Alberini’s restaurant to go out of business


March 21, 2013 at 12:00a.m.

Alberini’s restaurant to go out of business

NILES

Alberini’s, a well-known restaurant, is going out of business Saturday, according to 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner.

Richard “Chook” Alberini Jr. confirmed the closing to the television station Wednesday, but did not specify the reason for shutting down the family business that’s been open for 56 years.

D’Vino’s, an upscale restaurant that opened last year in the lower half of the Alberini’s building at 1201 Youngstown-Warren Road, will remain open.

Fed to stick with aggressive stimulus

washington

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday stood by its efforts to keep borrowing costs at record lows, saying it isn’t yet convinced that the U.S. economy’s growth can accelerate without significant help from the central bank. It wants to see sustained improvement.

Fed officials reinforced their plan to keep short- term interest rates at rock-bottom levels at least until unemployment falls to 6.5 percent.

An unemployment rate of 6.5 percent is a threshold, not a “trigger,” for a possible rate increase, Chairman Ben Bernanke said.

The Fed will continue buying $85 billion a month in bonds indefinitely to keep long-term borrowing costs down.

Bernanke said the Fed might vary the size of its monthly purchases depending on whether the job market improves and by how much.

FDA warns of recall of the drug Avastin

washington

The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors that a compounding pharmacy is recalling dozens of lots of the Roche drug Avastin after receiving reports of eye infections among patients.

The FDA said Wednesday that Clinical Specialties of Martinez, Ga., has received five reports of eye infections from physicians who used the drug to treat macular degeneration, a common vision disorder in seniors.

The compounding pharmacy is recalling 40 lots of Avastin distributed to doctors’ offices in Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina and Indiana since Dec. 18, the FDA said in an online posting.

Freddie Mac sues big banks over rate

washington

Freddie Mac has sued 15 big international banks, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Citigroup, accusing them of rigging a key interest rate and causing huge losses for the government-controlled mortgage giant.

Freddie filed the lawsuit today in federal court in Alexandria, Va.

It names the banks that set the London interbank offered rate, known as LIBOR, which provides the basis for trillions of dollars in contracts around the world, including mortgages, bonds and consumer loans.

Vindicator staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .70, 30.45 .26

Avalon Holdings,3.99—.14

Clear Channel, .33 32.51 .15

Cortland Bancorp, 10.45.05

Farmers Nat., .126.45 .02

First Energy, 2.20, 41.95.35

FirstMerit Corp., .64,16.36 .08

First Niles Financial, .32,7.00.00

First Place Fin., .0063.00

FNB Corp., .48,11.78.04

General Motors,29.201.10

General Electric, .76,23.46.14

Motors Liquidation, .0422.00

Huntington Bank, .16, 7.50.02

JP Morgan Chase, 1.20,49.12—.08

Key Corp, .20,10.15.08

LaFarge, 17.85 .67

Macy’s, .80, 42.55.88

Parker Hannifin, 1.72, 94.97—.21

PNC, 1.60,66.70.45

RTI Intl. Metals,31.57.45

Simon Prop. Grp.,4.60,158.471.37

Stoneridge 7.87 .08

United Community Fin. 3.64.18

Selected prices at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Provided by Stifel Nicolaus. Not to be construed as an offer or recommendation to buy or sell any security.