LOCAL

LOCAL
Groundbreaking set
YOUNGSTOWN -- A wholesale janitorial company is expected to break ground today on a 25,000-square-foot building in the Ohio Works Industrial Park.
Superior Chemical Products Co. is relocating from its Hubbard Road location to the park. Construction on the building should be finished in August. The company plans to spend $900,000 on the facility, to be located on 3.5 acres.
The company plans to expand its work force when the move is finished. It employs 14 people and plans to add three during the next three years.
Superior received a 10-year, 75-percent abatement on real estate and personal property taxes from the city for the $900,000 project.
The Hubbard Road facility received extensive water damage last year during heavy rainfalls, destroying thousands of dollars worth of products and equipment.
Full-rate production begins
NILES -- RTI International Metals Inc. announced Thursday that the M777A1 titanium howitzer program has begun full-rate production.
BAE Systems, the prime contractor, has received an $834 million contract to supply the Army and Marines with 495 M777A1 lightweight howitzers over the next four years. The award follows the development and production of 94 guns under a low rate initial production contract.
RTI is the principal titanium supplier to the program, providing not only mill products, but also kitted titanium components using its facilities in Houston and the U.K. With the majority of the gun's components made of titanium, the M777A1 is 7,000 pounds lighter than the system it replaces.
RTI International Metals, based in Niles, is one of the world's largest producers of titanium.
Association plans mixer
BOARDMAN -- The Home Builders/Remodelers Association of Mahoning Valley will have a member mixer from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. April 26 at Primo Granite & amp; Marble, 762 Bev Road.
Reservations are due by April 22.
Hospital names CEO
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Robert C. Jackson Jr. is the new chief executive officer at United Community Hospital.
Jackson, who has been with the hospital since 1998, had been acting hospital CEO since November 2004.
Previously, he was vice president, administrative and physician services. In that role, he oversaw the hospital's cardiovascular services, corporate compliance, laboratory services, medical staff services, off-campus diagnostic centers, rehabilitation services and utilization review.
Jackson, 35, is a Monroeville native. He has a bachelor's of arts degree in business administration from Westminster College and earned a master's in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh's Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business. He is a diplomat of the American College of Healthcare Executives.
Bank names VP
HERMITAGE, Pa. -- First National Bank recently named Jeffrey A. Martin vice president and relationship manager for its Commercial Lending Division. Working out of the Federal Street office in Pittsburgh, Martin will focus on new loan origination for businesses with financing needs of $500,000 or more.
Martin is a graduate of Westminster College in New Wilmington. Before joining First National Bank, he was a senior loan officer for Bayview Financial Small Business Lending in Pittsburgh.
First National Bank, the largest subsidiary of F.N.B. Corporation, based in Hermitage, operates 142 branches in western Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio.
PENNSYLVANIA
Regulators issue ruling
HARRISBURG -- State utility regulators delivered mixed news Thursday to companies trying to compete with the state's largest telephone company, Verizon Communications, by leasing parts of Verizon's network.
Verizon must allow competitors to add lines for its existing customers until May 16, but does not have to switch new customers to its rivals' services, the Public Utility Commission said.
Last month, the utility commission did away with some of the government-mandated discounts that benefited the companies that leased parts of Verizon's network. The commission's ruling cited 4-month-old rules from the Federal Communications Commission and a state law signed Nov. 30 by Gov. Ed Rendell that it said narrowed rules that pertain to the discounts.
Without the government-mandated discounts in force, Verizon's competitors must negotiate a higher price with the New York-based telecommunications giant to use the network and switch new customers to their services.
If the sides cannot come to an agreement before May 16, but bargain in good faith, the PUC will arbitrate negotiations after that.
NATION
NYSE chairman elected
NEW YORK -- Marshall N. Carter, former chairman and chief executive officer of State Street Corp., was elected chairman of the New York Stock Exchange's board of directors, the exchange confirmed Thursday.
With experience in dealing with government as well as Wall Street, Carter had been the front-runner to succeed John Reed, the former co-CEO of Citigroup Inc., who took over the chairmanship in September 2003 after former Chairman and CEO Richard A. Grasso resigned amid controversy over his pay package.
Court rules in lawsuit
BERLIN -- A U.S. District Court has ruled in favor of U.S.-German automaker DaimlerChrysler AG in a high-profile securities lawsuit that pitted DaimlerChrysler against billionaire investor Kirk Kerkorian, the company said Thursday.
Kerkorian sued DaimlerChrysler for more than $1 billion, claiming that DaimlerBenz engineered a takeover of Chrysler Corp. in 1998, then cheated him out of an acquisition fee by claiming it was a merger of equals.
DaimlerChrysler insisted the merger was one of equals and that Kerkorian, whose Tracinda Corp. was Chrysler's largest shareholder at the time, grew disgruntled when his stock price fell.
The case has been a thorn in the side of DaimlerChrysler Chairman Jurgen E. Schrempp, whose comments in an interview with the Financial Times after the merger were used by Kerkorian in his suit.
From Vindicator and wire reports