REGION

REGION
Home Savings and Loanconverts its charter
YOUNGSTOWN -- Home Savings and Loan Co. has converted its charter from a state-chartered savings and loan association to a state-chartered savings bank.
Home Savings said the move will lower operating expenses but will not require a name change or affect the bank's operations.
NATION
File-sharing servicessee a drop in use
LOS ANGELES -- Use of several Internet file-sharing services declined the week after the music industry threatened to sue online music swappers, according to data from an Internet tracking firm. Kazaa and Morpheus -- two popular file-swapping services -- had 15 percent fewer users during the week ending July 6, Nielsen/NetRatings said Monday.
The data merely suggest a link between the threat of lawsuits and the dip in file-sharing traffic.
Seasonal factors, such as the holiday weekend, could skew any trend.
Edison to go private?
NEW YORK -- The founder of Edison Schools, the nation's largest for-profit manager of public schools, said Monday that he is proposing to take it private by buying back the company from shareholders for about $93.5 million in cash.
Wall Street's interest in New York City-based Edison has flagged since 2001, when investors intrigued by its promise to turn failing public schools into profit-making enterprises buoyed its stock price to close to $35.
The stock now is entrenched in the $1 to $2 range.
Associated Press