The Jasper Chamber of Commerce will hold a free paper shredding day on Friday, April 20 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Jasper Train Deport on South Jackson St.

Clean out your office at home or at work by gathering your old files, cancelled checks, receipts and tax forms and bringing them in to be shredded.  Doing so can help you avoid becoming a victim of identity theft.  There's a 100 pound limit.

Staples, paper clips and file folders can all be shredded.

The event will take place rain or shine.

Indiana’s unemployment rate dropped 0.3 percent to 8.4 percent in February. The nation’s unemployment rate held steady at 8.3 percent. In addition, new claims for unemployment insurance have dropped to just below 5,000, for the second week in a row, the first time this has happened in seven years.

Dubois County, which had maintained the state's lowest unemployment rate for several months, saw its rate rise from 6% to 6.6% however.  The county's unemployment number is still among the state's five lowest.

Pike County dropped from 7.8% to 7.7%. 

Area economic development will receive a boost thanks to the backing of Vincennes University, Purdue University, and the Dubois County Area Development Corporation (DCADC).

The partners will jointly fund the cost to support a wide range of technology training for southwestern Indiana employers for the next three years.  With offices at the Jasper Advanced Manufacturing and Technology Center, now under construction at the VU Jasper Campus, the training will bring together the resources of VU, Purdue, and DCADC.

The new VUJC Center will add more than 54,000 square feet of laboratory and classroom space for instruction in the latest technologies needed for workers to succeed in the modern workforce.  As part of the partnership, applicants will soon be sought to lead the local technology training office.