Jobs

New Buffalo-- The Stray Dog Bar and Grill in New Buffalo will re-open on June 17th. This comes after a devastating fire last July forced the popular restaurant to close. The owners hope to hire 120 employees by the time the restaurant opens in June.    They used to have 180 employees before the fire and one of the owners says it may be the middle of July before they can get their staffing back up to that number.       Most of the positions they are looking to fill are servers, bartenders, cooks and dishwashers.     There are even some spots open in the Stray Dog gear shop across the street.    One woman who works in downtown New Buffalo thinks there are a lot of people in Michigan who are looking for work and is happy there are new jobs for people in the community.    She's noticed less people walking around downtown since the Stray Dog closed.

MICHIGAN CITY - Michigan City schools are cutting more than 100 jobs to help ease a $16 million  budget deficit. The school district says most of those jobs are classroom assistants, secretarial and maintenance positions. 7 teachers and some administration positions will also be cut. School Board member William Greene says it wouldn't surprise him if they had to close a school next year. Another board member says funding problems started with the countywide property tax reassessment in 2006.

About 50 Madison Center employees learned Wednesday they are losing their jobs, as the cash-strapped mental health care provider struggles to survive. The employees, spread out evenly among Madison Center's three remaining services -- inpatient care for senior citizens, adults and children -- received the news Wednesday morning, said interim chief executive officer Michael Lane. Lane, appointed by St. Joseph Circuit Court Judge Michael Gotsch in October to take over management of Madison Center as it neared financial collapse, said the downsizing represents a 15 percent cut in payroll, leaving about 275 employees.

WEST LAFAYETTE - A serious accusation accusation has been made against Purdue by a faculty representative. He claims the University is manipulating job definitions to create the illusion more professors are teaching. Faculty Senate Chairman J. Paul Robinson says postdoctoral students are sometimes classified as faculty to boost the number of professors, and clerical staff reductions have been used to make it look like the school's administration is shrinking. Robinson questioned the honesty of the practice during a presentation to the wniversity Senate this week.

GOSHEN - Workers at a Goshen manufacturing plant got the bad news Wednesday they feared but expected. Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, 450 employees at Cequent Performance Products found out they're about to lose their jobs. Cequent's parent company is moving its Goshen operations to Mexico. A union official told WSBT the announcement for the company to leave Goshen was made at shift change. Cequent makes parts for the automotive industry. No word when the company plans to close its doors.

GOSHEN - There's new information on the battle to keep Cequent Towing in Goshen. The company wants to close the plant and move its jobs to Mexico. The United Steelworkers Union took the company to court, saying members felt they were entitled to arbitration. A federal judge recently agreed. The union says an arbitrator has been picked, but there is still no date for negotiations to begin. Workers hope it will be before February 21 when Cequent plans to begin the layoffs.

Indiana's next governor spent part of his morning in South Bend. Exactly one month ago today voters elected Congressman Mike Pence. Pence is a social conservative, butut says he is very focused on the economy. The state legislature is talking about putting a ban a same sex marriage in the state constitution, defining marriage between a man and a woman. If passed, it could then go to voters to decide through a statewide referendum in 2014. This is what Pence told WSBT this morning when asked if he would support banning same sex marriage in the state: I respect the role of people elected to serve in the General Assembly, and I will consider issues that they raise, as they come up.  But our focus is going to be in jobs and schools.

A company that makes specialized transport trailers is planning to bring as many as 400 jobs to Niles by the end of the year. Niles Township Supervisor Jim Kidwell said one reason Pratt Industries, Inc. is moving to Niles is because the old United Fixtures Shipping building on 3rd Street is just the right size for its operation. Equipment and machinery will be moved into the building over the next two or three months. Then Pratt will begin the hiring process.

On Tuesday morning Indiana's Economic Development Corporation announced Benton Harbor-based Whirlpool Corporation will pay Indiana $800,000 for moving jobs out of the state. This is to resolve tax credits and incentives associated with the loss of employment at the company's Evansville facility. After significant layoffs in 2009, Whirlpool had agreed to keep 260 full-time jobs in Evansville in order to keep previously awarded tax credits. The company recently relocated most North America procurement positions, including some from Evansville, to the company's global headquarters in Benton Harbor.

Elkhart-based Crown International plans to shift its strategies in the market place — a move that will mean the loss of 75 production jobs. The company plans to phase out some production jobs at the plant that makes high-grade audio equipment. It wants to focus more on making prototypes, allowing engineers to have prototypes for customers within a day or so, instead of weeks. Currently those products are outsourced. The company wants to make a low volume of products, but more of them.

The RV industry has shown signs of recovery but it's not picking up fast enough in Wakarusa. Allied Specialty Vehicles bought Monaco RV from Navistar, and they plan to move operations from Wakarusa to Decatur, Indiana. That's southeast of Fort Wayne. 515 jobs may be at stake. Those employees were sent home Thursday with pay after being informed of the changes. The chief operating officer for ASV says although the company is moving it doesn't mean people will lose their jobs.

ELKHART COUNTY--About 600 students at Ivy Tech Community College will be graduating in a week but are there enough jobs to go around?    In February 2013 Elkhart County's unemployment rate was 9 point 8 percent and St. Joseph County's unemployment rate was 10 point 6 percent that same month. Jarrod Gosser worked in the Rv manufacturing industry before being laid off in 2009. Gosser says, "I decided that i would take my education to a more serious level in order to secure my job future and to secure a better future for my family.

New Buffalo-- The Stray Dog Bar and Grill in New Buffalo will re-open on June 17th. This comes after a devastating fire last July forced the popular restaurant to close. The owners hope to hire 120 employees by the time the restaurant opens in June.    They used to have 180 employees before the fire and one of the owners says it may be the middle of July before they can get their staffing back up to that number.       Most of the positions they are looking to fill are servers, bartenders, cooks and dishwashers.     There are even some spots open in the Stray Dog gear shop across the street.    One woman who works in downtown New Buffalo thinks there are a lot of people in Michigan who are looking for work and is happy there are new jobs for people in the community.    She's noticed less people walking around downtown since the Stray Dog closed.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence is visiting our area today on several stops, including a big jobs announcement. His first stop today is in Mishawaka where he's speaking to the Economic Club of Michiana. Later this afternoon he will be in Middlebury with executives at Grand Design RV to help announce hundreds of new jobs. The company has been in business for about four months and recently celebrated hiring its 100th employee and making its 100th RV. During that celebration, officials said another line would be added in the near future -- which would mean more jobs.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence is visiting our area today on several stops, including a big jobs announcement. At least 120 new jobs are coming to Elkhart County within the next 60 days.   Grand Design RV, based in Middlebury, has done so well with its Solitude line that it will begin hiring for a second production line. "This is a great moment for Elkhart County and the RV industry," says Indiana Governor Mike Pence. Elkhart County has come a long way since 2009.

A LaGrange County-based company has just announced plans to expand, bringing new jobs to the area in Marshall County by 2015. Japanese auto parts manufacturer Nishikawa Cooper, or NISCO, is planning to expand operations at its Bremen facility. The company headquarters are in Topeka.     NISCO manufactures sealing systems for the automotive industry. It already has more than 900 employees in Indiana, and has already begun hiring additional finishing associates, operators and engineers in Bremen.

ELKHART COUNTY - One of Elkhart County's biggest employers plans to add up to 800 jobs, some of them thanks to tax breaks approved Tuesday night. The Goshen City Council voted in favor of the first part of a tax abatement for RV parts maker Drew Industries that could translate into more than 370 new jobs. Lippert Components, a division of the company, is asking for a seven-year tax phase in. Lippert expects to start work on an expansion project next month and be done by the end of 2016.

ELKHART - A company adding jobs in Elkhart and Cass Counties is holding a job fair today (Tuesday). Ameri-Kart Corporation is looking to fill positions at its locations in Bristol and Cassopolis. The company specializes in plastic molding of parts. The job fair goes from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the WorkOne facility on Waterfall Drive in Elkhart. Remember to dress professionally, bring your resume and be prepared for an on-the-spot interview. Some of the jobs available include machine operators, trimmers, and quality control inspectors.

SOUTH BEND - A former St. Joseph County jail officer accused of stealing from a former inmate appeared in front of a judge Monday afternoon, but didn't want to talk to WSBT about the accusations against him.  According to court documents, Trevor Reynolds claims he didn't steal from the inmate and told the county sheriff he bought the debit card from that inmate.  Reynolds is facing five charges - two counts of theft, two counts of...

GOSHEN, Ind. (AP) - The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says a northern Indiana county that had the state's highest unemployment rate four years ago led the nation in job growth between September 2011 and September 2012. The Elkhart Truth reports ( http://bit.ly/170sw8i ) Elkhart County's job growth of 6.9 percent was the nation's largest percentage increase. The national growth rate was 1.6 percent. The rebound was led by manufacturing, with 4,734 jobs added.