Here are some news items of interest for you. Look for more industry news in our next issue of Builders Exchange Magazine.

For the third straight month the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has gone up. AIA reportes the April ABI rating was 48.5, up from a reading of 46.1 the previous month.

A new rule by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandates that all renovation and repair contractors working in pre-1978 homes, schools, and day care centers who disrupt more than six square feet of lead paint are required to become EPA Certified in lead-safe work practices.

SI Columbus will host a five-state, 15-chapter Great Lakes Conference July 22-24, with AIA educational credits, a golf outing the first day, a hospitality suite at the Hyat Regency Hotel, plus a gala dinner and awards ceremony at the State House.

According to the Fourth District Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, manufacturing is leading the way in job growth in Ohio and western PA

Construction employment edged closer to stabilizing in June, as half the states either added construction jobs or kept the same number as in May, the Associated General Contractors reported in an analysis of federal employment data released July 20.

wo leading economists, Alan S. Blinder, Princeton professor and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, and Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, say that without the fiscal stimulus program, the Wall Street TARP bailout, bank stress tests, and lending and asset purchases by the Federal Reserve, the GDP would be 6.5% or so lower this year, with 8.5 million fewer jobs and deflation.