METRO DIGEST || School supplies needed

Collecting supplies

YOUNGSTOWN

Martin Luther Lutheran Church is collecting supplies for its upcoming after-school program. This program is dedicated to providing a safe location for students to focus on homework and then to participate in crafts, creative play and Bible study.

The program will begin in late August with sessions from 2:30 to 7 p.m. weekdays. It will continue throughout the school year.

Pastor Charles Hudson coordinates the activity. In its first year, the program allowed young men (14 to 18 years old) the use of the church’s gymnasium for daily basketball games.

This year, after the success of an additional summer program, Pastor Hudson is expanding to include an after-school opportunity for all school-age children.

Needed classroom supplies are folders, three-ring binders, calculators, scissors, rulers, pencils, pens, erasers, computers and floor mats.

Items can be dropped off between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. weekdays at the church, 420 Clearmount Drive. For information, call the church at 330-788-8707.

OVI checkpoint tonight

SOUTHINGTON

The Ohio State Highway Patrol will have an operating a motor vehicle impaired checkpoint in Trumbull County tonight. The location will be announced later.

The checkpoint, funded by a federal grant, is planned to deter and intercept impaired drivers.

There were 274 OVI-related fatal crashes in which 300 people were killed last year in Ohio, said Lt. Brian Holt, commander of the Southington Post.

Route 18 to be closed

OIL CITY, Pa.

Route 18 on the Shenango River causeway in Mercer County is scheduled to be closed from 10 p.m. Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday, due to construction activities.

The road closure is required for installation of a new girder as part of the bridge rehabilitation project. The work is weather-dependent and work will be postponed and rescheduled if conditions require.

A detour will be posted using Route 18, Route 518, Route 846 and Rutledge Road (Route 3022), says a press release from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Charge of obstruction

CAMPBELL

A 29-year-old Youngstown man faces a charge of obstructing official business for fleeing the scene of an attempted traffic stop Thursday evening.

James M. Horne of Matta Avenue will appear in Campbell Municipal Court at 9 a.m. Friday.

Police tried to stop a car in which Horne was a passenger for having an obstructed view at 6:30 p.m. Thursday. The driver of the car, however, turned into a Wilson Avenue business, and Horne got out of the car and ran across the street.

The driver said he did not know Horne, and that he had picked him up at a gas station. Horne later claimed differently, saying he has worked with the driver for about a month and a half.

A concerned citizen told police that Horne was running through Lincoln Park in Youngstown, and he was arrested there not long afterward.

Police discovered Horne had a warrant for failing to appear in Youngstown Municipal Court, and he was taken to the Mahoning County jail.

Science facilities funds

COLUMBUS

State Rep. Nick Barborak of Lisbon, D-5th, announced the release of $985,000 in state funding for the construction of new science lab facilities at Kent State University at Salem.

The project will include the construction of biology and chemistry labs and classrooms and storage facilities.

The new science facilities complete the 2010 build-out project for the science wing of the Classroom Building at the branch campus.

Kent State University will pay for the architectural, administrative and equipment costs of the science facility project.