A large box of tea bags was dumped from a Lafayette bridge into the Wabash River today as part of a series of tax-day protests being held across the country. Several hundred people cheered this afternoon as the tea bags were dumped in a symbolic recreation of the Boston Tea Party. Organizer Donn Brown told […]
Pulte Homes Inc. agreed to acquire Centex Corp. today in a stock-for-stock deal valued at $1.3 billion that will create the nation’s largest homebuilding company. The transaction, which also includes $1.8 billion of debt, will give the combined business a strong liquidity position with more than $3.4 billion in cash as of March 31. The […]
Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Indiana’s alcohol tax would be doubled and hospitality taxes would be raised again under a Statehouse plan designed to bail out the financially struggling group that runs the professional sports stadiums in Indianapolis. Sen. Luke Kenley (R-Noblesville) wants to add about 2 cents to the price […]
Few Indianapolis-area General Motors Corp. workers are accepting a $20,000 cash buyout offer to leave the company, but participation nationwide could be high enough to help the ailing automaker. GM spokesman Fred Cox said today just 44 people at the metal-stamping plant on White River Parkway signed up by Tuesday’s deadline. They have until next […]
Tipton County filed a $14.1 million claim against Getrag Transmission LLC yesterday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, the Kokomo Tribune reported. The claim covers all costs incurred by the county in regard to the canceled construction of a transmission plant, Michael McCrory, an Indianapolis attorney representing Tipton County, told […]
Billions of stimulus dollars meant to spur doctors to switch to electronic record-keeping may not be enough to do the job, a private consulting firm said yesterday. The stimulus bill that President Barack Obama signed last month contained $19 billion for health information technology, including $17 billion for incentives and penalties to encourage doctors and […]
The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a $6.7 million jury award to a musician who lost her arm because of a botched injection of an anti-nausea medication. The court brushed away a plea for limiting lawsuits against drug makers. The decision in Wyeth v. Levine is likely to have ramifications for big drug companies, including Indianapolis-based […]
Two prominent financial ratings companies downgraded their outlooks for Carmel-based insurer Conseco Inc. yesterday. International credit ratings agency Fitch Ratings Inc. put the ratings of Conseco and its subsidiaries on “negative watch” status. And New York-based Moody’s Investors Service downgraded Conseco’s financial strength rating and its bank-debt rating while giving the insurer a “negative” outlook. […]
Sheryl Crow, Herbie Hancock and other entertainers yesterday urged Congress to force radio stations to pay performers when their music is broadcast – a proposal that doesn’t sit well with the radio industry. Jeff Smulyan, chairman of Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp., said a move to pay performers amounts to another tax and would come at […]
A House bill that would have provided temporary tax breaks to three Indiana gambling venues was expanded last night to include all 11 riverboat casinos and two pari-mutuel horse tracks in the state. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal, House Bill 1729 would lower tax rates for the state’s two racinos and allow the state’s riverboat […]
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke gave Wall Street a double dose of reassurance today. He told Congress that the recession might end this year, and that regulators aren’t planning to nationalize banks. The news alleviated some of investors’ deepening worries about the economy and the banking system, and the Dow Jones industrial average, coming off […]
South Dakota-based VeraSun Energy Corp. has asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sell most of its assets by March 31, including five plants to Valero Energy Corp. for $280 million, the company said last Friday. The agreement with Valero includes a key development site in the small Indiana city of Reynolds, and production facilities […]
When President Barack Obama visits northern Indiana today to promote his economic stimulus plan, an Indianapolis company will be on hand to help his effort. The owners of Greenway Supply Inc. have been invited by the White House to join Obama in a town hall meeting in Elkhart. Obama will promote the need for green […]
General Motors Corp.’s latest round of cost-cutting moves will miss Indiana. The automaker announced today it will cut 2,000 jobs at plants in Michigan and Ohio, and it will halt production for several weeks at nine U.S. plants over the next six months due to slow sales. GM spokesman Chris Lee told IBJ that none […]
An Indiana administrative law judge agreed to permanently revoke the insurance license of Marcus Schrenker, the financier who is also accused of faking his death in a plane crash in Florida. Judge Doug Webber told attorneys from the Indiana Department of Insurance, who brought charges against Schrenker, to draft an order that would revoke the […]
Liberty Mutual Group said Wednesday it has agreed to acquire publicly traded Safeco Corp. and take it private in an all-cash, $6.2 billion deal to create the nation’s fifth-largest property and casualty insurer. Boston-based Liberty Mutual and Seattle-based Safeco said the boards of both companies approved the deal, which is subject to approval by Safeco […]
