UPDATE – Cross said on Friday that his test did come back positive, and he’ll be resting and recovering at home.

State Representative Jon Cross (R-Kenton) is isolating and awaiting the results of a COVID test.

Cross says his wife has tested positive and he likely has it also.

Cross says he’s had a light fever, body aches, fatigue and he lost his sense of smell.

Cross has been very critical of the governor’s handling of the pandemic, in particular business closures and curfews.

He tells WFIN News that his bout with COVID won’t change his stance at all.

Cross said he believes people may get confused about his debate on masks.

“I’m perfectly fine with a business, if they require a mask that’s great. If we’re adults in a room together and we’re wearing masks that’s great,” Cross said.

“It’s the principle of not having the government mandating mask-wearing. It’s the process that I was always challenging.”

Hundreds of people picked up a variety of nutritious foods at different distribution events in Hancock County on Thursday.

Ron Rooker, the director of Chopin Hall in Findlay, says there’s been an uptick in people seeking food assistance since the pandemic began and the need continues to grow as the pandemic drags on.

We spoke with Ron at one of the two food distributions that were held at the Hancock County Fairgrounds on Thursday. You can get more of our conversation with him in the video below.

A total of five distribution events were held in Hancock County on Thursday.

Ron says the events combined helped out an estimated 600 to 700 families.

CHOPIN Hall, the West Ohio Food Bank and Hancock County officials joined together to hold the Mobile Food Pantries.

Click here for details on upcoming events.

The Ohio State Buckeyes wrapped up early signing day on Wednesday with the number 2 ranked class in the country for 2021, just behind Alabama.

Head Coach Ryan Day is excited to welcome these new Buckeyes.

The class is the top recruiting class in the Big Ten, featuring five 5-star players and 13 4-star players.

Learn more about the players in the class by clicking here.

Wyandot County on Thursday switched over to level 3, the red level, for the first time on the state’s COVID-19 Alert Map.

Level 3 means very high exposure and spread of the coronavirus.

Wyandot County had been level 2, orange, for a very long time.

With Wyandot moving up to the red level, that means all counties in northwest Ohio are now red.

Only four orange counties remain in the state, and those are in southern Ohio.

One county is at the highest level, purple, and that is Richland County.

Wyandot County tops the list of counties with the highest occurrence of cases based on population.

Wyandot had a case count of 287 from December 2nd through the 15th, giving it a rate of 1,318 cases per 100,000 people.

Wyandot County’s population is 21,772.

Counties in the top 20 on the list below are 9 times to 13 times higher than what the CDC considers high incidence.

Blanchard Valley Health System will be holding an online update about its response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The event will be held via Facebook Live on Friday at 2 p.m. and is titled “Our Response to the Rising COVID-19 Cases in the Community – Part III”

BVHS President and CEO Scott Malaney and Dr. William Kose, vice president of special projects, will discuss the organizations planning of operations and processes to ensure the safety and care of patients as the pandemic continues.

Malaney and Kose will be taking questions from the community.

Questions may be submitted ahead of time by emailing community@bvhealthsystem.org or by sending a direct message to the BVHS Facebook page.

The event can be viewed on the BVHS Facebook page by clicking here.

Anyone needing assistance with viewing the event can call 419-423-5551.

It will also be posted to the BVHS website once it has ended.

Below is the update from the end of November.

Deb Wickerham will be stepping down as the Executive Director/Flight Director of Flag City Honor Flight.

She will still serve in an advisory role.

“Flag City Honor Flight is part of me and will always be part of me,” Wickerham told WFIN News.

“I’m just so glad that there are good people who can take it on from now. We have good people on the board and a great team.”

Deb says she feels very comfortable that Flag City Honor Flight will continue to do well in serving Veterans as best they can.

Wickerham started Flag City Honor Flight in 2010 and they’ve grown to become the Honor Flight hub for, not only northwest Ohio, but also southeast Michigan and some of northeast Indiana.

She says they’ve taken more than 1,200 Veterans to Washington D.C. to visit the war memorials.

Deb says they were planning to have a big ten-year celebration this year but then the pandemic happened.

She says they’ll celebrate their ten-year anniversary and start up the trips again when it’s safe to do so.

Deb is stepping down at the end of the year.

Current President, Bob Weinberg, will take over as Flight Director.

The position of Executive Director will not be filled. The board and committees will take over those responsibilities.

Deb points out that she will still serve in an advisory role and she thanks everyone who has helped make Flag City Honor Flight such a success.

Deb says it was a full-time job and now she’ll have more time to spend with family and her two grandkids who live in Arizona.

(pictures courtesy of Flag City Honor Flight)

The University of Findlay is inviting children and their families to take part in a Letters to Santa Drive-Thru.

The event will be on Sunday from 4:30 to 5:30 in front of Old Main.

Santa will be waving from a safe distance as his elves, also at a safe distance, accept letters in a special drive-thru.

The university says it’s been a tough year, and they wanted to make it possible for children to visit Santa and make a new treasured memory.

People joining in on the fun should pull through the half circle drive, entering near the College First Church of God, and then place their letters in Santa’s bag from their vehicle.

The first 200 vehicles will receive a free University of Findlay Christmas goodie bag.

Get more details on the event by clicking here. 

While people in Findlay had to deal with some snow on Wednesday, it wasn’t as much as the area received earlier in the month.

Findlay picked up about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of snow on Monday and a little more was possible at night and on Thursday.

On November 30th into December 1st the city received around 3 inches of snow.

People we spoke with as they were clearing their sidewalks on Wednesday didn’t seem to mind the snowfall and were thankful it wasn’t more significant.

City, county and state plows were doing a good job keeping the roads clear although there are some slick spots out there so drive with caution.

There’s a chance of a little more snow Wednesday night and also on Thursday with the high Thursday around 34.

The number of COVID-19 deaths in Hancock County held steady in the latest data released on Wednesday, although active cases went up slightly.

Hancock Public Health on Wednesday reported 66 deaths, the same as in their Monday report.

There were 321 active cases of the virus in the county on Wednesday, an increase of six from Monday.

That slight increase follows two straight reports of declining active cases.

Active cases are patients who are currently under quarantine or in isolation.

30 people were hospitalized with the virus on Wednesday, one less than on Monday.

Statewide, there have been more than 584,000 cases and 7,700 deaths since the pandemic began.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol is investigating a fatal crash on the Ohio Turnpike.

The Swanton Post of the Highway Patrol says a Ford Ranger was westbound on Interstate 80 on Wednesday morning when it slid on the slick roadway.

The truck hit a guardrail and then entered the median where it overturned.

The Highway Patrol says a passenger in the truck, James S. Botton, 58, of Tiffin, was ejected from the truck and died.

The driver, Rouyn M. Alda, 58, of California, was taken by ambulance to Fulton County Health Center with injuries described as not life-threatening.

The Highway Patrol says safety belts were not in proper use.