Metro Digest

Positive Voices rally

WARREN — Positive Voices for America, a citizens group, will have a rally featuring Ed Fire, past national president of the International Union of Electrical Workers/Communications Workers of America, from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday on Courthouse Square.

The rally’s purpose is to voice positive opinions and facts on local and national issues, organizers said. Speakers will address the economy, education, climate change, health-care reform and war.

Angel Food Blessings

YOUNGSTOWN — Crossroads Church will be taking orders for Angel Food Blessings in a Box.

The church is a host site for the Angel Food Program, which is intended to reduce grocery expenses for area residents each month.

The cost for each unit of food is $30. It includes meats, vegetables, fruits and more. There are no income restrictions or guidelines.

Orders will be accepted on the following dates:

UMonday, Nov. 7 and 9 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

UWednesday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Distribution of food will take place from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. Nov. 14 at the church, 554 S. Meridian Road.

Cash, money orders and the Ohio Direction Card are accepted.

For more information, call (330) 544-1064, (330) 799-9988 or (234) 855-0683.

Military promotion

YOUNGSTOWN — Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Edward Pernotto will be promoted to colonel at 1 p.m. today at Cardinal Mooney High School, 2545 Erie St.

Pernotto, son of Peter and the late RoseMarie Pernotto and a Mooney graduate, attended The Ohio State University under an Air Force ROTC scholarship and was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduation.

He served at several duty stations in the U.S. and Japan before leaving active duty to join the Department of Defense Civil Service. Pernotto moved to Arlington, Va., as a defense consultant, and in April 2003, he volunteered for active duty for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pernotto has more than 2,000 flight hours and is a master navigator, military parachutist and intelligence officer. He lives in Arlington, where he is assigned to the Special Operations Command with duty at the Pentagon.

City traffic alert

YOUNGSTOWN — Motorists should avoid Fifth Avenue between Wood Street and Stambaugh Stadium around 2 p.m. today.

Youngstown State University’s annual homecoming parade will form at Wood and Fifth and move up Fifth to the stadium promptly at 2 p.m.

This year’s king and queen will be crowned at halftime of the South Dakota State-YSU football game, which begins at 4 p.m.

Benefit concert for Luke

WARREN — The One Forty Ones, a band made up of Warren police officers, is having a benefit concert for the 4-year-old Trumbull County boy who was injured when hit in the head with a baseball at a Scrappers game in September.

The concert for Luke Holko will be at 6:30 Sunday at the Mocha House restaurant, 467 High Street. Musician Joe Fritz and magician John Steven Bloom will perform.

Tickets are $10, and all proceeds will go to help pay Luke’s medical expenses.

Free courthouse tour

YOUNGSTOWN — A free architectural tour of the Mahoning County Courthouse will be at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 7.

The tour, organized by the Cleveland-based Institute of Classical Architecture, will be led by local architect Robert Mastriana, who oversaw the restoration 20 years ago.

The tour will feature the rotunda murals by Edwin Blashfield, who was considered the dean of American muralists when he painted them a century ago as the courthouse opened.

The group also will tour the Butler Institute of American Art and the Arms Family Museum of Local History.

Continuing-education credit is available to architects.

Reservations should be made by calling (216) 631-0557 or e-mailing ddavis@dhellison.com.