Caterpillar plans to move jobs from Joliet to Mexico

Caterpillar Inc. announced Friday it will move production of oil pumps and valves from its plant in Joliet to its facilities near Monterrey, Mexico, resulting in the loss of about 230 full-time jobs from Joliet.

The company notified employees of the coming changes before going public with the news. It said the transition from Joliet to Mexico will be completed about three years from now.

Friday’s news followed its announcement on Jan. 15 that it was contemplating such a move as it decided strategic moves. “The company has since completed all analysis and determined (that) to remain cost competitive it must move forward with the transition…” Caterpillar’s statement said.

Caterpillar said the moves will begin in late 2016 and will be completed by mid-2018.

There are currently more than 700 workers at the Joliet plant that at one time employed several thousand people. The Associated Press reported employment at the Joliet facility topped 7,000 in the late 1970s.

Hourly workers there are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union went on strike for about three months in 2012 before settling on a new, six-year contract that included several concessions.

 “Caterpillar will work with state and local agencies to offer outplacement services, including interview preparation and resume workshops, to impacted employees. The company will also collaborate with local employers to help identify job openings that may be a good fit for its employees,” the company said in a statement.

“Caterpillar values and appreciates its employees’ hard work and their dedication to producing quality components in Joliet, however these actions are needed to better position the company for long-term competitiveness with a more efficient and sustainable manufacturing footprint, while delivering significant cost savings on this core group of components,” it said.

The company said that the manufacturing of truck struts and truck hoist cylinders as well as the heat treatment of components will remain in Joliet, as will the management positions that support those operations.

Reynolds introduced as Bradley's new AD

Chris Reynolds said Wednesday he will always support Bradley University student athletes as they pursue excellence, will keep athletics in line with the university’s goals, and engage the community going forward in his new job as Bradley’s director of athletics.

But the Peoria native, most recently deputy director of athletics at Northwestern University, said he wouldn’t be rushed into deciding the fate of Bradley men’s basketball coach Geno Ford. “There is no timetable. I am going to evaluate all of our programs. I understand men’s basketball is the flagship program and I will spend time with Coach Ford and see where he is at,” Reynolds said at a news conference where he was introduced at Bradley’s 10^th AD.

“I never feel a sense of urgency when it comes to another person’s livelihood,” said Reynolds.

Reynolds, 43, was a Parade All-American at Peoria High School before going to Indiana University and becoming the Hoosiers’ starting point during his four years there under Coach Bob Knight.

Reynolds went on to receive his law degree and Ph.D at Indiana and said Wednesday that academic is very important to him. In fact, he said, the fact Bradley stresses academics for its athletes is one reason the job appealed to him. “It was critically important to me to be at a place where academics matter,” he said.

He acknowledged academics were stressed at Indiana and noting Knight’s reputation for being tough he added, “Bob Knight didn’t just prepare you to win a basketball game. He prepared you for life.”

When it comes to athletic competition, Reynolds said during his time at Indiana teams always were confident, believing they would win every time they took the court. That was why the teams on which he played won a pair of Big Ten conference titles and made the NCAA Final Four in 1992. “Coach Knight always said the tip of the bayonet doesn’t determine the outcome of the battle. It’s the fire in the eyes of the combatant,” he said.

Reynolds invoked the name of current Hoosier head coach Tom Crean, who came to Indiana five years ago, when the program was going through a rough patch, including with its fans. When Crean started Reynolds was still in the athletics department at Indiana and he recalled the coach being asked what he was going to do the charge up the fan base again. “He said he has to sell the tradition, get the community involved again. That’s what we’re going to do here,” Reynolds said, adding Bradley has a strong tradition of its own.

As a child growing up in Peoria, he often walked or bicycled to Bradley and watched practices at the former Haussler Hall and remembered players such as Mitchell Anderson, David Thirdkill, Hersey Hawkins and Jim Les, who later became head coach at Bradley and guided the Braves to the Sweet Sixteen in 2006.

Reynolds said he had no intention of leaving Northwestern and had rebuffed other recruitment efforts to interest him in other schools. But when a search firm called a couple weeks ago to gauge his interest in Bradley, “I thought that would be special. They didn’t have to sell me on Bradley or on Peoria,” he said.

Reynolds was chosen from more than 60 candidates who were considered after Michael Cross announced his resignation a few weeks ago. But Doug Stewart, chairman of the Bradley board of trustees, said there was no preconceived notion about Reynolds or any other candidate by the search committee headed by Judge James Shadid and Peoria businessman Mike Cullinan.

“We went through a very thorough process. He absolutely earned this opportunity,” Stewart told the 100 or so fans, faculty and staff gathered for the news conference at Renaissance Center. Among those at the news conference was Doug Elgin, commissioner of the Missouri Valley Conference.

Bradley President Jo Anne Glasser, who has announced she will retire at the end of the current academic year, spoke of the leadership Reynolds has shown in his previous positions at Indiana, Notre Dame University and Northwestern. His reputation, she said, is that “he is very passionate about the student athlete experience.”

Glasser read comments she received from presidents and athletics directors from other institutions who know Reynolds and said, to a person, how lucky Bradley is to get him.

Reynolds’ wife, Katrina, who is an assistant dean of students at Northwestern, and their two children, Joshua and Olivia, accompanied him to the news conference.

“It’s great to be home in Peoria. I am absolutely thrilled to be here,” Reynolds said.

Mortgage rates down this week after soft economic data reports

Mortgage rates fell this week, with the benchmark 30-year fixed mortgage rate retreating to 3.91 percent, according to Bankrate.com's weekly national survey. The 30-year fixed mortgage has an average of 0.27 discount and origination points.

To see mortgage rates in your area, go tohttp://www.bankrate.com/funnel/mortgages/.

The average 15-year fixed mortgage dropped to 3.15 percent while the larger jumbo 30-year fixed mortgage settled at 4.00 percent. Adjustable rate mortgages were mostly lower, with the 5-year ARM sinking to 3.20 percent and the 7-year ARM sliding to 3.39 percent.         

Mortgage rates pulled back following soft economic data on manufacturing, home construction, and consumer spending. Even though the Federal Reserve continues to lay the groundwork for the eventuality of interest rate hikes, any evidence of economic softness only pushes the timetable further out. Both bond yields and mortgage rates have moved lower as expectations on the timing of interest rate hikes are tempered. Mortgage rates are closely related to yields on long-term government bonds.

One year ago, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate was 4.46 percent. At that time, a$200,000loan would have carried a monthly payment of$1,008.62. With the average rate now at 3.91 percent, the monthly payment for the same size loan would be$944.48, a savings of$64per month for anyone refinancing now.  

SURVEY RESULTS

30-year fixed: 3.91% -- down from 3.97% last week (avg. points: 0.27)

15-year fixed: 3.15% -- down from 3.18% last week (avg. points: 0.19)

5/1 ARM: 3.20% -- down from 3.23% last week (avg. points: 0.21)

Bankrate's national weekly mortgage survey is conducted each Wednesday from data provided by the top 10 banks and thrifts in the top 10 markets.

For a full analysis of this week's move in mortgage rates, go tohttp://www.bankrate.com/mortgagerates.

The survey is complemented by Bankrate's weekly Rate Trend Index, in which a panel of mortgage experts predicts which way the rates are headed over the next seven days. There is no clear consensus this week, with 42 percent of the panelists expecting mortgage rates to fall further in the next week, while one-third predict mortgage rates will remain more or less unchanged. The remaining 25 percent forecast an increase in mortgage rates during the coming week.

For the full mortgage Rate Trend Index, go tohttp://www.bankrate.com/news/rate-trends/mortgage.aspx.

Dark comedy 'Lieutenant of Inishmore' at Corn Stock

Tim Wyman wants to make sure it is known up front: No animals were harmed in the making of “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” a dark comedy he directed that opens Friday at Corn Stock Theatre’s Winter Playhouse in Upper Bradley Park.

The two cats that are killed in the play, according to the script by Martin McDonagh, are stage props. “Only the cat that appears at the very end is a real animal and no harm comes to it,” Wyman said.

You see, the killing of a cat is very central to “The Lieutenant of Inishmore.” It is the reason a mad Irishman named Padraic is lured back to his home and why he goes after the other Irish rebels who were responsible. He loves his cat, Wee Thomas, and Padraic, who feels no remorse while torturing other humans for nothing more than insulting him, must revenge the harm that befalls the animal.

There is very little in the play about any actual Irish uprisings. The play is set in the early 1990s, just as the Northern Ireland peace process is taking hold. Who needs an uprising when you have a madman who loves his cat above all else?

Well, that is until the young lass Mairaid enters the picture and turns Padraic’s head. Before he shoots her, of course.

Wyman said has wanted to direct “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” since he first read it 10 or more years ago. He’d never seen it staged before, which he said is an advantage when staging it in a space such as Corn Stock’s Winter Playhouse. “I like to direct plays I haven’t seen because then I’m not bound to the ideas or interpretations of other directors. I don’t want to copy somebody; there’s no art form in that,” he said.

What appealed most to him about this play was the humorous writing as well as the Irish brogue the author wrote it in. “I fell in love with the language. When it is done right, it is a wonderful accent,” he said.

His cast of eight, he acknowledged, “had the most God-awful Irish accents I ever heard in my life when we started rehearsals. But they have been working very hard and they have gotten progressively better with each rehearsal.”

The acting, he added, is very good throughout. “This is the kind of play where the script carries the show. To have good actors makes it that much better,” he said.

Cody Cornwell, who made his Corn Stock debut earlier this season in “The Shape of Things,” portrays Padraic, the self-declared Lieutenant of Inishmore. He must bring a touch of madman with a quick trigger “and he does that very well,” Wyman said.

Emma Luttrell portrays Mairaid, herself with a touch of madness.

Others are Jeff Hopkins as Donny, Frank Drew as Davey, Nyk Sutter as James, John Carroll as Christy, Jerrod Barth as Brendan and Andrew Rhodenbaugh as Joey.

Despite the humor, there is a lot of blood in this play. “But there is nothing more than you can see on television on any Friday night. Of course, if you’re queasy I wouldn’t sit in the front row,” Wyman said. “It’s not for children, either, I should add.”

Because of the blood and the torture, Wyman had been turned down in his earlier attempts to direct “The Lieutenant of Inishmore.” One scene in particular, in which a man is being tortured while hanging upside down, was troublesome mostly in how it would be staged. “We worked around that, like you do with any play. When there are staging limitations you do something else that works. That’s what we did in that scene,” he said.

This show includes gunfire, as well, but Wyman said smaller caliber blanks are used to keep the noise down.

“There are a ton of surprises in this play, throughout the show really. It really is a funny piece,” he said.

“The Lieutenant of Inishmore” runs Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., then again Thursday through Saturday, March 26-28, at 7:30 p.m. and closes with a 2:30 p.m. matinee on Sunday, March 29.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students. They can be ordered online at www.cornstocktheatre.com or by calling 676-2196.