Latest news with #Ashtabula
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Local residents reimagine their communities
ASHTABULA — The Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition hosted a Reimagining Communities event Tuesday at the YMCA of Ashtabula County. The event brought various community members together to discuss how to work within their communities to deal with issues related to climate change and crisis. 'This is a way for us to talk with the community about climate change and about resilience,' NEOBHC Executive Director Yvonka Hall said. 'Basically, we want to know what kind of pieces have been put in place for the community in times of crisis. So, what are some of the things that are going on in their communities that they can tell us about?' Hall said the NEOBHC is looking for what kinds of issues communities are dealing with more often because of climate change, like flooding, and where people go in times of crisis, like their local church or community center. 'For us, the bigger part of this work is marking sure we have this whole thing around community involvement and engagement,' she said. NEOBHC was also interested in hearing about other environmental issues, like complications from air pollution, that are affecting communities of concern. 'It can be Black communities. It can be white communities. It can be Hispanic and Latino communities,' she said. 'It is community members that are living in areas that have been destabilized because of the industries that are there.' Attendees heard presentations from the Ohio State University's Center for Health Outcomes and Police Evaluation Studies. 'We do this whole educational piece, because that's part of these conversations is the education,' Hall said. 'The other part is for them to educate us.' Many local community leaders were at the event, including from local churches and the local chapter of the NAACP. NEOBHC gave out air purifiers to attendees toward the end of the event. The Reimagining Communities event is the third of several the organization is hosting in Northeast Ohio, with events recently happening in Lake and Cuyahoga counties. NEOBHC Finance Director Zina Hempstead said the project is is being funded through a $1.3 million Climate Resilience Regional Challenge Grant from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, which runs from October 2024 to September 2027. Hall said information from the events will be compiled into a report the organization hopes to have out in early 2026. The NEOBHC is no stranger to county events, hosting one about asthma last year. 'In Northeast Ohio over these last few years, we've had a higher incidence of asthma, particularly in young children,' Hall said. 'We have had a number of young children who have died from asthma attacks.' Many of those children come from poorer and nonwhite communities, Hall said. 'African American children are about 14 times more likely to die from an asthma-related incident than their white counterparts,' she said. Hall has dedicated much of her life to community outreach, she said. 'I started off doing HIV work 31 years ago,' she said. 'I've also done harm reduction around syringe exchange and harm reduction programs.'
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Animals recovering and being adopted after rescue operation
KINGSVILLE — The Ashtabula County Animal Protective League has been taking care of and adopting out many of the animals it took in from two rescue operations that took place last month. The rescue operations occurred during May at two homes in the Ashtabula area and recovered over 70 animals, mostly cats, alongside three dogs. 'Every single animal that came in received a medical exam, and we immediately started treatment on whatever we could,' APL Executive Director Catena Shore said. Many people helped out the animals, she said. 'We have some amazing people who were here literally nursing animals back to health,' Shore said. Shore said many of the animals are doing better. 'The vast majority of them are either completely recuperated, have been spayed or neutered, vaccinated and are up for adoption or already have been adopted out,' she said. Many of the cats have been doing great, Shore said. 'They're beautiful cats,' she said. 'Most of them are really really sweet. They're going really fast, and we're finding really good homes for them, which is really rewarding.' The APL is a no-kill shelter, Shore said. 'We do our best for every single animal that comes in through our doors,' she said. 'We do not euthanize for space.' Shore and other APL staff have been overseeing adoptions at the APL, she said. 'The dogs that came in from that case, two of them were bonded, so we were able to send them together, so they'll stay together,' she said. One of the adopters has been sending pictures to Shore, as the cat has been settling in the home, she said. 'Mind you, this cat came from ... the house, where he could hardly breathe, because there's fecal matter everywhere, so we got him fixed up, and we took him to PetSmart,' she said. 'He got adopted out from there, and he's living his best life right now.' Seeing the cat do better was really rewarding for Shore, she said. 'There's happy stories and situations like that,' she said. The APL accepts monetary donations through its website, Applications for adoption can be found on the APL's website. Charges were filed in Ashtabula Municipal Court related to the case earlier this week. Karen Pierce and Christopher Alexander were charged with 43 counts of cruelty to companion animals in an Ashtabula city case. Pierce was charged with 31 counts of cruelty to companion animals in an Ashtabula Township case.
Yahoo
21-06-2025
- Yahoo
Ashtabula Township man indicted on rape charges
JEFFERSON — An Ashtabula Township man was recently indicted on two counts of rape by a county grand jury. Bart A. Millard was indicted on two counts of rape, first-degree felonies, and had his first appearance in front of Magistrate Joseph Macejko Tuesday, where bail was set at $50,000 personal recognizance, with not contact with the alleged victim or victims, court records show. The case was reinstated on indictment after similar charges were dismissed without prejudice on Oct. 24, 2024, meaning the case could be filed again, court records show. Millard was originally indicted in April 2024. A series of hearings took place in the case in 2024, with a a wide variety of back and forth motions, including a motion to alter the indictment. The new indictment is the same as the one in the 2024 case. A series of hearings have been scheduled in the case including a July 8 pre-trial hearing, a July 29 plea deadline hearing, a August 18 trial prep status hearing and an August 22 jury trial, according to court records
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Research nonprofit reaching out to local LGBTQ+ community
A research fellow from the Center for Community Solutions is reaching out to Ashtabula County's LGBTQ+ population to understand what issues they're facing. Andrew Snyder is running the Greater Mahoning Valley LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessment, which is focusing on Ohio counties bordering Pennsylvania. Snyder said the assessment is part of his Ph.D dissertation at Kent State University's College of Public Health. CCS is partnering with Equality Ohio, a nonprofit that researches policy issues, to do outreach, Snyder said. '[Equality Ohio] recently hired a Mahoning Valley organizer whose goals align closely with ours: to connect with the community, understand its needs and raise awareness about policies that impact LGBTQ+ Ohioans,' Snyder said. Part of the community needs assessment consists of a confidential 30-40 minute survey for members of or people with a meaningful connection to the LGBTQ+ community. Children 12 and older can also do the survey with a parent or guardian's permission. Allies to the LGBTQ+ community can also take the survey, but will be asked a different set of questions. Survey questions focus on issues like housing, education, safety and health, and can be skipped if participants do not want to answer, Snyder said. Snyder is seeking at least 700 responses to the survey, from across all four counties, he said. 'This is our big call to action,' he said. People can find the survey at Participants can enter a raffle to win a $75 Visa gift card. Winners will be chosen in January 2026. The community needs assessment will have a table at the Ashtabula Pride Festival June 21 at Walnut Beach. Alongside the surveys, it will have confidential focus groups. They will consist of a 90-minute listening session, where participants will be asked questions relating to their lives. People can sign up for focus groups at the community needs assessment website. Snyder said there will be a confidential focus group from 6-7:30 p.m. Aug. 20. There are a total of ten spots open. 'It's us listening to the communities,' he said. Focus group participants will receive a $30 gift card. CCS has done similar assessments in the Cleveland and Akron areas. 'Eventually, we would like to do it state wide,' Snyder said.
Yahoo
07-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Coast Guard to cover Ashtabula County on weekends
An agreement reached last summer, after substantial boating issues on Lake Erie off the coast of Ashtabula County, has been extended, said Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere and Lt. Phillip Gurtler, a spokesperson with the U.S. Coast Guard Ninth District. Timonere said it was his understanding the Coast Guard planned to continue weekend staffing of the station during the summer months. Early in the 2024 boating season, there were a series of major incidents that local officials brought to the attention of the Coast Guard. The Ashtabula Station had been reduced from being staffed seasonally to relying on coverage from Fairport Harbor and Erie before the start of the 2024 boating season. By mid-summer of that year, the station was staffed on the weekends after a fatality and major rescue operations on a windy July day. 'The Coast Guard will continue to utilize Forward Operating Location Ashtabula to support Coast Guard operations in the area in the same way it did during last summer's boating season,' Gurtler said. 'Ashtabula was identified during our extensive analysis as an area with multiple overlapping coverages consisting of Coast Guard units and our local, state, and federal partners for Search and Rescue,' he said. 'The transition from a seasonal station to an FOL allowed us to better consolidate Coast Guard personnel and assets to provide a more resilient coverage, even if the Coast Guard has a slightly less visual presence in a particular area. FOL Ashtabula will be manned as required by operations.' Last year, local and state officials asked the Coast Guard to increase their presence, including a campaign stop in Ashtabula by then-Senator Sherrod Brown. Gurtler said any mariner or boater in distress should use VHF Channel 16 or call the Sector Command Center at 888-230-4703. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources also operates a vessel out of the Geneva State Park Marina and the Ashtabula County Water Rescue team also responds to search and rescue missions. The city of Ashtabula also has a boat that can be utilized.
