From staff and wire reports

Long-distance carrier enters local markets

Phone customers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin well get one more long-distance choice as early as next Friday.

The Federal Communications Commission will allow SBC Communications Inc. to begin offering long-distance service to customers in those states. SBC, formerly known as Ameritech, had been pushing for years for that right.

Market analysts said the change, approved by FCC officials on Wednesday, should mean better deals on long-distance for customers because there will be more competition.

"The pattern to date has not necessarily been so much a drop in long-distance prices as it has been new consumer options in terms of bundles," said Blair Levin, a former FCC official who is an analyst with the Legg Mason investment firm in Washington.

Marathon Ashland plans to cut 165 jobs

Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC, which is partly owned by Covington-based Ashland Inc. and has seven U.S. Midwest oil refineries, plans to cut 165 jobs to help reduce costs by $70 million a year starting in 2004.

Pretax costs of $10 million will be recorded because of the cuts, with about 75 percent reported in the fourth quarter, Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Ashland said in a statement. The rest of the expenses will be recorded early next year. The company has 6,500 nonretail positions.

Marathon Ashland is owned 62 percent by Marathon Oil Corp., the fourth-biggest U.S. oil company. Ashland, the biggest U.S. road builder and maker of Valvoline motor oil, owns the rest. The venture has 3,800 gasoline stations.

Conners Machinery is Sodick distributor

Conners Machinery Sales, Loveland machine tool distributor, has been appointed exclusive distributor for Sodick Inc., leading supplier of electrical discharge metal-cutting equipment, in southern Ohio and Kentucky.