BUSINESS NEWS DIGEST | STEM college event

STEM college event

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown State University’s College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics is hosting an event for friends and alumni beginning at 2 p.m. April 10 in the Moser Hall Lobby.

The event will include a showcase with various projects on display, followed by an alumni reception from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor, 151 W. Wood St.

The showcase is free, but the alumni reception costs $15.

Reservations are required. Call 330-941-1591 or 330-941-3015.

Teaching course

WARREN

The National Business Institute invited estate-planning attorney Jack N. Alpern to teach a national continuing-education course for attorneys. The course covered estate planning for farmers and ranchers.

Alpern is founder of The Alpern Law Firm, 103 W. Market St. The law firm also has offices in Boardman, Middlefield and East Liverpool.

The National Business Institute is located in Eau Claire, Wis.

Consortium director

CLEVELAND

The Northeast Ohio Sustainable Communities Consortium has appointed Hunter Morrison as its program director.

In the past, Morrison has been involved in Civic Vision and Youngstown 2020. He also has served as director of campus planning and community partnerships at Youngstown State University and planning director for the city of Cleveland.

The consortium was created to establish a collaborative sustainability plan for Northeast Ohio. It covers Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne counties.

Workshop speaker

HERMITAGE, Pa.

A representative from First National Bank will speak at three workshops hosted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.

Rhoan Hernandez, real- estate services manager for First National Bank, will discuss the bank’s Family Home Ownership Program and Family Home Improvement Rehabilitation Program as examples of effective community initiatives.

The workshops are scheduled for Friday at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Cincinnati branch office; Tuesday at the bank’s Cleveland office; and Wednesday at its Pittsburgh office.

First National Bank is based in Hermitage, Pa., and has locations in Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida.

Home sales hit low

WASHINGTON

Home construction in the United States is all but coming to a halt.

Americans are on track to buy fewer new homes than in any year since the government began keeping data almost a half-century ago. Sales are just half the pace of 1963 — even though there are 120 million more people in the United States now.

Diminished sales have driven the median price of a new home down to about $202,000, the lowest since 2003. If the sluggish sales continue, analysts say, small homebuilders will fold, meaning less competition as the market improves and higher prices later.

Staff/wire reports