LAFAYETTE, IN – January 29, 2015 – GE Aviation, a global leader in jet engine and aircraft system production, today announced plans for additional investment at the site of its new engine assembly facility in Lafayette, Indiana.

The additional $15M investment in machinery and equipment will allow for maintenance, repair and overhaul capability for the new LEAP engine of CFM International, a 50/50 joint company of GE and Snecma (Safran) of France. GE plans to hire an additional 30 people, bringing the total commitment to 230 employees by 2020. Hiring will begin next month.

The new jobs and investment will position Lafayette to play a pivotal role across the entire life cycle of the engine—beginning with capability for final assembly of new make engines, and extending to maintenance, repair and overhaul of the engines once in service.

“This decision is a testament to our commitment to Lafayette and the state of Indiana. Within a short time, this community has proven to be an invaluable partner and I know we’ll continue to be successful as we take on this additional work at the Lafayette site” said Eric Matteson, GE’s project leader.

Construction on the new 300,000-square-foot facility in Lafayette has begun and the facility will be operational by January of 2016.

CFM has logged total orders and commitments with airlines for more than 8,000 LEAP jet engines, thus setting the stage for long-term production volume at the Lafayette plant. The LEAP engine will power new Airbus A320neo, Boeing 737 MAX, and COMAC (China) C919 aircraft for airlines worldwide.

Reaction from state and local leaders:

Governor Mike Pence
“The aerospace industry is excelling in Indiana, with Hoosiers propelling the future of aerospace innovation today,” said Governor Mike Pence. “GE Aviation’s confidence in Indiana is now growing even stronger, bringing more jobs and investment to the state than initially planned. That confidence is also sparking other aerospace manufacturers and suppliers across the state to realize their full potential here in the Hoosier State, home to Indiana’s strong workforce and a business climate that rises to the top among competition around the world.”

Mayor Tony Roswarski
“GE Aviation’s decision to choose Lafayette as a location for their maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility is a tremendous opportunity and milestone. Their commitment to add these well-paying jobs in addition to the one’s already underway with the LEAP engine assembly plant is evidence of the strength of our local workforce and our quality of life initiatives. We sincerely appreciate GE Aviation for their confidence in Lafayette and their recognition of the spirit of cooperation among us and our community partners” said Mayor of Lafayette, Tony Roswarski.

Senator Dan Coats
“GE Aviation continues to demonstrate a strong commitment to Lafayette and the state of Indiana,” said Coats. “This announcement of additional jobs and investment is exciting and a testament to the vibrant partnership forged by local leaders and GE Aviation. It also reflects the reputation and talent of Indiana’s workforce. I celebrate this outstanding news.”

Senator Joe Donnelly

U.S. Senator Joe Donnelly said, “I welcome GE Aviation’s announcement of additional investment in its jet engine assembly facility in Lafayette, adding more jobs, machinery, and equipment. Some of the best and most technologically-advanced products are made by Indiana’s homegrown talent, including in the Greater Lafayette area. GE Aviation is making another valuable investment in Hoosier workers and innovation.”

Congressman Todd Rokita
“Hoosiers are grateful that GE Aviation selected Lafayette almost one year ago as the site of its advanced manufacturing facility to assemble CFM International’s new LEAP engine. Today’s exciting news of the expansion of those plans to include maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities, increasing its $100 million investment in Indiana by an additional $15 million even before the Lafayette facility is operational, demonstrates the depth of GE Aviation’s commitment to our community. I am looking forward to our continued partnership and to the addition of what will be well over 200 new jobs for our Hoosier families,” said U.S. Congressman Todd Rokita.

GE Aviation has the largest and fastest-growing installed base of jet engines in commercial aviation and a global services network to support them. GE Aviation employs approximately 40,000 people and operates more than 80 facilities around the world. An operating unit of GE, GE Aviation is a world-leading provider of jet engines, components and integrated systems for commercial and military aircraft. GE Aviation has a global service network to support these offerings. For more information, visit us at www.geaviation.com

Find the full article at: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=69086

The biggest private employment increase in 17 years was driven by gains among above-average paying jobs, dispelling the popular notion that the U.S. is turning into a nation of fast-food workers.

Industries that pay employees more than the average for all workers accounted for 66 percent of total jobs created in 2014, based on data compiled by Bloomberg from Labor Department records. Business services — staffing agencies, accountants, consultants and computer-system designers — and goods producers, including construction firms and manufacturers, were among those hiring the most.

The pickup indicates the high-flying jobs that were hit hardest during the worst recession in the post-World War II era are making a comeback as the economic expansion gathers momentum. An unexpected slump in wage growth last month had raised some concern that increases in employment were skewed toward lower-paying occupations.

“The reality is really quite different,” said Eric Green, head of rates and economic research at TD Securities USA LLC in New York. “The destruction of these high-paying jobs was much more pronounced in the downturn, but the acceleration off the bottom has been much more pronounced also.”

Employers excluding government agencies paid workers $24.57 per hour on average in December compared with $24.62 the previous month, according to figures from the Labor Department. That depressed the advance over the past year to 1.7 percent, the smallest since late 2012, from 1.9 percent in November.

Biggest Share

Business services, which pay $29.27 an hour on average, accounted for almost 26 percent of the 2.86 million increase in non-government jobs, the most since 1997, according to figures from the Labor Department. Goods producers, paying $25.81, accounted for 18 percent of the new jobs, and education and health-care firms, where workers earn $24.89, contributed 17 percent.

High-paying jobs now make up the same share of total employment as in 2007, before the recession began, according to Green’s calculations.

The idea that low-paying jobs make up the bulk of recent job gains “has a certain amount of appeal because it may explain why earnings are so weak,” Green said. “But the mix is still quite positive.”

Find the full article at: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2015-01-13/jobs-machine-in-u-dot-s-dot-created-more-than-burger-flippers-last-year

Staffing Firms Add 14,700 Jobs in December 2014

Staffing firms created 14,700 new jobs in December, up 0.5% from November and 7.8% from December 2013, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Year-to-year staffing job growth averaged 8.7% in 2014, compared with 6.4% in 2013.

Nonseasonally adjusted BLS data, which estimate the actual number of jobs in the economy, indicated that temporary help employment decreased 0.2% from November, yet increased 7.6% from the same month last year.

“In 2014, staffing employment experienced sustained growth as companies continued to add to their workforces and increase their strategic use of temporary and contract talent,” said Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association. “Current economic indicators suggest more good news for job seekers in the months ahead with an increasing number of employment opportunities and options for U.S. workers.”

Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment rose by 252,000 jobs in December (seasonally adjusted), BLS reported. Incorporating revisions for October and November, monthly job gains averaged 289,000 over the past three months. In 2014, job growth averaged 246,000 per month, compared with 194,000 per month in 2013.

The unemployment rate declined 0.2 percentage point in December to 5.6%. In 2014, the unemployment rate declined 1.1 percentage points.

BLS also released preliminary November employment data for search and placement services. Seasonally adjusted, employment decreased 0.3% from October to November, totaling 333,700, yet 11.2% higher than in November 2013.

For more information, visit the ASA newsroom. Interviews with ASA executives are available.

# # #

About the American Staffing Association

The American Staffing Association is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA and its affiliated chapters advance the interests of the industry across all sectors through advocacy, research, education, and the promotion of high standards of legal, ethical, and professional practices. For more information about ASA, visit americanstaffing.net.

 

Find the full article at: https://americanstaffing.net/posts/2015/01/09/bls-staffing-industry-continues-growth-path/

Mary Lynn Gargas-South was the lone female in a group of 200 salaried employees in her department when she started her career at ArcelorMittal predecessor Inland Steel in East Chicago 31 years ago.

Gargas-South worked in a variety of areas, including power and utilities, operations, finishing, and product and process improvements. She was a hands-on engineer who wore an oxygen tank and checked for leaks in steam valves.

Now she’s risen to the position of human resources director for ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon USA, and works out of the corporate office in Burns Harbor.

The steel industry is a traditionally male-dominated industry, but that’s changing, Gargas-South says. She was once the lone female, but now about 20 percent of the salaried and managerial ranks are women, as are 10 percent of hourly workers.

“We’ve got women who have worked here their entire professional careers, who paved the way for future generations to carry the torch,” she says. “They provided future generations with the opportunities to take the torch.”

The number of women working in the steel industry has been growing. ArcelorMittal, the largest steelmaker in the world and the biggest in Northwest Indiana, has been actively trying to interest more women in the field, recruiting more female engineers, and grooming women for advancement.

ArcelorMittal sends its female engineers out to give talks at engineering schools such as Purdue University, the Ohio State University, Penn State University, and the Colorado Schools of Mines. The company dispatches representatives to middle schools and high schools to try to get more students, including females, interested in science, technology, math, as well as in careers in the steel industry. They also talk to established female engineers in the Society of Women Engineers to introduce them to the steel industry and the opportunities that are out there.

“I think steel is considered traditionally male, but we’re doing a lot to expose more females to the industry, and get the word out that it’s a vibrant growing industry,” Gargas-South says. “There’s a lot of work and effort that goes into higher strength steel and making interesting products going forward. The steel industry does make a raw material, and we’re trying to get more people acclimated to a raw material that used to make cars and bridges and appliances and the majority of things they use and touch in their daily lives.”

Toni Brown, a maintenance technician at the 80 inch hot strip mill at ArcelorMittal Burns Harbor who just welcomed her sixth grandchild into the world, started working in the steel industry back in 1977. The Burns Harbor native took part in a key punch operating program at the mill on the Lake Michigan lakeshore in Porter County when she was in middle school and then went to craft school.

“I don’t think of myself as a pioneer,” she says. “There’s a first at everything. I’m just glad I stuck through some of the hardships because I don’t think I could work anywhere else and be as satisfied as I am today.”

When she first started at the mill, no one told her how cold it got outside right off the lake or that she should have worn long johns. She developed frost bite during her first week.

“It was a wake-up call to me,” she says. “I decided I was going to go to the worst possible place out here.”

The worst place turned out to be the coke ovens, where coal is baked into a purified fuel for the blast furnace. Signs there warned workers of cancer risks while they toiled outside in sometimes unbelievable cold that could drop as low as 40 below zero.

But coke oven shifts also ran from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., which allowed Brown to be home when her children returned from grade school. After they grew up, she decided to transfer to a new department.

Brown was put in charge of a massive project to install more energy-efficient lighting in the hot strip mill, earning her the titles “energy czarina” and “illumination specialist.”

At first, she was having trouble securing the funding needed because they wanted her to demonstrate a return on investment over the next 12 or 13 months. But she managed to persuade higher-ups of the value by projecting $1.4 million in savings over the next decade.

The project has been so successful that Brown even gets sent to other ArcelorMittal facilities to advise them on how to install more energy-efficient lighting.

“When I started 35 years ago, I was one of the first women in a craft position, and it wasn’t as welcoming and inviting of an environment,” she says. “However I was very fortunate to work in areas that were accepting of women. Now today, that has turned 360 degrees around. It’s much easier today for women who come in the industry. Those challenges we had to resolve 40 years ago… I think they realized women weren’t going anywhere. They eventually learned to work with us. But overall my experience in this industry, whether we were Bethlehem, ISG or AcrelorMittal, has been positive wherever I was. Today it’s easier for women to come out and do whatever they want to do out here. The doors are wide open.”

Women have career opportunities in a wide array of areas in the sector, ranging from hourly to technical to managerial, and there are no limits or barriers to how high up the ranks they can rise, Gargas-South says. ArcelorMittal in fact has developed a pilot program for women who are interesting in management positions called Women Emerging in Leadership, which offers career guidance.

At ArcelorMittal, women serve in management roles, hold top positions in sales and marketing, and lead teams, including global automotive teams.

“There’s no limit to the opportunities,” she says. “The sky’s the limit. Women can rise as far as they want to go.”

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/women-of-steel-more-women-finding-home-in-steel-industry/article_11fa413b-e32b-5545-b49b-4afba82031b0.html

While the overall outlook for Northwest Indiana’s economy is rather drab, health care remains one of the few industries that continues to see growth.

That was the message at a recent Indiana University Kelley School of Business forum in Schererville, where several IU professors gave their economic predictions for 2015.

“Locally, one of the only bright spots of the last few years has been health care. It’s really a growing industry,” said Micah Pollak, an assistant professor of economics at IU Northwest. He noted the number of health care jobs in the region has grown by more than 20 percent in the past decade and 80 percent since 1990.

“The only caveat I have about that is I don’t think it’s a long-term solution. Fifty years down the road, as the aging population goes through the health care system, we may not have the need for quite as much health care.”

While local hospital executives agree the growth may not continue at the same rate going forward, with the increased emphasis on bending the cost curve through wellness and prevention, they note the population continues to grow and live longer. Plus, it’s unknown how future advances in medical treatments and technology will affect the industry.

But for now, health care is the largest source of jobs in the region.

According to a 2013 report from the Northwest Indiana Forum, a private organization composed of local businesses and industry, outpatient care is the second-biggest industry in Northwest Indiana, bringing in more than $2 billion annually, while hospitals rank fifth, earning $912 million a year. The two sectors were, respectively, the No. 1 and 3 drivers of economic growth in the region from 2001 to 2011.

Combined, the sectors employ more than 31,000 people in Northwest Indiana, or nearly 12,000 more than work in primary metal manufacturing. In other words, health care now provides more jobs in the region than the steel industry.

Mary Ann Shacklett, chief financial officer for Community Healthcare System, said reasons for the growth include the large aging population in Northwest Indiana and the increase in life expectancies.

“I’ve been here in the Community Healthcare System for 30 years. When I started, our Medicare volume back at that time was about 20 percent,” she said. “Now the Medicare volume for our system is about 53 percent.”

The growth in health care as a share of the economy is not just a local phenomenon. The industry has gone from 7 percent of gross domestic product in 1980 to 17 percent today, said Gene Diamond, regional CEO for Franciscan Alliance. Health care makes up a similar portion of the region’s economy.

Indeed, Pollak notes that health care stands out so much in Northwest Indiana largely because of the downward slide of other industries.

“Employment in most other sectors in the region has, at best, remained the same or, in the case of most goods-producing sectors like manufacturing, declined significantly,” he said.

While high-paying manufacturing jobs have been largely replaced by service-sector employment, health care careers usually pay better than other service jobs, like those in retail and food service, Pollak said.

Pat Bankston, associate dean of the medical school at IU Northwest, argues the local health care business could grow even more if the region overcame its physician shortage and expanded its trauma and teaching programs. He noted that, according to some estimates, as much as $2 billion leaves the region each year when residents seek care in the Chicago area.

“Even though it is a huge industry in Northwest Indiana, certainly we’re not meeting the need that we could,” he said.

While Diamond, of Franciscan Alliance, expects health care to continue to remain an important part of the local economy for the foreseeable future, he says the business model is shifting from a focus on inpatient to outpatient care. That’s because the federal government and insurers are increasingly incentivizing health care providers to keep patients out of the hospital.

“Health care has changed permanently in a way that will result in a reduction of the number of employees caring for inpatients in hospitals,” he predicted. “On the outpatient side and other areas where health care is delivered, you’re going to see a flat-to-increasing number of employees.”

Furthermore, the country’s overall health care spending has slowed in recent years, and the Affordable Care Act included several provisions meant to contain the industry’s costs. But Steve Lunn, CEO of Porter Health Care System, noted the population of Northwest Indiana was predicted to rise 5.1 percent from 2010 to 2025 with the number of seniors expected to increase 52.2 percent over that same period, according to data from the IU Kelley School of Business. Plus, more and more people are gaining insurance coverage under Obamacare.

“The trend, or the push, is to reduce costs and reduce health care expenditures, to try to figure out how to take care of people in a more efficient fashion,” Lunn said. “But the overall pie will continue to grow as health care utilization continues to increase.”

As things stand, local hospital systems, which have bought scores of independent doctors’ offices and outpatient clinics in recent years, rank among the top employers in the region. Community Healthcare System has about 7,000 employees, followed by Franciscan Alliance with 6,000, Porter Health Care System with 3,000, and Methodist Hospitals with 2,400.

And hospital executives point out the industry’s reach goes beyond just employment.

“You have the direct impact of payroll dollars. Then you’ve got the other investments the health care system makes: in technology, equipment, facilities, supplies,” said Methodist Hospitals CFO Matt Doyle.

“On an annual basis, our operating costs will be hundreds of millions of dollars. Those expenses flow back through the communities we serve.”

Other economists warn that since the health care industry is so reliant on government funding, through programs like Medicare and Medicaid, its growth may not be sustainable, particularly without political compromise.

“(Health care) is a bright spot as far as employment. It’s a drag in terms of the obligations and government policy that we’ve put on ourselves,” James Smith, a senior lecturer in finance at IU Indianapolis, noted at the recent forum.

“Our worry as economists is that as these future obligations keep growing, we really need to address how we’re going to fund them.”

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/healthcare/health-care-one-of-the-bright-spots-for-nwi-economy/article_6e7e8d9e-6103-5740-831e-76cc3a432ac4.html

Northwest Indiana’s business outlook experienced significant boosts in 2014 such as progress on the Gary/Chicago International Airport expansion and significant setbacks such as a dramatic fall in hourly wages and incomes.

Health care nationally was in the throes of change brought on by the Affordable Care Act, while locally a seminal report was delivered on an academic medical center and trauma care. All of this played out against the backdrop of a surging U.S. economy. The question now is whether Northwest Indiana can capitalize on the national situation to move forward.

Gary/Chicago International Airport expansion

The Gary/Chicago International Airport’s $174 million expansion was kick started in October when a final deal was reached on moving railroad tracks and demolishing a berm that has long blocked the project.

The authority approved the deal with Canadian National on a 4-0 vote and within days celebrated with a gathering of local dignitaries on the part of the runway that has already been completed.

The complex deal with Canadian National was preceded by another that will allow Norfolk Southern and CSX railroads to consolidate their tracks north of the airport, another critical project for the runway expansion.

The airport is now shooting to finish the expansion by June 2015. The airport will then be able to handle larger cargo and passenger jets.

First U.S. MERS case diagnosed in Munster

The first U.S. case of a deadly virus that originated in the Middle East was diagnosed in Northwest Indiana last spring.

The patient, whose identity was not released, was treated at Community Hospital of Munster for Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS. The virus had taken the lives of hundreds of Middle Easterners over the previous couple of years.

The Indiana patient, a health care worker, flew April 24 from Saudi Arabia to London and then to Chicago. He rode a bus from Chicago to Highland. The following week, he experienced shortness of breath, coughing and fever and was subsequently admitted to the hospital.

After a full recovery and testing negative for the virus, the man was released about two weeks later. An Illinois man who had come in contact with the Indiana patient also later tested positive for MERS.

NWI vs. Southeast Wisconsin

NAI Hiffman Senior Vice President Kelly Disser kicked off a regionwide discussion Aug. 6 when he compared the pace of development in Northwest Indiana and southeast Wisconsin before a meeting of the Northwest Indiana Forum.

There really is no comparison.

From September 2013 to September 2014, the top five economic development deals announced in Kenosha County, Wis., had resulted in promises of 3,496 new jobs for the region. That compares to a sum total of 989 jobs promised by the top five deals in Northwest Indiana’s three counties of Lake, Porter and LaPorte.

Disser attributed much of the difference to southeast Wisconsin’s nimbleness in responding to developers’ needs in terms of zoning, taxing districts and infrastructure. The availability of green fields and spec buildings at the state border is also a factor.

Whole Foods coming to region

The fast-growing Whole Foods Market started construction on a Schererville store that was expected to open in 2015, and has Valparaiso on its radar for a future location.

The upscale grocery chain had been opening 10 supermarkets a year in the Midwest, and aimed to open a 40,000-square-foot store next summer in the new Shops on Main retail center at Indianapolis Boulevard and Main Street in Schererville. Other stores and restaurants that opened in the new shopping center included Pier One, Gordmans, DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse, Carraba’s and Tomato Bar.

Whole Foods is a best-of-class store whose unique product offerings can draw customers from as far as an hour away, said Nicholas Wibbenmeyer, senior vice president for Regency Centers, which developed Shops on Main along with Highland-based Boyer Properties. The presence of the high-end supermarket, which specializes in organic and natural foods, sparked a lot of interest in the remaining seven acres on the site.

The Texas-based chain is notoriously picky about the demographics of the neighborhoods it opens stores in, and the presence of a Whole Foods should lure more high-end development to Northwest Indiana, Indiana University Northwest assistant professor of economics Micah Pollak said.

Region wages declined

Northwest Indiana residents didn’t make much progress financially in 2014.

On average, wages in Northwest Indiana declined by $1.25 an hour over the course of the year, and the average income fell by $3,000 as a result of lower wages and fewer work hours, said Micah Pollak, Indiana University Northwest assistant professor of economics. It was a local problem: Wages actually rose by 24 cents an hour statewide over the same period, while workers nationally got an average raise of 33 cents per hour.

The average income in the Calumet Region dropped to $40,000 from $43,000, a 6.6 percent decline, while workers nationally made the same amount as they did a year ago. Northwest Indiana residents still earned 6.1 percent more than their downstate counterparts, but the region’s average hourly wage of $23.89 slipped below the national average for the first time since July 2011. Income fell partly because employers cut back on work hours.

Report recommends against academic medical center in NWI

A feasibility study funded by the state to determine whether an academic medical center should be constructed in Northwest Indiana recommended against the idea, reasoning that the region has too many empty hospital beds already.

The consulting firm instead advised that existing hospitals upgrade their trauma care and form a consortium to host medical residents. This would stem the tide of Northwest Indiana residents seeking care at university hospitals in the Chicago area, the firm said.

Several local hospitals have announced their intentions to become trauma centers; Methodist Hospitals’ Northlake campus in Gary earned an “in-progress” Level III trauma designation from the state in August. Area health officials are also working to expand medical education opportunities in the region.

BP went on a hiring spree after $4.2 billion modernization

BP had a hiring surge after getting new equipment online at the modernized BP Whiting Refinery.

The London-based energy giant completed a $4.2 billion modernization project at the refinery that stretches along Lake Michigan’s shoreline through Whiting, Hammond and East Chicago. BP hired 50 full-time operators who will make an hourly starting rate of $26.42 an hour.

The refinery on Lake Michigan’s southern shore employed about 1,900 full-time workers, not including all the contractors who work there on a regular basis. BP looked to replace operators who are retiring, not increase the overall headcount, spokesman Tom Keilman said.

Early in the year, the refinery was ramped up to process 80 percent heavy, high sulfur crude oil from the oil sands region instead of the Texas light crude it used to predominantly process.

Steel mills scale back

Steelmakers cut expenses as they looked to restore profitability that eluded them during the downturn.

U.S. Steel decided not to pursue any further development of carbon alloy facilities at Gary Works, where it had invested an estimated $210 million over the last three years hoping to produce an alternative to traditional coke used in blast furnaces. The steelmaker, which lost money for five straight years, also laid off a number of non-union managers and supervisors, but declined to offer specifics.

ArcelorMittal idled the No. 2 galvanizing line at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor West, once the world’s most productive galvanizing line. United Steelworkers Local 1011 notified workers that ArcelorMittal tentatively plans to idle No. 1 aluminizing line at ArcelorMittal Indiana Harbor West, formerly the LTV steel mill, in December 2015 in anticipation of shifting the production to the company’s new AM/NS Calvert plant in Alabama.

The steel giant also told employees it planned to close the electric arc furnace at Indiana Long Carbon Plant No. 4 in March, and buy foreign steel from sister plants instead. ArcelorMittal facilities in Canada and Germany produced billets used for construction projects for $150 to $200 less per unit.

Community Hospital unveils new tower

Community Hospital unveiled a major expansion in July, when it opened the $34 million Parkview Tower.

The tower includes expanded and updated services for its intermediate care, mother/baby, neonatal intensive care, and labor and delivery units.

On the third floor is the new intermediate care unit featuring 32 private rooms. The fourth floor has the mother/baby unit, which includes 25 private rooms, along with a nursery and baby spa. The fifth floor is the neonatal intensive care unit, staffed 24/7 by a medical team from the University of Chicago, who help care for up to 32 sick babies. The sixth floor features labor and delivery, with 12 private suites and two surgical suites for C-sections.

State awaits word on Medicaid expansion

Gov. Mike Pence is still awaiting word on whether the federal government will grant approval for his proposed Medicaid expansion, the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, expanded Medicaid to all adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level. But the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that states could decide whether or not to participate.

Pence has proposed using the state’s Healthy Indiana Plan as the model for the expansion. Under HIP, beneficiaries have to put a set amount of money each month into a health savings account to fund their care. Supporters of the plan say it gives users more accountability and personal responsibility than traditional Medicaid.

After negotiations with Pence, the federal government is deciding whether to grant a waiver for Indiana’s HIP 2.0-version of Medicaid. Traditionally, Medicaid does not require its low-income beneficiaries to pay for their care. HIP 2.0 would expand coverage to an estimated 350,000 Hoosiers.

Community banks consolidate

The number of community banks left in Northwest Indiana shrunk from 10 to eight last year.

Muncie-based First Merchants bought out Munster-based Citizens Financial Bank in a deal valued at $114.7 million. A group of 13 Hammond businessmen had founded Citizens Financial Bank in 1934 with $6,140, and it grew over the years into the fourth biggest bank in Lake County history.

Munster-based Peoples Bank acquired Hammond’s First Federal Savings and Loan Association, which was 1/20th of its size and was looking for a buyer as longtime president and CEO John Freyek neared retirement.

Another Northwest Indiana bank has been on a buying spree. Over the past year, Horizon Bank has expanded into new markets by buying East Lansing, Mich.-based Summit Community Bank for $18.4 million and Indianapolis-based 1st Mortgage of Indiana for an undisclosed sum. Horizon just bought Franklin-based Heartland Community Bank for $19.7 million in 2012

Northwest Indiana was not unique. The total number of banking and thrift charters nationally plunged from about 20,000 in 1980 to 6,812 at the end of 2013, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. The number of community banks in the United States shrunk by 29 percent over the last decade alone.

NiSource will split

NiSource Inc. announced in September it plans to create a separate company for its burgeoning gas transportation business, while keeping NIPSCO and utilities in six other states under the NiSource umbrella.

NiSource’s plan to split into two companies in 2015 would represent the biggest change at the Fortune 500 company since the $6 billion deal under which it acquired Columbia Energy Group 14 years ago.

Under the plan, NiSource stockholders will maintain their shares in the company and receive shares in the new, publicly traded Columbia Pipeline Group. The deal is still subject to NiSource receiving favorable opinions on tax matters. The board of directors also must give final approval.

NiSource headquarters will remain in Merrillville, and no layoffs are planned as a result of the split, according to the company.

Lear grows, though Ford lays off workers

Ford sold its seventh million Explorer, and demand was so strong that supplier Lear Corp. outgrew its Hammond plant and decided to open a new subassembly factory in Portage.

The Southfield, Mich.-based auto parts supplier filed plans with Portage saying it will invest more than $5.1 million to renovate and equip about a fifth of the space in a 517,000-square-foot building at 6750 Daniel Burnham Drive in the AmeriPlex at the Port business park.

Lear planned to hire 96 new employees and transfer 189 workers to the plant, which will make automotive seating systems. The 285 employees were slated to make an average of $12.28 an hour the first year, far less than what auto workers make under a new contract at the Hammond plant.

Despite another year of strong Explorer sales, Ford laid off 100 short-term supplemental workers in its Hegewisch plant by robocall as sales flagged for the Taurus and Lincoln MKS.

Indiana Toll Road bankruptcy

In September, the private operator of the Indiana Toll Road declared bankruptcy on more than $6 billion in debt, renewing the debate on the wisdom of the state’s 2006 lease of the road.

Indiana Toll Road Concession Co. has since won a federal bankruptcy judge’s approval to put the 75-year lease for the road out to bid, with major international investors and pension funds reported to be interested.

The Indiana Finance Authority has rebuffed all calls to repossess the road, including one from U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, who described the bankruptcy as “a mess of epic proportions.” The Finance Authority arranged the 2006 deal that leased the road to a Spanish-Australian investors’ consortium for $3.8 billion.

In the meantime, the counties of Lake and LaPorte have submitted their own preliminary bid for taking over the lease. The counties want to form a nonprofit company that would reinvest Toll Road profits in local road projects.

South Shore expansion

U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind., resurrected the proposed West Lake Extension of the South Shore Commuter railroad early in 2014 by continuing to push towns and cites to ante up a portion of their proceeds from the new Lake County economic development tax.

In action unmatched since the extension was first proposed decades ago, 16 communities agreed to commit a portion of their tax proceeds to the effort. The Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority committed to spending $8 million per year on the $570 million project for up to 30 years.

Still, two of the communities called on to contribute the most to the project have hesitated to get involved, with Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. calling for a voter referendum on the commuter rail extension.

Nevertheless, the project is moving forward, with an environmental impact study now underway to determine the best route while minimizing environmental impacts along the 9-mile route.

Illiana Expressway gets federal go-ahead

The Illiana Expressway in early December received crucial federal approval, but the election of Bruce Rauner as Illinois governor a month before has proponents jittery about the road’s future.

While the road has been a priority for Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, Rauner has been largely noncommittal on the project.

In November, a Rauner spokesman said the governor-elect believed the Illiana Expressway had potential for economic development but the state must make sure any potential public-private partnership doesn’t leave taxpayers holding the bag.

Meanwhile, both state departments of transportation continue to prepare to acquire the land needed for the 50-mile toll road as well as initiating the public-private partnership they say is needed to get it built.

Gary/Chicago International Airport privatization

In January, the Gary/Chicago International Airport Authority reached a 40-year deal with Aviation Facilities Company Inc. to be the exclusive developer of property on and around the airport. The authority also voted to approve a 10-year deal with AFCO subsidiary AvPorts to manage and operate the airport.

Both deals were pushed by Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson, who made finding a private operator and developer for the airport top priorities for her administration.

The privatization deal created controversy, with some community activists rallying against the deal. Then-authority chairman and governor’s appointee Tom Collins Sr. said he believed a better deal could be struck for the city and resigned before the final vote.

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Indiana is calling 2014 a record-breaking year for economic development.

A total of 285 companies from around the world have promised to invest $4.38 billion in new or expanded Indiana operations, according to the Indiana Economic Development Corp. That’s more than any previous year and up from 261 companies in 2013.

Businesses have pledged to create 25,317 new jobs in the Hoosier State over the next few years. Locally, the growing companies include Superior Truss & Panel Inc. in Gary, Chicago Craft Bottling in Michigan City, and UGN in Valparaiso.

“Looking through the numbers, I see another promising year in Indiana’s future,” Gov. Mike Pence said. “Following last year, when we implemented the largest state tax cut in history, this year our corporate income tax began its decline. Meanwhile, companies here at home, across the nation and around the world are committing at record levels to locate their new jobs here. Indiana’s unemployment is dropping, showing some of the largest declines in the nation even while our labor force is growing. It’s a great time to be a business in Indiana and an even better time to be a Hoosier.”

On average, the promised jobs pay $21.75, more than the current hourly wage of $20.17, according to the IEDC, formerly the state’s Department of Commerce. The state has however awarded tax breaks to companies that pay as little as $11 an hour, such as at the new Lear plant in Portage.

Pence announced the year-in-review numbers at the Indianapolis statehouse Thursday with executives from 16 companies that plan to create 2,153 jobs over the next few years, none in Northwest Indiana.

Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath, D-Michigan City, said the state is ignoring job cuts and household income that has fallen by 12 percent statewide over the last decade. U.S. Census Bureau data shows household income dropped to $46,974 in 2013, down from $53,482 in 2002. The 16th most populous state ranks 39th in per capita income, and has the 10th most minimum wage workers.

“By now, most people are deservedly skeptical about these Hollywood productions designed to trumpet Indiana’s alleged economic successes,” Pelath said. “All this sound and blather is at the service of jobs that ‘might’ be created over the next few years. By the time those years pass, and few of these jobs become reality, the administration will have moved on to other grand announcements about more jobs that ‘might’ be created even more years down the road.”

Indiana’s unemployment rate has fallen over the last year to 5.7 percent in October, down from 7.1 percent in October 2013. The manufacturing-dependent state however has the fourth highest unemployment rate out of the 12 U.S. Census-designated Midwestern states.

In the Midwest, only Missouri, Illinois and Michigan have higher jobless rates than Indiana.

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Governor Mike Pence announced a new signature event of the Indiana Bicentennial Commission today during Statehood Day remarks in the south atrium of the Indiana Statehouse. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will touch each of Indiana’s 92 counties during the 2,300 mile journey across the state. The torch relay will be an inspirational event during a monumental year for Indiana and will connect people, communities and regions during the six-week trek in the fall of 2016.

“The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will give generations of Hoosiers the opportunity to honor our past while also looking with optimism towards Indiana’s future,” said Governor Pence. “With the continued ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit and collective good will of Hoosiers, I know the light of Indiana will shine brightly for centuries to come.”

Developed by the Indiana Office of Tourism Development (IOTD), the relay is patterned after the Olympic Torch Relay and is designed to connect Hoosiers across the state and nation with their home state during the bicentennial year. The torch relay route, which can be found attached, was charted by a committee of representatives from multiple state agencies and the private sector; including the state departments of transportation, natural resources, state police, tourism, community and rural affairs and state archives. The route showcases locations of natural beauty, local interest and/or historic significance to the state.

The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will start in September 2016 in Corydon, Indiana’s first state capitol, and culminate with a celebration in October on the grounds of the statehouse in Indianapolis. Accompanying the torch will be a mobile visitor center serving as an interactive museum that highlights important milestones during Indiana’s first 200 years. A map of the torch relay route (subject to modifications) is attached as a PDF to this release and is also available at the link below.

“A torch is the centerpiece of our state flag; representing liberty, enlightenment and Indiana’s far-reaching influence. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay is a terrific opportunity to celebrate Indiana achievements, influence and heritage while also symbolically ‘passing the torch’ to future generations of Hoosiers,” said Mark Newman, IOTD executive director.

The torch itself is being designed by engineering faculty and students at Purdue University. The torch will be primarily transported by people, passing the flame from torch bearer to torch bearer. The relay will also employ other modes of conveyance that are symbolic of the history and heritage of Indiana, including watercraft, farm equipment, a racecar, horse and wagon, antique automobile and others. Torch bearers will be Hoosiers who have been nominated by their peers through the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay website: www.Indiana2016.org/torchrelay. Nominations will be accepted beginning in March 2015.

“We are thrilled to announce this interactive element within our state’s bicentennial celebration,” said First Lady Karen Pence, Ambassador for the Bicentennial Commission. “Hoosiers from every county in Indiana will have the opportunity to showcase their state pride by choosing how the torch will travel through their county. I look forward to seeing their creativity.”

Volunteer county coordinators will organize torch relay activities in their respective counties. With the assistance of the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Bicentennial Commission (IBC), county coordinators have been identified in nearly every county. Additional volunteers will be needed to assist with the preparation and execution of relay-related activities. Hoosiers interested in volunteering can sign up at the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay website.

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Way back when, opening a new factory in Northwest Indiana was a massive undertaking.

Packs of mules had to level dunes on the Lake Michigan lakeshore to make way for the steel mills at the turn of the century. That was before the assembly line had even been invented and long before automation fractionalized the number of workers needed to build stuff.

Nowadays, as soon as a company lands a contract to make a new widget, it can move right into a spotless new building in a modern business park. Lately, companies that are relocating or launching new operations have flocked to industrial parks such as Lake Business Center in Munster, Northwinds Crossing in Hobart, AmeriPlex at the Port in Portage and AmeriPlex at the Crossroads in Merrillville.

Chicago-based commercial real estate firm NAI Hiffman often notes Northwest Indiana is a bifurcated market. There are the older factories in the northern cities such as Hammond, East Chicago and Gary, including some that have been shuttered for years and probably will stay dark. Then there are the new business parks in growing suburbs in South Lake County and Porter County that are filled with new, adaptable spaces that are ready to move into.

Most companies that have lately chosen to invest in Northwest Indiana, including AM Manufacturing, ITR America, Carl Buddig, and Land O’Frost, have chosen to settle in such business parks. They’ve even attracted innovative, high-tech companies such as Fronius USA, which planted its national headquarters at AmeriPlex in Portage. An offshoot of an Austrian company, Fronius makes solar panel inverters, experiments with different ways of capturing solar energy, and supplies all welding equipment to the trendy electric car maker Telsa, which has been the toast of Wall Street in recent years with a stock price that’s risen as high as $286 a share this year.

Other new business park tenants in Northwest Indiana filed across the border from Illinois, in search of lower taxes and operating expenses. MAC Medical Supply Co. for instance moved from Tinley Park to the Lake Business Center when it needed more room to grow.Willow Springs-based Tec Air Inc. moved its heading and air conditioning manufacturing to the same building on Calumet Avenue in Munster.

Typically, companies expand when they need to fulfill a new order or are reacting to a market demand for more of their product. That’s why they have to act fast, says Don Koliboski, vice president of economic development for the Lake County IN Economic Alliance. They can’t wait the eight months to a year that it takes to get approvals for, design and construct a new building.

Businesses want to be able to move right in, and the biggest impediment to economic development in Northwest Indiana is a shortage of available buildings, says Don Babcock, director of economic development at NIPSCO.

“The main issue is there could be a greater selection of shovel-ready sites, shell buildings and reclaimed brownfields,” he says. “A new investment is going to go where the risk is lower.”

Developers, such as Holladay Properties in South Bend, which has built the AmeriPlex parks in Merrillville and Portage, assume most of the risk when putting up new speculative buildings, or ones constructed without a tenant signed up in advance. Moving into a business park also is cheaper, especially since companies don’t have to pony up six-figure remediation costs that typically exceed the value of the redeveloped land in the northern cities.

Such facilities will only grow in popularity as demand picks up and space dwindles at existing business parks, such as the former Simmons Mattress Factory in Munster, which has been highlighted in the national publication Politico for how many Illinois companies have relocated there. Interest is most keen near the state line, where there is not a lot of inventory left, Babcock says.

“Folks that want to come over the Illinois border still want to be right by Illinois, but we don’t have enough places for them to go,” he says.

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CROWN POINT |The city’s downtown bustled with activity Saturday as shop owners opened their doors to holiday visitors on Small Business Saturday.

The sunny, warm weather and the arrival of Santa Claus at the old Lake County Courthouse bolstered the day, on which shoppers are encouraged to support their local retailers.

“I’ve had people come in this morning for that reason — to support local businesses,” said Kari Bunde, owner of the Copper Butterfly at 120 S. Main St.

She said Small Business Saturday has always been a good day for her store, which carries a variety of artisan jewelry, home décor items and related gift merchandise. Coupled with a “fabulous Black Friday – the best I’ve had for a long time” Bunde said she has hope for a good holiday season.

The Copper Butterfly, in business since 1979, will cap the weekend with its Christmas open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Across the street, the old courthouse wasn’t just the destination for Santa on Saturday morning, but also hosted the city’s Winter Market for vendors to sell their wares. Customers browsed tables on the second and third floors of the courthouse, while the permanent shops downstairs took advantage of the market traffic and the day’s small-business focus.

“It’s a good day; it has a great feel,” said Cyndi Horn, owner of Mescolare, a gourmet food and gift shop whose name is Italian for “to mix.”

“It creates a great environment, to focus on this beautiful building,” she said of the day’s activities.

Horn said this is her fourth Christmas season as a business owner, and she appreciates the boost from Small Business Saturday, which was initiated by American Express in 2010.

“We’re a small business that supports small business,” Horn said. Many of Mescolare’s food items are Indiana-made.

Horn added that the courthouse shops will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Sundays during the holiday season.

Friends Diane Cunningham, of Hebron, and Donna Dyer, of Lowell, came to town for the Winter Market.

“We kind of like the crafty-looking things,” Dyer said of their focus. But the pair took advantage of the good weather to explore further.

“I haven’t been in a lot of these stores so we’re walking around stopping inside,” Cunningham said as they made their way down Main Street.

At the corner of Main and Joliet streets, in the old People’s State Bank building, Jason Sullivan tended to business at one of the square’s newest shops, Chemshaw 13 Donutz & Comics.

The donut counter enjoyed a regular Saturday morning rush, but unlike most Saturdays, it didn’t stop.

“We haven’t had a downtime this morning,” Sullivan said late in the morning.

Sullivan, a comic book expert and collector, and his wife, Lynette, a trained pastry chef, opened the business about eight weeks ago.

Sullivan said he hadn’t known about Small Business Saturday until a customer mentioned it to him, but he supported the local-focus of the effort.

“We really embraced local everything” when establishing the business, he said.

Crown Point resident Carol Yancey, waiting for her sister Barbara Gutridge in the old courthouse, said she likes supporting small, local businesses, and also enjoys the atmosphere.

“It’s just a quaint little place that people should support more,” she said.

Gutridge agreed. “They’re all decorated really nicely,” she said of the businesses. “It gets you in the spirit.”

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