Festival speakers

Festival speakers

WARREN

Francis Dorsey, director and co-founder of the African Community Theater and former chairman of the Department of Pan African Studies at Kent State University, will be featured speaker at the third annual Black History Month Festival on Saturday.

The festival will be noon to 4 p.m. at the TCAP building, 1230 Palmyra Road SW. Admission is free.

Also speaking will be Warren Mayor Doug Franklin; Atty. Gilbert Rucker; Orneil Heller, assistant Warren fire chief; Joan Sullivan; and Walter Allen, minister.

Habitat ceremony

YOUNGSTOWN

Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning County is having a groundbreaking ceremony for a home for its newest partner family, Abby Walsh and Shaun Dunmire, at 10 a.m. Saturday at 4 Maranatha Drive on the city’s East Side.

Panel appointments

YOUNGSTOWN

Judges Joseph J. Vukovich of the 7th District Court of Appeals and John M. Durkin of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court are among 28 people from around Ohio who have been appointed to the Task Force on the Funding of Ohio Courts.

Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor of the Ohio Supreme Court named the task-force members recently.

With its first meeting set for March 23, the panel will examine long-term solutions to strengthen the finances of Ohio courts.

The task force meets throughout this year and will issue a report by early next year with specific recommendations for cost savings and efficiencies.

Grant announced

Girard

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, announced a $853,000 grant for the city’s fire department. Fire Chief Kenneth Bornemiss said the grant would pay for a new firetruck.

“This is the largest grant our fire department has ever received ... and it is extremely significant for our small community,” Bornemiss said in a statement Wednesday. “Our current ladder truck is 40 years old this year, and without this money, we can’t buy one.”

The money is part of the Assistance to Firefighter Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.

Trial to be closed

PITTSBURGH (AP)

Pennsylvania Superior Court says the juvenile court trial for a boy who was just 11 when he reportedly killed his father’s pregnant fianc e and unborn son will remain closed to the public, despite appeals by three western Pennsylvania newspapers.

The court heard arguments last month about whether to open the trial of Jordan Brown of Wampum, who is now 14.

State law required Brown to be charged as an adult in the February 2009 killings — which caused the details of the case and Brown’s name to be widely reported — before his attorneys convinced a Lawrence County judge to move the case to juvenile court. Another county judge then closed the upcoming trial to the public. The trial was delayed by the appeals by the New Castle News, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.