06/26/19 – 9:12 A.M.

Hancock County will work with the City of Findlay to address some city roads that are affected by heavy flooding. The Hancock County Commissioners approved a memorandum of understanding with the city during a Tuesday meeting. According to the agreement, the county will pay for preliminary engineering, detail design, construction, and land acquisition, if necessary, and gives the city access to the properties. This will be done with money from the previously collected sales tax that expired last year.

The initial streets are Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Way, East Sandusky Street, and Western Avenue. The goal is to improve these transportation corridors.

06/26/19 – 7 A.M.

The Torch Run for Special Olympics is making its way through Findlay this afternoon. Local law enforcement and runners will carry the torch. It will start at the Ohio Highway Patrol Office at 3:30 p.m. and head south down Main Street. The group will make stops at the Hancock County Courthouse, the South Main Street Fire Station, and then Kroger.

The group will then head east on Sixth Street to Blanchard Street. They will run Blanchard Street to East Sandusky Street and then run towards Osborne Avenue where they will take a left and head for Riverside Park.

Runners should arrive at Riverside Park between 4 and 5 p.m. where a celebration is planned near Shelter 9.

06/26/19 – 5:40 A.M.

Unemployment rates rose across the state in May. The latest figures from Ohio Jobs and Family Services showed Hancock County rose to 2.7% in May. That’s compared to 2.4% in April.

Putnam County tied for the second lowest unemployment rate in the state. The county stood at 2.4% in May, which was down from the 2.5% the county saw in May.

Allen (3.2), Hardin (3.4), Seneca (3.7), Wood (3.4), Wyandot (3.4), and Henry (3.5) Counties were all above 3% unemployment.

06/26/19 – 5:27 A.M.

The Black Swamp Area Council’s Exploring Division is partnering up with CentraComm for a career exploration program. The two organizations will host a Cybersecurity Exploring Post starting this fall for students ages 14-20-years-old. The program will give students the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the field as well as network with professionals and college educators.

The Post will host an open house on September 12 for families to learn more. The open house will start at 6 p.m. at CentraComm on South Main Street.

The program has a $44 registration fee and will run from September to April. It is only accepting 20 students.

06/25/19 – 10:26 A.M.

Natural gas customers in McComb will get to pay their bills online soon. McComb Village Council made the announcement last night. They deemed the current option to pay a gas bill over the phone with a credit card as too risky. In order to fix this, McComb is looking into allowing residents to pay online through the village’s website.

The council also put a ceiling on how much a gas customer can overpay. According to village officials, this inflates the actual budget.

06/25/19 – 10:13 A.M.

The Hancock County Board of Elections approved moving ahead with voter sign-in equipment from a new vendor Monday. This will happen if the current company doesn’t provide a software patch to allow existing equipment to work with new voting machines. The County recently approved an agreement for new voting machines. Election Systems and Software promised to provide a software update to make their sign-in equipment compatible with the new machines.

The company has fallen behind on its pledge, putting some election boards across Ohio in a bind. The state has required that new voting equipment must be in place by November if it is going to be used in next year’s presidential primary and general elections.

ES&S has until July 12 to make the machines compatible. You can learn more in today’s Courier.

06/25/19 – 7:37 A.M.

Two Findlay residents were injured in a car accident on State Route 199 near Fostoria Saturday night. The Wood County Sheriff’s Office reports that 20-year-old Destiny Johnson was driving south on State Route 199 around 11:40 p.m. north of Fostoria. She went off the west side of the roadway and struck a telephone pole.

Johnson and her passenger, 30-year-old Jose Villegas, were taken to ProMedica Fostoria Community Hospital. They suffered minor injuries.

Officers cited Johnson for operating a vehicle without reasonable control.

06/25/19 – 5:37 A.M.

Hancock County was awarded FEMA funds under the Emergency Food and Shelter National Board Program. The county will get over $32,500 to help with emergency food and shelter programs. A national board made the selection. A local board made up of representative nonprofits will choose how the money is distributed to emergency food and shelter programs run by local service agencies.

Public or private voluntary agencies can apply for the funds by contacting Michael Momany at the United Way of Hancock County at 419-423-1432. The deadline for applications is July 5.