First step taken to stop flooding

First step takento stop flooding
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners have hired a company to design storm drain improvements for a county-owned property to stop storm water runoff from the property from backing up into the nearby Lordstown General Motors Corporation plant during heavy rains.
Commissioners authorized paying Earth Source, Inc. of Fort Wayne, Ind., between $3,200 and $5,200 for the design work Thursday. Officials have not estimated the final cost of improvements.
Sentenced for perjury
CLEVELAND -- A federal judge has sentenced an Austintown woman to three years' probation for lying to a grand jury. U.S. District Judge Kathleen M. O'Malley imposed the sentence upon Janet L. Blasens, 35, of Rosemont Avenue. The judge ordered Blasens to spend the first six months of the probation under electronically monitored house arrest. Blasens, who was also ordered to pay a $100 special assessment, had pleaded guilty to the perjury charge in February. Blasens, a former manager of Bella Health Spa in Warren, was charged with lying to a grand jury investigating whether prostitution and money laundering occurred at the spa. The charges arose from an investigation by Warren police and the FBI, the U.S. attorney said.
Held in school break-in
WARREN -- Police arrested two boys who they say broke into Garfield Elementary School, Montclair N.E., around 1:30 a.m. today. The boys were apprehended on charges of delinquency by way of breaking and entering after a brief foot pursuit by police. The boys were in Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center and scheduled to appear in juvenile court today. Police were summoned by the school's burglar alarm and spotted the boys running from the building.
Packard Band trustee
WARREN -- Outgoing Packard Band Trustee Samuel Brogdon Jr. has been replaced by the Rev. F. Robert Williams.
The Rev. Mr. Williams is pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church and was chosen this week to replace Brogdon, whose four-year term expired.
Packard trustees oversee affairs of Packard Band, which plays at Packard Music Hall. Brogdon had been trustee chairman.
Girl Scout cookies
NILES -- Last call for Girl Scout cookies.
All varieties can still be ordered, but time is running out. The deadline is May 1.
Call the Lake to River Council at (800) 362-9430 or inquire in person at the council office, 980 Warren Ave. The cookies won't be available again until next March.
Mail carriers food drive
YOUNGSTOWN -- National Association of Letter Carriers Branch 385 will conduct its annual food drive May 12.
Residents are asked to put nonperishable foods at their mailboxes, which will be collected by carriers during their regular routes that day.
The food is distributed to the Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul Society, Second Harvest Food Bank and Gleaners Foodbank.
The drive is a project of Branch 385, the U.S. Postal Service, United Way, AFL-CIO Community Services and Teamsters Local 377.
Locally, collections have grown from 53 tons of food in 1995 to 87.5 tons last year in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.
Last year, the drive took in 64.2 million pounds nationally.
Slavery and Holocaust
YOUNGSTOWN -- The African-American/Jewish Dialogue will present "Slavery and the Holocaust: A Dual Perspective" at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the McGuffey Centre.
The program will include discussion on the similarities and differences between slavery and the Holocaust and their impact on the black and Jewish communities.
Historical and philosophical perspective will be provided by Dr. Saul Friedman, a history professor at Youngstown State University, and the Rev. Donna Sloan, who teaches in YSU's department of philosophy and religious studies.
There will be performances by two groups, the Holocaust Impact Theater Teen Troupe, which will present original dramatic and musical vignettes, and Chosen Generation, a youth and adult mime ministry at Holy Trinity Missionary Baptist Church.