The United Way of Hancock County will be holding a Days of Caring service event in the fall, the first time they will have held two events in one year.

“Holding a second fall Days of Caring enables us to provide additional support to our local non-profits when they need it most,” said CEO Angela DeBoskey.

She says an added benefit is that volunteers who may have been interested in helping in the spring but couldn’t now have this option to give.

DeBoskey said, last year, because of the pandemic, they moved their May event to September, and the fall event was very well received.

During the Days of Caring event in May of this year, more than 550 volunteers from area corporations completed 79 projects for 15 agencies.

The fall event will run September 20-22. Registration opens July 13th and closes August 13th.

During Days of Caring, employees of area corporations and small businesses lend a hand to local organizations.

Non-profits in need of help submit projects, volunteer teams register to help, and the United Way matches up the two groups.

Volunteers then head out in force to complete projects such as landscaping, organizing, painting, construction and cleaning.

Learn more about the event and how to volunteer by clicking here.

Ohio Northern University is holding a drawing to give away prizes to vaccinated students.

Every student who is fully vaccinated and submits proof to the ONU Student Health Center by August 2nd will be entered into a drawing for the prizes.

Prizes include $5,000 grants toward cost of attending Ohio Northern in 2021-2022.

Other prizes being given away include iPad Airs, Apple Watches, Apple AirPods Pro.

The registration deadline is August 2nd and the winners will be drawn and announced on August 6th.

Ohio’s elections chief is promising that Ohio is a safe and secure place to vote, and that those who break the state’s voting laws will be prosecuted.

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose is referring 117 cases of suspected voter fraud to the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.

“They’re small numbers, but there’s no such thing as an acceptable level of election fraud, we’re just not going to tolerate it,” LaRose said at a Monday news conference.

LaRose added that people need to know that if they try to commit voting fraud in Ohio they will be caught.

LaRose says voter fraud is rare in Ohio and he’s working to keep it that way because Ohioans deserve elections which are both convenient and honest.

LaRose was in Findlay in February for a roundtable discussion with the Findlay-Hancock County Chamber of Commerce.

Get more on that by clicking here.

Drivers need to be aware of some nighttime lane restrictions in Findlay.

The Ohio Department of Transportation says Interstate 75 and U.S. 68/State Route 15 will have nighttime lane restrictions and temporary delays from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. for about two weeks beginning Monday night, July 12th.

ODOT says crews will be installing recessed wet reflective pavement markings.

The new pavement markings improve visibility for drivers during wet conditions.

Grooves are precisely ground into the roadway surface to protect the thermoplastic markings from snowplow damage.

A few weeks ago the same project was completed on U.S. 23 in Wyandot County.

(ONN) – An Ohio State Highway Patrol trooper successfully performed the Heimlich Maneuver on a man who attempted to swallow a bag of marijuana when he was pulled over for speeding.

ONN affiliate WKYC-TV in Cleveland reports that trooper Charles Hoskin conducted a traffic stop in Portage County’s Rootstown on a vehicle that was allegedly traveling at 94 mph in a 70 mph zone.

Dash camera video posted to the OSHP Twitter account shows Hoskin asking if the driver could breathe before helping him out of the car and performing the Heimlich.

The man expelled a bag of marijuana and apologized to the officer.

The man was cited for speeding and possession of marijuana.

Findlay first responders rescued a man they say fell from the railroad bridge over the Blanchard River, west of Cory Street.

It happened at around 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

Police and fire arrived to find the man on the north side of the river halfway in the water.

Firefighters secured the man and brought him up the embankment and onto the railroad tracks and into a waiting ambulance.

The ambulance took the man to the high school where a Life Flight helicopter had landed to fly him to a hospital.

The man was identified as 27-year-old Robert McAvoy-Wable.

He suffered multiple injuries consistent with a fall and was responsive when rescued.

Governor DeWine has vetoed a bill that would have legalized the non-professional use of fireworks in Ohio.

The bill would have closed a loophole in state law by allowing people to both purchase and legally use fireworks during holidays.

Current law requires people who purchase fireworks in Ohio to transport them out of the state within two days.

In his veto message the governor said the bill would allow the discharge, by nonprofessionals, of fireworks, including bottle rockets, firecrackers, and aerial fireworks, at all hours of the day.

The bill also doubles the allowable square footage of fireworks stores, increasing them from 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet, without requiring adequate safety features in those stores with enhanced square footage.

The governor said, since the Scottown fireworks store tragedy in 1996, there have been 2 major studies, one by Battelle Labs in 2000 and another study by Southwest Research Institute in 2008 (produced for the fireworks industry) to help find better ways to build and operate fireworks stores.

He said SB 113 does not require compliance with the safety measures outlined in these studies but nevertheless doubles the square footage of stores that are selling these devices to the public.

The governor said his veto of SB 113 is in the public interest because the bill would bring about a dramatic change in Ohio law, which would make Ohio one of the least restrictive states in regard to fireworks laws.

The veto comes days after Columbus Blue Jackets player Matiss Kivlenieks was killed in a fireworks accident in Michigan.

(ONN) – The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio has filed a lawsuit seeking redistricting records of Republican lawmaker’s efforts to redraw the state’s congressional and legislative districts.

The lawsuit claims House GOP lawmakers, including speaker Bob Cupp, of Lima, and representative Bill Seitz of Cincinnati, refused to respond to a records request by the ACLU in February.

It sought to obtain any redistricting-related records, including emails from Cupp, Seitz and other legislative staff involved in the ongoing process.

ACLU lawyers say receiving the records will help them monitor the state’s contentious redistricting process carefully.

The Maumee Watershed Conservancy District Court voted on Friday to add the Eagle Creek Floodwater Storage Basin to their official plan.

“This is a wonderful day for Findlay,” said Mayor Christina Muryn.

“This has been an issue that’s plagued our community for far too long and I’m really excited we were able to take this next step to continue to move flood mitigation forward.”

Muryn added that there’s a lot of hope in the community that we’re finally going to get some resolution and no longer be afraid every time it rains.

Tim Mayle, director of Findlay-Hancock County Economic Development, is a board member on Blanchard River Watershed Solutions.

Mayle said he can’t stress enough how important it was to get the Eagle Creek basin project added to the conservancy district’s plan.

He says the basin will reduce the 100-year flood elevation at Main Street in Findlay by around a foot and a half, which is on top of the benefits being seen from other flood mitigation projects like benching and removing flood-prone properties.

At Friday’s meeting the Conservancy Court did voice concerns about how the project was presented to them and that the state so far has only approved $30 million for the project, which is estimated to cost between $60 and $70 million.

As Mayle mentioned in the audio above, the governor and state legislature are in support of the project but won’t approve more money until it’s clear that the project is moving forward.

Mayle said this is how state funding works on projects like these, they don’t like to give you the full funding up front but in increments as they see that the project is progressing.

A community meeting on the project was held in Findlay on June 28th.

Around 200 people attended the meeting at the Old Mill Stream Centre at the Hancock County Fairgrounds.

Several officials with the Maumee Watershed Conservancy District and Blanchard River Watershed Solutions explained the project and the need for it.

Eagle Township Trustee David Bower was one of the several people who spoke during the public comment portion of the meeting.

He told WFIN he doesn’t believe the basin will be that effective and isn’t worth the cost.

Other opponents of the project raised concerns about safety, home values, effectiveness, communication and cost.

The 600 to 800-acre storage basin will be constructed west of U.S. 68 and just north of Township Road 49, just south of Findlay.

The Findlay Police Department says a woman was injured in a crash that occurred when she reached for her cell phone.

It happened in the 3000 block of Norcrest Street at 5:19 p.m. on Thursday.

Police say Svannah Durain, 22, of Findlay, was driving north on Norcrest Street when she reached over to get her cell phone from the passenger seat.

While reaching for her phone, her car swerved into the southbound lane and struck an SUV that was legally parked on the side of the street.

Durain was taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital for a possible head injury.

Police say she was issued citations for driving left of center, no operator license and expired registration.

Police say distracted driving was also applied to her citations.