Articles

United Technologies lays off 112 in Huntington

A slowdown in house construction has prompted United Technologies Electronic Controls to lay off 112 workers at its Huntington plant, where it makes components for heating and air-conditioning units. The layoffs, effective Jan. 1, were mostly voluntary. But International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 983 President Tyler Brown told The Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne […]

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Health insurance vanishes for Steel Parts retirees

Health insurance was unexpectedly canceled Dec. 1 for about 100 retired workers of Steel Parts Corp. in Kokomo, complains Scott Sigler, vice president of Local 3875 of the United Steelworkers Union. A union lawyer said the Cleveland turnaround firm that bought Steel Parts out of bankruptcy the same day, Resilience Capital Partners, canceled the policy. […]

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OFS Brands buys Carolina furniture maker

OFS Brands, a family owned manufacturer of desks, bookcases and other case goods in Huntingburg, has bought Carolina Business Furniture of Archdale, N.C., for an undisclosed price. The purchase will speed an expansion by the southern Indiana company into health care, according to the Evansville Courier & Press. OFS also operates as Styline Industries.

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Former Bloomington mayor joins investment firm

Former Bloomington mayor John Fernandez has joined First Capital Group, a Bloomington firm that invests in new business ventures, as partner and senior vice president. Fernandez served from 1996 to 2003, and lost the 2002 race for Indiana Secretary of State to Republican Todd Rokita. Fernandez most recently advised on real estate deals at the […]

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Amenities stripped from Johnson County development

Neighbors of a proposed subdivision in northwestern Johnson County complained so fiercely that developer Paul Shoopman now plans to meet zoning requirements precisely—and take the project downscale. Shoopman’s Indiana Land Development Corp. is stripping parks and walking trails as well as businesses, apartments and town homes, according to the Daily Journal of Franklin. House density will […]

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F.S. English car dealerships sold

Indianapolis-based F.S. English Inc., which operates three buy-here/pay-here auto dealerships in the area, has been bought by Dallas-based Manchester Inc. for $8 million. The deal includes GNAC Inc., the company’s auto lending unit. F.S. English’s owner, Rick Stanley, will continue as CEO of the dealerships.

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U.S. pended home sales down in November

The pace of pended sales of existing homes in the United Statesfell 0.5 percent in November from the month before, reports the National Association of Realtors. It was the third consecutive monthly decline. Overall, pended home sales are down 11.4 percent from a year ago.

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Lilly settles most remaining Zyprexa claims

Eli Lilly and Co. has agreed to settle most of the remaining liability claims against its Zyprexa schizophrenia drug, the Indianapolis drug maker announced this morning. The agreement covers about 18,000 people.   Lilly did not disclose the cost of the settlement, but said the total amount is “substantially less” than the $700 million it […]

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A.M. General venture to compete for new military vehicle

A.M. General Corp., the South Bend manufacturer of Humvee military vehicles and Hummer consumer sport-utility vehicles, has formed a joint venture with General Dynamics Land Systems to compete to build a next-generation vehicle for the U.S. Army and Marines Corps. The joint venture, called General Tactical Vehicles, will be headquartered in the Detroit area, and […]

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No abatement for Lowe’s in Martinsville

Martinsville’s Common Council has unanimously denied a request from Lowe’s Companies Inc. to abate $423,000 of $722,000 in potential taxes on real estate improvements. Council members said subsidizing the home-improvement chain would be unfair to existing businesses. The Mooresville, N.C., company wants to locate a store near an existing Wal-Mart on Grand Boulevard, according to […]

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Southern Indiana businessman dies in plane crash

A well-known Montgomery truss manufacturering executive was killed Tuesday when the six-seat airplane he piloted crashed in a farm field after taking off from Daviess County Airport in southwestern Indiana. Abe Knepp, 64, owned K&K Industries, which employed 120. He had no passengers, and investigators have not determined a cause, according to The Evansville Courier & […]

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Hacienda management take full ownership of chain

Management of South Bend-based Hacienda Mexican Restaurants now own 100 percent of their 12-eatery chain, having borrowed $7.6 million to assume control, which they previously shared with Calvert Street Capital Partners. The restaurants are mostly in northern and southern Indiana; none are in Indianapolis.

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Ohio utility buying Lawrenceburg power plant

AEP Generating Co. has agreed to buy an electric power plant at Lawrenceburg from New Jersey-based Public Service Enterprise Group for $325 million. The southeastern Indiana plant is next to a similar natural gas-fired facility AEP operates nearby. AEP is an arm of Columbus, Ohio-based American Electric Power.

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Realtor claims ignorance in alleged white-flight approach

A Merrillville real estate agent is inexperienced, and didn’t mean to try to frighten homeowners into moving by using racially divisive methods, her attorney claims in a letter to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is investigating the allegation. Merrillville officials claim that fliers with Mary Ann Winslow’s name on them warn […]

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Pendulum swinging back toward workers

A global trend toward workers’ demanding a larger portion of their nations’ prosperity might result in an increase in the minimum wage and easing of restrictions on union organizing in the U.S., according to Bloomberg. Workers in Group of Seven industrialized nations are pressuring companies and governments after their share of national income eroded to 54 […]

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Gambling industry to spend $1.2 billion on upgrades

Six of seven Indiana casinos on Lake Michigan and the Ohio River plan to plow a total of $1.2 billion into upgrades to expand and ward off potential competition from other states, according to The Courier-Journal. The Louisville newspaper said they particularly want to protect highly profitable operations should Kentucky or Ohio expand gambling.

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Brown County fire might not hammer tourism

The overnight fire at Seasons Lodge & Conference Center in Nashville is unlikely to severely drain the Brown County community’s life blood of tourism, according to Teresa Anderson, CEO of the Brown County Convention & Visitors Bureau. Damage to the 80-room hotel is still being assessed. None of the 18 guests were injured, according to the Brown County […]

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Downtown AT&T office to end operator services

AT&T plans to shut down operator services in Indianapolis, displacing 55 workers by April. The shutdown does not constitute all operations at the location, but a call to AT&T’s Chicago headquarters for additional information was not immediately returned.

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First Internet closes Landmark Financial acquisition

First Internet Bancorp has closed its $12 million acquisition of Landmark Financial Corp., parent of Landmark Savings Bank and Landmark Mortgage Co. Both institutions are headquartered in Indianapolis. First Internet, founded in 1997 by entrepreneur David Becker, is an Internet-only bank with $445 million in assets.

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