Gains back after injury

Gains back after injury

YOUNGSTOWN

Paul J. Gains, Mahoning County prosecutor, returned to his office Wednesday afternoon and was en route to a campaign fundraiser that evening after having suffered a bruised right hip in a Richfield-area motorcycle accident Saturday.

“It’s very difficult to get up, to bend over and to sit down,” said Gains, who walked stiffly and with a limp, but without any cane, walker or crutches.

Gains, who wore a business suit and tie, said he was sore and felt a “burning sensation” from his injury as he awaited an X-ray today to determine whether he had suffered a hairline fracture or chipped bone.

Before returning to his downtown office, Gains said he had been able in recent days to do some of his work using his computer in his Boardman residence.

Awaiting results

WARREN

Police are waiting for autopsy results, expected today, to better know what caused the death of 11-month-old Alex Burtt on Tuesday afternoon.

The child was pronounced dead Wednesday afternoon at ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital after a babysitter called 911 at 12:45 p.m., reporting that the child had been found unresponsive in the bathtub.

The babysitter, Andrew J. Dubos, 21, lives at the residence, 1153 Summit St. NW, and is Alex Burtt’s uncle. Dubos was watching Alex and four of his brothers and sisters at the time, police said. All five children are age 3 and under.

Facing murder charge

WARREN

A Trumbull County grand jury has indicted a 28-year-old Warren woman on charges of murder, felonious assault and child endangering in the death of her 15-month-old daughter in September.

Joy D. Hodge of Transylvania Avenue Southeast, will be arraigned on the charges Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. If convicted, Hodge could get a life prison sentence.

Hodge was charged in September with felonious assault in relation to the girl’s death, but the Trumbull County Coroner’s Office was awaiting lab results before determining a cause of death.

The girl, A’Nana L. Brantley, was found dead at home in an upstairs bedroom Sept. 9.

Possible homicide

WARREN

Police were still awaiting word Wednesday afternoon from the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office to determine whether Curtis J. Cutlip’s death was a homicide.

Police found him face-down and barely breathing Sunday afternoon on Vine Street Northeast, but he regained consciousness at ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital, police said. Cutlip, 32, was of Nelson Mosier Road in Leavittsburg.

Cutlip was later flown by helicopter from Trumbull Memorial to University Hospitals in Cleveland, where he died Monday, said Capt. Janice Gilmore of the Warren Police Department.

Gilmore said Cutlip did appear to have been beaten up, but police don’t know what caused the injuries. A resident of Vine Street told police that a woman who was standing near Cutlip on the street told him she had seen a black male with a goatee kicking Cutlip in the head while he was on the ground.

Indicted on charges

WARREN

Christopher L. Scott, 22, of Ohio Avenue Northwest, has been indicted on charges that could send him to prison for more than 20 years. Scott faces two counts of felonious assault and single counts of aggravated burglary and possessing criminal tools after reportedly breaking into a house on Atlantic Street Northeast on Oct. 10 and attacking the landlord. He will be arraigned Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.

Police say Scott broke into the house at 407 Atlantic by breaking in through a window, but the break-in triggered an alarm that alerted the landlord, Bill Kruppa, 44, of Perkinswood Boulevard Southeast at 3:15 a.m. Kruppa entered the house and in the basement found Scott, who swung bolt cutters at Kruppa, hitting him in the face, then wrestled with Kruppa, who was armed. Scott fled up the stairs, but Warren police arrived and arrested him.

Carving Out Hunger

YOUNGSTOWN

Charter One volunteers sorted and repacked food today for distribution to local hunger relief organizations by Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley, 2805 Salt Springs Road.

The effort is part of Carving Out Hunger, Charter One’s annual campaign to raise awareness of hunger issues and provide holiday meals to residents in need in need in Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Charter One’s 2011 Carving Out Hunger donation at Second Harvest is 2,004 chickens, which represent 9,076 pounds of meat for 6,470 meals.

Over the past seven years, Charter One’s Carving Out Hunger program has donated more than $700,000 to food banks across Ohio. This year, Charter One will provide hundreds of volunteer hours and $105,000 in grants to food banks statewide through the Carving Out Hunger program.

Fill-A-Cruiser drive

NEWTON FALLS

The Newton Falls Police Department will accept donation of nonperishable food items as part of its annual Fill-A-Cruiser campaign from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday in the parking lot of City Hall, 19 N. Canal St. The campaign assists Newton Falls families in need. Any monetary donations will go to the police department’s Kids-N-Cops program.