Business news briefs, Nov. 9: Standard Choice Offer for natural gas drops for November

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Ohio.Com

Natural gas price falls

Dominion Energy Ohio’s monthly natural gas price for residential customers who are on the Standard Choice Offer is dropping again for November.

Effective Nov. 10, the SCO will be $2.75 per thousand cubic feet (mcf). The November rate is 22 cents or 7.4 percent lower than the October rate of $2.97/mcf. It is 4 cents higher or 1.4 percent higher than the price a year ago of $2.71/mcf.

Under the company’s filing, the average SCO residential customer’s bill for the month of November would be $59.40, up $1.45, or 2.5 percent from $57.95 in November 2016.

All customers pay a fixed $27.71 for the basic monthly charge, a usage-based charge, to transport the gas to your home, and gross-receipts tax. That usage-based charge is currently 32 cents/mcf.

HOSPITALS

Clinic builds children’s center

By next fall, the Cleveland Clinic plans to complete renovations on a new $20 million children’s center in Cleveland, the Plain Dealer reported.

The 120,000-square-foot center will be the Clinic’s first free-standing outpatient center and will combine primary and specialty outpatient care in one location. It will be housed on Euclid Avenue between 89th and 90th streets in the former Taussig Cancer Center, which relocated to a new 377,000-square-foot facility earlier this year.

“This new building will help bring visibility to the Cleveland Clinic Children’s brand. More importantly, it will allow hundreds of doctors, nurses, therapists and other caregivers to work side-by-side to enhance the care and experience of every child,” Dr. Rita Pappas, interim chair of Cleveland Clinic Children’s, said in a news release.

The new outpatient center will have 60 exam rooms, 20 private infusion rooms and four procedure rooms. Its outpatient services will include audiology, behavioral health, cardiology, endocrinology/diabetes, gastroenterology, hematology/oncology, infectious disease, neurology, nutrition, primary care and pulmonology.

It also will have on-site lab testing, a playroom, an education center with computers, a cafe and nutrition center, pediatric infusion bays, a technology bar with tablets and touch monitors and wayfinding software.

AIRLINES

Spirit coming to Columbus

Ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is coming to Columbus. The airline announced Wednesday morning that it will launch service at John Glenn Columbus International Airport in February, with service to seven cities by March, the Columbus Dispatch reported.

The first five destinations, all starting on Feb. 15, will be: Florida’s Orlando and Fort Lauderdale plus Las Vegas, all with daily, year-round service; and Tampa and Fort Myers, with daily seasonal service through April 11, resuming in November.

On March 22, Spirit will add New Orleans and Myrtle Beach, S.C., as destinations, with service three to four times weekly on a seasonal basis through Nov. 7.

Columbus becomes the third Ohio city that Spirit serves. The carrier launched service at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport in January 2015 and at Akron-Canton Airport one year ago.

SELF-DRIVING VEHICLES

Bus crashes on launch day

A driverless shuttle bus has crashed less than two hours after it was launched in Las Vegas.

Police say no injuries were reported in the Wednesday crash between the self-operating vehicle and a semi-truck. It’s not yet clear what caused the wreck.

Officials had hosted an unveiling ceremony to promote what they described as the nation’s first self-driving shuttle pilot project geared toward the public.

The oval-shaped shuttle that can transport up to 12 passengers has an attendant and computer monitor, but no steering wheel and no brake pedals. It uses GPS, electronic curb sensors and other technology to make its way.

Before it crashed, dozens of people had lined up in downtown Las Vegas to get a free ride.

Compiled from staff and wire reports.