Worker

WAKARUSA - Navistar tells WSBT it is actively looking for buyers for Monaco RV, and here's why: The company wants to improve its return on invested capital. "We are not in a position that we 'have to' sell the business," said Steve Schrier, Navistar spokesperson. They're not cash strapped, and it's clear operations are still underway in Wakarusa - but rumblings of sale are surfacing. "There are three people that are looking at it, three companies," said one Navistar employee.

BANGOR TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Authorities say a worker has died after his clothing became entangled in equipment at a turbine parts manufacturer in the Bay City area. WSGW-AM reports that 58-year old Paris Prater died following Wednesday afternoon's accident at Schmidt Industries in Bay County's Bangor Township. Police say he was working on a metal lathe machine and died after being taken to an area hospital. The accident at the facility about 90 miles northwest of Detroit is under investigation by the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) - An employee at an Ohio Big Boy restaurant is charged with pouring animal medication into customer coffee with the intent to poison. The Blade newspaper reports ( http://bit.ly/sRU1CO ) 36-year-old Edwin Ledgard told Toledo police that he had a delusion to kill customers. A police report says the Toledo man went to the Frisch's Big Boy on his day off on Friday and poured into a pot of coffee a drug called Dextran, which is used to treat anemia in baby pigs.

MIDDLEBURY — After working with the Haiti relief effort, a former Middlebury local came back to town Sunday, to visit her family before heading off on her next mission. Lillian Hochstetler is a member of the International House of Prayer and Crisis Response International, both out of Kansas City, Mo. She was deployed to Haiti with Crisis Response International a week after the Jan. 12 earthquake. "This was the first time I had ever been outside the country, so the first reaction was just more of a kind of shock," Hochstetler said, "People just really didn't know what to do. " After the quake, Crisis Response International began sending waves of workers.

HIGHLAND PARK, Mich. (AP) - A clerk at a Detroit-area gas station says a robber smashed a juice bottle to lure another employee out of his safety enclosure, where a second robber shot him to death. The shooting happened about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday at a Citgo station in the Detroit enclave of Highland Park. Police say they're seeking public help in solving the killing. Mohamad Bazzi tells the Detroit Free Press ( http://on.freep.com/wIrxj4 ) the slain employee was 59-year-old Hassan A. Hussein.

An employee of Homan Lumber Company in Elkhart was transferred to an Indianapolis trauma center after being struck with a piece of wood Friday morning. Company president Robert Homan tells WSBT-TV that the worker was cutting wood when he was somehow struck at about 7:30 a.m. According to an official at the Elkhart Fire Department, the worker was initially transported to Memorial Hospital in South Bend.  Homan supplies cut wood components and building materials to businesses.

Elkhart police arrested a juvenile suspect who used a knife to holdup a worker at Saleh Market at 401 Middlebury. This happened shortly after 8 a.m. Officers and K-9s units were being used to search for the suspect, who was found in a nearby apartment. The worker apparently knew the suspect, according to a WSBT-TV reporter at the scene. A hearing for the suspect will take place Tuesday at 1 p.m.  

PLYMOUTH - The Marshall County Coroner's Office says a Plymouth man died Wednesday afternoon when the car he was working underneath fell and crushed him. This happened around 2:30 p.m. at Hundt's Auto Salvage on 5C Road in Plymouth. Brian K. Lehiy, 46, was the employee who was killed. The Marshall County coroner says the accident is under investigation. An autopsy is scheduled for Thursday.

FAIRVIEW, Texas (AP) - Officials say they have found the body of a second worker who died after apparently being overcome by fumes while working in sewer line north of Dallas. Fairview Police Chief Granver Tolliver says crews were recovering the body Friday from the water treatment system where the man went missing Thursday morning. Emergency officials say the two men apparently were not wearing protective breathing equipment while working on the sewer line.

DETROIT (AP) - Burger, fries - and fraud? Federal prosecutors in Detroit charged a woman with stealing credit card numbers while working at a McDonald's restaurant. A criminal complaint filed Monday against Shantez Mines says the Detroit woman admitted using a device to steal 40 credit card numbers while working a drive-up window over the summer. She told agents that she sold the information to another person for $200. Mines doesn't have a listed phone number and couldn't be reached for comment.

MISHAWAKA - School City of Mishawaka says it may have to cut some workers' hours next school year. Federal law now requires employers to provide health insurance for anyone working 30 or more hours per week. Superintendent Dr. Terry Barker says the district cannot afford to start providing benefits for workers like lunch room attendants and classroom aides. As a result, Barker says the district may be forced to cut those employees' hours below 30 per week. In a letter to staff, he writes: "School City Mishawaka's budget cannot absorb the additional costs associated with providing health care coverage to all employees who work an average of thirty hours or more per week.

Some tough new state regulations for child care providers are about to take effect. They apply to any child care provider that accepts federal child care dollars, whether it's a day care, church, school, or home. Starting in July, those providers must conduct national background checks on new staff and volunteers. Providers have another year to conduct checks on existing employees. The background checks include fingerprinting of employees. There are also new safety and sanitation standards, like keeping medicine out of kids' reach.

As a partner in National Dog Bite Prevention Week, the United States Postal Service released its 2012 U.S. Postal Service Dog Attack City Rankings, ranking Indiana as #7 for attacks of postal workers. To help reduce the number of dog bites across America, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is offering Indiana residents several ways to help reduce the number of dog bites in their community during the prevention week.  “Dogs are wonderful, intelligent and loyal creatures, but they depend on responsible owners to teach them how to behave around people,” said Dr. Douglas G. Aspros, president of the AVMA.

She pleaded guilty to forgery and ballot petition fraud but if Bev Shelton cooperates with prosecutors, she might not get any jail time. Shelton is one of three people accused of forging signatures to get Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton on Indiana's 2008 primary ballot. St. Joseph County's former democratic party chair, Butch Morgan, is accused of telling them to do it. As part of her plea agreement with prosecutors, Shelton agreed to testify against her former co-workers.

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - A federal agency has ordered Norfolk Southern Railway Co. to rehire an Indiana employee fired in 2010 and pay him nearly $438,000 in damages. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the Fort Wayne-based crane operator was fired in August 2010 after Norfolk Southern "determined he had made false statements" about an on-the-job eye injury he had suffered. But OSHA said its inquiry found the worker would not have been terminated if he had not reported the workplace injury.

GOSHEN - The beginning of the end has officially begun at Cequent Performance Products in Goshen. Friday, union workers at the trailer hitch manufacturing plant voted to accept a severance agreement worth more than $3.5 million and forego arbitration with the company. Cequent announced in November it would move operations to Mexico. The plant will close in December 2013. Some workers have already been laid off. WSBT sat down with one Cequent worker for his reaction to the latest twist in the plant's fate.

GOSHEN -- It's hard to vote against a sure thing. United Steelworkers Local 9550, which represents about 350 members at Cequent Performance Products, voted Friday evening to accept the closure agreement offered by the company. The vote was held at the Masonic Temple in Goshen. The company, which makes parts for the automotive industry, announced in November it would close all of its operations in Goshen and move the plant to Reynosa, Mexico . "The majority of the employees voted to take the package and not go to arbitration," Mike O'Brien, United Steelworkers Sub District 4 director for much of northern Indiana, said.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Seven Indianapolis hair stylists are trying to claim part of a $9.5 million lottery ticket they believe a co-worker purchased as part of an office lottery pool. The seven co-workers at an Indianapolis salon are seeking a restraining order to freeze the money during their court battle over the winning Hoosier Lotto ticket. Attorney Scott Montross, tells WTHR-TV ( http://bit.ly/XDH3Bg ) his clients wants "to slow down the train until we can figure things out. " The stylists want to split to prize from last Saturday's drawing with a co-worker who bought tickets for an office pool as well as some for herself.

An employee of Homan Lumber Company in Elkhart was transferred to an Indianapolis trauma center after being struck with a piece of wood Friday morning. Company president Robert Homan tells WSBT-TV that the worker was cutting wood when he was somehow struck at about 7:30 a.m. According to an official at the Elkhart Fire Department, the worker was initially transported to Memorial Hospital in South Bend.  Homan supplies cut wood components and building materials to businesses.

WAKARUSA - Navistar tells WSBT it is actively looking for buyers for Monaco RV, and here's why: The company wants to improve its return on invested capital. "We are not in a position that we 'have to' sell the business," said Steve Schrier, Navistar spokesperson. They're not cash strapped, and it's clear operations are still underway in Wakarusa - but rumblings of sale are surfacing. "There are three people that are looking at it, three companies," said one Navistar employee.