Hunters had a lot of success in the woods during Ohio’s weeklong deer-gun hunting season.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife reports hunters harvested nearly 72,000 white-tailed deer during the annual gun hunting week that wrapped up on Sunday.

Over the last three years, hunters checked an average of 65,500 deer during the same weeklong period.

The top three counties for deer taken during the gun week include: Coshocton (2,281), Tuscarawas (2,198), Ashtabula (2,167).

Deer hunting in Ohio has come a long way since the first gun season in 1943, when only three counties were open for hunting and 158 deer were taken.

Today, deer hunting occurs in all 88 counties and an estimated 310,000 hunters taking part in the weeklong deer-gun season.

For hunters who missed the deer-gun week, there are still more options to pursue deer.

Hunters can enjoy two more days of deer-gun season on Saturday and Sunday, December 19-20.

Muzzleloader season is open Jan. 2-5, 2021, and archery season is open until Feb. 7, 2021.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says a man fleeing from authorities in a stolen car caused an injury crash in Van Buren.

The highway patrol says a trooper clocked a car going 115 miles per hour on Interstate 75 southbound in Wood County at around 3:15 Monday afternoon.

Troopers ran the plate and learned the car was stolen and a pursuit ensued.

The highway patrol says Zachary Burnett, 26, of Lowell, Indiana continued southbound on I-75 and exited at State Route 18 and went east.

He turned south onto County Road 220 and when entering Van Buren failed to stop at the stop sign at County Road 220 (Main Street) and West Market Street, causing a multi-vehicle crash.

Burnett and two other drivers sustained minor injuries in the crash and were taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital.

Burnett was released from BVH and booked at the Wood County Justice Center on charges of fleeing, aggravated vehicular assault and receiving stolen property.

Monday was Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

Flags were flown at half-staff in Findlay and across the United States in honor of the 2,403 service members killed in the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7th, 1941… 79 years ago.

Read more about the “date which will live in infamy” here.

Hancock Public Health released the latest COVID-19 data for the county on Monday.

The agency is reporting 391 total active cases which is an increase of 19 from Friday.

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

On Monday, 33 people were hospitalized with the virus in Hancock County, a drop of 11 from Friday.

The Monday data shows five Hancock County residents have died of the virus since Friday, putting the total number of deaths at 57.

Statewide, the total number of deaths eclipsed 7,000 on Monday, and there have been more than 484,000 cases.

St. Marks United Methodist Church again this year is offering needy families a free Christmas tree.

We spoke with the church’s Jeff Hauenstein outside the church at the corner of South Main Street and Lima Street in Findlay.

Jeff says they typically give away the trees after their live Nativity scene they held yearly but they didn’t hold the live Nativity this year due to COVID concerns.

This year they are giving away 50 trees, which is down from 80 last year, but all they could get because of a Christmas tree shortage.

People can pull in the church parking lot from 9 to 5 and find Jeff or Bruce Beck and they’ll help you out.

They only had about 20 trees left when we spoke with Jeff on Monday afternoon.

Blanchard Valley Health System says it is combining obstetric services at Blanchard Valley Hospital and Bluffton Hospital as part of their Pandemic Response Plan.

Details are in the following news release from BVHS.

In order to increase bed capacity system-wide, as well as maximize staffing availability in the pandemic response, Blanchard Valley Health System (BVHS) will combine in-patient Bluffton Hospital and Blanchard Valley Hospital obstetrics on the main Findlay campus, effective December 14.

The Bluffton Hospital second floor, which houses the obstetrics unit, has an eight-bed capacity that is currently underutilized. With beds and staffing at a premium, as the COVID-19 census and acuity increases, BVHS will re-deploy beds and staffing to best meet the needs of the patients and community.

“This is the secondary phase of our pandemic response plan,” explained Scott Malaney, president and CEO of BVHS. “The associates who typically work in the obstetric unit at Bluffton Hospital will be re-deployed to the main campus in Findlay to join fellow team members, and the beds on the Bluffton Hospital campus will create additional capacity for patients in need of care.”

All births that would have taken place at Bluffton Hospital will be re-directed to Blanchard Valley Hospital. The Blanchard Valley Obstetrics & Gynecology office will continue to see patients in Bluffton, with no anticipated changes.

Additionally, Bluffton Hospital will continue to provide all other services including surgery, pain management, imaging, laboratory, outpatient cardiology, rehabilitation, specialty physician clinics and general inpatient care.

Hospitals and health systems across the nation are experiencing these same issues related to bed capacity and staffing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“By maximizing resources across the health system, we can better care for our patients and provide support to each other,” concluded Malaney.

For more information about career opportunities or services at BVHS, please visit bvhealthsystem.org.

The Ohio State University says it will allow players’ families to attend this weekend’s game against Michigan at Ohio Stadium, if the game is played.

OSU said players may invite a total of four family members to the game, which is also Senior Day for the Buckeyes.

No fans were allowed to attend Ohio State’s last home game, against Indiana

Senior Day festivities will be scaled back this year because of the pandemic, with the Big Ten Network planning to air senior tributes for all-conference member teams to compensate.

OSU also said that Michigan players would be allowed to invite family members to the game since it is their season finale.

Both Michigan and Ohio State have had to cancel games because of COVID-19 and there are concerns about whether the rivalry game will be played on Saturday.

The Fostoria Fire Division battled a house fire on Saturday morning.

Firefighters arrived at 225 East North Street at around 8:30 a.m. Saturday to find heavy smoke coming from the second floor and roof gables.

The fire department says crews made an aggressive interior attack on the fire and searched for a person who was reported to be inside, which later was confirmed to not be the case.

All off-duty personnel were called in to fight the fire.

The fire department says the cause of the fire is suspicious in nature and is under investigation.

The Findlay Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol has named Trooper Matthew Cook its Trooper of the Year for 2020.

The award recognizes Trooper Cook’s outstanding service at the Findlay Post during 2020.

“Fellow officers stationed at Findlay chose Trooper Cook based on leadership abilities, professional ethics, courteous treatment of others, enthusiastic work attitude, and cooperation with supervisors, peers, and the public,” said Lt. Matt Crow, Findlay Post Commander.

Trooper Cook, who is 34 and lives in McComb, is now in contention for the District and State Trooper of the Year Award that will be announced at a later date.

Trooper Cook joined the Highway Patrol in 2014 and has served at the Findlay Post throughout his career.

Originally from Perrysburg and a home school graduate, Trooper Cook graduated from Owens Community College with an Associates Degree in Criminal Justice.

Other Highway Patrol awards received in the past include the 2016 Findlay Post Trooper of the Year, Criminal Patrol Award, Health and Physical Fitness Award, and the Safe Driving Award.

Six Hancock County residents died of the coronavirus from Wednesday to Friday.

The Friday numbers from Hancock Public Health show 52 fatalities from the virus, up from 46 on Wednesday.

Active cases increased to 372 on Friday, a jump of 27 cases from Wednesday.

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

44 people were hospitalized with the virus in Hancock County on Friday, an increase of two from Wednesday.

State data shows Putnam County has had 56 deaths from the virus since the pandemic began.

Statewide, there have been more than 456,000 cases and nearly 6,900 deaths since the pandemic started.