Ohio gas prices rise

Ohio gas prices rise

COLUMBUS

Gas prices have risen around Ohio in the past week and are on par with the national average.

Ohio’s average for a gallon of regular fuel was $2.36 in Monday’s survey from auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and WEX Inc. That’s up from $2.26 a week ago and down 3 cents from the average a year ago.

The national average was about $2.36 Monday. That’s 2 cents more than a week ago but above the average of $2.28 reported at this time last year.

Ford taps new CEO

dearborn, mich.

The job of Ford’s new CEO won’t be easy: He will have to shore up the 114-year-old company’s traditional auto business, but also invest in self-driving cars and other projects that could one day make that business obsolete.

Ford thinks Jim Hackett is up to the task. The 62-year-old former chief executive of office furniture maker Steelcase was named to the post Monday, just three days after former CEO Mark Fields told the company he wanted to retire.

Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford, the great-grandson of company founder Henry Ford, said Hackett is a visionary who can help Ford modernize. He served on Ford’s board from 2013 to 2016 and became the head of Ford’s mobility unit in March of last year.

Probe of Hyundai, Kia

dETROIT

The U.S. government is investigating whether Hyundai and Kia moved quickly enough to recall more than 1.6 million cars and SUVs because the engines can stall, increasing the risk of a crash.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it’s looking into three recalls by the Korean brands. The agency also said it’s investigating whether the automakers followed safety reporting requirements.

Hyundai recalled about 470,000 vehicles in September of 2015 because debris from manufacturing can restrict oil flow to connecting rod bearings. That can cause bearings in the four-cylinder engines to wear and fail. The repair is an expensive engine block replacement.

Last March, Hyundai and Kia issued two more recalls covering 1.2 million additional vehicles with the same engine problem.

Boy’s plea to end violence goes viral

st. louis

A 6-year-old St. Louis boy’s plea for an end to violence has been viewed by tens of thousands of people.

Jeffrey Laney’s mother posted the video on her Facebook page last week. It shows Jeffrey pleading for the safety of himself and his family, saying, “I don’t want nothing to happen to all my family, and I’m really serious because I’m really scared to die and I’m really scared for my family to die.”

Nearly 100,000 people had viewed the video by Monday afternoon.

Jeffrey’s mother, Leanndra Cheatham, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that Jeffrey was upset after watching her struggle to deal with the shooting death of her 17-year-old cousin. Taylor Simpson died in a drive-by shooting last month in University City, a St. Louis suburb.

Associated Press