JULY 15-21, 2013
Sponsorships are what make IndyCar run, and the open-wheel racing series has just been dealt a blow in its search for a new major sponsor. Anthony Schoettle reports that the executive in charge of corporate sales has resigned just as the series has entered the home stretch of the selling season. Kathleen McLaughlin has an update on Ball State University's new $4.6 million planetarium project, and charges from a contractor that the bidding process was rigged. And in Focus, Jeff Newman dials down in detail the massive process of building Westfield's Grand Park Sports Campus, turning 360 acres of undeveloped land into 57 sport fields.
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New owners plan to upgrade apartments plagued by shortcuts
The ill-fated Di Rimini apartment project that city officials halted three years ago because of numerous code violations is set to be resurrected by two local businessmen.
Read MoreIndyCar racing to line up sponsors to replace Izod
The IndyCar Series’ quest to find a presenting sponsor that could eventually replace Izod as title sponsor—a task series officials earlier this year called their top sales priority—has taken a blow.
Read MoreHealth tech startup aiming for fences
Flying under the radar for much of its existence, local health tech startup hc1.com Inc. now thinks it’s ready to soar. The company, spun out last year from Zionsville-based Bostech Corp., is on pace to generate annual revenue of $10 million by year’s end. And it thinks business could triple next year.
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Firm passed over for Ball State planetarium cries foul
Bowen Technovation President Jeff Bowen says the university unfairly favored his Florida-based competitor to install a sophisticated audio-visual system for its new planetarium, but Ball State maintains there was nothing wrong with its process for awarding the nearly $2 million contract.
Read MoreNick’s English Hut’s ATM miscue spawns legal nightmare
The absence of a fee-disclosure sticker triggered a class-action lawsuit, as well as a legal tangle with the restaurant's insurance company.
Read MoreUpstart theater companies struggle to find spaces to call their own
Some of Indianapolis’ up-and-coming theater groups are establishing their identities through recently acquired performance spaces.
Read MoreShelbyville sees spark of revival downtown
A homegrown revival in Shelbyville could gain serious momentum with redevelopment of the vacant First Methodist Building, one of the most prominent buildings on the circle. A California investor bought the five-story building in May and plans a $3.5 million renovation.
Read MoreDunbar Cook deal an omen of more accounting mergers
Accountants point to aging partners at firms who are looking to retire, more complex regulations and an attractive local business climate as reasons out-of-town accounting firms are looking this way.
Read MoreWRTV widening local content streaming to devices
WRTV-TV Channel 6 plans to begin broadcasting high school sporting events over a streaming service for smartphones and tablets.
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Westfield’s sports plan is grand
When it opens next spring, the aptly named Grand Park Sports Campus will be the largest youth sports complex of its kind in the country.
Read MoreAging east-side shopping center to be redeveloped
A local developer has received city approval to rezone 10 acres at Fall Creek Parkway and East 56th Street as part of a plan to demolish a mostly vacant retail center and replace it with a 42,000-square-foot anchor grocery store and other shops.
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EDITORIAL: Delegating mayor must lead on crime
Simply setting a vision won’t work on crime.
Read MoreA sensible appeal for Obamacare repeal
Sen. Dan Coats makes the best case yet for killing health care reform in its current form and taking another stab at it.
Read MoreKENNEDY: Equality economics hitting home
When it comes to the culture-war politics of same-sex marriage, our governor and legislators would be well advised to listen to Indiana’s business and corporate leadership and forgo their pious pandering to the shrinking number of Hoosiers spooked by social change.
Read MoreTEASLEY: Will we tolerate school choice chaos?
Indiana’s school choice movement is experiencing a lot of growing pains these days, particularly with charter and private schools. Patience and tolerance is called for now.
Read MoreSkarbeck: Weak results take glow off ‘risk parity’ strategy
The popular institutional investment strategy called “risk parity” has produced dreadful investment results this year.
Read MoreHICKS: There’s no end to odd stories about coinage
Today, we hear from seemingly sophisticated folks that we should return to the gold standard, and so ensure long-run stability and remove those unseemly humans from decisions about money. That argument ignores two common axioms.
Read MoreMultitasking, if it exists, is not productive
The truth is you can really only do one thing at a time effectively, but sometimes multiple technologies can be focused on a single task.
Read MoreWaltz changed emphasis of transit debate
Like Sen. Waltz, I will be serving on the legislative study committee dealing with the future of public transit for central Indiana. The committee has yet to meet and the senator had not shared his ideas with me, so I was interested in his thoughts [July 8]. He seems to have redefined our task.
Read MoreBlame Carson’s party for student debt
What perplexes me is, Andre Carson’s party had complete control of both houses of Congress when the initial student debt law was passed [July 8 Viewpoint].
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Lilly’s Lechleiter back at helm after health scare
Eli Lilly and Co. Chairman and CEO John Lechleiter is back to full-time work after taking a leave in May to have surgery for a dilated aorta, the company announced Monday morning.
Read MoreCommunity tries to wring out another $100M
Community Health Network has already cut out more than $130 million in expenses since 2009, but it needs to cut more or find new revenue in order to offset rising levels of bad debt and charity care that have squeezed its profit margins.
Read MoreVeteran labor lawyer Mallamad joins Barnes & Thornburg
Jeffrey Mallamad came from Bingham Greenebaum Doll, where he had chaired the labor and employment practice group.
Read MoreStar negotiating HQ move to former Nordstrom at Circle Centre
The newspaper’s publisher confirmed it’s closing in on a deal to occupy the space after IBJ reported earlier Wednesday that the Star was considering a move to Circle Centre mall.
Read MoreNewsBlues blog takes dig at former news chief at WXIN
Lee Rosenthal's new TV station in San Francisco was breathlessly promotional about its coverage of the Asiana Airlines crash.
Read MoreFedEx drivers prepare for national competition
This year, 132 drivers from 46 states will compete in the company’s “Chairman’s Challenge Competition and Celebration,” which was scheduled for July 13-15 in the FedEx Express parking lot on South High School Road.
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