November 3, 2012
Cory SchoutenIndianapolis last year sold 154 properties from its land bank for $1,000 each to a novice not-for-profit, which immediately
flipped them for a total $500,000 profit. More than a dozen have changed hands multiple times since then, making investors
more than $1 million.
(with interactive
map)
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June 2, 2012
Greg AndrewsIBJ's annual review of proxy statements for Indiana public companies found senior executives' median compensation
rose 14 percent in 2011. But that analysis uses the fair market value of stock and options awards on the date they were granted.
If a company's stock price surges, executives can make out far better. (with searchable
database)
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March 10, 2012
Anthony SchoettleIndiana University Coach Tom Crean and Purdue University Coach Matt Painter cash in big time when their teams perform well,
especially in postseason play.
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March 10, 2012
Chris O'MalleyIndianapolis Airport Authority CEO John Clark and two key officers spent more than $67,000 last year on travel that included
extended business trips to Brazil, Denmark, Greece, Morocco and Switzerland.
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February 11, 2012
J.K. WallIn the 10 years BioCrossroads has been promoting life sciences in Indiana, the effort has netted more than 330 new companies,
an infusion of more than $330 million in venture capital, a tripling of exports, and a growing number of mentions in national
reports on life sciences.
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December 17, 2011
Cory SchoutenSeveral state employees openly questioned how John Bales' real estate brokerage did business long before the FBI launched
an investigation that led to his indictment.
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July 23, 2011
Kathleen McLaughlinWealth and fame often lead professional athletes to share their success in the charitable arena, but those efforts rarely
last much longer than their careers as the organizations struggle to survive in an already-crowded philanthropic field.
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June 11, 2011
Francesca JaroszThree years after Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard launched a city office designed to help ex-offenders avoid a repeat prison
visit, some of those original supporters say the city’s Office of Re-Entry Initiatives not only has fallen short of
that goal but has accomplished little else.
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May 28, 2011
J.K. WallExecutives at Indiana’s public companies got rich in the down-and-up market, even when investors didn't. CNO Financial's
Jim Prieur, for example, received stock grants now worth $4.4M, despite share prices that are 40 percent lower than three
years ago. With searchable database.
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May 7, 2011
Francesca JaroszLegislation that expands charter schools in Indiana also could increase the number of teachers at those schools without licenses,
making it easier for educators like Eric Nentrup to take non-traditional paths to the classroom.
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May 7, 2011
J.K. WallCharters and vouchers may have sparked the loudest education-related protests before the Legislature this year, but changes
to teacher evaluations are likely to have the biggest impact on Indiana’s public schools.
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April 2, 2011
J.K. WallThere is little agreement—but lots of politics and complex statistics—on how to define success and failure in
Indiana’s public schools.
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March 26, 2011
Greg AndrewsWith economic growth in the United States sluggish, Indiana companies are joining the race to capitalize on the fast-growing
Chinese economy—even as hundreds of millions of Chinese move into the middle class and adopt a Western-style thirst
for goods and services.
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February 26, 2011
Francesca JaroszIndiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature will likely pass the bulk of education-reform measures being pushed this
year by party heavyweights, but partisan rancor could threaten the long-term prospects for a sweeping overhaul of the state’s
public schools.
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February 26, 2011
J.K. Wall
As a Danville school board member and superintendent of Indianapolis
Metropolitan High, Scott Bess is straddling the increasingly contentious chasm between traditional public schools and privately
operated charters.
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January 29, 2011
Francesca Jarosz, J.K. WallIndianapolis Metropolitan High School implemented a school-wide overhaul in its educational approach in only three months.
The charter school might be the face of the future for all Indiana public schools.
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August 28, 2010
Cory SchoutenThe pitch from Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration to privatize the city's parking meters is compelling, but the proposal
to sell the meters to Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has the city giving up more in the long run than is immediately
apparent.
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July 3, 2010
Cory SchoutenWall Street bankers for decades sold municipalities like Indianapolis on debt instruments called swaps as a safe way to reduce
borrowing costs and hedge against rising interest rates. In reality, the swaps were complicated bets that relied
on misguided assumptions, and taxpayers paid.
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May 22, 2010
Peter SchnitzlerTop executives at Indiana's public companies have largely been insulated from the economic crash. IBJ's
review of executive pay found that, although 131 of the 238 executives listed in proxy statements the past two years saw annual
compensation fall in 2009, only 10 experienced cuts of more than $1 million.
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April 3, 2010
Cory SchoutenMarion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi last year intervened in a major drug case to offer a reduced sentence over objections
from both law enforcement officers and his own deputy prosecutors.
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March 13, 2010
Cory SchoutenRecords show Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi directed lucrative work for the Prosecutor's Office to his friend, business
partner and political contributor John Bales.
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October 24, 2009
Greg AndrewsIndianapolis businessman Tim Durham has treated Ohio-based Fair Finance Co. almost like a personal bank since buying it seven
years ago, and now he, his partners and related firms owe it more than $168 million, records show.
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June 22, 2009
Peter SchnitzlerFor investors, 2008 was the worst year since the Great Depression. Even so, more than half of the state's public-company executives
saw the value of their pay packages rise from 2007despite the fact that only 10 of the companies posted a positive total
return in 2008, and 46 companies shed more than one-third of their stock market value.
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April 27, 2009
Chris O'MalleyArchitecture and urban design students from Ball State have created a vision for urban renewal that is arguably more compelling
than the Central Indiana Regional
Transit Authority's principal, utilitarian goal of reducing northeast-side highway congestion and air pollution by running
a diesel commuter train atop the old Nickel Plate Railroad corridor.
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April 20, 2009
Cory SchoutenThe Simon family's role in building the city has come at a steep price for taxpayers. Simon and
its business interests in the last 20 years have collected local government incentives
worth more than $400 million, an IBJ tally of those deals shows.
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Saw the Indy Men's Chorus "Music of Gilbert & Sullivan" at the Indiana Historical Society on Sunday evening.
Temporary workers are not "tools" they are people and companies that keep large amounts of temp staff are cheating.
I miss having them around. I hope one of their stores is in the general Meridian/86th Street area. I will make good use of it.
The Fringe! Plus, the simple fact that there are so many local faves in such close proximity to each other.
I remenber, watching the toll road, being built, through South Bend, when I was 10 years old. I believe, back then that it was estimated, that the toll road, would be paid for in 20 years and then it would be free. I am now 71, what happened? Since the power is in the people, by that, I mean that, we the people are in total control of everything. I, suggest that no one ever use the toll road again, let it go broke. We the people can control the price of everything, from groceries to gas, if we would just do it. If we don't pay the asking price, the sellers will lower the price and if we wait awhile, they will lower the price to what we accept as reasonable. I would like to know why a highway like interstate 94, is so well maintained, a much better highway, than the toll road, but has no tolls. I would also like to know why, a sitting governor, with a term limit, maximum of eight years, can lease, public property, for 75 years. Even though I have transponders in both of my trucks and will not be affected by the increase, I have been and will contine to avoid using the toll road. I make many trips from northern Indiana to Chicago, every year, and I prefer the better highway, I94!