Funds to aid homeless

Funds to aid homeless
YOUNGSTOWN -- Youngstown and Mahoning County will get nearly 2 million in federal funds for programs to aid the homeless. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has awarded a 1,771,593 grant to the Youngstown/Mahoning County Continuum of Care, a coalition of agencies serving the homeless, and a 178,634 emergency shelter grant to Youngstown. The grants are part of 64 million in funds allocated to Ohio programs by HUD Tuesday. Continuum of Care programs provide permanent and transitional housing and services to the homeless while emergency grants fund homeless shelters and related social services.
Chief clerk resigns
MERCER, Pa. -- Mercer County commissioners' Chief Clerk Norma Anderton announced Tuesday at the chief clerk's meeting that she will resign effective March 23. Anderton has held the position for two years. The Greenville resident said that though she has enjoyed the opportunity to work with commissioners, she wants to take advantage of some travel opportunities. Commissioners accepted her resignation with regret. They asked Director of Administrative Services Bill Boyle to prepare an advertisement for the position. Also Tuesday, Public Information Officer Jeff Greenburg announced that he is upgrading the county Web site. He said he hopes to soon have the agenda for commissioners meetings posted on the Web site before the meetings. After the meeting, the agenda would be replaced with the formal minutes of that meeting.
Officer is charged
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- A Lawrence County corrections officer was charged with unlawful restraint, false imprisonment and obstruction of administrative law after refusing to allow a police officer to leave the county jail. Corrections officer Dianne E. Rhodes, 58, of Almi Drive, New Castle, was charged after an altercation early Tuesday with New Castle Police Officer James Paglia, 33. Paglia was trying to admit a woman to the jail as an inmate, but Rhodes refused because the woman had a visible bump on her head. A police report stated that Rhodes wanted the woman to be medically cleared of serious injury before she would admit her at 2:15 a.m. Tuesday. According to police, adult probation was called to get the woman medically cleared, but Rhodes told the officer he should take the woman to the hospital. The two argued when Paglia said that was not his job and Paglia attempted to leave. Rhodes refused to open the locked jail doors after being asked twice. Paglia then informed Rhodes that she would be charged.
Employee assaulted
YOUNGSTOWN -- Police said an employee of the Walgreen Drug Co. store at 2560 Belmont Ave. was assaulted by a man she suspected of stealing a pair of MP3 Players from a store display around 6 a.m. Monday. The employee told police that she saw the man put the players under his coat, and, when she confronted him, he punched her, knocked her down and then continued beating her with his fists. He and a male accomplice then fled the store and ran to a vehicle parked in the lot but couldn't find their keys and had to flee on foot, store employees told police. The employee found the keys at the scene of the attack and locked the store doors to to prevent the men from getting back inside, police said. The employee was treated at the scene by an ambulance crew.