Indianapolis Business Journal

AUGUST 12-18, 2013

The upcoming MotoGP motorcycle race could be the last at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as NASCAR officials lobby instead for a stand-alone race for a newly merged sports-car series. Anthony Schoettle has more on the United Sports Car Series that will kick off in 2014, and the impact in Indianapolis of losing MotoGP. Also this week, Andrea Davis has an inside look at two redevelopment ideas for a seven-acre parcel near Carmel's downtown. The catch is that the projects—priced $33 million and $65 million, respectively—each would require a funding kick from the public. And in A&E, Lou Harry surveys the new goodies offered by food vendors at the Indiana State Fair.

Front PageBack to Top

Simon suffers setback in antitrust suit

A federal lawsuit alleging monopolistic behavior by Simon Property Group Inc. likely will proceed to trial after a federal judge in South Bend denied a motion by the Indianapolis-based mall giant to dismiss the 3-year-old case.

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Crowd funding taps passionate fan base for fantasy figurines

A growing number of small game companies will join a pantheon of industry titans starting Aug. 15 at the Gen Con Indy gaming convention. The small guys are there largely because they can get the money they need to keep themselves alive via the fundraising technique known as “crowd funding” or “crowd sourcing.”

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Top StoriesBack to Top

Angel-investing event may bolster startups

An emerging network of angel investors from around the state will team with Indiana University next month on a workshop that will put them in the same room with entrepreneurs who’d like their backing.

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FocusBack to Top

OpinionBack to Top

KENNEDY: Detroit reflects our moral bankruptcy

The city of Detroit has declared bankruptcy. It is the largest city in the United States ever to do so, and the punditry—what the late Molly Ivins called “the chattering classes”—are pointing fingers at those their particular ideologies suggest are to blame. It’s “white flight” or de-industrialization or lack of economic diversification or corrupt government or a combination of these and more.

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MARRON: ‘Better’ isn’t the same as ‘good’

That phrase comes to mind when I talk about transit in central Indiana. As I’ve urged people to support the IndyConnect plan, more than a few have said, “But didn’t IndyGo get funds to add a new route and improve others? Didn’t that fix the problem?”

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Hicks: Two excellent choices for Bernanke successor

A great debate under way regarding the successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke seems to come down to economists Lawrence Summers or Janet Yellen. The debate is full of interesting insight but it’s the immediate challenges of the Fed that matter more.

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Skarbeck: Sale of Washington Post reflects new world order

The sale price of The Washington Post Co. exposes just how far the industry has sunk. In the first half of this year, the iconic newspaper’s operations generated $138.4 million in revenue and lost nearly $50 million ($40 million of which was a non-cash pension expense).

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Hicks cited poor research

In his Aug. 3 column, Mike Hicks made a wide-ranging attack on colleges of education as refuges of mediocrity, insularity and poor research.

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Cops before cricket

Cricket fields, a league, tournament play and the economic benefits they might bring to Marion County could have all been enjoyed without spending $6 million from the city’s budget [DeGaris column, July 29]. In fact, not one tax dollar needed to have been spent.

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In BriefBack to Top

Board suggested busy Evans let go of AIT

Michael Evans was juggling two companies and two newborn twins when his board of directors suggested it was time for a new CEO of AIT Laboratories. He was replaced by venture capitalist Matt Neff on Monday.

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