WFMJ wins Emmy

WFMJ wins Emmy

YOUNGSTOWN

21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, was awarded a regional Emmy for an initiative to help feed the hungry in the Mahoning Valley.

Project: Feed Our Valley was selected out of five nominees named by the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the category of Community Service.

Other nominees included television stations in Cleveland and Indianapolis.

The award was presented to the television station during a ceremony Saturday at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

Ohio gas prices rise

COLUMBUS

Ohio motorists are seeing higher prices at the pump to start the workweek.

A gallon of regular gas in Ohio was averaging $2.81 in Monday’s survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX Inc. That’s up 8 cents from a week ago.

Average prices in Ohio were above the nation’s average, which was $2.77 per gallon Monday.

But Ohio gas prices remain significantly cheaper than last year at this time, when prices were averaging $3.64 per gallon.

Among the state’s metropolitan areas, the Youngstown-Warren area had the lowest average prices Monday at $2.74 per gallon.

Union sues feds over hack, says agency had ample warning

WASHINGTON

The largest federal employee union filed a class-action lawsuit Monday against the federal personnel office, its leaders and one of its contractors, arguing that negligence contributed to what government officials are calling one of the most damaging cyberthefts in U.S. history.

The suit by the American Federation of Government Employees names the Office of Personnel Management, its director, Katherine Archuleta, and its chief information officer, Donna Seymour. It also names Keypoint Government Solutions, an OPM contractor.

Hackers suspected of working for the Chinese government are believed to have stolen records for as many as 18 million current and former federal employees and contractors last year.

Detailed background investigations for security clearances of military and intelligence-agency employees were among the documents taken. OPM acknowledged the hack earlier this month.

Justices rule against EPA mercury limits

WASHINGTON

The Supreme Court ruled Monday against the Obama administration’s attempt to limit power-plant emissions of mercury and other hazardous air pollutants, but it may only be a temporary setback for regulators.

The justices split 5-4 along ideological lines to rule that the Environmental Protection Agency did not properly take costs into account when it first decided to regulate the toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired plants.

The EPA did factor in costs at a later stage, when it wrote standards that are expected to reduce the toxic emissions by 90 percent. But the court said that was too late.

Staff/wire reports