The Hancock County District Advisory Council voted unanimously yesterday to combine the Findlay and Hancock County health departments.  With Findlay Council agreeing to the joint health department on February 3, the contract will become effective immediately.  The single health agency will serve more than 75,000 people.
 

A man who left a suicide note on his neighbors door jumped into the Sandusky River yesterday afternoon.  Police had been looking for forty-five minutes for forty-six year old Mike J. Lucius of Tiffin when he was reported to have jumped into the river from the East Perry Street Bridge.  After being rescued by the Tiffin Fire Department, Lucius was taken to Mercy Tiffin Hospital and later by Life Flight to Toledo.

Findlay was named number one by Site Selection magazine for business growth among 575 small cities nationwide.  It won the distinction by bringing the McLane Company’s $119 million distribution center to Findlay, announcing Cooper Tire’s Global Technical Center; and expansions by Rowmark and Marathon.  In addition, Ohio was second only to Texas in Site Selection’s 2014 Governor’s Cup competition with other states. 
 

JobsOhio, Ohio’s non-profit privatized economic development office, reports that I created more than 21,000 jobs in 2014.  Jobs Ohio reported landing 286 projects and $6.1 billion in capital investments.  However, the group reported a downturn in the number of jobs retained by working with existing companies to upgrade or expand their operations.

The Ohio House is preparing to approve a two-year state transportation budget that adds certain training requirements for prospective drivers and allows the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to accept credit and debit cards.  The bill calls for all first-time drivers - not just minors - to take an approved driver training course, and makes other changes.

Ohio officials have sued BP for more than $33 million, alleging the oil and gas company double dipped.  The suit alleges BP claimed it had no insurance when it took state funding to clean up leaks from underground storage tanks at hundreds of its Ohio gas stations, even while also accepting insurance money.