Picket planned

Picket planned

YOUNGSTOWN

Concerned Citizens for Mill Creek MetroParks will host a news conference and informational picket at noon Monday in front of the Mahoning County Courthouse, 120 Market St.

Group leaders plan to emphasize its “unwavering determination to demand the replacement of Mill Creek MetroParks Executive Director Aaron Young,” according to a news release.

The event takes place hours before the monthly MetroParks board meeting, which will take place at 6 p.m. at the MetroParks Farm in Canfield.

Case awaits verdict

YOUNGSTOWN

Jurors again have suspended deliberations without reaching a verdict in the case of Rashan T. Bell, 20, of Broadway, who is charged with aggravated robbery with a firearm specification in a March 25, 2015, attack on a 73-year-old man who was walking in Roosevelt Park in Campbell.

The jury deliberated 21/2 hours Friday morning before adjourning to enable the lawyers in the case to research how they believe Judge Maureen A. Sweeney should answer a legal question asked by the jury.

Deliberations, which began Thursday morning, will resume at 9 a.m. Monday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Task-force arrest

BOARDMAN

A Youngstown man remained in the Mahoning County jail Friday after his arrest by the local U.S. Marshals Task Force on Thursday.

James Nicholson, 33, of Taft Avenue, faces charges in Boardman of drug trafficking, obstructing official business and failure to comply with the order of a police officer in a May 4 incident in which Nicholson reportedly fled and escaped from an officer who attempted to conduct a traffic stop.

Police found 7.2 grams of suspected marijuana, plastic bags and a digital scale in a vehicle he left behind, according to a police report.

Nicholson also was picked up on a warrant out of Youngstown for intimidation.

He is scheduled to appear in Mahoning County Area Court here for a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

Program with mayor

YOUNGSTOWN

Mayor John A. McNally will have his “Five Minutes with the Mayor” program at Glenwood Community Park, 2538 Glenwood Ave., on Tuesday starting at 5 p.m.

Citizens are invited to ask questions or raise concerns regarding city issues with the mayor.

Belmont expansion gets an approval

WARREN

Trumbull County commissioners approved a 55-acre expansion of the Belmont Avenue Community Reinvestment Area in Liberty.

The new area is along Tibbetts-Wick Road at Naylor Lloyd Road.

The reinvestment area is 3.4 miles long and includes 1,713 acres on 3,024 parcels on either side of Belmont Avenue as far north as Tibbetts-Wick Road and as far south as Gypsy Lane.

Several projects have been approved or completed in the reinvestment area in recent years, including a Dunkin’ Donuts restaurant and Comfort Suites hotel. The designation provides developers with a tax exemption.

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