Business & Technology

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.

Slot machines are almost fully installed and table games have been delivered to Ohio's second casino, which is scheduled to open in late May in Toledo. That was among updates heard by Ohio regulators Wednesday as the state prepares for the openings of four voter-approved casinos.

Jeffrey Goodman of Hollywood Casino Toledo told state regulators that table games at the facility should be set up by mid-month, and slots would be ready for regulators to test at about that time. Goodman said more than 510 table and poker dealers were trained. The casino is aiming to open the last week of May, pending approval from the Ohio Casino Control Commission. Cleveland's casino is slated to open about two weeks earlier. Voters also approved casinos in Cincinnati and Columbus in 2009.