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SOBE sends disconnection notices to four customers

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YOUNGSTOWN -- SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC sent disconnection notices to four of its downtown Youngstown customers that haven’t paid their bills in at least the past 60 days. The disconnection notices state service may be disconnected as soon as Friday. The steam heat to the four buildings won’t be cut off Friday, but the disconnections would likely occur the week of Oct. 5, unless payments are made, said Michael Moran, attorney for John C. Collins, SOBE’s receiver. Those receiving disconnection letters were West 34 Investors LLC, the owner of Wick Tower; Erie Terminal Place ...

PUCO staff’s attorney wants requested changes to SOBE rate hike dropped

Local News

An attorney for the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s staff argued that requests for an end date for the major emergency rate hikes approved by the commission for SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC and the inclusion of language that the increases are “subject to refund” aren’t valid. The two requests made by the city of Youngstown and the Office of the Ohio Consumers’ Counsel in a Sept. 14 joint filing should be rejected by the PUCO “because they are outside the scope of the commission’s rehearing entry,” wrote Julian Johnson, an Ohio assistant attorney general with ...

Woman pleads guilty in child sex abuse case

Local News

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown woman faces a likely prison stint after pleading guilty Monday to sex offenses involving a 3-year-old child. A news release from the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office states that Tekia Huggins, 34, pleaded guilty in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to charges ...

Thomas bill would require payment for power outages

Local News

State Rep. David Thomas, who represents parts of Trumbull County, introduced a bill to require electric utility companies to pay customers for repeated and/or prolonged power outages. Thomas, R-Jefferson, is sponsoring the bill with state Rep. Trisan Rader, D-Cleveland. With the Ohio House not meeting again until after the Nov. 3 election, Thomas said he didn’t expect the bill to pass this year. But Thomas said he and Rader would introduce it again next year, which would give it until Dec. 31, 2028, to be approved by the state Legislature. The Ohio Power Outage Relief Act would ...

Boardman contractor arrested again

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BOARDMAN — A local contractor already convicted of stealing from customers in three counties has been arrested again. A Boardman police report shows that John P. Bartos III, 43, of Boardman, was arrested Friday at a Boardman hotel on four outstanding warrants, including one for an alleged probation violation in Mahoning County. Bartos received four years of probation in Mahoning County after pleading guilty to 18 felony counts involving 25 customers. Police went to the Holiday Inn on South Avenue shortly after 8:30 a.m. Friday, following an anonymous tip that Bartos was staying ...

Shooting nets man 7-year sentence

Local News

YOUNGSTOWN — A Youngstown man charged with attempted murder in a December shootout in Austintown will spend about seven years in prison after a plea agreement was reached on Monday. Mikklo Delgado, 24, avoided the trial scheduled for this week and instead pleaded guilty before Mahoning County Common Pleas Judge Anthony D’Apolito to aggravated robbery with a firearm specification. Delgado was arrested shortly after receiving treatment for a gunshot wound he sustained during the Dec. 3 shootout at Compass West Apartments that left a 16-year-old boy critically wounded. D’Apolito ...