REGION

REGION
Gas prices show a dropfor second straight week
YOUNGSTOWN -- Northeast Ohio gasoline prices dropped for the second week in a row, averaging $1.77 per gallon for self-serve regular, compared with $1.86 a week ago, according to the AAA Ohio Motorists Association Fuel Gauge Survey.
Rates are still high compared to a year ago, when AAA was reporting an average price of $1.45 a gallon.
Ohio's statewide average is 3 cents higher than the Northeast Ohio average, $1.80 per gallon, and the nationwide average is 19 cents higher, $1.96 per gallon. The fuel gauge survey is based on pump prices at 45 stations in a nine-county area of Northeast Ohio.
Office products companyjoins distribution system
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- Hicks Office Plus, an office products dealer serving Mercer and Lawrence counties for 46 years, has joined a nationwide distribution system called Is.Group.
The company said the change will help it to provide better service and value.
OHIO
Local, statewide ratesof unemployment drop
COLUMBUS -- Ohio's unemployment rate was 5.6 percent in May, down from 5.8 percent the previous month, based on data from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Jobless rates also dropped in the tri-county area.
In Trumbull, the rate fell from 6.6 percent in April to 5.9 percent in May; in Mahoning, from 7.7 percent in April to 6.0 percent in May; and in Columbiana, from 7.1 percent to a 6.6 percent May rate.
Youngstown's May jobless rate was 12.1 percent, down from 13.4 percent in April and lower than the 12.8 rate of May 2003.
Smucker Co. shareholdersapprove acquisition deal
ORRVILLE, Ohio -- The J.M. Smucker Co.'s bid for the Pillsbury Doughboy is a done deal.
Smucker said Friday that its $500 million deal for Minneapolis-based International Multifoods Corp. is complete. Multifoods is the maker of Pillsbury, Hungry Jack and other food brands.
Smucker shareholders approved the deal Thursday.
The agreement called for Multifoods shareholders to get $25 per share in a combination of 80 percent Smucker stock and 20 percent cash. The maker of Smucker's jams and Jif peanut butter also would assume about $340 million of Multifoods' debt.
The purchase also will give Smucker the Canadian brands Robin Hood flour and baking mixes and Bick's pickles and condiments. Combined sales of the two companies are expected to exceed $2.3 billion.
From Vindicator staff/wire reports