BUSINESS DIGEST ||

EGCC expanding

youngstown

The Eastern Gateway Community College Board of Trustees authorized a letter of intent to sign a 10-year lease with the Western Reserve Port Authority to use a large part of the 14,000-square-foot Harshman Building at 101 E. Boardman St.

The building is close to the college’s 139 E. Boardman St. location and its 101 E. Federal St. site. The school needs the additional space to accommodate increased enrollment at its Youngstown facilities this fall.

At Wednesday’s port authority meeting, officials said the authority plans to keep about 3,700 square feet of the space in the Harshman building to house its economic-development offices. It plans to move in by March or April next year. The port authority is moving from downtown offices it has on North Champion Street.

Best ice cream

YOUNGSTOWN

A Handel’s Ice Cream franchise location in Las Vegas was voted one of the best ice cream parlors in the U.S. by MSN.com.

After two and a half years in the city, franchise owner Patrick Frank’s store, 10170 West Tropicana Ave., garnered enough popularity for the ranking.

Handel’s has been in the Youngstown area since 1945 and also has locations in Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Virginia, California and Oregon.

New appointment

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber COO James Dignan has been appointed to the newly created Ohio House BRAC & Military Affairs Task Force, BMATF, which will study and analyze current Ohio Department of Defense and NASA assets, resources and missions in anticipation of potential Base Realignment and Closure, BRAC, actions and other major mission realignment opportunities.

Dignan was recommended for the task force by U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Republican from Cincinnati, and U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican from Marietta.

Conservation kit

YOUNGSTOWN

Residential customers of FirstEnergy Corp.’s Ohio utilities can sign up to receive an Energy Conservation Kit that includes information about saving energy and a variety of energy-efficient items.

Visit www.ohioenergykit.com or call 888-793-6768 to request a kit. Customers will need their utility account number to place their order.

Proposal for EITC

YOUNGSTOWN

U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Howland, D-13th, joined about 40 Democratic members of Congress in introducing legislation for working families by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit. The proposal roughly doubles the EITC for working families and increases the credit for childless workers almost sixfold.

“Wages for low-income and middle-class families haven’t gone up in over 30 years, while massive amounts of wealth have gone to the top one percent,” Ryan said. “This trend is not sustainable, and will not allow long-term economic success for the United States. It is about time we make sure American workers are given a fair wage for a fair days work.”

Selected local stocks

STOCK, DIVIDENDCLOSECHANGE

Alcoa Inc., .1244.90-0.10

Aqua America, .71 33.71-0.17

Avalon Holdings,1.87-0.07

Chemical Bank, .2748.861.59Community Health Sys. 7.33 -0.26

Cortland Bancorp, .2817.950.44

Farmers Nat., .1613.500.05

First Energy, 1.44 31.48-0.27

Fifth/Third, .5226.330.15

FirstMerit Corp.,--

First Niles Financial, .1210.50-0.02

FNB Corp., .4812.830.02

General Motors, 1.5238.220.33

General Electric, .9224.090.19

Huntington Bank, .28 12.900.11

iHeartMedia Inc.,1.400.02

JP Morgan Chase, 1.9291.150.26

Key Corp, .3417.850.39

LaFarge, .34--

Macy’s, 1.51 22.670.45

Parker Hannifin, 2.52 167.951.43

PNC, 2.20127.300.86

Simon Prop. Grp., 6.60160.402.85

Stoneridge 17.290.19

United Comm. Fin., .12 9.04-0.03

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