Farmers rated among best banks

Farmers rated among best banks

canfield

For the second- consecutive year, Farmers National Bank has earned praise from American Banker Magazine, after the publication rated Farmers among one of the best banks in America in its May edition.

Farmers ranked No. 122, up one position from its place on the magazine’s top-200 community banks list. The list, found in American Banker’s “Metrics & Measures” section, is compiled based on the three-year average return on investment for shareholders.

Frack-waste bill

niles

State legislators and community advocates with FrackFree Mahoning Valley, the Buckeye Forest Council and Food & Water Watch will gather this morning to present legislation aimed at curbing the rate at which fracking waste enters the state for disposal.

The group will meet at 11 a.m. in front of the City Safety-Service Complex in Niles at 15 E. State St. for a press conference on the matter.

Ohio has about 180 injection wells that accept a bulk of their waste from Pennsylvania, where there are fewer disposal sites. Recently, the same groups called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct an independent audit of the state’s fracking waste- disposal program.

Horse slaughter plant to open soon

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

The southern New Mexico plant that has been fighting for more than a year for permission to slaughter horses will open soon unless Congress reinstates a ban on the practice, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said Tuesday.

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Vilsack said the department is working to make sure the process is handled properly for the opening of what would be the first domestic horse slaughterhouse in six years.

“We are going to do this, and I would imagine that it would be done relatively soon,” Vilsack said.

Valley Meat Co. sued the Department of Agriculture last year, claiming that inaction on its application was driven by emotional political debates and that the delays had cost it hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The USDA re-inspected the plant last week.

Vindicator staff/wire reports