LOCAL BUSINESS
Closings at Curves fitness
The Ellet and Barberton locations of Curves — fitness centers for women — have closed.
Franchise co-owner Diane Kennedy of Green said the 10-year franchise agreements on the locations were up and she and business partner Nan Greene of Barberton decided to sell the units.
Kennedy said the two women were unsuccessful in their attempts to sell the sites to another franchise operator. She blamed the downturn in the economy. “If it wasn’t for the recession, this [closing] wouldn’t have happened,” she said.
The Barberton center, in a building also housing Ritzman Pharmacy at 390 Robinson Ave., closed Saturday.
The site in Akron’s Ellet neighborhood, at 2420 Wedgewood Dr., in the Acme Fresh Market plaza, closed Sept. 15. The two women continue to operate a Curves in Fairlawn, at 2955 W. Market St., in the strip center at Miller Road.
Kennedy said members of the Ellet and Barberton centers are transferring to other locations, including the center in Coventry, at 2383 South Main St., in a plaza south of Waterloo Road, and in Cuyahoga Falls, at 1251 Main St., north of Howe Avenue.
Woodway, Texas-based Curves International Inc. began in 1992, and with nearly 10,000 locations worldwide, says it is the world’s largest fitness franchise.
Goodyear payments late
Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. said Monday that a problem with electronic transmission of company pension payments to the Federal Reserve Bank resulted in about 36,000 pensioners not receiving direct deposit of their October payment. The Akron tire maker said the electronic file was resent Monday and all funds should be credited to recipients’ accounts today. .
MATERNITY
Yahoo CEO gives birth
Yahoo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Marissa Mayer gave birth to a boy Sunday, adding new parenthood to the list of challenges she’s facing as the head of a struggling Web portal.
Mayer continues to lead the company, working remotely, and is planning to return to the office in about one to two weeks, spokeswoman Anne Espiritu said. That’s in keeping with remarks by Mayer, who said in a July interview with Fortune that her maternity leave would be brief. Yahoo said last week that it hired Ken Goldman, a technology-industry veteran with three decades of experience in software and Internet companies, to succeed Tim Morse as chief financial officer. CEO since July, Mayer is working to reverse three years of declining revenue and market share losses to Facebook Inc. and her former employer, Google Inc.
ENERGY
Fracking studies continue
The state of New York will probably miss a deadline to develop fracking regulations, requiring it to begin all over again and delaying indefinitely a decision on whether to allow the natural gas drilling, officials said. Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has until Nov. 29 to decide if it will allow hydraulic fracturing and to develop regulations. Missing the deadline would require the state to draft new rules and reopen a window for public comment.
On Sept. 20, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joseph Martens said a final decision on allowing fracking would be delayed to allow a review by Health Commissioner Nirav Shah. That will probably force the state to miss the deadline, and no time frame has been set for how long a new review might take, said Emily DeSantis, a DEC spokeswoman.
New York has been studying fracking for more than four years and issued a moratorium in 2010. Cuomo has been under pressure from energy companies and some localities to allow drilling to encourage the type of economic development seen in fracking states from Wyoming to Ohio and Pennsylvania. About 80,000 messages were sent during the last comment period.
CABLE TELEVISION
Sports is big TWC draw
A few months ago, Time Warner Cable Inc. (TWC) was upset at the high price it had to pay to air Knicks basketball and Rangers hockey games in New York. Now, the nation’s No. 4 TV distributor with operations in Akron holds the regional Southern California TV rights for the Los Angeles Lakers and pro soccer’s LA Galaxy for an estimated $3 billion over 20 years. Time Warner Cable launched two new channels based on those rights on Monday. To help pay for them, it is demanding payment from distributors like Dish Network Corp. and DirecTV. TWC is reportedly asking as much as $3.95 per subscriber per month. That would make it the second most expensive regional sports network in the nation behind Comcast SportsNet Washington, which charges $4.02 per subscriber per month, according to research firm SNL Kagan.
Compiled from staff and wire reports