$7,000 West Side fire

$7,000 West Side fire

YOUNGSTOWN

A fire at a West Side home about 12:20 p.m. Wednesday caused $7,000 in damage, fire reports show. Crews were called to 2852 Bears Den Road and found light smoke when they arrived. Firefighters found a blaze in a back bedroom that they were able to put out.

The homeowner told firefighters he had left at about 9 a.m., and when he returned at about 12:15 p.m. he noticed the house was filled with smoke, and called 911. Reports said the homeowner told firefighters he was not sure whether he turned off his portable electric space heater before he left and that the heater had been tripping the breaker a lot recently.

Firefighters found the heater tipped over onto the carpet, and the fire was contained to that area, reports said. The cause is listed as accidental. No one was injured.

Laser sparks charges

HUBBARD

Charges are pending against a man who shined a laser on a news helicopter that was over the football stadium Friday.

Hubbard Police Chief Jim Taafe said the man used the laser from his house in the Meadowlands development south of the stadium. The helicopter was videotaping Hubbard’s game with Niles for a Cleveland TV station.

A police report says the cameraman in the helicopter complained the laser light got in his eyes. He was able to tell police where the light came from.

Taafe said the police notified the FBI, which did not indicate whether agents would get involved. The man would be charged with interfering with a flight crew, a second-degree felony, Taafe said.

Baseball-bat attack

YOUNGSTOWN

Police arrested a man at a 210 Bouquet Ave. home at about 2:30 p.m. Wednesday after he was accused of throwing a baseball bat at a woman’s head.

The woman told police that her grandmother’s boyfriend, Bruce Hasley, 58, threw an aluminum bat at her during an argument, and it hit her in the back of her head. She had a lump on the back of her head and a bruise on her shoulder, reports said.

The victim broke out the headlights and a window on Hasley’s car, reports said. It is not known if any action was taken against her.

Hasley was arrested on the charges of domestic violence and a warrant for failure to appear from Youngstown Municipal Court. He is expected to be arraigned today.

3 nabbed in drug raid

YOUNGSTOWN

Police found six bags of crack cocaine, 30 rounds of 9mm ammunition and $93 in cash after serving a search warrant at a 2732 Rush Blvd. home at 5:10 p.m. Wednesday.

Arrested on drug charges were Kimani Johnson, 22; Kevin Johnson, 22; and John Darius Johnson, 25. They are expected to be arraigned in municipal court today.

Health board meets

AUSTINTOWN

The Mahoning County District Board of Health monthly personnel committee meeting will be at 4:30 p.m. today at the board office, 50 Westchester Drive.

Free library program

WARREN

The Warren-Trumbull County Public Library, 444 Mahoning Avenue NW, hosts a free program about “Abraham Lincoln after 200 Years” at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Gerry Bazer will conduct the presentation. He is dean of arts and sciences (emeritus), Owens Community College, and former adjunct professor at Boston College and the University of Toledo.

No reservations are required. The program was made possible in part through funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with The Library of America and The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

Man dies in pickup crash

BRACEVILLE

Troopers with the Southington Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol say a crash at about 8:55 p.m. Wednesday on Eagle Creek Road killed 39-year-old Stanley Owens of Warren.

A news release from the post said a pickup truck driven by Owens was traveling east on Eagle Creek Road near Barclay Messerly Road when he lost control on the wet roadway and hit a tree. Deborah McCabe, 36, of Leavittsburg, a passenger in the truck, was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center, where she was in critical condition Thursday. She was not wearing a seat belt, the release said.

Owens died before he could get to a hospital, reports said. The post is still investigating.