In Business

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Groundbreaking construction leadership training program returns to NWI; area counties set to seek federal funds with comprehensive strategy; Lynwood village president seeks developers, investors. Stock investors see threats from all directions, as market gets jitters; Hobart company wins Web award; jobless rate drops slightly in January, but crisis remains. Faith rises from ruins, as East Chicago priest celebrates mass, offers help to Haiti and Facebook gives itself a facelift on its 6th birthday.—Pat Colander, Editor and Associate Publisher, BusINess magazine, serving Northwest Indiana & Chicagoland
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Participants can earn college credit; program could be national model

A groundbreaking partnership among an organization of construction companies, union contractors and area universities will produce future generations of trained construction supervisors and allow them to earn college credits at the same time.

And this leadership training partnership may become a national model, according to one educator from Purdue University West Lafayette.

The Northwest Indiana Business Roundtable and the Construction Advancement Foundation are partnering with Purdue University Calumet to implement the Supervisory Training Program. This nationwide program offered by the Washington, D.C.-based Associated General Contractors of America covers every facet of construction management in 12 units.
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The Associated Press said Tuesday that more than 900 newspapers and broadcasters will be supplementing their online coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics with a special package of stories, photographs, video and blogs produced by the AP.

The coverage also will be available on wintergames.ap.org, which will bear the brands of the AP and a participating local newspaper or broadcaster. The ad revenue generated from the online traffic will be split between the AP and the participating media.

It marks the AP’s most ambitious attempt yet to sell Internet advertising as its revenue from print and broadcasting declines, according to Mike Lutzky, the global director of AP sports products. And with hundreds of media links pointing to it, the online hub may stand a better chance of attracting a large audience because of the way search engines rank Web sites in their results.
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Bill Masterson Jr., publisher of the Times Media Co., will speak during the luncheon meeting of the Winfield/LOFS Chamber of Commerce.

The meeting is scheduled for noon Tuesday at Lakes of the Four Seasons Clubhouse, 1029 Lake Shore Drive, Lakes of the Four Seasons.

Masterson will discuss the One Region: One Vision initiative, which looks to bring together leaders of the many diverse interests of the region. His goal has been to create a conversation among the region’s leadership.

Masterson became publisher of The Times in November 2006 and has worked with The Times’ parent Lee Enterprises since 2000.

For more information, contact the Winfield/LOFS Chamber office at 219.226.0479 or visit winfieldchamber.com.

Hobart family has been supplying fresh meat to the region for five decades

Peter Uremovich stands in the cooler at Hobart Locker and Meat Packing. Uremovich’s grandfather founded the Hobart business in 1956.
(Photograph by Tony V. Martin/The Times.)

For 53 years, members of the Uremovich family have helped to put meat on area tables through their family business, Hobart Locker & Meat Packing Inc.

Peter Uremovich, 65, remembers heading off to college after high school vowing, as do many teens, to never work in the company founded in Hobart by his grandfather and operated by his father, Robert Uremovich.

“His dad had started a little slaughterhouse on 13th Street in Hobart,” Uremovich said. “After a couple of years of college, I came back. . . . This business has provided for a lot of people over the years.” Originally butchering only beef for area farmers, Uremovich said the family business had to change with the times. With fewer farmers raising beef cattle, the decision was made in 1985 to diversify, Uremovich said.
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Midwinter park work should bring spring rewards

Chesterton resident and volunteer Maureen Foos carries a block of planters in the National Lakeshore greenhouse in preparation for spring during Saturday's Stewardship Day at the National Lakeshore. The day is one of a series of events formulated to attract new volunteer help to the National Lakeshore. (Photograph by Kyle Telechan/The Times.)

The win-win of this particular volunteer day will be realized at Indiana’s national park and a Florida amusement park.

Volunteers on Saturday helped fill planting flats with a mix of dirt, sand and shredded coconut husk in preparation for sowing at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore’s greenhouse. In return, a number of helpers will enjoy a free day at Walt Disney World. The Disney “Give a Day, Get a Day” program is designed to encourage community volunteering nationwide.

Angela Williams, of Mount Vernon, Ohio, was with a group of friends from Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, Ill., who joined the lakeshore’s stewardship day. “I think playing with dirt is really fun,” Williams said. “If I get to help somebody out while I’m doing it, that’s awesome.” The five friends had plans to drive to Florida for spring break and will receive a free Disney pass, Williams said. That always helps on a college student’s budget, she said.
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Rates on 30-year fixed mortgages rose slightly this week, inching above 5 percent, Freddie Mac said Thursday.

The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.01 percent this week, up from 4.98 percent last week. Last year at this time, the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage was 5.25 percent.

Rates fell to a record low of 4.71 percent set in early December. They’ve been held around 5 percent by a Federal Reserve program to pump $1.25 trillion into mortgage-backed securities to try to keep rates low and make home buying more affordable. That program is set to end March 31.
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Burton Ruby, former chairman of Jamar-Ruby, was inducted into the BusINess Hall of Fame in 2009 (read about it here.) (Photograph by Jon L. Hendricks.)

From the BusINess inbox—The BusINess editors are committed to keeping you informed about the latest news in NWI. Here’s today’s submission from the La Porte County Historical Society:

A major La Porte County industry has now passed into the history books as part of our cumulative story. With the closing of the Jaymar–Ruby plant in Michigan City goes a long history of local garment manufacturing that extends back to the early part of the last century.

Founded in 1916 by Jack M. Ruby, the factory’s first location was at 209 West Michigan Street and was called Hoosier Factories, Inc. Later on, the plant was located in a large facility at the corner of Ohio Street and 400 North. In more recent years, the business was incorporated into the Hartmarx Company.
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Digital graphics firm marketing director says site has garnered attention

Point Imaging and Director of Marketing Marco Perez have won the best static Web site by the Print Industries of America. (Photograph by Jon L. Hendricks/The Times.)

A digital graphics provider in Hobart has been named a winner in the inaugural web2awards by Printing Industries of America.

Point Imaging won best static website for companies under $10 million in sales. Marco Perez, PI’s director of marketing, said it launched the website last March and has seen a rise in traffic and opportunities over the past year.

“I’m glad the judges saw and felt the personal touch that we incorporated into the site,” he said.
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Toyota’s fix for the gas pedal problem that led to the recall of millions of cars has not come soon enough to prevent a consumer backlash in the U.S. and elsewhere that is battering its sales.

One of the automaker’s top executives on Tuesday said the damage from the global recall of nearly 4.6 million vehicles may be greater than previous quality problems because of the massive scale.

“This is unprecedented in having caused this huge problem for customers,” said Shinichi Sasaki, who oversees quality control at the world’s No. 1 automaker.
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Senate approves gaming measure; Gary lawmakers already planning changes to it in the House

Gary lawmakers said they are confident they can restore a land-based casino option to gaming legislation approved by the Indiana Senate on Tuesday.

The Senate voted 33-17 to send to the House a measure that makes minor changes to state gaming law but does not include the land-based option recommended by the Gaming Study Committee.

“I think we’ve got a good chance of doing it,” said state Sen. Earline Rogers, D-Gary, a land-based gaming proponent since 1989.
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A screen shot of Associated Press news content on the Yahoo news website is shown in San Francisco, Monday, Feb. 1, 2010. The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc. that gives the news cooperative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

The Associated Press has signed a licensing deal with Yahoo Inc. that gives the news cooperative a steady stream of revenue at a time less money is flowing in from newspapers and broadcasters.

The announcement by both companies Monday didn’t disclose the financial terms of the agreement, which allows Yahoo to continue posting AP content on its site.

The AP says it is still negotiating to renew its online licensing agreements with two other companies with far deeper pockets, Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Google stopped posting fresh AP content on its website in late December.
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States launching rebate programs for appliance purchases

Indiana and Illinois are ramping up efforts to launch programs to provide rebates for buying energy efficient appliances.

Starting today in Illinois and Monday in Indiana, both states are expected to offer rebates on purchases and installations of equipment ranging from heating and cooling systems to water heaters.

The U.S. Department of Energy is providing nearly $300 million for states from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to operate these programs. The Hoosier state can grant about $6.1 million in rebates and Illinois has nearly $12.4 million available.
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Illinois wins $1.1B for passenger rail corridor from Chicago to St. Louis

Indiana’s bid for $2.8 billion to build a Chicago-to-Cleveland high-speed rail route including a major station stop at the Gary airport has failed to win federal stimulus funds.

A smaller request for $71 million for an “Indiana Gateway” to relieve an Amtrak bottleneck in Porter was the only Indiana winner in the competition for $8 billion in high-speed rail stimulus funds, according to the White House.

Illinois came out one of the big winners, landing $1.1 billion for improving a passenger rail corridor from Chicago to St. Louis that will allow trains to run up to 110 mph, according a list released by the White House. A Wisconsin high-speed rail route terminating in Chicago won $823 million.
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Check out BusINess’ weekly newsletter online or click here to subscribe and get the latest NWI business news delivered weekly, straight to your inbox.

The recession has brought bartering back, and an expert says Northwest Indiana is rich territory for the age-old type of transaction; Indiana’s request for major Chicago-to-Cleveland high-speed rail route is rejected; Valparaiso mayor touts the power of investing in cities to stimulate growth. Ford announces 1,200 new jobs at Chicago plant to build sports utility vehicle; U.S. Steel reports $267 million in losses for fourth quarter; Indianapolis discards Gary’s bid for land-based casino. U.S. economy grew at fastest pace since 2003 to end 2009; Apple’s new e-book product could frustrate publishers and consumers and blockbuster Avatar continues its march toward all-time box office record.—Pat Colander, Editor and Associate Publisher, BusINess magazine, serving Northwest Indiana & Chicagoland
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