REGION

REGION
First Niles Financialposts 1st-quarter figure
NILES -- First Niles Financial earned $260,000 in the first quarter, compared with $274,000 in the same quarter last year. It is the parent company of Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles.
Gainan Chiropracticadds laser therapy
BOARDMAN -- Gainan Chiropractic & amp; Massotherapy Center has added laser therapy to its practice. Laser therapy has used for treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, neck and back pain and other ailments. Phil Gainan operates the practice with licenses in chiropractic medicine and physical therapy.
Chamber seminar topicis concealed-carry law
BOARDMAN -- The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will sponsor a breakfast seminar at 7:30 a.m. Friday on how the new law allowing licensed individuals to carry a concealed weapon will affect small businesses. Presented by the chamber's Small Business Support Network, the event is at The Georgetown, 5945 South Avenue. Cost is $12 for members, $15 for nonmembers, and advanced registration is advised.
OHIO
Valley's jobless rateexceeds state figure
COLUMBUS -- Ohio's unemployment rate was 5.7 percent in March based on data provided by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, down from 5.9 percent in February.
The national rate was 5.7 percent in March, up from 5.6 percent in February.
Mahoning County's jobless rate was 7.9 percent in March, Trumbull's was 7.3 percent and Columbiana's rate was 7.4 percent. The state said 13.7 percent of Youngstown's population was jobless in March, the highest rate of Ohio's 20 largest cities.
Ohio systems lead suitagainst Freddie Mac
COLUMBUS -- Two Ohio public employee retirement systems will be the lead plaintiffs in a lawsuit to try to regain investment losses from Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage giant.
Attorney General Jim Petro's office filed suit in August, accusing the nation's second-largest mortgage buyer of vague and misleading accounting practices that led to more than $25 million in losses for the State Teachers Retirement System and the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System.
Virginia, New York and West Virginia also are suing Freddie Mac.
Vindicator staff/wire reports