LOCAL BUSINESS
Turbine project names leader
Dave Karpinski has been named to a key management position as efforts continue to build wind turbines off Cleveland in Lake Erie.
Karpinski was named vice president of operations by the Lake Erie Energy Development Corp. and its partner, NorTech.
He served the last two years as chairman of the corporation’s board of directors. He will be replaced in that post by Ronald B. Richard, president and CEO of the Cleveland Foundation.
Karpinski formerly served as NorTech vice president and director of its Energy Enterprise initiative and has been involved in the proposed Lake Erie wind project since August 2009.
His group has won a $4 million federal grant and secured another $1 million from private partners to build five to nine wind turbines seven miles off Cleveland.
The project is one of the first of its kind in the United States and the only one on the Great Lakes.
Cedar Point to hire 5,000
Cedar Point is recruiting at least 5,000 seasonal employees of all ages for more than 70 types of jobs. Last year, about 22,000 people applied for jobs at the Sandusky amusement park, named “Best Amusement Park in the World” for the last 15 years by trade publication Amusement Today. Applications came from 49 states and dozens of countries.
Available positions are in food service, games and merchandise, hotels, maintenance, park operations and security. Park officials report plans to improve Cedar Point’s dormitories and apartments this year, including Wi-Fi upgrades and new basketball and volleyball courts.
To apply, go online to cedarpoint.com/jobs before attending one of several local interview sessions scheduled at Castaway Bay, 2001 Cleveland Road, Sandusky.
Interviews will be held 5-8 p.m. March 15, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. March 16 and 11 a.m.-4 p.m. April 13.
Cedar Point is scheduled to open for its 144th season on May 11 with its new wing roller coaster, GateKeeper.
Canton firm buys gas assets
A Canton company that operates natural gas pipelines with nearly 35,000 customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana has bought natural gas distribution assets in Northeast Ohio from Texas-based Crosstex Energy.
Utility Pipeline Ltd. said it bought the gas distribution assets of Eastern, Pike and Southeastern Natural Gas companies from Crosstex. The deal, which includes 750 miles of natural gas pipelines, covers 7,000 customers in Northeast Ohio and 8,000 customers in southern Ohio.
Terms were not disclosed.
WALL STREET
Dow Jones falls 42 points
The Dow Jones industrial average fell as the rally that has pushed indexes close to record levels stalled. Stocks fell as weaker earnings and worries about Europe overshadowed healthier signs.
The Dow closed down 42.47 points, or 0.3 percent, at 13,944.05. The S&P 500 fell 2.7, or 0.2 percent, to 1,509.4. The Nasdaq composite fell 3.3, or 0.1 percent, to 3,165.13
For the week, the Dow is down 65.74 points, or 0.47 percent. For the year so far, the Dow is up 839.91 points, or 6.4 percent.
Surprise profit at Allstate
Allstate Corp., the largest publicly traded U.S. auto and home insurer with offices in Hudson, climbed in trading after posting a surprise profit for the quarter in which Superstorm Sandy struck the U.S. East Coast.
Allstate advanced 1.7 percent to $45.06. The company based in Northbrook, Ill., said Wednesday that operating income, which excludes some investment results, was 59 cents a share in the fourth quarter.
The insurer was expected to have a loss of 3 cents a share, according to the average estimate of 24 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Compiled from staff and wire reports