METRO DIGEST || Saturday open house

Saturday open house

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Steel Heritage Foundation has a spring open house from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Youngstown Steel Heritage Museum, 261 Hubbard Road. It will serve as the ground-breaking for the “Hook and Bucket” sculpture to be built over the summer and dedicated Sept. 21. It will be a 55-ton, 40-foot tall, full-size representation of the ingot-teeming process in a steel mill. A variety of demonstrations, including blacksmithing, also will take place.

Home destroyed

YOUNGSTOWN

A 546 Parkwood Ave. house burned to the ground early Thursday morning, fire reports say. Crews were called to the home about 1:30 a.m. and found it engulfed, reports say. Homes on both sides also were in danger from the flames. Neighbors told firefighters they heard an explosion, then saw flames. Two cars parked at a nearby home were damaged. Loss is estimated at $5,100. There were no injuries.

Drug, gun charges

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say they found a loaded gun during a South Side traffic stop Wednesday. Held in Mahoning County jail on charges of carrying concealed weapons and possession of heroin, cocaine and other drugs, is 19-year-old Tyreese Perry, who was arrested in front of 131 E. Avondale Ave. about 7:40 p.m. Officers pulled Perry over for running a stop sign at East Avondale Avenue and Southern Boulevard and noticed him trying to hide a sandwich bag filled with suspected cocaine, reports said. When he was ordered out of the car, a bag of suspected heroin fell out of his pocket. Officers found a loaded 9mm semiautomatic handgun under the seat.

Arson arrest made

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown police arrested Steven Sodomora, 57, of Oakcrest Drive, Wednesday at St. Elizabeth Health Center, Youngstown, on a warrant for aggravated arson. He had been transferred to the hospital from his home earlier this week when police were called to investigate a fire. Sodomora told fire crews he had enough paint thinner in his house to blow it up, police said. Sodomora has had several run-ins with police over the last two weeks, including trespassing at Lane administration offices on Mahoning Avenue and later at the Austintown Police Department.

Waste plan OK’d

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County commissioners Thursday unanimously ratified an update of the county’s long-range solid-waste management plan, which must be submitted to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency by Tuesday. The update occurs every five years. It was ratified earlier this year by the county’s solid-waste policy committee and all county communities. The plan keeps landfill dumping fees at $1.50 a ton for waste originating in the county or out of state and $3 a ton for waste originating in Ohio but outside the county. Commissioners also approved closing North Benton West Road in Smith Township Tuesday and Wednesday for a culvert replacement.