News

Merkel asks civil service commission to return him as Warren police chief

Local News September 3, 2026

WARREN — Former Warren Police Chief Eric Merkel hand delivered a letter Tuesday to the Warren Civil Service Commission asking that the commission restore him to his position as chief and “investigate whether city officials procured and enforced (his) resignation through threats, coercion, political considerations and disparate treatment in violation of Ohio law.” Civil Service Commission member Dan Letson, an attorney, confirmed Tuesday that Merkel did drop off the letter Tuesday at the civil service commission meeting that day. Letson also confirmed that Merkel notified the city ...

Judge orders logging project halted in Shawnee National Forest

National News September 3, 2026

A federal judge this week ordered the U.S. Forest Service to suspend a commercial logging project in southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, finding the 2024 approval of the project under President Joe Biden violated the Endangered Species Act. The agency improperly approved the project in October 2024 without waiting for a final “biological opinion” from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an East St. Louis judge ruled Monday. That opinion, which was completed six weeks after the Forest Service approved the logging project, identified the roughly 70-acre project area as home ...

Iran fires on its Gulf neighbors

Edouard, now a tropical depression, drenches Texas with flash flooding and downed trees

National News September 3, 2026

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (AP) — The former Tropical Storm Edouard weakened into a depression but dumped nearly 2 feet of rain in some places, flooded roads and knocked down trees Wednesday in parts of Texas as it slowly moved north. Schools and municipal offices were closed, residents were told to stay home and a news station captured a water rescue of a family. Some areas northwest of Beaumont, where the center of the storm passed Tuesday, received between 10 inches and 21 inches of rain in a matter of hours, the National Weather Service and emergency officials said. The storm was ...

1982 Niles cop killer denied parole

Local News September 3, 2026

NILES — A man serving a 30-years-to-life sentence for a 1982 shooting of a Niles police officer will have to wait another six years for a shot at parole. According to a news release from the Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, a coordinator of the county’s victim witness division learned from the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction this week that Fred Joseph Jr., 60, has been denied parole after a late July hearing. Joseph, who is incarcerated at Toledo Correctional Institution, will have his next parole hearing in May 2032. Niles Police Officer John Utlak, ...

On the record

Local News September 3, 2026

Campbell WHAT: Board of Education special meeting Aug. 28 PRESENT: Judy Gozur, Gary Bednarik, Beth Donofrio, Tony Kelly and Tina Tsagaris The board: • Approved the purchase of additional furniture for the Campbell Health and Community Development Center (CHCDC) from Southern Aluminum in the amount of $13,483; from MV Sales in the amount of $58,926.51; and from Amazon in the amount of $9,995.52. Funding is through the Appalachian Regional Commission. The center opens today. • Approved an agreement between the Campbell City School District and Supplemental Educational ...