METRO DIGEST || Offices evacuated

Offices evacuated

YOUNGSTOWN

The detective bureau and other police department offices on the fourth floor have been evacuated due to bed bugs.

Public Information Officer Lt. Brian Butler said the evacuation came after the department was notified by the Mahoning County Coroner’s office that a recent deceased person the department had been in contact with had a bed bug infestation.

At least one employee also saw a bed bug, Butler said.

All cruisers that answered that call are being disinfected and are currently out of service. An exterminator will be in over the weekend to disinfect the fourth floor, Butler said.

Dedication ceremony

STRUTHERS

City officials will formally recognize the renaming of Heights Avenue on the city’s North Side to Lance Corporal Ron Charles Way at 11 a.m. today during a ceremony on the road.

Ron Charles, a Struthers Marine who was killed in combat in 1967, is the namesake for the roadway.

Charles’ rank at the time of his death – lance corporal – will also be included on the new street sign. He was 21.

Members of Charles family from around the country are expected to attend.

City Councilman Anthony Fire, D-1st, said he hopes anyone interested in paying their respects to the Struthers serviceman and his family will attend the dedication.

Public forum planned

AUSTINTOWN

The township announced a public forum on the police levy that is on the general election ballot is scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesday at the township hall on Ohltown Road.

The forum will be hosted by the Austintown Police Levy Committee, which includes trustees, township residents and police department members.

A panel of committee members will answer questions from the public.

City man arrested

YOUNGSTOWN

Police on Thursday arrested one of two men neighbors saw inside a Wellington Avenue home where a man recently died.

Lamar Robinson, 21, of Manhattan Avenue, was booked into the Mahoning County jail on a charge of breaking and entering. He was arrested about 7:50 p.m. in the 1500 block of Wellington after reports said he ran from a home that police were called to.

Neighbors had called police and said they saw flashlights bobbing in an upstairs room. When officers arrived, two men ran out of the home and through the backyard. Officers were able to catch Robinson.

The former homeowner had been found dead Oct. 14 of what appeared to be natural causes, reports said.

Items taken from car lot

YOUNGSTOWN

Two cars, a computer and $410 in rolled-up change were taken sometime Wednesday evening or Thursday morning from a 2080 McCartney Road car lot.

Police were called about 1:50 p.m. Thursday to Extreme Auto Connection, where the owner told them he locked up about 10 p.m. Wednesday and when he returned about 1:30 p.m. Thursday he found a window broken and the office ransacked.

Also taken was a drill, reports said.

Man shows clerk pistol

YOUNGSTOWN

Reports said a man confronted Thursday with a pack of Skittles in his pocket at a 3200 Market St. gas station showed the clerk a .45-caliber pistol he had in his waistband, got in a car and drove away.

Police were called to the station about 9:05 p.m., where the clerk said the man had been taking things earlier and not paying for them.

ACTION meeting set

YOUNGSTOWN

The faith-based community organizing group ACTION (Alliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods) will host its annual public meeting from 3 to 4:30 p.m. Sunday at Holy Apostles Catholic Church, 421 Covington St.

Topics to be discussed include predatory land contracts, the urban food desert and voter rights.

The Rev. Joseph Rudjak, pastor of Holy Apostles Church, will lead the meeting.

The event will include a pop-up market featuring fresh food and vegetables from local urban farms. Music will be provided by the choirs of St. Patrick Catholic Church of Youngstown and Holy Apostles Church. Refreshments will be available.

For information, call Rosetta Carter, ACTION’s executive director, at 330-941-0475.

Travis trial to resume

WARREN

After four days of testimony in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, the Harold Travis Jr. kidnapping and felonious assault trial concluded late Friday and will resume Monday afternoon.

Travis, 25, of Elm Road, is charged with two counts of kidnapping and one of felonious assault, accused of taking his wife hostage for two weeks in February 2015.

He is also charged with kidnapping and felonious assault because of allegations involving a man and woman at his father’s house on Douglas Street Northwest in July 2016.

If convicted, he could get more than 50 years in prison.

Lawsuit withdrawn

WARREN

Niles City Schools says the voluntary withdrawal of a lawsuit filed against the district in February is a victory because the former school employee filing the suit “will not receive any compensation of any kind.”

Christopher Chieffo, who was fired in January by the school board for falsification of sick leave, sued the district in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, seeking $4 million.

According to Chieffo’s personnel file, he called off sick Oct. 3, 2017, when he was actually coaching the Howland High School boys golf team at a tournament in Alliance.

Newspaper accounts of the tournament indicated Chieffo was at the tournament.