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PUCO staff: Raise SOBE rates by 145% during times of high usage

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio’s staff recommends huge emergency rate increases for SOBE Thermal Energy Systems LLC’s downtown Youngstown customers — 145% for most of them during the six months when the steam heat is most used and 75% during the rest of the year. The report filed Monday by Christopher Healey, PUCO’s Rates and Analysis Department’s chief of accounting and finance, reads: “Emergency rates are not a permanent solution to a utility’s financial distress; they are intended to be temporary, approved only as necessary to avert a crisis. The goal is for ...

Anderson reelected Mahoning County Democratic chairman

YOUNGSTOWN — Chris Anderson was reelected to his second and what he says is his final four-year term as Mahoning County Democratic Party chairman. Anderson said, “When I ran four years ago, I made it clear I had no ambition to make politics my career. I wanted to build the party infrastructure, modernize the party, build our bench and create new spaces for folks to grow in the party and offer new ideas. We made great progress in the first term, and we’ll build on that in the second term.” Anderson said his focus for the new term is to launch candidate training programs for ...

Skolnick earns 1st place in Ohio SPJ contest

Staff report Reporter David Skolnick, who covers politics for The Vindicator and Tribune Chronicle, won first place in the Best Government/Political Reporting category in the 2026 Ohio Society of Professional Journalists contest. The award is just the latest for Skolnick, a veteran reporter with more than 30 years of experience in the Mahoning Valley. He routinely won Ohio journalism awards when the annual contest was administered by the Associated Press Manager Editors organization. The Ohio SPJ took over the contest for newspapers, magazines, trade publications, independent ...

Historic cemetery in North Jackson gets new lease on life

NORTH JACKSON — Gary Gault has never met one of his far-removed relatives, but that didn’t diminish the warmth he felt in seeing the man who lived more than a century before him being honored. “I thought about it, and I’m mostly appreciative of what our forefathers did. I’m just ...

Deal reached to end war in Iran, open Strait of Hormuz

ISLAMABAD — The United States and Iran have reached an initial agreement to end their war and open the Strait of Hormuz, offering relief to the Gulf region and global economy more than three months since fighting began. Details of the deal were not immediately released and Iran signaled implementation would not start until the signing, which key mediator Pakistan said would occur Friday in Switzerland. It was expected to extend the tenuous ceasefire reached in April so that negotiators can try to resolve thorny issues such as Iran’s nuclear program and related ...

Stocks leap worldwide, and oil prices drop

NEW YORK (AP) — Stock markets are rallying worldwide Monday, and oil prices are easing after the United States and Iran reached a tentative deal to extend their ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz to get the global flow of crude going again. The S&P 500 rose 1.5% on hopes that this time, the announcement of an Iran-U.S. agreement will mean a long-term fix to a conflict that has sent inflation painfully upward for the entire world. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 611 points, or 1.2%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 2.4% higher. Stocks got a lift ...