Here’s to a great Friday and an even better weekend, business readers. The NCAA tournament has started at the University of Dayton Arena every year since 2001, with the pandemic-era exceptions of 2020 and the next year, when the entire tournament moved to Indiana. UD bids on the right to host the fabled First Four tournament games every few years. In 2017, the agreement was extended through 2022. In 2020, it was extended through 2026. Now comes news that the First Four will be sticking around for a bit longer. NCAA extends agreement for First Four to stay at UD Arena The road will start in Dayton for the next four years. The First Four will stay in Dayton through at least 2028, the NCAA said Wednesday. With two years added to the agreement, the number of NCAA tournament games at UD Arena will grow to 153 games in 2028. No venue has hosted more NCAA tournament games than UD Arena. Dayton venues ready to welcome NATO assembly in 2025 The event: Specifically, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly will hold its spring session in Dayton, over Memorial Day weekend in 2025. The venues: Now we have new information about where the event’s approximately 1,000 participants will be hosted — at CareSource sites and at the Benjamin & Marian Schuster Performing Arts Center and other Dayton Live venues. Dayton Live is the non-profit that owns and operates the Schuster Center, Victoria Theatre, Loft Theatre/Metropolitan Arts Center, and the PNC Arts Annex. Helene aftermath: Fewer than 1,300 without power as of Wednesday. The (lingering) problem: The remnants of Hurricane Helene tore through the region starting last Friday, Sept. 27, impacting more than 130,000 AES Ohio customers. The way back: These numbers were continually updated through the week, so any single snapshot becomes quickly outdated. But as of shortly after 4 p.m. Wednesday, AES Ohio had 1,281 customers without service, including 918 in Montgomery County. Sen. Sherrod Brown: Department of Defense should act on PFAS in Dayton region The call to action: U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, this week called on the Air Force and the Department of Defense to take “immediate” and “aggressive” action to protect the Dayton region’s drinking water supply from PFAS, sometimes called “forever chemicals,” thought to be originating from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The letters: Brown sent his letter not long after Dayton’s Environmental Advisory Board wrote Brown and other state elected leaders requesting their help on the issue. BONUS: The Air Force says it has spent $59 million on the issue at Wright-Patt. Read some of our previous reporting. Dayton area landscaping company expands with new location Marty Grunder, owner of Grunder Landscaping, seems to be everywhere sometimes. You can see his company’s trucks all over the Miami Valley and hear him on the radio. Now his company is reaching into the Cincinnati area. The move: Miamisburg-based Grunder is expanding. The organization plans to open a new 10,000-square-foot office at 137 Commerce Drive in the Northern Cincinnati suburb of Loveland. Contact me: Thank you, as always, for reading. If you want to tell me about your business, here are a few ways to do just that: Email: tom.gnau@coxinc.com. On social media, at X, on Facebook and on LinkedIn. UD Flyers men’s basketball players: Are practicing. A challenge to would-be entrepreneurs wearing the uniform: Dream big. One response to a looming physicians shortage: Nurse practitioners. Up for a chocolate festival this weekend? Here’s what to know. | 
