President Obama speaks during a town hall-style forum at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Ind. The president visited the plant, a Toyota supplier, for National Manufacturing Day. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com

President Obama speaks during a town hall-style forum at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Ind. The president visited the plant, a Toyota supplier, for National Manufacturing Day. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com

President Obama addresses a crowd of about 200 during a town hall-style forum at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Ind. The president visited the plant, a Toyota supplier, for National Manufacturing Day. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com

President Obama addresses a crowd of about 200 during a town hall-style forum at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Ind. The president visited the plant, a Toyota supplier, for National Manufacturing Day. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com

Workers from the Millennium Steel plant in Princeton listen as President Barack Obama talks about the economy during a visit Friday to the plant. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com

Workers from the Millennium Steel plant in Princeton listen as President Barack Obama talks about the economy during a visit Friday to the plant. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com

Obama touched on the unemployment rate, job growth, salaries and the minimum wage. But he said more work is needed and he called for a higher national minimum wage and more spending on the country’s infrastructure.

Millennium Steel and its home Gibson County made an appropriate background for the president’s talk about manufacturing. More than one third of the county’s jobs are in manufacturing and Indiana ranks first in the nation for the percentage of jobs in that sector.

Obama and Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker briefly toured the Millennium Steel plant before the president came to the stage.

The president made his trip to the Hoosier state to highlight National Manufacturing Day – a day intended to educate the younger generation of men and women of the job possibilities in the industry.

“Factories like this one all over the country are opening their doors to give young people a chance to understand what opportunities exist in manufacturing in the 21st Century in the United States of America,” Obama said. “So I figured what better place to celebrate Manufacturing Day than with a manufacturer.”

Obama’s appearance drew a large crowd from business and production leaders from across the state.

 

David Snow, the director of the Manufacturing Extension Partnership for Indiana, said the president’s address about manufacturing was something he didn’t want to miss.

“My job day in and day out is to help Indiana manufacturers be more competitive globally and produce better product, so this is an event I wouldn’t miss,” Snow said. “(Indiana) is a manufacturing intensive state… so it’s a perfect place for him to come to.”

Millennium Steel Services is a relatively small facility, with less than 60 employees, but it does upwards of $250 million a year in business.

James Harris, an employee at the Southern Indiana company, said Millennium Steel has provided a much-needed boost to the local economy.

“This is one of the largest minority-owned companies in Southern Indiana and I think it’s the 14th largest in the nation, so I figured he (the president) might come here to see that,” Harris said.

Obama began his speech with uplifting statistics about the country’s economy and job growth. However, he also said the nation’s financial progress has not come easy.

“This progress that we’ve been making, it’s been hard. It goes in fits and starts,” the president said. “It’s not always been perfectly smooth or as fast as we want, but it is real and it is steady and it is happening, and it’s making a (difference) in economies all across the country.

“So there is a lot of good stuff happening in the economy right now. But what we all know is, is that there are still some challenges…and that means that we’ve still got some more work to do to put in place policies that make sure that the economy works not just for the few, but it works for everybody… “

Towards the end of his appearance, a man asked Obama to share specifics about his plan to improve the nation’s infrastructure – the Rebuild America Act.

“It’s not just the traditional roads and bridges,” Obama said. “It’s also the infrastructure we don’t see – sewer systems, water systems. A lot of them are breaking down. There’s a whole bunch of new infrastructure that we should be building.”

Obama fielded a question about the effectiveness of increasing the national minimum wage and whether it will lead to inflation and higher prices on goods and services.

“Typically, the minimum wage are in certain sectors of the economy,” the president said. “But unlike what people think, the majority of folks getting paid the minimum wage are adults, many of them supporting families. The average age of somebody getting paid the minimum wage is 35 years old. They’re not 16.”

He said that although an increase of the minimum wage would have a positive effect on families, it “generally does not have a huge impact in terms of prices.”

The president said most companies can afford to give raises to their employees, but don’t because they are not required to. The “somewhat soft” labor market is also a contributing factor, he said.

“The market will take care of some of this, but having a minimum wage that’s a little bit higher, that’s also going to help.”

The trip was Obama’s sixth to Indiana since he was elected president. After finishing on stage Friday, he made his way through the crowd, shaking hands, before heading back to the Evansville Regional Airport and then to the White House.

Camera phones were busy during a town hall-style forum at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Ind. The president visited the plant, a Toyota supplier, for National Manufacturing Day. Photo by Hannah Troyer, TheStatehouseFile.com
Camera phones were busy during a town hall-style forum at Millennium Steel in Princeton, Ind. The president visited the plant, a Toyota supplier, for National Manufacturing Day.
 

 

Article writer Jacob Rund is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.

 

Local News Briefs

Winamac Community HS 2025 commencement exercises June 1

Senior photos featured

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Diplomas will be presented to 81 seniors.

Yakym district staff to hold local mobile office hours June 2 in Winamac

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Rudy Yakym (IN-02) has announced that his staff will hold mobile office hours in Pulaski County Monday, June 2, in Winamac.

Yakym’s mobile office will visit throughout Indiana's Second District in June to assist constituents with casework questions.

4-H Fair Parade June 30

The 2025 Pulaski County 4-H & Community Fair Parade, with the theme "Grow it, Show it, Play it at 4-H," will step off at 6 p.m., Monday, June 30, in downtown Winamac.

The parade is organized by the Winamac Kiwanis Club in partnership with the Pulaski County Fair Association. The parade grand marshal will be 2025 Halleck Award winners Don and Lynn Darda. 

U.S. 421 to be resurfaced south of Medaryville

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PCPL lists activities, programs for May

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For more information on any program, call the library at 574-946-3432 or visit the library’s website at www.pulaskicounty.lib.in.us

 

Indiana News

Yakym surprises 'Hoosier Heroes' with Congressional records

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 27) –Congressman Rudy Yakym honored two local first responders Tuesday recognizing their “exceptional service and commitment to their communities.”

Pulaski County Deputy Christopher Parish and Culver Community Police Chief Ryleigh Carr received entries into the Congressional Record.

Young, colleagues address shortage of mental health providers in schools

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 27) – U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) reintroduced the Mental Health Excellence in Schools Act to address the shortage of mental health providers in schools by boosting the pipeline of graduate students trained to become school psychologists, counselors, and social workers.

“Access to mental health resources improves the safety, well-being, and academic success of Hoosier students,” said Sen. Young. “Our bill will both support the school-based mental health workforce and address the critical need for these professionals.”

Pulaski County unemployment rate drops to 2.4% in April

Pulaski County's unemployment rate dropped to 2.4 percent in April, down from 3.1 percent in March, the Indiana Department of Workforce Development reported Thursday, (May 22). The rate was 3.1 percent a year ago.

The county had 6,777 employed persons in a labor force of 6,943 in April. In March those numbers were 6,753 of 6,967. A year ago the numbers were 6,388 of 6.591.

Mitch Frazier, AgriNovus Indiana president and CEO, to step down

INDIANAPOLIS (May 16) - AgriNovus Indiana announced Friday it is launching a search for a new chief executive officer following the resignation of its current CEO Mitch Frazier who will depart from the organization June 6.

Frazier, who has served as president and CEO of AgriNovus since June 2020, will become president of IBJ Media Corporation June 16.

 

 

Post News

Human Services celebrates 50 years

Pulaski County Human Services (PCHS) continued the celebration of its golden anniversary Wednesday (May 28) at its annual Senior Citizen Health and Resource Fair in Star City.

PCHS is a non-profit organization that provides assistance to low-income, disabled, and elderly households, as well as general public-transportation and referral services in Pulaski County.

Alliance Bank Junior Board welcomes new members

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Students are selected for the board through an application process. Each of the participating schools are typically represented by two students from both their junior and senior classes.

West Central HS awards diplomas to 41 seniors

Senior photos featured

FRANCESVILLE - The 58th annual commencement exercises at West Central High School were held Sunday (May 25), in the school gymnasium. Diplomas were awarded to 41 seniors.

The program opened with a baccalaureate service at 2 p.m., sponsored by the West Central Ministerial Association, followed by the commencement ceremonies. 

West Central names 2025 valedictorian, salutatorian

West Central High School has named its top academic seniors in the Class of 2025. They are Valedictorian Aletheia Peter and Salutatorian Jalie Glasford.

West Central will hold commencement exercises Sunday, May 25, at the school gymnasium.

West Central HS holds 2025 senior awards program

FRANCESVILLE - West Central High School held its annual Senior Awards program Monday evening (May 12). Seniors were recognized for various academic and athletic awards, honor roll, and scholarships.

Graduation ceremonies for the Class of 2025 will be at 2 p.m., Sunday, May 25, at the school gymnasium.