It's time for nominations

The Jay County Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations for its annual awards.

The chamber will be accepting nominations for Citizen of the Year, Business of the Year, Industry of the Year and Lifetime Achievement awards. Nominations should be submitted to the chamber, 118 S. Meridian St., by Nov. 16.

The awards will be presented at the annual meeting in January.

Anyone with questions should contact the chamber at (260) 726-4481.

OSHA seminars

Safety Training and Consulting Inc. is sponsoring two Occupational Safety and Health Administration training seminars.

The OSHA recordkeeping workshop will be held Dec. 1 at the Indiana Chamber Conference Center, 115 W. Washington St., suite 850S, Indianapolis from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. The seminar will cover forms, criteria, exemptions and requirements for proper recordkeeping. The cost is $249 for Indiana Chamber members and $299 for non-members.

The 10-hour OSHA voluntary compliance course will be held Dec. 2 and 3 at the Indiana Chamber Conference Center from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on day one and 7:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on day two. The cost is $599.

Maintenance classes

The John Jay Center for Learning in cooperation with Old National Bank Foundation is offering free online maintenance classes for local industries and businesses.

Classes can be accessed at JJCL, at the business, or at an individual's home. Lynn Crow will be instructing participants on how to use the system. Meetings to introduce the new concept will be held at 2 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 10.

Reservations can be made by calling JJCL at 729-5525 ext. 221. The meeting will last between an hour and an hour and a half.

Questions may be directed to Rob Weaver at 729-5525 ext. 222.

Now open

Agave Azul, a Mexican grill and tequila bar, opened Monday in Portland.

The restaurant is located in the plaza across from the Wal-Mart Supercenter at 1043 W. Votaw St., in the former location of A-1 Buffet.

The restaurant owned by Antonio Bustos will be open Monday through Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Friday and Saturday, from 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Franklin drops 50

Bluffton-based Franklin Electric Co. reported a 50 percent dip in third-quarter earnings.

The company reported profits of $8.6 million, down from $17.3 million during the same quarter in the previous year. The company sold $166 million in shares during the quarter, down about 23 percent from the year before.

Old National falls

Old National Bancorp announced a 76 percent plunge in earnings during the quarter, dropping about $13 million since last year.

Earnings fells to $4.02 million down from $17.02 million in the same quarter last year. Old National completed a stock sale of about $196 million during the quarter, selling 20.7 million shares.

Settled

A concrete company with Jay County ties agreed to settle an allegation of price-fixing for $29 million.

Irving Materials Inc. agreed to the settlement, which must be approved by a federal judge. Irving, the parent company of E&B Paving, which has completed paving projects in Jay County, allegedly fixed prices between January 2000 and May 2004, making around $225 million in the process.

Verizon drop

Verizon Communications, Inc., reported a 30 percent drop in third quarter earnings as the company continues to change its business model.

Verizon is changing emphasis to cell phone, FiOS TV and Internet service as well as releasing employees and contractors. The company posted earnings of $1.18 billion compared to $1.67 billion a year ago.[[In-content Ad]]