METRO DIGEST ||Free career workshop for women

Free career workshop

youngstown

YWCA of Youngstown will sponsor a free career kickoff workshop for women from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at the MYCAP office, 101 Federal Plaza East.

The session may help those who are unemployed, looking for a career change or returning to school.

The workshop will introduce resources and strategies for career exploration, and provide information on next steps toward developing an education/career plan and where to go for assistance.

For more information, call Jennie Andrews at 330-746-6361 or email to jmandrews@hotmail.com.

Pacesetter Campaign

YOUNGSTOWN

The Pacesetter Campaign for the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley got under way Tuesday with nearly 40 businesses, schools and nonprofit organizations pledging to conduct early workplace campaigns.

The Pacesetter Campaign is an early effort designed to “set the pace” for the annual campaign, which will kick off Sept. 9 with United Way’s community Day of Caring, officials said.

Dr. Cynthia Anderson, president of Youngstown State University, is chairwoman of United Way’s 2011 financial campaign, which has a goal of $2.6 million. The campaign theme is “Teaming Up for a Better Tomorrow.”

For more information about the Day of Caring or the 2011 Campaign, call 330-746-8494 or visit online www.ymvunitedway.org.

Warren man shot

WARREN

A 24-year-old city man was treated at St. Joseph Health Center after being shot in the calf near the intersection of South Feederle Avenue and Adelaide Avenue Southeast early Tuesday.

The victim told police he was walking with two friends when he heard gunshots and felt a shot hit his leg.

Police found an empty vehicle with open windows at South Feederle and Adelaide registered to the victim’s mother. It had a bullet hole in it that was aimed straight down near the front passenger’s position.

Sentencing reset again

CLEVELAND

In March, the sentencing for the leader of a Ponzi scheme, Kevin L. Harris of Warren, was delayed three months so 300 victim-impact statements could be gathered and analyzed.

But in May, Judge Lesley Wells of Cleveland federal court was asked to provide time for Harris and his attorney to look over the statements, so a June 7 sentencing date was canceled.

Recently, Judge Wells set another sentencing date — 10:30 a.m. Sept. 13. It will be in Courtroom 16B in U.S. District Court.

Harris pleaded guilty in November to engineering a $20 million Ponzi scheme from the former International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall on Parkman Road Northwest in Warren between 2006 and 2008.

As of March, court officials determined that Harris owed $12.5 million in restitution to his 400 victims, most in the Toronto, Ontario, area.

Child-rape indictment

COLUMBUS

A 74-year-old man whose two daughters run separate home day cares in Athens County is accused of raping one of the children in their care, Sheriff Patrick Kelly said yesterday.

The Columbus Dispatch reported in today’s edition that Thomas E. Shifflet of Glouster was being held at the Southeastern Ohio Regional Jail in Nelsonville pending an arraignment today in common peas court.

A county grand jury indicted Shifflet Monday on one count of rape. More charges are expected as the investigation continues, Kelly said.

Seven girls, including five day-care children age 3 to 5, and two from outside the day-care centers, age 13 and 14, are thought to have been victimized, Kelly said.

His investigators began working on the case after families contacted his office with allegations that their children were being sexually abused, Kelly said.

The sheriff said the home day cares are in Dover Township, but he refused to provide the names of the women who run them.