JULY

JULY
1. John and Denise York of Canfield donate $1.5 million toward construction of YSU's $12 million student recreation and wellness center, for which more than $9 million already has been raised.
* About 100 workers, including counselors and caseworkers, strike five Turning Point Counseling Service locations in Mahoning County, rather than pay a share of their health-care insurance costs.
2. Greg White, the new U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, vows to use federal courts and their stiffer sentences to prosecute offenders in Youngstown's highest crime areas, especially on gun charges.
* Fire damages the Magnificat Chapel -- the main chapel at the Villa Maria Motherhouse in Pulaski, Pa. -- but there are no injuries. The cause appears to be accidental. The chapel was built in 1963.
7. Warren Mayor Hank Angelo is hoping that the allegation of a beating of a black man by police last weekend will not raise the level of tension between police and the community they are sworn to protect.
8. The Youngstown FBI office has agreed to investigate allegations of police brutality in Warren, said Fred Harris, safety service director. Agents will look at last week's arrest of Lyndal Kimble on charges of felonious assault, resisting arrest, tampering with evidence and felonious possession of drugs.
9. A series of thunderstorms over the last three days knocked out power and flooded many roads throughout the Valley, forcing them to close.
* It's curtains for Robert Vargo, managing director of the financially challenged Youngstown Playhouse. His three-year agreement ended June 30 and he reluctantly rejected a new contract because, he said, it was lacking in job descriptions and in the role the board would play.
11. Edward W. Powers Auditorium filled to capacity, people dancing at their seats, a stage packed with musical talent and donations to support a list of worthy causes. Tom Joyner is back in town, this time with The Ohio Players. Joyner, host of the nationally syndicated Tom Joyner Morning Show, held a "Sky Show" remote broadcast of his show from Powers Auditorium this morning.
* Population in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys continues to slide, say the most recent U.S. Census Bureau statistics. Mahoning County lost 4,250 residents between April 2000 and July 2002, Trumbull County shrank by nearly 1,600, and Columbiana County's numbers slipped by 270. In Pennsylvania, Mercer County has 780 fewer residents; Lawrence County has 540 fewer.
12. A freighter and the Coast Guard rescue four Mahoning Valley men in Lake Erie five miles off the Ashtabula coast and four hours after the 18-foot fishing boat they occupied capsized in 3- to 5-foot waves. Rescued were John Kozic, 43, Mike Esposito, 21, and James English, 48, all of Youngstown, and Stephen Lin, 40, of Boardman.
14. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge William T. Bodoh, 64, who has presided in Youngstown for the past 18 years over cases ranging from personal bankruptcies to giant industrial bankruptcies, announces he'll retire Jan. 2.
* ODOT relinquishes its role as the lead agency for the proposed Hubbard Expressway, which has been discussed since at least 1956, possibly killing the project.
15. Thirty-three Ohio counties, including Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull, exceed new federal ozone limits and could face tough air pollution sanctions.
16. A fire, which is ruled accidental, originates in an electrical service panel and destroys the Olympic Fun Center roller-skating rink in Hermitage, causing $1.5 million damage.
17. Gov. Bob Taft appoints longtime associate Jonathan Allison, 36, an East Palestine native, as his chief of staff, effective Aug. 1.
20. At least one Warren police officer routinely conducted body cavity searches on suspects in even minor crimes in violation of state law and department policy, an internal police probe has discovered.
21. A record one-day rainfall of 4.65 inches is recorded at Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport. John Keytack, 10, of Warren drowns after being sucked into a storm drain; a tornado damages homes and businesses in Youngstown; downburst winds damage or destroy 17 trailers in the Bel-Air trailer park in Liberty; and flooding forces evacuation of the Trumbull County 911 Center.
22. Firefighters evacuate stranded Leavittsburg residents from their flooded homes by boat as the Mahoning River rises to a record level.
23. Fires destroy a vacant 1890's-vintage portion of the former Salem China Co. plant and the building occupied by the Caizza Candy Co. in New Castle.
24. Gov. Bob Taft visits the tornado-struck East Side of Youngstown and declares a state of emergency in Trumbull, Mahoning, Portage, Summit, Medina and Cuyahoga counties.
25. Emergency officials in Mahoning, Trumbull and Mercer counties say water and wind damage this week exceeds $5 million and has affected several thousand people.
26. Nicolas Sibeto, 9, of New Castle, wins the stock division championship in the 66th All-American Soap Box Derby in Akron.
27. Torrential rainfall floods St. Patrick Church and Reed Middle School in Hubbard and prompts city officials to declare a state of emergency. With firefighters' access blocked by floodwaters, a blaze destroys East Jordan Iron Works on Andrews Avenue in Youngstown. Up to 10 feet of floodwater covers the McDonald sewage treatment plant, rendering it inoperable and causing $120,000 in damage, forcing the village to send raw sewage into the Mahoning River.
31. As part of Operation Trifecta, federal and local law enforcement officials arrest three Warren residents, Dianna Palmer, 40; James Leigh Jr., 36; and Bert, 46, on federal charges of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. They are accused of being part of a cell within one of the largest Mexican drug cartels in the United States.
* With 10.39 inches of rain, July becomes the second rainiest month ever recorded at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport, surpassed only by June 1986, during which 10.66 inches of rain fell.