Woman robbed

Woman robbed
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 68-year-old woman was robbed of $180 at knife point by her lawn-care worker about 9 p.m. Monday at her North Garland Avenue home.
Police said the man put a knife to the woman's throat halfway through a discussion about future work and said "We're murderers, give me all your money." The man was at the home with a woman he claimed was his wife.
The assailant placed the woman in a closet before fleeing with the money.
Shooting, theft
BOARDMAN -- An Illinois man told police he was shot at and lost his wallet in a space of two hours.
The man said he was a passenger in his girlfriend's car at about noon Monday when someone from a passing car fired shots at the vehicle he was riding in, shattering the back window and cracking the front windshield. The man said the other car continued to drive southbound on Glenwood Avenue.
The man also told police that he left his wallet inside the township police department when he reported the crime and realized it was missing at about 2 p.m. When he returned to retrieve the wallet from the police records division, he said there was $47 in cash missing from it.
Contract breach
BOARDMAN -- A township woman told police she gave a contractor nearly $19,000 to expand and renovate her home Southwoods Drive but the work was never done.
The woman said she entered into a contract April 3 with the company for an addition and other renovations to her home. She gave the company representative a check for $18,850 on the same day. The check was cashed immediately, but the work was never done.
Murder trial begins
YOUNGSTOWN -- Jury selection began Monday in Mahoning County Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, where Jamal Shakoor will be tried for murder. Shakoor, 20, of Early Road, is accused of killing 31-year-old Benjamin C. Reeves of Bennington Avenue in the parking lot of Ursuline High School in January 2000.
Authorities say the two were fighting over a girl. Testimony will begin this week in the courtroom of Judge James C. Evans.
Daybreak gets grant
YOUNGSTOWN -- The Daybreak Crisis Shelter, 21 Indiana Ave., a program of the Family Service Agency, has been awarded a $4,500 grant from the William Swanston Charitable Foundation.
Funds from the grant will be used to provide temporary shelter, food, clothing and counseling to abused, neglected and abandoned youth, ages 12 to 17. The only crisis shelter of its kind in the tri-county area, Daybreak served 281 children last year.
Fund transfer approved
COLUMBUS -- The State Controlling Board has approved transfer of $804,970 from the Fedor Hall rehabilitation project and $703,434 from the basic renovations fund at Youngstown State University to the Ward Beecher Hall heating and air conditioning improvement project.
It also gave Kent State University nearly $479,592 for a tunneling project, while the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine in Rootstown is getting nearly $10,000 for recreation projects.
The 140-foot tunnel will allow KSU to connect its library to a new power plant. The board also voted to release $9,292 for the construction of basketball, volleyball and tennis courts for use by NEOUCOM students, faculty and staff members.
Police investigate death
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police continue investigating the weekend killing of a 32-year-old Youngstown man in the parking lot of Larry's Lounge, 2402 Hillman St. Police received a call just before 3 a.m. Friday about shots fired at the South Side night spot.
When officers arrived they found Raymond Hayes lying face up in the parking lot with a large crowd around him. Pellin Ambulance Service took Hayes to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where he was pronounced dead.