akronTeacher’s car stolenAKRON: Two East High School students were arrested on charges of stealing a teacher’s car from the school parking lot.Justin Meyers, 18, and Rayshaun Payne, 18, were arrested Monday on auto theft charges. They were being held in the Summit County Jail pending an appearance in Akron Municipal Court.The two were identified as suspects by a police officer who reviewed surveillance video of the crime.The two students are accused of going into the teacher’s purse, stealing the keys to her 2000 Honda Civic on Friday and driving the car away from the Brittain Road school’s parking lot. The teacher didn’t notice her car missing until after classes had ended for the day.Police recovered the car Monday on Dominion Drive near Sand Run Metro Park. The report notes damage to the rear bumper. The car was towed from the scene.Award nominationsAKRON: The city is accepting nominations for the annual Charles Salem Humanitarian Award. The award will be handed out at the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration at 5 p.m. Jan. 15 at First Apostolic Faith Church, 790 Easter Ave.Salem, who died in 1990, was an educator at the University of Akron, a humanitarian and an advocate for social justice and improved human relations.To request a nomination form, call Billy Soule, assistant to the mayor for community relations, at 330-376-8071 or by email at bsoule@akronohio.gov.Nominations are due by Jan. 6. GREEN SCHOOLSStatewide awardGREEN: Green Intermediate Principal Mark Booth told the Board of Education on Monday that the school achieved Top 10 status in this year’s statewide SOAR Awards.Booth said only two schools from Northeast Ohio below the high school level received that distinction. He showed the board the plaque and banner the school received from the program sponsor, Battelle for Kids in Columbus.The award is given to the Top 10 schools among 648 SOAR participants for demonstrating high progress based on the schools’ composite index of math and reading data for fourth- through eighth-grade schools.Booth also saluted Sauder Elementary in Jackson Township as the other regional school to achieve the honor.Also, the board set its 2012 reorganization meeting for 6 p.m. Jan. 9 in council chambers of the Central Administration Building, with the regular meeting to follow at 6:30 p.m.LAKE TOWNSHIPAppropriations OK’dLAKE TWP.: Trustees on Monday approved $12.4 million in temporary appropriations for 2012.They also closed the file on a nuisance case from the 13000 block of Tippecanoe Avenue. Trustees said the resident had complied by removing junk and unlicensed vehicles and had made other repairs to the property.Because of the Christmas holiday, the board changed the date for its final meeting of the year to 6:30 p.m. Dec. 27 at Township Hall.RICHFIELD TOWNSHIPRestroom updateRICHFIELD TWP.: Starting Jan. 2, the restrooms at the Brushwood Pavilion at Furnace Run Metro Park will be closed.The closure is expected to take up to four weeks.The project by Metro Parks, Serving Summit County, will replace the 23-year-old toilets with handicapped-accessible flush units.A portable toilet will be available to park visitors during the construction.The Brushwood Pavilion, originally constructed as a bathhouse, will be closed during the January construction.For more information, call 330-867-5511 or check out www.summitmetroparks.org.streetsboroFire at gas wellSTREETSBORO: Fire officials are investigating a flash fire on Monday that left a gas well worker injured.Fire crews were called to the 8200 block of Seasons Road around 11:30 a.m. Monday to investigate a reported fire at a gas well.The worker, a 32-year-old East Canton man, suffered burns to his head, face and hands. The worker was taken to the burn unit at Akron Children’s Hospital for treatment.The fire was out by the time rescue workers arrived.SUMMIT COUNTYLife in prisonAKRON: A Barberton man was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison after pleading guilty to murder and aggravated robbery in the drug-related March shooting death of 22-year-old Michael Fuentes at his Irisdale Place apartment near the University of Akron, authorities said.Jonathan P. Miller, 25, will not be eligible for parole until he serves at least 15 years. Summit County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Teodosio handed down the sentence.Police said Miller and an accomplice, Peter R. Dayton, 25, also from Barberton, forced their way into the apartment, pulled Fuentes outside, beat him, then shot him once in the chest near the parking lot.The fatal shooting was connected to drug trafficking and drugs found inside Fuentes’ apartment, police said.In October, Dayton was sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 20 years after pleading guilty to aggravated murder, aggravated burglary and aggravated robbery.Burglary arrestSPRINGFIELD TWP.: Authorities say an arrest has been made in a series of burglaries in the Springfield Township area.Jimmy Lee Ward, 28, was arrested after the Summit County Sheriff’s Office conducted a search Monday at a residence on Gowanda Avenue. Authorities recovered some of the stolen property during the search, including jewelry, coins, electronics and a compound bow, the sheriff’s office said Tuesday.Ward has been charged with two counts of burglary and two counts of theft and was booked into the Summit County Jail.The arrest followed a series of burglaries this month.Kidnapping chargeCOVENTRY TWP.: A Dollar Drive man was arrested on a kidnapping charge Tuesday morning after authorities say he held a 17-year-old girl in his home against her will for two days.When authorities arrived at the residence Tuesday morning with a search warrant, James Maffei, 52, allegedly shot at Summit County sheriff’s deputies.Authorities say the teenage girl visited Maffei on Saturday along with another man who got into an altercation with Maffei over an apparent debt. Maffei allegedly also shot at the man as he fled the residence, but refused to let the girl go.The girl was able to flee the Dollar Drive residence around 9 p.m. Monday and called the sheriff’s office.Authorities say the girl complained that Maffei and a woman assaulted her and threatened her life while they held her at the residence.Maffei is in the Summit County Jail. Additional charges are pending.