METRO DIGEST || Downtown Youngstown lights up

Downtown lights up

YOUNGSTOWN

Exterior lights along downtown’s busiest street, out since Monday, were back on Friday night.

An unidentified motorist crashed into a wooden platform, containing circuit breakers for outdoor lights, in front of the DeYor Performing Arts Center at 260 W. Federal St. as well as other breaker boxes last weekend, said Charles Shasho, deputy director of the city’s public works department.

Because of exposed wires, Shasho said he shut down the power on West Federal Street between Market Street and Fifth Avenue.

Basic-pistol classes

Niles

Two National Rifle Association basic-pistol classes will take place March 7 and March 15, each a three-day, 12-hour course to obtain a concealed-weapon license.

The classes will be at the United Veterans of America Post 7, at 717 Belmont Ave. There will be four instructors.

The cost for one of the 16 training slots available is $90 or $170 per couple, which covers materials, ammunition and use of handguns for qualifying.

To register, call Joe Burkey at 330-766-1138 or email him at TopSgtJoe@yahoo.com.

$102K heroin bust

OBERLIN

Brett Jones, 29, of Bristolville was arraigned Friday on a heroin-possession charge after Ohio State Highway Patrol troopers seized a quarter pound of marijuana, 60 bindles of powder heroin and a half-kilo of brown heroin worth an estimated $102,000, after a traffic stop on the Ohio Turnpike.

Troopers stopped Jones’ 2012 Chevrolet Impala, with Michigan registration, for a speed violation in Lorain County on Thursday afternoon. Troopers smelled raw marijuana and discovered the drugs in a backpack.

Jones, of 625 Bristol-Champion Townline Road, was taken to the Lorain County jail and later released on $20,000 bond after an arraignment hearing in Oberlin Municipal Court. If convicted, Jones could face up to 10 years in prison.

At the street level, heroin is sold in “bindles,” which are small pieces of aluminum foil or cellophane that contain one-tenth of a gram or less of the drug, the patrol said.

Warren Screw fire

HOWLAND

Howland Township firefighters responded to Warren Screw, 3869 Niles Road at 7:12 a.m. Friday for a fire in a machine at the plant.

Though the fire had been extinguished by the time firefighters arrived, the building still contained heavy smoke, and several employees were checked for smoke inhalation.

The fire’s damage was estimated at $20,000 to contents of the building, none to the structure.

Assistance was provided by Weathersfield Township Fire Department.

Volunteers sought

canfield

The Ursuline Sisters of Youngstown, 4250 Shields Road, is seeking volunteers for the intern/volunteer program. College students 18 and older are needed in various ministries.

They are Beatitude House, housing for homeless women and children; HIV/AIDS Ministry, at clinic and summer program for children; SCOPE of Lordstown, meeting place for senior citizens; Parkside Health Care Center, a skilled nursing facility in Columbiana; Motherhouse Health Care, assisted living wing for nuns; Ursuline preschool and kindergarten, volunteers needed for June 11-15 only; St. Columba Cathedral and Habitat for Humanity. Contact Sister Norma Raupple at 330-792-7636 or send email to ursuline_sisters_of_youngstown@theursulines.org.

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