TODAY'S VINDICATOR HEADLINES

Continuing a nearly two-month streak of vitriolic public meetings, Boardman residents and officials sparred again Wednesday over the May 28 flooding. Affected residents have been calling for a moratorium on development in the township. Those attending the Wednesday night meeting demanded answers about the township’s deal with Meijer Stores Ltd., which is building a 157,000-square-foot store at the intersection of Lockwood Boulevard and U.S. Route 224, which they fear will worsen flooding. The township board of zoning appeals initially rejected the grocery chain’s request to rezone a small portion of the plot, but the request was later approved. Director of Zoning and Development Krista Beniston said the board threw out legal standards "and voted emotionally.” Beniston said.

Dave Green, United Auto Workers Local 1112 president at the idled Lordstown General Motors plant, said he was left with little choice but to take a job with the auto company at a facility in Bedford, Ind., near where his daughter will be going to college and his brother lives. Green said Wednesday he made the “very tough decision” to accept the transfer, effective Aug. 19. “The reality is GM is sending offers out to everybody” at the idled Lordstown facility, he said. “I’m either going to decide where to go or GM will. I don’t have a lot of faith GM would make the right choice for me. I don’t want to end up in Missouri or Texas.” Green said he has about five more years before he can collect his pension, and hopes he can retire then and move back to the area.

Youngstown is proposing the elimination of two of its six fire battalion chiefs through attrition, with the money saved being used to improve its radio system. Chief Barry Finley estimated it would be about 18 months before two positions are eliminated, based on retirements. Finley will discuss the plan further today at a city council safety committee meeting at 5 p.m. Finley said in February that the existing digital radio system has not worked properly since it was bought two years ago as part of a deal for a new police department system, and was the subject of a unon grievance filed earlier this year after two firefighters were injured.

Police, code enforcement and humane agents removed 42 cats Wednesday morning from an abandoned home at 4332 Helana Ave. A neighbor said he has been trying for weeks to get someone to take out the horde of cats that seemed to take over the house, after the homeowner left about a month ago after US Bank foreclosed on the property. Other neighbors said the homeowner refused help to take care of the cats, the majority of which are very sick, according to a spokeswoman. An officer said the homeowner will face charges for housing code violations, and Animal Charity is conducting a separate animal cruelty investigation. Animal Charity is looking for fosters for the cats.

Window World co-owner Fred Moran will help open the 173rd Canfield Fair on Aug. 29 by parachuting out of an airplane at the opening ceremony, which starts at 10 a.m. The company is sponsoring the three-person All Veterans Group in the parachute jump, which will include Sgt. Michael Elliott, a parachuting expert who has done tandem jumps with many people, including the late President George H. Bush on his 90th birthday. Moran is an Army veteran who was stationed in Germany during the Korean War era.

Just after the body of a man found shot to death Wednesday was driven away from a South Side home, friends and family linked hands just outside the crime scene tape and prayed.

They made a circle around the victim's mother, who was seated in a chair in the front yard of a home on East Philadelphia Avenue. “We’re all supposed to be happy,” whoever was leading the prayer said. “We’re all going home someday. We don’t know when.” Police were called to the home about 12:30 p.m. after a family member discovered the victim, who appeared to have been shot inside the home.

Hubbard Councilwoman Lisha Pompili Baumiller is scheduled to plead guilty Tuesday morning to a bill of information alleging she made a false statement relating to an election petition she filed this year. Documents in the case say she filed certified she had witnessed the writing of every signature on the declaration of candidacy petition Jan. 9 when she had not, and swore under oath that she was present when two men signed their names on the petition, but it was later learned their spouses had signed their names.

12-year-old Rayna Lambert of Bristolville has asked Trumbull County commissioners to instruct county road workers to avoid cutting milkweed plants when they mow. The plants are needed by monarch caterpillars, which become monarch butterflies, to survive. The butterflies have been on the declinefor several years. The commissioners put her and her mother in touch with Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith, who said he spoke with his highway superintendent later Wednesday and asked him to have the mowing crew avoid the milkweed.

Testimony will resume at 1 p.m. today in a civil trial to determine whether three German Shepherd dogs owned by David Hanson of Newton Township should be declared vicious because of a Jan. 22, 2018, attack on a worker outside of Venture Plastics on Warren-Ravenna Road.

Two witnesses for the Trumbull County Dog Warden testified Wednesday in Newton Falls Municipal Court the dogs that attacked employee Rebecca Scofield were Hanson’s and live next door the factory. The dog warden declared the dogs vicious, but Hanson appealed.

And Saturday is the first Waterfire fest this year in Sharon. The unique daylong arts and culture street fest known for its transfixing fire-lighting ritual on the river at dusk has been pared from three days to two this year. Festival Director Karen Anderson said Sharon is the only city that has more than one WaterFire each year besides Providence, R.I., where the festival began, which has it almost every weekend.

For more details on these and other news and sports, subscribe to The Vindicator by calling 330-746-6561 or visit Vindy.com