Warren Fabricating won't be building facility in Arkansas, by Peter Krouse, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 14, 2008
Youngstown—Warren Fabricating and Machining Corp. near Youngstown is not building a $500 million steel and fabricating complex in Arkansas as a Tennessee newspaper reported last week. Paul Theisler, chief financial officer, tells the PD that he doesn't know why the newspaper made that report, since the company decided to scrap the project as economically unfeasible two months ago.

GE's Nela Park demonstrates lights, printed in rolls, called 'organic light-emitting diodes', by Frank Bentayou, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 14, 2008
Cleveland—General Electric Co. says it has produced a printed electronic light source that could begin supplanting incandescent bulbs and fluorescent tubes in many applications by 2010. The new light sources will be printed like newspapers on roll-to-roll manufacturing for organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs.

Ohio school chief: More students need career, technical training, by Denise Grant, Findlay Courier, March 14, 2008
Findlay—Findlay's Millstream Career & Technology Center took Ohio School Superintendent Susan Tave-Zelman on a whirlwind tour Thursday. At a roundtable with community leaders Thursday afternoon, Zelman said it will take an "economic argument" to convince both the public and the Ohio Legislature that investing in schools like Millstream can save money and help the economy.

Reading, writing ... and engineering, by Anne Marie Chaker, Wall Street Journal, March 13, 2008
Colorado Springs, Colo.—In Room 10 at Odyssey Elementary School in Colorado Springs, Colo., fourth graders are learning to make play dough for a lesson on chemical engineering. What seems like child's play is actually an experiment in moving engineering beyond higher education and into surprisingly early grades. The article reviews several industry-supported educational projects that seek to foster the development of home-grown engineers.

Great Lakes pollution draft released by CDC, AP via Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 13, 2008
Washington—Under pressure from Congress, the government released Wednesday a controversial draft report on pollution in the Great Lakes states. The report suggests pollution in some areas is causing health problems, including cancer and premature births. The document was produced by scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Northeast Ohio faces challenge to meet new EPA air-quality guidelines, by John Horton, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 14, 2008
Washington—On March 13, the U.S. EPA announced tougher ground-level ozone regulations. And just like that, the region fell behind in its quest to make the air clean enough to meet federal guidelines. Pamela Davis, senior environmental planner with the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, tells the PD that it will be a struggle for Northeast Ohio to meet the new goal.

Analysis: Politics makes free trade the scapegoat, by David Olive, Toronto Star, March 12, 2008
Toronto—Both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama exploited a NAFTA widely blamed for significant job loss in Ohio in the run-up to that state's presidential primary, and they will be at it again in the run-up to the April 22 primary in Pennsylvania. The Toronto Star's business columnist points out that Ohio enjoys a $3.3 billion merchandise trade surplus with Canada on more than $33 billion in cross-border trade. The Canadian finance minister declares "NAFTA is a tremendous benefit to Americans."

Cleveland State biz school to aid trade effort, by Shannon Mortland, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 12, 2008
Cleveland—Cleveland State University’s Nance College of Business Administration has entered into an agreement with the International Trade Assistance Center of Northeast Ohio to help local businesses boost exports.

Sherwin-Williams CEO doesn't paint rosy picture, by Stan Bullard, Crains' Cleveland Business, March 12, 2008
Cleveland—Christopher Connor, chairman and CEO of Sherwin-Williams Co., did not gloss over the housing industry’s woes when he talked to financial analysts and investor relations specialists at a luncheon today at the Metropolitan Club in Cleveland. Drops in new home starts plus a decline in existing-home sales created “quite a headwind” for Sherwin-Williams to overcome last year, Mr. Connor said.

Exports rise as trade gap widens, by Jeff Bater, Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2008 (Subscription)
Washington—The U.S. trade deficit widened in January as the price for oil set a new record, but the shortfall was smaller than expected, with exports making their largest climb in six months.

Small manufacturers make transition to medical devices, by Mary Vanac, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 11, 2008
Cleveland—Many small Ohio companies that have made industrial products for generations are quietly moving into the burgeoning market for medical devices. Brooklyn-based Superior Products and Parma-based Prince & Izant Co. are examples of companies expanding into the medical device industry.

RPM subsidiary buys Florida company, by Frank Bentayou, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 11, 2008
Medina—Euclid Chemical Co., a subsidiary of RPM International Inc., will buy Increte Systems of Odessa, Fla. for an undisclosed sum. The company said Increte Systems makes decorative concrete products and reported annual sales of about $15 million.

Editorial: Look beyond NAFTA, Youngstown Vindicator, March 10, 2008
Youngstown—During their Ohio campaigns Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama focused almost exclusively on the jobs fallout attributed to NAFTA. The six-year fight to penalize China for dumping thousands of tons of metal pipe in the U.S. at prices below the cost to manufacture is an example of manufacturing job losses created by other influences than NAFTA.

BioEnterprise: Ohio 2nd in Midwest for medical device firms, Business Courier of Cincinnati, March 10, 2008
Cleveland—Ohio, with 625 medical devices manufacturers and distributors, comes in second only to Illinois, which is home to 966 companies. BioEnterprise Corp., a Cleveland biosciences business incubator, reported that in Ohio the medical devices sector employed more than 12,000 workers and had an economic impact of $2.8 billion in 2006.

American Axle, UAW hold 4th day of talks, Toledo Blade, March 10, 2008
Detroit—Talks between 3,600 workers and American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings continued for a fourth-straight day yesterday. General Motors Corp., which spun off American Axle in 1994 and relies on it for parts for its trucks, has taken steps to shut or partly shut almost 30 facilities employing more than 37,000 workers in the United States and Canada because of component shortages.

Public hearings set on rate hike request, Toledo Blade, March 10, 2008
Toledo—PUCO will hold public hearings on a rate hike requested by FirstEnergy Corp. this week and next week in metro Toledo. The utility wants to boost the fee it charges to transmit power across its lines to houses and businesses.

EPA probes air quality near ArcelorMittal's Cleveland mill, by Peter Krouse, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 9, 2008
Cleveland—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been investigating emissions from ArcelorMittal's steel mill in Cleveland and is trying to decide whether enforcement action is needed. Advocacy group Ohio Citizen Action filed a complaint about the blast furnace last year.

Japanese, Americans discover and share ideas at jobs in Ohio, overseas, by Joe Hallett, Columbus Dispatch via Akron Beacon Journal, March 9, 2008
Tokyo and Marysville, Ohio—For many Honda employees, experiencing another culture is both daunting and rewarding. The company has 25 Ohioans temporarily assigned to Japan, and about 200 Japanese are working in the States. The Dispatch profiles three Honda employees about their cross-cultural experiences.

Cleveland port's move approved by Planning Commission, county commissioners, by Tom Breckenridge, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 8, 2008
Cleveland—The Cleveland City Planning Commission voted to approve a sprawling new port off the East 55th Street lakeshore, with some conditions. Cuyahoga County commissioners also signaled their support for the 200-acre project. But growing support doesn't mean the project is a done deal.

Ohio says company wouldn't talk about expansion, by Peter Krouse, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 8, 2008
Columbus—A Tennessee newspaper reported that Warren Fabricating and Machining Corp. near Youngstown had chosen Arkansas over Tennessee for the site of a $500 million manufacturing complex. Ohio Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher said the company never gave Ohio a chance to bid on the project. Some speculated the announcement might be premature.

Strickland memo insists that PUCO, not utilities, set rates, by John Funk, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 8, 2008
Columbus—Gov. Ted Strickland made clear Friday that he will not allow the state's electric utilities to set the price of power in Ohio, no matter what their legislative allies say.

Editorial: Timetable for renewable power needs to be brisk, or Ohio will be passed up, Lorain Morning Journal, March 8, 2008
Lorain—Gov. Ted Strickland is moving in the right direction, but he needs to go all the way to accepting a strict timetable, starting next year, for utilities to use clean, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. What's at stake is not only the growing use of renewable energy sources, but the creation of an industry in Ohio that can build the equipment necessary to make electricity from wind and solar power and other sources.

What are the Hot Jobs for 2008?, by Terri Mrosko, Cleveland Plain Dealer, March 5, 2008
Cleveland—MAGNET's Director of Education and Training, Judith Crocker, contributed to this article published in the PD's Employment section. "People think of dirty, scrubby work, but manufacturers need people in human resources and finance. In just six months, there were over 600 jobs listed in accounting, auditing and purchasing [on MAGNET's JobMagnet.org site]. From mechanical to electrical and manufacturing, the whole breadth of engineering is experiencing a shortage within the industry and will continue to do so," said Crocker.