Saturday, February 22, 2014
McNally to deliver State of the City
YOUNGSTOWN
Mayor John McNally will deliver his first State of the City address at the Regional Chamber’s Good Morning Youngstown breakfast March 7.
The event starts at 7:30 a.m. at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Social Hall, 343 Via Mount Carmel.
Bob Hannon, president of United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, also will speak.
There is a cost of $20 for chamber members and $30 for nonmembers.
Home sales fall 5.1% in January
COLUMBUS
Home sales in Ohio fell 5.1 percent in January, compared with the same time a year ago, according to the Ohio Association of Realtors.
OAR said January broke a streak of 30 consecutive months of year-over-year gains.
Meanwhile, January’s average home price climbed to $127,327, a 5.6 percent improvement from a year ago.
Texas company gets rights to Aeroclay
CLEVELAND
Austin-based company Compadre obtained exclusive license to pursue commercial uses for Aeroclay, a technology developed at Case Western Reserve University’s materials lab.
Aeroclay is a foamlike composite with various uses, including packaging hazardous materials and possibly oil-spill cleanup.
AeroClay LLC, a subsidiary of Compadre, has been formed to market the product.
First Niles dividend
NILES
First Niles Financial Inc., the parent company of Home Federal Savings and Loan Association of Niles, announced a cash dividend of 5 cents per share of common stock.
The dividend is payable March 21 to shareholders of record March 7.
Federal Reserve releases transcripts
WASHINGTON
The Federal Reserve agonized in 2008 over how far to go to stop a financial crisis that threatened to cause a recession and at times struggled to recognize its speed and magnitude.
The Fed on Friday released hundreds of pages of transcripts covering its meetings during 2008 — the most tumultuous period of the crisis. This includes the government takeover of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the fateful decision to let investment bank Lehman Brothers collapse and the bailout of insurer American International Group.
For all its aggressive steps in 2008, the transcripts show the Fed failing at times to grasp the size of the catastrophe, with top lieutenants often expressing puzzlement that they weren’t managing to calm panicky investors.
Airline cancellations
WASHINGTON
In a fitting end to a miserable week for travelers, airlines have canceled more than 1,200 flights and another 6,000 are running late.
The airlines blamed storms along the East Coast and high winds in the country’s interior Friday.
Staff/wire reports