Crews to sweep streets

Crews to sweep streets
LOWELLVILLE -- Village maintenance crews will sweep the streets, weather permitting, from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 1-3. Officials said residents should remove all vehicles from the streets during the designated cleaning hours and sweep debris from sidewalks onto the roadway before streets are cleaned.
2 escape from fire
YOUNGSTOWN -- A couple escaped from their South Side home as it was engulfed in flames. The fire started after 5 this morning and destroyed the home at 746 Caledonia St., said Youngstown Fire Department Capt. Ray Sanchez, acting chief of Battalion Two. The couple escaped with no coats, the woman wearing just a nightgown, he said. Firefighters had the blaze under control in about 45 minutes to an hour. Cause of the fire is under investigation.
Rifle reported stolen
AUSTINTOWN -- A AK-47 rifle with a 30-round magazine was reported stolen Tuesday from a New Road home.
Reports of burglary
POLAND -- Police received reports Wednesday afternoon that two township homes had been ransacked and burglarized earlier in the day. Police found that two laptops, computer equipment, an acoustic guitar and 30 checks were stolen from a house on Lee Run Road. Jewelry and $85 were taken from a home on Highland Avenue. The rear door of the Lee Run Road home had been broken into. The garage door to the Highland Avenue home had been kicked in. No one was at either home when the burglaries occurred. Township police, who think the break-ins are related, are investigating.
Brass knuckles found
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 20-year-old Miami, Fla., woman was arrested after she attempted to bring a pair of brass knuckles into the Mahoning County Juvenile Justice Center on Scott Street. When she was arrested, the woman's mother began to yell and swear and threatened to bomb the building, before driving off. A Mahoning County deputy sheriff found the brass knuckles when the younger woman's purse passed through an X-ray machine at the justice center entrance. She faces a charge of unlawful possession of a dangerous ordnance.
Child endangering
GIRARD -- Christine Colbert, 28, of Forest View Drive, Youngstown, has been found guilty of misdemeanor child endangering. Colbert's four children -- ages 1 to 7 -- were left outside her mother's Liberty apartment Feb. 2, police said. The oldest child told police he saw her leave with her boyfriend. She pleaded no contest Wednesday before Judge Michael A. Bernard of municipal court and was found guilty. She received a suspended a 180-day jail sentence and a $500 fine. The judge placed her on a one-year probation and ordered her to attend parenting classes.
4% raises approved
WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners have approved a 4-percent raise for 43 nonunion employees at Trumbull County Department of Jobs and Family Services. The employees, including administrators, supervisors, some clerks and human resources personnel, will also get a 2-percent raise in 2003, when a new pay raise system is scheduled to go into place, said Thomas Mahoney, the department director. The new system will base increases on performance evaluations, rather than on seniority, he said. The commissioners also approved changing the employees' health-care plan to require that they pay part of premiums.
Burglars steal door
YOUNGSTOWN -- Burglars kicked in one door and removed another from its hinges but apparently didn't take anything else from a Ridge Avenue home. The resident of the home has been away since December, police said. A relative reported the theft Wednesday afternoon. The house was intact Tuesday.
Gunfire reported
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 37-year-old South Side man reported to city police that two men, both about 20, shot at him as he walked along Sherwood Avenue. The man was not hit. He said he was walking in the 500 block, near his home, about 4 p.m. Wednesday when a car pulled up next to him and the two occupants shot toward him. He said the car then drove by his home three times and one of its occupants asked for his son.
Woman flees court
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 29-year-old East Side woman who was late for a court appearance on a driving- under-suspension offense ran from a municipal courtroom when she was told she'd be jailed until she posted 10 percent of a $1,000 bond, city police said. A bailiff was phoning police to have the woman transported to jail about 10 a.m. Wednesday when she ran out of the courtroom and into the hallway. City hall security officers quickly captured the woman, who lives on Rigby Street.