Have you entered the "Buy Local" Receipt Contest?

In The Know

The Weekly Newsletter of The Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce

December 1, 2017

Today's Featured Video

Why Businesses Should Hire Humans, Not Robots

A Well-Trained Employee is Still the Greatest Supercomputer

Scott Galloway, author of The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google , explains why humans, not robots, will always be a retail business' greatest asset and why Starbucks is the example to follow into the future.

Buy Local Receipt Contest

Just one of the many "Shift Your Shopping" programs for 2017 is the Buy Local Receipt Contest. Shoppers may enter online at the chamber website and log their receipts from purchases made at Jefferson County businesses between November 1st and December 24th. For every $50 spent locally, shoppers receive one entry in a drawing to win $500 cash. Winner will be announced on December 26th. View and complete the online form by clicking here.

Good luck and remember to think local this holiday season and year-round.

Member Morsels

Remember to visit individual member websites by clicking on the business name or logo.

You have only three more Sundays to enjoy Steubenville's own holiday musical, Wooden Heart Follies , now in its second delightful season! This hour-long piece of family entertainment plays December 3, 10, and 17 at the Masonic Temple, 127 North 4th Street in Steubenville. Nine life-sized Nutcrackers from the Steubenville Nutcracker Village come to life in this production pairing Tchaikovsky's familiar holiday music from The Nutcracker Suite with modern comic lyrics. Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for students, and children under 6 are free. Tickets are available at the door or in advance at the Visitor's Center at Fort Steuben or online at Brown Paper Tickets .

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The state of Ohio has released its 2018 Minimum Wage guidelines. These guidelines should be posted in a conspicuous place within your place of business. You can download a printable poster of these guidelines here .

The A.A.S.R. Valley of Steubenville/Masonic Temple will host a pancake breakfast on Saturday, December 9th from 8 to 11 a.m. prior to the Steubenville Christmas Parade. Pancakes, sausage, coffee, juice and hot chocolate will be served. The cost is $5 for adults and $3 for children under 12. Come out and warm your belly prior to the parade. The 227 North 4th Street in downtown Steubenville.

WANTED: Over 250 Volunteer Elves! The Steubenville Nutcracker Village is looking for volunteers for tasks that include: Trolley Assistant; Hayride Assistant; Land Office Guard; Facilities Patrol; and Greeter. Volunteers must be 18 or older. Please contact Suzanne Kresser at 740-264-4466 or via email here . For more information, please click here . The full Nutcracker Village schedule may be viewed here or print and share the complete schedule by clicking here .

Do you want your Morsel included in "In The Know"?

There's no charge. Just click the button below and fill out the short online form.

Deadline is Wednesday at noon.

"In The Know" Submission Form

2017 Holiday Open House

The Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce

Thursday, December 7, 2017

11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

630 Market Street, Steubenville

Please Use Rear Entrance

Complimentary Admission

For more information, please call 740-282-2662 or email here .

The Chamber offices are pulling out all the stops to welcome Chamber members and their employees. Please join us as we celebrate the season and thank our members for their hard work, dedication, time, and efforts over the past year. Stop by any time for carolers, great food and drink, music, goody bags, and more. Enter the "Ugly Get-Up" contest and vie for a $50 gift card and the Traveling Trophy.

Coffee & Connections -

Holiday Style

Mama G's Catering

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

8 a.m. to 9 a.m.

206 North 4th Street, Toronto, Ohio

$10 per person. $12 if invoiced.

Please RSVP by December 11.

Come see the latest addition in Toronto as Mama G's Catering hosts "Coffee & Connections - Holiday Style." There will be tours, a great breakfast, networking, and more. To keep it festive, there will also be an ugly sweater/outfit contest with the winner receiving a complimentary full year of Coffee & Connections - that's a value of $120.00!

"Member Orientation" will immediately follow at 9:15, new and old members welcome. Learn about the latest Chamber programs and how to get the most from your dues investment. No charge and you need not attend Coffee & Connections.

Jefferson County Safety Council Luncheon

Hellenic Hall at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

11:30 a.m. Registration

12:00 p.m. Presentation

300 South 4th Street, Steubenville

$15 per person - All welcome. You need not be a Safety Council member.

Lunch provided by Mama G's Catering

Please register in advance by calling 740-282-6226.

Speakers

James Coppa, I&T Mechanic Team Leader of Hazmap Safety - First Energy Corp. (Sammis Plant)

Andy Lubich, Manager, Maintenance - First Energy Corp. (Sammis Plant)

Presentation Title : Culture of Change and Personal Accountability

Presentation Topic : Developing a safety driven culture by means of personal accountability and trust.

Our presentation will focus on the power industry and its evolution from a production-driven environment to a safety-driven environment. The presentation will touch on the challenges and rewards of a changing culture. The second part will focus on personal accountability and the effects our personal decisions can have on our loved ones, peers, and organization.

To RSVP or get more information on any Chamber event, please visit the Chamber website and click on the event you wish to view on the scrolling event calendar. Or print a hard copy by clicking the button below.

December 2017 Chamber Calendar

Around the State. Around the Country.

Up-to-Date Information from the Ohio and United States Chamber of Commerce

Important Municipal Business Income Tax Reforms are Under Attackegislation to Remove Budget Authorization to Raid Employer Dollars from BWC & IC Advances

Earlier this year, a dangerous provision was added to the state budget bill, House Bill 49, which would have allowed the Office of Budget and Management (OBM) to transfer up to two percent of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation (BWC) and Industrial Commission (IC) budgets to the General Revenue Fund (GRF). Authority to transfer budget money from agencies is not a new concept, as it is known colloquially as the “rotary raid” of agency budgets when the state is looking for money to fill budget gaps at the end of state’s budget cycle.

However, this would have been the first time the BWC and IC were included in the list of agencies potentially subjected to this raid. This would have set a dangerous, and potentially illegal, precedent of raiding entirely employer funded agencies to finance general government operations, through the GRF.

Read the article in its entirety by clicking here .

A Fiscal Trigger is Impractical, Unreasonable, and Unnecessary

Recently some Senators have raised concerns about the deficit impact of the pending tax reform bill. Even though the weight of expert opinion strongly suggests the revenue gains from additional growth should erase federal deficit concerns while providing a tidy fiscal windfall to state and local government coffers, some are now suggesting a fiscal trigger in the event the projected revenue gains fail to materialize. While one can appreciate the intentions, the fact remains a fiscal trigger is a terrible idea.

The flaws of the fiscal trigger, whereby taxes would rise if revenues disappointed are many, but let us focus on the biggest. The most obvious is, against what metric would a shortfall be counted? Are the trigger’s proponents willing to embrace a particular estimate for the additional growth and associated revenue gains? Without such a dynamic revenue estimate, the trigger is an illusion.

Read the article in its entirety by clicking here .

The Library Link

Great Books About Business With Just A Click

Your link to success begins at the library. Each week in "In The Know,"

The Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County will directly connect

you to a business book or magazine that will inspire, teach, inform, or elevate you, professionally and personally. This week's book is:

Ray & Joan:

The Man Who Made the McDonald's Fortune

and the Woman Who Gave It All Away

by Lisa Napoli

The dramatic relationship between Ray Kroc, the man who amassed a fortune as chairman of one of America's most controversial and iconic companies - McDonald's - and the passionate woman--his wife, Joan--who then gave that fortune away.

View or download the book by clicking here .

Today in History

- December 1, 1955 -

On this date in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat to a white passenger and move to the back of a city bus. Alabama law at the time stated that black people not only had to sit in the back of buses, but also had to give up their seats to white people if the buses were full. Her refusal led to her arrest, and her arrest led to a 381-day boycott of the Montgomery bus system. The boycott in turn led to the Supreme Court's 1956 ruling against segregation in public transportation. Parks later said, "I did not get on the bus to get arrested; I got on the bus to go home." For more information on this historic day, check out this article .

- 36 -

The number of states that grow apples commercially. In 2005, the United States produced 234.9 million cartons of apples that were valued at $1.9 billion. Today is National Eat a Red Apple Day, so have an apple today and keep the doctor away!

Source: University of Illinois Extension