Good Samaritan is robbed

Good Samaritan is robbed
MERCER, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police said a Grove City man helping two people install a child restraint seat in their car was robbed by the couple. Shawn M. Garland, 23, stopped to help the couple in a parking lot on Steingrabe Road in East Lackawannock Township around 9 p.m. Sunday. While he was helping the man install the seat, the man sprayed him with a chemical agent and took his wallet. Police said Garland recovered sufficiently from the spray to punch and break the driver's side window of the suspect's car as they fled the scene. The suspect was described as a white man about 5 feet tall and weighing 130 pounds. He had dark hair, a mustache and wore a hat and a white or gray shirt. The white woman with him was obese, had dark hair and wore a purple sweat shirt.
More vehicle break-ins
SALEM -- Several more vehicle break-ins have been reported to police after several instances of the same crime over the weekend. The most recent break-ins, reported Monday, occurred in the 800 block of Washington Avenue, the 600 block of Woodland Avenue and the 700 and 800 blocks of Franklin Avenue, police said. In most cases, only change was taken. But in one instance, two or three credit cards were stolen from a vehicle, police said.
Road work to begin
LISBON -- Two road resurfacing projects are to start this week in Columbiana County, the Ohio Department of Transportation reported.
Later this week, crews are to begin resurfacing state Route 558 between state Route 45 and state Route 164 in Salem and Fairfield townships. Also to be resurfaced is state Route 154 between Rogers and Lisbon.
Traffic will be maintained during the work, which is to be done by Oct. 31.
Finalist for grant
EAST PALESTINE -- The city is a finalist for $500,000 from the state's Community Housing Improvement Program. City Manager Gary Clark said the grant would assist first-time homebuyers and enable low- to -moderate income homeowners to make home improvements. He said once city officials are notified of the grant, there will be "plenty of publicity about it so people don't miss out." He said the city has received about $2 million from the program the past four years.
Early release denied
YOUNGSTOWN -- A judge has denied early release for a Salem-area man serving 30 months in prison for defrauding Ponderosa Park patrons.
Jeffrey Best, 32, was sentenced in June after pleading guilty to theft, misuse of credit cards and passing bad checks. He filed a motion Aug. 21 asking Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to grant him early release. Judge Krichbaum denied the request Monday, meaning Best will have to serve his entire sentence.
Ponderosa Park is a campground and entertainment resort in Goshen Township. Best accepted money and credit card payments from park patrons for concert tickets but used the payments to pay for other park expenses. The patrons got neither their tickets nor a refund.
$15 million for Pa. airport
IMPERIAL, Pa. (AP) -- Pittsburgh International Airport has been awarded more than $15 million in federal grants for a new luggage system and runway improvements.
The new screening system will reduce the wait for passengers checking in luggage on all airlines other than US Airways. More money will be needed to build the other half of the system serving US Airways, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of the airport's flights.
The system will allow passengers on the other airline to check their luggage curbside instead of having to check their luggage in on the third floor of the landside terminal.
The system will be on the landside terminal and is expected to take about eight months to build, said Kent George, executive director of the Allegheny County Airport Authority.
Of the grant, $3.8 million will be used for runway and other improvements.
U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter and U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, both R-Pa., announced the grants Monday.