Fear not, the Big Mac is safe

A website dedicated to debunking myths this week declared an internet report that McDonalds would phase out its iconic Big Mac is false.

The site, snopes.com, attributed the false report to a website that pretends to be affiliated with ABC News.

As Snopes explained, on April 15, the fake news site first claimed the Big Mac would be ditched in an effort to simplify the McDonald’s menu.

“None of this was true,” Snopes said. “The fast food behemoth is not ditching their famous Big Mac. … In fact, they’re celebrating the burger’s 50th anniversary.”

Snopes said the report originated with a site that goes by the name “abcnews-us.com.” 

That site is not affiliated with the legitimate ABC News organization. 

“The site mimics the domain name and visual appearance of the real ABC News site in order to lure readers into sharing its fabricated news stories,” Snopes said on Thursday. 



Controlling stake 

Walmart has purchased a controlling stake in an Indian online retailer. 

The company announced Wednesday it intended to pay $16 million for the approximately 77 percent stake in Flipkart, an online retailer that offers more than 80 million products. It had net sales of $4.6 billion in 2017.

According to the Associated Press, the purchase will be Walmart’s largest acquisition yet. Walmart already operates 21 Best Price stores and a fulfillment center in India. 



Awarded grant 

The City of Richmond has received a $300,000 grant to determine how many of its properties have environmental contamination issues. 

The grant is from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and will help Richmond assess sites around the city and update its Brownfield inventory, the (Richmond) Palladium-Item reported. The list will be used to assist with future grant applications. 



Planning to buy 

CVS is planning to buy a specialty pharmacy business for $40 million. 

Fred’s Inc., which operates EntrustRX, announced the sale this week. CVS will pay $40 million for three mail order, pharmacy-only locations, plus an amount equaling the EntrustRx’s inventory, Forbes reported. Fred’s also owns 600 general merchandise and pharmacy stores. 



Fighting abuse 

Walmart is continuing its efforts to help stop opioid abuse. 

The company announced Monday it will begin restricting initial acute opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply. This policy will phase in within the next 60 days, according to a company press release. 

Walmart will also require e-prescriptions for controlled substances starting on Jan. 1, 2020. These types of prescriptions are less prone to errors and cannot be altered or copied, the press release said. 

Earlier this year Walmart launched a free opioid disposal solution available at all its pharmacies. 



Classes available  

John Jay Center for Learning has two classes open for registration.

ServSafe training, which teaches safe food and beverage handling, will take place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. May 21 at John Jay, 101 S. Meridian St., Portland. 

A six-week conversational Spanish class will start on June 5. 

The class will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the center, and will be taught by Arturo Octavio Soto, a Ball State University graduate and a native Spanish speaker. The cost is $85 cash or $88 with a credit card. 

For more information on either class, call (260) 729-5525 or email [email protected]. 



Market opening 

Celina’s Farmers’ Market is opening for the season today. 

The market will take place from 9 a.m. to noon every Saturday until Sept. 30, and is held along Main Street outside the Mercer County Courthouse. Its steering committee has decided to include new demonstrations and activities for attendees, such as the cooking demonstrations by chef Michelle Risch that took place this morning. 



Gulley speaking

Jay County Chamber of Commerce will host a networking luncheon with Jay Schools’ superintendent as the program speaker. 

The luncheon, featuring Jeremy Gulley’s State of the Schools Address, will be held at noon May 29 at the IU Health Jay Hospital Conference Room, 50 W. Votaw St., Portland. The cost for the lunch is $8, and chamber members can reserve a seat by calling the chamber at (260) 726-4481 or emailing [email protected] by noon May 24. 



Tyson dividend

The board of directors of Tyson Foods Inc., parent company of Tyson Mexican Original of Portland, has declared a quarterly dividend of 30 cents per share on Class A common stock and 27 per share on Class B common stock, payable on Sept. 14, 2018, to shareholders of record at the close of business on Aug. 31, 2018.



Dividend boost

First Merchants Corporation, parent of First Merchants Bank, has increased its quarterly cash dividend by 4 cents per common share, raising it to 22 cents a share. The dividend will go into effect June 15 to stockholders of record as of June 1.