Latest news with #717
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Local credit union launches home buying discount
WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) – 7 17 Credit Union, headquartered in Warren, has launched another affordable housing program in the form of discounts for employees and partner businesses. The credit union announced Tuesday that it is offering mortgage rate discounts and waiving origination and other loan fees for those affiliated with 7 17. Different offers are being made available to 7 17 employees and also to employees of partner businesses. Current 7 17 Credit Union employees can receive a 1% mortgage rate discount for a home purchase anywhere in Trumbull County and a 2% rate discount for a home purchased specifically in the city of Warren. In addition, for employees buying in Warren, 7 17 Credit Union will waive fees for application, loan origination, credit report, processing and documents, appraisal, and title insurance. 7 17 Workplace Partners can also receive the same mortgage fee waivers as those buying in the city of Warren. The savings could amount to about $3,500 on the purchase of a $130,000 home. Credit union leaders said they adopted the programs in response to recommendations from the Eastgate Council of Regional Government's Housing Study, which called on employers to play a more active role in addressing the region's housing challenges. In May, the City of Youngstown teamed up with 717 Credit Union to tackle affordable housing. The two-pronged program offers grants and loans to qualifying homeowners up to $10,000 at a 1% interest rate for exterior improvements like painting, window replacements and siding. It also provides help for landlords of up to $50,000 to get their properties up to code. 717 says they expect the Youngstown Affordable Loan program to begin sometime this summer. Jon Rudder contributed to this report Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Sun
22-05-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Sarawak state assembly approves two supplementary supply bills
KUCHING: The Sarawak State Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed two Supplementary Supply Bills involving a total of RM391,429,717 for additional expenditure that was not covered in previous allocations. The bills, tabled by Sarawak Deputy Premier and Second Minister for Finance and New Economy Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, were the Supplementary Supply (2024) Bill involving an allocation of RM153,769,197 and the Supplementary Supply (2025) Bill for RM237,660,520. According to Uggah, the Supplementary Supply (2024) is to meet the cost of various services incurred by various Ministries and Departments for which funds were not provided for or insufficiently provided for in the 2024 estimates. Meanwhile, he said the Supplementary Supply (2025) seeks additional expenditure, among others, a total sum of RM100,000,000 required by the Department of the Premier of Sarawak to cater for rental of air-chartered services due to increased activities. 'A total sum of RM72,264,000 is required by the Sarawak Ministry of Education, Innovation and Talent Development to cater for a special Pocket Money Initiative at RM1,200 per Sarawakian student pursuing a Diploma or Bachelor's Degree in higher education institutions throughout Malaysia. 'A total sum of RM62,271,138 is required by the following Ministries and Departments to cover payment for special monthly allowance, Bantuan Insentif Sara Hidup, to all Sarawak Civil Servants effective January 2025,' he added.
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Youngstown opens applications to property improvement programs
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) — The City of Youngstown has officially opened up the process for applications for its Residential Property Improvement Programs. The programs, in partnership with 7 17 Credit Union, were announced in December, but the city has not opened up the program until now. Applications are now being accepted for the Residential Facade Loan, Residential Facade Grant Program, and Landlord Loan Program, according to a news release from the city. The initiative is supported by $5 million in funds from the American Rescue Plan Act andwill assist homeowners in improving the exterior of their homes and allow landlords to update their properties. Interested homeowners and landlords can view qualification details on 7 17's website and apply directly through 7 17 Credit Union. 'Finding affordable pathways for homeowners and improving our neighborhoods are priorities of my administration, and with the help of 7 17 Credit Union, we are seeing plans become reality,' said Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown in a news release. 'The Façade Loan and Grant Programs not only serve as a critical vehicle for so many in our city to make needed improvements to their homes and increase the value in their homes, but it's a step toward enhancing the perception of our neighborhoods and giving residents a level of pride.' The Residential Loan and Grant Program offers qualifying homeowners low-interest loans of upto $10,000 at a 1% interest rate for five years, or a dollar-for-dollar match up to $10,000. Thesefunds can be used for exterior improvements such as painting, window replacements, siding, andrepairs to sidewalks, driveways, steps and garages. The Landlord Loan Program allows eligible landlords to apply for a five-year, 2% interest loanfor each repaired or renovated property. Each property cannot exceed $50,000, and landlords applying for multiple properties cannot exceed $100,000 total. Projects using funds from the loan must address any current City of Youngstown code violations, if applicable. The Residential Property Improvement Programs are part of the city's broader $13 million housing initiative being administered by 7 17 Credit Union that is aimed at improving housing across the city, offering affordable financing options to homeowners and landlords for property improvements and developments. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Housing Council identifying goals, looking to increase access to local housing
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber's Housing Council is looking at unique ways to increase access to housing in the area, including looking into the possibility of 3D-printed homes. After holding its first meetings, the Housing Council is working on setting some goals to increase the area's housing stock. The council is also planning a future summit to bring together community leaders to take a better look at the issue. Brenda Linert, director of community impact for the Regional Chamber, said the Chamber decided to form the council after seeing a need among its members. 'We consistently were hearing that one of the challenges — the biggest challenge that they're having right now — is finding workforce and then finding housing for their workers. A lot of times, these businesses were trying to hire people, and they couldn't find suitable housing in this area, so they were living out of the area and commuting in, which, you know, does not engage them well with the community and the businesses and all of the things that businesses want their workers to be involved with,' she said. Linert said the council includes realtors, lenders and developers, as well as those with housing expertise in the public sector. Linert cited the Eastgate Regional Council of Government's recent Housing Needs Assessment, which cited a shortage of smaller 1- or 2-bedroom homes in the area. She added that many homes in the inner cities have been demolished over the years due to poor conditions, and now there is vacant land that can be developed in those areas. 'We also need to not only build new homes, but also revitalize, renovate, upgrade existing homes, and like I said, some of the homes are really, really large and maybe too large for what we really need, so maybe they can be renovated into multiple units,' she said. John Demmler, president and CEO of Seven Seventeen Credit Union, is part of the council, and he sees a need for housing in the area as well. 'One of the challenges in the Valley is that, if you look at Warren and Youngstown specifically, about one out of two homes are rentals. There's definitely a market need for rental properties, but we feel that the best way to be part of the community is to take an ownership stake in the community and to build equity and wealth in that process,' he said. 717 has several programs to help make home renovations more affordable, partnering with the cities of Warren and Youngstown for their facade programs. Demmler also cited the City of Youngstown's landlord renovation program, which allows landlords to borrow funds at a discounted interest rate and borrow up to $100,000 or $50,000 per property to bring properties up to code. 717 is also working on a program through the City of Youngstown to spur development on vacant lots. Demmler said part of what the council is doing is looking at programs already in place that homebuyers and developers can take advantage of and increasing awareness of those programs. He said the goal is to make these home builds more affordable to compete with the rental market. 'Really, the need is for a housing solution in the $500 a month to $1,000 a month range, and the complications or challenges with providing housing solutions in that range are that it costs more to construct a new home today than what you can make into a monthly payment like that. It costs more to build a home than the appraised value after the home is built. So one of the main objectives of the council also is to help bring down the cost of housing, and we want to do that in a number of ways,' Demmler said. Linert added that another goal the Housing Council is working toward is creating more uniformity for developers, as codes and the permitting process differ in local communities. 'One of the other goals that we have is to try to streamline the permitting process and to try to find uniformity in the regulations, so that hopefully… developers will want to come into the area, and it will ease the process for them,' Linert said. One area of interest is the potential to use 3D technology. The City of Youngstown has been identified by the state as a hub for additive manufacturing, or 3D printing. Demmler said there is an interest among many Housing Council members as to whether this technology can be used to build homes in the area in a more affordable manner. 'I think that's going to be something we're going to look at providing some financial incentives and financing for a couple of spec homes with 3D-printed homes,' Demmler said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Al Jazeera
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Anger mounts as Greece remembers deadliest train crash two years on
Tempe, Greece – Greece has come to a standstill during a general strike marking the second anniversary of the country's worst rail disaster with 346 protests counted in Greece and abroad. Government services, banks and businesses were shuttered on Friday. Ships did not sail, trains did not run and no planes left or entered Greece – a stoppage not seen since the days of the country's bankruptcy in the post-2009 financial crisis. An independent accident report released on Thursday cited a litany of chronic equipment failures and human errors in the Greek railway system that led a northbound passenger train to collide head-on with a southbound freight train in the Tempe gorge in northern Greece, killing 57 people. Many of them were young people returning to university in Thessaloniki after a three-day weekend. Their loss has turned the Tempe accident into a symbol of what many Greeks see as state incompetence and lack of accountability. 'For us, it's not an accident. It's a crime,' Nikos Plakias, father of two students who were killed, told Al Jazeera. 'I think what Tempe has managed to do will remain in history – that at long last, politicians will be held responsible. I believe politicians will sit in the dock. If a single politician isn't called to account, I will say this whole effort has failed,' Plakias said. Sisters Thomi and Chrysa Plakia and their cousin Anastasia-Maria were sitting in the car directly behind the restaurant car and would have survived if they had not moved there, Plakias believes. 'The girls didn't have a ticket for that car. They were supposed to be in car number five. In Larissa, lots of people got off and only 20 got on. There were many empty seats, and the girls wanted to sit together, so they asked if there was a free compartment up front, and they were led into the compartment of death.' Alma Lata lost her daughter, a medical student in the armed forces. 'We're fighting for children's future, for a better society,' she told Al Jazeera. 'Everyone needs to come out on the 28th for their own children, … Our children are gone. They're not coming back. But we must fight for the other children.' The Hellenic Air and Rail Safety Investigation Authority said on Thursday that Greece already suffered from a poor rail safety culture and outdated practices but governments made matters worse by mismanaging the financial crisis. Severe austerity policies gutted the state-owned Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) of staff and left equipment to decay, it said. Those were not the only charges laid at the door of Greece's political elite. A 2014 contract funded by the European Union to install safety equipment throughout the network, known as Contract 717, had not been fully carried out nine years later, the experts said. 'Contract 717 was not the specific target of our investigation, but let me say, and I am not referring to OSE rank and file but to senior officials, all those who delayed the implementation of 717 have decisively contributed to the deaths of these children,' said the authority's president, Christos Papadimitriou. Many people suspect funds were squandered, and 1.3 million people have signed a petition to strip cabinet ministers of immunity so transport ministers across four governments can be tried. On the day of the accident alone, and within a few kilometres of Larissa, whose stationmaster put the train on a collision course, the authority found a slew of human and technical problems that contributed to the disaster. The Larissa stationmaster was not properly trained to use the automated controls that had been installed, so he reverted to a manual system that didn't show him what track trains were on. Had he used it, he would have seen that he had inadvertently switched passenger train 62 to the southbound track. A signal north of the station that was meant to have been fixed under Contract 717 was out of order, meaning the stationmaster had to give train engineers permission to go verbally. Leaked recordings of the conversation between them show they didn't follow proper verbal protocol, investigators said, and the stationmaster told the engineer to proceed without having ascertained he was on the southbound track. Two sections of track north and south of Larissa had reverted to single-track use on the day of the accident because of technical failures. The train engineer would not have thought it odd that he was on the southbound track, and he didn't question it. Attempted cover-up? The ruling conservative New Democracy party has also been accused of an attempted cover-up. 'We encountered serious problems in the investigation,' Papadimitriou said. 'The transformation of the crash site into a ceremonial space led to the loss of serious evidence.' Tonnes of gravel from the site were bulldozed away days after the crash, ostensibly to rebuild the tracks and restore rail service, but it was so hastily done, the smashed rolling stock still held human remains as it was hoisted away. Relatives of the victims hired Anubis Coldcase K9 Team, which specialises in body recoveries. Anubis found body parts of several victims, including extremities of the Plakias girls, nine months after the accident. The government's haste raised suspicion it was trying to avoid chemical analysis of residues left by a fire after the crash. Surveillance video shows an electric arc igniting two explosions after impact. 'There is a possible presence of a hitherto unknown fuel,' the investigators said. 'The autopsy of the accident site was not done in a proper way to be able to identify afterwards the type of fuel that was transported and caused the fireball,' said Bernd Accou, one of the investigators. Two official reports released in 2023 from the Hellenic Fire Service and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation blamed the fire on silicon oils leaking from the locomotives' transformer coils. Victims' relatives did not believe that and commissioned chemical studies of their own, which showed there were potential residues of xylene, a flammable solvent used in paints, varnishes and inks. The fire killed only five to seven of the victims, investigators said, but the suspected cover-up has become a lightning rod for anger among the public, which accuses the government of being more intent on protecting incompetent loyalists than providing safe transport. 'The government stance from the very beginning was an attempt to cover things up at the political and public relations level because this happened March 1 and on May 16 we had a general election,' Plakias said. 'The government was afraid of the political fallout and behaved amateurishly.' The collision at a combined speed of 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour) was so violent, it destroyed the locomotive and first six cars of the passenger train, experts said. That is because the locomotives of the passenger train and the oncoming freight train derailed as they smashed into each other, exposing the passenger train's restaurant car to a secondary collision with flatbed cars carrying steel plates. It was in the restaurant car that the fire burned longest and most violently, the investigative report said.
