Boy accused of arson

Boy accused of arson

YOUNGSTOWN

Police have charged a 14-year-old city boy with arson after a fire at a South Side home.

Firefighters responded to a call at 10:42 p.m. Wednesday at 427 W. Judson Ave. and found the fire had been set intentionally in multiple locations.

Crews battled flames on two floors and in the attic. Firefighters then found the first-floor back door open and shoe prints leading to a neighbor’s backyard in the fresh snow.

Firefighters called police, who later found a juvenile whose shoe prints matched the tracks leading from the house in a vacant lot nearby. The suspect’s gray-and-red Nike Air Flight tennis shoes were taken as evidence.

The boy was taken to Mahoning County’s Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center.

The fire caused an estimated $7,000 in damage, fire officials said Thursday.

Sign-language class

YOUNGSTOWN

Parents and their babies can participate in an interactive class at the Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley, 2008 Lynn Ave., and learn basic sign language to communicate and encourage speech development. Research shows that babies who sign at an early age have a larger vocabulary, higher IQ and reduced temper tantrums because they can communicate needs and wants before they know how to speak.

The class is geared for children 6 months to 2 years old. The class session is four weeks for one hour. The cost is $50 for the full session including a sign-language resource folder.

Baby Talk level I class is 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Level II is from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Sessions are being offered Tuesdays April 5, 12, 19 and 26. Saturday session dates are April 9, 16, 23, and 30. Level I will be from 10 to 11 a.m. Level II will be from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Call Barb at 330-540-1025, or e-mail Karen at ksteed@zoominternet.net.

Marching Miles

NILES

The public is invited to join area credit unions Saturday at Eastwood Mall in a Marching Miles event to support Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley.

Registration begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Aquarium in the mall.

Luke Holko, a Greene Township boy injured at an Eastwood Field baseball game in September 2009, his family and Scrappy from the Mahoning Valley Scrappers will lead the walk. Participants will walk through the mall halls.

Marching Miles is a statewide event to support Children’s Miracle Network hospitals.