Cooper acquires CW Egg

An area farm and food company is now the full owner of a Fort Recovery egg operation.

Cooper Farms has acquired full ownership of egg processing plant CW Egg, the company announced.

The business on Wabash Road on the north side of the village had previously been a partnership between the Cooper and Weaver families. The name will change to Cooper Farms Liquid Egg Products and be part of the Cooper Farms Egg Division.

“This location has been a passion for us at Cooper Farms from the beginning,” said Gary Cooper, chief operating officer of Cooper Farms, in a press release. “It fits best with the future plans of all parties to bring the liquid egg processing under the Cooper Farms umbrella. We have a great relationship with and respect for the Weaver Eggs team and will continue to do business with them.”

Cooper Farms had already managed the CW Egg facility, including handling staffing and product sales.



Funding Genie

Mary Meeker’s BOND Capital led a funding effort for avatar start-up Genies, the company announced Monday.

The Series B funding effort closed at $65 million, TechCrunch reported. Meeker, a Jay County High School graduate, is a partner with BOND and will be joining the Genies board.

Other investors in Genies include NEA, Breyer Capital, Tull Investment Group, NetEase, Dapper Labs and Coinbase Ventures.

“An avatar is a vehicle to be able to showcase more of your authentic self,” Genies CEO Akash Nigam told TechCrunch. “It’s not limited by real-world constraints, it’s an alter-ego personality.”

Genies has celebrity partnerships with Justin Bieber, Shawn Mendes and Cardi B. Last fall, it announced a brand partnership with Gucci.



Training available

ServSafe training will be available at John Jay Center for Learning.

Training dates are May 17, June 28 and July 26. All sessions run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at John Jay.

For more information, call (260) 729-5525.



Job fair is Thursday

Adams County will hold its community job fair from 1 to 5 p.m. Thursday.

The event will be at Riverside Center, 231 E. Monroe St., Decatur. It will include a variety of local employers.

Masks will be required.

For more information, visit indianacareerconnect.com.



Broadband extended

Comcast Corp. has expanded its broadband network in Indiana.

Inside Indiana Business reported this week that the company has completed a nearly $1 million network upgrade to extend high-speed broadband internet access to northwestern Boone County and southeastern Tippecanoe County. It expects to offer speeds up to 100 gigabits per second.

"Access to high quality internet service is essential in today's world. Comcast is making a significant investment to better serve the residents and businesses of Thorntown with the most current broadband technology," Sen. Brian Buchanan (R-Lebanon) told Inside Indiana Business.



Lilly providing

Eli Lilly announced Tuesday that it would supply its COVID-19 treatment to India, which is in the midst of a severe surge of the disease.

Lilly plans to supply the Indian government with 400,000 of its tablets, Reuters reported. They are to be used with the drug remdesivir.

The company is also donating its rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib.



Solar online

NextEra Energy, in partnership with Tucson Electric Power Co., has brought solar farm Wilmot Energy Center online.

The project, owned and built by NextEra, is on the city’s south side. The 100-megawatt facility on 1,130 acres and Tucson Electric Power has a 20-year contract to purchase the electricity.

The power company is also planning to take its Oso Grande Wind Project online this month.

“These systems more than double our large-scale renewable energy resources and represent a big step toward the cleaner, greener grid we’re building for our community,” Tucson Electric Power president and CEO Susan Gray told tucson.com. “We’re taking decisive action on behalf of our community to protect our climate.”