Schools to make cutbacks

Schools to make cutbacks
COLUMBIANA -- Projecting a possible $200,000 deficit next year, Charlene Mercure, Crestview School District treasurer, said school officials will make any needed cutbacks in areas that won't affect pupils or programs.
She said the district may have a $200,000 deficit in fiscal 2006, which is July 1, 2005, to June 30, 2006. Much of the district's financial situation depends on how the state distributes funds to school districts in the new budget, she added.
Mercure said increased property values in the county means school districts receive less money from the state. Meanwhile, expenses such as building-utility costs and fuel and maintenance for school buses continue to increase, she said.
2 workers are killed
ALIQUIPPA, Pa. (AP) -- A dump truck at a construction site backed into two workers Wednesday, killing both of them.
Authorities were investigating the 2:30 p.m. accident at a work zone on Route 51 near the Ambridge-Aliquippa bridge. Dennis Kunz, 55, of Ellwood City, and Robert George, 33, of Eighty-Four, were killed. They were Pennsylvania Department of Transportation contractors.
Workers have been in the area for months, cleaning rock and debris in an ongoing road repair and stabilization project.
The men were looking in the other direction when the truck began to back up and the driver, whom police did not identify, did not see Kunz and George, said Ralph Pallante, Aliquippa police chief.
The driver was taken to a hospital for routine blood tests, Pallante said.
The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration began an investigation Wednesday.
Man stable after crash
POLAND -- A 31-year-old Clingan Road man was in stable condition today at St. Elizabeth Health Center after being flown there by helicopter Wednesday afternoon, after his 1995 Cadillac Eldorado struck a tractor-trailer on U.S. Route 224.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said Donald Hazelet was traveling east on Route 224 just east of Clingan Road about 5 p.m. and crashed into the truck, which was traveling west, as he attempted to pass traffic.
The driver of the tractor-trailer, Michael Ault, 56, of Armagh, Pa., was uninjured. He was hauling steel coil.
Hazelet is charged with improper passing and driving under the influence.
Boy charged with arson
YOUNGSTOWN -- Larry McDonald, 17, of Elberen Street was charged with arson after an investigation into the weekend fire of a vacant four-story house at 440 Division St., Kevin Johnson, a member of the fire department's arson bureau, said Wednesday.
Johnson said the structure was a total loss. Reports show the property loss estimated at $25,000. Firefighters were sent to the fire at 6:20 p.m. Saturday.
Shooting investigation
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police are investigating a shooting that sent a 35-year-old Ravenna Avenue man to the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
A police report says Rodney F. Tucker was shot in the left hip and right leg shortly before 3 p.m. by a man he knows. Police reports didn't indicate to which hospital he was taken, and his condition was not immediately available.
Tucker told police the man entered the house, pulled out a handgun, demanded money, and shot him inside the house when he said he didn't have any cash.
A witness told police the gunman fled in a green Denali SUV.
Police recovered two .40-caliber shell casings from the front yard and found no blood evidence inside the house.
Sheriff puts chief in charge
WARREN -- The chief of operations at the Trumbull County Sheriff's Department will be in charge for the next few days while Sheriff Thomas Altiere recuperates.
Altiere said he had to undergo minor surgery and plans to return to his duties next week.
Ernie Cook, second in charge, will assume his duties while he is off, Altiere said.
Cemetery decorations
NILES -- St. Stephen Cemetery is asking that all decorations be removed from graves by Oct. 31 for fall cleanup. Any items remaining after that date will be discarded.