METRO DIGEST || Fracking protest

Fracking protest

YOUNGSTOWN

A bus will leave the First Unitarian Universalist Church (corner of Elm and Illinois Streets) at 11:45 p.m. today with local residents who will join thousands of “fracktivists” in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for the Stop the Frack Attack, the first national protest of fracking.

Fracking is the process in which water, chemicals and sand are blasted into rocks thousands of feet below the ground to unlock natural gas and oil. It has come under fire because of its potential environmental concerns.

The summit culminates in a rally on the west lawn of the Capitol at 2 p.m. Saturday followed by a march at 3:30 p.m. to the headquarters of America’s Natural Gas Alliance and the American Petroleum Institute.

Bogus phone calls

North Jackson

Jackson Township police want residents to know they’re not seeking donations for the “Cops for Kids” program.

“Cops for Kids” is a program to help children and seniors in need of basic necessities, according to www.copsforkidsinc.org.

Chief Ken Frost said he received phone calls recently from three residents who said someone had phoned them soliciting donations for the program through the police department. The chief said township police are not involved with any fundraising organizations.

“I don’t know who is responsible for these bogus phone calls,” Frost said. Residents who receive these types of calls should immediately contact the police department at 330-538-3093.

Choir concert

Warren

The Warren City-Wide Youth Choir will host its second annual Summer Concert at Warren Community Amphitheater at 6 p.m. Sunday. Mark T. Jackson and the Final Call will be the special guest performers.

The concert benefits the CURRENT Scholarship, which awarded its first $1,000 award in June to Patrick Flanagan Jr., a graduating senior at Warren G. Harding High School. A freewill offering will be taken.

The Youth Choir was organized in 2011 by the CURRENT Young Adult Fellowship and has had more than 70 participants since first performing at the African-American Achiever’s festival in 2011.

For information, contact Todd Johnson at TJohnson@AgapeAssembly.com or call 330-394-7516.

Police probe assault

YOUNGSTOWN

Police are investigating a felonious-assault case in which a woman is accused of running over her ex-boyfriend with a car on the city’s South Side.

Officers were called to the Shell gas station at Market Street and Avondale Avenue at about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday for a “rolling fight,” according to reports.

When they arrived, they were directed to a Hillman Street address, where they found a 26-year-old city man unconscious in the roadway. Witnesses said earlier the man was standing in the road and yelling at a woman believed to be his ex-girlfriend who was behind the wheel of a blue Dodge Charger, then “gunned” the car and hit the man, records state.

The man was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries, police said.

Charged with fraud

PITTSBURGH

A federal grand jury here Thursday indicted a Columbiana County man on charges of wire fraud, said U.S. attorney David J. Hickton.

The 13-count indictment, returned Tuesday, named Daniel P. Lucas, 48, of Sidehill Road, East Liverpool, as the sole defendant.

According to the indictment, Lucas defrauded three investors by saying he was a successful currency trader. He obtained $78,000 from them for trading purposes.

The indictment says, however, he spent more than $49,000 for his own purposes while earning no profits for investors and incurring more than $28,000 in trading loses.

Lucas faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count.