Southern Ardagh plant plans layoffs

Ardagh Group, parent company of glass container plants in Dunkirk and Winchester, will be laying off 200 employees in July at its Simsboro, Louisiana, plant.

The Simsboro plant produces glass containers for Tabasco, Smucker’s and other food and beverage companies.

Local officials were told the layoffs may exceed six months.

The cutbacks were blamed on a shift by consumers to plastic containers.

Beitler retires

Paul Beitler has retired as sports editor of The News-Banner in Bluffton after 32 years with the daily newspaper in Wells County.

No successor has yet been named.

Headmaster hired 

Three Oaks Christian School, which is opening this fall, has hired a headmaster. 

Darren Kloepper will lead the Decatur school, which will provide independent classical Christian education to pre-K through 12th grade students.

Kloepper previously worked at The Crossing as a teacher and campus administrator for the past three years. Before that, he served as youth pastor and director of Christian education at First Mennonite Church in Berne. 

Kloepper is a native of Berne and attended South Adams High School. He received a bachelor’s degree from Taylor University and a Masters of Divinity from Grace Seminary. 

Production increase 

Poet Biorefining’s plant in Alexandria will increase its production by 20 percent with the addition of a new fermenter. 

The facility will increase its production from 86 million gallons of denatured ethanol to 108.27 million gallons each year, The (Logansport) Pharos-Tribune reported. As a whole Poet Biorefining generated 1.8 billion gallons of ethanol last year through 28 plants in seven different states, the Tribune reported. 

Office donation 

First Financial Corp. has donated its former main office in Terre Haute to Indiana Landmarks. 

First Financial Corp. is the parent of First Financial Bank, which recently merged with MainSource Bank and has offices in Portland and Fort Recovery. 

The building, which is located at 643 Wabash Ave. in downtown Terre Haute, was constructed in 1903 and served as the company’s headquarters for 60 years. It has been used by various non-profits and government agencies, but will now be the new home of the CANDLES Holocaust Museum and Education Center. 

According to Inside Indiana Business, First Financial is also donating $110,000 to help with renovations on the building. There is no timeline for the move yet. 

Prescription delivery 

All of CVS Pharmacy’s locations are now offering prescription delivery, the company announced Tuesday. 

Pharmacy customers at any of CVS’ 9,800 locations can have their prescriptions delivered within one to two days for a fee. 

Portland’s CVS location has offered the courier delivery service for the past couple of months. The delivery charge depends on how fast the customer would like the prescription delivered. 

Paper straws 

McDonald’s restaurants in the UK and Ireland will eventually transition to paper straws in an effort to use more recycled and recyclable materials. 

All 1,361 restaurants in the UK and Ireland will convert to paper straws, with completion set for 2019, the company reported in a press release. 

McDonald’s will start testing plastic straw alternatives at select U.S., France, Sweden, Norway and Australia locations starting this year. 

It has already begun testing alternatives in Belgium.