TODAY'S VINDICATOR HEADLINES | SATURDAY

Perfect mid-August weather provided the background to the area's first band night Friday at Boardman's Spartan Stadium, where the Austintown Fitch, Howland, Lowellville and McDonald high school marching bands joined the Spartans. Fitch's medley representing each branch of the military, and later, “The Stars and Stripes” brought people to their feet, clapping in synch. Boardman Superintendent Tim Saxton told the crowd that music

"teaches our students to be good teammates; it teaches them how to be creative; it teaches them how to be problem-solvers; and it teaches them how to be leaders. All are skills we are dying for in America.”

Local authorities noted that when Justin Olsen was arrested Aug. 7, his mother was glad. But speaking at her son's detention hearing Friday in the Thomas D. Lambros Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse downtown Youngstown, Melanie Olsen of Boardman said only, “Anything negative that was happening, I was glad it was caught and stopped.” Olsen’s attorney J. Gerald Ingram, petitioned U.S. Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert to release his client pending his trial on the federal charge of threatening to assault a federal law-enforcement officer. After more than two hours of testimony, Judge Limbert retreated to weigh the evidence and did not return with a decision. Until he does, Olsen will remain in the Mahoning County jail.

A raccoon that came into contact with two pet dogs in Boardman has tested positive for rabies, according to a release from Mahoning County Public Health. The dogs, who were exposed to the raccoon along with their owner, were not current on rabies vaccinations, but have since received booster shots, the release states. The dogs will remain quarantined for 180 days, which is a standard precautionary measure. Health district environmental health director Ryan Tekac said Rabies is most often transmitted through bites and scratches from unvaccinated pets, strays, and wildlife and residents should not interact with or feed wildlife, and should vaccinate their pets, feed them indoors and secure trash can lids secured to avoid attracting wildlife onto your property.

Justin Jennings, Youngstown City Schools CEO, outlined what he called his strategic emphasis for the school district during Friday morning’s Youngstown Academic Distress Commission meeting.

It was the first commission meeting since Jennings took office. The new CEO presented data including enrollment numbers and said he wants to regularly share data on test scores and other factors. There are currently 5,214 students enrolled in the district, but that number can fluctuate.

Huntington Bank is giving away 1,000 backpacks to needy students in Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana and Mercer counties with partnering organizations helping to raise money and school supplies. The “Stuff the Bus” kickoff event Friday was outside Huntington’s downtown branch. Officials with some of the participating organizations placed boxes of school supplies already collected into the back of a small Alta Head Start school bus. For the past nine years, Huntington has donated backpacks to local low- to moderate-income students. United Way organizations in the counties will distribute the backpacks and supplies to students.

Former Youngstown Councilman Artis Gillam summed up community members’ reaction to the creation of a dormitory for at-risk youth when he said: “I don’t want anyone coming to my neighborhood without us knowing what’s going on.” Judge Theresa Dellick of the Mahoning County Juvenile Court, Pastor Ken Donaldson of Rising Star Baptist Church, Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Pastor Michael Harrison of Union Baptist Church announced plans for a new public dormitory behind Mahoning County High School during a news conference Friday at Rising Star. The dormitory builds upon the model established by Mahoning County High School, which has graduated more than 300 students who had been expelled from other schools since opening in 2008, according to a release. 20-year-old Marquell Armour, who graduated as valedictorian, praised his experience there and said that, in tutoriung current students at the school, he hears that they wish they did not have to return home.

Two military veterans raised the American flag on a new pole at Lordstown Veterans Memorial Stadium Friday afternoon as the National Anthem was played before the start of Lordstown’s first high school soccer game of the year. Next to the pole is the new scoreboard for the stadium, which also serves as a venue for track and other events. The activities also included a thank you to the companies that contributed money as part of the “Finish the Field” fundraising campaign, including Lordstown Energy Center and Holeton Inc., a Lordstown excavating company.

Gov. Mike DeWine’s authorization of a disaster declaration for Trumbull County on Friday will speed up the start of repairs to the Kinsman Lake Causeway, which experienced a partial washout July 20 in a huge rain event. Work is likely to begin sometime next week, Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith said. Without the disaster declaration, work might have been a month or more away. Smith said this week the project will take about 60 days once the contractor gets the go-ahead to begin.

And Vindicator and Vindy.com readers will be happy to know an agreement has been reached for the Tribune Chronicle to acquire The Vindicator’s subscription list, masthead and the Vindy.com domain and to produce an edition under the name of The Vindicator. Mark Brown, Vindicator general manager, said, The agreement provides Vindicator subscribers continued delivery of a daily print newspaper focused on their communities, Mahoning County and the [Mahoning] Valley." Tribune Chronicle publisher Charles Jarvis said they plan to deliver about 30,000 of "the new The Vindicator editions to the people who have supported The Vindicator through the years. Many of The Vindicator’s popular features, including all the daily comics, most of the Sunday comics, obituaries and legal notices will continue, as will the website.