BellStores announced that they are constructing a  new gas, convenience store and carwash that will replace the current Marathon station and former Gas America station on West Main Cross Street east of I-75 in Findlay.  Demolition of the current buildings will begin on September 1^st with a possible opening January 1, 2016.  The store building also will house Subway and Dairy Queen outlets.  The new operations will employ 50 to 60 people.  Also, Zippy's Car Wash will be taking over the former location of LaScola Tuscan Grill on Tiffin Avenue.  Construction is slated to begin in August with an opening later in the year.

Researchers are forecasting a potentially severe summer algae outbreak.  An 8.7 on a 10-point scale called for in 2015 could mean a more wide-scale bloom than what produced enough toxin to shut down Toledo’s water system last summer, and the worst since 2011.  Seven inches of rain in the Toledo area last month made it the fourth-wettest June on record and put it among the 20 rainiest months since the 1880s.  Those heavy rains carried high levels of phosphorus and other nutrients into Lake Erie which feed microcystis, the cyanobacteria which produce the microcystin toxin that tainted tap water last August.

Elementary School to accommodate students’ grades pre-k through 6.  This district will keep the northern section of the current high school — including the commons area, cafeteria, gymnasium, performing arts center, weight room, art classrooms and band and choir rooms In addition.  In total, facility updates will cost approximately $47 million; however, through School Facilities Commission, the state will fund 89 percent of the project, leaving the district to pay $ 9.4 million.  The new buildings are expected to be completed during the 2019-2020 academic year. 
 

The Hancock County Board of Developmental Disabilities has hired Kelli Grisham as assistant superintendent at Blanchard Valley Center.  She is expected to succeed Superintendent Connie Ament, who plans to retire.  Grisham is associate director of the Clearwater Council of Governments in Oak Harbor.  She has 15 years of management experience and will begin her work the Center on August 3.
 

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the Findlay Airport $151,000 in funding to help repair one of its runways.  The funds will be used in the design phase for the repairs to Runway 18/36 which is the north south runway.