CELINA -Two deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, raising Mercer County's toll to six.

No new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the county, keeping the total cases at 201.

In Auglaize County, one confirmed case raised that county's number to 65. [More]

CELINA - A fourth person has died from COVID-19 in Mercer County, and two new cases raised the county's total to more than 200, according to a Wednesday news release.

Auglaize County health officials reported one new confirmed case, raising that county's confirmed number of cases to 64. [More]

CELINA - City officials have decided to open Bryson Pool on June 6 but on a limited, private-party-only basis to comply with state COVID-19 pandemic directives, city safety service director Tom Hitchcock said.

They also on Wednesday afternoon reopened Huffy pond in Eastview Park, which contains a beach area. Yet the city is not allowed to turn on the splash pads at either Bryson Pool or the Bryson Park District along Lake Shore Drive or allow access to playground equipment, per state orders. [More]

Mercer County no longer has the lowest unemployment rate in the state.

Pandemic-caused job losses caused Mercer County to drop from the state's lowest rate of unemployment to 14th in a three-way tie with Clermont and Fairfield counties. Mercer County had maintained the lowest unemployment rate in the state since March 2016. [More]

CELINA - Harner family members moved into their new home on Brooke Avenue over this past holiday weekend, almost exactly a year after their former house was destroyed by the Memorial Day 2019 tornado.

The house was built in the same spot as the previous one that was destroyed by the EF3 twister that swept directly through it, Sarah Harner said. The tornado with wind speeds of up to 150 mph followed a 6.6-mile path through Celina, according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington. [More]

CELINA - Anita Fleming of Celina has few memories of the Memorial Day 2019 tornado that ravaged her Mud Pike property and left her unconscious for nearly a month at Miami Valley Hospital in Dayton, where she was treated for severe injuries.

She credits God for sparing her life and seeing her through the ordeal, just as in 1997, when she recovered from a series of strokes that forced her to learn how to walk again before returning to work a year later as a medical office receptionist. [More]

CELINA - Celina High School senior Ethan Ly had all but given up hope for becoming an Eagle Scout.

Yet with the encouragement of his mom and grandfather, Ly was able to achieve his goal and create a Caring Closet at Celina Middle School.

Ly has been with the Boy Scouts of America since he was 12 and was barely a month and a half away from the deadline to become an Eagle Scout. [More]