BUSINESS DIGEST | Cellphones free to low-income citizens

Cellphones free to low-income citizens

YOUNGSTOWN

Assurance Wireless this week launched a cellphone service that provides a free cellphone and 250 free minutes of monthly wireless service to eligible low-income Ohio residents.

Customers eligible for Assurance Wireless include those who participate in Medicaid, food stamps/SNAP, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, Supplemental Security Income, general assistance, Home Energy Assistance Programs, federal public- housing assistance or the National School Lunch Program’s free-lunch program. Customers also may qualify based on low household income.

Eligible residents can apply by calling 800-395-2171 or visiting www.assurancewireless.com.

Update on cleanup of steel swarf

WARREN

Edgar C. Knieriem Jr., 63, of Cockeysville, Md., charged with 12 counts of open burning and dumping in connection with stockpiling a substance called steel swarf at a former factory in Champion, has cleaned up 5 percent to 8 percent of the material.

Chuck Morrow, an assistant county prosecutor, said Knieriem told Judge Logan in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday he has plans to speed up the cleanup.

Knieriem has appeared before Judge Logan about 15 times since he was indicted on the charges in March 2009. Morrow said hearings on the case will continue until the problem is eliminated.

“We’re still working to make sure he gets it out of there,” Morrow said. Knieriem’s trial date is Aug. 29.

The factory is known as Diversified Resources International and is located at the end of Folsom Drive, just west of Kent State University Trumbull Campus. Officials have said Diversified Resources holds thousands of tons of swarf, a byproduct of steel manufacturing that can be hazardous if exposed to the elements.

Percentage of renters is rising

WASHINGTON

A growing number of Americans can’t afford a home or don’t want to own one, a trend that’s spawning a generation of renters and a rise in apartment construction.

Many of the new renters are former owners who lost homes to foreclosure or bankruptcy. For others who could afford one, a home now feels too costly, too risky or unlikely to appreciate enough to make it a worthwhile investment.

The proportion of U.S. households that own homes is at its lowest point since 1998. When the housing bubble burst four years ago, 31.6 percent of households were renters. Now, it’s at 33.6 percent and rising. Since the housing meltdown, nearly 3 million households have become renters. At least 3 million more are expected by 2015, according to census data analyzed by Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies and The Associated Press.

All told, nearly 38 million households are renters.

Staff/wire reports