Pay-raise vote

Pay-raise vote
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- The mayor of New Castle won't get that raise in 2004 after all. Atty. Ted Saad, assistant city solicitor, said a majority vote of all council members, not just those present at a meeting, is needed to pass any ordinance.
Council members voted 2-1 Thursday to increase the mayor's annual salary to $55,000 in 2004. Two other council members were absent. Visitors at the meeting questioned the legality of the vote and city Solicitor James Manolis said he had to research the issue.
Saad said it will be up to council members to reintroduce the pay-raise issue if they want to take another vote when all council members are present.
Gift recipient
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jim Pastore, a retired Boardman police officer who wanted to donate money to a needy family, contacted Detective Sgt. Delphine Baldwin Casey at the Youngstown Police Department's Crisis Intervention Unit.
Casey said she had no trouble finding a recipient -- a domestic violence victim with six children. Pastore's gift of $230 will allow the purchase of food, clothing and toys, Casey said. Last year, YPD Lt. Mark Milstead donated toys to CIU, Casey said.
Illegal aliens
MERCER, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police said the stop of a vehicle for numerous traffic violations on Interstate 80 netted $18,000 in stolen items and three illegal aliens.
The car was stopped in the eastbound lanes of I-80 in Findley Township Wednesday and police said three illegal aliens from Peru were among the passengers. They were turned over to federal immigration authorities from Pittsburgh.
A search of the vehicle turned up $18,431 in stolen clothing and other items and two other people in the car, Jose E. Leveratto, 41, of Flushing, N.Y., and Andres F. Malpartido, 43, of Waterbury, Conn., were charged with receiving stolen property, possession of instruments of crime and criminal conspiracy.
Both were arraigned Friday and remained in Mercer County Jail on $30,000 bond each.
Limited budget OK'd
LISBON -- Columbiana County Commissioners agreed to adopt a nearly $4.5 million budget to get them through the first three months of 2002. Commissioners took the action at a special meeting Friday.
They adopted a limited spending plan until the county's financial picture clears in the next few months. Departmental budget requests for 2002 total about $16.7 million, nearly $4 million more than projected receipts.
Commissioners are considering enacting a 0.5 percent increase in the county's 1 percent sales tax. Hearings on the matter are set for 9 a.m. Monday and 10 a.m. Thursday at the courthouse.
Victims' compensation
YOUNGSTOWN -- U.S. Rep. James A Traficant Jr. of Poland, D-17th, will introduce the Oklahoma City Victims Compensation Act when Congress reconvenes in 2002 to aid victims of the Alfred P. Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City in 1995.
The recently passed Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act makes federal compensation available for victims of the World Trade Center attacks, the attack on the Pentagon, and the plane crash in Pennsylvania, an act Traficant also supported.
Similarly, the Oklahoma City Victims Compensation Act will provide comparable funding to the victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, the congressman said.
The legislation is based on Traficant's findings from his ongoing investigation of the situation that the federal government was deficient in the Murrah Building's safety and security.
Rainfall prompts lifting of fire ban
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The Pennsylvania Game Commission lifted its ban on open fires and smoking on 1.4 million acres of state game lands, saying recent rainfall had lessened the danger of forest fires.
The open fire ban was imposed on Nov. 8 after state forestry officials issued a fire index ratings of "high" to "extreme" across Pennsylvania. The smoking ban followed Nov. 16.
Vern Ross, game commission executive director, said Friday continued caution was still necessary in part because the Department of Environmental Protection earlier this month expanded its drought watch or warning list to include 62 of the state's 67 counties.
Open-fire bans also recently have been lifted in state forests and state parks.
The state Fish and Boat Commission maintains an open-fire ban on all but three of its properties. Small cooking fires are permitted with properly constructed fire rings at Hyner Access, Clinton County; Honey Pot Access, Luzerne County; and the Allegheny River State Park Access, Venango County.