TODAY'S VINDICATOR HEADLINES | WEDNESDAY

Residents of Warren's Highland Terrace Apartments cheered police Tuesday night as a man who held three children and his girlfriend at knife point was taken away after almost three hours of negotiations with the Mahoning Valley Crisis Response Team. The man, identified as 25-year-old Shawn Riley was booked into the Trumbull County Jail on a charge of kidnapping, said Warren police Capt. Jeff Cole. Resident Jacqueline Gore was among those cheering police. “I’m very proud of what they did,” she said. The complex is one where residents don’t want any trouble, she added.

Boardman's Safety Services Memorial in front of the new fire station on Market Street will serve a reminder that township firefighters and police officers are poised to protect the community at all times. Two pillars are the focal point, one bearing the etching of a firefighter and the other an etching of a police officer. The pillars are flanked by two walls that feature the firefighters’ prayer and the police officers’ prayer, and the names of local first responders who have died in the line of duty are etched on the walls. The memorial will be dedicated in a ceremony at 10 a.m. Sept. 11.

Youngstown firefighter Leslie Murphy recalled the day she and another firefighter had to drive a resident potentially experiencing a heart attack to the hospital because no ambulance had come, even after an hour. “Never in my 21-year career have I been so ashamed to be a Youngstown firefighter,” Murphy told Vindicator reporter Jessica Hardin in an exclusive story in today's Vindicator and on Vindy.com. “Ma’am, let me tell you something," Murphy said she told the woman. "If something happens in this car, this will be my last day at YFD, and you and I are going to hyphenate the name of this city, because we’re going to own it.” Joe Mistovich, chairman of the Health Professions Department at Youngstown State University, is blunt when discussing the situation. “We have no system in the Mahoning Valley” for emergency medical services, he said. In the face of this EMS crisis, Valley officials agree: It’s just a matter of time before the area’s ambulance system collapses.

Poland Seminary School student David Vuksanovich has built 14 outdoor Stations of the Cross for Holy Family Church in Poland as part of his Eagle Scout project. The 15-year-old Troop 9002 Life Scout is one of only 6.49 percent of eligible scouts who earned Scouting's highest rank in 2018. He decided on the stations after brainstorming with Msgr. William Connell of the Holy Family Church, and planned the project from start to finish, receiving donations from the church, school and school parent organizations and family friends. The project took about three weeks.

A malfunction in a compressor Tuesday morning led to a callout of a Hazmat team at Youngstown State University.

Firefighters answering an alarm in Ward Beecher Hall after 6 a.m. encountered a smoky haze inside and called for the team to make sure no chemicals were leaking into the air.The building houses the university’s science department and several types of chemicals. However, after Hazmat members in chemical suits entered the building they found no evidence of any leak. The building was closed until noon.

Neither Shawn Unger nor the attorneys in his child-rape case had much to say Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to charges of t rape and gross sexual imposition.ithat landed him a life prison sentence with parole eligibility after 10 years. After court, however, Unger and a Mahoniing County deputy sheriff exchanged words after Unger directed a remark at someone in the courtroom. Unger was sentenced in 2011 to seven years in prison for the rape of a 5-year-old. Prosecutors said the day he was released from prison in 2018, he raped another 5-year-old, and the abuse continued for almost a year before Unger was arrested, then jailed on a parole violation for his first case.

The mother of the child, Alexandria Overholser, 28, pleaded guilty this summer to a count of child endangerment. She is expected to be sentenced in September.

Dario Hunter, a Youngstown school board member, has qualified for official recognition as a 2020 Green Party presidential candidate based on the party’s small-donation rule. Hunter is considered an official candidate by the party because he raised at least $5,000 in campaign funds and/or 100 donations of at least $10. Hunter’s campaign finance reports show he raised $11,420.36 from Jan. 1 to July 31 with $6,837.85 coming from the candidate. He spent $7,780.73 during that time.

Youngstown has joined a federal civil lawsuit filed against pharmaceutical companies over the opioid crisis. The city’s 168-page filing was submitted by two Alabama law firms that have filed on behalf of numerous states, counties and cities against more than 20 defendants including several pharmaceutical companies. The city’s complaint alleges public nuisance, violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, negligence, violation of Ohio Deceptive Trade Practices Act, civil conspiracy and fraudulent misrepresentation. Trumbull and Columbiana counties are also plaintiffs in this case. Mayor Jamael Tito Brown said: “The distribution and diversion of opioids into Youngstown by the pharmaceutical industry, the lawsuit contends, caused and continues to cause the loss of life in Youngstown with the attendant financial burden including costs associated with law enforcement and public safety.”

Bolstered by a strong showing in July, ridership by senior citizens through the Trumbull County senior services levy is on pace to have its highest number of riders this year. Senior levy Administrator Diane Siskowic-Jurkovic provided The Vindicator and the county commissioners Tuesday with statistics showing that the 2,812 rides given in July was second only to the 2,897 given in July 2011. She suspects the reason is because of the change July 1 in how the rides are provided. The commissioners removed seniors money from the county’s public transportation service, Trumbull Transit, and awarded it directly to four companies that provide rides. Since the change, senior citizens are no longer being put on a waiting list for rides, she said.

Poland Municipal Forest board has agreed to schedule a public hearing to discuss the findings of an EnviroScience report addressing issues of erosion in the forest. The Stow-based environmental consulting firm estimates that needed interventions could cost up to $1.6 million. Poland Village Councilman Sam Moffie also provided an update on the Mauthe Bridge restoration project. Bids were due Aug. 21. Two were received, and Moffie said ground should be broken in October

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