ZANSVILLE MAN IS INDICTED

A 55-year-old Zanesville man accused of choking a man has been indicted by a Licking County grand jury. Jon Wilkins faces one count each of strangulation and assault in connection with an incident in Oct. 2025 in Heath. Wilkins is due back in court in early April.

FATAL PLANE CRASH IN NEW YORK

The investigation continues into a fatal plane crash at New York’s LaGuardia Airport. The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express jet were killed and 41 people were injured when the plane collided with a fire truck while landing at the airport late Sunday night.

AUDITOR'S AWARD

The Newark City Auditor’s Office is the recipient of the State Auditor’s Award with Distinction after completion of the 2025 audit. Scott Brown, with the Ohio Auditor's Office, presented the award at the recent City Council meeting.

The Auditor of State Award is presented to local governments and school districts upon the completion of a clean financial audit report.

DOG LICENSE

The Licking County Dog Warden is launching a new initiative to increase dog license compliance across the county and ensure pets can quickly return home if lost. Currently, many dogs in the county are not licensed as required by Ohio law. Officials will be doing a number of things like - sending reminder notices to residents and hosting community licensing events. Under Ohio law, all dogs over three months of age must be licensed. The current cost of a dog license is $22.

SIGNALIZATION PROJECT

The Granville Downtown Signalization Project continues. Starting today ODOT crews will be back in the village to complete the final leg of this project. They will begin switching over the traffic signals at Main and Pearl. Once those two intersections are up and running with left-turn signals, they will move to Prospect and the mid-block.

COLLEGE AFFORDABILITY

Families planning for college might be worried about tuition "sticker shock" following decades of higher education cost hikes. Lisa Johnson with the North Dakota University System says despite institutions efforts to promote financial assistance, affordability doubts are still out there.

A new report published by the Brookings Institution says households with college-age students focus too much on the total tuition cost, and not the net price, which is lowered by many forms of financial aid.