|
Associated Press Thursday Ohio Headlines - 3/4/2010
Latest Ohio news, sports, business and entertainment:
OHIO ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Magazine: Ohio tops for economic development
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - For the fourth year in a row, a magazine has named Ohio the No. 1 state for economic development.
Site Selection says it determined that Ohio had 381 corporate expansion projects in 2009, more than any other state. To meet the magazine's criteria, a project must involve a capital investment of at least $1 million, generate 50 jobs or more, or add at least 20,000 square feet of new floor space.
Texas, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Tennessee were behind Ohio in the top five.
Ohio officials say businesses have been encouraged by the state's efforts to reduce taxes and red tape.
Site Selection is a publication that focuses on economic development issues.
ECONOMY
Jobless claims drop after rising for 2 weeks
WASHINGTON (AP) - New claims for jobless benefits fell last week in a sign that layoffs may be easing as the economy slowly recovers.
The Labor Department says initial claims for unemployment insurance fell by 29,000 to a seasonally adjusted 469,000. That nearly matches Wall Street analysts' estimates of 470,000.
Ohio had one of the largest declines, with claims down by 2,130.
The drop nationwide only partly reverses a sharp rise in claims in the previous two weeks. Those increases had raised concerns that layoffs weren't slowing as quickly as many economists hoped.
The earlier increases also partly resulted from a backlog of claims that had built up in state agencies that closed during severe snowstorms last month.
MOM KILLED
Police say Ohio mother killed holding baby
CINCINNATI (AP) - Police in Cincinnati say a mother of four children was shot to death while holding her 3-week-old baby.
Police say 26-year-old Kelli Walton died early today in her apartment. They say her baby girl was hospitalized after a bullet grazed the infant's head.
Police have not charged anyone in the case. They say witnesses heard several shots around 3 a.m. and then saw a car race away. Police also are interviewing the other children.
TV-AMERICAN IDOL-WOMEN
Bowersox wows 'Idol' judges after hospitalization
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Crystal Bowersox still has a healthy shot at becoming the next "American Idol."
The 24-year-old single mother from Toledo (Ohio) performed Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Long As I Can See The Light" to rave reviews from the judges last night, a day after she was hospitalized for an undisclosed malady that prompted the show's producers to switch the semifinal performance order at the last minute.
She told "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest she felt good and that she was "a tough cookie."
Randy Jackson called Bowersox's soulful rendition "the truth," while Ellen DeGeneres said the dreadlocked singer had "pure, raw, natural talent." Kara DioGuardi told Bowersox she "hit a new level," and Simon Cowell described her as "a serious artist."
PREVENTING EXPLOSIONS
US agency's guidelines aim to prevent explosions
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A federal agency is issuing guidelines designed to prevent workplace explosions like the one that killed three workers at a Wisconsin mill in 2008.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board will present its guidelines Thursday in central Wisconsin. The agency has been investigating the hazards of using welders and other hot tools near flammable vapors.
The agency says more than 60 people have died in industrial explosions in the last 20 years.
Its analysis centered on fatal or serious explosions since 1995 in states including Wisconsin and Ohio.
The CSB is an independent agency that investigates industrial chemical accidents. It makes safety recommendations but doesn't issue citations or fines.
TEEN SLAYINGS
Ohio man charged with 4 killings goes on trial
CINCINNATI (AP) - Opening statements are set to begin in the Ohio trial of a man accused of killing two teenage girls and two women.
The trial of 41-year-old Anthony Kirkland gets under way in court today, a day after the jurors in Cincinnati visited the areas where the four burned bodies were found.
The registered sex offender was arrested in March 2009 and accused of strangling 13-year-old Esme (EHS'-mee) Kenney a few weeks after his release from a halfway house. Kirkland also is charged with killing 14-year-old Casonya Crawford and two women in 2006.
Crawford and one of the two women also were strangled. The other woman was stabbed in the neck.
Kirkland has pleaded not guilty in all four deaths. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the teens' killings.
STIMULUS-RAIL-CINCINNATI
Cincy council wants old station reused for rail
CINCINNATI (AP) - Cincinnati's city council is urging that the city's grand Union Terminal be the local stop on a new passenger rail line proposed for Ohio.
Council members voted 6-3 yesterday to pass a motion declaring they prefer the 77-year-old Art Deco landmark as the Cincinnati station for trains that would link the city with Dayton, Columbus and Cleveland.
Union Terminal handled 17,000 passengers and 216 trains a day in the 1930s, but Amtrak says the building needs too much work. The state has recommended building a new train station at the city's Lunken Airport instead.
The Cincinnati council measure asks the state to begin studying ways to make Union Terminal usable for passenger rail. It calls for a temporary station if the terminal can't be ready in five to seven years.
---
Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com
BIDEN-OHIO
Biden due in Ohio for fundraiser
CINCINNATI (AP) - Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to return to Ohio later this month, for a political fundraiser.
He's the star attraction at a March 15 luncheon in Cincinnati to raise campaign money for U.S. Representative Steve Driehaus (DREE'-hows).
The southwest Ohio Democrat is in a rematch this year with Republican Steve Chabot (SHA'-buht), the seven-term congressman who lost his seat to Driehaus in 2008.
The invitation for the event with Biden shows tickets range from $100 to $500.
The vice president last came to Ohio in October, when he visited Cleveland to tout the administration's stimulus program.
PEOPLE-CORBIN BERNSEN
Bernsen gives go-ahead to Soap Box Derby shoot
AKRON, Ohio (AP) - Actor-director Corbin Bernsen says he's ready to start shooting a movie aiding the financially troubled All-American Soap Box Derby in Ohio.
Bernsen says commitments he now has for about $500,000 are enough to get the film going.
He plans to shoot most of the movie in the Akron area, home of the annual derby, with filming scheduled to start in April.
The former star of the TV series "L.A. Law," who now appears on the USA Network series "Psych," said yesterday he's confident he has enough financial backing to make "a really good movie."
The nonprofit derby has gone two years without a corporate sponsor, and its lender sued to repay a $580,000 loan.
---
Information from: Akron Beacon Journal, http://www.ohio.com
RETAIL SALES
Retailers report gains for February
NEW YORK (AP) - Many retailers are reporting solid sales gains for February, even in the face of falling consumer confidence and heavy snowstorms that hammered the East Coast.
As merchants report their sales figures Thursday, Cincinnati-based Macy's, Columbus, Ohio-based Limited Brands and The Wet Seal posted results that beat Wall Street analysts' expectations.
While consumers are starting to spend a little more, the figures are positive partly because sales in February 2009 were so awful. That month, consumer confidence hit an all-time low.
The figures for sales at stores open at least a year are an important measure of retailers' health.
VOTING MACHINE CONTROVERSY
Is this voting machine merger too big to stand?
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Justice Department could soon decide whether to allow the country's two biggest voting machine manufacturers to merge.
The department's review comes with midterm elections looming and the battle well under way between Republicans and Democrats for control of Congress.
Senate Rules and Administration Committee Chairman Chuck Schumer of New York has urged the department's antitrust division to take a close look at the deal between Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Nebraska, and Diebold (DEE'-bohld) of North Canton (Ohio).
A competitor seeking to undo the merger says the Omaha company now controls the voting machines in nearly 70 percent of the nation's precincts.
EARNS-WENDY'S/ARBY'S GROUP
Wendy's/Arby's 4Q loss narrows
CHICAGO (AP) - The fast-food chain that owns Wendy's and Arby's says its fourth-quarter loss narrowed, but one-time costs still dragged down results.
And the restaurant company says an important sales measure kept sliding as customers counted their pennies in a weak economy.
For the three-month period, Wendy's/Arby's Group lost $13.6 million, or 3 cents per share. That compares with a loss of $393.2 million, or 84 cents per share, during the previous year.
Excluding those one-time costs, the company earned a better than expected 7 cents per share.
Sales climbed 0.5 percent to $900.9 million, falling short of forecasts.
Wendy's is based in the Columbus suburb of Dublin, while the parent company is headquartered in Atlanta.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
|
