BUILDING BOARD ELECTIONS

Building board elections
WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Building Appeals will meet at 4 p.m. today in the commissioners hearing room on the fifth floor of the administration building, 160 High St. N.W. It will have election of officers and consider an appeal of a Newton Falls apartment plan. Michael Talanka of Newton Falls had proposed an upstairs apartment for a former restaurant building at 30 W. Broad St. The county building department turned down a building permit request for the apartment on the basis that the stairwell is only 29 inches wide; the code requires it to be 48 inches, said David Zofko, chief building official. The appeals board has not had an official meeting in three to four years, Zofko said.
Two South Side fires
YOUNGSTOWN -- Fires were intentionally set at two vacant houses on the South Side, the fire department said. Firefighters found heavy smoke and fire when they arrived at 70 E. Delason Ave. around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday and said the place appeared to have been ransacked. A five-gallon gas can was found inside. Damage was set at $11,000, a total loss. The fire spread to the attic at 72 East Delason, and water from firefighting efforts entered the basement at 68 East Delason, reports show. The fire rekindled at 9 a.m. Wednesday. The second fire, at 602 W. Delason Ave., was called in just before 2 a.m. Wednesday and destroyed the three-story structure estimated at $30,000, the fire department said.
First-aid classes
BOARDMAN -- Emergency training courses will be available at the Mahoning Chapter of the American Red Cross, 8392 Tod Ave. Community CPR classes for adults, children and infants will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Aug. 5. Community first-aid classes for adult CPR and first aid will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. July 15 and Aug. 19. Adult CPR classes will be from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday and July 15, Aug. 5 and 19. For more information, visit http://mahoning.redcross.org/ or call (330) 726-6063.
Man faces gun charge
YOUNGSTOWN -- Neighbors near Richard Hrosar's Hazeltine Avenue house told police that he stepped outside around 8 p.m. July 4 and fired an assault rifle and shotgun several times. Police didn't find the firearms but did find a variety of ammunition and a loaded pistol. Two spent shotgun shells also were found in front of his house, police said. Police charged Hrosar with discharging a firearm within city limits and served him with an outstanding warrant from Campbell Municipal Court. He was arraigned Wednesday in Campbell on a charge of aggravated menacing and bond was set at $2,500. Hrosar was due in Youngstown Municipal Court today for arraignment.
Blazes in vacant homes
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A rash of suspicious fires kept New Castle firefighters busy on Independence Day. Fire Chief Jeff Scrim said they were called to fires at three vacant homes in different sections of the city. The Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal was called to investigate all of the fires. Scrim said they first went to a vacant home at 116 N. Crawford Ave. at 2:13 a.m. The house was destroyed by the fire, he said. Another vacant house at 1415 Hamilton St. was on fire at 3:51 a.m., he said. The fire was contained to the basement and first floor, Scrim noted. A third suspicious fire at a vacant home was called in at 11:07 p.m. at 302 E. Home Street. Scrim said that fire was contained to the second floor. Scrim said he was unsure if the fires were related because they were set in different sections of the city. Firefighters did not have the names of the homeowners.
Woman robbed at home
AUSTINTOWN -- Police are searching for a man who robbed an Austintown woman at gunpoint at her home Saturday. A black man wearing a black hoodie with a white T-shirt and light blue shorts entered the home around 12:55 a.m. and demanded money from the victim and her teenage son, a police report says. The suspect held a handgun to the woman's head and forced her to give him $500 before fleeing. The victim's son had left a door unlocked for the woman's boyfriend, allowing the culprit to get into the home, police said.