Salvation Army will distribute vouchers

Salvation Army will distribute vouchers

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning County Salvation Army will distribute its 2015 toy distribution and food vouchers throughout this week.

More than 2,200 pre-registered needy children will receive Christmas toys and clothes. Nearly 1,200 needy families and individuals will receive Christmas food vouchers to use at selected grocery stores for Christmas dinners.

The distributions will take place at an Austintown Plaza toy shop at 6000 Mahoning Avenue, Unit 248. They are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today and Thursday for those with regular appointments.

An alternate day of service will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday for make-up and late registered appointments.

Patrol probes crash

WEATHERSFIELD

The Ohio State Highway Patrol Warren Post is investigating a crash between a pickup truck and a tractor-trailer rig at 1:10 p.m. Tuesday on Interstate 80 in the eastbound lane near Salt Springs Road in which the drivers of the vehicles suffered minor injuries.

According to the patrol report, Ivan Prine Jr., 64, of Youngstown, was driving a pickup eastbound in the left lane slowing for traffic in a construction zone when the tractor-trailer, driven by Tracy Rizer, 47, of Lorain, and traveling east in the right lane swerved left to avoid slowing traffic and hit the pickup in the rear.

Both vehicles traveled off the side of the road and came to rest in the median.

Prine was transported to ValleyCare Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren for treatment, and Rizer, charged with failure to maintain an assured clear distance, was taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for treatment.

Students do toy drive

CAMPBELL

Three Campbell sixth-grade students have decided to embody the spirit of the holidays by organizing a toy drive.

Alexa Tovarnak, Angelina Levendis and Courtney King approached their principal with the idea, saying they wanted to do a good deed.

Donors can drop toys off at Campbell K-7 Schools, 2002 Community Circle, until Saturday. The girls and their parents will deliver the toys to Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley in Boardman on Sunday.

Closed for culvert work

BAZETTA

Morrow Drive between state Route 305 and Williams Drive in Bazetta Township will be closed from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. today for a culvert replacement. The recommended detour route is west on state Route 305, south on McCleary Jacoby Road and east on Williams Drive.

After chase, woman pleads not guilty

WARREN

A not-guilty plea was entered Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court for Susan R. Pack, 33, of Fifth Street Southwest to a felony charge of failure to comply with the orders of a police officer relating to a chase Monday morning.

Warren police were contacted at 7:27 a.m. Monday relating to a female in a white Chevy Cavalier. Police spotted the Cavalier pulling onto Elm Road from the Elm Road Plaza at a high speed.

An officer followed the vehicle for 18 minutes while attempting to get Pack to stop. She passed through the downtown area without stopping at multiple stop signs and drove out of town on Palmyra Road and into Lordstown, where she stopped on Hewitt Gifford Road and was taken into custody.

She is in the Trumbull County Jail in lieu of $15,000 bond and is not allowed to make bond until Dec. 30.

Serving free meals

YOUNGSTOWN

Conroy’s Party Shop, 3518 South Ave., will be serving free meals to 500 people from noon to 3 p.m. Dec. 27. Limit one meal per person.

Jackson Twp. accident shuts down traffic

NORTH JACKSON

First responders shut down west traffic on a portion of Mahoning Avenue after an accident in Jackson Township, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

The road was closed for about an hour just west of Route 45 after a truck backed into a utility pole near the Liberty Steel plant shortly before 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Wires fell on the truck, but there were no reports of serious injury to the driver.

One lane of Mahoning Avenue was opened after FirstEnergy crews arrived to make repairs. Seventeen homes and businesses lost power because of the downed lines.

Probing cause of fire

YOUNGSTOWN

A home at 1523 Himrod Ave. on the city’s East Side burned to the ground Tuesday, causing an estimated $6,800 damage. The home’s owner was not living there at the time of the fire, which was reported at 6:05 p.m.

No injuries were reported in the fire that appeared to have started on the first floor.

The cause is under investigation, firefighters reported.