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Unemployment numbers, council candidate, murder indictment, more...

Ohio's unemployment numbers for February are in and they're still on the rise. Ohio's unemployment rate was 9.4 percent for the month of February, up from 8.8 percent in January according to the Ohio department of job and family services. Ohio's February unemployment rate of 9.4 percent is higher than February's national rate of 8.1 percent. Overall job loss occurred in both the service producing and goods producing industries. Over the past month, government, leisure and hospitality industries added jobs. The workforce development manager at The Source says while thousands of people are looking everyday and filling out applicaitons, it comes down to the jobs that are out there. He say they have a large number of low skill, low paying jobs and high skill, high paying positions, but that creates a problem for someone who's in the middle of the road and lacks the training to qualify for one of the high skill jobs.

Meanwhile, the news across the state line in Michigan isn't much better. In fact, there's nowhere in the nation with more people out of work. Michigan's latest jobless rate stands at 11.6 percent, the highest in the country When you look to the southeastern counties, the picture is even worse. Monroe County's jobless rate is 14.6 percent. Lenawee County is at 15.1 percent and Hillsdale County has one of the highest jobless rates in the state at 17.3 percent. For those people joining the unemployment lines, you will see an extra $25 a week in your unemployment benefit checks starting Monday and running through the week of July 3, 2010. The money will come from the federal economic recovery package and employers will not be charged for the higher payments. One more note, we are expecting Michigan to release the February unemployment numbers next week.

There's a new candidate for an at-large spot on Toledo's city council. Adam Martinez has announced he will be running in the 2009 election. Martinez has a master's degree in organizational leadership and is currently working on his second master's-- in urban planning, design, and development. Martinez says his platform is pro business, and pro neighborhoods.

Back in December, Sarah Bunch of Wood County was taken into custody for the suspected murder of Robert Porter. Porter was found shot in the head after police were called to the scene of a fire. Now Bunch has been indicted on murder charges, arson and impeding an investigation. She'll be arraigned in Wood County next month.

We have been told that a truck is stuck under the viaduct on Hawley street near Western. The truck is a Banner Mattress delivery truck. Officials are at the scene, attempting to get traffic moving in that area again. Currently, Hawley Street is closed. The passenger in the truck was injured.

Police tell us that a fire caused smoke damage to a house this morning. It happened on St. Louis Street. Authorities say a family was using their oven to heat their home when a Nerf football collided with the oven and caught fire. The fire then spread to a chair in the kitchen. No word yet on damage estimates.

The latest in a series of approximately 20 concrete pours took place today at the Toledo Zoo. The colored, stamped concrete will form the sidewalks in the nature's neighborhood, the year-round children's zoo planned to open in June. Nature's Neighborhood has generated business for over 100 companies and created jobs for over 165 people. The dedicated workers will have put in more than 46,000 hours over the 14-month construction period.

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