Keep mail carriers safe this winter

Keep mail carriers safe this winter

YOUNGSTOWN

The United States Postal Service asks its customers to keep their letter carriers safe this winter by clearing enough snow from curbside boxes to allow mail trucks to approach the box, clear walkways and steps to avoid slips and keep overhangs clear and free of snow.

Cortland Bancorp increases profit

CORTLAND

Cortland Bancorp, the holding company for Cortland Savings and Banking Co., on Monday reported increased profitability with solid loan growth, expanding net interest margin and improving operating efficiencies for the fourth quarter and full year in 2014.

For 2014, net profits grew 117 percent to $3.9 million, or $0.85 per share, from $1.8 million, or $0.39 per share, for 2013.

Net income was $543,000, or $0.12 per share for the fourth quarter of 2014, compared with a net loss of $462,000, or $0.11 for the fourth quarter a year ago.

US construction spending up 0.4%

WASHINGTON

U.S. construction spending accelerated in December as building activity increased for new houses and government-backed highways.

The Commerce Department said Monday that construction spending rose 0.4 percent in December. Total construction spending in 2014 increased 5.6 percent to $961 billion, with the gains slightly below the pace of 5.7 percent in 2013.

Spending on single-family houses rose 1.2 percent in December from the prior month. Highway and street construction grew by 2.1 percent, and factory-building by 1.9 percent. Construction of schools and commercial centers fell in December.

The gains were strong enough that Michael Gapen, an analyst at the bank Barclays, said that the economy likely expanded at an annual pace of 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year, compared with the 2.6 percent estimate reported by the government last week.

3-year term sought for ex-airline exec

SEOUL, South Korea

South Korean prosecutors on Monday recommended three years in jail for the former Korean Air executive charged with endangering flight safety during a tantrum over how she was served macadamia nuts.

Cho Hyun-ah, the daughter of Korean Air’s chairman, has pleaded not guilty to four charges. In the final day of testimony, she defended her actions as the result of devotion to work and said cabin crew in first class had erred by not following proper procedures.

Cho ordered the chief flight attendant off a Dec. 5 flight after a heated confrontation with cabin crew, forcing the plane to return to the gate at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. She was angry at being offered nuts in a bag, instead of on a dish. Park Chang-jin, the chief attendant, told the court he and others were treated like “feudal slaves” by Cho.

Vindicator staff/wire reports