Stepping up patrols

Stepping up patrols
NILES -- The Niles police department will use STEP Grant funds to actively patrol school areas in the city.
Officers will look for aggressive, parading and caravaning vehicles, which police say are common near schools at this time of year.
Officers will also concentrate on seat belt violators, drivers following too closely and passengers riding outside or hanging outside vehicles.
Probe continuesinto boy's death
HOWLAND -- Police are continuing to investigate the drowning death a 5-year-old boy.
Reports state that the boy, Zaire E. Ali, of Bellwood S.E., was found Tuesday evening floating in the shallow end of a neighbor's in-ground pool.
The neighbor got the boy out of the pool and brought him to the front yard were he administered CPR. Police and fire officers were called to the scene.
Blaze was electrical
WARREN -- Firefighters say a blaze that killed a Porter Street Northeast man was electrical in nature.
Fire Chief Ken Nussle said an electrical engineer is being brought in to determine the exact cause and point of the electrical failure.
Firefighters say Morton Dubey, who was in his mid-50s, was found in the second floor bathroom. The preliminary cause of death was attributed to smoke inhalation, firefighters say.
The blaze broke out at the 336 Porter St. home at about 4:18 a.m. Monday.
Mosquito spraying
NILES -- The city will be sprayed for mosquito control beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday. In case of rain, the alternate spraying date is Thursday.
Anyone with respiratory problems should remain indoors with the windows closed.
Also, food and pets should not be left outside during the spraying period.
Doing time for charity
WARREN -- Some city residents will spend Wednesday locked up to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Supporters of St. Jude will act as jailbirds as they're arrested and transported to the "jail" at Fairfield Inn where they'll do time, raising money for the hospital.
Captured for Kids mocks a police arrest and jail sentence. Participants get fingerprinted, pose for mugshots and get outfitted in jail stripes. While in the cell, participants telephone friends, colleagues and family members to raise a $500 bail to benefit the hospital.
Once $500 is raised, the inmate is released and taken back to his or her workplace.
Cleanup at school
LORDSTOWN -- Village officials will host the first Community Pride Day at Lordstown Elementary.
Volunteers are welcome to come help clean and landscape the area around the school from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Refreshments will be provided.
For information, call the administration offices at (330) 824-2507.
Eljer idling begins
SALEM -- About 40 workers at the Eljer Plumbingware Co. plant will be idled today as the company begins a shutdown that will conclude May 31.
Next week about 60 more workers will be put out of work when the plant's finishing department closes, Frank Rayl, union president, said today.
That will leave about 140 workers on the job until the plant closes.
Jacuzzi Brands, the West Palm Beach, Fla., parent company of Eljer, has said the closing is the result of rising manufacturing costs.
Workers have said the company is shipping its jobs to China.
Cast-iron plumbing products are made at the South Ellsworth Avenue plant.
Motorcyclist injuredin crash with van
WARREN -- A motorcyclist was being treated at St. Elizabeth Health Center today after a helicopter flew him there from the scene of a Thursday evening accident on the state Routes 5 and 82 bypass westbound, just east of U.S. Route 422.
Matthew Serotko, 27, of Newton Falls, was injured at 8:41 p.m., when he rear-ended a van driven by Marshall Helmick, 37, of Leavittsburg, who was not injured, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.