AKRON
Teen shot
AKRON: An Akron teen was shot in the leg during a robbery attempt Monday afternoon on the city’s west side, police said.
The 17-year-old boy was treated for nonlife-threatening injuries at Akron General Medical Center. The shooter has not been identified.
The teen told police he was shot about 1:30 p.m. during an altercation with the gunman near the 400 block of West Market Street. He told police he resisted the gunman’s robbery efforts and was shot in retaliation.
Police say the injured teen ran to a nearby convenient store and called 911.
The shooter was wearing all black clothing and a ski mask, police said.
Barber robbed
AKRON: A gunman robbed an Akron barbershop owner Monday morning, police said.
The 66-year-old owner of Nick’s Barber Shop, 405 E. South St., said the gunman came inside the shop about 11 a.m. and demanded money.
The bandit took about $75 and fled, according to reports. The barber was not injured.
Police say the robber was a black male in his late teens. He wore sunglasses, black cargo pants, a black stocking cap and a hooded sweatshirt with a flame design.
Chicken heist
AKRON: A gunman robbed workers inside a Church’s Chicken late Monday night, police said.
The gunman went inside the restaurant, at 1211 S. Main St., about 9:30 p.m. and told the clerk, “Don’t panic and put the money in a cup.”
The worker complied and placed an undisclosed amount of cash into a drink cup. The robber fled without firing a shot.
Police say the robber is a black male in his early 20s. He had a gold grille implant on his front teeth and wore a dark, hooded sweatshirt, blue do-rag, dark pants and black Nike shoes.
Flash fire at UA
AKRON: The University of Akron’s Goodyear Polymer Center building was evacuated briefly Tuesday after a flash fire erupted on an upper floor.
Two lab workers handling a mixture of methanol and chloroform were in a room on the seventh floor about 4 p.m. when the flash fire occurred. They declined medical treatment, Akron fire Capt. Rod Stewart said.
Smoke filled a portion of the 12-story building, prompting the evacuation and a large response by rescue workers. Firefighters worked to clear the hazard until about 6 p.m.
No damage or injuries were reported.
JACKSON TOWNSHIP
Chief suspended
JACKSON TWP.: Township trustees late Tuesday said police Chief David Zink has been suspended for a month.
Zink had been on paid administrative leave for the past 10 days, pending the outcome of an investigation trustees have described only as related to “a personnel matter.”
“After reading and hearing the independent report from the out-of-county investigator, the board of trustees has determined that Chief Zink will serve a one-month suspension, pay back the township for the time he was on administrative leave, and participate in training and counseling,” the township said in a written statement Tuesday.
Zink has been chief in the department since 2010.
STARK COUNTY
Reduced hours
CANTON: The Stark County Hunger Task Force will operate its emergency pantry and offices in the Community Campus at Goodwill, 408 Ninth St. SW, with reduced hours around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays.
The pantry and offices will be closed Monday, Tuesday and Jan. 1. It will be open from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Dec. 31.
The pantry returns to its regular hours Jan. 2.
For more information, call 330-455-6667 or go to www.starkhunger.org.
SUMMIT COUNTY
Elections hearings
AKRON: The Summit County Board of Elections voted Tuesday to hold hearings Jan. 29 to determine whether two voters violated elections laws in November.
One involves a woman who admitted to an elections board employee that she signed her husband’s name on his voter registration card. The issue was discovered when her husband attempted to vote absentee and his signature didn’t match the one the board had on file.
The other concerns a voter who applied for an absentee ballot by mail, but wasn’t registered at the address he provided. The board sent him a letter saying he needed to update his address with the board and could then get a ballot, but didn’t hear back from him. The man called the board to find out where he should vote on Election Day, and an employee told him he couldn’t vote where he previously did because he had moved.
The board later learned he voted at the polling location for his previous address.
The board referred questions involving other voters to the boards in Mahoning, Cuyahoga and Medina, where the alleged violations occurred.
TALLMADGE SCHOOLS
Meeting scheduled
TALLMADGE: The Board of Education will hold its organizational meeting at 6 p.m. Jan. 2 at the McCombs Education Center, 486 East Ave.
STATEWIDE
Fugitives sought
Three women with Ohio ties have been added to the U.S. government’s “Most Wanted Healthcare Fugitives” list for their alleged role in a $40 million Medicare fraud case.
Federal officials said Lilit Galstyan, Julieta Ghazaryan and Marine Movsisyan have been on the lam since they were indicted in 2010 on charges of health-care fraud, conspiracy of money laundering and mail and wire fraud.
The women are accused of filing more than $40 million in false Medicare claims and pocketing about $19 million in what authorities call a “complex, multi-state scheme” that involved using stolen identities of Ohio physicians and patients to fraudulently collect Medicare payments.
The case has been investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Eastern Ohio.
Authorities say the women were based in Los Angeles, but traveled the country opening fake medical facilities in more than 40 states, including Ohio. They used the sites as “mail drops” to receive documents and bank checks.
CARROLLTON
Mining request
CARROLLTON: A grass-roots group in Carroll County is asking the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to reject the June 2009 permit application by Rosebud Mining Co. for a 9,600-acre mine south of Carrollton because of inadequacies in the application.
An initial state review has identified more than 200 inadequacies and requests for additional information, including critical public safety information on the mine’s potential to collapse and whether the mine’s future operation would affect local drinking-water supplies.
The application was submitted prior to the shale gas drilling boom that has hit Carroll County and does not mention how the mine further would increase the vulnerability of the county’s groundwater supplies.
Carroll Concerned Citizens is asking the state to reject the current application and require Rosebud to restart the process.
Spokesman Paul Feezel said “Rosebud says eventually the mine would grow to almost 30,000 acres right in the heart of the shale gas drilling. With over 2,000 shale gas wells planned for the county, it makes the risks from mine subsidence and mining water contamination even more concerning.”
