Meet district’s CEO

Meet district’s CEO

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown City School District parents are invited next week to a meet-and-greet session with incoming district CEO Justin Jennings.

The district’s Parent Pathways office is hosting the event from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday in the cafeteria at East High School, 474 Bennington Ave. Refreshments will be served.

Jennings plans more open houses after he officially takes office next month. He looks forward to meeting parents, families and community members.

“The school district and each of its schools are part of the community, and we want input from community members about ways to improve,” he said. “We all have the same goal: to provide the best education we can for our scholars.”

About city’s curfew law

YOUNGSTOWN

Police and Mayor Jamael Tito Brown as well as the Community Initiative To Reduce Violence will have a news conference at 10 a.m. today on the city’s curfew law.

A news release said the main topic will be an initiative to ensure people under 18 obey the curfew, but provided no details.

The ordinance says curfew for children under 18 is 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. There are exceptions for some events such as work or church-related events. The offense is a minor misdemeanor, and parents can be cited. The penalty is a fine.

Shootout on East Side

YOUNGSTOWN

A man was wounded in the shoulder and another man was arrested on suspicion of having a stolen gun after a shootout about 3:15 a.m. Wednesday at the intersection of McGuffey Road and Albert Street on the city’s East Side.

Police said two groups of men exchanged gunfire. A man with one of the groups who has a valid concealed-weapons permit returned fire. However, he was arrested on suspicion of having stolen property because his gun may have been stolen, police said.

A man who was in a car was shot in the shoulder and taken to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.

SUV hits utility pole

YOUNGSTOWN

Glenwood Avenue between Hawthorne Street and West Woodland Avenue on the South Side was closed for a few hours Wednesday after an SUV traveling north hit a utility pole at Ridge and Glenwood avenues and flipped over onto its roof.

The accident happened just before 8 a.m. The driver was taken to a hospital for minor injuries. He is expected to be charged with failure to control, police said.

The accident also caused scattered power outages in the area.

New honor for teacher

YOUNGSTOWN

Tiffany Lewis, a first-grade teacher at Volney Rogers Elementary, keeps racking up honors.

Lewis, who was named Youngstown City Schools District’s Teacher of the Year in May, has been selected Teacher of the Year for the Ohio Board of Education District 8.

District 8 includes Mahoning, Columbiana, Carroll, Harrison, Jefferson, Noble, Belmont, Monroe, Washington, Athens and Meigs counties, most of Stark County and part of Vinton County.

Earning the District 8 title puts Lewis in line as a contender for Ohio’s 2020 Teacher of the Year honor. Her application will move to a state selection committee for review July 26 at Capital University in Columbus. If she is selected as a finalist, she will go through an interview process before the committee names the winner.

Man pleads not guilty in Howland fatal crash

WARREN

Kyle B. Munson, 30, of North River Road, pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to aggravated vehicular homicide, aggravated vehicular assault and drunken driving in the April head-on collision in Howland that killed one woman and injured another.

Judge W. Wyatt McKay continued Munson’s $20,000 bond.

Police said Munson was eastbound on North River Road in Howland when he traveled left of center east of Larchmont Avenue and struck a westbound vehicle that contained the two women. Munson was not injured.

Killed in the crash was Annette Maraczi, 68, of Mecca Township. She died in a Cleveland hospital from complications tied to crash injuries.

Vehicle hit by gunfire

WARREN

A city man, 30, reported that his vehicle was hit by gunfire at 7:15 a.m. Wednesday while he was at the stop sign at Kenilworth Avenue and Clarence Street Southeast.

He said he drove away and did not see who fired the shots, but he believes the shooter was on foot.

Outdoor pools reopen

BOARDMAN

The outdoor pools at the Davis Family YMCA off McClurg Road reopened Wednesday, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

The pools had been closed after concerns over a possible case of cryptosporidium, a parasite.

The indoor pools will remain closed until chlorine levels drop back below a safe level, YMCA officials said.

Mount Carmel Festival

GIRARD

The Girard Italian Fraternal Home Mount Carmel Festival kicks off at 5 p.m. Friday at 33 W. Wilson Ave.

The festival runs from Friday to Tuesday and operates from 5 to 11 p.m. each of those days. Admission is free. The festival offers food vendors, games, raffles and live music.

On Tuesday, there will be a 10 a.m. church service at St. Rose Church and a fireworks show at 11 p.m.

Group to visit houses

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Housing Task Force will visit houses its members consider owned by bad landlords Saturday. The group is meeting at 8 a.m. at Martin Luther Lutheran Church, 420 Clearmont Drive.

The task force, a group of concerned residents from the Mahoning Valley, will discuss strategies needed for each landlord, including paying delinquent taxes, attending landlord training and demolishing blighted structures.

Prayer vigil planned

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown Unitarian Universalist Church will host a prayer vigil to end the border detention camps at 5 p.m. Friday. The church is located at 1105 Elm St. near Wick Park on Youngstown’s North Side.

Mahoning Valley Sojourn to the Past, HolaOhio and Jacob Labendz of Youngstown State University are sponsoring the event.

‘Coffee & Conversation’

YOUNGSTOWN

Councilwoman Anita Davis, D-6th, will host a “Coffee & Conversation” at 10 a.m. Saturday at Flambeau Dinner Club, 2309 Market St.

Davis will provide complimentary refreshments. Scheduled guests are city police officers, who will provide an overview on active shooters.

Johnny’s will close but plans to relocate

BOARDMAN

Johnny’s Fine Food and Spirits Restaurant in the Flamingo Plaza in Boardman, 7807 Market St., is closing its doors Sunday and is working on reopening in another location on Market Street by September.

The manager of the restaurant said a new lease agreement could not be worked out and was told by the landlord the business had until Aug. 1 to move out, reported 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Road now open

BRACEVILLE

The Trumbull County engineer announced recently that McConnell East Road in the township is now open.

Group tries again on petition for Ohio gun sale background checks

COLUMBUS

A gun safety group hoping to change Ohio law to require background checks on virtually all guns sales is trying again to clear an initial hurdle and get its petition summary approved.

The proposal from Ohioans for Gun Safety would close a loophole allowing sales without background checks at gun shows and between private individuals.

The group says it submitted a revised summary of its petition with more than 1,700 signatures on Tuesday.

The attorney general had rejected the first summary language for the petition, saying it inaccurately suggested the proposal would apply to all firearm sales and omitted certain exceptions in the proposal.

Should the petition advance, it would first ask Ohio lawmakers to enact universal background checks. If lawmakers decline, the petition could be presented directly to voters.

Patrol: 12 people killed in 12 traffic crashes over holiday

COLUMBUS

The Ohio State Highway Patrol says 12 people were killed in 12 traffic crashes during the Fourth of July holiday reporting period.

A patrol release says impairment was determined to be a factor in at least three of those crashes.

The patrol had warned last week that it would be cracking down on motorists who were drinking and driving during the reporting period that began July 3 and ended Sunday.

Troopers made 709 arrests involving charges of impaired driving and 507 involving drug-related charges from over that period and responded to 809 crashes.

A total of four crashes killed eight people during last year’s shorter Fourth of July reporting period from July 3 through July 4. Those crashes included one related to driving under the influence that killed three people.