Business Journal Classic: Epic Saga of the Covelli Centre

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Covelli Centre is an undisputed asset for downtown Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, but The Business Journal wasn’t initially a big proponent of its construction – and certainly not of the approach the city administration was taking early on.
For decades, the idea of a convocation center was little more than a loosely defined concept. A front-page story in the December 1984 edition of the Youngstown Business Journal reported on a task force that had been established to plan an arena or auditorium that could function as a large-scale civic and convention center.
How to fund such an endeavor remained a question for years – until 2000, when then U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr., a Democrat, secured $26.8 million in federal funds to construct a “convocation center” in exchange for supporting a Republican for House speaker. READ MORE

Business Journal Classic: Avalon Inn Is Transformed into Grand Resort

WARREN, Ohio – The hospitality property today known as the Grand Resort has undergone several changes over the decades – perhaps none as extensive as the Roman bath it added in 2019.
“It’s probably our signature feature, something people are curious and excited about, and they use it all year round,” says Mike Case, the Grand Resort’s director of marketing and communications.  
Such a feature – a 20-foot-by-40-foot heated pool that would be open to visitors through the year – likely would never have been envisioned in January 1986, when the Youngstown Business Journal reported on the $2.5 million expansion planned for the property then known as the Avalon Inn. READ MORE

Business Journal Classic: When Lake Milton Was Drained, Became a State Park

LAKE MILTON – To Megan Magnetta, executive director of Mahoning County Convention & Visitors Bureau, Lake Milton State Park is a “hidden gem” that not enough people – potential visitors or locals – know about.
Today a popular recreational resource for the Mahoning Valley, the future of what is now Lake Milton State Park was far less certain in early 1986, when area politicians were scrambling to secure funding to prevent the breaching of Milton dam. 
“Lake Milton Dam: Who’s to Blame for Decades of Neglect?” read the front-page headline in the March 1986 Youngstown Business Journal. A photo illustrated the “dangerously weak right wingwall,” and the caption warned that if the dam ruptured, water would drown the city of Newton Falls five miles downstream. READ MORE

Drawing Jim Traficant, the Legend

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – If there were a single political figure that defined the post-industrial era of the Mahoning Valley, it was the late James A. Traficant Jr. 
The son of a truck driver – as he often reminded his supporters, detractors and everyone else – Traficant personified the angry, anti-establishment sentiment that gripped much of the region in the wake of the steel shutdowns.
As sheriff of Mahoning County, he elected to go to jail for contempt of court rather than execute court orders to evict unemployed steelworkers from their homes (He would soon serve those orders anyway but you get the symbolism). To further enhance his image of a tough guy from a struggling steel town, he beat a federal indictment – acting as his own attorney, no less – that charged him with accepting bribes from local mobsters to help fund his 1980 run for sheriff.
The legend was born. READ MORE

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