BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Auto sales up in May

YOUNGSTOWN

May new and used auto sales in the Mahoning Valley were up by 818 to 5,206 from 4,388 reported last May. For the year, new and used auto sales are up by 2,911 to 24,898 from 21,987 reported last year, according to the Greater Cleveland Automobile Dealers Association.

Manufacturing camps

WASHINGTON

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown on Tuesday announced the beginning of manufacturing camps in Ohio this summer organized by his office.

The first is for Lake and Geauga county students. Camps are also scheduled to take place in Athens, Coshocton, Cuyahoga, Fulton, Guernsey, Jackson, Jefferson, Licking, Lorain, Mahoning, Muskingum, Ross, Tuscarawas, Stark, Washington and Wood counties.

To help young Ohioans learn about manufacturing jobs available in Ohio, Brown’s office has teamed up with local manufacturers and plants, community partners and schools for the past five years to host manufacturing camps across Ohio.

Anthem opens new hole in ACA exchange

One of the nation’s biggest health insurers says it will not return to Ohio’s public insurance exchanges next year, a decision that could open more holes in the Affordable Care Act’s increasingly thin system for helping people buy coverage.

The move announced Tuesday by Anthem Inc. could leave shoppers in 20 counties without an option for buying individual coverage on the exchange unless another insurer steps in, according to data compiled by The Associated Press and the consulting firm Avalere.

The exchanges are the only place where people can use an income-based tax credit to help cover the cost of coverage.

Insurers are finalizing their plans for next year, and exchange choices have grown sparse in many markets around the country. While several insurers have said they plan to return for 2018 and metropolitan markets are expected to still have several choices, national companies such as Humana and Aetna have already decided to leave the on-exchange market entirely.

Most of the 20 Ohio counties that could be left with no exchange options for next year are in rural areas, according to AP and Avalere data.

Ky. supplier recalls 22K+ pounds of beef

LOUISVILLE, KY.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says a Kentucky-based food distributor has issued a recall on more than 22,000 pounds of ground beef and other beef products due to possible E. coli bacteria contamination.

USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service says the Creation Gardens Inc. products subject to the recall were shipped to food service locations in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee.

The department says the problem was discovered Monday when plant management at the Louisville-based company notified Food Safety and Inspection Service officials of positive test results for E.coli. Officials say the raw ground beef and beef primal cut products affected by the recall were produced from May 31 to June 2. The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 7914” inside the USDA mark of inspection.

Staff/wire reports