Metro Digest

Angel Food Blessings

YOUNGSTOWN — Crossroads Church, 554 S. Meridian Road, will take orders for Angel Food Blessings in a Box. Cost is $30 for $75 worth of groceries per signature unit and includes meats, vegetables, fruit and more.

There are no income restrictions or guidelines. Pre-order and pre-pay with cash, debit or credit cards, money orders or Ohio Direction Card.

Orders will be taken from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Monday, March 6, 8, 13 and 15 and 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and March 10. Distribution will be from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. March 20.

Call (330) 544-1064 or (330) 799-9988.

Candidate disqualified

LISBON — The Columbiana County Board of Elections disqualified Cory McCusker of Poland as a Libertarian candidate for the 6th Congressional District.

According to the elections board, he presented a petition with 31 signatures. He needed 25 valid signatures, but only eight of the 31 were valid. Martin J. Elsass of Columbiana remains as a Libertarian candidate for that congressional seat.

Jack Marshall of Columbiana filed to be a Republican committeeman in Precinct F. He was disqualified because he had filed to vote as a Democrat in 2008.

Appointed to board

BOARDMAN — Township Trustee Thomas P. Costello has been appointed to the executive board of the Coalition of Large Ohio Urban Townships.

Fellow trustees Larry Moliterno and Brad Calhoun nominated Costello last week.

CLOUT formed in 1995 as a means for large townships to provide input and solutions to state legislators on problems and issues affecting large and/or urban Ohio townships.

Townships are eligible for CLOUT membership if they have a minimum population of 15,000 people in an unincorporated territory and a minimum budget of $3 million.

The late John Cox, a former township trustee, was one of the originators of CLOUT in 1995, and Boardman has been a member for 15 years.

Free tax assistance

The IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program offers free tax help for low- to middle- income taxpayers.

Assistance is available in Spanish and English at Campbell Neighborhood Ministries, 75 Jackson Drive, Campbell, on the following days: Mondays, 9 a.m. to noon ending April 5; Thursdays, 5 to 8 p.m. ending April 8; Saturday, March 20 from noon to 3 p.m. For appointments, call (330) 881-8217.

Free tax-preparation sites also are available at the Mahoning/ Youngstown Community Action Partnership, Youngstown State University Williamson College of Business Administration, Neighborhood Ministries and local branches of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County. For information on all sites and times and materials and documents that must brought to the session, call Help Hotline by dialing 211.

Fire probe continues

NEW CASTLE, Pa. — The cause of a fire that heavily damaged Shad Hanna’s, a restaurant, bar and banquet hall at 1046 Butler Ave., still was undetermined Thursday.

The fire broke out Wednesday at 5:50 a.m., said the New Castle Fire Department. Reported by Bob Hanna, the owner, it appears to have started in a first-floor bathroom, the department said. The damage estimate is $400,000 to $600,000, the department said.

Restoration already is beginning, said Louis DiCaprio, whose company, DiCaprio’s Cleaning Services, is the lead contractor for that project.

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries, the department said.