Huntington Launches Commercial MasterCard
Wednesday, May 22, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Huntington Bank is introducing its MasterCard-branded commercial credit card this week to small businesses that it says “will make it easier for [them] to save money each month by streamlining invoice and expense payment workflow processes.”
The card combines online card and data management tools, says Michael Anderson, director of Huntington’s treasury-management group. It sets itself apart from similar cards that other banks offer “by providing a unique monthly rebate payment,” he said.
Ohio Identifies New 70 mph Speed Zones
Wednesday, May 22, 2013COLUMBUS, Ohio -- The Ohio Department of Transportation has presented a map that identifies the interstate highways where motorists will legally drive 70 miles per hour beginning this summer.
The new designations follow recently enacted legislation that allows the speed to increase to 70 mph from 65 mph on some interstate highways.
H.B. 51 -- the state’s transportation budget bill that takes effect July 1 -- increased speeds to 70 mph on interstates “outside urbanized areas.”
Ryan, Manufacturing Caucus Urge DOD Contract Limits
Wednesday, May 22, 2013WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Tim Ryan, D-13 Ohio, and Tom Reed, R-23 N.Y., co-chairmen of the House Manufacturing Caucus, and six other members of the caucus, are asking House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon and Ranking Member Adam Smith to consider legislative proposals to limit a U.S. Air Force contract that could send as much as $10 billion to a company in Brazil. The contract was awarded to Brazilian-based Embraer over Kansas-based Beechcraft.
The May 17 letter to McKeon and Smith follows:
Cafaro Foundation Awards $49,000 in Scholarships
Wednesday, May 22, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The Cafaro Foundation has awarded $49,000 in scholarships to 20 northeastern Ohio students, a Cafaro spokesman announced Tuesday. This is the largest annual amount the foundation has awarded since it was created in 1996.
Area Employers Slow in Preparing for ObamaCare
Tuesday, May 21, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Despite the best efforts of Robert M. Gearhart and George Morris III to educate their policyholders, small-business owners are reluctant to join the exchanges created under the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare.
Both are certain that come Jan. 1, it will take effect and, as Gearhart, president of DCWellness in Columbiana, says, “Employers must figure out their strategy. … The most troubling thing we see in the [insurance] market is employers, both large and small, who aren’t making changes.”
GE Puts Lot on the Market, No Plans for Vacant Plant
Tuesday, May 21, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- A 1-acre parking lot adjacent to the former General Electric plant on Market Street near the gateway into downtown is on the real estate market, a potential precursor to the sale of the building itself, a company spokesman said.
Team NEO Projects 2.75M Jobs in Region by 2022
Tuesday, May 21, 2013CLEVELAND, Ohio – Employment in the northeastern Ohio region is expected to reach 2.75 million workers by 2022, its highest level in two decades, Team NEO projects. Occupations with the most projected job openings through 2022 include health care, office and similar occupations, and production, according to the quarterly Cleveland Plus Economic Review released Monday.
Business Economists Upbeat on Consumer Spending
Tuesday, May 21, 2013WASHINGTON -- A group of 49 business economists sees the U.S. economy growing at a 2.4% rate this year and 3% in 2014.
In a report released Monday, the National Association for Business Economics forecasts that when the statistics are tabulated for 2013, they will show that Gross Domestic Product, or “the economy,” will have grown 2.4% and when those for 2014 are tabulated they will show 3% growth.
Real Estate Forum Names Cafaro 'Industry Icon'
Tuesday, May 21, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Anthony Cafaro Sr., retired president of The Cafaro Co., is listed as one of 22 "icons" in the commercial real estate industry in the May 2013 issue of Real Estate Forum.
United Way Allocates $2M to Programs, Initiatives
Tuesday, May 21, 2013YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The executive committee of United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley has approved funding of $1,958,875 to programs related to education and health and to United Way-led initiatives for its 2013-2014 year.
While the committee met May 8, its decisions were announced Monday.