Daily Archives: May 18, 2010

Report: Regional Cooperation Needed

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Information collected from 10 Northeastern Indiana counties suggests strong regional collaboration will be necessary to increase the per capita income of Northeast Indiana, which has declined from 95 percent of the national average in the mid-1990s to 80.5 percent in 2007.

The preliminary reports can be found in full detail at www.northeastindianavision.com/reports. The reports contain input received through community outreach meetings conducted in Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties in Northeast Indiana. Specific findings are reported for each of the Vision 2020 focus area “pillars,” including 21st century talent, competitive business climate, entrepreneurship, infrastructure and quality of life.
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Notes: Tipton Officials to Vote on $13 Million Tax Break

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The Tipton County Council will vote tonight on a $13 million tax incentive that they hope will lure a solar panel manufacturer to town.

The Tipton County Council will vote tonight on a $13 million incentive that officials say will help sell the abandoned 90,000-square-foot factory on U.S. 31 to a solar panel manufacturer.

The money would create a bond the county would give to the trust of contractors that owns the empty Getrag plant on the northeast corner of U.S. 31 and Ind. 28. The bond would help the trust lower the cost of the plant without losing any money.

The plant has stood empty since 2008.

Getrag and Chrysler, which partnered on the would-be transmission plant, both filed for bankruptcy that year. The plant was about 85 percent complete and the companies had invested $530 million into it.

Zimmer, Inc. in Fort Wayne is eliminating 50 position as part of an internal restructuring.

The proposed trash-to-ethanol plant in Northwest Indiana continues to draw scrutiny.

Research awards and grants to Notre Dame have exceeded $100 million in one year for the first time ever.

Saint Joseph College Lands Largest-Ever Gift

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Saint Joseph’s College in Rensselaer will receive the largest gift in the institution’s 121-year history, 7,634 acres of farm real estate in neighboring White County valued at over $40 million.

Located on the land are 19 operational windmills, with an additional 13 to be constructed, for a total of 32 windmills that will operate within the White County-based Meadow Lake Wind Farm. Collectively, the 32 windmills, once operational, will make Saint Joseph’s College the largest private landowner with the most windmills east of the Mississippi River

The land will be given through the Juanita K. Waugh Revocable Living Trust. The deed of transfer contains a restriction that prohibits the sale of the farm real estate by the College and requires the establishment of a conservation easement that will be held and annually monitored by Wood-Land-Lakes (WLL) Resource Conservation and Development, Inc.
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