Company to toast its 60th anniversary

Company to toast its 60th anniversary

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown-based Valley Industrial Trucks, dealer and servicer of CLARK, Doosan and Sellick Forklifts, as well as other material handling equipment, will soon celebrate its 60th anniversary of being locally owned and operated in the Mahoning Valley.

The firm’s milestone this year comes on the heels of a record 2015, with revenue reaching an all-time high and the company continuing to expand into new and growing market segments while adding to its workforce and considering acquisitions.

In addition to increasing its service department staff, Valley Industrial Trucks has intensified its focus in the electric forklift space, which now represents more than 50 percent of all sales.

Mixer planned

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley Young Professionals will have a February mixer at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at The Soap Gallery, 117 S. Champion St.

Gas-station glitch

TOLEDO

Some northwest Ohio drivers who were able to fill their tanks for mere pocket change have been left in disbelief after a computer glitch led to a brief price war between two gas stations.

WTOL-TV reported a computer malfunction dropped prices at one north Toledo gas station, and another across the street lowered its prices to stay competitive early Sunday.

Customer Taylor Kline told the station he filled his empty tank for just 26 cents. The extra-low pricing lasted at least three hours before returning to normal.

US OK’s 1st factory in Cuba in years

HAVANA

The Obama administration has approved the first U.S. factory in Cuba in more than half a century, allowing a two-man company from Alabama to build a plant assembling as many as 1,000 small tractors a year for sale to private farmers in Cuba.

The Treasury Department last week notified partners Horace Clemmons and Saul Berenthal that they can legally build tractors and other heavy equipment in a special economic zone started by the Cuban government to attract foreign investment.

Deadly airstrikes hit hospitals, schools

BEIRUT

Airstrikes blamed on Russia hit at least two hospitals and a school in northern Syria on Monday, killing and wounding dozens of civilians and further dimming hopes for a temporary truce, as government troops backed by Russian warplanes pressed a major offensive north of Aleppo.

The raids came days after Russia and other world powers agreed to pause in fighting to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid and the revival of peace talks.

Body, cash on jet

HARARE, Zimbabwe

Zimbabwean aviation authorities impounded a U.S.-registered cargo jet, a senior official said Monday, after a body later believed to be a stowaway and millions of South African rand were found on board.

The Herald, a state-run newspaper, reported that the MD-11 trijet was traveling from Germany to South Africa “with millions of rands.” At today’s exchange rate, 1 million rand is worth $62,500.

Staff/wire reports