LOCAL

LOCAL

‘Mommy and Me’ tea party

CANFIELD — Canfield Fire Women’s Auxiliary will have a “Mommy and Me Tea Party” from 2 to 4 p.m. today at Fair Park here.

The party celebrates Mother’s Day. Part of the tea party proceeds will benefit Ava Timko, a Canfield toddler who is battling leukemia.

For more info, call Robin D’Angelo, CFWA president, at (330) 501-0978.

Husband cleared in death

GROVE CITY, Pa. — Pennsylvania State Police have dropped assault charges against a man because evidence doesn’t support them, first assistant District Attorney Samuel R. Zuck said Friday.

Kenneth Leroy Francis, 64, of Orchard Drive, was charged March 21 after police alleged he struck his wife March 16, causing a brain hemorrhage.

Wanda J. Abrams, 80, also of Orchard Drive but a different apartment, died March 21 after being discharged from a Pittsburgh hospital.

The Erie County coroner’s office conducted an autopsy and told state police that Abrams didn’t die as a result of being struck in the head. The doctor there found no evidence of a recent brain hemorrhage.

Francis said he didn’t hit his wife and that she had fallen out of bed twice, hitting her head once on a bedside table.

Teen girl attacked

WARREN — A 14-year-old Paige Avenue Northeast girl was assaulted just after she got off her school bus at the corner of Belmont Avenue and Olive Street Northeast at 3:05 p.m. Thursday, a Warren police report says.

The girl’s grandmother told police that a girl chased the 14-year-old down and punched her in the back of the head, then put her in a head lock. The girl said she also saw something sharp near her throat.

Several neighbors saw the attack and yelled at the attacker, causing her to run off, police said.

The victim did not seek medical treatment, police said.

Crash lands 2 in hospital

ROGERS — Two people were taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, after a crash around 1:50 p.m. Friday on state Route 7, just north of state Route 154, according to the Lisbon Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Sara Kaufmann, 17, of Columbiana, was driving a compact car north that went left of center and collided with a southbound pickup truck driven by James Williams, 54, of Wellsville.

Kaufmann was taken by helicopter. Williams was taken to the same facility by ambulance, a post dispatcher said.

Personnel at St. Elizabeth Health Center said they could not give out any information on either person.

OHIO

Coroner’s office: 2 kids dead in apartment fire

MARION — A coroner’s office says two children have died in a fire at a north-central Ohio apartment complex.

Marion County Assistant Coroner Dr. Craig Thompson says 2-year-old Jacob Tackett and 8-month-old Madison Barrett died in the blaze on Friday afternoon. State fire marshal’s office spokesman Shane Cartmill says four other people were injured. Their names and ages were not released.

Fire officials have not determined what sparked the fire. The brick building, which housed several rental units, was built in 1890 and served as a hospital years ago.

Marion Fire Department Platoon Chief Dennis Kinsler says the fire appeared to have started in a bedroom where the children’s bodies were found.

Another case of swine flu

HAMILTON — Health officials say another case of swine flu has been confirmed in Ohio, bringing the state’s total to seven.

The Ohio Department of Health said Friday that the new case was a 30-year-old man in Butler County in southwest Ohio, who was not identified.

The health department says previous confirmed cases include a 31-year-old man, a 33-year-old man and an 18-year-old man in central Ohio’s Franklin County. The other confirmed cases were in northeast Ohio, where tests confirmed swine flu in a 9-year-old boy in Lorain County, a 47-year-old female in Holmes County and a 39-year-old woman in Portage County.

State officials say two probable cases in northeast Ohio’s Cuyahoga County await final testing.

pennsylvania

Pittsburgh mayor has big lead in campaign funds

PITTSBURGH — Campaign finance reports show Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl has more than 10 times as much money on hand as his nearest rival.

Ravenstahl is seeking the Democratic nomination for a second term May 19 against city Councilman Patrick Dowd and attorney Carmen Robinson.

As of May 4, Ravenstahl had more than $480,000 in the bank compared to less than $45,000 for Dowd. Robinson didn’t file a report. Candidates who spent more than $250 were required to do so by Friday.

The reports show Ravenstahl also raised far more money than Dowd and spend far more. Ravenstahl’s biggest expense was telvision advertising, which cost his campaign $85,000.

Staff and wire reports