ORCHID: After 14 years, the site of the former Mahoningside Power Plant finally is cleaned up. The property once was the site for a hydropower plant from the early 1900s to the late 1970s and then was used for demolition and salvage. The city took it over in 1999, and when demolition began, discovered soil was contaminated with asbestos and PCBs.
ONION: To Youngstown City Council for contracting with a company called Redflex Traffic Systems to install traffic cameras in school zones. The city will not have to pay for the cameras but will divide the fines with Redflex. That's a bad idea.
ORCHID: For Mesopotamia Township and the Mespo Kids Playground Committee having been awarded a $40,000 grant for park renovations. The money came from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Natureworks grant, totals $40,228 and covers 75 percent of the estimated cost for improvements. Other funding includes $5,000 from the Northern Trumbull County Community Foundation, $3,000 from The Raymond John Wean Foundation and $3,000 from the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.
ONION: For a situation a family finds itself in after a New Year's Day hit-and-run driver injured a Warren man. Harold Rice was hit by a car while riding his bicycle early Tuesday at Tod Avenue and Summit Street in Warren. The man doesn't have medical insurance. An account has been set up at Huntington Bank and donations are being accepted to help defray medical costs. We hope the authorities find the driver.
ORCHID: To the children and staff at the Hope Academy for Autism who made blankets for others for the holiday season. Four of the blankets were given to nursing homes and eight to Akron Children's Hospital. Thirty six students from preschool to junior high at the school helped out on the project.
ORCHID: To the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. and its new Blight Eradication Vehicle that was donated to the organization by Schewbels Bakery. The truck will be stocked with tools and other supplies to help repair, landscape or demolish vacant properties in the city. The YNDC works with the City of Youngstown and The Raymond John Wean Foundation to improve neighborhoods.
celebrated by holding up signs.