Articles

New Albany direct mail company to expand

L&D Mail Masters Inc., a New Albany direct mail and logistics firm, plans to add 46 jobs to its roster of 98 and build a 71,000-square-foot warehouse. The project in the city near Louisville will cost $4.2 million. L&D received $415,000 in state and local incentives, Indiana Economic Development Corp. said.

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Billionaire Kerkorian offers to buy Chrysler

Kirk Kerkorian, the billionaire whose Tracinda Corp. last year withdrew an attempt to gain control of General Motors Corp., has offered $4.5 billion to buy Chrysler from DaimlerChrysler AG. Chrysler would be operated as a stand-alone company, Tracinda said in a letter to the German automaker, according to Bloomberg. However, a new contract would need […]

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Chemtura layoffs could threaten West Lafayette site

The Great Lakes Chemical Corp. office and research-and-development facility in West Lafayette might be hit by layoffs planned by its Middlebury, Mass., parent, Chemtura Corp. Chemtura said yesterday that it plans to lay off 620, or 10 percent, of its global work force as part of a restructuring aimed at gaining closer access to customers. […]

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General Motors suffering setbacks in trendy cities

Cities that set buying trends for the rest of the country increasingly are turning to foreign cars despite General Motors Corp.’s attempts to win back buyers. Sales of Chevrolets, Buicks and other GM brands are slipping in places like New York, Los Angeles and Miami as the Detroit automaker pours resources into reinforcing an image […]

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WISH, WTHR receive Peabody awards

WISH-TV Channel 8, IBJ ’s newsgathering partner, has won a Peabody award for an investigative series showing how a $30 helmet pad could save soldiers’ lives in a blast. WTHR-TV Channel 13 received a Peabody for exposing problems with the state’s tornado warning system, and a second for showing how area pharmacies discarded patient subscription […]

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Acquisition broadens Roche reach in diagnostics

Roche Group has spent $600 million to buy full ownership of BioVeris Corp. of Gaithersburg, Md., gaining control of BioVeris’ diagnostic technology. The Swiss company’s U.S. subsidiary, Indianapolis-based Roche Diagnostics, had licensed the electrochemiluminescence technology in machines it sold to hospitals and commercial laboratories—but was limited to diagnosing human diseases. The acquisition, which is expected […]

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Mad Money show rolls into Bloomington tonight

Jim Cramer and his popular CNBC show “Mad Money” will be filmed live at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business tonight at 6 p.m. Appearing with Cramer will be IU graduate Mark Cuban, who co-founded HDNet and owns the Dallas Mavericks.

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Resorts East Chicago bought for $675 million

Ameristar Casinos Inc. said today it has agreed to buy Resorts East Chicago, the casino and hotel complex in the northwest Indiana city, from Resorts International Holdings LLC for $675 million to take advantage of growth potential in the area. The property’s slot machines, table games and poker tables generated $325.6 million in revenue last […]

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Conseco socked with $750,000 fine

A $750,000 penalty has been levied against Conseco Inc. by the Iowa Insurance Division, but the reason for the fine is being kept confidential, according to The Des Moines Register. The Carmel insurer’s Conseco Life Insurance Co. unit and regulators settled issues related to how the unit priced some of its life insurance policies. Conseco […]

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Symmetry Medical buys instrument company

A Whitman, Mass., company that makes precision instruments for arthroscopic, laparoscopic, sinus and other minimally invasive surgeries has been bought by Warsaw-based Symmetry Medical Inc. for $7 million in cash. Symmetry said today it acquired TNCO Inc. to broaden its product line of implants and related instruments, and cases for the orthopedic device industry.

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Mad Money show rolls into IU tonight.

Jim Cramer and his popular CNBC show Mad Money will be filmed live at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business tonight at 6:00 p.m. Appearing with Cramer will be IU graduate Mark Cuban, who co-founded HDNet and owns the Dallas Mavericks.

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Comcast to take over local Insight cable operations.

Cable companies Comcast Corp. and Insight Communications Co. Inc. have agreed that Comcast will take over virtually all of the territory in Indiana now managed by Insight, the companies said this week. The transition, which will take place at an unspecified date late this year, includes Insight customers from Anderson to Bloomington to Lafayette. Insight […]

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Indiana gained jobs in February, economist contends

Dismal February job numbers widely reported across the state several days ago distort what actually happened, according to Morton Marcus, director emeritus of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University. Rather than having 7,400 fewer jobs than in January—the worst performance behind only Ohio—employment actually increased. The rub comes in how government statisticians adjusted […]

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Minority firms receive 22 percent of airport contracts

Minority-owned companies have snagged 22 percent of the $749.1 million in contracts committed through 2006 for the midfield terminal project at Indianapolis International Airport, the airport authority said today. Minority companies received $167.5 million of the $749.1 million. Slightly more than half of the 189 minority companies that received the contracts are owned by women. […]

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Study raps Lilly for corporate gobbledygook

Eli Lilly and Co. was among 40 companies cited in a study by Clarity! Communications of Canada Inc. for describing executive pay in prose that’s all but indecipherable to the common person. As a result, the companies in the study violated new securities rules that prevent companies from using jargon to report how top executives […]

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WellPoint ties employee bonuses to patient health

Bonuses for WellPoint Inc.’s 42,000 employees now hinge at least in part on whether the company’s customers actually get healthier. The Indianapolis-based health benefits company announced this morning that it has linked every worker’s compensation to how well its patients do in 20 clinical areas. WellPoint claims it is the first company to launch such […]

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CTI Group gushed red ink in 2006

CTI Group Inc. lost $1.1 million last year as customers cut back on the data processing services it offers, and because the company received less revenue from enforcing its patents. The loss compared to a $523,134 profit in 2005. The downtown company, which also sells telecommunications software, said revenue declined to $12.8 million from $15.3 […]

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Dura to shutter Brownstown plant, lay off 114.

Dura Automotive Systems Inc. of Rochester Hills, Mich., said today that its Brownstown plant is among four it plans to close to improve efficiency. The Brownstown site, which employs 114 workers manufacturing spare tire carriers, winches and toolkits, is in southern Indiana, an hour’s drive from Bloomington. Other Dura plants slated for closing are in […]

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Stock probe results in Biomet execs retiring

An investigation into stock-option backdating at Biomet Inc. resulted in two executives retiring March 30. The executives are Gregory D. Hartman, senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer and treasurer, and Daniel P. Hann, executive vice president of administration and a director. In an investigation delving into the options granted between 1996 and […]

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Union merger in Anderson signals end of era

Two United Auto Workers locals that once represented upward of 20,000 General Motors workers in Anderson no longer are needed, and will merge into the UAW local that represents Anderson municipal workers and Madison County workers. Local 662, which in the 1960s boasted nearly 15,000 members at what became GM’s Delphi Corp. division, will be […]

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