LOCAL

LOCAL
Sandwich shop opening
BOARDMAN -- The Regional Chamber will honor the grand opening of the Valley's second Roly-Poly Sandwich Shop at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. today. The shop, 714 Boardman-Canfield Road, is the second local store for the national franchise, which opened its first Youngstown store at Youngstown State University in August 2004. Store owner Mike Angelo is among the local franchisee owners developing 11 locations in Ohio and western Pennsylvania. They plan to have 75 regional stores by 2010. The store, which will open daily at 11 a.m., offers more than 60 hot and cold sandwiches, as well as soups and salads.
Small Business Day
COLUMBUS -- The Ohio Safety Congress & amp; Expo, the second-largest U.S. occupational safety event, will host Small Business Day on Wednesday to honor the state's smaller employers, according to the Bureau of Workers' Compensation. Highlights of the event, to be held at the Columbus Convention Center, include a speech by workplace accident survivor Charlie Morecraft. Morecraft, a former Exxon Corp. employee, will speak at 3:30 p.m. Representatives from Ohio's small businesses also can attend seminars aimed at cost reduction and the creation of safer workplaces, such as "Critical Incident Stress Management" and "Store Security and Safety." Those who cannot attend Wednesday may participate in workshops oriented to small businesses Tuesday and March 31. Registration materials are available at the event or ahead of time at the bureau's Web site, www.ohiobwc.com.
Klaben re-elected to board
The Automobile Dealers Association of Eastern Ohio, which represents new car and truck dealers in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties, announces that Mike Klaben of Crown Ford-Lincoln-Mercury in Warren has been re-elected president of the board of trustees. A resident of Howland, Klaben serves as vice president of Kent-based Klaben AutoStores, founded in 1973 by his father, Albert O. Klaben Sr. Crown Ford-Lincoln-Mercury became part of the Klaben group as a Ford franchise in 1984 and added the Lincoln Mercury nameplates in 1999. A graduate of the University of Akron with a bachelor's degree in business administration, Mike Klaben has served as a director of the Northeast Ohio Ford Dealer Advertising Association since 1989 and on the ADAEO board since 2001. Other re-elected officers are Dave Sweeney of Youngstown Buick-Pontiac-GMC in Boardman as vice president and Terry Pulton of Columbiana Ford in Columbiana as treasurer. Elected to three-year trustee terms were Russ Banks of R.D. Banks Chevrolet in Champion and Vince Prindle of Wollam Chevrolet in Cortland. Rounding out the board are Chris Flynn of Power Pontiac-GMC-Oldsmobile in East Liverpool, Mark Katerba of Mark Thomas Ford in Cortland and Joey Marzullo of Toyota-Volvo-Jaguar of Warren.
NATION
Probe targets vehicles
WASHINGTON -- The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Wednesday it will investigate more than 3.7 million Ford Motor Co. pickups and sport utility vehicles for a defect in a cruise control switch that led to a January recall. The agency said it would examine Ford F-150 pickups from the 1995-1999 and 2001-2002 model years, and Ford Expeditions and Lincoln Navigators from the 1997-1999 and 2001-2002 model years. NHTSA officials said they have received 218 complaints of engine fires from the cruise control switch in those models. No injuries or fatalities were reported. The new investigation does not include the 2000 model years of the vehicles covered by the January recall of nearly 800,000 vehicles.
From Vindicator staff and wire reports