IBJ Staff

BP won’t have to cut emissions of soot at its Whiting oil refinery because the Indiana Department of Environmental Management has granted the petroleum giant an exemption from federal regulations, according to the Chicago Tribune. The rules would have required the refinery to halve the amount of microscopic pollution the refinery emits. However, Indiana regulators […]

The Evansville-Vanderburgh Airport Authority yesterday approved commuter flights to Indianapolis through the Massachusetts carrier service Cape Air. When the flights start, possibly in October, they will be the first flights between the cities in two years. Tickets for the flights on the nine-passenger Cessna 420s are likely to be $85 to $125, according to the […]

Bloom Marketing Group, a Bloomington-based call center, plans to add 400 to 500 workers to the current roster of 120 by the end of the year, according to the Herald-Times of Bloomington. The startup, which was spun off from the Bloomington advertising firm Finelight Strategic Marketing Communications, is ramping up in anticipation of the Nov. […]

After testing a new kind of wellness program at Eli Lilly and Co., WellPoint Inc. is offering the broad program to all national employers served by its Anthem subsidiary. WellPoint touts its Healthy Lifestyles program as a help to employers trying to get their workers to make healthy behavior changes in five key areas: tobacco […]

Anderson at-large city councilman Rick Muir is questioning the $144,000 cost and performance of the city’s marketing consultant, Greg Winkler, according to the Herald Bulletin. Since being hired in 2004, Winkler has helped bring 119 of the roughly 400 jobs employers have said they’d add to the area. Muir last week told the city council that […]

The Evansville-Vanderburgh Airport Authority Board plans to meet today to consider whether to approve commuter flights between Evansville and Indianapolis. Massachusetts-based Cape Air would launch five flights a day in nine-passenger Cessna 402 aircraft, according to the Evansville Courier & Press. The flights might begin in October. Today’s meeting follows a meeting last week among […]

Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. paid more money-$11 million-to Minnesota doctors, nurses and medical foundations than any other drug company between 2002 and 2004, according to the Pioneer Press of St. Paul, Minn. The report is based on Minnesota’s strict disclosure law. Only Maine and Vermont have similar laws requiring pharmaceutical companies to open books […]

The Home Depot Inc.’s board yesterday agreed to slash the sale price for its wholesale business by 18 percent, to $8.5 billion, a sign that disarray in credit markets is taking the momentum out of the private equity buyout boom. Home Depot in June had agreed to sell the business for $10.3 billion to private […]

The sale of HD Supply, a Home Depot subsidiary with several locations in Indiana, might not go through, several media reports say. Tightening credit and turmoil in the housing mortgage market have forced Atlanta-based Home Depot to consider cutting its $10.3 billion asking price by about $1 billion, but the sale is still uncertain. The […]

Shares of Steak n Shake Co. rose only 0.2 percent, to $15.30, this morning after the struggling Indianapolis-based hamburger chain announced late yesterday that it has hired the Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch & Co. as a financial adviser to help examine “potential opportunities.” Specifically, Merrill Lynch will advise a special committee of three independent […]

The chief of the Anderson Police Department is a huge Indianapolis Colts fan, but his support for Forest Lucas may be as endearing. Lucas’ $122 million investment to secure naming rights for the new Indianapolis Colts stadium caught the attention of Chief Frank Burrows, who was contemplating switching to synthetic motor oil for the department’s […]

Indianapolis-based Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity has been sued by the family of a University of Mississippi student who died in a 2004 fire at its Ole Miss fraternity house. The lawsuit alleges the fraternity refused to sponsor a safety program following the fire, according to The Clarion-Ledger of Jackson, Miss. Wynn Smiley, CEO of the […]

Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. has received a three-year contract to administer medical claims for the California Public Employees Retirement System, according to Bloomberg. CalPERS, which buys health insurance for 1.2 million people, is one of the nation’s largest buyers of health benefits. WellPoint subsidiary Blue Cross of California has had the contract for eight years. UnitedHealth […]

Michigan-based Ramco-Gershenson Properties Trust and a Chicago-based partner, Heilman LLC, have purchased Nora Plaza on the northeast side for an undisclosed price. The 304,000-square-foot center is 93-percent occupied and anchored by a Target store, plus Wild Oats Natural Marketplace and Marshalls. The seller was locally based PK Partners LLC, which owns several other retail centers […]

Steak n Shake Co. has hired the Wall Street firm Merrill Lynch & Co. as a financial adviser to help examine “potential opportunities,” the struggling Indianapolis-based hamburger chain said this evening. Specifically, Merrill Lynch will advise a special committee of three independent directors that was appointed recently. The committee is helping interim CEO Alan Gilman […]

A long-time economic development consultant said Honda Manufacturing Indiana’s decision to limit applications for production jobs to people living in only 20 Indiana counties is “unusual.” However, Don Iannone, of Mayfield Village, Ohio, quickly added that the Japanese automaker likely made a well-considered strategic decision. “Honda pretty much knows what it needs to do to […]

Four of five Hoosiers will not be eligible to apply for the roughly 2,000 production jobs at the Honda Manufacturing of Indiana plant in Greensburg, the Japanese automaker announced today. Honda Manufacturing of Indiana said in a news release that it plans to begin advertising the positions in newspapers Aug. 26. The deadline to apply […]

Hansen & Horn Group Inc. is sailing through the slump in housing construction relatively unscathed because it began shifting out of the tract-home market about four years ago-while the industry still was going gangbusters. The local builder had operated in the upper end of the tract-home segment, but feared it couldn’t continue competing with giants […]

Evansville-based Shoe Carnival Inc. said today that profit in its fiscal second quarter fell to $167,000, down from $2.9 million in the same period of 2006. Sales for the quarter ended Aug. 4 increased 5.4 percent, to $154.8 million. However, same-store sales were down 7.1 percent. The shoe retailer attributed the decline to fewer shoppers, […]