BUSINESS DIGEST ||
Founders Exchange
WARREN
The Tech Belt Energy Innovation Center will host the Founders Exchange, a new entrepreneurial event aimed at introducing successful entrepreneurs to community startups and the public through the exchange of startup knowledge.
TBEIC will host the first Founders Exchange event next Monday at the Lime Tree in Warren. Doors open at 5 p.m., and programming will take place from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. followed by networking and live music.
The event is open to the public and those interested in starting their own business. Small-business owners are encouraged to attend.
Registration for the event is $5 on Eventbrite: founders-exchange1.eventbrite.com.
Home sales hit high
COLUMBUS
The rate of homes sold across Ohio in September reached a best-ever level, posting a marginal increase from the mark posted during the month a year ago, according to Ohio Realtors.
Sales in September reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 149,926, nearly identical to the 149,920 level reached during the month a year ago. The rate of sales recorded in September this year reached a best-ever level for the month, surpassing the month’s previous record set a year ago.
September’s average home price of $172,910 reflects a 4.3 percent increase from the $165,850 mark posted during the month last year.
NAACP hires leader
WASHINGTON
The NAACP turned to an insider Saturday to help bring the nation’s oldest civil rights organization back to prominence.
Derrick Johnson, 49, of Jackson, Miss., was hired as the NAACP’s 19th president and CEO after having served as interim leader since July and previously as vice chairman of the NAACP board of directors.
Johnson, in an interview with The Associated Press, said the NAACP will be much more politically active in the coming years and will alter its nonprofit status so it can more effectively lobby for its members’ positions.
Death toll rises in Malaysian landslide
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
Rescue workers have located two more bodies buried by a landslide in a construction site in northern Malaysia, bringing the death toll to 11.
Fire and rescue official Mohamad Rizuan Ramli said the body of a Bangladeshi was retrieved early today but rescuers were still trying to bring out the body of a Malaysian trapped deep under the rubble.
A hillside crashed down early Saturday at the site where two 49-story condominiums are being built in northern Penang state, a popular tourist destination.
Three of the 14 workers buried by the landslide survived. The other victims were from China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
Child’s body found
RICHARDSON, TEXAS
Police in a Dallas suburb say they’ve found the body of a small child not far from the home of a 3-year-old girl who’s been missing since earlier this month.
Richardson police say the child’s body was discovered in a culvert as authorities using dogs searched for Sherin Mathews on Sunday morning.
Her father, Wesley Mathews, has told authorities he ordered the child to stand next to a tree behind the fence at their home around 3 a.m. Oct. 7 as punishment for not drinking her milk and she went missing. He is charged with child endangerment.
Police say the body hasn’t been positively identified but that they have no reason to believe it’s a different child.
Staff/wire reports