City OKs tax deal for Coronado Steel

City OKs tax deal for Coronado Steel

YOUNGSTOWN

The city’s board of control approved a 75-percent, 10-year real-property tax abatement for Coronado Steel Co. for a $670,000 expansion project on Funston Drive.

Coronado, which produces alloy-metal castings and is a machine-and-fabrication shop, would save $71,170 and pay $23,723 in property taxes over the 10-year period of the abatement. The board approved the abatement Thursday.

Coronado needed additional storage because of space it no longer has on State Street. The company sold that property to the city in December 2010 for $450,000. The State Street property is being used as part of V&M Star’s $650 million expansion project.

Pace rises for issuing of gas-drill permits

COLUMBUS

Permits are being issued more quickly in Ohio for the natural-gas drilling associated with the practice called fracking.

The Columbus Dispatch reported Thursday that 27 permits for horizontal drilling into the Utica Shale formation beneath Ohio were granted from July to September alone. Ohio Department of Natural Resources figures show that’s more than half the total number of permits issued since 2009.

In fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, chemicals are injected into the shale through horizontal wells to release natural gas from the rock.

Critics of the practice say it raises environmental concerns. Democrats in the Ohio House and Senate are proposing a temporary ban on fracking until it can be studied further. Ohio Republicans controlling both legislative chambers have approved bills expanding drilling opportunities.

NPR show airs story about Valley

YOUNGSTOWN

National Public Radio’s “Morning Edition” on Thursday began airing a story about shale development, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, V&M Star and the potential for economic development and growth in the Mahoning Valley.

“What’s really exciting to me is that for many, many years, this area was the poster child for the Rust Belt economy,” said Walter Good, vice president of economic development for the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, in the story. To hear the story, visit www.npr.org.

Stocks slide on JPMorgan losses

NEW YORK

Stocks sank Thursday, ending the fastest rally in the S&P 500 since March 2009.

Bank stocks dragged the market lower after JPMorgan Chase & Co. reported that a slowdown in investment banking hurt its results in the third quarter. An afternoon surge in technology stocks limited some of the losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 40.72 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 11,478.13. JPMorgan fell 4.8 percent. Other banks also fell. Citigroup Inc. dropped 5.3 percent, Morgan Stanley 4.4 percent and Bank of America Corp. 5.5 percent.

Vindicator staff/wire reports