took over as director of the library. Read more about that here. 

The Columbus Zoo has released new photos of the newest additions to their feline family, who were born through in vitro fertilization.

On Facebook, the zoo posted pictures of the two cheetah cubs who are now being looked after by an animal care team because the female cub was not gaining enough weight.

The male and female cubs were born to surrogate mother Isabelle on February 19th from a biological mother named Kibibi, who was selected to keep her DNA active in the species gene pool.

Handlers say the cubs are doing well, and they have started to open their eyes and ears, are both crawling and interacting with each other.

(pictures courtesy of the Columbus Zoo}

In 2015 Ohio voters handily defeated a ballot issue to legalize recreational marijuana in the state. Now, a new effort is underway.

The proposal is called the ‘Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol’ amendment.

Backers submitted the initial petition and 1,000 signatures to the Ohio Attorney General’s office on Monday for review.

The constitutional amendment would allow adults over the age of 21 to buy, possess, consume and grow limited amounts of marijuana.

The state’s medical marijuana program would remain in place if the recreational effort passes.

Bowling Green State University’s robot delivery service is up and running.

More than two-dozen Starship delivery robots rolled out for the first time on Monday, delivering food orders to students across campus.

The service is paid for completely through delivery fees with no investment by the university.

BGSU is the first school in Ohio to offer the service.

(picture and video courtesy of BGSU)

Ohio is celebrating its 217th birthday this week.

It became the 17th state in the Union on March 1st, 1803, after President Jefferson endorsed Congress’ decision to grant statehood.

In honor of the occasion, the Ohio Statehood Day Exhibit will be on display at the Statehouse Rotunda through March 6th.

The exhibit will feature the original portraits of Arthur St. Clair and Thomas Worthington, two of the key players in the debate over Statehood.

The Worthington Center (ground floor of the Ohio Statehouse) will feature the Ohio History Connection’s film “The Debate Over Statehood”, which provides an in-depth look at the momentous issue of Ohio Statehood.

Hancock County Job and Family Services is hoping voters approve a levy to help pay for foster care placements for abused and neglected children.

The agency has placed a 0.8 mill five-year levy on the March 17th primary ballot.

Director Randy Galbraith says in the last two years the number of children in the care of the county has doubled to over 100.

“This levy has become critically important because in 2017 placement costs were about $1.7 million and in 2019 that jumped to $2.5 million.”

He says not only are more children in the care of the county, but they’re seeing more children with mental and physical issues.

The cost of caring for those children can rise to more than $400 daily and $100,000 annually.

He says the opioid crisis is one factor that’s leading to more children being placed in the care of the county.

Learn more about the levy here.

(ONN) – Concerns about the coronavirus are on the rise in central Ohio days ahead of the Arnold Sports Festival.

Thousands of athletes from 80 countries will be in Columbus for the huge event.

Doctors say they’ll make sure all athletes are screened before they compete, just in case.

“There’s some questions we’re going to ask them about risk and about symptoms,” said Dr. Bryan Ghiloni with Mount Carmel Health Systems.

“And if we need to we’ll measure temperatures and have to make some decisions.”

The Arnold Sports Festival runs March 5th through the 8th in Columbus.

For the sixth year in a row, Findlay has been ranked the top micropolitan community in the country.

The award, by Site Selection magazine, is based on job creation, new construction and capital investment.

Tim Mayle, director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, says they relentlessly emphasize what they call the “Findlay Formula.”

“I truly believe the reason we continue to have companies invest is because of the environment the community has created.”

He says creating that business-friendly environment takes a collaboration of city and county government, business, education…everybody working together to make sure they create an environment for companies to continue to grow here.

The full media release from Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development about the award is below.

For the sixth consecutive year, Findlay, Ohio has been ranked the top micropolitan community in the U.S. for new and expanding facilities by Site Selection magazine, the official publication of the Global FDI Association and the Industrial Asset Management Council.

The magazine ranked 551 of the nation’s micropolitan areas, cities of 10,000 to 50,000 people which cover at least one county.

Rankings are based on qualified projects that have met one of the three criteria: at least $1 MM invested, 20 or more jobs created or 20,000 or more square feet constructed.

“Winning six years in a row demonstrates the strength of our existing office, manufacturing and logistics base,” said Tim Mayle, Director of Economic Development.

“Each year our top priority is Retention and Expansion. The majority of our qualifying projects come from companies that continue to hire employees, expand facilities
and invest in machinery and equipment.”

Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development focused on residential development in 2019. “We have seen approximatley 1,000 net new jobs each of the past six years. Residential projects included single and multifamily, senior and workforce housing, townhomes and downtown infill. Right now we have 14 residential projects in our pipeline for 2020,” said Mayle.

Residential development projects do not qualify for the Site Selection Top Micropolitan award.

Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development will target automotive investment in 2020 and beyond.

“You will see a lot of marketing this year detailing why Findlay is “the place for C.A.S.E.”

“Findlay’s central location to the automotive OEMs and our positive work environment both give us a strategic advantage for investment,” said Mayle.

CASE is an automotive industry acronym for Connectivity, Autonomous, Sharing and Electrification.

“Companies will be looking to localize the supply chain due to USMCA changes as well as utilize our Foreign Trade Zone to meet CAFE standards.”

For more information, contact the Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development Office at 419-422-3313.