School musicians plan holiday celebration

School musicians plan holiday celebration

YOUNGSTOWN

East High School musicians, dancers and singers will present An Evening of Holiday Celebration at 6 p.m. Thursday in the school auditorium, 474 Bennington Ave. The event is free.

The East High School Concert Choir, under Mark Halls’ direction, and the East High School Concert Band, led by Shawn Marko, will perform.

The school’s new dance department, instructed by Pamela Reeping, presents the inaugural performance of the East High School Hispanic Dancers. Nilda Valasquez choreographed the performance and the dancers will don traditional costume.

The young singers, musicians and dancers will perform holiday songs including traditional carols and popular music.

Inn closed by officials

WELLSVILLE

Wellsville police and Columbiana County prosecutors Monday shut down The Emerald Inn on Clark Avenue due to purported drug activity, the Vindicator’s broadcast partner 21 WFMJ-TV News reports.

Officers served a temporary restraining order at the motel, which has been the site of multiple overdoses, authorities said.

Suspect caught

YOUNGSTOWN

One of three people suspected of forcing their way into a King Street home at gunpoint Saturday was caught minutes later driving a car suspected to be involved with no lights on.

Jennifer James, 26, of Market Street, was booked into the Mahoning County jail on a charge of aggravated burglary after she was arrested about 8 p.m. Saturday at South and East Ravenwood avenues on the South Side. Reports said officers were on the lookout for the car she was in that was suspected of being involved in a home-invasion minutes earlier at a home in the 500 block of King Street. A man who lives there told police two women and a man burst inside, the man holding a gun, and took a large-screen television and video-game system.

The victim was brought to the traffic stop and identified James as one of the three people in his home, but other two people were not in the vehicle.

Couple’s trial in death delayed a second time

YOUNGSTOWN

Trial has been delayed for the second time this month for a man and woman accused in the February shooting death of an Ayers Street man in front of his East Side home.

Judge John Durkin agreed to a joint motion in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to postpone the trial of Kimani Hodges, 20, and Angel Bell, also 20, to Jan. 3.

The pair are accused of the death of Jason Fonseca, 20, of Ayers Street, who was gunned down in the street in front of his driveway. Jurors had reported to be selected, but the case is being delayed because a witness one of the defense attorneys wants to call is not available until after the first of the year.

Earlier this month, the trial was to start but one of the prosecution witnesses eluded a police search after refusing to show up to testify. The witness was eventually found after a short chase in Boardman.

Police recover 2 guns in separate arrests

NEW MIDDLETOWN

Village police recovered two guns in separate arrests for operating a vehicle while impaired.

Nicholas Ammeen, 22, of Bessemer, Pa., was arrested after he was pulled over for a traffic violation Thursday and officers found a loaded 9 mm handgun. Besides being charged with OVI, Ammeen also was charged with improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle.

On Friday, Troy Boron, 48, of New Castle, Pa., was arrested on suspicion of OVI and he also had a loaded .380-caliber handgun in his car, a news release from the department said. The release said Boron also had a blood-alcohol level of 0.209. In Ohio, a person’s BAC must be 0.08 or above to be considered legally drunk.

Cops probe beating

NEW MIDDLETOWN

Village police said they are still investigating after four people forced their way into a Main Street apartment early Saturday and beat a man who lives there and his girlfriend.

A news release said the man answered a knock on the door, and when he did, four men rushed inside. The release said the victim knows two of the men, and the beating was a result of a dispute over a woman.

Both victims declined treatment for their injuries, the release said.

Special meeting set

BELOIT

The West Branch Local School board will have a special meeting in executive session at 5 p.m. today in the high-school conference room, 14277 Main St. The purpose of the meeting is to consider the employment of a public employee.

House dedication

AUSTINTOWN

Habitat for Humanity of Mahoning Valley will have a house dedication at 10 a.m. today at 4271 Lake Road. The home was rehabbed for the Elliott and Denson family.

This house was donated by the Bishop Family. Dr. Edwin V. Bishop earned his doctorate in nuclear physics at Yale and prior to joining the YSU faculty in astrophysics, he served as a research staff astronomer at Yale, studying the thermal evolution of Jupiter and Saturn.

The house sponsors include Coventry Lighting, Valley Energy Solutions, Westminster College Campus Chapter, Bike & Build, AmeriCorps, Lowe’s, Huntington Bank, and the Ohio Housing Trust Fund.

Teachers receive grants

BOARDMAN

The Boardman Schools Fund For Educational Excellence awarded seven teachers mini-grants worth more than $7,500.

The grants allow teachers to give students experiences beyond what is provided by state and local funding. Items to be purchased for the 2016-17 school year include wind-experiment kits, aquarium systems, individualized reading level books and language arts centers and elementary school music instruments.

There will be a news conference at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday at Boardman Center Immediate School, 7410 Market St. The winning teachers will discuss their individual projects.

House burns twice

WARREN

A Warren Township home caught fire twice in one week. Firefighters responded to a blaze about 3 p.m. Monday at a house on the 200 block of Homeview Avenue, the Vindicator’s broadcast partner 21 WFMJ-TV News reports. Officials had also responded to a blaze there Sunday.

Investigators believe a space heater caused the first fire. There were no reports of injuries from either blaze.

Teens caught in stolen car headed for Kansas

AUSTINTOWN

A couple of local teens who said they were going to Kansas didn’t reach their destination after township police officers caught them in a stolen car.

According to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, two police cars boxed in a car they had identified as being stolen Sunday evening at Mahoning Avenue and DeHoff Drive.

The driver, later identified as 18-year-old Leeana Bermudez-Shaulis of Campbell, told officers her boyfriend “stole the vehicle from a gas station in Youngstown and we’re trying to go to Kansas.”

The boyfriend, 19-year-old Alex New of Youngstown, told police a man named Jose stole the car and forced him at gunpoint to get in the car with him.

New says when Jose went to buy some marijuana, New drove away and picked up his girlfriend.

He says they planned to go to Kansas together.

Police searched the car and found several PlayStation video-game consoles, jewelry, suspected hashish, suspected marijuana, as well as a pipe and a vape pen.

They are charged with receiving stolen property.