(ONN) – Ohioans, including hundreds from American Electric Power, have headed south to help victims of Hurricane Laura.
They’re leaving their families for at least two weeks to provide help to the gulf coast and restore power to areas that are badly hit.
Ohio Task Force One also took off for the area Wednesday night.
There are about 85 members from the Ohio area.
They’re part of a search and rescue team that will likely be needed now that the hurricane has hit.
Two people were transported to Blanchard Valley Hospital after a crash in Findlay.
The crash happened at 6:22 p.m. Wednesday at the intersection of Clinton Court and Martin Luther King Parkway.
The Findlay Police Department says Jaame Courtney, 25, of Findlay, was westbound on Clinton Court in a Cadillac STS and pulled out in front of a Hyundai Sonata that was southbound on Martin Luther King Parkway.
A passenger in Courtney’s car, Brittany Smith, was taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital for minor injuries.
The driver of the Hyundai, Priscilla Drake, 22, of Findlay, was taken to Blanchard Valley Hospital for minor injuries.
The police department says Courtney was issued a citation for failure to yield.
A man is facing felony charges after allegedly exchanging gunfire with Hancock County Sheriff’s Office deputies.
Deputies responded to 16091 County Road 8 in Jackson Township a little before 7 o’clock Wednesday night to investigate a domestic dispute.
During their investigation, the sheriff’s office says Dean Lauck, 51, of Arlington, pulled a gun.
The sheriff’s office says gunfire was exchanged between Lauck and deputies and Lauck fled the area.
No one was struck by the gunfire.
The area was searched by K-9s, a helicopter and a drone and Lauck was taken into custody later in the evening.
He was taken to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office and charged with felonious assault, a first-degree felony.
The public is invited to attend a Raise the Wall ceremony for Habitat for Humanity of Findlay/Hancock County‘s latest project.
Habitat’s Wendy McCormick says the home being constructed at 1410 Logan Avenue is their 2020 Apostle Build and their 45th overall project.
She says Habitat does an all-church Apostle Build once every three years.
Wendy says the home is for Allison Bowyer, who has four kids and is already making plans for her new home.
Allison has prepared for her new home by attending home ownership and Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University classes.
She’s also required to put in 400 hours of sweat equity into building her family’s Habitat house and working at the ReStore.
The Raise the Wall ceremony will be held at 10 o’clock Saturday morning at the site at 1410 Logan Avenue in Findlay’s West Park neighborhood.
Construction is slated for August 29th through September 26th and then the home will be dedicated on October 3rd.
An area business owner says he probably would’ve gone under had it not been for the Paycheck Protection Program.
Chris Bates of Bates Recycling in Cygnet says the program allowed him to keep all of his workers on staff and likely saved his operation.
Congressman Bob Latta says the program was designed with small businesses like Bates Recycling in mind.
The Paycheck Protection Program was part of the CARES Act that passed Congress earlier this year and was geared towards helping small businesses keep employees on the payroll.
Latta says in Ohio’s 5th Congressional District, the program was utilized by more than 6,000 businesses and saved or supported more than 120,000 jobs.
Let Chris Bates of @bates_recycling tell you what the #PPP has meant for his business. Thanks again for hosting me at your facility in Cygnet today. pic.twitter.com/9V09Uwftvn
— U.S. Rep. Bob Latta (@boblatta) August 26, 2020
The number of active COVID-19 cases went down in the latest data from Hancock Public Health.
The agency said Wednesday that there were 45 active cases of the virus, which is a drop of 14 from Monday.
Active cases are patients who are currently under quarantine or isolation.
There were 490 total cases as of Wednesday, an increase of eight from Monday.
43 people have been hospitalized from the virus in Hancock County since the beginning of the pandemic and six residents have died from it.
Hancock County is at level 2, or orange, on the state’s COVID-19 alert map.
The Tiffin Drive-In Theater is under new ownership and will be investing $200,000 in two new screens, with other improvements to follow in the next few years.
The Tiffin-Seneca Economic Partnership says the drive-in was recently purchased by Mike Cole, a freelance writer and entrepreneur from Findlay.
Among his planned changes, two new screens are to be built.
One of the screens will be 84-foot-wide and replace the original screen, built when the drive-in was first opened in 1949.
Also, a second, permanent 44-foot-wide screen will be constructed.
Cole says operations should continue as normal for the next few weeks and expects that the new screens will be constructed beginning in early September, during which time the house on State Route 53 will also be removed.
He says other areas of the drive-in will also be getting a facelift over the next 3 to 4 years.
“We are excited to bring the Tiffin Drive-In Theater into the next era and help it to continue to be a unique attraction in Seneca County for many years to come,” Cole said.
Cole said he and his wife were inspired to open a drive-in theater after visiting others.
(picture courtesy of the Tiffin Drive-In Theater)
The Ohio Democratic Party is filing a lawsuit in the hopes of getting more than one ballot drop box per county before the November election.
Ohio Democratic Party Chair David Pepper said that more ballot drop boxes within each county would eliminate delays in boards receiving ballots through the mail.
The lawsuit names Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose as the lone defendant.
LaRose spoke about the issue recently saying that under current state law his office is only allowed to authorize one ballot drop box location per county.
LaRose says he has been and continues to be supportive of legislation that permits additional options for voters to return their absentee ballots, but as an executive office holder he must follow the laws as written by the Ohio Legislature.
The Hancock County Board of Elections has a drop box for absentee ballot requests and ballots outside their building at 201 East Lincoln Street.
People can drop their information in the drop box at any time.
You can also pick up absentee requests from the small box attached to the east side of the drop box.
The drop box is monitored 24/7.
People can also still mail the board of elections and request an absentee ballot.
Governor Mike DeWine is responding to a GOP effort to impeach him over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
During his Tuesday COVID-19 briefing, DeWine, a Republican, said if some Republican lawmakers want to spend their time drafting resolutions to remove him from office, they should “have at it.”
The governor said his focus remains on growing the economy and saving lives during the pandemic.
State Representative John Becker says DeWine has violated the Ohio and U.S. constitutions, as well as multiple sections of the Ohio revised code.
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An employee died in an accident at the Hancock County Sanitary Landfill.
The Hancock County Sheriff’s Office says deputies were called to the landfill at 3763 County Road 140 at 3:15 Monday afternoon.
Deputies arrived to find that David Lehman, 70, of Findlay, had become pinned between his vehicle and a dumpster near the dump site.
Lehman was declared dead at the scene by Hanco EMS.
The sheriff’s office says the incident is still under investigation by their office and the Hancock County Coroner’s Office.