AKRON
Pizza heist arrest
AKRON: Akron police arrested a man who they said robbed a pizza shop during the Super Bowl last month.
Justin M. Harris, 29, was charged Monday with aggravated robbery and kidnapping.
Police said Harris was wearing a mask when he entered the Little Caesars at 2321 East Ave., about 10 p.m. Feb. 3 and fired a shot into the air.
He then walked behind the counter, pointed a handgun at two workers and demanded cash, police said.
During the robbery, which security cameras recorded, the robber forced two workers to gather money from the shop’s safe, two cash registers and from their own pockets.
The employees, a 46-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man, were not harmed, police said.
The robber left with an undisclosed amount of cash and the wallet of the male worker.
Suspect nabbed
AKRON: An Akron man was arrested Monday after police said he robbed a Dollar General store.
Joseph Burnett, 28, was being held in the Summit County Jail on aggravated robbery and other charges.
Police arrested Burnett as he was fleeing the Vernon Odom Boulevard store just after the robbery, they said.
According to a police report, Burnett was armed with a handgun and forced a clerk to empty a cash register about 12:30 p.m.
He then ordered the store’s workers to the back of the store.
While Burnett was ordering a clerk to open a safe, another clerk called 911, police said.
Burnett was arrested after a brief foot chase to the 1300 block of Dover Avenue.
Police said they recovered a .44-caliber revolver.
Sequester rally
AKRON: Organizing for Action will conduct a rally and news conference at noon today to highlight how the sequester will affect public health and safety providers, such as nurses, teachers and first responders.
The event will be at Cedar Street and Wabash Avenue, near Akron General Medical Center in downtown Akron.
It will feature speakers from some of the areas that will be affected and some local officials.
Organizing for Action is the committee President Barack Obama formed after winning re-election.
Ward 6 meeting
AKRON: Bob Hoch, the Ward 6 councilman, will host a meeting at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Ellet Community Center, 2449 Wedgewood Drive.
Ken Babby, owner of the Akron Aeros, will discuss plans for the team’s season.
Valle office hours
AKRON: John Valle, Akron’s director of neighborhood assistance, will have additional office hours this month at community centers.
Valle’s hours will be from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Thursday at Joy Park Community Center, 825 Fuller St., and from 10 a.m. to noon March 28 at Summit Lake Community Center, 380 W. Crosier St.
Easter egg hunt
AKRON: A community Easter egg hunt for children 12 and under will be held at Reservoir Park, 1735 Hillside Terrace, at noon Saturday.
The 11th annual event is sponsored by Heart 4 City Church, Reservoir Park staff, the RIGHT Committee and Akron City Council President Garry Moneypenny.
BARBERTON
Knife incident
BARBERTON: A resource officer at Barberton High School arrested a male student after another student alerted administrators that the boy had brought a knife to school Tuesday morning.
Superintendant Patti Cleary said two other male students knew about the knife but did not report anything to school officials.
She said she was unaware of the student’s intent with the weapon.
“Right now, I think that they are still trying to find that out,” Cleary said of the police investigation. “I don’t think that there was a faculty or student targeted.”
Cleary said students are “our best line of defense” in preventing a violent incident.
“We try to train our kids that if something is going on they need to notify us right away. So that did pay off for us,” she said.
Cleary would not provide any details about the student’s age or grade level.
The district has two resource officers and both also work for the Barberton Police Department. The officer in the high school was notified by school officials, who notified Cleary at 9:30 a.m. that one student had been arrested.
Cleary said the school district would follow its code of conduct in disciplining all students involved, but she would not comment on any specific punishment.
CAMPAIGN TRAIL
Flagg fundraiser
The Committee to Elect Jill Flagg Judge of the Barberton Municipal Court will host a cocktail reception fundraiser from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Prime, 4315 Manchester Road, New Franklin.
Requested donation is $125 per person.
For more information, call 330-309-6733.
Poda fundraiser
Jon Poda, a candidate for Barberton Municipal Court clerk, will host a campaign kickoff fundraiser from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Dusty’s Landing, 4760 Dusty’s Road, New Franklin.
Food and beverages will be provided.
Requested donation is $20 per person, payable at the door.
CLOVERLEAF SCHOOLS
State of district
LODI: Superintendent Daryl Kubilus will present the 2013 State of Schools address at 7 p.m. April 24 at Cloverleaf Elementary School, 8337 Friendsville Road.
The community is invited.
For more information, call 330-721-3521 or email John.Gladden@CloverleafLocal.org.
MEDINA COUNTY
Library hours
WADSWORTH: The Wadsworth Public Library will extend its hours of operation beginning April 1.
The new hours will be Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m.
NORTHEAST OHIO
LaRose at 3 sites
State Sen. Frank LaRose, R-Copley Township, will hold office hours on Saturday throughout his district, which encompasses portions of Summit and Stark counties and all of Wayne County.
Hours are: 10 a.m. to noon, Stow-Munroe Falls Public Library, 3512 Darrow Road in Stow; 1:30 to 3 p.m., Wayne County Public Library, 220 W. Liberty St. in Wooster; and 4 to 6 p.m., Canal Fulton City Hall, 155 E. Market St. in Canal Fulton.
No appointment is necessary.
SUMMIT COUNTY
Open houses set
TALLMADGE: The Summit County Developmental Disabilities board is hosting three open houses over the next week at community-based adult centers to engage the public during Developmental Disabilities Awareness Month.
Dream Out Loud Studio will host an open house at the Ellet center, 2420 Wedgewood Drive in Akron, from 3 to 6 p.m. Thursday to showcase work that artists with developmental disabilities created.
Other open houses will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday at the Cuyahoga Falls center, 2355 Second St.; and 2 to 6 p.m. March 27 at the Tallmadge center, 630 North Ave.
“Summit DD encourages everyone to attend the open houses to get the facts about facility-based adult programs and to meet our talented artists,” Assistant Superintendent Lisa Kamlowsky said in a news release.
Summit DD operates eight community-based adult centers.
For more information regarding the agency and its programs, go to www.summitdd.org.
Account question
AKRON: The Summit County Board of Elections voted Tuesday to hold a hearing on why Judge Brenda Burnham Unruh’s campaign committee has not closed out her account.
Unruh died in March 2011.
Her campaign committee has not filed a report since that year, according to board employees.
Alex Arshinkoff, a board member, said the committee simply needs to close out the books on her campaign account.
The board will hear the matter at its next meeting, 10 a.m. April 2.
The board also referred 31 candidates and 13 political action committees to the Ohio Elections Commission for filing campaign finance reports late or not at all.