Enhanced Care Program announced


June 23, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

Enhanced Care Program announced

COLUMBUS

Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation on Monday announced the Enhanced Care Program to reduce delays in the treatment of Ohioans injured on the job. The program, developed by BWC in coordination with its partners, will give physicians increased flexibility in the treatment of injured workers, returning them to their jobs more quickly and saving employers money in the process. The program will begin July 1, with a pilot in 16 Northeast Ohio counties.

Under the program, physicians will be granted the flexibility to treat with assurance of payment instead of having to wait for approvals and adjudications, which cause delays.

GM investing in Orion plant

DETROIT

General Motors will invest $245 million and add 300 jobs at its Orion Assembly plant to support launching an all-new vehicle program unlike any in the plant’s 32-year history.

Investment in Orion totals $962 million since the UAW and GM worked together to reopen the previously idled plant in 2010.

This latest investment came seven months after the announcement of a $160-million investment to launch Chevrolet’s game-changing Bolt EV, which is expected to achieve more than 200 miles of range on a single electric charge.

Death toll from defective ignition switches rises to 117

DETROIT

The death toll from faulty ignition switches in General Motors’ small cars has risen by three to 117.

Victims’ families are being offered compensation of at least $1 million each by attorney Kenneth Feinberg, who was hired by GM last year. In addition, Feinberg will make offers to 237 people who were injured in crashes caused by the switches in the Chevrolet Cobalt and other older cars.

GM recalled 2.6 million of the cars last year, but acknowledged it knew about the switch problems for more than a decade.

Feinberg’s compensation fund received 4,342 claims by the Jan. 31 deadline. Seventy-nine claims remain under review. About 90 percent were deemed deficient or ineligible.

GM paid $200 million to settle claims filed with Feinberg as of March 31.

Wal-Mart removing Confederate flag items from stores

BENTONVILLE, Ark.

Wal-Mart says it is removing any items from its store shelves and website that feature the Confederate flag.

The announcement by the world’s biggest retailer Monday comes as the shooting deaths of nine people at a historic black church in Charleston, S.C., have reignited the debate over the flag’s symbolism. The white suspect in the shooting, Dylann Roof, appeared in photos holding the banner.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley said Monday that the flag should be removed from the statehouse grounds, acknowledging that to many the flag is a “deeply offensive symbol of a brutally oppressive past.”

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Aqua America, .61, 25.240.12

Avalon Holdings,2.72-0.05

Clear Channel, .46 22.090.24

Cortland Bancorp, 14.64-0.01

Farmers Nat., .128.190.04

First Energy, 1.44, 33.67-0.13

Fifth/Third, .5221.630.59

FirstMerit Corp., .64,21.030.27

First Niles Financial, .32,9.500

FNB Corp., .48,14.290.12

General Motors, 1.2036.200.09

General Electric, .88,27.460.22

Huntington Bank, .20, 11.560.2

JP Morgan Chase, 1.60,68.970.89

Key Corp, .26,15.410.2

LaFarge, 17.100.37

Macy’s, 1.25, 69.850

Parker Hannifin, 1.92, 119.100.58

PNC, 1.92,98.201.07

RTI Intl. Metals,33.20-0.45

Simon Prop. Grp.,5.20,176.92-2.56

Stoneridge 12.44-0.02

Talmer Bank, 17.000.22

United Comm. Fin., .04 5.450.04

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