TODAY'S VINDICATOR HEADLINES | FRIDAY


The operating surplus for the Covelli Centre and Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre during the second quarter was $26,032, but would have been more if not for significant start-up costs at the outdoor location, said the head of the company managing both facilities. About $100,000 was spent in start-up expenses at the amphitheater, which opened June 14, said Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group. Ryan said he expects the two facilities will end the year with an operating surplus of about $300,000.

A prepared list of questions Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith answered Thursday night at an overflow meeting at the Kinsman Township Hall included one asking “What is the plan to restore our way of life as it was?” Smith had to admit there was no way he could promise that the life of the 20 or so families in the Lakelands neighborhood will return to the way it was before a July 20 washout of part of the Kinsman Lake Causeway. Smith said he cannot not help them restore Kinsman Lake because government money cannot be used to benefit private property. His focus now is on getting Lakeview Drive, a public roadway, and the earthen embankment under it restored. That work will mean the lake will no longer be a lake.

“This is beyond ridiculous and unacceptable,” speaker Kira Walker told a crowd Thursday night at a community prayer vigil to remember and honor those killed in recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, Dayton and at a garlic festival in Gilroy, Calif. She demanded an end to reflexively blaming mental illness for the scourge of gun violence in the U.S., as President Donald Trump has done. Calling America’s gun violence “a public health crisis that requires a public solution,” state Rep. Michele Lepore-Hagan of Youngstown demanded hearings on common-sense gun-safety bills and a ban on assault weapons, as well as universal background checks and support for laws that allow police or family members to petition a court to order the temporary removal of firearms from those deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Youngstown's mayor and fire chief met privately with firefighter union officials Thursday to discuss ways to come up with the $285,000 needed for upgrading the department’s radio equipment, but found no solutions. Fire Chief Barry Finley had proposed July 24 the elimination of two of the department’s six battalion chiefs through attrition with the money saved to be used to improve the radio system, but completely changed directions Aug. 5 after the union contended those cuts would put lives in danger. Union President Charlie Smith said the parties will meet again, but nothing has been scheduled.

Two active osprey nests sit on Ohio Edison power poles in the Mahoning Valley and FirstEnergy is working to keep the birds safe until the ospreys leave and migrate south for the winter. FirstEnergy spokeswoman Lauren Siburkis said about 16 to 20 such nests occur on Ohio Edison and Penn Power poles in a region of about 35 counties in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania each year, and the company has installed rubber covers over conductors to insulate the equipment and protect the nesting birds. Once the company determines the nests are empty, through the use of drones, the nests will be removed. The FirstEnergy Foundation also recently donated $5,000 to the Erie Bird Observatory to build nesting platforms in its service area this year.

More than 200 attended St. Lucy Church's annual homage to the Virgin Mary Thursday, during which designated bearers of a statue of Mary march around the block to conclude the church’s Feast of the Assumption of Mary. The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary celebrates the assumption of her body into heaven, and is an annual family affair for many.

Trumbull County prosecutors will recommend that 29-year-old Ryan M. Daniels Sr. of Warren get two years in prison after pleading guilty Thursday to accidentally shooting a Niles woman to death outside of the Hideaway Lounge Feb. 24. Police say Daniels, 29, of Warren accidentally shot Britney Mazanec, 33, of Niles as she drove her car toward the exit of the Youngstown Road tavern. He pleaded guilty in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to reckless homicide and bringing a weapon into a liquor establishment premises. He will be sentenced in about four weeks, after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department conducts a background check.

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