rfox@tribtoday.com
WARREN During a Wednesday meeting of the Trumbull County Council of Governments, the new county commissioner questioned the choice of attorney the public body uses.
The council of governments, or COG, was formed in 2018 and is made up of many county communities. The townships, cities and villages pay a small fee to join the COG and can petition for projects that utilize the shared resources of the group members. So far, projects mostly have included building demolitions that use the staff and equipment of the Trumbull County Engineer’s Office, for which the particular community reimburses the engineer’s office for, through the COG. The COG also is working on a joint program to test fire equipment for safety and effectiveness at participating fire departments.
The judge also found no evidence of the couple’s claim that they are subjected to a written policy encouraging or permitting the harassment against them.
WARREN Landlords for seven Cafaro Company-owned shopping malls this week have filed legal action against a Secaucus, N.J., retailer that sells children’s clothing, seeking more than $550,000 in back rent and unpaid maintenance fees.
The owner of Children’s Place stores in Cafaro’s Ohio Valley Mall, St. Clairsville, Ohio; Governor’s Square Mall in Clarksville, Tenn.; Huntington Mall in Barboursville, W.Va.; Kennedy Mall in Dubuque, Iowa; South Hill Mall in Puyallup, Wash., Millcreek Mall in Erie, Pa. and Spotsylvania (Va.) Mall have been named as defendants in separate civil lawsuits filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
gvogrin@tribtoday.com
WARREN A 28-year-old woman who appeared in November and told a judge she had COVID-19 returned to Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Thursday to plead guilty to theft charges linked to shoplifting $1,700 of Lego sets from the Bazetta Walmart.
Vanessa R. Serrano, of 1911 Manchester Road, Akron, appeared seated in a wheelchair before Judge Ronald J. Rice.
Serrano’s attorney Thomas Zena assured the court his client was healthy, but she had broken her leg in a fall. Rice, however, admonished the defendant for showing up last time after being infected with coronavirus.
“I was appalled by your actions. They were irresponsible and stupid,” Rice told Serrano.
The only woman on Ohio’s Death Row has seen her latest appeal for post-conviction relief fail.
The Ohio Supreme Court on Tuesday announced it has declined to review the decision by Ohio’s 11th District Court of Appeals that upheld the conviction and death sentence of Donna Roberts. The Howland woman was charged in the 2001 murder of her husband, Robert Fingerhut, at the couple’s Fonderlac Drive home.
Roberts, 76, was convicted along with her boyfriend Nathaniel Jackson, who shot Fingerhut to death on Dec. 11, 2001.
Roberts had filed an appeal saying she had ineffective counsel at her jury trial and was not granted an evidence hearing during the appeals process. In August 2020, the 11th District court disagreed, with Judge Matt Lynch writing Roberts’ arguments had no merit. The high court decided this week not to review that appellate decision.