BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Ribbon cutting

YOUNGSTOWN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Students Motivated by the Arts, or SMARTS, 25 E. Boardman St. in the Ohio One Building, at 10 a.m. Thursday.

SMARTS will celebrate its transition to the community as a standalone community art school. SMARTS community art school provides access and early training in the arts for the region’s K-12 youths, with a focus on underserved populations.

Mall Payless store

BOARDMAN

The Southern Park Mall Payless Shoesource location is subject to close pending ongoing bankruptcy negotiations.

“We remain hopeful these negotiations will be successful and provide us with the ability to avoid additional closures,” Payless said in a statement.

Payless announced in April it filed a voluntary petition for reorganization pursuant to Chapter 11 of the U.S. Federal Bankruptcy Code.

In agreement with its lenders, Payless intends to invest in certain areas for growth and optimize its footprint by immediately closing 400 underperforming locations in the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

NovaCare ceremony

BOARDMAN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 10 a.m. today for NovaCare Rehabilitation, 277 Boardman-Canfield Road.

NovaCare Rehabilitation is part of Select Medical’s Outpatient Division, a nationally prominent, locally driven provider of outpatient physical rehabilitation. NovaCare Rehabilitation’s clinical teams provide preventive and rehabilitative care. Individualized treatment plans are developed to help achieve each patient’s specific goals.

Grand opening

BOARDMAN

The Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber will have a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 2 p.m. Thursday for Thermae Retreat, 7250 West Blvd.

A grand opening will take place from noon to 6 p.m.

The celebration includes a free, guided tour of the facility, chair massages, hors d’oeuvres, refreshments and the chance to win a free weeklong membership when you sign up as a member the day of the grand opening.

To learn more, visit thermaeretreat.com/boardman.

Proxy fight over GM stock heats up

DETROIT

Shares of General Motors rose Tuesday as a proxy fight escalates between the company and an activist shareholder who wants to split its shares into two classes.

David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital said Tuesday that it’s sending a letter to shareholders emphasizing that the stock price has barely grown since GM’s initial public offering at $33 seven years ago.

The stock closed Tuesday at $33.53 per share, up 46 cents or 1.39 percent.

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1232.99-0.28

Aqua America, .71 32.58-0.01

Avalon Holdings,2.58-0.03

Chemical Bank, .2745.50-0.84Community Health Sys. 9.16 -0.20

Cortland Bancorp, .2818.720.00

Farmers Nat., .1613.45-0.30

First Energy, 1.44 29.170.25

Fifth/Third, .5224.05-0.21

FirstMerit Corp.,--

First Niles Financial, .129.670.00

FNB Corp., .4813.31-0.08

General Motors, 1.5233.530.47

General Electric, .9227.36-0.09

Huntington Bank, .28 12.74-0.12

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.70-0.05

JP Morgan Chase, 1.9283.90-1.46

Key Corp, .3417.84-0.15

LaFarge, .34--

Macy’s, 1.51 23.600.16

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 159.330.07

PNC, 2.20118.86-2.46

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60154.96-2.30

Stoneridge 15.59-0.09

United Comm. Fin., .12 7.96-0.11

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