By 1812Blockhouse
The University of Cincinnati Economics Center has released its annual Holiday Forecast of Ohio Retail Spending, and the numbers again look very positive for Mansfield and north central Ohio – in fact, better than any other metro area in the state.
This is at least the third time in the last four years that that has been the case.
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By 1812Blockhouse
In a Thursday news release by CVS entitled “CVS Health announced steps to accelerate omnichannel health strategy,” not all of the wording was so cryptic — particularly in reference to upcoming store closures.
It shared in part, “The company has been evaluating changes in population, consumer buying patterns and future health needs to ensure it has the right kinds of stores in the right locations for consumers and for the business. As part of this initiative, CVS Health will reduce store density in certain locations and close approximately 300 stores a year for the next three years. The company is committed to offering impacted colleagues roles in other locations or different opportunities as part of its overall workforce strategy. These changes will begin in the spring of 2022.”
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This recent piece in Governing is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. The original post can be read here.
By Rick Reinhard, Governing, September 9, 2021
Many houses of worship own empty and underused buildings and land. Cities and counties need properties for affordable housing. Seems like a match made in, well, heaven.
But matchmaking between houses of worship and local governments is not quite so simple. Houses of worship can be frustrating, sometimes almost impossible, to work with. Members tend to be elderly and get stuck on what their church, synagogue or other house of worship used to be, not on what it currently is. Convoluted management structures are common in the religious world, meaning that a congregation, pastor, trustees, bishop and sometimes even a regional body may need to be on board to approve a sale or redevelopment project. Cemeteries requiring perpetual care may be part of the property, and deeds may include reversionary clauses, returning the property to original owners (even from the 19th century) if the property is used for anything but religious services.
This recent piece in Governing is part of the SoJo Exchange from the Solutions Journalism Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to rigorous reporting about responses to social problems. The original post can be read here. This post is shared in support of efforts to revitalize Mansfield, Shelby, and other Richland County communities.
By David Kidd, Governing
Not long ago, a time capsule was removed from the Home Guards Building, one of the more prominent structures in downtown Van Wert, Ohio. A dozen residents of the small city gathered on a warm summer morning to witness its unveiling. The top of the discolored and dented copper box came off and its contents were placed on a black cloth stretched across a folding table. There were three newspapers dated Aug. 8, 1905. One of them has a story with Oyster Bay, N.Y., as its dateline. “President Roosevelt had a number of distinguished callers at his home,” it begins.
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By Marty Schladen, Ohio Capital Journal
In May 2020, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine announced $775 million in state spending cuts in the face of what he expected to be lower tax revenues due to economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The cuts included $300 million whacked from K-12 education and $210 million from Medicaid, the health program for the poor. DeWine decided to make them instead of dipping into the state’s $2.7 billion rainy day fund.
In hindsight, the move is receiving scant support from a panel of Ohio economists.
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By 1812Blockhouse
With the recent shuttering of the last manufacturer in America’s carousel capital, is there a future for what has been a mainstay of entertainment for generations?
That’s the question being asked in some circles, including in this piece on NorthJersey.com this past Friday.
Entitled, “Will the once-thriving wooden carousel business make a comeback?,” author Jim Beckerman looked at several carousels, all of which came from Mansfield. The last surviving company, Carousel Works, closed earlier this year after a January bankruptcy filing (our story is here).
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By 1812Blockhouse
It’s a list where a high finish is not necessarily a totally good thing.
24/7 Wall St., which bills itself as a financial news and opinion company with content delivered over the Internet, has published another of its list that chronicle the economic and social conditions in American cities. This time, it has set its sights on “Cheapest Cities To Buy a Home.”
Mansfield was included. More…
Miguel Lugo and Pete Accorti of Talan Products Inc.
By Lee Chilcote, The Land
Miguel Lugo had his first experiences in the manufacturing industry when he worked for Voss Aerospace in Ohio City, where his mom also worked, for one summer in high school. After graduating from James F. Rhodes High School in Old Brooklyn in 2001, the 38-year-old briefly worked at Auto Zone before landing a job as an entry-level laborer at Talan Products Inc., a metal stamping company in Collinwood.
Sixteen years later, he’s risen the company ranks at Talan from a lowly general laborer to plant and tool room manager – and he’s not done rising yet. This fall, Lugo hopes to begin taking classes for his Master’s in Business Administration (MBA). Despite the perception that manufacturing jobs offer little opportunity for advancement, Lugo says he’s making a good living. More…
By Daniel C. Vock, Ohio Capital Journal
Stu Nicholson has been trying for decades without success to get Amtrak — or any other passenger rail service — to come to Columbus, Ohio.
As director of All Aboard Ohio, a passenger rail advocacy group, Nicholson helped explore possibilities, like creating a new route from Chicago to Pittsburgh, with Columbus in the middle.
But for now, Columbus, a city with 878,000 people, the second-largest city in the Midwest, has no passenger rail service. It doesn’t even have a station. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
The resurgence of the economy as the pandemic eases has resulted in employment gains throughout Ohio, including here in north central Ohio.
In fact, Richland County had one of the biggest decreases in unemployment last month in the entire state.
Ohio’s unemployment rate was 4.7% in March, down from 5.0% in February. Ohio’s nonagricultural wage and salary employment increased 12,700 over the month, from a revised 5,302,200 in February to 5,314,900 in March 2021. The number of workers unemployed in Ohio in March was 272,000, down from 288,000 in February. The number of unemployed has decreased by 15,000 in the past 12 months from 287,000. More…
Economy, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Unemployment
By 1812Blockhouse with information from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services
When unemployment numbers for Ohio counties were released this week, they reflected in a positive direction for Ohio in general and Richland County in particular.
Ohio’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 5.0% in February, down from 5.3% in January.
289,000 workers were unemployed in Ohio in February, down from 360,000 the month before. That noted, the number of unemployed Ohioans has increased by 10,000 in the last 12 months, suggesting that levels have basically reached pre-pandemic levels. More…
Economy, Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, Unemployment
By 1812Blockhouse
The State of the University Address presented on Thursday by President Kristina M. Johnson of The Ohio State University, her first, included several important announcements.
Several dealt with various investments into research and researchers totaling some $750 million over the next ten years. This includes the physical improvements such as the Ohio State Innovation Center on the former West Campus, a $1.8 billion Wexner Hospital, and a just-opened science building on the Wooster campus.
Practically, however, the most transformative direction announced was the goal of providing a debt-free education to all OSU undergraduates over the next decade. This would make The Ohio State University the first to undertake such a monumental undertaking. More…
By 1812Blockhouse
The pandemic continues to have an impact in terms of employment in Richland and contiguous counties, but in different ways.
The unemployment rates continue to remain stable or actually fall locally, according to information released this week by the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, but the sectors in which people are employed continues to shift. Richland County’s rate increased slightly — from November’s 5.5% to December’s 5.6%
Across Ohio, the trend was up in unemployment percentages, with over two-third of Ohio counties seeing increases. The highest rate was in Noble County is southeast Ohio, at 7.7%; the lowest was Holmes County at 2.7%. More…
By 1812Blockouse
Before you read this post, take a few moments and think of how you would answer this question:
How would you describe Richland County in one to three words?
Put another way, what few words capture the essence of this place, from culture to economy to opportunity?
Now consider whether any of the following 15 words or sets of words apply: More…
Economy, Featured, Richland County Life, Studies and Reports
By 1812Blockhouse
Social media was buzzing on Friday about an apparent Thursday announcement by Lifetouch concerning a planned February 4 closure of its Church Directories Division.
This closure, in turn, would lead to a reduction in employment at its Ontario and/or Galion locations, according to the announcement.
Founded just outside Galion in the 1960s, the Division was originally named United Church Directories, and was started by Nelson Jones and Del Bellew. In its heyday, the company created some 10,000 pictorial directories a year for churches across the country. More…
