Friday, March 27, 2015
Preparedness Day
NILES
Dominion East Ohio, in partnership with the American Red Cross, will have Preparedness Day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at Eastwood Mall, 5555 Youngstown-Warren Road, and other select malls and locations throughout Northeast Ohio. The goal is to teach participants the importance of being “Red Cross Ready” in the event of a disaster.
Bill reintroduced
YOUNGSTOWN
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown has reintroduced a bill to strengthen the enforcement of trade laws.
Brown, a Democrat of Cleveland, met with Doug Polk, Vallourec USA’s vice president of industry affairs, to discuss the negative impact of steel imports on the domestic steel market.
Vallourec USA has the Vallourec Star plant on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard where steel pipes are produced for the oil and gas industry. He also met with Dave Seeger, president of JMC Steel Group, who owns Sharon Tube in Niles and Wheatland Tube Co. in Warren.
The Leveling the Playing Field Act that Brown reintroduced Thursday would restore strength to antidumping and countervailing duty statutes.
Chamber breakfast
LORDSTOWN
Several local government and business officials will deliver reports during the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s Good Morning, Lordstown and Newton Falls breakfast at 7:30 a.m. today at Anderson-DuBose Co., 5300 Tod Ave. NW.
Lordstown Mayor Arno Hill, Newton Falls Mayor Lyle Waddell, Lordstown schools Superintendent Terry Armstrong, Newton Falls schools Superintendent Paul Woodard and a representative of the Regional Chamber will provide updates at the event.
Tank-car standards
WASHINGTON
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown this week urged Shaun Donovan, director of the Office of Management and Budget, to quickly finalize tough new tank-car standards for the railcars carrying large quantities of flammable and hazardous materials through Ohio.
New cleaning guides for medical scopes
WASHINGTON
The maker of medical scopes that have been linked to two recent “superbug” outbreaks at California hospitals has issued new cleaning instructions for the devices amid scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and medical professionals.
Olympus America sent the new guidelines to U.S. hospitals Thursday, recommending that its customers begin using them as soon as possible. The updated guidelines call for using a smaller cleaning brush and additional flushing steps to remove debris and disinfect the scope’s crevices and hinges. Olympus plans to send the new brush to hospital customers by May 8.
The company’s scopes were linked to infections of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in 11 patients at two separate Los Angeles hospitals last month, contributing to the deaths of two of those patients. Hospital staff said the infections occurred despite following Olympus’ instructions for cleaning the devices, known as duodenoscopes.
Vindicator staff/wire reports