Youngstown, Girard on affordability list

February 11, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

Girard and Youngstown ranked sixth and ninth, respectively, among the top 10 most-affordable places to live, according to a study released by SmartAsset.

Girard and Youngstown secured their rankings due to low property taxes, homeowners’ insurance fees and mortgage payments when measured against the local median income.

RadioShack to close stores in the area

YOUNGSTOWN

RadioShack will close four of its stores in or near the Mahoning Valley. The stores are Eastwood Mall in Niles, Parkman Road in Warren, Union Square Shop Center in New Castle, Pa., and the Williamson Road store in Hempfield Township in Mercer County. RadioShack has signed an asset-purchase agreement with General Wireless Inc., an affiliate of Standard General, to acquire between 1,500 and 2,400 of its stores in the U.S.

Suit filed against Nickles Bakery

NAVARRE, OHIO

A newly approved class-action lawsuit claims Nickles Bakery misclassified its Ohio route sales drivers and denied them overtime pay. The plaintiff, a Nickles Bakery route sales driver, is represented by Nilges Draher LLC in Canton.

The case is filed against Nickles Bakery in federal court under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The FLSA requires that hourly and nonexempt workers be paid their minimum wage and overtime at time and a half for working more than 40 hours a week.

Sharon Regional pledges 30-minute emergency service

SHARON, PA.

Since January, Sharon Regional Health System has been committed to serving emergency patients in 30 minutes or less. When a patient enters the ER at Sharon Regional, the arrival time is noted. The 30-Minute ER Service Pledge begins the minute a patient checks in at the ER desk. For the most-recent quarter, the average wait time in the Sharon Regional ER was 19 minutes.

Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act

WASHINGTON

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, joined other lawmakers in introducing the Currency Reform for Fair Trade Act, which takes aim at currency manipulators by enabling the Department of Commerce to impose countervailing duties to offset the impact of currency manipulation on a U.S. industry.

Privacy concerns in Samsung smart TVs

SEOUL, South Korea

Watch what you say in your living room. Voice-recognition technology in Samsung’s Internet-connected TVs captures and transmits nearby conversations. The privacy policy warns: “Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition.”

In a blog post Tuesday, Samsung said it is removing that sentence and clarifying the policy “to better explain what actually occurs.”

Vindicator staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .61, 26.71 .42

Avalon Holdings,3.15—.03

Clear Channel, .46 18.19 —.46

Cortland Bancorp, 15.65.00

Farmers Nat., .127.65 .01

First Energy, 1.44, 38.70.75

Fifth/Third, .5218.86.07

FirstMerit Corp., .64,17.78 .21

First Niles Financial, .32,9.15.00

FNB Corp., .48,12.85.15

General Motors, 1.2037.491.48

General Electric, .88,24.73.09

Huntington Bank, .20, 10.61.23

JP Morgan Chase, 1.60,58.47.65

Key Corp, .26,13.99.11

LaFarge, 18.32 .47

Macy’s, 1.25, 64.61.91

Parker Hannifin, 1.92, 121.26.42

PNC, 1.92,90.24.73

RTI Intl. Metals,22.82—.41

Simon Prop. Grp.,5.20,194.47.36

Stoneridge 12.82 .11

Talmer Bank, 13.77.08

United Comm. Fin., .04 5.36.11

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