Liberty police file charges against ex-booster president

July 23, 2026

Staff report LIBERTY — The Liberty Police Department has filed criminal charges against Christina Marie Merrick, 48, former president of the Liberty Local School District’s wrestling and soccer booster programs, following an investigation into embezzled funds. Liberty police Chief Ray Buhala said Merrick, of Liberty, has been charged with two counts of theft — fourth- and fifth-degree felonies — and misuse of credit cards in connection with the theft of approximately $40,000 from the booster organizations’ accounts. The investigation was launched in June after board ...

Inspiring Minds Summer Market gives students an opportunity to show gained skills

July 22, 2026

WARREN — Students who participated in the Inspiring Minds six-week summer enrichment program had the opportunity Tuesday to demonstrate their ability to market their food, goods, event-planning or marketing services to customers at the fifth annual Summer Market. Community members browsed ...

EPA rejects blanket permit for data centers

July 22, 2026

Citing public opposition, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency rejected a request for a blanket permit for data centers to discharge wastewater and decided to consider each project individually. In a Tuesday ruling, the state EPA wrote: “After carefully reviewing the significant volume of public comments received on the draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System general permit for data centers, Ohio EPA has decided not to move forward with finalizing the general permit” that would have allowed data centers to dump wastewater into the state’s waterways. The EPA ...

National Weather Service to check area following tornado

July 22, 2026

Staff report With reports of many trees down and roof damage to some homes in Liberty and Hubbard townships, officials from the National Weather Service in Cleveland are to be in parts of the Mahoning Valley today to determine the severity of a tornado that passed through the area. Trumbull County Emergency Management Director John Hickey said he received calls of many trees down and one house having roof damage in Hubbard Township. Residents reported a funnel cloud in the area of Applegate Drive on the Liberty-Hubbard line. Hickey said the NWS will survey that area and others to ...

Vienna trustee defends work of water advisory board

July 22, 2026

WARREN — Vienna Trustee Phil Pegg sought to defend the work of the Trumbull County Water Advisory Board at Tuesday’s Trumbull County Commissioners workshop. The water board’s chairman, Rex Fee, resigned from his position last week, noting the difficulty it had in getting enough members to meet to have a quorum vote. The board’s mission is to find ways to reduce spending in the county’s water department. Pegg noted the board had a number of meetings during which they did not have a quorum, which would have allowed the board to vote on recommendations to provide the ...

Commissioners look at excavation accidents

July 22, 2026

WARREN — Finding ways to reduce the dangers of placing a new generation of fiber optic cabling throughout the county in ways that will not endanger residents and require greater responsibility from installers was the topic of a more than two-hour meeting Tuesday at the Trumbull County Commissioners hearing room. Last week, the commissioners met in an emergency meeting to discuss a series of accidents that have occurred in recent months during the installation of underground fiber optics cables. The discussions came to a head recently after Lumos Networks noted workers hit a gas ...