Parking to be prohibited in Federal project vicinity

Parking to be prohibitedin Federal project vicinity
YOUNGSTOWN -- Parking on Market Street and Wick Avenue in the vicinity of Federal Plaza will end as of Monday.
The parking restriction is needed to avoid hazards to vehicles and drivers, the city public works department said. Construction equipment needed to remove the plaza and restore Federal to through traffic needs access where vehicles are now parked, the city said.
The restriction will last through construction, which is scheduled to be finished Dec. 15.
Boy rides bike into car
WARREN -- A 9-year-old boy was in stable condition Friday evening in St. Joseph Health Center after running his bicycle into a car.
Michael Grant of Parkman Road was riding his bike on Riverview Drive to Emerson Elementary School on Friday morning when he ran into the front right side of a car. Police have issued no citations.
Emerson Principal James Mitolo said the boy is a third-grader at the school.
Levy loses by one vote
YOUNGSTOWN -- A recount conducted Friday leaves the 2.8-mill Jackson-Milton school tax levy renewal losing by one vote, 879-878.
The election boards in Mahoning and Trumbull counties conducted the recount. The school district is in both counties. The levy passed by 26 votes in Mahoning County and failed by 27 votes in Trumbull County.
The Jackson-Milton School Board plans to put the renewal levy back on the ballot in August. The five-year levy would raise $383,088 annually for operating expenses.
Ohio EPA settlement
YOUNGSTOWN -- In a settlement with the Ohio EPA, Environmental Specialists Inc. has agreed to pay a $19,000 civil penalty for violating hazardous waste management requirements at its transfer facility at 1101 Andrews Ave., the state EPA announced.
The company has since corrected the violations, which the state EPA found during March and April 2003 inspections, says an EPA news release. The violations included operating a hazardous waste storage facility without a permit, failing to have a written waste analysis plan, and improper management of used oil, the EPA said. The money will go into the Ohio EPA-administered hazardous waste cleanup fund.
Guilty of false tax return
YOUNGSTOWN -- Michael G. Malvasi of Timber Run Drive, Canfield, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to filing a false tax return for 1998. He admitted that he underreported his income by $64,543. He had falsely understated income from a partnership known as Mill-It Company and from a corporation known as Champion Excavation. Judge Peter C. Economus set sentencing for July 22. Malvasi will be required to pay whatever tax is imposed as well as interest and penalties. The case was investigated by the IRS criminal investigations division.
Indicted on gun charge
YOUNGSTOWN -- A federal grand jury has indicted a 34-year-old Youngstown man for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Demetrus Rogers of Arch Street is prohibited from having a firearm based on a 1999 felony possession of cocaine conviction in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court. The indictment was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Prosecution of the case is being handled under a federal "Project Safe Neighborhoods" gun violence reduction program and follows an investigation by the Youngstown Police Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Rogers also faces a gun charge and three driving-under-suspension charges in Youngstown Municipal Court, where he has multiple DUS, gun and drug convictions.
Austintown meeting
AUSTINTOWN -- The Austintown Growth Foundation will have a public meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the Austintown library branch to unveil the final copy of 20/20 Austintown, a plan for the community.
The plan is expected to be in the form of a "cookbook" with step-by-step instructions on how residents and officials can improve the township. To create the plan, the growth foundation had a series of public meetings last year to collect residents' ideas on how the township can be improved. The library is at South Raccoon Road and Falcon Drive.
Young Democrats meeting
BOARDMAN -- The Mahoning County Young Democrats will have their reorganization meeting from 6 to 8 tonight at Jillian's in Southern Park Mall. Democrats, ages 18 to 35, and Democratic candidates and elected officials are invited. A voter registration drive also will be conducted.