Port Clinton residents joined together to show their love for a missing teenager.

Family, friends and strangers gathered Sunday night for a candlelight vigil to pray for Harley Dilly’s safe return home.

The 14-year-old Port Clinton High School student disappeared on December 20th.

A reward for the tip that brings Harley home is now up to $7,000.

A new missing alert for Dilly has now gone nationwide, to the FBI, U.S. Marshal’s Service, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and others.

Police have said they don’t believe the teenager was abducted, but they aren’t ruling anything out.

A family is okay but their house sustained extensive damage in an early morning fire in Findlay.

The fire department responded to 641 College Street at around 4:45 Sunday morning on the report of a fire.

The fire department says there was smoke throughout the area when they pulled up and they could see fire coming from a rear corner of the house.

Firefighters got to work and had the fire under control in about 20 minutes.

The family was able to escape the house, but they couldn’t find their dog, who was hiding.

Firefighters were able to locate the dog and remove it from the house and reunite it with the family.

It’s believed the fire started in one of the rear rooms that were on fire when firefighters arrived.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Red Cross is helping the family with arrangements.

One driver was injured in a two-vehicle crash in Findlay.

The crash happened on North Blanchard Street at Vincent Street at 10:12 a.m. Friday.

The police department says 16-year-old Declan Adkins, of Findlay, was driving faster than the conditions allowed and slid on the wet roadway and hit an oncoming vehicle.

The driver of the other vehicle, 52-year-old Thomas Hoover, of Findlay, was taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital with minor injuries.

Both vehicles had to be towed due to the extent of damage.

The police department says Adkins was cited for driving left of center.

Authorities in Ottawa County are ramping up the search for a missing 14-year-old boy.

Port Clinton police say they’re taking the missing child alert for Harley Dilly to a nationwide level after finding no sign of him during a 150-acre search.

Investigators are following up on a new tip about Harley, who was seen in surveillance pictures walking away from his home last week.

Meantime, the reward for information on the teen’s whereabouts was increased to $4,000.

Police don’t believe Dilly was abducted, but are not ruling it out.

At a briefing on Friday, people in Ottawa County were urged to leave their lights on at night.

Police are hoping to get word out to the boy that he can go to any home with the light on.

Van Buren Local Schools has been placed on ‘precautionary financial status’ by the Ohio Department of Education.

“What that indicates is that they recognize, and we recognize, that the district is deficit-spending and we need to put together a financial plan to address that shortfall,” Superintendent Tim Myers told WFIN News.

He says the district in 2020-2021 will be deficit-spending to the tune of 1.9 million dollars without making cuts and increasing revenue.

Myers says the district is looking at making cuts, evaluating programs and has put a 1 percent income tax back on the ballot on March 17th.

He says if the income tax passes it will bring in about $2.4 million a year, but they won’t start collecting that until April of 2021 so some reductions would still be necessary.

And if the income tax fails, they would have to cut nearly $2 million from their budget.

He says several factors have led to the district’s financial situation, one of the biggest being the loss of tangible personal property tax over the years and the fact that they’ve gotten no new revenue for a while.

“The last time this district asked for new revenue that was approved was 15 years ago, so inflation, loss of revenue…all those things are catching up with us.”

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says more people were killed in crashes over the Christmas reporting period this year compared to last.

During the two-day reporting period, on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, 12 people were killed in eight fatal crashes.

11 people were killed in 2018, during a reporting period that ran from December 21 to 25.

“We need motorists to commit to keeping our roads safe by planning ahead to designate a sober driver and insisting that everyone in the vehicle is buckled up,” said Colonel Richard S. Fambro.

“Motorists can help fight the battle against impaired driving by actively influencing friends and family to do the same.”

The highway patrol says distracted driving continues to be a big problem.

In 2018, 47 traffic crashes attributed to distracted driving resulted in 51 deaths on Ohio’s roads.

As of Friday, December 27th, 1,138 people had been killed in crashes on Ohio roadways in 2019, an increase of 82 from 2018.

Police in Fostoria are investigating a string of tire slashings.

On the Fostoria Police Division’s Facebook page they said: “The Christmas Grinch struck the 500 and 600 block of Lynn St. and Cherry St.”

Police say they’ve now received five reports of vehicles with tires slashed.

Police are advising people to turn on their outside lights and be watchful.

Anyone who notices any suspicious activity should contact police dispatch at 419-435-8573.

“We’ll take it” and “I’m loving it” pretty much summed up how people in Findlay were feeling about the warmer temperatures on Thursday, the day after Christmas.

The high on Thursday, the day after Christmas, reached the mid-60s in Findlay.

People could be seen out and about walking dogs, jogging and just enjoying being outside without having to be bundled up in December.

While some said it would’ve been nice to have some snow on Christmas they’re fine with it being this warm now.

And it looks like these warmer temps will be sticking around for a while

It’s forecast to be mostly cloudy and mid-50s on Friday and just about the same on Saturday.

And then a high of 60 on Sunday with showers.

Blanchard Valley Hospital is taking precautions as health officials say the flu is hitting Ohio harder and earlier than last year.

Two days before Christmas the hospital started requiring visitors and employees who haven’t had a flu shot to wear a flu mask.

Other hospitals in the state are restricting visitors because of flu concerns.

The Ohio Department of Health says hospitalizations for the flu in Ohio are up 53 percent compared to this time last year.

The department said 404 people had been hospitalized by mid-December, compared to 264 last year.

The CDC lists Ohio and 30 other states as having widespread flu activity, which is the highest designation.

Nike is now selling an official Ohio State LeBron James alumni basketball jersey.

The sports apparel company posted a picture of the jersey this week on its Twitter, featuring the Buckeyes scarlet away jersey with gray piping on the shoulders and James’ number 23 on the front and back.

LeBron James grew up in Akron and is a life-long Ohio State fan, having said on the record many times if he hadn’t gone pro straight out of high school, he would have been a Buckeye.

Sources say the school is happy with Nike’s plan for the jersey both as a way to thank James for his continued support of the Buckeyes and for the exposure in recruiting