Paratrooper airdrop

Paratrooper airdrop

VIENNA

The Air Force Reserve’s 910th Airlift Wing at the Youngstown Air Reserve Air Station is scheduled to conduct a paratrooper airdrop training mission at noon today.

A C-130H Hercules, assigned to the 910th and flown by a crew of reserve citizen airmen assigned here, is scheduled to drop the first group of approximately 40 paratroopers onto the drop zone on the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport airfield. The aircraft will pick up the Ohio Army National Guard paratroopers mid-morning in the Columbus area and return to YARS airspace to complete the airdrop mission.

This scheduled mission enables the 910th a chance to highlight an aspect of one of its dual primary missions – tactical airlift. The 910th’s other primary mission is maintaining the Department of Defense’s only large-area, fixed-wing aerial spray capability.

No petition certification

COLUMBUS

The Ohio attorney general didn’t certify the language on a petition from Ohioans for Gun Safety, which wants to put an issue on the ballot next year to close loopholes in the state’s gun-purchase background checks.

“This is not uncommon for the Ohio Attorney General to find minor fault with petition language, and we are going to make the appropriate changes and then hit the streets to collect another 1,000 valid signatures,” said Dennis Willard, the group’s spokesman. “Ohioans want to close the loopholes in existing law so that when someone buys a gun at a gun show or privately, they go through a background check. It’s a simple, straight-forward, common sense plan to reduce gun violence and save lives.”

Downtown events

YOUNGSTOWN

The city of Youngstown’s Events and Citywide Special Projects Department announced that the block party in downtown Youngstown is Saturday.

In preparation for the weekend event, Champion Street between Boardman and Front streets will be closed to vehicular traffic from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Also, due to the rain and the band rescheduling, today’s Party on the Plaza will be rescheduled for August. The next Party on the Plaza is scheduled for July 5.

For information about parking bans and street closures, contact Terrill Vidale at TVidale@YoungstownOhio.gov or call 330-207-0551.

Grant announced

WASHINGTON

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, announced a $210,000 grant to to Eastgate Regional Council of Governments from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration.

The grant will assist Eastgate with leading the collaborative effort of creating and implementing the district’s Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy. The CEDS involves partnerships across sectors and focuses on advancing actions in workforce training and education; innovation and entrepreneurship; access to capital; infrastructure and site development; industry and business climate; and quality of life and community vitality.

In addition, this funding allows Eastgate to offer technical assistance to communities and organizations in the region that are looking to apply for federal funding.

Bridge to close

NEWTON FALLS

The city’s historic covered bridge on Arlington Road, between North Milton Boulevard and East Jay Street, will be closed July 1 through Sept. 2 for bridge repairs, the Trumbull County engineer announced.

Pretrial hearing

NEWTON FALLS

The final pretrial hearing was held this week in Newton Falls Municipal Court in the civil case involving three German shepherds accused of badly injuring a woman in a Jan. 22, 2018, attack outside of Venture Plastics on Warren Ravenna Road. The case is scheduled for trial at 10 a.m. July 24.

The purpose of the litigation is to determine whether the dogs should be declared vicious, which would result in the owner of the dogs, David Hanson, to carry $100,000 worth of insurance on them and other things.

School survey results

YOUNGSTOWN

Eighty percent of Youngstown City School District parents and 73 percent of staff participating in a survey rate the overall quality of their schools as good or excellent.

For students, the percentages of those rating their school as good or excellent were 62 percent for students in sixth through 12th grades and 69 percent for third- through fifth-graders.

More than 2,270 people responded to the survey when it was administered this spring: 397 parents, 453 staff members (half of them teachers), 649 students in sixth through 12th grades and 775 from students in grades third through fifth.

The survey measured five elements of school quality: academic support, student support, school leadership, family involvement and safety and behavior.

Street closed

YOUNGSTOWN

Connecticut Avenue between North Hazelwood and West Heights avenues was closed Thursday to vehicular traffic because of an emergency sewer repair. The city’s public works department doesn’t know when the street will reopen.

‘State of the Valley’

YOUNGSTOWN

The City Club of the Mahoning Valley will host “The State of the Valley” on Monday at Stambaugh Auditorium, 1000 Fifth Ave., to discuss economic-development efforts in the area.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 6 p.m. and the forum from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 for City Club members and $35 for nonmembers.

The speakers are Sarah Boyarko, Youngstown/Warren Regional chamber’s chief operating officer; Karen Schubert, Lit Youngstown’s director; Stephanie Shaw, Eastern Ohio Education Partnership’s executive director; and Mahoning County Health Commissioner Patricia Sweeney.

Special meeting

COITSVILLE

The Coitsville Tonwship trustees will have a special meeting at 11 a.m. today at the Coitsville Township Hall for the purpose of approving contracts for the police and road departments and personnel.

Surplus food

Austintown Community Church, 242 S. Canfield-Niles Road, various commodities, 8:30 to 10 a.m. Saturday. For recipients living in ZIP codes 44509, 44511 and 44515. Recipients must bring proper identification.

East Side Crime Watch, 1001 Oak St., at the corner of Fruit St., Youngstown, food and clothing, 10 a.m. to noon Saturday. Recipients must bring containers and proper identification.

Food-distribution notices are to be submitted by 3 p.m. the day before they are to be published.