The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says it has been awarded $39,512 in federal traffic safety funding for fiscal year 2023.

The funds are passed through the Ohio Traffic Safety Office from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to support safety efforts such as increasing seat belt use, reducing distracted and impaired driving, increasing motorcycle safety and educating younger drivers.

The sheriff’s office says competitive grant proposals are accepted and reviewed by OTSO, with funds awarded to projects that will have the greatest impact on reducing fatal crashes or significantly improving traffic safety systems.

For more information on the national effort to improve traffic safety click here for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.

People who have SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits can now use them to buy fresh produce at the Hancock County Farmers’ Market in Findlay.

Taylor Coote is community impact director for the United Way of Hancock County.

She says most vendors are excited about this and that vendors will have a sign showing what types of payment they accept.

SNAP benefits will be accepted for the first time at the Thursday farmers’ market.

The Hancock County Farmers’ Market is held on Thursdays from 4 to 6 May through the end of October in the parking lot of the Marathon Center for the Performing Arts at 200 West Main Cross Street in Findlay.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says a woman from Ottawa was seriously injured in a crash in Williams County.

The Defiance Post of the Highway Patrol says Danielle Nieto, 28, was driving an SUV northbound on County Road 6 Wednesday night when she went off the right side of the road, over-corrected, and then the vehicle overturned.

Nieto suffered serious injuries and was flown by a medical helicopter to a hospital in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

The Highway Patrol says she was wearing her seat belt at the time of the crash.

The crash remains under investigation.

The Findlay High School Homecoming Court has been announced.

The Homecoming football game will be held on Friday, October 7th against Oregon Clay at Donnell Stadium.

The Homecoming Dance will be held on Saturday, October 8th at the high school.

Bottom Row (L-R): Elizabeth Denike, Eva Mallamaci, Casey Tate, Destiny Gertz, Lillian Freeman, Regan Alexander
Back Row (L-R): Gaben Helms, Reid Patterson, Josh Baker, Paul Klein, Luke Montgomery, Hudson Goebel

The Ohio Debate Commission says the state’s Republican candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate are declining invitations to debate their Democratic counterparts.

The debates between Senate candidates JD Vance and Rep. Tim Ryan, and Governor Mike DeWine and former Dayton mayor Nan Whaley were scheduled for October.

It’s not known if there will be any debates prior to the November 8th midterm election.

Whaley said that Governor DeWine is apparently “too big of a coward to defend his record.”

Whaley made the statement after the Ohio Debate Commission said DeWine declined to participate in a debate.

The United Way of Hancock County‘s Fall Days of Caring was a big success.

The Fall Days of Caring ran from September 19-21 and volunteers tackled a variety of projects such as landscaping, painting, cleaning and construction.

We stopped by 50 North in Findlay as some volunteers from Marathon Petroleum were helping 50 North volunteer Tim Brugeman with some landscaping. (video below)

Among the other projects that were completed; volunteers painted and landscaped at Teddy’s Rescue and the Hancock County Fairgrounds.

And a team of volunteers organized and cleaned at Cancer Patient Services of Hancock County and a team from Blanchard Valley Health System completed some yard work for affordable senior living communities Kiwanis Village and Blanchard House.

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

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

In four-hour shifts, the volunteers take on projects such as landscaping, organizing, painting, planning an event, cleaning, or construction.

More than 8 million Ohioans are expected to be eligible to vote in the upcoming midterm election.

As of Tuesday, which was National Voter Registration Day, Ohio was just 5,000 registered voters short of 8 million.

The deadline to register to vote in the fall midterm election is October 11th.

Click here for information about registering to vote or updating your voter registration.

Election Day is on Tuesday, November 8th.

Hancock County Job and Family Services has announced that they will be closed to the public on Friday, September 23rd.

The agency said it apologizes for any inconvenience caused by the one-day closure.

Through its partnerships with community organizations and state and federal government agencies, Hancock County Job & Family Services provides a number of services to families and individuals in need of assistance.

The services range from food stamps, cash assistance, and child care subsidies to child support enforcement, job training, and access to medical care.

The Cleveland Browns fan who threw a plastic water bottle that hit team owner Jimmy Haslam during Sunday’s game has been permanently banned from the stadium.

Video shows the bottle flying at Haslam and appearing to strike him somewhere on the leg, with Haslam then pointing toward the individual who threw it.

A Cleveland police report identifies the accused bottle-thrower as 51-year-old Jeffrey Miller of Rocky River and notes that he appeared to be intoxicated at the time.

Multiple officers apparently had to detain Miller as he attempted to leave the stadium.

He was arrested and charged with assault, disorderly conduct, and failure to comply.

Seneca County’s first roundabout has opened to traffic.

The new roundabout is at the intersection of US 224 and State Route 587 in western Seneca County.

The Ohio Department of Transportation’s Kelsie Hoagland says the new roundabout will improve safety at the intersection.

She said the US 224 and State Route 587 intersection saw 13 crashes from 2014 to 2018, earning it a spot on the state’s list of most dangerous intersections.

Kelsie explains how to drive through a roundabout in the audio below.

Kelsie reminds people that, while you may have driven through roundabouts plenty of times, it might be somebody else’s first time, so be patient.

Get more from Kelsie in the video below.

September 19-23 is National Roundabouts Week.