METRO DIGEST || Blue Christmas event helps with loss

Blue Christmas event helps with loss

BOARDMAN

Lane Family Funeral Homes, Anstrom Chapel, 8387 Tod Ave., will be the location of a Blue Christmas Service at 7 p.m. Dec. 8. The Rev. Russ Adams will preside. The event, sponsored by Western Reserve United Methodist Church, is for anyone who has experienced a loss of any kind. For more information or to register, call the church at 330-792-5805.

Vets office closed today for holiday

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission office in Oak Hill Renaissance Place, 345 Oak Hill Ave., Suite 100, is closed toay and will reopen at 8 a.m. Monday.

Utility bill help available in Trumbull

WARREN

Trumbull Community Action Program (TCAP), 1230 Palmyra Road SW, announced that emergency utility bill assistance under the Winter Crisis Program is available through March 31, 2014.

The program can help eligible households avoid utility disconnection, restore disconnected service, establish new service and purchase fuel oil, propane, coal and wood.

Appointments for weekday afternoons can be scheduled by calling 1-877-747-1041. Call TCAP at 330-393-2507 ext. 225 for information about eligibility requirements and for assistance with special needs.

Twenty-five walk-in customers will be seen every weekday from 7:30 a.m. to noon, and 25 walk-in customers also will be seen in the afternoon on Mondays only.

Man, 27, defies police after downtown fight

YOUNGSTOWN

Police say a 27-year-old Boardman man refused their orders early Thursday morning to leave a downtown bar where there was a large fight and tried to carry a woman over his shoulders past police before he was arrested.

Reports said officers were called to the V2 bar on West Federal Street for the fight and were in the process of having people leave when Joseph Italiano, who was inside, refused to leave. Reports said he appeared to be very drunk and picked the woman up and was trying to walk out with her when he was stopped by police.

Italiano still refused to leave, and when officers tried to escort him out, he tensed up and took an aggressive stance, reports say. He was sprayed with pepper spray and handcuffed and taken to the Mahoning County jail for the charges of disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. He is expected to be arraigned in Youngstown Municipal Court today.

Shale program set

BROOKFIELD

A program at Yankee Lake Ballroom, 1814 state Route 7, will feature an update on the Utica Shale and highlight the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel.

Participants will include individuals and companies converting vehicles to use natural gas and building refueling stations. The event will run from 10:30 a.m. to p.m. Thursday.

Vacant house fire causes $10K damage

WARREN

Investigators are looking for the cause of a fire that caused about $10,000 in damage to a vacant 688 Delaware St. SW. home after midnight Thursday.

A fire department spokesman said there were no injuries and firefighters were on the scene until about 2 a.m.