FirstMerit buying Citizens Republic, expanding into Michigan and Wisconsin
Akron-based FirstMerit is buying Flint, Michigan-based Citizens Republic Bancorp in a stock-for-stock deal valued at nearly 1 billion dollars. FirstMerit said the acquisition will give it access to Michigan and Wisconsin and bolster its presence in Northeast Ohio. The combined company will have 24-billion dollars in assets and also marks first Merit’s first expansion into Wisconsin. The deal is expected to close next year.

Most Cuyahoga County Municipalities sign on to anti-poaching program
Nearly all of Cuyahoga County’s municipalities have signed on to the county’s new business attraction and anti-poaching program. One year after it was established, County Executive Ed FitzGerald say about 90 percent of the 59 communities are on the program, with several more expected to join. The county now has a one-hundred million dollar economic development fund that its cities use to grow their businesses instead of offering tax breaks to attract business from one community to another.  FitzGerald says only a few communities are sticking to the old ways.

CSU considering smoking ban
Officials at Cleveland State University are considering a ban on tobacco use on campus. The board of trustees' financial affairs committee recommended Thursday that the university develop a policy to ban all tobacco products, including smokeless tobacco. The full board is expected take up the policy at its November meeting. School officials estimate about 45-hundred students and about 300 faculty and staff smoke. The policy comes after the Ohio Board of Regents voted unanimously in July to urge the state's public campuses to ban all sales and use of tobacco products, including smoking outdoors. At least seven public colleges or universities in Ohio currently have tobacco bans, including Miami University.

Deliberation continues in Amish beard-cutting case
Jurors will begin a second day of deliberations in the trial of 16 people accused of hate crimes in hair- and beard-cutting attacks against their fellow Amish in Holmes County. The jury began considering charges Thursday morning in U.S. District Court in Cleveland. Defense attorneys acknowledge that the hair-cuttings took place but contend that prosecutors are overreaching by calling them hate crimes. They told jurors to use common sense in deciding the verdict. All the defendants could face lengthy prison terms if convicted.                                                                                                                      

Craigslist case judge to make ruling on taped statements
A judge in the deadly eastern Ohio Craigslist robbery case is deciding whether to throw out taped statements made to investigators by a Summit County teen suspect. Brogan Rafferty of Stow, who was 16 at the time of the interviews last year, told investigators that holes were dug on farm property to bury intended victims. But he said he didn't shoot anyone, instead blaming alleged accomplice Richard Beasley. The Beacon Journal reports the taped statements were played in a courtroom during a hearing Thursday. Rafferty's attorneys are trying to get them thrown out as evidence, claiming he was coerced to talk. Three men were killed last year in Noble and Summit counties after responding to what authorities said was a bogus online job posting. The hearing continues today.    

FirstEnergy building new Stark County substation, power lines
Akron-based FirstEnergy is planning a new substation in Stark County’s Sugar Creek Township. It’s also planning new power lines that will serve Stark, Carroll, and Jefferson Counties. The construction is part of FirstEnergy’s initiative to make the electrical grid more reliable. Meetings will be held in Toronto, Carrollton, Sugar Creek Township, and Doylestown later this month so residents can give input.