BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Donation to school

YOUNGSTOWN

The Home Savings Charitable Foundation on Wednesday presented a $10,000 check to Ursuline High School.

The funds will be used for the second-phase capital improvement of Ursuline’s science instructional hall.

Mixer set at airport

VIENNA

On Wednesday, the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport announced that the newly branded Great Lakes Jet Express will be carrying passengers to and from Chicago.

Operated by Aerodynamics Inc., Great Lakes Jet Express will fly the 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145 Regional Jet Aircraft. Planes will be stationed and maintained at the Youngstown airport by Winner Aviation.

Ticketing booth signage for Great Lakes Jet Express will be unveiled at the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s After Hours mixer at the airport from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. today.

Direct flights to Chicago can be booked at www.flygreatlakes.com, and passengers looking to book connecting flights to other destinations can do so on third-party sites such as Expedia, Hotwire, Justfly, Kayak, Orbitz and Travelocity.

Ohio home sales set record in May

COLUMBUS

Ohio experienced a record rate of home sales in May, according to the Ohio Association of Realtors.

Sales activity in May rose 6.2 percent from the level posted during the month a year ago, the market’s 20th-consecutive monthly year-over-year gain. Additionally, May’s sales reached the highest seasonally adjusted annual rate for the month since OAR began tracking data in 1998.

May’s average home price of $167,861 reflects a 3.1 percent increase from the $162,819 mark posted during the month last year.

Brown seeks raise

WASHINGTON, D.C.

After the release of an Economic Policy Institute report, “Few Rewards: An Agenda To Give America’s Working Poor A Raise,” U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, outlined an agenda to help rebuild a strong middle class and give American workers a raise. Brown renewed his call to raise the federal minimum wage, increase access to paid sick leave, protect overtime pay for workers and expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.

Flu spray fails again, shot urged

NEW YORK

The nasal-spray version of the annual flu vaccine failed to protect kids again last year, the latest in a string of failures that has prompted an expert panel to recommend that doctors stop giving it to patients.

Health officials reported Wednesday that the spray performed dismally for the third-straight year, while the traditional flu shot – the one that stings – worked reasonably well this winter.

“We could find no evidence [the spray] was effective,” said Dr. Joseph Bresee, a flu expert at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Staff/wire reports