The Ohio Department of Transportation says Slabtown Road over U.S. 30 in Allen County will remain closed through the middle of the summer.

The bridge was struck by an over-height boom truck in December.

Repair work on the bridge could begin as early as mid-April.

Get more details below from ODOT.

The Slabtown Road bridge over U.S. 30 was extensively damaged on December 22 by an over-height vehicle.

Slabtown Road was closed immediately.

The next day, U.S. 30 westbound was closed to remove a section of the damaged deck and the steel beam to ensure the safety of motorists traveling under the bridge.

ODOT and the Allen County Engineer’s Office have completed the initial scope for the repair of the Slabtown Road bridge over U.S. 30, which closed in December due to a bridge strike.

The tentative schedule for the repairs sets construction to begin as early as mid-April and will take approximately 60 days to complete.

The repairs for the Slabtown Road overhead will include removing and replacing all the bridge deck over the westbound portion of U.S. 30.

The section of damaged beam that has already been removed will be replaced. One other steel beam will need heat-straightening.

The start date for the repairs will hinge on how quickly the replacement beam can be custom-fabricated.

The timetable for this special order depends on several factors and it could take a couple of months for the beam to be delivered.

Prior to the crash, the bridge was in good condition and no upcoming maintenance work was planned for the bridge.

Slabtown Road over U.S. 30, in Allen Co., will remain closed through mid-summer. The repair work for this bridge that was struck by an over-height vehicle could begin as early as mid-April.

Visit the project page to learn more: https://t.co/MrATD1YpJ3 pic.twitter.com/klrDqF7YVw

— ODOT NW Ohio (@ODOT_NWOhio) January 12, 2021

Raise the Bar – Hancock County has received a $250,000 grant from the state to accelerate workforce development efforts in the county.

Raise the Bar is among a limited number of awardees in the new Industry Sector Partnership Grant Program, which is administered through the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation and the Ohio Development Services Agency.

Raise the Bar Executive Director Tricia Valasek says this state funding will allow Raise the Bar to simultaneously reach educators, parents, employers, job seekers, and students.

She says the grant support will positively impact existing programs, including Leader in Me, Manufacturing Day for middle school students, career and college day for high school students, and earn-and-learn pathways like OH! FAME.

Raise the Bar is also seeking to pilot a new career assessment process to place high school students with companies/mentors that align to individual interests and aptitudes.

Tricia has more details on how the community will benefit from the grant money below, and you can learn more about Raise the Bar – Hancock County by clicking here.

Lt. Governor Jon Husted announced the grant recipients during the governor’s Tuesday afternoon COVID update.

Governor DeWine says he has signed an order authorizing 580 Ohio National Guard members into active duty.

He says their activation allows them to begin training in preparation to assist during the presidential inauguration in Washington D.C.

The governor says the group will also assist in Ohio.

DeWine says he has met with the Ohio National Guard and the Ohio State Highway Patrol about threats to the statehouse.

The Governor spoke following the release of a bulletin from the FBI saying right-wing extremist groups are planning violence as the president prepares to leave office.

DeWine said he could not discuss specifics regarding security policies, but he was very concerned about the reports.

He says state authorities will do everything in their power to protect the Ohio Statehouse.

A man was killed and a woman suffered life-threatening injuries in a crash on U.S. 23 between Carey and Upper Sandusky.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says Roger Schlack, 67, of Carey, was driving north on U.S. 23 on Monday night when at around 7:50 he crashed into a trailer that had become disconnected from a semi that was turning onto U.S. 23 from County Road 44.

Roger was pronounced dead at the scene.

The Highway Patrol says passenger Lana Schlack, 60, of Carey, was flown to a Cleveland hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Both were wearing their seat belt at the time of the crash.

The Highway Patrol said the driver of the semi was Salih Husain, 29, of Hilliard.

The crash remains under investigation.

Stock+Field is closing its 25 locations, including the one in Findlay at the mall.

Stock+Field (formerly Big R) says 2020 presented many challenges and they were not immune to them.

Stock+Field says they’ve partnered with providers of new merchandise and will be selling items at massive discounts in the coming weeks.

“Even (and especially) in a pandemic – we believe the customer should be able to get some wins,” the company said on its website.

The company thanks its employees and customers, especially in the rural communities it has partnered with.

They hope to reopen stores at some point in the future.

The Findlay Police Department says a driver is facing a variety of charges after running into some parked cars, fleeing the scene and then crashing. (video below)

At around 9 p.m. Sunday police say Dustan Thompson, 36, of Bluffton, crashed into some vehicles in the 1300 block of South Main Street in Findlay.

One of the three cars that was hit, the Corvette, is likely totaled and as the owner told us is “going to the big junkyard in the sky.”

Police say Thompson kept driving and turned onto Sixth Street and then Blanchard Street.

Police say he crashed into a pole and took out a portion of the fence in front of the water department on North Blanchard Street.

Police say Thompson is charged with OVI, leaving the scene of a crash, left of center, a marked lanes violation and two license violations.

WFIN News was on the scene and spoke with the owner of two of the vehicles that were hit.

Ray says in November of 2019 he had another one of his vehicles totaled by a driver who went off the road on the other side of the street. Read about that crash here.

There was no one inside any of the three vehicles that were struck.

Police say the crashes are still under investigation.

City of Findlay flags and flags across Ohio have been lowered to half-staff in remembrance of the service and sacrifice of U.S. Capitol Police Officers Brian Sicknick and Howard Liebengood.

Sicknick died on Thursday, a day after he was injured while defending the U.S. Capitol from the violent group of President Trump supporters who stormed the building after Trump gave a speech encouraging supporters to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election win.

Officer Liebengood died of an apparent suicide on Saturday.

Governor DeWine ordered the flag-lowering to extend until sunset on Wednesday.

Flags shall be flown at half-staff on all public buildings and grounds until Jan. 13, 2021. ⬇ pic.twitter.com/qRt0HIo4SL

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) January 11, 2021

https://twitter.com/CityOfFindlay?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

UPDATE- The boil alert has been lifted.

The Village of Columbus Grove has issued a drinking water warning saying disease-causing organisms may have entered the village’s water supply.

The village says, due to a loss of power at the water plant, organisms that cause illness in people may have entered the water supply.

People who use the village’s water should boil their water before using or use bottled water.

Officials say there’s no evidence that the water system is contaminated but the possibility does exist and the warning was issued as a precaution.

No timeline for the boil order was given. The village says it’s taking the necessary steps to correct the problem.

The Findlay Police Department has two new officers on the force.

Officers Joshua Bortel and Mason Warnimont were sworn in by the mayor on Monday morning.

Bortel, 32, graduated from Fremont Ross High School and then attended Brown Mackie College.

He earned an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice and then went on to complete the Police Academy at Owens Community College.

Bortel was an officer with the Cedar Point Police Department and the McComb Police Department for the past six years.

Warnimont, 22, graduated from Cory-Rawson High School.

He attended Ashland University, the University of Findlay, and the Owens Community College Police Academy, earning his Peace Officer’s Certificate.

Both officers will begin their field training program in the department’s patrol division.

One of the lucky Buckeye fans who will be in the stands for the championship game Monday night against Alabama is The Big Nut, who you no doubt have seen at the games wearing his scarlet and gray face paint.

Jon Peters, who is from Fremont, was interviewed by WKXA’s Rex Howard.

Rex asked Jon where his passion for Ohio State comes from.

The first football game he attended as the Big Nut was the title game against Miami in 2003 and says that was the greatest game he’s ever seen.

Jon even has a Big Nut Scholarship Fund.

Learn more about that and much more in the interview below.

(picture courtesy of The Big Nut – Facebook)