Wal-Mart boosts plan to hire more veterans

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced this week it is expanding its plan to hire veterans.
The company now plans to hire a total of 250,000 recently discharged veterans by 2020 under its Veterans Welcome Home Commitment program. Originally, the retailer planned to hire 100,000 veterans by 2018.
More than 92,000 veterans have been hired by Wal-Mart in the past two years, and about 8,000 of those original hires have already been promoted.
If the program is successful, the 250,000 veterans would make up nearly 20 percent of the company’s workers.

Lunch reminder
The Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking luncheon will be at noon on Tuesday in the conference room at Jay County Hospital. County commissioners Faron Parr, Jim Zimmerman, and Doug Inman will provide the program.

Growing again?
Motherson Sumi Systems, parent company of MSSL Wiring System Inc. in Portland, is considering the acquisition of three auto component manufacturers in Europe, The Economic Times reported this week.
Motherson Sumi, already India’s largest auto parts maker, hopes to increase its revenues dramatically over the next five years.
Currently its annual revenue is about $5.5 billion, but it is targeting revenue of $18 billion by 2020. Some of that will come from growing its existing businesses and some through acquisitions.

Welding offered
John Jay Center for Learning is partnering with Jay Schools, Ivy Tech, and WorkOne to offer a course in gas metal arc welding fundamentals.
Participants will learn welding techniques and procedures involving various types and thicknesses of metal, various positions, and various kinds of joints.
The course also involves blueprint reading skills, measurement techniques, and math skills used to verify specifications.
The class will meet from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday from June 8 through July 3 at Jay County High School.
Cost of the class is $3,200 per student, which includes the textbook, personal protective equipment, class materials, and an American Welding Society certification fee. Financial aid may be available through WorkOne.
For more information, visit www.johnjaycen-ter.com.

Good quarter
Burger King has posted its best North American growth in years, with sales jumping 6.9 percent in the last quarter.
Burger King is owned by Restaurant Brands International Inc., which also owns the Canadian doughnut chain Tim Hortons.
The company posted overall earnings of 18 cents a share for the quarter.

Tuition frozen
Ivy Tech Community College has announced plans to freeze tuition for students who remain enrolled continuously from term to term, beginning this fall. It will also freeze tuition for students enrolled in 30-plus credit hours combined for the fall 2015 and spring 2016 terms.
“This is an incentive model for both our non-traditional, part-time students along with those full-time students on a two-year track to graduation,” said Ivy Tech president Thomas J. Snyder in a prepared statement.

Work to begin
Construction of a new 140,000-square-foot expansion of FCC (Adams) in Berne is expected to begin this month.
The expansion will house new assembly lines, die cast machines, lathes, and drills.
CVS buy
CVS Health is acquiring Omnicare, a pharmaceutical distributor, for $10 billion, it was announced Thursday.
The deal is expected to give CVS national reach in dispensing prescription drugs to nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Omnicare operates in 47 states and the District of Columbia.
CVS will pay $98 in cash for each share of Omnicare.

Tyson donation
Tyson Foods Inc., parent company of Tyson Mexican Original of Portland, has donated $50,000 to the Lancaster County Spanish American Civic Association in Pennsylvania. The funds will go toward expansion of the association’s neighborhood meal program.