REGION

REGION
FirstEnergy announcesearnings expectation
AKRON -- FirstEnergy Corp. said its previously announced common stock offering will trim 2003 earnings per share by 2.5 percent.
The stock offering began Monday, and the electric utility holding company now expects its earnings per share to be in the range of $1.91 to $2.11, down from $1.96 to $2.16. The earnings expectation includes rising expenses for its shuttered Davis-Besse nuclear power plant east of Toledo.
In a Tuesday SEC filing, FirstEnergy said a complaint filed at the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio by a congressman is meritless. The complaint by U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, alleges that FirstEnergy failed to provide reasonable and adequate service and asks for another supplier of energy for Ohio.
Internet seminarsscheduled in Boardman
POLAND -- Internet Data Management will offer free informational seminars on various Internet topics related to business. There will be morning and afternoon sessions Oct. 22 at the Holiday Inn in Boardman. For more information, call (330) 707-0432 or visit www.idmi.net.
EEOC presses lawsuitagainst AK Steel Corp.
PITTSBURGH -- A federal agency charged Tuesday that AK Steel Corp. has condoned a "racially hostile" environment at its Butler plant for at least three years, by allowing racist language, swastikas, nooses and Ku Klux Klan videos in various areas.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a lawsuit filed in Pittsburgh federal court that the alleged problems were so bad that AK Steel management must have known of them even before black employees complained.
The plant, about 30 miles north of Pittsburgh, has about 20 black employees, said Edward McCaffrey of the EEOC. Although the lawsuit covers only allegations since 2000, the commission has fielded complaints from other black workers at the plant for years, he said.
From Vindicator staff and wire reports