FirstMerit shareholders to decide on merger Friday
Shareholders of FirstMerit Corp. and Citizens Republic Bancorp will meet simultaneously Friday to vote on the companies’ proposed merger.At separate annual meetings held in Akron and Flint, Mich., the...
View ArticleBusiness news solutions — March 31
WORKPLACEDistractions in trainingQ: I conduct corporate training with anywhere from 15 to 50 people in a class. Lately I’ve noticed more and more distraction among the trainees — laptops and...
View ArticleWorker ready for his next calling
After nearly 46 years at Ohio Edison, Friday was literally last call for Howard Call.It was retirement day for Call, whose family owned the last working farm in Stow that is now part of a housing...
View ArticlePRODUCTS AT A GLANCE
ROKU 3 STREAMING MEDIA PLAYER:• Likes: Inexpensive; offers access to hundreds of Internet channels; new headphone port on remote control allows users to watch movies without disturbing family members;...
View ArticleWearable electronics move on from iPhone, to iWatch and beyond
You can wear your heart on your sleeve. Why not your electronics?A mind-boggling array of “wearable electronics” has begun to arrive, not just at a website or clothing outlet near you, but on an arm, a...
View ArticleNew Roku, TV Play streaming video players a hit and a miss
For watching Internet video on your TV, I’m a big fan of streaming video players.These typically are inexpensive, hockey-puck sized boxes that plug into your TV and offer access to dozens of Internet...
View ArticleSamsung, HP pop-tops do laptop double duty
The one-two punch of Apple’s iPad and Microsoft’s Windows 8 has led to a new class of personal-computer hybrids that look and work like regular laptops, but whose screens pop off to become fully...
View ArticleFeds probe Hyundai Sonatas for suspension rust
DETROIT: U.S. safety regulators are investigating complaints that the rear suspension frames can rust and fail on Hyundai Sonata midsize cars.The probe affects about 393,000 cars from the 2006 through...
View ArticleMove over chicken: Boston Market introduces ribs
Boston Market is expanding beyond its well-known rotisserie chicken offering for a new meat: ribs.The Golden, Colo.-based chain hopes the ribs, its biggest new food launch in six years, will help bring...
View ArticleChesapeake Taps Geologist Dixon as CEO as McClendon Era Ends
Chesapeake Energy Corp. replaced former Chief Executive Office Aubrey McClendon with one of the co-founder’s longest-serving lieutenants as the second-largest U.S. natural gas explorer with Ohio...
View ArticleBarberton orthodontist offers discount custom mouth guards
When Kyle Sykes was playing soccer for Barberton High School a few years ago, he learned the importance of wearing a mouth guard the hard way. He had a custom mouth guard from his orthodontist, but it...
View ArticleBusiness news briefs — April 1
LOCAL BUSINESSVisitors president to speakGregg Mervis, the recently named president and chief executive officer of the Akron/Summit Convention & Visitors Bureau and the John S. Knight Center, will...
View ArticleNew Timken website, presentation say spinoff proposal is flawed
Timken Co. is fighting fire with fire regarding a shareholder proposal to split the company in two.Or, as is the case, the Canton steel and bearings maker is fighting website with website.Timken on...
View ArticleAmerican Greetings agrees to takeover in $878 million deal
American Greetings Corp., the biggest publicly traded greeting-card maker, agreed Monday to be taken private by a group led by Chief Executive Officer Zev Weiss for about $524 million.The group,...
View ArticleGreater use of stronger, thinner steel in cars projected
North American automakers may triple their use of stronger, thinner steel by 2025 to increase fuel efficiency, according to a lobby for producers of the metal.Vehicles made in the region will contain...
View ArticleBusiness news briefs — April 3
LOCAL BUSINESSCounseling sessions setAkron SCORE, the business counseling group that serves Medina, Portage, Summit and Wayne counties, announced it will offer several workshops to help new businesses...
View ArticleFirstEnergy moves shareholders meeting to West Virginia
FirstEnergy Corp. is road tripping for this year’s annual shareholders meeting.The electric utility giant for the first time will hold its annual meeting in someplace other than Akron. In this case,...
View ArticleAmazon purchase of Goodreads book-review site irks authors group
Amazon.com Inc. is gaining too much control in the publishing industry with its purchase of Goodreads Inc., a social network for readers and a competitor in online book reviews, an authors group...
View ArticleTimken steel spinoff proposal still on table following meeting
There was no coming together Tuesday when Timken management met with activist shareholders seeking to split the company.Timken said it continues to oppose breaking up the longtime Canton-based steel...
View ArticleU.S. auto sales tick higher in March
General Motors, Ford and Chrysler recorded sales increases in March as resilient consumers, gradual economic growth and a recovering housing market powered sales.Ford said its U.S. sales increased 5.7...
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