BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Healthy schools

YOUNGSTOWN

Rhiel Innovative Solutions will host the region’s first Healthy Schools Conference on March 8 at Kilcawley Center on the campus of Youngstown State University.

The conference is free for facility directors, school nurses, superintendents and school-board presidents. Guest speakers from the region will discuss topics such as nutrition, exercise, sustainable cleaning and green-building best practices. The conference will also provide a setting for networking and exchanging of ideas. The list of presenters and topics will be released later this month.

For information, visit Rhiel.com/Healthy-Schools.

Energy education scholarships

GRANVILLE

Students interested in pursuing careers and training in the crude oil and natural-gas industry have until March 1 to submit their scholarship applications to the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program.

Qualifying students will receive $1,000 renewable scholarships to attend an accredited Ohio college, university, technical or trade school of their choice. To date, more than 300 scholarships have been awarded to Ohio students. For information, go to OOGEEP.org.

Safety grants

COLUMBUS

The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation Administrator/CEO Sarah Morrison announced 41 employers will share more than $942,000 in grants to purchase equipment designed to substantially reduce or eliminate workplace injuries and illnesses.

The Safety Intervention Grants were approved in December. The recipient employers operate in 28 counties around the state, including Mahoning County.

Tabor’s Landscaping & Garden Center of North Lima was approved for $9,439 to purchase one landscape rake attachment and one bucket grapple to reduce the injury risk to hands, wrist, arms, back and legs related to hand force, awkward postures, contact stress, push/pull heavy load and manual materials handling.

Real-work initiative

COLUMBUS

State Rep. John Boccieri of Poland, D-59th, on Thursday announced his support for a potential plan in the upcoming biennial state budget to forge connections between businesses and schools to help high-school students gain real-work experience. The initiative would ensure more students are able to explore potential career paths and help local communities meet their specific job needs.

Expansion grant

CLEVELAND

The country’s biggest automotive testing facility outside Columbus will receive a $45 million grant to expand as the state furthers its efforts to become a national leader in advancing autonomous vehicle research and smart road technology, Gov. John Kasich and other officials announced Thursday.

The state, OSU and JobsOhio are providing the grant for the Transportation Research Center in East Liberty, a testing facility northwest of Columbus.

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1236.26-0.27

Aqua America, .71 30.110.05

Avalon Holdings,2.91 -0.02

Chemical Bank, .2723.34-0.36Community Health Sys. 6.72 -0.03

Cortland Bancorp, .2817.84-0.01

Farmers Nat., .1613.70-0.10

First Energy, 1.44 29.800.00

Fifth/Third, .5227.130.22

FirstMerit Corp.,21.610.37

First Niles Financial, .1210.250.00

FNB Corp., .4815.35-0.06

General Motors, 1.5237.50-0.78

General Electric, .9230.33-0.03

Huntington Bank, .28 14.01-0.01

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.150.00

JP Morgan Chase, 1.9286.800.77

Key Corp, .3418.460.06

LaFarge, .3417.570.00

Macy’s, 1.51 29.92-0.23

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 149.10-0.42

PNC, 2.20121.620.61

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60182.21-0.19

Stoneridge 16.74-0.12

United Comm. Fin., .12 8.69-0.21

Selected prices from Thursday’s 4 p.m. close.