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Ciccone insists office failures predate him

YOUNGSTOWN — Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone insists his office’s failure to file routine monthly financial reports predates his administration and other county departments used an accounting firm “to address similar reconciliation concerns.” County Auditor Ralph Meacham, who first raised concerns about the failure of the clerk of courts to handle the reports, said Ciccone’s statements in his defense are “false and completely inaccurate. This is all nonsense. Any representations to the contrary are erroneous.” Ciccone on Wednesday sent an email to The ...

SOBE returns 2 boilers until October

YOUNGSTOWN — The financially troubled company that provides steam heat for most of downtown Youngstown is returning two of its three rented boilers until October to cut expenses and agreed to a $750,000 settlement with Enbridge Gas Co., to be paid in $40,000 monthly installments, for late bills. In a Wednesday interview with The Vindicator, John C. Collins, receiver for SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC, and Michael Moran, his court-appointed attorney, said the return of the two boilers will cut the company’s monthly expense for that equipment from $58,200 to about $28,000. Moran ...

Police serve protection order on county clerk of courts

YOUNGSTOWN — Visiting Judge Pam Rintala on Friday issued an ex-parte domestic violence protection order against Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone after a domestic disturbance involving him and his wife, Emily Ciccone, July 23 at Michael Ciccone’s home on South Edgehill Avenue in Austintown. The order restrains Michael Ciccone from committing acts of abuse or threatening abuse against his wife and other protected persons named in the order effective July 24, according to documents in the protection order case. The order apparently protects Emily Ciccone and four ...

Youngstown city schools still trying to fill 30 teacher vacancies

YOUNGSTOWN — As the Youngstown City School District finds itself barely a month from the start of a major reconfiguration that was announced in May 2025 and will be launched Sept. 1, efforts continue to fill several dozen teaching and other staffing positions. “Every year, we have vacancies,” Superintendent Jeremy Batchelor said after Tuesday’s regular board of education meeting at Youngstown Rayen Early College High School. “In Youngstown, right now, we truly have about 30 teaching vacancies.” A sharper spotlight has been trained on hiring especially math and science ...

Hubbard joint cemetery levy will not make ballot

HUBBARD — A city official said the joint cemetery’s board of trustees is going “back to the drawing board” after a proposed levy aimed at improving the grounds and their roads was rejected. City officials paused official business at last week’s council meeting to discuss placing a 0.5-mill levy on November’s ballot for the Hubbard Union Cemetery on Oakdale Avenue. Councilwoman Robin Zambrini, D-2nd Ward, said the levy is needed because burials are going down because a lot of people are choosing cremation as an alternative. “That accounts for a good part of our ...

Boy, 5, dies in crash on Route 224 in Poland

Staff report POLAND — A 5-year-old boy was killed in a Tuesday evening single-vehicle crash on Route 224 in Poland that the Ohio State Highway Patrol said it believes was drug related. Neither the driver, a 61-year-old woman from New Castle, Pa., or the two children in the car were “properly restrained” an Ohio State Highway Patrol news release states. Troopers are continuing to investigate the 5:14 p.m. crash that troopers said occurred near mile post 21, which is near Poland Way. Rosemary Huddleston, 61, was traveling west on Route 224 in a GMC Terrain when the car went ...