The Northern Lakes League is expanding and has made an offer to Findlay to join as well as three other schools.

The NLL said Friday that, after a unanimous vote of the league principals, it would be inviting Clay High School, Findlay High School, Fremont Ross High School and Whitmer High School to join the league.

The NLL said it looks forward to hearing back from the schools in the coming days to formally accept the invitation.

Findlay High School Athletic Director Nate Weihrauch tells WFIN that Findlay is honored to be invited to join the Northern Lakes League.

Nate says the invitation will be discussed at the next Board of Education meeting on Monday, April 19th.

The NLL anticipates that the new members would join the league beginning with the 2023-2024 season.

The NLL also said it is committed to exploring additional expansion in the future “to provide a more equitable competitive balance based on student enrollments.”

Findlay High School is currently a member of the Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC).

Local fire department officials are thanking a business and an individual for helping them out while they were battling a fire at Findlay Pallet on Thursday.

The Allen Township Fire Department said thank you to Heavenly Pizza for donating pizza and water and also said thank you to a person at Speedway who paid for the fuel for one of their grass trucks, enabling them to return to the scene quicker.

Allen Township Fire Chief Gary Hickman said it’s always reassuring to see that kind of support from the community

Allen Township, Washington Township and Findlay all responded to the fire on the property of Findlay Pallet on Thursday.

The fire burned up some old pallets and a semi-trailer.

No one was injured. The cause was under investigation.

Putnam County moved from the Orange level 2 to the Red level 3 in the updated county-by-county COVID alert map.

The Putnam County Health Department said the county’s rate increased to 221.49 per 100,000 people due to a spike of cases last week.

Health officials are asking residents to continue wearing masks when in public places, practice social distancing when around others and avoid large gatherings.

Hancock County is still at the Red level 3 on the latest map.

Red level 3 is defined as very high exposure and spread of the virus.

Franklin County is now on the state’s COVID-19 watchlist for turning from Red level 3 to Purple level 4.

Purple level 4 is defined as severe exposure and spread of the virus.

The new sheriff’s cruiser exhibit is already a hit with families visiting the Children’s Museum of Findlay.

The exhibit allows kids to see the actual inside of a patrol vehicle and even allows them to operate the overhead lights.

The Children’s Museum of Findlay thanks the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, Dick’s Towing Service, and Ed’s 24 Hour Service for their help in making the exhibit happen.

Click here for more on the museum including hours of operation.

This year’s Ohio State Fair will not be open to the public.

Officials with the Ohio Expositions Commission say they’re concerned for the health of fairgoers, as well as the cost of implementing COVID-19 safety protocols.

They say this year’s event will be limited to livestock and educational competitions for exhibitors, their families, and guests.

Concerts, entertainment, and your favorite traditions will resume in 2022.

The 2022 Ohio State Fair is scheduled for July 27 – August 7.

The Hancock County Fair will be held this year after being canceled last year.

Firefighters battled a fire on the property of Findlay Pallet at 300 East Bigelow Avenue on Thursday.

The call came in at 9:25 a.m. and the Findlay Fire Department responded.

Allen Township and Washington Township responded as well to help out with their brush trucks and with manpower.

Findlay Battalion Chief Jeff Rampe says the fire on the northeast portion of the property was really going when they arrived and they had to park about 100 feet away because of the heat being produced by the fire.

It appeared some old pallets had caught on fire and then the wind pushed the fire north and caught a semi trailer on fire.

Chief Rampe says they established a water supply from a hydrant on Bigelow and the road was shut down.

He said they had the fire under control at around 10:30 a.m.

No one was injured. The cause is under investigation.

Firefighters were also at Findlay Pallet on March 7th for a fire that destroyed several pallets and damaged part of the building.

Hancock County has the highest occurrence of COVID-19 cases in the state based on population, according to the Ohio Department of Health.

The latest data released by the state on Thursday shows that Hancock County had a case count of 255 from March 24th to April 6th.

That equates to a rate of 336.5 cases per 100,000 people based on the county’s population of 75,783.

Lucas County is number two at 300 cases per 100,000 people.

Putnam County came it at number 12 with 221.5 cases per 100,000 people.

The data released by Hancock Public Health on Monday showed 138 active cases in the county and 10 people currently hospitalized.

Click here for information on scheduling a vaccination through Hancock Public Health and here through Blanchard Valley Health System.

People can also call Hancock Public Health at 419-424-7105 and select option 1 for COVID-19 vaccine information and scheduling.

The Seneca County Drug Task Force – METRICH Enforcement Unit along with additional officers from other entities executed a drug-related search warrant at a residence on Buckley Street on Thursday.

The task force says suspected methamphetamine, criminal tools, cash and other items indicative of drug trafficking was found in the residence.

Authorities say Anthony N. Nix and Crystal N.E. Dayton were arrested.

Nix was arrested on charges of possession of methamphetamine, tampering with evidence and possession of criminal tools.

Dayton was arrrested on an active warrant for absconding parole supervision.

Seneca County Sheriff Fred Stevens says he’s pleased to see that the hard work of the task force once again produced stellar results.

“I will continue to say it until the dealers hear me loud and clear, we will not let you ruin our county with the poison you are trying to peddle to our citizens.”

Anyone who wishes to report suspicious activity can call the Seneca County Drug Task Force – METRICH Enforcement Unit crime hotline at 419-443-0463.

The Ohio Department of Transportation is gearing up for another busy construction season, and that means a lot of orange barrels and a lot of workers on the roads.

ODOT Director Jack Marchbanks is imploring drivers to pay attention in work zones.

ODOT’s Matt Bruning says far too many people aren’t abiding by the state’s move over law which requires drivers to move over for any roadside vehicles with flashing lights.

If they cannot move over, they must slow down.

Last year, ODOT crews were struck 125 times while on the job.

And ODOT crews have been hit 52 times already in 2021.

162 ODOT workers have been killed over the years while working to improve Ohio’s roadways.

ODOT this year will be investing $1.92 billion into 956 projects to improve transportation across the state.

Get a list of those projects by clicking here and a refresher course on the move over law by clicking here.

Findlay residents on Wednesday night had a chance to hear from some city council candidates ahead of the Primary Election on May 4th.

WFIN aired a Candidate’s Forum featuring the five people vying for the three “at large” seats on Findlay City Council.

The candidates are Holly Frische, Andre Gilbert, Randy Greeno, Grant Russel and Jeff Wobser.

You can listen to their opening statements in the audio below, and video of the forum is at the bottom of the story.

All the candidates are Republican. Russel and Wobser are incumbents as “at large” council members and Greeno is currently the Fifth Ward Councilmember.

The other at large council member, Tom Shindledecker, is not running for re-election.

The forum was presented In cooperation with the University of Findlay and was broadcast live from Winebrenner.

Economic development, COVID, what should be included in the city’s strategic plan and much more was discussed in the forum.

If you missed the forum you can watch it in its entirety below.