MAY 14-20, 2012
This week, read about how University Loft is doing two years after a federal raid at its Hancock County facility and find out why vaunted attorney Bill Conour has a lot of explaining to do. Our Women in Business story takes a look at the tech sector's gender gap. And in Focus, we explore the increasingly popular idea of unlimited vacation.
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Digital textbook firm Courseload raises millions
The Indianapolis-based digital textbook company Courseload completed a new round of fundraising in April that its CEO says gives the company the cash it needs to keep landing new university customers in what has become a fast-growing but hyper-competitive field.
Read MoreAirport faces fiscal headwinds
The Indianapolis Airport Authority recorded a $31.3 million operating loss in 2011, a result that new board President Michael Wells believes underscores the need to find new sources of revenue.
Read MoreFollowing turnaround, charter school shoots for 4 more sites
After a near-death experience, the KIPP Indianapolis College Preparatory School is back on its feet and looking to spawn a mini-district of charter schools. KIPP-Indy leaders have drawn up plans to launch four additional schools from 2014 to 2020.
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City aims to attract additional sponsors
Third Street Partners, a marketing firm that hoped to land half a million dollars in corporate sponsorships for the city of Indianapolis, has received a four-year contract extension to bring home red meat.
Read MoreUniversity Loft adding jobs as it recovers from credit crunch, probe
Nearly two years after federal agents raided furniture maker University Loft Co.’s Hancock County plant, the once-fast-growing firm is seeing business bounce back.
Read MoreProgress spotty in narrowing tech field’s gender gap
Most technology firm startups are birthed by men in their 20s and 30s who have a background in computer science. To what degree women are underrepresented in the ranks of tech entrepreneurs is hard to quantify, but it’s a small universe.
Read MoreOil refiner Calumet unleashes $150M stock offering
With its shares trading up more than 60 percent from the doldrums of last fall, Calumet Specialty Products Partners rolled out plans to sell another 6 million shares of stock, raising more than $150 million.
Read MoreVaunted attorney Bill Conour has lots of explaining to do
A large question looms in the wake of the April 27 announcement that Conour has been charged in a federal criminal complaint with misappropriating more than $2.5 million in client funds from December 2000 to March 2012. If he is indeed guilty of the wire-fraud charge he faces, where did all the money go?
Read MorePurdue’s Indy tech incubator nearing capacity
Officials consider expanding facility that got off to a slow start but began filling up last fall.
Read MoreLilly: Forget Alzheimer’s; think diabetes
For more than a year, Eli Lilly and Co. has been viewed by investors as a laggard stock with one, slim shot at producing a huge jackpot: its experimental Alzheimer’s drug. But now company leaders are trying to direct investor attention toward the drugmaker’s diabetes portfolio.
Read MoreFocusBack to Top
Companies adopting unlimited time-off policies
Proponents of such policies say they are the future of work—even as they acknowledge that it may take a generation for them to be widely accepted. Some workers, however, are fearful.
Read MoreMore physicians using social media to find jobs
But major Indianapolis-area hospitals still prefer personal referrals
Read MoreTITTLE: Big challenges loom for nursing facilities
Boom in elderly population and falling reimbursements expected to cause squeeze.
Read MoreOBEIME: Poor, uninsured won’t monopolize resources
Myth prevents policymakers from attacking real problem of distributing funding.
Read MoreSCHREIBER: Innovation will drive health care industry
Entrepreneurship needs broader encouragement, and is targeted in a new plan.
Read MoreOpinionBack to Top
EDITORIAL: Richard Lugar leaves a legacy
We were never of the opinion that Sen. Richard Lugar was out of touch with Hoosiers, or that his ability to reach across the aisle to solve a problem was a strike against him.
Read MoreMAURER: Costa Rica offers affordable adventure
Costa Rica boasts a stable government and a record of relatively low violent crimes. Incidentally, the United States ambassador to Costa Rica is Anne Andrew, a Hoosier.
Read MoreFAENZI: Why are we still fighting about gay rights?
Despite fierce opposition, some politicians are finally speaking out to say they are in favor of marriage and equal rights for gay citizens.
Read MoreGIGERICH: Adult workers need much more training
Like many states, Indiana faces a critical need to retrain and, in some cases, re-career adults over age 35.
Read MoreKIM: Should investors ‘friend’ Facebook’s massive IPO?
At the top end of the predicted range of $28 to $35 per share, Facebook would raise up to $13.6 billion and sport a market value just shy of $100 billion.
Read MoreHICKS: European recession likely to affect U.S. economy, too
As disparate facts, the economic conditions in Europe and the United States are disconcerting. Taken together, they are frightening.
Read MoreHarris doesn’t get education
David Harris, my children attend The Project School in Indianapolis, and you recommended closing the school [April 7 Forefront] for poor test scores.
Read MoreHarris column raises questions
The Mind Trust—an organization that proclaims to support entrepreneurial education initiatives, [and] unannounced and ignoring a well-established charter school evaluation process—feels compelled to play the roles of judge, jury and executioner.
Read MoreHealth care improves through competition
An article in the April 16 issue takes the position that increasing health care capacity increases health care costs.
Read MoreSingle-class basketball produced true glory
Bill Benner’s [April 30] column on our multi-class basketball tournament versus returning to a single-class tournament was right on point.
Read MoreCanal will develop in time
Whoever put together the business model for the canal [April 30 IBJ] that would suggest an almost immediate positive cash flow for small businesses simply was uninformed or had no clue.
Read MoreIn BriefBack to Top
Once-promising Arcadia Resources closing doors
The health care company that once promised to create 900 jobs in central Indiana has agreed to cease operations after a major lender moved to foreclose on the struggling Indianapolis-based business.
Read MoreNew charter school proposed for North Meridian Street
An Arizona charter school operator serving middle and high school students has filed plans to build a two-story school at Meridian and 22nd streets.
Read MoreMarsh CEO Kelley quits for job in New England
Marsh Supermarkets CEO Joe Kelley abruptly resigned Tuesday, and the Fishers-based chain launched a search for its third chief executive in a little more than a year. The company named Chief Operating Officer Bill Holsworth as its interim CEO.
Read MoreCarmel event firm sold, relocated to Castleton
EventzPlus, besides hosting large gatherings, will also offer daily office space rentals to small business owners.
Read MoreRepublic, Bedford fall out of favor in Milwaukee
Indianapolis-based airline holding company and its leader stir passions in city hit hard by Frontier cutbacks.
Read MorePROXY CORNER: Endocyte Inc.
West Lafayette-based Endocyte Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company developing therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases.
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