More troopers on duty

More troopers on duty
HARRISBURG -- Col. Paul J. Evanko, Pennsylvania State Police commissioner, said state troopers will take part in Operation CARE's National Holiday Lifesaver Weekend, which begins Friday and continues through Sunday.
The Combined Accident Reduction Effort is a national program aimed at reducing crashes on interstate highways during holiday weekends, Evanko added. Additional state troopers will be on patrol during the weekend.
Widow missing
YOUNGSTOWN -- The wife of homicide victim John M. Cannell, 32, of Quentin Drive has been reported missing by her mother.
Martha Nuza contacted city police from her North Carolina home Wednesday, telling them her daughter, Michelle Cannell, 31, has been on drugs and has been missing since Sunday.
John Cannell was shot in the chest Nov. 26 in front of a West Woodland Avenue home on the South Side. He had gone to retrieve his wife's wedding ring, which she had traded for drugs, police said.
Found dead in bed
YOUNGSTOWN -- The brother of a man charged Tuesday with receipt of child pornography was found dead Wednesday in their Coleman Drive home.
Police said they found Andrew T. Felt, 39, dead on a bed, where his mother had tried to wake him. No cause of death was listed and the case has been turned over to the Mahoning County coroner's office. Francis J. Felt, 45, also of Coleman Drive, was at the residence when police arrived.
A one-count criminal information was filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court charging Francis Felt with receipt of child pornography. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Driver hospitalized
YOUNGSTOWN -- Alvin G. Miller Jr., 30, of South Hazlewood Avenue was in critical condition today in St. Elizabeth Health Center after a five-car crash Wednesday night on Youngstown-Poland Road at Midlothian Boulevard.
One witness told police that she was stopped at the traffic light on Youngstown-Poland Road when she saw a car "flying through the red light" and the next thing she knew, her van rolled over.
Poland Village Police Chief Russell Beatty Jr. said a village patrolman had stopped Miller on Orchard Drive on a charge of having expired plates, which also belonged on another car. Miller then took off and was pursued by police.
During the chase, a village cruiser was run off the road into a yard. The multiple crash happened when Miller, whose license is under suspension, drove through the red light, reports show.
Competent for trial
YOUNGSTOWN -- One of two men accused of mugging walkers in Wick Park has been deemed mentally competent to stand trial. Christopher McBride, 21, of Berwick Avenue, faces charges of aggravated robbery, robbery and burglary.
He and 30-year-old Jamal Bullock of Liberty Road are accused of robbing people in the park, on the city's North Side, this summer. McBride had pleaded innocent by reason of insanity, but a court-ordered evaluation deemed him sane and competent for trial.
Both men are set for trial in January before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Pit bull sought
LAKE MILTON -- An aggressive pit bull that tried to bite five people is being sought by Milton Township police and the Mahoning County dog warden.
The attacks occurred in the area of the road that separates Mahoning and Trumbull counties and along Grandview Road in Craig Beach.
Milton Detective Sgt. Frank Tomaino said the dog is about 18 inches high with a black and white face and brown body. Any resident who spots the dog should call police or the dog warden.