METRO DIGEST || Property taxes due

Property taxes due

YOUNGSTOWN

Today is the deadline for Mahoning County property owners to pay their first-half, real-estate tax bills without penalty, county Treasurer Daniel R. Yemma said.

Taxes may be paid in person between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. today at the county treasurer’s office, 120 Market St., first floor, or online by credit card or electronic check.

Dogs Day canceled

BOARDMAN

Animal Charity Humane Society’s fifth annual Dogs Day Out, scheduled for Saturday at Boardman Park, is canceled, according to Jason Cooke, Animal Charity vice president.

Fire destroys home

LIBERTY

The Red Cross is assisting a Liberty Township family displaced after an early morning fire that destroyed their Belmont Avenue home.

Firefighters were called to 5814 Belmont Ave. about 5:36 a.m. Thursday. They found half of the single-family home engulfed in flames. The house is a total loss with about $40,000 in damage.

A woman and two children lived in the house but were not at home when the fire broke out. A cause for the fire has not yet been determined.

Park meeting today

Boardman

Boardman Township Park Board commissioners meet at 4:15 p.m. today in the Georgeanna Parker Building in the park off U.S. Route 224.

Demolition to begin

LISBON

Columbiana County commissioners took the first step toward demolishing the old county welfare building by hiring a Mahoning County contractor Wednesday to remove asbestos.

Commissioners voted to award the asbestos removal contract to the Howland Co. of Youngstown for $24,460.

The decision means commissioners are moving ahead with plans to demolish the county Annex No. 1 building on Nelson Avenue, which served as home to the county Department of Job and Family Services from the late 1970s until last April, when the JFS relocated to the new county government services building off state Route 45.

Staff and wire reports

More Digest, A6