Wagon Wheel permit

Wagon Wheel permit

BOARDMAN

The fate of the Wagon Wheel Motel’s occupancy permit will be decided by Judge John Durkin in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court at 8:30 a.m. today.

Judge Durkin issued a temporary restraining order against the property May 24 after owners failed to make necessary repairs identified by the Boardman Fire Department. The property is currently vacant. A commercial roofing crew was spotted at the Wagon Wheel on Monday morning.

Missed deadline for fee

YOUNGSTOWN

Mahoning County Engineer Pat Ginnetti said the county has missed the deadline to collect a proposed $5 license plate fee in 2020.

Commissioners needed to adopt a resolution to bring the fee for a 30-day referendum by June 1, putting it in the hands of state lawmakers by the July 1 deadline.

But they said in April they intended to hold off on the fee, considering recent high-profile job losses in the area that would have made the fee burdensome. If they were to adopt it now, collection wouldn’t happen until 2021 at the earliest, Ginnetti said.

The fee could generate up to $1.5 million for more county road repairs each year. Ginnetti has estimated it would cost more than $70 million to bring county-owned roads back up to standard.

Commissioners are expected to discuss the issue during their regular meeting this morning.

Plan to cut position

CAMPBELL

City council moved to a third and final reading an ordinance that if adopted will eliminate a sergeant position in the police department through attrition.

Councilwoman Juanita Rich, D-4th, voted against the ordinance at Wednesday night’s meeting, arguing that eliminating the position might remove an incentive for police officers to stay in the city.

Council President George Levendis said the elimination was recommended by police Chief Patrick Kelly after the council requested department heads to identify possible ways to reduce spending.

He said removing the position is likely to save $16,462 annually.

Rich said she would hold off supporting the measure until she had more information.

East High conference

YOUNGSTOWN

East High School parents are invited this week to a conference aimed at empowering them to take an active role in their children’s education.

The conference runs from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at the MetroPlex Expo Center, 1620 Motor Inn Drive, Liberty.

Guy Burney, director of Youngstown’s Community Initiative to Reduce Violence, is the facilitator for the two-day event. Melissa Roshan, also known as MelRo, is the keynote speaker. Roshan is a an inspirational speaker who survived an abusive childhood and became a professional model and children’s advocate.

There is no cost to attend, and child care will be provided both days. Dinner will be served Friday and Saturday’s itinerary includes lunch. Prizes, including televisions, will be raffled each day.

For information or to register for the conference, call YCSD’s Parent Pathways office at 330-740-8776.

Ryan hires NH director

YOUNGSTOWN

The campaign of U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, hired Peter Mellinger as its New Hampshire state director.

Mellinger served as organizing director for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign in New Hampshire. Clinton lost that state’s primary. Mellinger also worked last year as the coordinated campaign director for the Nevada Democratic Party, and in 2017, he was campaign manager for Susan Platt’s unsuccessful bid for lieutenant governor.

Man shot in stomach

YOUNGSTOWN

Detectives are investigating after a man was shot about 8:30 p.m. Tuesday on Interstate 680 south near the Glenwood Avenue exit.

Police were called to St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital for a report of a man with a gunshot wound to the stomach. The man told police he was driving on the freeway when he was shot.

He was driven to the hospital by another man who told police he saw the man walking and took him to the hospital.

That man’s car was damaged by gunfire, however.

Police searched the area around the shooting and found another car damaged by gunfire behind the Easter Seals building overlooking the freeway. Both cars were towed for evidence.

Drugs, cash found

YOUNGSTOWN

Police said they found a large amount of drugs and cash after a traffic stop about 4:55 p.m. Wednesday at Griffith Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard on the North Side.

Two vice squad members on patrol pulled over a car with Virginia license plates on a traffic violation. They found more than $2,000 cash and a large amount of drugs.

Officers said they did recover some fentanyl. Two people were being taken into custody. They will be identified later.

Hoerig appeal extension

WARREN

The 11th District Court of Appeals has given the attorney for Claudia Hoerig an extension to July 5 to file her primary appeal document that will state the mistakes she believes were made in her trial and sentencing.

Hoerig, 54, was sentenced to 28 years to life in prison in February after a trial in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court. She was convicted of killing her husband, Karl Hoerig, in their Newton Falls home in 2007 and fleeing to her native Brazil.

Mom, daughter charged

WARREN

A city woman was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child, and her daughter was charged with assault after police observed a video showing a 12-year-old Warren student being assaulted by another 12-year-old student Monday afternoon in front of Warren G. Harding High School.

The video shows the victim being assaulted without fighting back as the larger girl grabbed the victim by the hair and punched her in the face multiple times. The victim was taken to the Trumbull Regional Medical Center, police said.

Bonita M. Coleman, 33, of Woodland Avenue Northeast is scheduled for arraignment in Warren Municipal Court on the contributing charge, accused of driving her daughter to the high school for the fight.

The victim’s brother filmed the assault on his phone and showed it to police. The assault followed a disagreement between the two girls that took place a day earlier, police said.

Animal-cruelty case

WARREN

Tabitha Ballew, 24, of Reo Court Northwest, pleaded guilty Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to three felony counts of cruelty to a companion animal. She will be sentenced in about four weeks and could get prison time.

She was charged in late March after police found two dead dogs and a third thin dog at her apartment.

A neighbor said Ballew gave her the keys to Ballew’s apartment and asked her to keep an eye on her home. The neighbor went the next day to check on Ballew’s dogs and found two dead in a cage, a third one alive in the cage and a fourth one had escaped from the apartment when the neighbor opened the door.

The neighbor said Ballew had been gone a week. Police observed clothing, feces and urine in most areas of the home. The surviving dog was taken to a location where it would receive food and medical care.

Choffin commencement

YOUNGSTOWN

Choffin Career and Technical Center will have its adult education commencement exercises at 6 p.m. Friday in the Ford Family Recital Hall, 260 W. Federal St.

Free 4 All Friday

YOUNGSTOWN

Western Reserve Transit Authority is celebrating the first Free 4 All Friday of the summer at 9:45 a.m. Friday with a gathering of public officials and others who will climb on board a WRTA bus leaving from Federal Station downtown at 10:10 a.m.

Every Friday in June, July and August is “Free 4 All Friday.” All WRTA fixed-route buses will be free.