November 4, 2016 at 8:14 p.m.
WinterFest plans taking shape
Business Roundup
Plans for WinterFest are taking shape at the Jay County Chamber of Commerce.
Events begin Nov. 17 with the annual Christmas sing at the Jay County Courthouse and lighting of the community Christmas tree. The Arts Place annual benefit auction is set for Nov. 18 and the Parade of Lights will take place Nov. 19.
Other Nov. 19 events planned include a free movie at the Ritz Theatre, a kids’ breakfast with Belle and the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” and a “Candyland Extravaganza” at Jay County Public Library. The holiday home tour is set for Nov. 20.
More details will be announced in the weeks ahead.
Scaling back
The new owner of the former Marujun plant in Winchester plans to scale back employment there as it begins production Dec. 1.
TOA Industries, a Japanese company making auto parts, acquired Marujun earlier this year. The Winchester plant, which employed about 765 at its peak, was slated to close entirely, but company officials now say that under TOA about 325 to 350 will be employed.
The transition process to new ownership continues this month.
Regulatory update
John Jay Center for Learning and Ivy Tech Community College will present a free seminar on new OSHA regulations from 8 a.m. to noon Nov. 29.
Michael J. Aust, an OSHA authorized outreach trainer and safety experience, will focus on new electronic filing regulations, new fine levels and other new requirements.
Space at John Jay is limited so pre-registration for the free seminar is required. To register, call (260) 729-5525.
Joins board
Joday Auker has joined the board of directors of CrossRoads Financial Federal Credit Union.
Currently controller at Jay County Hospital, Auker was formerly employed at Portland Forge in cost accounting and information technology. He also served as chief financial officer at Albany Metal Treating in the past.
Auker has been a member of the Ridgeville Volunteer Fire Department for 20 years.
Janet Bantz, president and chief executive officer of CrossRoads, said Auker’s “knowledge of the community and wealth of experience” will be of great benefit to the board.
Receives certification
Jamie Dues of Celina Industries has received certification in positive pressure tube ventilation (PPTV).
Dues, who joined Celina Industries in January, has been involved in agriculture her entire life and is now one of only two PPTV consultants in a three-state area.
As a PPTV consultant she is able to assess ventilation apparatus in any agricultural installation, particularly confined feeding operations.
Takes a hit
Community Health Systems Inc., parent company of Lutheran Health Network, this week reported a third quarter loss of $79 million. That compares to a $52 million profit for the same period in 2015. For the year to date, the company has lost more than $1.4 billion.
Based in Franklin, Tennessee, Community Health Systems has been exploring the sale of some of its smaller hospitals, although Fort Wayne’s Lutheran Health Network is profitable and not likely to be sold.
The company spun off Quorum Health Corp. and 38 affiliated hospitals earlier this year.
Settle suit
McDonald’s Corp. has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a federal lawsuit that sought to hold the company liable for allegations that a franchise owner in the San Francisco Bay Area cheated hundreds of workers out of wages and overtime, The Associated Press reported this week.
A lawyer for the employees Monday called the settlement agreement a historic victory, but the company said it settled to avoid further legal costs.
The lawsuit was filed in 2014 in federal court in San Francisco and is among several suits in recent years that have sought a court order designating McDonald’s as the joint employer of workers at its franchise restaurants.
Franchised locations account for the majority of McDonald’s more than 14,000 U.S. restaurants, The AP reported.
Joint-employer status would make McDonald’s, not just the franchise owners, responsible for working conditions at restaurants.
The National Labor Relations Board is also arguing that McDonald’s should be considered a joint employer in a separate case in New York.
Attends seminar
Dr. Steven DeGroff of DeGroff Family Eye Clinic of Berne and Winchester attended an October seminar on neurological diseases affecting the visual system and new techniques for treating corneal disease.
His practice in Berne opened in 1987 and expanded to Winchester in 2005.
No home run
Baseball fans in Denver were upset this week when Comcast cable TV service failed during the seventh game of the World Series.
Service was restored four innings after the outage began.
The Denver Post reported that the Denver area leads the country in the most reported outages — 1,071 — in the past 30 days.
Big investment
Honda of America — a key customer of FCC (Indiana) — announced this week it will invest $53 million to build two buildings on its central Ohio campus in Raymond to house its information technology and market quality operations.
The two new facilities are scheduled to open in early 2017. About 25 new jobs will be created by the project over the next few years in the information technology and market quality groups, Honda spokesman Chris Abbruzzese told the Springfield, Ohio, News-Sun.
The 38,000-square-foot Ohio Data Center will increase data storage for the company. Honda has a similar data center in Denver, Abbruzzese told the News-Sun.
The 98,000-square foot North American Quality Center building will consolidate operations for several Honda organizations under one roof.
“We’ll be able to more efficiently and effectively address customer feedback identified from the marketplace,” Abbruzzese said.
The Ohio Development Services Agency provided a grant of about $665,000 for road work related to the new facilities.
The company employs about 1,400 in Ohio’s Clark and Champaign counties
Walmart shake-up
Some top executives at Walmart Inc. are departing in connection with a revamping of the company’s online operations.
Fernando Madeira, president and CEO of Walmart.com, and Dianne Mills, senior VP of global e-commerce human resources, are leaving the company, CNBC reported this week
Also going are Neil Ashe, president and CEO of global e-commerce, and Brent Beabout, formerly senior vice president of e-commerce supply chain.
Mark Lore, founder of jet.com, is now president and CEO of e-commerce for the company.
Hits a snag
The developers of a contentious wind farm proposed for Warren County are seeking final zoning approval, the Lafayette Journal & Courier reported this week..
Warren County is located west of Lafayette along the Indiana-Illinois border. The proposed wind farm is almost directly across the state from the Bluff Point Wind Farm planned for southern Jay County and norther Randolph County.
If OK’d, the Jordan Creek Wind Farm would construct up to 150 wind turbines, according to the special exception application. The turbines would generate up to 300 megawatts of electricity — enough for 80,000 Indiana homes — the newspaper reported.
The project would take up about 27,000 acres of private land, the owners of which will receive payouts. Property taxes and other payments to Warren County are expected to add up to more than $32 million over 30 years, according to the application.
The project also would include access roads, cables, electric substations, above-ground transmission lines and meteorological towers. Orion Renewable Energy Group is the developer of the project.
Some Warren County residents have come out in opposition to the wind turbines.
A group called Warren County Concerned Citizens formed and began discussing opposition to the wind farm on Facebook. Wind farm proposals in Henry and Delaware counties have also hit opposition.
Events begin Nov. 17 with the annual Christmas sing at the Jay County Courthouse and lighting of the community Christmas tree. The Arts Place annual benefit auction is set for Nov. 18 and the Parade of Lights will take place Nov. 19.
Other Nov. 19 events planned include a free movie at the Ritz Theatre, a kids’ breakfast with Belle and the Beast from “Beauty and the Beast” and a “Candyland Extravaganza” at Jay County Public Library. The holiday home tour is set for Nov. 20.
More details will be announced in the weeks ahead.
Scaling back
The new owner of the former Marujun plant in Winchester plans to scale back employment there as it begins production Dec. 1.
TOA Industries, a Japanese company making auto parts, acquired Marujun earlier this year. The Winchester plant, which employed about 765 at its peak, was slated to close entirely, but company officials now say that under TOA about 325 to 350 will be employed.
The transition process to new ownership continues this month.
Regulatory update
John Jay Center for Learning and Ivy Tech Community College will present a free seminar on new OSHA regulations from 8 a.m. to noon Nov. 29.
Michael J. Aust, an OSHA authorized outreach trainer and safety experience, will focus on new electronic filing regulations, new fine levels and other new requirements.
Space at John Jay is limited so pre-registration for the free seminar is required. To register, call (260) 729-5525.
Joins board
Joday Auker has joined the board of directors of CrossRoads Financial Federal Credit Union.
Currently controller at Jay County Hospital, Auker was formerly employed at Portland Forge in cost accounting and information technology. He also served as chief financial officer at Albany Metal Treating in the past.
Auker has been a member of the Ridgeville Volunteer Fire Department for 20 years.
Janet Bantz, president and chief executive officer of CrossRoads, said Auker’s “knowledge of the community and wealth of experience” will be of great benefit to the board.
Receives certification
Jamie Dues of Celina Industries has received certification in positive pressure tube ventilation (PPTV).
Dues, who joined Celina Industries in January, has been involved in agriculture her entire life and is now one of only two PPTV consultants in a three-state area.
As a PPTV consultant she is able to assess ventilation apparatus in any agricultural installation, particularly confined feeding operations.
Takes a hit
Community Health Systems Inc., parent company of Lutheran Health Network, this week reported a third quarter loss of $79 million. That compares to a $52 million profit for the same period in 2015. For the year to date, the company has lost more than $1.4 billion.
Based in Franklin, Tennessee, Community Health Systems has been exploring the sale of some of its smaller hospitals, although Fort Wayne’s Lutheran Health Network is profitable and not likely to be sold.
The company spun off Quorum Health Corp. and 38 affiliated hospitals earlier this year.
Settle suit
McDonald’s Corp. has agreed to pay $3.75 million to settle a federal lawsuit that sought to hold the company liable for allegations that a franchise owner in the San Francisco Bay Area cheated hundreds of workers out of wages and overtime, The Associated Press reported this week.
A lawyer for the employees Monday called the settlement agreement a historic victory, but the company said it settled to avoid further legal costs.
The lawsuit was filed in 2014 in federal court in San Francisco and is among several suits in recent years that have sought a court order designating McDonald’s as the joint employer of workers at its franchise restaurants.
Franchised locations account for the majority of McDonald’s more than 14,000 U.S. restaurants, The AP reported.
Joint-employer status would make McDonald’s, not just the franchise owners, responsible for working conditions at restaurants.
The National Labor Relations Board is also arguing that McDonald’s should be considered a joint employer in a separate case in New York.
Attends seminar
Dr. Steven DeGroff of DeGroff Family Eye Clinic of Berne and Winchester attended an October seminar on neurological diseases affecting the visual system and new techniques for treating corneal disease.
His practice in Berne opened in 1987 and expanded to Winchester in 2005.
No home run
Baseball fans in Denver were upset this week when Comcast cable TV service failed during the seventh game of the World Series.
Service was restored four innings after the outage began.
The Denver Post reported that the Denver area leads the country in the most reported outages — 1,071 — in the past 30 days.
Big investment
Honda of America — a key customer of FCC (Indiana) — announced this week it will invest $53 million to build two buildings on its central Ohio campus in Raymond to house its information technology and market quality operations.
The two new facilities are scheduled to open in early 2017. About 25 new jobs will be created by the project over the next few years in the information technology and market quality groups, Honda spokesman Chris Abbruzzese told the Springfield, Ohio, News-Sun.
The 38,000-square-foot Ohio Data Center will increase data storage for the company. Honda has a similar data center in Denver, Abbruzzese told the News-Sun.
The 98,000-square foot North American Quality Center building will consolidate operations for several Honda organizations under one roof.
“We’ll be able to more efficiently and effectively address customer feedback identified from the marketplace,” Abbruzzese said.
The Ohio Development Services Agency provided a grant of about $665,000 for road work related to the new facilities.
The company employs about 1,400 in Ohio’s Clark and Champaign counties
Walmart shake-up
Some top executives at Walmart Inc. are departing in connection with a revamping of the company’s online operations.
Fernando Madeira, president and CEO of Walmart.com, and Dianne Mills, senior VP of global e-commerce human resources, are leaving the company, CNBC reported this week
Also going are Neil Ashe, president and CEO of global e-commerce, and Brent Beabout, formerly senior vice president of e-commerce supply chain.
Mark Lore, founder of jet.com, is now president and CEO of e-commerce for the company.
Hits a snag
The developers of a contentious wind farm proposed for Warren County are seeking final zoning approval, the Lafayette Journal & Courier reported this week..
Warren County is located west of Lafayette along the Indiana-Illinois border. The proposed wind farm is almost directly across the state from the Bluff Point Wind Farm planned for southern Jay County and norther Randolph County.
If OK’d, the Jordan Creek Wind Farm would construct up to 150 wind turbines, according to the special exception application. The turbines would generate up to 300 megawatts of electricity — enough for 80,000 Indiana homes — the newspaper reported.
The project would take up about 27,000 acres of private land, the owners of which will receive payouts. Property taxes and other payments to Warren County are expected to add up to more than $32 million over 30 years, according to the application.
The project also would include access roads, cables, electric substations, above-ground transmission lines and meteorological towers. Orion Renewable Energy Group is the developer of the project.
Some Warren County residents have come out in opposition to the wind turbines.
A group called Warren County Concerned Citizens formed and began discussing opposition to the wind farm on Facebook. Wind farm proposals in Henry and Delaware counties have also hit opposition.
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