The Findlay Police Department has promoted Justin Hendren to the rank of Lieutenant.

He was sworn in by Mayor Christina Muryn at the Findlay Municipal Building on Monday.

Lt. Hendren began his career with the Findlay Police Department in 1999 and has supervised the Hancock-METRICH Drug Task Force for the past 10 years.

Lt. Hendren was the Findlay Police Department Officer of Year in 2001.

He has served as a Field Training Officer and a member of the Emergency Response Team.

Lt. Hendren is a graduate of North Baltimore High School.

There’s an interesting, new activity to take part in during your next trip to downtown Findlay.

Axe throwing.

Axe Ventura held its grand opening on Saturday.

We spoke with manager Bryan White, who said they don’t just give you an axe and say ‘go have fun’.

He says each lane has an Axe Master that teaches people the proper technique.

“We teach what we call the Axe Ventura way, which is two-handed. We teach you how to stand, throw and get it to stick.”

Bryan says the owners are from Kenton and thought downtown Findlay needed a new, fun event for people to enjoy.

This is their second location. The first one is in Ann Arbor, right by the campus of the University of Michigan.

Bryan says walk-ins are welcome but advises people to book ahead to make sure there is availability.

Axe Ventura is located at 401 South Main Street.

They say they chose the name Ventura because it means adventure and good fortune.

Click here to learn more and to book an axe-throwing outing.

The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says several people were injured in a crash just northeast of Findlay.

The crash happened at State Route 12 and Township Road 212 at 6:06 Sunday night.

The sheriff’s office says Scott Larson, 44, of Tiffin, was northbound on Township Road 212 in a van when he stopped at the stop sign at State Route 12.

The sheriff’s office says Larson then continued northbound and was hit by a truck that was traveling east on State Route 12 and being driven by Lonzo Sampson, 77, of Fostoria.

Sampson, and a passenger, Lana Sampson, 77, of Fostoria, were taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital.

Larson, along with passenger Cheryl Larson, 56, of Tiffin, and two juveniles were also taken to Blanchard Valley.

Firefighters had to extricate some of the victims from the wreckage.

The sheriff’s office says Larson was cited for failure to yield at a stop sign.

Ohio’s $2.1 billion capital budget for 2021 that was recently approved by the legislature has money in it for a variety of local projects.

Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development Director Tim Mayle was on with WFIN’s Chris Oaks to discuss an item in the budget that’s of great importance locally.

He says the area will be getting a second installment of $15 million dollars for construction of the Eagle Creek Floodwater Storage Basin project just south of Findlay.

Tim says the money will allow them to get the site shovel-ready.

The overall project is anticipated to cost around $60 million.

The 600 to 800-acre floodwater storage basin would be constructed west of U.S. 68 and just north of Township Road 49 in Hancock County.

He says the projects already undertaken, such as the benching of Blanchard River, are making an impact on flood levels.

Project Manager Steve Wilson previously told WFIN he believes the storage basin will have a great impact on flood reduction in Findlay once it’s completed.

“It will reduce the 100-year flood elevation at Main Street by around a foot and a half, and that would be on top of the reductions we’re seeing with the work that’s currently being done along the Blanchard River.”

State Representative Jon Cross and State Senator Rob McColley were also on with Chris.

They say the capital budget bill also has around $900,000 in it for two local entities.

50 North is in line to receive $500,000 for its expansion project, while the Findlay YMCA is slated to get $400,000 for its Child Development Center.

Listen to Chris’ full interview with all three by clicking here.

You can go over the state’s capital budget by clicking  here.

There were a lot of smiling faces in front of Old Main at the University of Findlay during a Letters To Santa drive-thru on Sunday. (video below)

The university’s Amy DePuy says they put on the event to brighten the holidays for youngsters in what’s been a tough year.

“At a time when you shouldn’t need to figure out how to see Santa in what’s been such a challenging year, we wanted to make it easy for families to see Santa in a COVID-friendly way.”

She says the turnout was greater than they anticipated and they extended the event for an extra hour to accommodate all the vehicles carrying wide-eyed youngsters.

Get more of our conversation with Amy in the video below as well as plenty of video of kids dropping their letters in Santa’s sack.

Wreaths Across America Day was Saturday and a lot of people came out to Findlay’s Maple Grove Cemetery and other area cemeteries to place wreaths at Veterans’ graves. (video below)

Wreaths were placed at the graves of 1,200 Veterans this year, and organizers say they’re working toward one day being able to recognize each and every one of the 5,000 Veterans who are buried at Maple Grove Cemetery.

The mission statement of Wreaths Across America is Remember, Honor, Teach.

REMEMBER our fallen, HONOR those serve, and TEACH those in the community about our veterans sacrifices.

We talk to the Parsons Family that helped out this year and the organizer of the local event, Sherri Garner Brumbaugh, in the video below.

There were also Wreaths Across America events in Benton Ridge and Arlington.

Patients and staff at 10 nursing homes statewide began receiving the coronavirus vaccine on Friday.

Governor DeWine says this is a big step.

“This is where we’ve seen the biggest number of people who’ve died. We can’t get them vaccinated fast enough.”

DeWine was on hand at the Ohio Veterans Home in Sandusky and at other facilities as the vaccine was administered.

A Vietnam War Veteran (below) was among the first to receive the vaccine at the Ohio Veterans Home in Georgetown in Brown County.

(above picture courtesy of the Ohio Department of Veterans Services)

The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office says a man was seriously injured when he crashed his snowmobile.

It happened near Road U-20, northeast of Delphos, at around 4:20 Thursday afternoon.

The sheriff’s office says Kyle Kopitsch, 27, of Fort Jennings, was riding in a field a little north of Road U-20 when he crashed into a ditch.

Kopitsch was ejected from the snowmobile and thrown about 20 feet.

Authorities say he suffered serious, but non life-threatening injuries in the crash.

He was transported by Delphos EMS to Mercy Health St. Rita’s in Lima.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol has released video of when troopers located an abducted child on the Ohio Turnpike last weekend.

In the video below, you can hear the troopers calming down the little girl by giving her a teddy bear, called Teddy the Trooper.

The child was abducted from Colorado by her non-custodial mother, who was taken into custody.

Troopers from the Swanton Post pulled conducted the traffic stop on the Ohio Turnpike in Williams County on Saturday night.