Good morning to everyone except fans of whoever the Ohio State Buckeyes are playing next Saturday. I don’t know who that is, but I feel sorry for them. Welcome to my mom’s favorite twice weekly business newsletter. Since winter, we’ve seen several automakers either scale back or delay plans to invest in EV production. Noticeably absent from that list (so far) has been Honda. There are reasons for that, said Mike Fischer, executive chief engineer and leader of what Honda calls its “North American BEV (Battery Electric Vehicle) project.” The company does not intend to stop giving customers what they want, he told me in a new interview. Honda progressing toward its new Ohio ‘EV Hub’ The latest: The automaker will have six 6,000-ton casting machines in its Anna plant, to “mega-cast” IPU (“Intelligent Power Unit”) cases, the case holding battery modules from Honda’s new joint venture battery plant in Jeffersonville, about 50 minutes from Dayton. And last month, Honda unveiled its Acura Performance EV Concept, which will be first EV produced at the Marysville plant. Its battery will be made in Jeffersonville. Flexibility: Fischer said Honda needs to be ready to give customers why they want. That means producing internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, hybrid vehicles that employ both EV and ICE technologies, and EVs at the Marysville and East Liberty plants during a long transition period. UD announces faculty cuts; master’s and doctoral programs to be cut University of Dayton announced some non-tenure track faculty contracts will not be renewed for the 2025-26 school year, and multiple master’s and doctoral programs will be eliminated, education reporter Eileen McClory reported. Impact: UD said Friday it has not yet determined how many of the non-tenure track faculty contracts will not be renewed. Notifications will be made by March 15. Background: The university has been planning to reduce its student headcount by about 10% to 15% and its workforce by a similar amount. UD, one of Dayton’s larger employers, has about 11,000 students overall and 3,700 employees. A new space to create: DIY studio opening in St. Anne’s Hill neighborhood Drive east from the Oregon District sometime and check out the St. Anne’s Hill Historic District. It’s beautiful, sure, but things are happening. Food and dining reporter Natalie Jones connected with Devon Stinson, owner of Cozy Craft Studios, a new DIY arts and crafts studio expected to open in early 2025 in the St. Anne’s Hill. The idea: Offer hobbyists, makers, creators and artists of all backgrounds a space to connect and flourish. What they’re saying: “I have found that our entrepreneurial community is really focused in on our tech-based entrepreneurs, but what about those that are in the creative space,” Stinson said. “We will be working with local community artists to actually facilitate and bring in the classes.” Facing opposition and health challenges, ex-Daytonian stays steadfast in shipwreck quest Former Dayton resident and athlete Steve Libert and his friends don’t give up. For decades, they have pursued the little known shipwreck of Le Griffon, the sailing vessel ofFrench explorer and fur trader René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. The quest: Libert’s idea, fired by the discovery of a wreck near Poverty Island on upper Lake Michigan, is that this may very well be the Great Lakes’ oldest shipwreck. But: The 70-year-old Libert faces government and academic doubt, if not outright opposition. “He’s pretty persistent,” said friend Sam Kingrey, who owns machine shop SK Mold & Tool, which has locations in Troy and Tipp City, with about 55 employees total. Truck parking but not a ‘truck stop’: Vandalia OKs new business on Webster You think you have trouble finding a parking spot? Trying driving a semi. A developer plans to construct a new truck facility in south Vandalia, easing that problem somewhat, at least in that area. City council has approved a conditional use request submitted by Rashid Lutfiyev, of Tipp City, for the construction of a truck facility at 6480 Webster St., east of Interstate 75 and north of Stop 8 Road. Not a truck stop: Council documents show the proposed facility will feature 20 parking spaces for semis and trailers on a fenced-in asphalt surface. The 6-acre project site is zoned for industrial use, and trucks are a permitted conditional use. The project will also include a physical structure on site, but city officials have specified that the facility will not serve as a truck stop, which includes certain amenities like food, showers, and fueling stations. Contact me: Thank you for reading this, always. This newsletter belongs to you, so tell me what’s going on. You can reach me at tom.gnau@coxinc.com. I’m also on X, and on Facebook in a couple of places, here and here. A radio station for music nerds: Tuning in may be tricky, though. Downtown developer: Eyes a new hotel | 
