Open enrollment approved

Open enrollment approved
NILES -- The board of education approved an open-enrollment policy Thursday to begin this fall. Superintendent Patrick N. Guliano said pupils will be accepted from kindergarten through 12th grades. The move was made to increase funding as the district is under fiscal watch. Guliano said any pupil in Ohio is eligible to apply to attend Niles schools. In the past two to three years, Guliano said, the district has lost about 50 pupils to other public schools and community schools. Interest has been shown in Niles with the opening of the new intermediate school, he added.
Trees will be cut down
MINERAL RIDGE -- The board of education has given schools Superintendent Rocco Adduci permission to have five trees cut down on about an acre the board owns next to Ridgewood Apartments.
A tree already fell out of the wooded lot onto two cars at the apartment complex. Adduci said the individual car owners must have their own insurance cover the damages.
The $1,600 for the job will come from an improvement levy for work done at Seaborn Elementary.
Adduci also told the board that there is $25,000 left from the Seaborn Elementary project and asked the board to consider if it wants to recarpet the high school library and the band room, which would cost an estimated $11,000. Both rooms still have the original carpeting from when the high school was built in 1976.
Pretrial hearing
YOUNGSTOWN -- A pretrial detention hearing will be May 27 in federal court for Gabriel M. Eguizabal-Orozco, 29, of Modesto, Calif., who was arrested Wednesday by an FBI task force after 30 kilos (66 pounds) of cocaine were found in his tractor-trailer in Austintown.
He is charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine. He made his initial appearance Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Youngstown. Defense attorney Neal G. Atway said Eguizabal-Orozco was hauling lettuce destined for the Tamarkin Co. distribution warehouse in Austintown when he was arrested. The government has asked that Eguizabal-Orozco remain in custody pending trial.
Road closing
HARTFORD -- Bradley Brownlee Road will be closed between Bushnell Campbell road and state Route 7 on Monday for bridge repairs. The Trumbull County Engineer's Office says the road will reopen June 4.
Pipe replacement
NEWTON FALLS -- Newton Falls Tomlinson Road will be closed between Hallock Young Road and Carson Salt Springs Road on Monday and Tuesday. Workers from the Trumbull County Engineer's Office will be replacing a pipe under the road.
Winners honored
YOUNGSTOWN -- Winners of an anti-litter poster contest were honored Thursday at the Mahoning County Courthouse.
The contest asked pupils attending Mahoning County schools to create posters that discourage littering and encourage recycling.
Eight pupils were selected from more than 600 entrants. The Green Team, the recycling division of Mahoning County, sponsored the contest.
The eight winning posters will be made into placemats to be used at 14 area restaurants.
The winners of The Green Team's poster contest are: Kristie Griffith, St. Matthias; Jill Jordan, St. Nicholas; Ryan Marshall, Boardman Center Middle School; Mackenzie Mulligan, Poland Union Elementary; Melanie Niarhos, Robinwood Lane; Cody Schlabaugh, Poland North Elementary; Hailey Sullivan, Springfield Elementary; Lashawna Wagner, St. Joseph the Provider.
Domestic violence charge
STRUTHERS -- Jacob P. Finley, 24, of state Route 213, Steubenville, is slated to go on trial in municipal court Aug. 2. He is charged with domestic violence and is free on $500 bond.
Finley was arrested early Wednesday after he broke the screen door at his girlfriend's Sexton Street home during an argument and then, the police report states, repeatedly threatened to kill her, punch her in the face and hold her head under water.
Police found Finley sitting in his girlfriend's full bathtub fully clothed. The shower rack had been pulled from the wall, the report says, and there was blood on the walls.