Trumbull Co. tourism

Trumbull Co. tourism

WARREN

Tourism is one of the top 10 industries in Trumbull County, with travel supporting one of every 12 jobs, said Beth Kotwis Carmichael, executive director of Trumbull County Tourism.

These are among the facts that will be emphasized next week as the organization participates in National Travel and Tourism Week by having an event at the tourism office, 321 Mahoning Ave. NW, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. next Friday.

At the event, residents are encouraged to make plans for friends and family visiting Trumbull County this year. The agency can help with family and class reunions, weddings and other gatherings, Kotwis Carmichael said.

Ceremony honors fallen Ohio officers

LONDON, OHIO

An annual memorial ceremony has honored the nearly 800 Ohio peace officers who have died in the line of duty since 1823, including four last year.

Those include Westerville Officers Eric Joering and Anthony Morelli, who were fatally shot while responding to a 911 call. The others are Mentor Officer Mathew Mazany, who was struck while assisting with a freeway traffic stop, and Cleveland Officer Vu Nguyen, who collapsed during a fitness run in extreme heat and died.

Thursday’s ceremony at the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy in London included a moment of silence for two officers killed this year. Colerain Township Officer Dale Woods was fatally struck helping control traffic at an accident scene. Clermont County Sheriff’s Deputy William Brewer was fatally shot during a man’s standoff with police.

Synagogue didn’t get to fund security upgrades before attack

POWAY, Calif.

Leaders at a Southern California synagogue knew they needed to increase security around their front door a year before a gunman walked in opened fire.

The Chabad of Poway synagogue sought a $150,000 federal grant to install gates and more secure doors, but it took nearly a year for the application to be approved and the money to be distributed. It was awarded in late March.

“Obviously, we did not have a chance to start using the funds yet,” rabbi Simcha Backman said. Backman, who oversees security grants for the 207 Chabad institutions across California, wouldn’t give details on the planned enhancements or speculate whether they might have changed the outcome of Saturday’s attack.

Cocaine deaths up

NEW YORK

Cocaine deaths have been rising in the U.S., health officials said Thursday in their latest report on the nation’s deadliest drug-overdose epidemic.

After years of decline, overdose deaths involving cocaine began rising around 2012. They jumped by more than a third between 2016 and 2017. The increase partly reflects trends in deaths from heroin, fentanyl and other opioid drugs. Many overdose deaths involve different drugs. The CDC researchers found that nearly three-quarters of the deaths involving cocaine in 2017 were among people who also took opioids.

But deaths involving cocaine alone also increased, said Lawrence Scholl of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one of the study’s authors.

Staff/wire reports