METRO DIGEST || Hours curtailed at area SS offices

SS hours curtailed

Effective Aug. 15, the Youngstown and Warren Social Security offices will reduce their public hours by 30 minutes each weekday, opening at 9 a.m. and closing at 3:30 p.m. The reduction in public hours was made necessary by Congressional budget cuts, said Jim Mattes, Social Security public affairs officer.

Agency employees will continue to work their regular hours, but the shorter public window will allow them to complete face-to-face service to customers without incurring overtime costs. Congress provided Social Security with nearly $1 billion less than the president requested for the budget this fiscal year, Mattes said.

Forged check

Liberty

Police arrested a Youngstown woman after she tried to cash a forged Youngstown Municipal Court pay check at Chase Bank on Belmont Avenue.

On Wednesday, 22-year-old Conswalda Reynolds, 152 West Dennick Ave., walked into the bank with a $1,325.75 check. When the cashier tried to cash the check, a flag appeared on their system. Cashiers asked Reynolds to wait and called the police. When police questioned Reynolds, she admitted to cashing two other forged checks, one at Farrell Speed Checks in Farrell, Pa., and one at another location. She was charged with two counts of forgery and one count of obstructing official business, and s is scheduled to appear in Girard Municipal Court Wednesday.

Highland Dairy theft

GIRARD

A burglar accessed a convenience store by cutting out a portion of the roof and dropping into the building, according to police.

The manager of Highland Dairy, 722 Highland Ave., arrived Friday morning and heard the alarm going off inside. When police arrived, they found the burglar had knocked out lights of an adjacent building and climbed the west side of the store.

Inside, the burglar pulled all phone cords, and stole money from the safe using keys from a desk. The perpetrator tried accessing a second safe but failed. Police are still looking for a suspect.