REGION

REGION
New phone service option
YOUNGSTOWN -- Sage Telecom said it will begin providing telephone service to area residential and business customers this month. The Allen, Texas-based company serves more than 500,000 customers in nine states. Changes in federal law and state regulations have opened up local telephone markets to competition.
NATION
Loyalty program leavescustomers frustrated
NEW YORK -- We American consumers like loyalty programs, but many of us aren't very loyal to them.
Nearly half of us belong to one of the myriad programs out there -- credit card, airline, retailer, restaurant, hotel, supermarket, ad infinitum -- but 40 percent of us have left one such program out of frustration, according to a national poll.
Overwhelmingly, people say they leave these programs because the perceived value is lacking: 46 percent said they didn't like the fee and 41 percent said the reward was inadequate. An additional 32 percent said they quit because it was difficult to claim a reward, and 24 percent said the rules kept changing.
Beef jerky, 'American Pie'rated best for driving
NEW YORK -- In a survey of Web surfers by Yahoo!Autos, beef jerky was deemed the best driving food and Don McLean's congenial "American Pie" the best summer song for road-trip crooning.
More than a quarter of us, 26 percent, said jerky of the beef variety was the best snack for driving, followed by potato chips (17 percent), candy (16 percent) and sunflower seeds (10 percent). Healthier fare -- fruit and granola bars -- were at the bottom of the preferences.
As for the tunes, "American Pie" was the most mentioned song for road trips. "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff and Fresh Prince was mentioned by 12 percent, and Willie Nelson's country classic "On the Road Again," was third, tied with "Life is a Highway," by Tom Cochrane, by 11 percent.
From Vindicator staff and wire reports