TODAY'S VINDICATOR HEADLINES | WEDNESDAY

Most members of the Youngstown schools board agree they should collaborate with the Academic Distress Commission in an effort to get what information they can to help the troubled school district’s students. They disagreed, however, at Tuesday’s board meeting on how to communicate with the commission and the new CEO, Justin Jennings.The disconnect was revealed when board member Dario Hunter proposed meeting monthly with the ADC. But his motion was shot down twice. Board President Brenda Kimble said, “My concern is what if the ADC doesn’t work? We could lose our schools. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future. We’ll probably be chartered out. I think that is what the state wanted in the first place.”

In the wake of the mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, authorities decided they could not wait to act on the results of a six-month investigation into the internet activity of 18-year-old Justin Olsen of Boardman. In posts and comments on iFunny.com that were deleted Tuesday, Olsen advocated shooting “every federal agent on sight” and praised the Oklahoma City bombing as an example of “a viable method of political change.” As Boardman Detective William Woods wrote, “I believe that Justin Olsen is planning a terrorist attack in the United States.” The the 2019 Boardman High School graduate's prior appearances in The Vindicator deviate starkly from his mug shot, with photos depicting him striking a tennis ball and playing in the band.

Olsen was arrested Aug. 7, just three days after the Dayton shooting. In an exclusive report today, The Vindicator details the investigation and what federal agents found at his parents homes during searches.

The Mahoning County Board of Elections disqualified three candidates from the Nov. 5 ballot, including two for not having enough valid signatures. The board met Tuesday to certify the nominating petitions of candidates for various nonpartisan positions, including township trustee and fiscal officer and school board member, as well as 14 tax issues, two Sebring charter amendments and 18 liquor options. The candidates who submitted nominating petitions who were disqualified by the board were: Alice Marshall for the Youngstown school board, and

Zach Martin and Stacey Aldridge for West Branch school board.

After more than a year of uncertainty, the Trumbull County Planning Commission carried out sweeping changes Tuesday with the appointment of Julie Green as interim executive director and Mitzi Sabella as administrative assistant. Green and Sabella have been working directly under the county commissioners in recent years, focused on grant writing. They both worked in the past for the planning commission. Green’s salary is $79,303. Sabella makes $51,222.

Kinsman residents without flood insurance whose homes were badly damaged or destroyed by the July 20 flooding will not qualify for federal low-interest loans, Linda Beil, Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency director, told county commissioners Tuesday. Beil said seven homes were destroyed by the flooding, five had major damage and 12 had minimal damage. Four farms had crop damage. She said the 12 that are either destroyed or received major damage are not enough to qualify the township for federal assistance.

Youngstown board of control approved an agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to do testing of the former Masters Tuxedo site. The building at 3600 Market St., vacant since 2002, was destroyed in an April fire. The board agreed Tuesday to have the EPA do testing of the ground at the location to determine what types of contaminants are on the property – related to the use of dry-cleaning chemicals – and then seek a federal grant to clean it up, said T. Sharon Woodberry, the city’s director of community planning and economic development.

Former Vienna police officer Michael Sheehy pleaded guilty Tuesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to seven charges – two each of breaking and entering and theft in office and single counts of aggravated drug possession, possessing criminal tools and petty theft. County Assistant Prosecutor Chris Becker said he will ask Judge Andrew Logan to sentence Sheehy to incarceration in about four weeks, after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department investigates Sheehy’s background.

The maximum time Sheehy could be sent to prison is about four years. An investigation indicated Sheehy, 32, of Howland, took two AR-15 rifles from the department without consent Jan. 23 and removed $700 from a police vehicle. He also possessed fentanyl, an opioid drug.

A Trumbull County grand jury indicted a man Tuesday who attempted to rob Home Savings bank while armed in Liberty last month, but was shot by a police officer before he could take any money or harm any customers. Dabraylin Hawkins, 23, of Youngstown, faces charges of aggravated robbery with firearm specifications, felonious assault with firearm specifications, tampering with evidence and carrying a concealed weapon.

Hawkins faces 25 years in prison if convicted.