'Millionaire' contestant

'Millionaire' contestant
YOUNGSTOWN -- Howland High School graduate and law student Jonathan Tsilimos walked away from "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire?" $64,000 richer. His appearance on ABC's prime-time game show was shown Thursday night.
Tsilimos, 24, graduates in May from Boston College law school. He earned a degree in English at Tufts University, also in Boston.
Tsilimos took as his guest his mother, Amelia, of Warren.
Tsilimos used all three of his lifelines before he reached the $125,000 question and decided not to gamble. The question: Name the city that became famous for turning on its lights as astronaut John Glenn passed over in an orbit in 1962. Tsilimos was leaning toward Toulouse, France, before he threw in the towel. The answer was Perth, Australia.
Youngstown budget
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council unanimously approved a balanced budget for 2002 during a special meeting Thursday. The budget includes $35.8 million in spending in the general fund and an additional $32.8 million in spending for the police, fire, streets and parks department and calls for a $13,000 surplus at year's end.
Road work suspended
HARRISBURG -- Officials of the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission said all maintenance and construction projects on the turnpike will be suspended during the Easter holiday weekend, which began today.
Work was suspended at 3 p.m. Thursday and will begin again at 6 a.m. Tuesday. The temporary halt of construction work will provide at least four available lanes on the turnpike for the weekend.
During the weekend, maintenance crews will focus on responding to customer assistance calls and roadway emergencies.
Cop shoots pit bull
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city police sergeant shot and wounded a pit bull Thursday after the animal bit someone on the North Side, police reports show. The dog fled.
The officer was called to Indiana Avenue about 5 p.m. by the city dog warden, who said the dog was too dangerous to run loose. The officer shot the dog in the rear with a shotgun. Police followed a blood trail that ended near Elm Street and Illinois Avenue.
Mental competence
WARREN -- Attorneys for John Staples filed a motion this week asking Judge John Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to determine if their client is mentally competent to stand trial on murder charges.
If the judge decides Staples is not capable of understanding the charges against him or assisting in his own defense, he could be committed to a state mental institution rather than stand trial, said Diane Barber, an assistant prosecutor.
Staples' attorneys also changed his plea from innocent to innocent by reason of insanity.
The 24-year old Youngstown man had been a client of the Burdman Group for about three weeks before he shot to death a staff member and a fellow client while they were driving to work, authorities said.
Auditor releasesPackard audit results
WARREN -- State Auditor Jim Petro's office has released performance audit results for Packard Music Hall and the city's finance, health and engineering, building and planning departments.
The report, released Thursday, makes 101 recommendations for improvement, which it says could save more than $140,000 a year, enhance operations and create additional revenues of $861,000 a year.
This was the third phase of a performance audit requested by the city for all departments.
The Vindicator reported on results of the audit a few weeks ago. The audit report is available at www.auditor.state.oh.us.
Scrap tire funds
WARREN -- More than $68,000 has been awarded to Trumbull County cities, villages and townships for scrap tire collection programs.
The grants, from the Geauga-Trumbull Solid Waste Management District can also be used to collect tires dumped illegally, officials said.
Receiving the money are Girard, Hubbard, Newton Falls, Niles, Warren, Lordstown, McDonald and West Farmington, and the townships of Bazetta, Bloomfield, Bristol, Brookfield, Farmington, Fowler, Greene, Gustavus, Hartford, Howland, Hubbard, Liberty, Mecca, Mesopotamia, Newton, Southington, Vienna, Warren and Weathersfield.