Plug pulled on wind project

Wind farm developer NextEra Energy Resources announced this week that it is backing out of plans to build a farm near St. Henry after meeting with strong resistance from the community.
The Florida-based firm said it is pulling plans to build a 40 to 70 wind turbine farm in the “Land of the Cross Tipped Churches” in southern Mercer County.
Residents in the area, included the group Citizens Against Turbines, rallied against the possible development, citing that the turbines would overshadow the region’s many steepled churches, which were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
NextEra stated that it still has interest in Mercer County and may shift its attention to the north and northwest portion of the county for future development.

Annual meeting
Jay County REMC will hold its 75th annual meeting April 9.
The event will be held in the Jay County High School Auditorium.
Registration is 5:30 to 7 p.m.
During that time there will be a kids’ program in the high school commons and gym and member business expo for adults.
At 6 p.m. county music band Cooke and Belle will perform, followed by the business meeting at 7 p.m.

Retiring
Allegheny Technologies Incorporated chairman and CEO L. Patrick Hassey will retire effective May 1.
The ATI board of directors selected Richard J. Harshman to serve as chairman, president and CEO, effective May 1.
Hassey has been involved in the metals business for more than 40 years and served ATI for the past eight. He was selected as a consultant in early 2003 and was named to the board of directors in July 2003 and then became president and CEO in October 2003. He was selected as chairman in May 2004.
Harshman has been with ATI for 32 years and current serves as president and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to being named to those position in August 2010, he serves as executive vice president, finance and chief financial officer since 2003. He was selected as chief financial officer in 2000.

New president
POET recently named Jeff Lautt as president of the company.
Lautt will assume the position’s responsibilities from Jeff Broin, who will continue to serve as CEO and chairman of the board.
Lautt most recently served as executive vice president of corporate operations and has been with the company since 2005.
No. 1
Financial Management Consulting Group announced that First Bank of Berne has been ranked as the No. 1 best performing bank in Indiana for 2010.
First Bank of Berne held the best overall rating for 2010 and also held the title in 2009.
The bank controls assets of more than $425 million and operates eight offices in Berne, Decatur, Bluffton, Portland and Van Wert, Ohio.

Ratings improve
A recent review by Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services and Fitch Ratings upgraded ratings for Tyson Foods, returning the company to investment grades.
S&P raised the company’s corporate credit rating to BBB- up from BB+ and also raised the issue-level ratings on Tyson’s unsecured notes by the same margin.
Fitch also upgraded several ratings for Tyson to BBB- status.[[In-content Ad]]