Fire department probes cause of Howland fire

Fire department probescause of Howland fire
HOWLAND -- The cause of a Friday afternoon fire that did $65,000 worth of damage to a one-story wood house at 3705 Curtis Ave., S.E., is under investigation, the fire department said.
The blaze reported at 1:11 p.m. originated in a bedroom.
The American Red Cross was called to provide emergency assistance to the occupants.
Firefighters were also called to North Road and Northwood Avenue, S.E., at 5:06 p.m. Friday after 150 to 200 gallons of blacktop spilled from a tank that rolled off a pickup truck.
A cleanup company was called.
Mahoning road closings
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Mahoning County Engineer's Office will close Turner Road in Austintown, between Mahoning Avenue and Fairview Road, beginning Wednesday to replace a culvert.
Traffic will be detoured along Fairview Road and Mahoning Avenue. Work should take two days.
On June 19, Calla Road in Green Township will be closed between U.S. Route 62 and state Route 45 to replace three culverts.
Traffic will be diverted along Route 45, Western Reserve Road and U.S. 62. That project is expected to take three days.
Convicted of burglary
WARREN -- A jury in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court has convicted a 33-year-old Niles man of aggravated burglary but acquitted him of a kidnapping charge.
The jury deliberated 51/2 hours Friday in the David Mays trial in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan.
Mays, who could be sentenced Tuesday to up to 10 years in prison, is being held in the county jail.
Prosecutors said Mays broke into a home in Newton Township on Dec. 10, 1999, pushed a female and stole a purse.
TCTC to be honored
COLUMBUS -- Trumbull Career and Technical Center will be recognized Monday during a ceremony highlighting Ohio's 18 exemplary career and technical programs.
National recognition from the U.S. Department of Education will be given at the ceremony sponsored by the Ohio Department of Education.
It will include awarding grants for programs to continue.
The ceremony is called "Best of the Best," to signify the 18 honored programs made up 56 percent of the national awardees this year.
Niles utilities panel
NILES -- City council's utilities committee will meet at 3:30 p.m. Monday in the new conference room in city hall.
Representatives of the Mahoning Valley Sanitary District are expected to attend to update the committee on happenings at the district.
Locked safe foils crime
MERCER, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police said two men tried to rob the Burger King on Steingrabe Road in East Lackawannock Township but fled empty-handed when they were unable to open the safe.
Police said the two, described only as black men wearing masks and armed with handguns, walked into the restaurant after closing around 2 a.m. Friday and ordered two maintenance workers, ages 19 and 20, to lie on the floor.
They tied the workers and left them unharmed in the restaurant cooler.
Police said the robbers took nothing from the restaurant, but they did take the car of one of the maintenance men. Police found it abandoned a short distance away.
Hearing on shooting
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- District Justice Melissa Amodie has postponed Jermaine Wilson's preliminary hearing to give him time to hire an attorney.
Wilson, 19, of 1003 Beach St., faces charges of aggravated assault, possession of a firearm without a license and recklessly endangering another person.
He is accused of shooting Addaryl Akins in the leg while playing basketball with three other men May 31. Police recently filed three additional counts of recklessly endangering another person against Wilson for the three other men at the scene and a charge of criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault.
A second man, Francis L. Owens, 19, of Sankey Street, also faces charges of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, recklessly endangering another person and carrying a firearm without a license.
Police said several shots were fired from a nearby wooded area. Only Akins was wounded.
Wilson admitted he was one the shooters and told police Owens was involved, according to an affidavit.
Wilson's preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for 9:15 a.m. Friday.