City council to vote on charter changes

City council to voteon charter changes
YOUNGSTOWN -- City council is expected to vote this evening on placing six proposed charter changes before voters in November.
The proposed changes are: requiring the mayor to be a resident and an elector for the past five years; lowering the minimum age of council members from 25 to 21; switching the pay for the mayor, law director and finance director from once a month to biweekly; allowing council or its committees to meet in executive session as allowed by state law; adding gender references in the charter for women instead of only references for men; and removing language about property at Lake Milton the city no longer owns.
Strike doesn't keepbottled water out
SOUTHINGTON -- The school district is making sure bottled water gets delivered to the buildings despite a picket line outside.
The district was advised this week by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency not to use the water supply to the buildings after samples tested positive for E. coli bacteria.
Additional tests have come back negative for the bacteria, but final test results are expected by the end of the week, school officials said.
Howland Springs Water Co. is providing water to the district, but school officials made arrangements to have the supply picked up rather than delivered so drivers would not be forced to cross the picket line.
Ohio Association of Public School Employees Local 673, representing 15 bus drivers, secretaries and cafeteria workers, who have been without a contract for more than two years, went on strike Monday, the first day of classes.
Firefighters await wordon handling blaze in silo
HARTFORD -- Fire officials here were waiting for approval today before spraying carbon dioxide onto a smoldering fire in a silo.
Assistant Fire Chief Mark Mennor said crews wanted to hear from representatives of the company that makes the chemical.
Fire crews responded Tuesday morning to a call of smoke coming from the silo, Mennor said, but were unable to use water on the fire for fear of explosion.
In the meantime, more families were evacuated from their homes as a safety measure, Mennor said.
Residents between Hartford-Five Points Road and 2727 state Route 7 are not allowed in the area yet, and those between 2727 state Route 7 and Drake State Line Road are allowed in the area only if escorted.
Families are able to find shelter at the township fire station.
State Route 7 was closed to general traffic between state Routes 82 and 305.
Drug, weapons charges
YOUNGSTOWN -- George Huston, 28, of South Osborne Avenue was arrested Tuesday night on two counts of trafficking in drugs and one each of unlawful transaction in weapons and illegal possession of a weapon (based on a prior conviction).
The charges were handed up in a secret indictment. He was booked into the Mahoning County jail.
Fire damages home
BOARDMAN -- Township firefighters extinguished a blaze Tuesday night that caused an estimated $25,000 damage to a home at 4197 South Ave.
Firefighters say the blaze, reported at 10:17 p.m., was contained to one bedroom. The cause is still being investigated.
An unidentified man who was in the house was taken to Forum Health Northside Medical Center, but his condition and nature of injuries were not released.
Man: Woman had a gun
AUSTINTOWN -- A Kentucky man told police a woman pointed a gun at him Tuesday on the on-ramp to Interstate 680 north from North Meridian Road.
The 47-year-old Paducah man said he was hitchhiking about 7:40 p.m. when a woman pulled up, accused him of cursing at her and pointed a gun.
The man said that when he ran, the woman put her car in reverse and chased him before eventually driving off.
Citizens group to meet
McDONALD -- Weathersfield Township Responsible Citizens Association resumes its regular meeting schedule at 7 p.m. Thursday in Summit Assembly of God Church, 2615 Salt Springs Road.
The group meets the last Thursday of the month. The public is invited.