LORAIN — A boil alert is in effect for 30 homes on the east side of Lorain following three water main breaks in the city today.

Everyone affected is being notified, according to Water Department supervisor Dennis Tihlblad.

“If they are affected, they were handed a letter,” Tihlblad said.

The boil alert only affects residents in close proximity to a break from this morning on Kansas Avenue, just south of East Erie Avenue, Tihlblad said. That break has already been fixed, Tihlblad said early this afternoon.

The alert will be affect until 24 hours after the Water Department takes a clean samples of water.

Another break is currently being fixed on Haddam Street between Garfield Boulevard and Cleveland Street. That break is currently being fixed without a loss of pressure, so, for now, no boil alert has been issued, Tihlblad said.

A third leak is in the area of Narraganset Boulevard and Edgewood Drive, Tihlblad said. He said crews won’t know if it’s an actual main break or just a leak until they get there.

To be safe, water in the affected area should be brought to a boil for three minutes before it is used for drinking or cooking, Tihlblad said.

Roosevelt Elementary School in Elyria would be among five schools replaced by the plan. (CT photo.)

ELYRIA — The Ohio School Facilities Commission wants to give Elyria more money to build five new schools and district officials said it will be up to citizens to decide if they want the money.

The state agency, which helps school districts fund, plan, design and build or renovate schools, announced last week it had approved almost $38 million in state funding for Elyria Schools if the district could get residents to pass a bond issue worth upward of $50 million.

The total projected construction cost would be more than $88 million and would cover a massive project that includes the building of five new elementary school buildings for grades pre-kindergarten through fifth grade.

The project also calls for the demolition of Crestwood, Ely, Franklin, Hamilton, McKinley, Oakwood, Prospect and Roosevelt schools.

Under the proposed plan, Windsor Elementary, which opened in 1963, will remain and will continue to operate as a school.

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“We have not kept it a secret that we have kept the district’s name on the list for additional funds,” said Amy Higgins, district spokeswoman. “It’s our fiduciary responsibility to offer this to the residents to see if they feel there is a need to replace elementary buildings in the districts. When the OSFC approved state funding for Elyria High, it was for roughly 37 percent of the total project budget. They are offering more money this time — about 42 percent.”

The districts must acquire its local share of the project budget within one year in order for the state funding to be released, according to a press release from the OSFC.

Higgins said the next step is to do a community survey to gauge the pulse of the community. Both an online and phone poll will be used to determine if the district should try for another bond issue. Burges and Burges, a political consulting firm from Cleveland, will handle the survey.

Superintendent Paul Rigda said the district has a little over a year to pass a bond issue. The earliest the issue could appear on the ballot is November.

“If the community is interested in it, we will spend August gearing up and September and October getting as much information out there that we can,” Rigda said. “If the survey says no overwhelmingly, then the district will put it off to next year. But I think we have to eventually try. When this much money comes along, you can’t just treat it like you don’t want it.”

Rigda said there are voters that would say the recession is a reason to reject the money, but because of the recession the district could get lower interest bonds and actually save money.

“It’s a good time even though it would seem like an odd time because a recession is going on,” he said.

OSFC Executive Director Richard M. Hickman said the state funding is critical to addressing the facility needs within the district and will help provide buildings that are student-centered learning environments.

If the district can secure the local funds, it will be the second time in less than five years voters have said yes to new money for schools.

In May 2007, voters approved a bond issue to build the new high school at a price tag of $70 million. The high school’s budget included $45 million in local funds and $25 million in state funding through the OSFC. Philanthropic and private donations garnered the district another $1.2 million it used to build upgrades like the WiFi Cafe and Senior Rathskellar Lounge and purchase digital musical instruments.

The buildings that are targeted for demolition are rich in Elyria history. The oldest building is Hamilton, which was built in 1900. The district hasn’t used it since 1979 when it was closed, but currently it is the home of a Head Start program on the city’s south side.

McKinley, located at 620 East River St., was built in 1907 and is the oldest elementary school still in use in the city.

Roosevelt, which was closed in 2009 at the same time the district closed Erie Elementary due to enrollment decline, was built in 1922. It originally housed grades three through eight.

Ely was built in 1923. It sits on land donated by William Arthur Ely, the grandson of Heman Ely.

Crestwood, Franklin, Oakwood and Prospect all were built in the 1950s after voters in 1948 passed a bond issue for $3.7 million and a 5-mill renewal levy to build schools. Seven new schools and six additions were built in the 1950s.

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

LORAIN — A warrant has been issued for a man police say abandoned his three dogs at a West 21st Street home last week.

James Eucker, 42, will be charged with abandoning animals, cruelty to animals-dog at large and not having tags for the dogs, according to police.

Police were called to the home after a neighbor became concerned for the well-being of the dogs, one of which escaped past a backyard fence and was roaming the neighborhood.

That dog was spotted by an officer as he was conducting an investigation Sunday night leaving an open shed in the driveway of the home and walking toward the officer. The dog was malnourished, according to a report of the incident, and had bleeding sores on both of its ears.

Police said another dog was spotted in the backyard and another inside the home in the kitchen with a window open. Dog feces and urine were on the floor and a foul odor was coming from the home, according to police. Neighbors said Eucker left the home at least a week ago.

CLEVELAND — The Indians couldn’t have picked a worse way to finish the first half of the season.

A 7-1 loss to Toronto on Sunday at Progressive Field sent Cleveland to its third straight defeat, which would have been four if not for Travis Hafner’s walk-off grand slam that avoided the sweep in the series opener.

The loss not only gave the Blue Jays the series, it knocked the Indians out of first place in the Central Division, with Cleveland, which had been atop the standings for 88 of the last 94 days since April 7, now trailing Detroit by a half game as the All-Star break convenes.

The Indians would have entered the break in first place for the first time since 1999.

“It’s never good going into the break losing three straight,” said Indians pitching coach Tim Belcher, who filled in during the postgame news conference for manager Manny Acta, as Acta, an assistant coach for the American League’s All-Stars, caught a plane to Arizona and Chase Field.

Indians starter Carlos Carrasco set the tone for what proved to be a dismal first-half finale for the Indians.

The right-hander, who had pitched so brilliantly over a five-start stint from June 7-29, was roughed up for the second straight time, allowing five runs on seven hits in just three innings of work.

Carrasco’s unraveling arrived in the third inning, when he surrendered all five of his runs. He allowed a two-run home run to the second batter of the inning, Eric Thames, then after getting two outs, allowed a run-scoring single to J.P. Arencibia and a two-run double to Corey Patterson.

“I felt good. I just had one bad inning,” Carrasco said. “My fastball wasn’t very good. Every time I missed, I paid the price.”

Though he didn’t seem so following the game, Carrasco was angry at the end of the disastrous third inning, fielding a grounder from Rajai Davis and winding and throwing a fastball to first baseman Carlos Santana for the final out.

Carrasco admitted to displaying his frustration, and Belcher said it played a part in the pitcher’s removal from the game despite throwing only 72 pitches.

“It’s usually a combination of things and that was a factor,” Belcher said. “But the fact of the matter is that they had a bunch of runs on the board.

“Carlos is still a young guy (24) and he’s still learning how to be a major league pitcher and how to handle his emotions on the mound.”

After a five-start stint as one of the American League’s best starters, Carrasco has been one of its worst, allowing 11 runs in seven innings of his last two outings.

“He’s not pitching ahead and he’s not being as aggressive with his fastball,” Belcher said. “He just didn’t get on track today, and we’re going to need him to get on track in the second half.”

A likely source put the game away, with Jose Bautista driving in two on a double in the sixth to make it 7-0.

Bautista, who hit three home runs during the series and beat the Indians with two of them Saturday, is the first AL player to enter the break leading the majors in homers (31), walks (74), slugging percentage (.702) and on-base percentage (.468) since 1961. He is the first player to lead the majors in homers during the first half in two consecutive seasons since Mark McGwire (1997-98).

Meanwhile, Cleveland’s inconsistent offense struggled against a suspect pitcher in Toronto starter Brett Cecil.

Cecil, who entered the day with a 1-4 record and 6.37 ERA, didn’t allow an earned over six innings, surrendering six hits and striking out six.

Cleveland’s only run came in the sixth on Jack Hannahan’s single that scored Grady Sizemore, who reached on an error to start the inning.

“We didn’t swing the bats that well,” Sizemore said.

It was a floundering finish to the first half for the Indians, who are focusing on the positive work that was accomplished prior to the break, rather than their second-place status.

“Obviously we’re in a good position,” Sizemore said. “We’d like to continue that in the second half and play like we did at the beginning of the first half. There’s still a lot of work to do. We have a lot of room for improvement, especially offensively.”

“If you would have told me we would we leading the division by a half game or being out by a 1/2 game, I would have taken that and said, ‘Let’s go. Let’s start the second half,”’ Belcher said. “We got to this point with a little over half of the season done. There’s no reason for us to think we can’t compete and contend the rest of the year.”

Contact Chris Assenheimer at 329-7136 or cassenheimer@chroniclet.com. Fan him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter