REGION

REGION

2 Warren men involved
in patented inventions

WARREN — Two Warren men have created inventions that have received patents.

Eric Ude was one of five people who developed a sealed compact power distribution model. The others were from Illinois. The patent was assigned to Cooper Technologies Co. of Houston.

Richard Miller developed a method for induction heating of rail welds. The patent has been assigned to Holland LP, Crete, Ill.

NATION

Fantasy football at work
cuts into production

NEW YORK — With the fantasy football season about to kick off, some employers are about to suffer a penalty to their bottom line.

Companies will lose up to $435 million a week paying workers who are distracted by their virtual sports teams, according to an estimate by employment consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

The firm’s figures rely on data from the Fan tasy Sports Trade Association and West Virginia Wesleyan College showing that 17 million Americans play fantasy sports annually, with the average participant earning $80,000 a year. The typical fantasy football player spends an estimated 50 minutes at work each week managing their teams, totaling $32 a week per player based on the average salary. Plus, the football season lasts 17 weeks.

Companies should resist the urge to clamp down on workers’ access to fantasy sports Web sites, however, said CEO John Challenger. The dampened employee morale that would result from such a ban far outweighs the lost productivity, he said.

From Vindicator wire and staff reports