North-central Indiana update: the region's top business stories.

EIGHT NEW AGRI-businesses--six of them producing alternative fuels--and a dozen new or expanding manufacturers are helping the 10-county north-central Indiana region with new investments and job growth.

Alternative fuels. "The Andersons has created the largest dry mill ethanol plant this side of the Mississippi river at 110 million gallons," Nolan "Skip" Kuper, president of the Logansport/Cass County Economic Development Foundation, says of the Ohio-based agribusiness company The $145 million plant in Clymer employs 45.

In Tipton, ASAlliances Biofuels announced in May it has begun negotiations on a $125 million ethanol production facility, says William Keir, executive director of the Tipton County Economic Development Corp.

Wabash County will soon bring two ethanol plants online, says William Konyha, executive director of the Economic Development Group of Wabash County Poet Energy broke ground in July for a $130 million facility in North Manchester that will open in 18 months, employ 45 and produce 60 million gallons a year. Twenty-five miles south, Wabash Agriproducts breaks ground in August for a $200 million ethanol plant as the anchor tenant in a yet-to-be-named new agri-industry park in La Fontaine. It will employ 50 and produce 88 million gallons a year when it opens in about 18 months.

In White County, VeraSun Energy has begun construction of a 110-million-gallon-a-year ethanol production plant in Reynolds that will begin operations by the end of 2008, reports Connie Neininger, executive director of the White County Economic Development Organization. And Liberty Landfill, owned by Waste Management, is now in the permitting stage for a bio-diesel plant it hopes to open in Buffalo in about 18 months. It would employ 16.

New dairies, Two new dairies are in the works for the region. In Royal Center, Far Hills Dairy is planning a $12 million investment for a 3,200-head operation that will employ 12. And in Carroll County, the Boerman-Carroll Dairy has completed the permitting process for a 4,200 milk cow operation, says Daryl Smith, executive director of the Carroll County Economic Development Corp. A fall groundhreaking is planned, with opening in about a year; it will employ 25 to 35.

Also in Carroll County, Indiana Packers in Delphi is growing. "They have invested $120 million in the last couple of years and are continuing that investment," Smith says. Recent expansions include a cafeteria, employee locker space and a cold storage facility The hog processing plant now employs 1,700, and the company plans to add another 400. It's owned by Mitsubishi Corp. and Iotham Corp.

Snacks, Long-time Frankfort employer Frito-Lay, meanwhile, has begun a $50 million expansion, reports Gina Sheets, director of economic development at the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce and Partners in Progress. The snack food company employs 1,400 in Clinton County.

New manufacturers. The region's biggest prize for new manufacturing went to Tipton this year when GET-RAG/Chrysler Group chose a 145-acre site at State Road 28 and U.S. 31 for its $530 million, 804,000-square-foot transmission plant that will employ 1,170 idled Chrysler workers.

Clinton County recently welcomed LEPS to Frankfort. The fastener company employs 310 at the plant in the Clinton County Industrial Park. It's the first U.S. operation for Italy-based Fontana Fasteners.

Another fastener company has opened in Wabash, where Fastenal is operating a showroom and warehouse employing three. And in Lafayette, Warehouse of Lafayette LLC Inc., currently with 1 million square feet of space, is building another 150,000-square-foot warehouse, the first of a several-building project.

Growing industries. In jobs and production, Lafayette topped the headlines as Subaru of Indiana Inc. announced last year it would hire 1,000 more employees over the next couple of years and this March rolled the first Toyota Camrys off its production lines after completing a $230 million expansion. Plans are to produce 100,000 Camrys annually Currently, about 2,400 employees are on the job; that could top 3,200 once full Toyota production is under way. The plant also will produce about 109,000 Subaru vehicles this year.

Also in Lafayette, Fairfield Manufacturing is hiring, with a goal of 1,200 employees by yea>end to accommodate its newest product line, gears and shafts for wind turbine drive units.

In Kokomo, Haynes International Inc., which employs 750, has signed a 20-year agreement with Dallas-based Titanium Metals Corp. Haynes makes high-temperature alloys used in jet engines, gas turbines and waste incinerators, says Cathy Irick at the Kokomo Howard County Development Corp. Also, she reports employment of 6,900 at DaimlerChrysler, which makes auto transmissions; and 5,700 at Delphi Electronics & Safety, which makes electronic auto components and safety belts and airbags.

Health care, education. Two new hospitals are under construction in Lafayette. Clarian Arnett Medical Center's $170 million, 350,000-square-foot facility with 144 private rooms opens in late 2008. The campus will also include a five-story, 120,000-square-foot medical office building.

The second is St. Elizabeth East, a $210 million, 410,000-square-foot facility with 150 beds to open in 2009. A project by St. Elizabeth Regional Health, it will replace the community's existing two hospitals.

Peru welcomed Ivy Tech Community College last August. And Purdue University in West Lafayette opens the $52 million Neff Armstrong Hall of Engineering this fall, the latest in some $570 million in new facilities completed since 2002 and on the drawing board for the next couple of years.

The Purdue Research Foundation has also announced it will build a fourth incubator by mid-2008 in Purdue Research Park, where a child-care center opens this fall. The park is now home to more than 140 companies, most startups.