Ryan in South Carolina

Ryan in South Carolina

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, is campaigning today in South Carolina.

On Friday in South Carolina, Ryan of Howland, D-13th, picked up the endorsements of Fletcher Smith, a former state representative who served as Joe Biden’s 2008 presidential campaign co-chairman, and Brandon Brown, who was a deputy political director on that same Biden campaign.

Vicious-dog trial ends

WARREN

The civil trial to determine whether the three German shepherds belonging to David Hanson of Newton Township should be declared vicious ended Friday.

The trial stretched over three days in Newton Falls Municipal Court. Judge Philip Vigorito heard the case without a jury. Court officials say they expect the judge to issue a ruling next week.

The Trumbull County Dog Warden’s Office declared the dogs vicious after a woman was attacked by three German shepherds outside of Venture Plastics on Warren-Ravenna Road in January 2018. Hanson and his dogs live next door.

The woman and another Venture Plastics employee testified that the dogs were Hanson’s, but Hanson’s attorney has argued that the evidence does not show that.

Scholarship Ball set

YOUNGSTOWN

A Garden of Hope will host its Scholarship Ball at 5 p.m. Sunday at Youngstown Early College High School, 20 W. Wood St. The nonprofit organization awards scholarships to girls in the Youngstown area in eighth through 12th grade.

Garden of Hope offers workshops in financial literacy, etiquette, resume building, mock interviews, mechanics, job shadowing and more. Applications are accepted throughout the year.

Nonviolence parade, rally set for Oct. 6

YOUNGSTOWN

The ninth annual Nonviolence Parade and Rally is scheduled for 3 p.m. Oct. 6 and will begin at the corner of Wick Avenue and Wood Street before proceeding downtown to the Covelli Centre.

The parade will kick off Ohio Nonviolence Week, which runs Oct. 6-12.

Those wishing to participate by walking, driving a vehicle or creating a float can register online at ohiononviolence.com, email Penny Wells at pennywwells@sbcglobal.net or call Wells at 330-207-4467.

Poll: Many support background checks

YOUNGSTOWN

A Quinnipiac University poll, released Friday, shows that 90 percent of Ohioans polled support background checks on all gun sales, including 87 percent of gun owners.

“This poll confirms what we learned in talking to hundreds of individuals and organizations over the past two years: Ohioans overwhelmingly support common sense background checks for gun safety,” said Dennis Willard, spokesman for Ohioans for Gun Safety, a group collecting signatures to put background checks in front of the state Legislature, and potentially in front of voters as soon as 2020 and no later than 2021. “The poll also shows that Democrats and Republicans agree on this issue, as well as gun owners and non-gun owners.”

Vice President Pence to visit Ohio on Tuesday

LANCASTER (AP)

Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit southeast Ohio next week for the groundbreaking ceremony of an automotive supplier’s plant.

Fairfield County Republican Party chairman Jeff Fix tells the Lancaster Eagle Gazette that Tuesday’s event at Magnum International will be by invitation. The company is expected to initially employ 300 workers in Lancaster, some 30 miles southeast of Columbus.

Republican President Donald Trump’s campaign announced earlier that Pence will join the president in an Aug. 1 rally in downtown Cincinnati, the day after the second round of Democratic presidential debates ends.

That Thursday evening rally will be at U.S. Bank Arena. Trump also led a rally there after his November 2016 election victory, in which he handily carried the battleground state of Ohio over Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Head of troubled Ohio detention center resigns after 5 hours

CLEVELAND (AP)

A report says the new director of a troubled Ohio juvenile detention center resigned after just five hours on the job.

Cleveland.com reports that Donald Shewalter started his position as director of the Cuyahoga County Juvenile Detention Center in Cleveland on Monday and quit five hours later.

The director’s heart “just wasn’t in it” according to a memo written by Administrative Judge Kristin Sweeney and distributed to staff Tuesday.

Cleveland.com says Shewalter was hired to replace Delbert Montgomery, who was fired after less than a year in the position.

After a riot at the center last year, a report by the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Children’s Law and Policy found routine inmate mistreatment and dysfunction in leadership.

Traffic camera speeding citations trigger federal lawsuit

NEW RICHMOND (AP)

Motorists cited for speeding have filed a federal lawsuit against a southern Ohio village for using traffic cameras.

The lawsuit in U.S. district court in Cincinnati alleges that New Richmond officials installed two fixed cameras on U.S. 52 without receiving required permission from the state Department of Transportation.

Four motorists who received notices of $85 speeding citations are seeking punitive damages, and their attorneys are asking that the case be certified as a class action. The village’s California-based vendor also is named.

Village administrator Greg Roberts declined comment Friday on the lawsuit.

The village installed the cameras this spring, issued warnings in May, and citations in June. The village says it has halted camera use pending developments in a lawsuit by the City of Toledo against state-imposed camera restrictions.