Board OKs study for future business park corridor
FORTVILLE — The Fortville Redevelopment Commission has hired an engineering firm to study a proposed road corridor in an area eyed for a future business park.
Plainfield-based Banning Engineering will perform the study, which will provide cost and feasibility recommendations for a South Madison Street corridor between Broadway Street and Fortville Pike.
The cost of the study is $26,450. The Fortville Redevelopment Commission voted earlier this month to pay for the study out of its own funds and with the $10,000 Duke Energy gave the town last year through its site readiness program.
The 186-acre site is on Fortville’s southeast side near South Madison Street, Broadway Street and Fortville Pike. Duke Energy’s site readiness program aims to identify, evaluate and improve sites in its service territory for potential industrial development.
Unemployment remained low before COVID-19 crisis
HANCOCK COUNTY — Unemployment in Hancock County continued to be low up until social distancing measures started going into effect in Indiana and much of the country, according to the latest figures released by the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.
The county’s March 2020 unemployment rate was 2.9%, down from 3.2% in March 2019 and up slightly from 2.8% in February 2020.
The scope of the monthly unemployment survey spans from the middle of one month until the middle of the next. March’s figures span from mid February to March 12, days before Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb ordered many businesses to close and Hoosiers to stay home because of COVID-19.
Hancock County’s March 2020 unemployment rate came in at No. 70 on a list ranking Indiana’s 92 counties from highest to lowest. Lake County topped the list at 5.3% and Hancock County’s neighbor to the northwest, Hamilton County, had the lowest rate at 2.4%
Indiana’s unemployment rate was 3.4% for March 2020, 3.7 percent for March 2019 and 3.4% for February 2020.
The U.S. unemployment rate was already on the rise by mid-March, at 4.5%. That’s up from 3.9% in March 2019 and 3.8% in February 2020.
USDA reports record enrollment in safety net programs
WASHINGTON — Producers signed a record 1.77 million contracts for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage programs for the 2019 crop year, which is more than 107% of the total contracts signed compared with a five-year average.
The USDA’s Farm Service Agency attributes the significant participation in the programs to increased producer interest under the 2018 Farm Bill and to an increase in eligible farms because of the selling and buying of farms and new opportunities for beginning farmers and military veterans with farms having 10 or fewer base acres.
Producers interested in enrolling in the programs for the 2020 crop year should contact their FSA county office. Hancock County’s can be reached at 317-462-4501. Producers must enroll by June 30.
