Wick Avenue closure

Wick Avenue closure

YOUNGSTOWN — Wick Avenue, from the service road to the Wick Avenue parking deck, will be closed during the Summer Festival of the Arts on Saturday and Sunday. The road will close at 6 a.m. Saturday and will not reopen until after the close of the festival at 6 p.m. Sunday.

If you are arriving from the north, exit at Fifth Avenue and take the alternate route of Fifth to Lincoln Avenue to Wick and park in the Wick deck. If accessing Youngstown State University from the south, use Wick Avenue and park in the Wick Avenue deck. The M-24 parking lot (tailgate lot) and all surface lots around the perimeter of campus will be open as well.

Crash victim dies

YOUNGSTOWN — A motorcycle rider who crashed June 23 on Interstate 680 died Monday, his 28th birthday, said Detective Sgt. Patricia Garcar, an accident investigator. LilRob Taylor of Buckeye Court died at St. Elizabeth Health Center from crash injuries, she said. Taylor, riding a 2007 Suzuki, was speeding southbound on I-680 when he lost control and struck a guardrail, Garcar said. Taylor is the city’s third motorcycle and sixth traffic fatality this year. Two cyclists died Sunday evening when they collided on Ohio Works Drive in what has been described as stunt riding.

Addresses to veterans

CAMPBELL — U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, will address local veterans at 10 a.m. Thursday at the American Legion Hall on 12th Street in Campbell about the increases in the Veterans Administration budget and how it will affect the quality of their health care. A U.S. House-Senate conference committee is working to finalize the bill.

Also, U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson of St. Clairsville, D-6th, will hold a town meeting on issues concerning local veterans at 10:30 a.m. today at the Mahoning Veterans Memorial at the Canfield Fairgrounds. The meeting follows Canfield’s 4th of July parade.

The current VA budget is $36.5 billion with the House passing legislation to raise that amount by $3.8 billion and the Senate approving a $3.6 billion increase.

Deliveryman robbed

YOUNGSTOWN — A man delivering Chinese food to a house in the 500 block of East Florida Avenue was approached by two robbers in their 20s who acted as if they had a gun and demanded money, reports show. The deliveryman said he was punched in the face and knocked to the ground as he tried to resist having his pockets searched late Monday afternoon. The robbers took $75 and the food and then ran west toward South Avenue. The deliveryman was taken for medical treatment. He said the object that appeared to be a gun was likely a cell phone dropped by one of the suspects and taken by police.

Investigation continues

YOUNGSTOWN — City firefighters continue investigating the cause of a fire that gutted a home at 565 Almyra on Monday. Battalion Chief Jack Martin said the fire began on the first floor of the two-story dwelling at 5:03 p.m. Martin said two brothers lived in the home, and one of them tried to put out the fire. Martin estimated the home and its contents was valued at about $15,000, and the fire did about $13,000 worth of damage. He said the home carried no insurance. One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion.

Mailbox fireworks

YOUNGSTOWN — Smoke coming from inside a mailbox outside the post office building on Guadalupe Avenue was caused by fireworks, the fire department said. A postal worker was called to the scene Monday evening to check inside the box. He discovered that the mail was slightly damaged but still mailable. No fire was reported.

Fire destroys buildings

YOUNGSTOWN — A fire intentionally set at 1012 Valley St. destroyed the vacant house, the fire department said. When crews arrived at 10:19 p.m. Monday they found the doors and windows open and the East Side structure fully engulfed in flames. Damage was set at $5,000, a total loss. Earlier, at 4:30 p.m., a vacant building described as a former church at 1196 Donation Ave. was intentionally set on fire, the fire department said. Damage was set at $3,000, a total loss.