PURSE SNATCHED

Purse snatched
YOUNGSTOWN -- A mother transferring her 9-month-old infant from a shopping cart to her car had her purse/diaper bag snatched from the cart in the Sparkle Market parking lot on Mahoning Avenue at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The 25-year-old Imperial Avenue woman told police that a man driving a light blue car pulled into the parking space next to her, got out, grabbed the bag, got back into his car and backed out of the lot.
The woman's bag contained $38 and a checkbook, among other personal items.
She described the suspect as white, early 40s, with brown hair and mustache, 5 feet 6 inches and 165 pounds.
Hall damaged
YOUNGSTOWN -- Someone used a fire extinguisher to spray the walls, floor and gym mats inside the Catholic Youth Organization hall behind St. Christine Church on South Schenley Avenue, police said.
The vandalism was discovered Tuesday afternoon.
Police said two interior doors were damaged and tennis shoe prints -- size 6 boys Spiderman -- were seen in the residue left by the fire extinguisher.
Vandalism at Borts Pool
YOUNGSTOWN -- A city worker checking Borts Pool on North Belle Vista Avenue on Tuesday afternoon discovered a broken window at the pump house and damage inside the pump house operator's office.
A small fire had been set on a desk and another fire had been set on the floor in the boys' locker room. Windows were broken at the ticket booth, and the door lock was damaged. The lifeguard's chair was removed from its mounted post and tossed into the pool area, police said.
The small fires caused no damage, police said.
Contestants needed
NILES -- The Mahoning Valley Italian Festival is seeking contestants for the first annual Miss Italian Pageant, which will take place June 10-13 at Eastwood Field.
The pageant winner will receive $500; first runner-up, $200; and second runner-up, $100.
Call (330) 847-8314 or pick up entry forms at the Eastwood Mall Information Booth.
Summer day camp
SALEM -- The Salvation Army, 1249 N. Ellsworth Ave., will be offering a summer day camp for children ages 6-12.
The camp will feature swimming, trips and recreational activities in three two-week sessions, running from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at the SA. The first session is June 14-25; the second, June 28-July 9; and the final, July 12-23.
Cost is $20 per child per week. Applications may be picked up at the SA.
For more information call (330) 332-5624.
Clinic system closes
ERIE, Pa. (AP) -- Days after it filed for bankruptcy, a nonprofit clinic system announced that it will close all but one of its medical centers in Erie over the next two months.
Officials with Community Health Net did not give specific shutdown dates for the four satellite clinics, which have offered health care to about one of every five people in Erie, most of them uninsured, underinsured, homeless or jobless.
The nonprofit, created in 1985, filed for bankruptcy Saturday, citing $4 million of debts. The bankruptcy filing comes about a month after Community Health Net shut down a program for the homeless.
The organization's money problems stem in part from $1.5 million the state Department of Public Welfare mistakenly paid between 1997 and 2000.
When the state noticed the overpayment error in January 2002, the Department of Public Welfare began docking its subsidies to the nonprofit, about $130 per patient visit, to recoup the money.