Norton police Officer Thomas Braman, called to the Acme parking lot at 3200 Greenwich Road, found a 3-year-old boy crying in the back seat of a Jeep parked in a handicap spot. Braman said he waited 20 minutes for the mother to return.

Blankenship allegedly told police she is from Hungary, where it is common to leave a child in a car. She reportedly also told the officer she didn't understand handicap parking.

An alarm forced two masked gunmen to abandon their attempt to rob Check Smart Payday Loans at 1287 S. Arlington St. on Friday, said Akron police Lt. Rick Edwards.

An employee told police that the two men entered the business at 7:30 a.m. and forced him at gunpoint to open the safe. The robbers heard an alarm and fled. The employee was not injured.

Marlin L. Burros, 40, was was arrested at a home on Greenwood Avenue and charged with possession of cocaine, said sheriff's Capt. Hylton Baker of the drug unit.

A raid to reduce gun violence in Akron on Thursday night netted 22 arrests on 34 charges, including eight felony charges, Akron police Lt. Rick Edwards said.

Latisha Brooks, 26, was arrested in the 400 block of Madison Avenue on drug charges. Officers confiscated $3,535 in cash from Brooks, Edwards said.

Participating were officers from the Akron Police Department's Street Narcotics Uniform Detail, patrol officers, narcotics officers, agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Summit County Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Marshals Service's Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force.

Edward H. Sample Jr., 60, was traveling east on U.S. 224 shortly after entering from Interstate 77 when he lost control of his 2000 Harley-Davidson, the Summit County Sheriff's Office said.

Steirer and other winners were chosen on the basis of their written responses to four questions about their contributions to the school, their views of education and their volunteer work.

Holland had earlier this month applied for the superintendent's job in the Copley-Fairlawn district. He withdrew his application Thursday after reaching an agreement in principle on a new contract Wednesday evening.

The new pact will run for four years -- from Aug. 1, 2007, to July 31, 2011. While the pact does not include scheduled salary increases, it calls for the board to consider annual raises for Holland.

The walk is sponsored by Project GRAD (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams), a national reform group that tries to improve low-performing, inner-city schools. In Akron, the group is focused on the Buchtel cluster of schools.

Volunteers are needed to visit the homes of Buchtel families with children in kindergarten, sixth and ninth grades to tell them about Project GRAD.

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