Bridge will reopen Oct. 16

Bridge will reopen Oct. 16
HOWLAND -- The bridge connecting East Market Street to Warren-Sharon Road will reopen Oct. 16, the Trumbull County Engineer's Office has announced.
The bridge replacement, by Trispan Corp. of New Middletown, was to have been completed Oct. 4 but was delayed by weather, officials said.
The bridge has been closed since June 7 for the $753,000 project, which is being paid for with state and federal funds.
For leaves, use paper bags
GIRARD -- The city will again require use of paper lawn bags for the annual leaf collection.
Bags can be picked up from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays through Nov. 20 at the street department garage, 943 S. State St.
The first five bags are free upon proof of residency, such as an identification card or utility bill. Additional bags are $1 for five.
Collection of the bags will be combined with the weekly trash pickup. For information, call (330) 545-1322.
Panel promotes tax
GIRARD -- People for Progress, the city income tax promotion committee, will meet at 7 p.m. next Tuesday at the city administration building. The pubic is invited.
Voters will cast ballots in the Nov. 2 general election on a 0.5-percent city income tax increase.
Probing vandalism reports
NILES -- Police are investigating more reports of vandalism at a city apartment complex.
Three residents of Royal Mall Drive called police Monday and reported windows of vehicles being shot out with BB pellets.
Police received more than half a dozen similar calls Sunday.
Prepared for a strike
NILES -- In the case of a strike, the Trumbull County Board of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities will close the Fairhaven school and adult workshop, officials say.
Tuesday, the board adopted a protocol detailing its plans in the case of a strike by the 270 workers in American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees local 1992.
The union members have been working without a contract since Aug. 31, Superintendent Douglas Burkhardt said.
He said the board does not anticipate a strike, but that it needs to be prepared.
Vehicular assault case
YOUNGSTOWN -- Joshua R. Kosa, 21, of North Bailey Road, North Jackson, pleaded guilty Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to one count of attempted aggravated vehicular assault.
He faces up to 18 months in prison or could be placed on probation when he is later sentenced by Judge James C. Evans. He also faces a 10-year driver's license suspension.
Authorities say Kosa was driving north on state Route 45 in North Jackson in June 2003 when his car went off the right side of the road and hit 13-year-old Ashley Smith of Lake Milton, who was walking along the road. Smith sustained serious injuries but survived.
Suspect captured
YOUNGSTOWN -- After a foot chase on Scott Street, Mario Atkins, 16, of Fifth Avenue was captured by police Monday night and accused of being the armed robber of University Foods on Fifth Avenue, reports show.
The robbery took place at 9:29 p.m. When caught, Atkins had $101 on him, police said. They said they collected a BB gun that the boy tossed as he ran.
He was taken to the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center to face charges of aggravated robbery and resisting arrest.
Robbed in parking lot
YOUNGSTOWN -- A 48-year-old Austintown man told police he was robbed at gunpoint around 11:30 p.m. Monday in the parking lot of the Evergreen Tavern on South Avenue.
The man said he turned over $120, and the robber ordered him to leave.
The robber was identified as a black man in his mid-20s wearing black pants and a black hooded sweat shirt.