Bill targets sales tax

Bill targets sales tax

YOUNGSTOWN

This week, state Rep. Jim Buchy, R-Greenville, and state Sen. Bill Beagle, R-Tipp City, will introduce a bill that would repeal the sales tax that YMCA and other nonprofit health members pay for memberships.

Ohio is one of five states that tax nonprofit health memberships. YMCAs are nonprofit, tax-exempt organizations.

Ribbon-cutting set

AUSTINTOWN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will have a ceremonial ribbon-cutting at 10 a.m. Friday at Family Farm and Home, 4477 Mahoning Ave.

Family Farm and Home is a family owned-and-operated company based out of Michigan. There are 40 retail locations – 34 in Michigan, two in Indiana and four in Ohio.

Family Farm and Home provides a variety of products for the home and farm, including tools, hardware, automotive supplies, pet supplies, work and casual clothing, footwear, farm supplies, horse and livestock feed, bird food, lawn and garden supplies and alternative heating.

Family Farm and Home’s Austintown location is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.

Direct-mail seminar

BOARDMAN

The Steel Valley Postal Customer Council will present Learn Effective Direct Mail Marketing – a seminar for learning the ins, outs and advantages of direct mail marketing.

This event will take place at 9 a.m. Thursday at Holiday Inn Boardman, 7410 South Ave.

Reservations for this event are requested by Monday. The cost to attend is $15. Register at SteelValleyPCC.com.

Class-action suit at Utz

HANOVER, PA.

A newly filed class-action lawsuit claims that Utz Quality Foods misclassified its route drivers and denied them overtime pay.

The plaintiff, an Utz driver, is represented by Nilges Draher LLC in Canton and The Lazzaro Law Firm LLC in Cleveland.

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

VW plant cuts shift

BERLIN

A Volkswagen engine factory said Wednesday it has dropped one shift a week and the company’s financial services division imposed a temporary hiring freeze as the world’s largest automaker grapples with an emissions-rigging scandal.

The extent of the fallout from the scandal, which erupted Sept. 18 when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said VW had cheated on tests of its diesel cars, remains unclear as do the costs to Volkswagen. Longtime CEO Martin Winterkorn quit last week, but said he was aware of no wrongdoing on his part.

In Germany, Stella Pechmann, a spokeswoman for the engine plant in Salzgitter, confirmed a report Wednesday that a “special shift” is being cut as a precaution because of the current situation. The shift had previously been added to deal with high demand.

Staff/wire reports