Zoning variances

Zoning variances
SALEM -- The city zoning appeals board will meet at 7 p.m. today at city hall to consider two requests for variances in regulations pertaining to construction projects in residential areas.
Variances of side-yard and rear-yard size rules are being sought by Pauline McGrath to build an attached garage at 214 Woodland Ave.
A front-yard variance is sought by Robert Hahlen to build a roofed front porch at 1350 Fairview Ave.
Mental health grant
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lark Enterprises received a $100,000 federal grant for its Mental Health Services program, according to U.S. Rep. Melissa Hart of Bradford Woods, R-4th.
The program assists adults with autism through a structured curriculum tailored to their personal as well as vocational needs.
Alice Sankey, CEO of Lark Enterprises, said the grant will allow Lark to increase and individualize the services and support so people can be more independent.
Lark Enterprises is a nonprofit organization that provides job training and employment services in Lawrence County, primarily helping people with disabilities become self-reliant and integrated into the community.
Second Harvest agencies
YOUNGSTOWN -- Several hunger-relief organizations in Columbiana and Trumbull counties have become Second Harvest Foodbank member agencies.
In Columbiana County, they are Southern Community Center, Salineville; First Baptist Church, Wellsville; Point Man Ministries Outreach, Washingtonville; Grace Lutheran Church, East Palestine; and First United Methodist Church, Salem.
In Trumbull County, they are Vienna Ecumenical Food Pantry, Vienna; Grace AME Church, Warren; Our Way Home Ministries, Warren; North Mar Church, Warren; and Warren SDA Church, Warren.
For information about becoming a Second Harvest member agency, call (330) 783-1122 or stop by the Second Harvest facility at 1122 E. Midlothian Blvd., Youngstown.
Education grant
MONACA, Pa. -- Penn State Beaver's Office of Continuing Education and Aliquippa Community Hospital's Center of Excellence in Nursing have been awarded a $40,000 education grant from the Workforce and Economic Development Network of Pennsylvania.
The grant will provide professional development for staff members of Aliquippa Community Hospital. The network is an alliance of higher education institutions and training centers in Pennsylvania that offer training to in-state employers and out-of-state companies that are relocating to the state. Funding is provided by the state and enables employers to train employees in areas of basic skills and information technology.
Bankruptcies skyrocket
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- With a record of nearly 17,000 households and businesses in western Pennsylvania filing for bankruptcy in 2002, attorneys don't expect the regional pace of filings to slow down soon.
Quarterly bankruptcy filings in U.S. Bankruptcy Court show an average of 4,200 bankruptcies were filed each quarter of 2002 in the western district that covers an area from Erie to Pittburgh, including Mercer and Lawrence counties. That number increased more than 10 percent to 4,641 filings in the first quarter of 2003.
"I don't think it's slowing down at all," said Wesley Rowden, a bankruptcy lawyer who practices in Erie and Crawford counties.
Dave Pesch, housing counseling manager for St. Martin Center in Erie, Pa., a nonprofit social services group, blames the problem on both the poor economy and an increase in predatory lending.
"Places are giving people mortgages with no jobs, knowing they are going to foreclose," Pesch said.
Three rivers cleanup
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- A 28-foot pontoon boat will help keep Pittsburgh's rivers free of tires, shopping carts and other junk. The Anna Hubbard is part of the new "Tireless Project," based at the new Millvale boathouse of the Three Rivers Rowing Association. The plan is for the 34-year-old boat to collect tires and other junk along the intersection of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers. "I'd live to see this become a riverfront equivalent to adopt-a-highway," said Nat Stone, the project's supervisor.