Dunkirk mayor to update chamber

Mayor Gene Ritter of Dunkirk will present his State of the City address Wednesday at the Jay County Chamber of Commerce networking breakfast.

The event is set for 7:30 a.m. at West Jay Community Center in Dunkirk.

The cost of the breakfast is $5 and reservations must be made by noon Monday, Feb. 12. 

To make a reservation, call (260) 726-4481 or email [email protected].



Recognized

WZBD radio in Decatur will receive the Decatur Chamber of Commerce Small Business Award on Thursday.

The sister station of Portland’s WPGW, WZBD has its main office in Berne and a second office in Decatur. Tony Giltner, Portland, is station manager. The station is now in its 25th year.



Bonuses set

Tyson Foods Inc. announced Thursday that it will give employees a one-time bonus as a result of the new tax law. The bonuses will cost the company more than $100 million. The bonuses will got to “eligible frontline employees,” the company said. Tyson is the parent company of Tyson Mexican Original in Portland.



Dividend coming

Ardagh Group, parent company of glass container plants in Dunkirk and Winchester, this week announced that its board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of 14 cents per common share. The dividend is payable on March 13 to shareholders of record on Feb. 27.

Ardagh will release its fourth quarter and full year 2017 results on Feb. 22.



Pay boost

CVS Health Corp. this week announced it will use part of the savings from a corporate tax cut to increase hourly pay for its employees.

Minimum pay for CVS employees will be $11 an hour effective in April. The company will also offer a paid parental leave program. “With $1.2 billion in cash benefits from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, we will be able to make strategic investments in our business in 2018 to stimulate greater growth over the longer term,” Chief Financial Officer David Denton said in a statement.



Funding repairs

Celina Aluminum Precision Technology Inc., also know as CAPT, is donating $20,000 to help repair and upgrade Montgomery Field in Celina, which was damaged by the Nov. 5 tornado.

The CAPT Baseball Complex will be the baseball home for Celina High School, Wright State-Lake Campus, and the Grand Lake Mariners.



Virtual spree

Walmart continues to venture into new fields. Fortune reported this week that the retailing giant had bought a virtual reality start-up called Spatialand.

The company, said Fortune, is betting that virtual reality technology will “reshape how shopping takes places both in its stores and online.”

“Spatialand creates software that enables the transformation of already created content into something immersive,” said Fortune.

The acquisition is just the latest in a series of moves into digital businesses. Walmart has already acquired jet.com and the online retailer Modcloth.

Walmart didn’t disclose how much it paid for Spatialand. The start-up has just 10 employees.

Fortune noted that in its most recent quarter, Walmart saw its U.S. online sales jump 50 percent.



Graduates

Mason Quickery of Jay County REMC was among a dozen lineworkers graduating recently from the Rural Electric Apprentice Program.

REAP is a four-year program that professionally trains lineworkers across the state. Those who graduate complete 576 hours of classroom work and 8,000 hours of on-the-job training. They also complete four additional classes through Ivy Tech and earn an associate’s degree in applied science.



Cooking?

Tyson Foods Inc., parent company of Tyson Mexican Original, is still exploring new avenues for the future.

Reuters reported this week that the company’s venture capital division, Tyson Ventures, has invested in start-up company called Tovala that makes internet-connected steam ovens for ready-to-cook meals.

The Chicago-based company uses bar-code technology in meal preparation.

“Tovala provides a steam oven and delivers ready-to-cook meals, and the customer scans a bar code with a smart phone to cook the meal,” said Reuters.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“We’re a protein company now and with that comes a whole host of new spaces to look at and opportunities to consider, if you think about that in the framing for what we’re going to ultimately focus on,” Justin Whitmore, Tyson’s executive vice president of corporate strategy and chief sustainability officer, told Reuters.



Policy change

Walgreens has decided to change its bathroom policies following an incident at one of their Los Angeles locations, The New York Post reported this week.

The drugstore chain will now allow customers to “use restroom facilities that correspond to the individual’s gender identity, regardless of the individual’s sex assigned at birth,” according to the company and the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

“Everyone needs safe restroom access, and California law protects every person’s right to access restrooms based on their gender identity in workplaces, schools, and business establishments,” ACLU SoCal Staff Attorney Amanda Goad was quoted as saying. “It’s important for businesses to make sure their employees understand that requirement, just like Walgreens is now doing.”



Burger bling

McDonald’s announced this week that it’s holding a contest to decide who is its biggest Big Mac fan.

A seven-layer ring that uses different gems to recreate the look of a Big Mac will be given to the winner. It’s valued at $12,500.

The promotion is related to the launch of three different Big Mac sizes — Grand Big Mac, Big Mac, and Mac Jr.

To enter the contest, participants must tweet out a vow of love for the Big Mac along with the hashtag #BlingMacContest. McDonald’s will then select the most creative response as the winner. The competition runs through Feb. 14.



Next class

The next ServSafe class for food service employees will be March 27 at John Jay Center for Learning in Portland. For more information, phone (260) 729-5525, extension 221.



Anchor leaving

Fort Wayne’s NBC co-anchor is leaving the station to take a new job in Wichita, Kansas.

Krista Miller, a Decatur native and 2009 graduate of Bellmont High School, has been at the Fort Wayne station for three and a half years. The Butler University graduate will be joining KAKE-TV as a weekend anchor and weekday reporter.