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MONITOR NOTES  (September 2003)

DECISION MAKING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Brian Sroub is moving his information technology company to Cleveland from Cupertino, Calif.  The state is giving Sroub’s company, Agui Systems Inc., a 60 percent job creation tax credit for five years on its $300,000 move to Cleveland.  Aqui Systems uses global positioning satellite sensors to build databases about road conditions.  The sensors also help build routing and navigational software, which makes truck travel faster and safer. (PD 8/2).

Boise Cascade Corp., which bought OfficeMax Inc., for $1.2 billion plans to raise $50 million by issuing medium-term notes.  The fixed notes will mature August 10, 2011, and will be issued at an interest rate of 7.45 percent, according to a company filing.  (PD 8/4).

Northeast Ohio’s manufacturing economy continued to stumble in July, according to the latest survey of purchasing managers by the Purchasing Management Association of Cleveland. (PD8/5).

Three Northeast Ohio companies were among the winners of the NASA Glenn Garret Morgan Commercialization Assistance Competition, which provides small businesses with money and access to NASA Glenn Research Center.  Digital Interface Systems Inc. won $70,000.  Logical Labs Inc. won $27,000 and Women on Wheels won $75,000. (PD8/5)

The government is considering suspending business with Sprint because the telecommunications company overcharged the Justice Department more than $2 million.  The General Services Administration informed Sprint that the agency’s inspector general urged GSA officials to consider barring the company from new contracts.  Sprint’s government contracts are worth more than $600 million each year.  (PD 8/6).

First Maytag Corp. moved two parts plants to Mexico: now a refrigerator plant is headed there.  The relocations to Reynosa, Mexico, all announced in the last two years, have intensified fears that Maytag might export even more jobs to countries with cheap labor. This company’s brand names are:  Maytag, Jenn-air, Amana, Magic Chef and Hoover. (PD 8/6).

More than 43,000 Ohio consumers will share $32 million in a settlement with Household International Inc., which was accused of defrauding home-loan customers over four years. Any homeowner in Ohio who got a mortgage from Household from January 1999 through September 2002 is eligible.  1-888-780-2156 or www.household-beneficial-settlement.com.  (PD 8/12)

The USA Taxi Co. is a Somali-owned cab company that may be the leading edge of Somali migration from Columbus to Cleveland.  The company opened in Cleveland nine months ago and today has 45 cabs on the road.  Each driven by a Somali refugee. (PD 8/11).

Liquid Resources of Ohio LLC, the Beachwood company that hopes to start making ethanol in Medina by early next year, will get a $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture under a program to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy systems.  Harrison Ethanol LLC, Central Ethanol LLC and Pike ethanol LLC which are planning to build an ethanol plant and animal waste converter in Cadiz, Ohio, each will get $500,000. (PD 8/27).

HEALTH

A new study says that the economic impact of the health-care industry in Greater Cleveland ranks the area 14 in the nation.  The Milken Institute, ranked 317 metropolitan areas. (PD 8/11)

Older Ohioans are getting help to break the tobacco habit from U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.  The agency is conducting a yearlong study to find out what approach to quitting works best for seniors. (PD 8/2)

Of the 36 American Red Cross blood-collection regions nationwide, the one with headquarters in Cleveland consistently ranks at or near the bottom in supply of blood products available for hospital patients. (PD 8/4)

Prompted by worrisome data on the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related disorders in children, the American Academy of Pediatrics has developed its first-ever policy statement dealing solely with identifying and preventing the problem. (PD 8/4).

CRIME 

President of the police union, Bob Beck wants the city to replace the department’s Smith and Wesson 9 mm handguns with Glock .40-caliber guns.  The proposed gun’s bullets are heavier and slightly wider, so they would inflict more damage.  Beck said “We’re having suspects that are hit and still shooting.  This is a necessary piece of equipment that will help police defend themselves. (PD 8/2). 

Violent and property crimes dipped in 2002 to their lowest levels since records started being compiled 30 years ago, and have dropped more than 50 percent in the last decade, according the Justice Department. (PD 8/31).

EMPLOYMENT

Employers chopped 44,000 jobs in July, which brought job losses since January to 486,000.  Economists had been saying the statistics might show positions had been added, perhaps as many as 10,000. (PD 8/2) 

As late as July, eight out of 10 top executives of Fortune 1,000 companies felt that the recession had not ended.

Marconi Corp. PLC, a beleaguered British telecommunications company, said that it will cut 230 jobs and stop all manufacturing at its Lorain facility beginning early next year.  About 300 non-manufacturing jobs – from administration to engineering- will remain in Lorain.  (PD 8/13).

Almost one in four U.S. workers who earn less than $40,000 have been laid off over the last three years, according to a study by Rutgers University. (PD 8/17)

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., will eliminate about 500 salaried and nonunion jobs.  The Akron tire maker said the reduction at it North American tire operations will affect management and staff at its 20 manufacturing plants in the U.S. and Canada.  (PD 8/29)

Dalmier Chrysler AG’s Chrysler unit, which has cut 30,000 jobs and closed seven factories since 2001, told union leaders that further reductions may be needed if it can’t stem losses.  (PD 8/29)

Ohio lost substantially more jobs than the nation as a whole, especially in manufacturing, and the state fared worse than it did after the recession in the early 1990’s.  And output, a reflection of the economy’s health, fell faster in Ohio than in 43 other states, according to the report from Policy Matters Ohio.  Kenneth Mayland, president of ClearView Economics in Pepper Pike, said that trend is likely to continue because census data show Ohio is losing population to other states. (PD 8/31).

SENIOR CITIZENS

Bush administration officials say they expect to cut Medicare payments to doctors by 4.2 percent next year unless Congress passes legislation to reduce or eliminate the cut.  Medicare officials said Congress could avert the cut as part of legislation to add drug benefits to Medicare, the health insurance program for 40 million elderly and disabled people. (PD 8/12)

Many on Medicare have been notified that starting Oct. 1, they will lose their subsidy that paid for Medicare’s $58.00 monthly part B premium. (PD 8/2003)

EDUCATION

The nation’s high school class of 2003 achieved the highest score on the math section of the SAT in at least 36 years – a gain attributed to greater enrollment in advanced math and science courses and the proliferation of high-tech gadgets and computers. (PD 8/27)

Last modified: 08/25/05