MARCH 31-APRIL 6, 2023
Indiana legislators are considering a bill would prevent local communities from banning pet stores from selling dogs, cats and rabbits from any source other than a shelter or not-for-profit animal rescue group. Peter Blanchard reports the battle over the bill pits the Humane Society of the United States against national retailers such as Petland and Fishers-based Uncle Bill’s Pet Centers. Also in this week’s issue, John Russell has the story of a Fishers-based biotech company that’s trying to improve animal health with microbes that live inside the digestive tract. And Daniel Bradley has a preview of the 70-acre Geist Waterfront Park, opening late this month.
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Bill pits animal welfare activists against breeders and pet stores
The high-stakes battle pits the Humane Society of the United States and its efforts to protect animals against some national pet store chains, which say they simply want to be able to continue to sell puppies from USDA-licensed breeders.
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Fishers-based biotech startup aims to grow from the gut
BiomEdit LLC was set up last year by Greenfield-based Elanco Animal Health and Boston-based Ginkgo Bioworks to make everything from food to therapeutics for animals. It’s already raised $36.5 million in venture capital for its work.
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Three Westfield candidates state their cases to be city’s second mayor
Republicans Kristen Burkman, Jake Gilbert and Scott Willis will compete in the May 2 primary election. No Democrats have filed to run for mayor.
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Making a splash: Fishers prepares to open Geist Waterfront Park
The 70-acre park along Geist Reservoir will debut April 22—about a month later than initially planned—after three years of construction. Access to the much-anticipated beach will begin May 27, with the season ending Sept. 4.
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Mark Montieth: Knight’s first Final Four team at IU set the stage for future success
Fifty years ago, Indiana University reached the Final Four of the NCAA Basketball Tournament with the first and unlikeliest of Bob Knight’s five Final Four teams.
Read MoreMade in Indiana: Faucets by Delta Faucet Co.
In 2018, the company debuted voice activated faucets that pair Amazon-, Alexa- and Google Assistant-enabled devices with Delta technology to create smart kitchen faucets.
Read MoreIndiana sizing up possible bid for new federal life-sciences hubs
The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, is looking for cities that can help design biomedical products, enhance clinical trials and bring new health products to market. Winning bidders would land hundreds of jobs.
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City breaks ground on key project in $1.1B infrastructure plan
Construction began Monday on the so-called “road diet” project on West Michigan Street in Indianapolis, a $4.7 million “traffic-calming measure” that will reduce the number of lanes for motorized vehicles
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Building across from future Eleven Park site expected to house new restaurant
A local entrepreneur is in the early stages of redeveloping a 5,400-square-foot building, anchored by a pizza restaurant, directly south of the Indy Eleven and Keystone Group stadium district project at the former Diamond Chain Manufacturing Co. site.
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Pilot project to boost Marion County’s low recycling rate getting mixed reviews
In 2020, the city diverted only about 15% of all residential, commercial, industrial and construction waste from landfills, through a combination of recycling and composting. That was far below the U.S. rate of around 35%.
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Editorial: Fishers’ Geist park answers call to create talent-luring features
Even the initial opening of the park is a giant step forward in offering more water recreation for the public, the kind of “blue space” that many social scientists believe helps relieve stress, promote social interaction and encourage physical activity.
Read MoreLesley Weidenbener: Lopresti, Shella set for Journalism Hall of Fame
Two of my IBJ colleagues (or in one case, a former colleague) are headed to the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame. Congratulations to Mike Lopresti and Jim Shella.
Read MoreBrandon Brown and Fred Payne: Keep Indiana leading by investing in summer learning
Indy Summer Learning Labs is a proven method for accelerating student learning. Results from the first two years indicate that learning gains outpaced what was occurring even before the pandemic.
Read MoreJason Kloth: Three steps to improve Indiana’s education outcomes
A recent Ascend Indiana and EmployIndy study reports highly skilled, highly educated workers are the most in demand across Indiana. Yet fewer high school graduates are pursuing the education needed to fill those roles.
Read MoreCharlotte Westerhaus-Renfrow: How to balance risks, rewards of transparency
Transparency in the workplace can be a double-edge sword that cuts both ways.
Read MoreBank failure shows fragility of industry’s confidence game
What was true for the Bailey Bros. Building & Loan in “It’s a Wonderful Life” still rings true for J.P. Morgan today: If too many depositors demand their money back at the same time (a bank “run”), you can’t pay them all, and the bank fails.
Read MoreCecil Bohanon and John Horowitz: Recent bank failures repeat same old mistakes
The failure of SVB is almost exclusively driven by regulators and bank management ignoring what country bankers knew. That is, you can’t finance long-term investments with short-term money.
Read MoreLetters: Lawmakers should approve boost to public health funding
Improving the health of Indiana’s citizens, county by county, in both our urban and rural areas, is essential to maintaining our status as a state that thrives.
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Harvest Market planning grocery store at former Marsh location in Carmel
Quincy, Illinois-based Niemann Foods Inc. has filed plans to build its first Harvest Market grocery store in Indiana in a 75,000-square-foot space vacated by Marsh Supermarkets in 2017.
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Jet Access completes new Greenfield corporate hangar
Sean White, executive vice president of FBO operations for Jet Access, said it was essential the company invested in its central Indiana operations due to a “significant shortage” of hangar space in the region.
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FedEx plans to move LA maintenance operations to Indianapolis
FedEx, which employs 5,800 people at its Indianapolis International Airport Hub, expects to eliminate as many as 400 jobs from its aircraft maintenance center based at Los Angeles International Airport.
Read MoreHendricks Regional Health CEO named to lead Ascension St. Vincent
Kevin Speer, who is to replace Jonathan Nalli, will take over as health system is going through a major restructuring.
Read MoreIndiana native wins close race to lead United Auto Workers union
A court-appointed monitor declared challenger Shawn Fain the winner over incumbent Ray Curry. Fain’s slate of candidates won control of the big union, as workers rejected most incumbents in the wake of a bribery and embezzlement scandal.
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