METRO DIGEST || Ryan re-introduces bill for teachers

Ryan re-introduces bill

WASHINGTON

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, is re-introducing the Academic, Social and Emotional Learning Act, legislation that supports teacher training to help students better handle societal issues and boost their academic potential. “I have seen firsthand what teaching social and emotional learning can do for students and their classrooms in Ohio and across the nation,” Ryan said. “These programs are scientifically proven to help students increase skills in problem-solving, conflict resolution, responsible decision-making and relationship building.” The proposal was included in a larger bill in the last congressional session. It was approved by the House, but not the Senate.

Facing assault charges

BOARDMAN

Multiple police cruisers responded to an incident of a store owner dragging a female employee along the street in his car on Market Street Wednesday. The suspect, whose name was not immediately available, was arrested on charges of assault and felonious assault. Police say the incident started at a Market Street hair salon near Indianola Road with a dispute between the owner and employee. Police said the fight continued at Market and Willow Drive, where the suspect got into a fight with the employee’s boyfriend. The victim did not suffer any major injuries, police said.

Retired cop on probation

WARREN

A retired Girard police captain was placed on probation after pleading guilty to drug violations. Judge Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court placed Richard Ross, 73, on five years’ community control, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner. Ross was arrested by the Violent Crimes Task Force last spring after his indictment on two counts of aggravated drug trafficking. He pleaded guilty to reduced charges of attempted aggravated drug trafficking. Investigators say Ross sold prescription drugs to an undercover investigator. Ross retired from the Girard police force in 2001.

Jordan Brown hearing

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP)

A boy charged with fatally shooting his father’s pregnant fiancee when he was just 11 will get a hearing March 5 to determine if he deserves a new juvenile court trial.

The state Supreme Court in December sent the matter back to Lawrence County juvenile court for a hearing about the evidence used to convict Jordan Brown of the February 2009 shotgun killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn son.

Brown’s lawyers and state prosecutors will file motions before the March 5 hearing, which will determine whether he receives a new trial. His attorneys contend there wasn’t enough evidence to find him delinquent — the juvenile court equivalent of guilty.

Brown, now 17, remains in a juvenile facility. Prosecutors say none of the evidence points to anybody else.

Police probe pill theft

BOARDMAN

Township police are investigating a theft in which an estimated $10,000 worth of pills were taken from an orthopedic office.

A manager with Youngstown Orthopedic Associates, 1499 Boardman-Canfield Road, reported to police Tuesday a large quantity of narcotics was missing. The manager said the medicine is stored in a locked cabinet. It was not clear whether the medicine, valued at $10,000, was stolen all at once or over a period of time, the manager told police.

Investigating post

AUSTINTOWN

Austintown police say an offensive list that circulated on Instagram could be classified as a criminal act. Someone posted pictures of 10 female Austintown schools students, many of them in seventh grade, on Instagram with a derogatory headline. The social media post reportedly characterized the girls in a sexual nature.The post was eventually taken down, but police are investigating it as a criminal matter, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Drug-trafficking charge

WARREN

Tariq Bowers, 34, of Dana Street Northeast, is scheduled for a preliminary hearing at 1:30 p.m. today in Warren Municipal Court on a drug-trafficking charge that could produce a 10-year prison sentence. Bowers was charged with the offense in June, but he could not be found until he turned himself in to police last Thursday. He pleaded not guilty Friday, and he was ordered held without bond. Warren police accuse him of selling crack cocaine and heroin out of the Downtown Motor Inn, 777 Mahoning Ave. NW, while renting a room there for several weeks last April. Bowers was sentenced to 61/2 years in prison in 2002 after pleading guilty in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to crack-cocaine possession.

Library board to meet

WARREN

The Warren-Trumbull County Public Library Board of Trustees will meet at 4:30 p.m. today in the conference room at the main library, 444 Mahoning Ave. NW.

Sentenced in rape case

WARREN

Ronald Woods, 34, of Gilbert Avenue in Mineral Ridge, pleaded guilty to rape Wednesday and was sentenced to three years in prison. Police said he raped a 56-year-old Paige Avenue Northeast woman in Warren on Jan. 6, 2014.He received his sentence from Judge W. Wyatt McKay of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.