CAFOs top construction on horizon

Permits for more than $1.6 million in new construction were issued in January and February by the Jay/Portland Building and Planning office.
The two largest projects comprise four confined feeding buildings, two for swine and two for turkeys.
A permit for two swine confined feeding buildings with a construction cost of $900,000 at county roads 400 North and 650 East was issued to Troy Muhlenkamp.
A permit for two turkey confined feeding buildings with a construction cost of $300,000 at 7512 N. 450 East was issued to Rodney Muhlenkamp.
Robert Manor was issued a permit for a $150,000 new home at 8194E. 400 South.
IU Health/Jay County Cancer Center was issued a permit for a $130,000 interior remodeling project at 501 W. Votaw St., Portland.
Other permits were issued to Ralph Homan for a $30,000 pole building at 7195 W. 200 South, Scott Coy for two pole barns and a lean to totaling $30,000 at 2740 E. 500 South, Larry Moser for a $15,000 pole building at 7743 W. 400 North, Rodney Muhlenkamp for a $40,000 barn at 7512 N. 450 East, Scott Coy for a $5,000 lean-to at 2339 E. 500 South, Derek Davis for a $15,000 pole building at 7498 N. 1050 West, and Lonnie and Cathy Mock for a $17,000 garage at 2925 Blaine Pike, Portland.
Business occupancy permits were issued to TLS By Design, 400-410 S. Bridge St., Portland, and Central Gases and Supply, 107 W. Rogers St., Portland.

Business seminars planned locally
Jay County Chamber of Commerce and John Jay Center for Learning are hosting four seminars for local businesses.
The first seminar, Planning for Growth, will be from 1 to 3 p.m. March 11 at John Jay Center for Learning.
The second seminar, Is Your Business Running You?, will be held from 8 to 10 a.m. May 14 at John Jay Center for Learning.
“Building your Brand and Image” is the third seminar from 8 to 10 a.m. September 10.
The fourth seminar is “Managing Social Marketing” from 1 to 3 p.m. November 14.
Member and non-member rates and volume discount pricing are available.
Call Jay County Chamber of Commerce for more information, 260-726-4481.

Most admired
Tyson Foods Inc. has been named one of “America’s Most Admired Companies” by Fortune magazine.
It was one of six companies to make the most admired list in the food production category.
Tyson Foods Inc. is the parent company of Tyson Mexican Original of Portland.
“To receive this type of recognition is very humbling,” said Tyson president and CEO Donnie Smith in a prepared statement.
“It serves as a reminder to the hard working Tyson team members that they’re doing important work each day.”
Fortune assesses businesses in 57 industry sectors on nine criteria.
Executives, directors, and analysts in each industry are surveyed when compiling the list.

New president
Ardagh Group, the Luxembourg-based glass company that hopes to complete the purchase of Verallia North America this spring, has named John Riordan as president of Ardagh Glass North America.
Riordan has been finance director of the group since 1999.
Ardagh announced the acquisition of Verallia, which has a glass bottle plant in Dunkirk, in January of 2013. But the scope of the transaction raised objections from the Federal Trade Commission. Ardagh has been negotiating with the FTC on adjustments to the deal so it can go forward for the past several months.

Government overpays
An audit recently found that the government overpaid and underpaid Mercer County Community Hospital in Medicare and Medicaid claims over a three-year period.
The Mercer County Board of Governors learned the audit involved 290 case files that totaled $1.71 million in services, and it identified 95 “at-risk” accounts totaling $482,000 in charges.
The audit’s findings concluded the government overpaid the hospital $120,000 in 33 cases, but underpaid the hospital in 15 cases, totaling $91,000.
Twelve additional payments worth $76,000 are still pending.
The hospital already won $70,000 in 22 appeals, and cases involving $48,000 are still being appealed.

Ivy Tech names president
Ivy Tech Community College East Central recently appointed John Lightle as the new president for the Marion campus.
The appointment is part of a statewide restructure resulting in the consolidation of administrative functions and regional operations.
The focus of the campus president is community outreach.
Lightle has served as Vice Chancellor/Dean of the Marion campus for 11 years.

RadioShack closing 1,100 stores
RadioShack, which has a store in Portland, announced it plans to close up to 1,100 stores in the U.S.
The store closings would leave RadioShack with more than 4,000 U.S. stores, including more than 900 dealer franchise locations, CEO Joseph Magnacca said.
The company didn’t say which stores would be closed and how many jobs would be affected.[[In-content Ad]]