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Briefcase: 1st Summit announces apprenticeship program

JOHNSTOWN 1st Summit Bank on Tuesday announced the launch of ASCEND 250, a first-of-its-kind program in the United States: a three-year paid apprenticeship that provides high school graduates with a direct, structured pathway into the banking profession while developing the next generation of well-rounded leaders. Unlike traditional bank training programs that focus on a single discipline, ASCEND 250 develops future leaders across every function that drives institutional success: strategy, marketing, operations, finance, human resources and technology. Upon completion of the program, ...

Housholds grow discouraged while Wall Street keeps rising

NEW YORK — The split between Wall Street and most U.S. households grew wider Friday as U.S. stocks rose to the finish of their eighth straight winning week, the best such streak since 2023. That’s even though a survey showed U.S. consumers are feeling even worse about the economy. The S&P 500 added 0.4% and pulled closer to its all-time high set in the middle of last week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 294 points, or 0.6%, and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.2%. Ross Stores helped drive the market and rose 8.1% after the off-price retailer reported profit and revenue for ...

Trump calls off AI order

President Donald Trump called off plans to sign a new executive order on artificial intelligence hours before an expected White House ceremony Thursday because he said he was worried the measure could dull America’s edge on AI technology. Trump said he was postponing the Oval Office event with tech industry executives because he did not like what he saw in the order’s text. “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in the way of that lead,” Trump told reporters. The order would have established a framework for the ...

‘A Double Whammy’

MONTEZUMA, Kan. — Orville Williams has had a healthy wheat crop on his 2,600-acre farm in Montezuma, Kansas, every year since he was a teenager. It hasn’t always been easy. For instance, there were challenging economic times through the 1980s and various degrees of drought affecting his ...

Grocery refrigerant rule eased

The Trump administration on Thursday loosened federal rules requiring grocery stores and air-conditioning companies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from cooling equipment, a step that President Donald Trump said would help lower grocery costs. Trump said at a White House ceremony that the action by the Environmental Protection Agency would “substantially lower costs for consumers” by delaying costly restrictions that limit the type of refrigerants U.S. businesses and families can use. The move to relax the Biden-era rules on harmful pollutants known as hydrofluorocarbons, or ...

Workplace

New hires and promotions Glenn Evans has been named as executive director of the Blair County Trail Park and Recreation Authority. Evans is a respected leader with more than 13 years of experience in agriculture, food and forest operations with not-for-profit institutions, including Cornell University, the University of Hawaii, Vermont State and Vermont State University. In this role, Evans will oversee the organization’s strategic direction, operations, and community engagement efforts, working closely with the Board of Directors, staff and community partners to advance BCTPRA’s ...