The Ohio State Highway Patrol says 12 people were killed in 12 fatal crashes over the Labor Day holiday this year.

Last year 15 people were killed in 13 fatal crashes over the holiday weekend.

Troopers arrested 420 drivers for OVI and issued 2,465 safety belt citations.

Troopers also made 292 drug arrests and 128 felony apprehensions.

Troopers also provided assistance to 1,861 motorists over the holiday weekend.

The Labor Day reporting period began Friday, September 3rd at 12 a.m. and ended Monday, September 6th at 11:59 p.m.

For a complete breakdown of the Highway Patrol’s Labor Day enforcement click here.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced that $5 million in grant funding is now available to help local law enforcement agencies invest in body camera equipment and pay for associated expenses.

A total of $10 million has been allotted to the Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program as part of the 2022-2023 operating budget.

The remainder of the grant funds will be available next year.

Governor DeWine prioritized the creation of the new Ohio Body-Worn Camera Grant Program in the state’s 2022-2023 operating budget that was passed by the Ohio General Assembly in June.

The program will assist local law enforcement agencies with costs related to camera equipment, video storage, public record management personnel, and more.

The use of body cameras is not mandated in Ohio.

It is estimated that up to two-thirds of all law enforcement agencies in the state, primarily Ohio’s smaller agencies, do not outfit their officers with cameras due to equipment and video storage costs.

The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services (OCJS), which administers the new grant program, began accepting applications on Tuesday.

Applications will be accepted until October 8th.

Findlay Mayor Christina Muryn has said that body cameras are something they consider on a regular basis and are not opposed to.

However, she said the cost of the technology and the ongoing data storage is quite expensive and, as things stand now, that cost is not justified, saying they don’t get many complaints or have many issues.

Mayor Muryn said a lot of the incidents that make headlines across the country can primarily be avoided with the proper training.

She said the Findlay Police Department does a lot of training on de-escalation and the proper procedure for physical altercations.

The Findlay Trojans won big over Bowling Green at Donnell Stadium Friday night.

Freshman Ryan Montgomery got the start at quarterback and quickly showed off his arm strength and accuracy.

Tim Montgomery and Cliff Hite with the call on WFIN as Montgomery threw a dart to Justin Roth who made a tremendous catch for the first TD of the night.

The Trojans went on to beat Bowling Green 49 – 0.

Findlay is now 2 – 1 on the season and they travel to Central Catholic on Friday night.

You can listen back to the game and check out the WFIN sports schedule by clicking here.

Video of the above TD is below.

A lot of people took a tour of the B-17 Flying Fortress “Yankee Lady” at the Findlay Airport over the weekend, and some people even got to take a ride in it.

Joe Amend, a B-17 Flight Engineer with the Yankee Air Museum, was happy to see so many people checking out the plane.

Joe says a lot of people have a connection to the aircraft.

“The thing that we find is that a lot of people have a tie to it. Grandpa flew in it, or Uncle Bill flew in one of these. We’re able to let the family experience something that maybe they heard about, but in a lot cases didn’t hear anything because a lot of time those guys would clam up and not want to talk.”

Joe says the “Yankee Lady” was the 13th to last to come off the line in 1945 and saw no action in the war.

You can take a look inside the plane and get more of our interview with Joe in the video below.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says a driver who failed to move over or slow down crashed into a trooper’s cruiser, killing one person.

The crash happened at 2:35 Saturday afternoon in Defiance County on westbound U.S. Route 24 between Jewell and Independence Roads.

The Highway Patrol says the trooper had a car pulled over and was writing them a speeding ticket when Justin R. Johnson, 28, of Defiance, drove his truck off the right side of the highway and struck the trooper’s cruiser.

Johnson suffered life-threatening injuries and was flown to a hospital, while his passenger, Steven R. Johnson, 52, of Bryan, died at the scene from his injuries.

The OSHP trooper was taken to a hospital with injuries that are not life-threatening.

Two people in the car the trooper had pulled over were also taken to a hospital for possible injuries after their car was also caught up in the crash.

The Highway Patrol reminds drivers to move over or slow down for vehicles on the side of the roadway with flashing lights and to always buckle up.

Findlay and Hancock County will be holding a parade and memorial ceremony to recognize the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

On Saturday, September 11th the parade will begin at 9 a.m. on South Main Street at Lake Cascades Parkway/Sixth Street.

The parade will travel north to Sandusky Street and turn east on Sandusky, ending at the Hancock County Fairgrounds.

A memorial ceremony will then be held at the Old Millstream Centre.

The parade participants will consist of first responders and military vehicles from Findlay and Hancock County.

The memorial ceremony is open to the public.

The City of Findlay recently put up 9/11 banners in downtown that say “we will never forget’.

https://twitter.com/CityOfFindlay/status/1432773435642482693

Hancock Public Health is reporting 208 new cases of COVID over the week of August 27th through September 2nd.

There were seven new hospitalizations during that timeframe and no new deaths.

Since the middle of August there have been three new COVID deaths.

Average cases per day in Hancock County stands at 29.7 and community transmission remains “high” as defined by the CDC.

Hancock Public Health says about 72 percent of all COVID cases and 75 percent of hospitalizations since August 1st were people who were unvaccinated or had not reached the time requirement for full immunity after receiving the vaccination.

Health officials say the three COVID deaths in August were unvaccinated individuals.

A special event will be held at the Findlay Airport.

The B-17 Flying Fortress “Yankee Lady” will be at the airfield on Sunday, September 5th from 10 to 4 for paid tours and a limited number of paid rides.

The Flying Fortress was developed in the early 1930s by Boeing and was a staple in the US air forces during World War II.

More than 12-thousand were built, but only 40 survive. Yankee Lady is one of less than a dozen of the craft that are still airworthy.

Also part of the festivities will be the opportunity to see and ride in a biplane.

The event is being put on by the Yankee Air Museum.

Get more details here.

(pic courtesy of the Yankee Air Museum)