Talking trade policy

Talking trade policy

WARREN

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, D-Ohio, and U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, will appear at UAW 1112 union hall, 11471 Reuther Drive, at 2 p.m. today.

Brown and Ryan will be joined by Ken Lortz, director of United Auto Workers Region 2-B, Tim Burga, president of Ohio AFL-CIO, and a former RG Steel worker. They will discuss what they call a foreign-trade policy that puts American workers first.

Republic layoffs

LORAIN

Republic Steel has announced it is temporarily laying off 200 workers from its Lorain plant. The layoffs, affecting hourly and salaried employees, were announced this week.

Paula Dudukovich, Republic Steel’s director of human resources, blamed the layoffs on declining conditions in the oil and gas markets and reduced demand. The mill makes special bar-quality steel used in axles, drive trains, suspensions and other parts of cars and off-road vehicles.

It also supplies U.S. Steel Corp.’s Lorain Tubular Operations, which has been idled for three months.

Tom McDermott, president of Local 1104, says the plant is being hurt by foreign companies dumping cheap steel in this country.

It’s unclear how long the layoffs will last.

Lupo case is topic

YOUNGSTOWN

Kurt Kollar of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s Emergency Response Program will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Room B112 of Cushwa Hall at Youngstown State University.

He will talk about the illegal dumping of oil- and gas-drilling waste into a Mahoning River tributary in Youngstown, which resulted in the sentencing of Ben Lupo of Springfield Township to 28 months in federal prison.

Stock repurchase

CORTLAND

Cortland Bancorp, the holding company for Cortland Savings and Banking Co., announced Friday its board approved a new stock- repurchase program.

Under the new program, the company is authorized to repurchase up to 200,000, or 4.4 percent of its more than 4.5 million issued and outstanding shares. The program is effective through Dec. 31 but may be limited or terminated at any time without prior notice. Under the program, the company may acquire shares of its common stock in the open market or in any private transaction.

Oil council: Arctic drilling needed now

WASHINGTON

The U.S. immediately should begin a push to exploit its enormous trove of oil in the Arctic waters off of Alaska, or risk a renewed reliance on imported oil in the future, an Energy Department advisory council said in a study submitted Friday.

The U.S. has drastically cut imports and transformed itself into the world’s biggest producer of oil and natural gas by tapping huge reserves in shale-rock formations. But the government predicts that the shale boom won’t last much beyond the next decade.

Vindicator staff/wire reports