Ohio gas prices fall

Ohio gas prices fall

YOUNGSTOWN

The average price of gas in Northeast Ohio dropped slightly Monday after weeks of increases, according to auto club AAA’s weekly survey.

Gas averaged $3.58 per gallon, down 1 cent from last Monday. That was 35 cents higher than last month but 2 cents cheaper than the same time last year.

The national average Monday stood at $3.50 per gallon, up 4 cents from last week and 23 cents higher than last month.

Analysts blamed the gas price hikes on seasonal refinery maintenance, rising crude-oil prices and fears of economic sanctions against Russia, one of the world’s top energy producers.

Allegiant contest

LAS VEGAS

Allegiant is accepting entry submissions for its 2014 Summer Travel Blogger Contest, which gives bloggers the chance to win a free trip to the airline’s most- popular destinations during National Travel and Tourism Week, starting May 4.

The bloggers must submit their name, a link to their blog, a count of their blog’s monthly unique-visitors audience demographics and a short essay.

The 21 winners will be notified about March 31, and they have 48 hours to respond.

Obama economists call for budget OK

WASHINGTON

President Barack Obama’s top economists say the nation is on track to make economic progress over the next two years, but say it would do even better if Congress would enact the additional spending he proposed in his most recent budget. A divided Congress in an election year is not likely to heed that call.

In its annual report to the president, the Council of Economic Advisers says the nation’s economy would grow by 3.3 percent in 2014 and 3.5 percent in 2015 and that unemployment would drop to 6.4 percent in 2015 and 6 percent in 2016. February’s unemployment rate was 6.7 percent.

That forecast assumes that Congress would approve $56 billion in spending that is above the limits set in a bipartisan budget agreement earlier this year. But midterm elections are limiting action in Congress this year and Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, already have indicated little interest in most of Obama’s additional proposed spending.

Bitcoin exchange files bankruptcy case

The collapse of Japan’s Mt. Gox bitcoin exchange is spilling into U.S. bankruptcy court as the company scrambles for legal cover after losing digital currency valued at $473 million.

Mt. Gox’s bankruptcy filing in Dallas late Sunday supplements a similar petition made in Japan late last month after the exchange’s abrupt closure. The U.S. case is being brought under Chapter 15 of the country’s bankruptcy code, which provides a haven for foreign companies seeking to reorganize their finances.

Mt. Gox’s downfall provided fresh ammunition for bitcoin skeptics who have questioned the security and staying power of a digital currency created six years ago as an alternative to government-controlled monetary systems that rely on banks to process most transactions.

Vindicator staff/wire reports