Initiative honored

Initiative honored

YOUNGSTOWN

The OH-PA Stateline Export Initiative, which is designed to bring exporting awareness, foreign direct investment and supply-chain matching to a 10-county region in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania, received recognition by the Mid-America Economic Development Council at its annual Competitiveness Conference & Site Selector Forum in Chicago on Monday.

The MAEDC, which represents economic-development agencies in 10 states, awarded the initiative created by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and the International Trade Assistance Center at Youngstown State University in the Business Retention & Expansion category of its annual awards presentation.

GM dividend

DETROIT

General Motors Co. board of directors Tuesday declared a fourth-quarter 2015 dividend of 36 cents per share on the company’s common stock. The fourth- quarter dividend is payable Dec. 29 to common stockholders of record as of Dec. 18.

Ribbon-cutting set

WARREN

The Community Family Outreach Complex, 2168 Highland Ave. SW in Warren will have a ribbon-cutting at noon Friday.

The Community Family Outreach Complex began as a vision of Bishop David L. Herron Sr., pastor of Monument of Faith Church of God in Christ, more than 15 years ago. The mission of CFOC is to provide hope and opportunity, education and empowerment for residents in the low-to-moderate income range in Warren.

For more information about programs and services offered by the Community Family Outreach Complex, visit www.mofcfoc.com/cfoc.html, or call 330-503-1015.

US to update auto safety-rating system

WASHINGTON

The government announced plans Tuesday to update its safety-rating system for new cars and trucks to include whether the vehicle has technology to avoid crashes, in addition to how well it protects occupants in accidents.

The five-star rating system now uses crash tests to assess how well people inside are shielded from injury or death in front, side and rollover crashes.

Though that will remain a big factor in the ratings, they also will take into account whether the vehicle has nine technologies that can help prevent or lessen the severity of crashes. Those technologies include sensors that can detect an imminent frontal collision and apply the brakes, or warn drivers about vehicles in their blind spots or that they’re drifting into another lane.

VW lawsuits to be merged in Calif.

NEW ORLEANS

A judicial panel decided Tuesday to consolidate hundreds of lawsuits against Volkswagen over its emissions cheating scandal in California, a focal point of the carmaker’s troubles.

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation gave U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco oversight of more than 450 suits filed against the carmaker across the nation.

Staff and wire reports