The volatile stock market and the recession have brought lots of new customers to a business that didn’t need any. Ohio Public Radio’s Karen Kasler has details.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Telecommunications companies in Ohio and 15 other states are sharing more than 103 million dollars in federal funding to help expand broadband Internet access to rural America.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the grants and loans through its rural development office Monday. Rural Utilities Service Administrator Jonathan Adelstein said in a conference call that rural areas lag behind urban parts of the country when it comes to broadband Internet access. That's because those areas don't have enough people, have rugged terrain, or it's too costly for companies to serve them.

Adelstein says that access is important to improve economic and educational opportunities in those areas.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio's largest small business association is throwing its support behind a campaign that is defending the state's contentious new collective bargaining law against a repeal effort on the November ballot.

The law signed by Gov. John Kasich in March bans public employee strikes and restricts collective bargaining abilities for public workers.

The National Federation of Independent Business in Ohio said Monday its membership overwhelmingly supports upholding the law.

The association's executive director says the measure gives government officials the needed flexibility to control their costs.

CANTON, Ohio (AP) - An energy company tapping a major natural gas deposit in eastern Ohio has opened an office in Canton and expects to create more than 70 jobs.

The (Canton) Repository reports today *Friday* that Chesapeake Energy will use the office as an interim operations base until it finds a permanent field office for drilling in the Utica shale formation. Last month Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy said it believes the 1.25 million acres it has leased above the Utica Shale formation in eastern Ohio is worth 15 to 20 billion dollars.  

Natural gas is extracted from shale by hydraulic fracturing, known as fracking, a process that blasts chemical-laced water into the ground. Environmentalists have raised concerns about potential groundwater contamination.

People flying out of some Ohio airports don't have worry anymore about security personnel seeing images of them without their clothes on.

The Transportation Security Administration has installed new technology in Dayton, Cleveland and Toledo that allows travelers to go through checkpoint security and have full-body scanners show a generic outline of the body instead of a naked image.

TSA spokesman Jim Fotenos tells The Plain Dealer of Cleveland that the new software enhances passenger privacy. The newspaper reports that if a scanner detects an object on a person, the screen shows a yellow patch on the area of the body that should be patted down.

The TSA says the new software should be installed in all 40 U.S. airports with the machines by the end of the year.

STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. (AP) - General Dynamics Corp.'s land systems unit has been awarded two contracts to provide tank work for Saudi Arabia with a combined value of $42.4 million.

The contracts were awarded by the U.S. Army on behalf of the Royal Saudi Land Forces. This work is part of a plan by Saudi Arabia to upgrade its fleet of 314 Abrams tanks.

The work will be performed at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio.

The contract continues work started in 2008.  General Dynamics' shares rose 67 cents to $61.85 in midday trading.