METRO DIGEST || Man charged with assault

Assault charge

YOUNGSTOWN

A 26-year-old city man is facing a felonious assault charge, accused of stabbing a 20-year-old man police said burglarized the older man’s home.

Officers were called to the intersection of Magnolia and Woodcrest avenues on the East Side at about 12:15 a.m. Tuesday for a large fight. When officers arrived, Braielyn D. Jones, 20, had a small stomach wound and accused Michael Montanez- Vega, 26, of stabbing him.

According to police, Montanez-Vega nodded yes when police asked if he had stabbed Jones, and he said Jones had stolen his laptop computer from his home.

Police said witnesses saw Jones running from the house, and officers found Montanez-Vega’s computer near Jones’ residence. Jones faces an aggravated burglary charge.

Firefighter injured

YOUNGSTOWN

A firefighter was injured while fighting a blaze inside an abandoned North Side house Tuesday afternoon.

Youngstown Fire Department reported the firefighter was burned on his legs. The department described them as moderate burns. He was expected to be transported to the burn center at Akron Children’s Hospital for further treatment and evaluation.

The fire, on Lora Avenue, began at about 2 p.m. It was confined to the second-floor bedroom.

Land Bank transfers its first property

YOUNGSTOWN

The board of directors of the newly created Mahoning County Land Bank transferred its first tax-delinquent property to new owners Tuesday.

The property in the 500 block of Clearmount Drive on the city’s South Side is an empty lot that was forfeited eight years ago.

It was sold to neighbors, John and Mary Clark, who have been cleaning and mowing the lot and wanted control of it, for $300, which is the current market value listed for it by the county auditor’s office, said Daniel R. Yemma, county treasurer and land bank board chairman.

The nonprofit land bank operates under new state laws designed to streamline and economize the process of acquiring and clearing debts from vacant, abandoned, tax- delinquent properties and returning them to productive use.

News conference

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Community Initiative to Reduce Violence is having a news conference at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the sixth-floor caucus room, 26 S. Phelps St., to outline the “C.I.R.V. School Community Center Project.”

The project is a pilot program that will open up two city schools, Wilson Middle School and Taft Elementary, during the weekends of Aug. 11, 18 and 25, said William “Guy” Burney, C.I.R.V. coordinator.

“We’re going to target the hot-spot crime areas. It’s just a pilot, and we hope to open schools on all sides of towns and agencies during those hours,” he said.

The project is a collaboration among Refuge and Now Youngstown, the Martin P. Joyce Juvenile Justice Center and the city’s school district, police department and mayor’s office.

Man faces charges

NEW castle, pa.

Police charged a Neshannock Township man with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct after he fired his gun in a residential area.

Township police said Donald Rickel, 36, of Okinawa Drive fired his gun into the air during a dispute with someone.

Police said Rickel fired the gun after he saw his wife being assaulted by a woman whom she’d yelled at to stop speeding.

That woman, Barbara Norco, 47, of Oak Street was charged with simple assault, DUI, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct and harassment, police said.

Teen Straight Talk

Warren

Monument of Faith Church of God in Christ, 2165 Highland Ave. SW, is hosting a presentation by Teen Straight Talk for children and young adults from 9:45 a.m. to noon Friday. The event is free, and attire is casual for attendees.

Fraud charges

NEW castle, pa.

Neshannock Township police charged a businessman with seven counts of deceptive or fraudulent business practices.

Police arrested William Chill of East Hillcrest Avenue after several Lawrence County residents complained that they paid Chill Monuments for gravestones that were never delivered or placed, police said.