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Valley Medicaid provider indicted on fraud charges

A Youngstown woman and a person who operates a business in Austintown are among those indicted this week by a Franklin County grand jury for allegedly stealing a combined $558,383 from Medicaid, the government healthcare program for the needy. “Fraud against Medicaid is fraud against Ohio taxpayers,” Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson stated in a news release. His office filed the charges. “We will continue to investigate suspicious billing behavior and hold offenders accountable.” Yvette Johnson‑Woodall, 58, of Youngstown, faces charges after allegedly defrauding Medicaid of ...

Suspect dead in Howland standoff

A standoff between law enforcement and a fugitive concluded Wednesday with the man committing suicide. According to an email from the U.S. Marshals Northern District of Ohio office, the agency’s violent fugitive task force received information that the man who has been on the run since 2022 was hiding in a house in the 3900 block of Highlawn Avenue SW, Howland. The subject was noted to have an extensive violent criminal history and was wanted by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office on charges of attempted murder, felonious assault and aggravated burglary. The representative ...

Penguin Kickoff offers taste of YSU Steubenville

STEUBENVILLE — Having access to classes at Youngstown State University Steubenville is important to students from the tri-state area. That includes Hayden Martin of Steubenville. A senior at YSU, Martin said being able to finish her education in her community is important. ...

Niles, Howland get state school sidewalk grants

The state awarded $500,000 to Niles and $77,000 to Howland for sidewalk work as part of a program to make it safer and easier for students to get to schools. The two Trumbull County communities were among 17 that received a total of about $8.8 million from this year’s Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program. The funding was announced Thursday. The grant for Niles is to upgrade and install sidewalks, crosswalks and traffic signals by the middle school. It will be done in 2029. The Howland grant is to construct 5,931 linear feet of sidewalks along the ...

Vienna business suing over bad Google review

VIENNA — A local business has filed a lawsuit against a Columbus woman, alleging that reputational harm was caused because of false statements in a review published online earlier this year. The complaint by Vienna-based Starr Manufacturing Inc., filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Thursday morning, claims that Julie Watson “falsely and maliciously” made claims that the company had quality and manufacturing failures with multiple customers. The review was published to the company’s Google Business Profile, a tool that allows business owners to manage how their ...

Lawmakers question Flock Safety

CHARLESTON, W. Va. — A company executive with Flock Safety defended its Automated License Plate Reader technology as a vital tool for “precision policing” that helps solve crimes and recover missing persons, while opponents argue these AI-powered cameras threaten Fourth Amendment privacy rights. The Joint Standing Committee on Government Organization met Sunday afternoon on the first of three days of legislative interim meetings at the State Capitol Building in Charleston to learn more about the cameras and how local governments were using them. Concerns have been growing ...