Montgomery County is recommending nine area projects for funding, totaling nearly $1.5 million. The Ohio Economic Development Government Equity Advisory Committee, or EDGE, is spearheading the request.

One proposed project is a $100,000  investment to create corporate headquarters for the medical manufacturing group, Midmark.  The money would be used to renovate an existing facility at Tech Town. According to a press release from the county, the project would bring 57 jobs to the area.

Bob Evans Farms Inc. says it will close two food production plants in Ohio next year and beef up its production at a Texas facility.

 The Ohio-based restaurant and food company plans to shut down plants in Springfield and Bidwell in southern Ohio next summer as it focuses on convenience foods, packaged side dishes and other higher-growth opportunities.

The move will mean over 50 jobs lost in Springfield and will affect about 110 employees overall. The company says it will try to place some of them in other jobs with Bob Evans.

The unemployment rate in Ohio has dropped for the eighth straight month despite the non-farm payrolls decreasing by 9,500.

The National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and four of its member organizations announced yesterday, they are filing a federal housing discrimination complaint against Wells Fargo Bank. The complaint will be filed with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It's the result of an undercover investigation, and the Housing Alliance says major American banks like Wells Fargo are failing to maintain and market Real Estate Owned (REO) properties in African-American and Latino neighborhoods.

The investigation looked at neighborhoods in 11 major metropolitan areas, including Atlanta, Baltimore, and Dallas. The Housing Alliance also looked at several Dayton neighborhoods.

Purina's Tidy Cats is apologizing for a tongue-in-cheek advertising campaign that compared a Cincinnati neighborhood to a litter box.

Local media outlets report the ad was part of a campaign pointing out things that stink. It was erected about a mile north of the Cincinnati’s  Over-the Rhine neighborhood, and said "You're so over Over-the-Rhine. Life stinks."

The neighborhood was the focus of race riots in the city a decade ago, but the area has seen major new development in recent years. Residents and others weighed in on Twitter, Facebook and the Tidy Cats website, and the St. Louis-based company issued an apology.

The Tidy Cats ad was removed and replaced with a billboard encouraging pet adoption.

Regulators say several minor problems found at an Ohio nuclear power plant in 2011 have been ongoing for about two years.

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says the Perry Nuclear Power Plant near Cleveland must devise a plan to correct the problems.

In a March 5 letter, a regulator says plant owner First Energy Nuclear Operating Co. and federal inspectors found errors in following proper work procedures and documentation.

The letter also cites an incident in April 2011 when a poorly designed plan to pull a radiation monitor from the reactor's core left workers near a radioactive cable. The crew escaped exposure by leaving the area quickly.