JANUARY

JANUARY
1. Torrence Respress, 33, of Moody Avenue, New Castle, is fatally shot in the 100 block of Boyles Avenue, New Castle, after an argument. Two suspects in the shooting, Willie Smith, 63, of Butler, and Michael Malnar, 30, of New York City, are jailed. This is New Castle's first fatal shooting since Dec. 15, 2001.
6. Some 650 students attend classes for the first time in the new Struthers High School.
7. Along with other members of the 108th Congress, former State Sen. Tim Ryan of Niles is sworn in as the new 17th District Congressman, succeeding the imprisoned James A. Traficant Jr.
* YSU unveils plans for a $12 million recreation center adjacent to Kilcawley Center and opening in the fall 2005.
* George Ware IV, 27, of Tacoma Avenue, Youngstown, is traced by cell-phone signals and cooperating witnesses to Cleveland, where he is arrested on an aggravated-murder warrant in the slaying of Suzanne M. Dalton, 43, of Columbus, who was found dead Dec. 8 in a burned-out car on Youngstown's East Side after she was shot in the head.
8. Briane Jenkins, 5, Beth Miller, 4, and John Miller, 2, die after an early-morning fire erupts in a mobile home in Butler Township near Winona. Five other people are hospitalized.
* The parent company of Humility of Mary Health Partners plans to create a multimillion-dollar computer data center on Belmont Avenue in Youngstown and create 25 information technology jobs there within two years.
9. Former Girard Schools Superintendent Joseph Shoaf begins a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to corrupting another with drugs, intimidating a witness and possessing cocaine. The charges stem from Shoaf's activities with a 17-year-old female student in his office.
10. Reznor, a manufacturer of heaters in Mercer, lays off 100 employees -- almost one-third of its work force.
* Best Buy plans to hire 100 workers for its new Niles store, which is scheduled to open in April.
13. John Clutter, 28, of Warren, a Trumbull County jailer accused of sex offenses by three female inmates, resigns moments before he is to take a polygraph test.
14. Warren and Youngstown schools remain in academic emergency and East Liverpool Schools fall from academic watch to academic emergency, according to state report cards. Boardman, Canfield, Lowellville and Poland schools get perfect scores.
* Youngstown Schools Superintendent Benjamin McGee announces he'll retire at the end of next school year.
* U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William Bodoh approves the sale of American Paper Products of Boardman, the country's largest maker of church offertory envelopes, to Our Sunday Visitor -- an Indiana publisher and envelope maker. American Paper has 330 employees.
21. Michael Ledger, 40, of Dickey Avenue Northwest, Warren, is charged with murder in the beating of Logan Guiton, a 4-year-old boy, who died Jan. 20 in Cleveland MetroHealth Medical Center after suffering multiple severe head injuries Jan. 18 in Ledger's residence.
22. A consultant from Cleveland says the new housing and commercial neighborhood proposed for Smoky Hollow by the Wick Neighbors and envisioned by YSU and St. John Episcopal Church leaders, can be developed for $250 million.
23. Youngstown Mayor George McKelvey announces an 11- to 15-member city charter review commission is to be appointed by the end of the month -- the first since 1986.
* Faced with challenging economic conditions, May Department Stores is eliminating 34 jobs at its Kaufmann's Distribution Center in North Jackson, reducing the work force to 416. The company says it plans to reduce staff by attrition where possible.
* Summitville Mayor Art Spack, who is associated with two Salem businesses, appears in court on three counts of sexual imposition and two counts of compelling prostitution. In one of the reported offenses of compelling prostitution, the victim was a 15-year-old girl.
* Hank Angelo says he won't seek a third four-year term as Warren mayor.
27. Spring semester enrollment of 12,221 is the highest at YSU since 1995 -- the last time it went above the 12,000 mark.
* A. David Sugar Sr., a New Middletown contractor, is sentenced to 30 days in prison then six months of electronically monitored house arrest for lying to a grand jury about doing free work for former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr.
29. Hermando C. Harton Jr., 40, a 1981 Ursuline High School graduate and former Columbus police officer, who was shot after a four-hour standoff with Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers last Aug. 2 in Ashland County, is sentenced to life in prison, with possible parole after 20 years, after pleading guilty to killing his wife, Elizabeth J. Harton, 27.
30. Lawrence County commissioners propose a multimillion-dollar, 300-acre regional law enforcement, fire and emergency services training center, including shooting ranges, an airstrip or helipad and barracks on former strip-mine land in Mahoning Township, with the center possibly being funded by homeland security money.