METRO DIGEST || Men hold child at gunpoint, steal piggy bank

Armed men steal boy’s piggy bank

YOUNGSTOWN

Police report a pair of armed men took a piggy bank belonging to a 5-year-old boy at about 9:50 p.m. Monday at a South Side home.

Police were called to a home in the 100 block of West Myrtle Avenue, where a man told them he heard a door open, and when he checked, two men were standing in the doorway, one armed with a shotgun, another with a pistol.

Reports said the armed men demanded money and drugs, and when the homeowner said they had the wrong house, the homeowner and his son were forced up the steps at gunpoint. As the 5-year-old boy was held at gunpoint by the man with the shotgun, the other man rummaged through the upstairs, grabbed a piggy bank and left.

The homeowner said there may have been $150 inside the piggy bank.

Sales-tax increase

YOUNGSTOWN

The total sales-tax rate in Mahoning County will increase 0.25 percent beginning today to 7.25 percent. The increase results from voter approval of a ballot initiative last November to renew a current tax and seek additional revenue targeted to criminal-justice operations in the county.

Fifty counties in Ohio now will have the rate of 7.25 percent. The lowest rate is 6.5 percent; the highest is 8 percent in Cuyahoga County.

Lecture canceled

WARREN

The 60-minute lecture set for Thursday at Warren SCOPE, 220 W. Market St., on how to prevent falls, has been canceled.

ODOT road work

The Ohio Department of Transportation announced lane restrictions and ramp closures today in Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

In Mahoning, pothole patching on Interstate 680 southbound at Glenwood Avenue will close the left lane between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.

There also will be guardrail repairs on the exit ramp from state Route 11 northbound to Interstate 80 westbound, closing the ramp between 8 and 11 p.m. A detour will be posted.

In Trumbull County, there will be pavement repairs on the I-80 eastbound to U.S. Route 62 exit ramp at exit 234B. The ramp will be closed between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. The detour will use exit 234A.

Stabbing report

YOUNGSTOWN

Reports are sketchy about a man who was treated for a stab wound early Tuesday morning.

Police were called to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital at about 12:10 a.m., where a 33-year-old Crandall Avenue man had been brought in with a stab wound. Reports gave no other information.

No injuries in fire

BOARDMAN

The township fire department continues investigating the cause of a fire late Sunday night at a home on Forest Garden Drive. Firefighters arrived just before 10:30 p.m. and had the fire under control within 90 minutes. There were no injuries.

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