Today’s News
Dublin spa offers head to toe relaxation
A spa located in Dublin’s Historic District will relax you from the moment you walk through their large mahogany front doors. The Woodhouse Day Spa is a two-story, 22-room spa designed to help guests escape from reality. According to its website, once guests enter the elevator to the second floor, they are transported to a true “resort style” day spa. The spa features historic touches to blend into their surroundings with ornate chandeliers, warm earthy [...]
Central Ohio home prices have risen 16% this year
The cost to buy a home in central Ohio continues to go up and up. Last month the average price for a home sold in the Columbus area shot up to $227,783. The average sale price has risen 16 percent just since the start of the year. Home prices have skyrocketed 24 percent in the past three years. Of all the homes sold this year in central Ohio, the average sale price is $209,217. The [...]
Why your friend has a better credit score than you
Tia Chambers checked her credit score for the first time at age 23, after watching a friend check his, she says. “I said, ‘Oh boy, my credit score has to be better than that,’” says Chambers, now 31, who blogged about her experience on her website, Financially Fit and Fabulous. To her surprise, it was worse. “My credit score was a lot lower than I expected. It was actually in the mid- to high 500s.” [...]
Collectors would be fined for buying war relics under proposal
A measure before members of an Ohio House of Representatives committee purposely skirts the recent controversy arising from opponents of memorials or statutes commemorating Confederate war generals and the fallen soldiers they led. Republican Rep. Tim Schaffer of Lancaster introduced an amendment to the bill he’s titled the Ohio Veterans’ Heritage Protection Act Tuesday nearly simultaneous to testimony in support of House Bill 48 before members of the Criminal Justice Committee. The amendment eliminates the [...]
Gung-ho culture at tour agency Warmbier used on North Korea trip
BEIJING — Beer-soaked “booze cruises” down North Korea’s Taedong River. Scuba diving trips off the country’s eastern coast. Saint Patrick’s Day pub crawls in Pyongyang featuring drinking games with cheery locals. Since 2008, the Young Pioneer Tours agency built up a business attracting young travelers with a competitively priced catalog of exotic-sounding, hard-partying adventures in one of the world’s most isolated countries. But the death last week of 22-year-old American student Otto Warmbier, who was [...]
Republicans’ health care rollback collides with the opioid epidemic
WASHINGTON — The Republican campaign to roll back former President Barack Obama’s health care law is colliding with the opioid epidemic. Medicaid cutbacks would hit hard in states deeply affected by the addiction crisis and struggling to turn the corner, according to state data and concerned lawmakers in both parties. The central issue is that the House health care bill would phase out expanded Medicaid, which allows states to provide federally backed insurance to low-income [...]
Hong Kong’s mini apartments boom as property prices continue to increase
HONG KONG — With its marble-clad lobby, sweeping balcony views and sleek, modern decor, Donny Chan’s apartment building would seem the kind of upscale tower most young Hong Kong professionals aspire to live in. But not for Chan, 39, who avoids spending time in his 19th-floor apartment because it measures just 193 square feet (about 14 feet by 14 feet). His parking space-sized studio in the grandly named High One building is part of a [...]
Summer vacation: Never mind the hike. Where’s the hammock?
Never mind the hike. Where’s the hammock? A new poll about summer travel finds that the No. 1 thing Americans want to do on vacation is ... nothing. Almost three-fourths of Americans say resting and relaxing is very or extremely important to them when they go on vacation, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Among those dreaming about kicking back is Yari Blanco of Brooklyn, N.Y., who recently [...]
Small food makers wonder about Amazon-Whole Foods impact
NEW YORK (AP) — Among the many questions being asked about Amazon’s intended purchase of Whole Foods is one from small and medium-sized food manufacturers: How might this deal affect me? The unknowns include whether Amazon might change the grocery chain’s food offerings, which at the moment include thousands of products made by small and mid-sized businesses. A key point for many companies is whether Whole Foods would place less of an emphasis on buying [...]
Home bakers in New Jersey stew after state becomes last to allow baked goods for sale
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — There’s only one thing preventing baker Mandy Coriston from selling the Irish soda bread she makes from her great-grandmother’s recipe inside her old cast-iron skillets: She lives in New Jersey. New Jersey is now the only state in the U.S. where people can’t sell home-baked goods after a Wisconsin court this month invalidated that state’s ban. Wisconsin officials have said they may appeal the judge’s decision, but the state Senate passed [...]
Legal News
Proposed legislation would create registry of violent offenders in Ohio
Ohio sex offenders soon may not be the only criminals in the Buckeye State to appear on a registry for the safety and security of [...]
Hurdles expected for Utah’s medical marijuana research law
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah lawmakers balked again this year at joining more than half of all tates and passing a broad medical marijuana [...]
Proposal would provide help to seniors who fall behind on property taxes
A Cleveland Democrat earlier this week argued on behalf of a bill he has sponsored to offer housing relief to Ohio seniors. Rep. John Barnes [...]
Business News
Tranquility now: Local spa has variety of relaxing features
Every so often, you owe it to yourself to have a relaxing spa experience, especially after working yourself to the bone during the work-week. One [...]
Sears to cut 400 full-time jobs, mostly at corporate office
NEW YORK (AP) — Sears Holdings says it will cut about 400 full-time jobs as part of the troubled retailer’s plan to turn its business [...]
New coal mine touted by Trump opens in Pennsylvania
FRIEDENS, Pa. — President Donald Trump hailed the opening last week of a new coal mine as proof deregulation is helping bring jobs to the [...]
Real Estate
Columbus apartment market remains robust
Steady job creation in the Columbus region has helped make high-end rental properties more expensive, according to Marcus Millichap’s U.S. Multifamily Investment Forecast for this [...]
Century-old downtown building now home to luxurious apartments
A century-old building on the corner of Long and High streets in downtown Columbus now houses newly renovated luxurious apartments. The Atlas Building, built in [...]
Suburban development deemed top bird-friendly neighborhood
BUCKINGHAM, Pa. — Self-described cheapskate Rich Jaedicke lives by a guiding principle: Never buy it if you can get it free. So it is with [...]
Politics
Republicans divided as Trump reverses some Obama Cuba policy
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s decision to reverse some Obama-era Cuba policies landed with a thud among many congressional Republicans who say the new [...]
Agencies slow methane rules opposed by oil, gas industry
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is delaying two Obama-era regulations aimed at restricting harmful methane emissions from oil and gas production. The Environmental Protection [...]
Fired by Trump, former US attorney gets political
NEW YORK — As Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor, Preet Bharara cultivated an image as a lawman above politics. No more. In the three months since [...]
