SCEDF Blog

Starke Hospital located in Knox, Indiana and LaPorte Hospital located in LaPorte are no longer affiliated with Indiana University Heath in an agreement announced on Wednesday of this week.  Indiana University Health had previously held a minority interest in a joint venture that included the two hospitals.  According to representatives of the hospitals, the main change that will be seen is the signage, brochures, and other materials will no longer include the logo and reference to Ind...

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics issued its monthly unemployment rate report for the states today, with Indiana reporting a rate of 3.4%, up from the June rate of 3.3%. This July rate remains well below the national rate of 3.9%, and Indiana also has the lowest rate of its contiguous states, with Illinois at 4.2%, Kentucky and Michigan at 4.3%, and Ohio at 4.6%.  Indiana 's labor force had a net increase of 15,564 people over the previous month and has experienced an increase of 67,519...

U.S. News and World Report has issued its annual affordability report in which it ranks each state in terms of the costs of daily life and housing as well as how much money households have available in each state.  Indiana finished overall as #2 in such rankings on the basis of its #7 ranking for cost of living and #3 ranking for housing affordability among all states.  Indiana was higher than Michigan (#4), Kentucky (#8) and Illinois (#22)....

The Gary-Chicago International Airport has opened a new U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection Facility which is part of the efforts of that airport to secure incoming international flights.; The airport says that travelers can now fly into Gary from anywhere in the world without having to land at another airport to clear customs.

Conexus Indiana and Ball State Center for Business and Economic Research have recently issued their Manufacturing & Logistics Report Card for 2018.  Indiana did quite well in this years report being the only state securing four A ratings out of the nine areas looked at.  Indiana led all states in the total report and was one of five states that received an A in Manufacturing Industry Health. Other strong areas for Indiana were logistics industry health, tax climate, and global rea...

The unemployment rate for the United States fell to 3.9% in July, down slightly from the 4.0% registered in June.  During the month an additional 157,000 jobs were added, which was lower than the past several months and also lower than estimated by experts, who were looking for an additional 193,000 new jobs for the month....

All 92 Indiana counties saw their unemployment rates rise during the month of June, the increases ranging from 0.2% up to 1.2%.  Starke County saw an increase of 0.5%, from 3.8% in May to 4.3% in June.  The labor force in Starke County grew by 120 persons, with the number of people employed up by 63 persons over the May report....

The Indiana unemployment rate for the month of June stands at 3.3%, up slightly from the rate in May of 3.2%.  The Indiana labor force grew by just under 15,000 persons for the month, and the state added 1600 manufacturing jobs.  The Indiana rate is well below the national rate of 4.0%, and is lower than all 4 contiguous states, with Kentucky at 4.2%, Illinois at 4.3%, and Ohio and Michigan at 4.5%....

The Town of North Judson has received word that they have been approved for a $4,892,000 loan from the USDA's Water and Waste Disposal Loan and Grant Program.  The loan will be used to convert a portion of the town's combined sewer collection system into separate sanitary and storm sewers. The Town's project is one of more than 100 approved infrastructure projects throughout the country and one of five such projects in the State of Indiana....

County Highway Superintendent Rik Ritzler has reported construction on Bridge #36 located on CR 25 N west of CR 600 E over the Eagle Creek is almost complete and should be open to traffic by the end of July.  The bid for this project was awarded to LaPorte Construction back in October of 2017 for their bid of $296,809.20....

The unemployment rate for the United States rose from 3.8% in May to 4.0% in June as over 600,000 people joined the labor force.  For the month, 213,000 new jobs were created, including 36,000 manufacturing jobs....