MARCH 14-20, 2011
This week, see what recreation chain Family Leisure is doing to build its new identity after a name change and find out how the Eagle's Nest is soaring above other similar eateries. In Focus, community banks are preparing to navigate a sea of red tape. And in Forefront, observers weigh in on whether Mitch Daniels should run for president. Plus, check out our annual Golf & Travel Guide.
Front PageBack to Top
Product delays thwart $40M Roche purchase
Delays getting new diabetes meters into the U.S. market appear to have tripped up Roche Diagnostics Corp. on its way to acquiring a key software vendor.
Read MorePurdue case highlights costs of defending intellectual property
A complicated legal case about trade secrets points up a down side to the success Indiana’s research universities have had turning their research into revenue: Large legal bills can eat much of the money.
Read MoreRetail chain Family Leisure finding new identity
Recreational product superstore Family Leisure changed its name from Watson’s two years ago, but it could take years before the company led by Kevin Prefontaine builds the kind of brand equity tied up in the old name.
Read MoreTop StoriesBack to Top
Bill would give neighborhoods more power to resist annexation
Cities and towns would lose the power to annex land against the owners’ will, under a bill that easily cleared the Indiana Senate.
Read MoreEagle’s Nest is a survivor among rooftop eateries
As rooftop restaurants nationwide have fallen from grace, the Eagle’s Nest, sitting high atop the 22-story Hyatt Regency Hotel in the center of downtown, continues to fly high.
Read MorePeru immigrant built career on helping local Hispanics
Aida McCammon has spent 20 years helping Hispanics improve their lives and succeed in the United States.
Read MoreAntitrust lawsuit threatens ‘essence’ of NCAA
A former Rice University football player argues that one-year limits on athletic scholarships is a “blatant price-fixing agreement” between the NCAA and its member schools.
Read MoreNoble Roman’s expands grocery offerings to boost bottom line
The Indianapolis company, founded in 1972, started as a chain of sit-down family restaurants but continues to find new outlets for its products.
Read MoreFeds call Indianapolis Power & Light coal-ash ponds ‘high hazard’
The Environmental Protection Agency and the local utility are at odds over the condition of the ponds and the extent of remediation that is necessary.
Read MoreFocusBack to Top
Regulatory overload is community banks’ next big hurdle
Banks across Indiana are preparing for a deluge of new regulations that will cut into their bottom lines, make their businesses more complex and, in some cases, force them to consolidate.
Read MoreBanks OK with ‘clean energy financing districts’
Industry feared original bill would have put mortgage lenders at added risk.
Read MoreSOOFI: Islamic finance edging into ever-larger deals
Asset-laden institutions sidestepped financial crisis.
Read MoreOpinionBack to Top
EDITORIAL: Indianapolis doesn’t need ‘ashtray’ label
Boosters want to keep building on the city’s progress, educating visitors and residents alike about all that Indiana has to offer. But we’re running the risk of losing our shine in a cloud of smoke.
Read MoreMORRIS: Online posts still the wild, wild West
The Internet is a wonderful and amazing thing. But navigating it is like operating in the Wild West. There is little conformity and there are few rules.
Read MoreMARCUS: Fewer Hoosier children means less retail
Indiana added 369,400 adults, compared with just 33,900 children, a ratio of nearly 11 to 1. This imbalance was hardly uniform, but its consequences are important for all of us.
Read MoreMERHOFF: Let’s rethink what businesses want
Today’s lifestyle preferences have trumped yesterday’s corporate loyalty, just as flatter organizational structures leading to greater employee interaction have replaced pyramid-shaped corporate structures.
Read MoreFEIGENBAUM: Will Democrats hold out until some warm April day?
Indiana House Democrats largely remain bunkered en masse in Urbana, Ill., save occasional individual appearances back at town hall events in their respective districts.
Read MoreALTOM: Supermarkets simplify life for grocers, not customers
I have a fetish for efficiency. It pains me to watch people doing things two, three or more times when they should be doing it only once.
Read MoreHICKS: Unfortunately, veteran tuition benefits must be cut
It’s a wide entitlement program that will literally explode in the coming decades, since a third of all combat veterans will meet the disability requirements. It is not sustainable, and the Senate just tightened the requirements.
Read MoreHAUKE: Oil prices a problem that could burst bubble
We know that, combined with all the other factors, a 25-percent jump in energy prices is something to be at least a little concerned about.
Read MoreMarcus is naive
Reading the [Feb. 28] column by Morton Marcus was akin to reading the Sunday morning comics.
Read MoreKrull column was out of line
[Columnist] John Krull, in an attempt [in the Feb. 28 Forefront] to slam U.S. Rep. Mike Pence [R-Indiana] and State Sen. Mike Delph [R-Carmel], used a very flawed premise.
Read MoreForefront one-sided
I was disappointed and frankly astounded at the incredible lack of balance and clear anti-Republican, anti-conservative message delivered in the Feb. 28 Forefront.
Read MoreIndiana must limit immigration
It always amazes me that the obvious results of exporting jobs, importing workers and engaging in other forms of labor and environmental arbitrage are a mystery to newspaper editorialists and many of our so-called public leaders.
Read MoreState should go smoke-free
Less than a month ago, it seemed almost certain that Indiana would join the ranks of two dozen other states and the District of Columbia—including our neighbors Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin—in enacting a statewide, comprehensive smoke-free-air law.
Read MoreIn BriefBack to Top
Lilly suffers another bruise from Novo
The failure of its drug Bydureon to match the performance of Novo’s Victoza trims but doesn’t kill sales prospects for the highly touted diabetes drug.
Read MoreIndianapolis’ Christ Church Cathedral supports rebuilding of cathedral in Haiti
The local church is joining Trinity Wall Street Church in New York in donating to reconstruction of the building destroyed in the January 2010 earthquake.
Read MoreLawsuit about parking issues puts Calle 52 restaurant project on hold
Plans for a new Latin restaurant at 52nd Street and College Avenue are on hold after another restaurant owner sued to overturn city approval of a parking variance.
Read MoreFirestone to exit IndyCar Series following 2011 season
Motorsports business experts estimated that Firestone pours $7 million annually into marketing the open-wheel series.
Read MoreBranson Air Express suspends Indianapolis service
The airline quietly ceased service from here after starting $59, nonstop flights last September to the Ozarks entertainment bastion.
Read MoreNFP of NOTE: Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana provides children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better.
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