School districts from across the state had been told long before the 2015-16 grade cards were released by the Ohio Department of Education late Thursday morning that their results would be lower than previous years. But even with those warnings, the superintendents and boards of education must have taken a collective “gulp” at the final report.

RIDGEWAY — Meadow, Callie and Jon Cromer have been missing several days of school this week. They haven’t been sick. They are working on the family farm south of Ridgeway. But they are not milking the herd of dairy cows, cleaning out barns or doing their normal chores.

Body camera video captures incident — Nicholas Meeker was scheduled to appear in court later this month on charges stemming from an incident earlier this year when he slammed his car into an oncoming Kenton police cruiser at about 100 miles per hour.

An afternoon of games and education is being planned Saturday in Kenton for the young people of Hardin County. Kidz Blitz is a colorful, exciting program with an anti-drug message for children between the age of five and the sixth grade, said organizer Becky Potts.

Pam Thames has spent 35 years as a school bus driver and through that time has seen second generations of students she had before. For 31 years, Thames’ job was navigating the Riverdale School District roads, picking up students and dropping them off after school.

The annual United Way of Hardin County’s football drop took place prior to the football game between Kenton and Wapakoneta Friday evening. All 1,000 tickets were sold and each of the nine winners will share the $1,000 prize with $111.11 going to each.

Getting used needles and related drug paraphernalia off the streets and playgrounds is the goal of the first of several public health kiosks to be located in Hardin County.