BUSINESS DIGEST ||

Mail delivery

YOUNGSTOWN

Post offices will be closed Saturday in observance of the Veterans Day federal holiday. Only priority mail express will be delivered that day. On Monday, normal mail-delivery operations will resume, and post offices will reopen. Extensive postal information and services are available 24/7 online at USPS.com.

Pension bill

WASHINGTON

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Cleveland, discussed his plan Wednesday to introduce legislation that will ensure Ohio retirees can keep the pensions they have earned.

Brown plans to introduce legislation that will put the pension plans back on solid footing and ensure they can meet their obligations to current retirees and workers for decades to come, without cuts.

Brown will name the bill after Butch Lewis, the former retired head of Teamsters Local 100 in Evendale, Ohio. Brown intends to lead the charge in Congress to include the fix for pensions in any year-end legislative priorities.

Air Force Academy silent on motive in alleged racist hoax

DENVER

The Air Force Academy said Wednesday it would not discuss what led a student to allegedly stage a hate crime, but a researcher said those who commit hoaxes are sometimes trying to bolster their reputations or want to deflect attention from trouble they are in.

The academy said this week that an African-American student acknowledged writing anti-black slurs in a dormitory in September and that an investigation confirmed the student was responsible.

The epithets prompted academy superintendent Lt. Gen. Jay Silveria to sternly warn students that racists were not welcome at the school, and he invoked some of the racial tensions that have been gripping the country. A video of the speech has been widely viewed online.

US tightens travel rules to Cuba

WASHINGTON

Americans seeking to visit Cuba must navigate a complicated maze of travel, commerce and financial restrictions unveiled Wednesday by the Trump administration, part of a new policy to further isolate the island’s communist government.

Now off-limits to U.S. citizens are dozens of Cuban hotels, shops, tour companies and other businesses included on a lengthy American blacklist of entities that have links to Cuba’s military, intelligence or security services. And most Americans will once again be required to travel as part of heavily regulated, organized tour groups run by U.S. companies, rather than voyaging to Cuba on their own.

The stricter rules mark a return to the tougher U.S. stance toward Cuba that existed before former President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro restored diplomatic relations in 2015.

Staff/wire reports

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1245.91-1.06

Aqua America, .71 36.540.27

Avalon Holdings,1.92-0.01

Chemical Bank, .2751.57-0.18Community Health Sys. 4.49 0.03

Cortland Bancorp, .2818.76-0.04

Farmers Nat., .1613.65-0.20

First Energy, 1.44 33.720.58

Fifth/Third, .5228.30-0.16

FirstMerit Corp.,--

First Niles Financial, .1211.000.00

FNB Corp., .4813.00-0.03

General Motors, 1.5242.060.37

General Electric, .9220.10-0.11

Huntington Bank, .28 13.30-0.10

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.20-0.08

JP Morgan Chase, 1.9297.57-1.18

Key Corp, .3417.93-0.17

LaFarge, .34--

Macy’s, 1.51 17.51-0.02

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 184.83-0.64

PNC, 2.20133.25-0.85

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60157.08-1.97

Stoneridge 21.83-0.06

United Comm. Fin., .12 8.950.17

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