SEPT. 17-23, 2021
Eli Lilly and Co.’s antibody treatment for COVID-19 is back on the market, ending a two-month suspension by the FDA. John Russell reports that the drug cocktail is back in regulators’ good graces after proving effective against the delta variant. Also in this week’s issue, Kurt Christian reports that RE/MAX is suing one of its local franchisees for allegedly instructing his employees to join a national competitor so that he could later follow them and collect a recruitment bonus. And Mickey Shuey explains how city officials are trying to address the futures of the huge municipal buildings that largely will be vacated as agencies move to the new Community Justice Campus.
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Lilly’s antibody treatment gets another shot
The drugmaker’s COVID-19 treatment is back on the market after a two-month suspension, but the question is whether Lilly can grab market share from now-dominant Regeneron Pharmaceuticals.
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RE/MAX claims franchisee steered brokers to competitor
Denver-based RE/MAX LLC and RE/MAX Integrated Regions LLC filed a complaint in federal court last month against James “Jimmy” Dulin and The Hamilton Group Inc., which does business as RE/MAX Ability Plus.
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City explores future of its downtown buildings
Officials are taking a fresh, hard look at municipal-owned real estate as part of a larger effort to repurpose several sites that will be largely vacated as agencies move to the Community Justice Campus.
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Indiana grants aim to keep factories on cutting edge of technology
Manufacturing Readiness Grants launched last year as a pilot to stimulate private-sector investments in modernizing Indiana’s manufacturing sector.
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Indy puts millions toward anti-flooding projects
Indy’s City-County Council approved $50 million in new bonds this month to tackle a backlog of drainage projects across the city.
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Q&A: Jace Swims on the business of exotic sea creatures
Jace Swims built a tech career on the West Coast, but the pandemic brought him back to Indianapolis. He since has turned his passion for tropical fish into an entrepreneurial venture.
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Mark Montieth: A Q&A with Pacers coach Rick Carlisle on returning to Indy
Just because Rick Carlisle hasn’t settled into his office in the Indiana Pacers’ practice facility within St. Vincent Center doesn’t mean he hasn’t settled into his role of head coach.
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Former Meridian Hills Country Club chef takes leap with Bargersville bistro
Slated to open this fall, Our Table American Bistro will have an aesthetic that co-owners Joe and Ginger Miller call “Napa Valley meets Bargersville farmhouse.”
Read MoreIndy Chamber eco-devo guru expects West 16th Street corridor to gain momentum
Portia Bailey-Bernard of the Indy Chamber says projects like the $60 million redevelopment of the Stutz business campus and the expansion of IU Health’s downtown campus will help reshape the northern portion of downtown.
Read MoreCouncil OKs nearly $520M in spending on pandemic recovery, rent help, new facilities
The Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday unanimously approved about $467 million in spending for pandemic recovery initiatives, rental assistance, a range of new public buildings and several greenway projects, most of it funded with federal coronavirus relief dollars.
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City-County Council panel clears way for nearly $150M in new public buildings
The Administration and Finance Committee advanced $10.5 million for a new solid waste facility and $7.5 million for a new firehouse—in addition to letting Indy borrow $126.7 million in bonds for a range of new buildings on the Community Justice Campus and other facilities.
Read MoreCity board awards $38 million contract for justice campus parking garages
A team of three contractors will build a 1,000-space garage slated to serve an office building in development by Browning Investments, as well as a 300-space garage to serve court staff.
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Indy-area industrial market continues growth at record pace
More than 22 million square feet of space is already under construction, with some brokerages estimating several million more will break ground by the end of the year.
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Editorial: Violence is threatening Indy’s future
Almost every other effort in Indianapolis—be it talent recruitment, economic development, tourism and more—depends on reducing violent crime, in particular the numbing number of shootings that are on pace to shatter records.
Read MoreLesley Weidenbener: Free clinic is Health Care Hero and lesson in helping people
The Rophe Free Clinic was named IBJ’s top honoree in the category called Community Achievement in Health Care. The clinic was the brainchild of Curtis McManus, who—after a career in the pharmaceutical industry—was directing mission work in Haiti for Solid Word Bible Church, in Pike Township when he saw a need locally.
Read MoreTauhric Brown: Increased gun violence impacts Indy seniors
Gun violence harms everyone. It shatters lives and erodes neighborhoods. But older adults might be impacted more than other groups.
Read MoreRobin Newhouse: Let’s pull addiction recovery back into the limelight
It is more important today than ever that policymakers, employers, universities, hospital systems and the community return attention to ways to support people in recovery, provide innovative treatment options, and create and implement preventive interventions and strategies to avoid substance use for children at risk.
Read MoreJalene Hahn: Why you need to uncover your relationship to money
Identifying your money stories and messages is the first step to being able to change unhelpful thought patterns and move toward a healthier relationship with money.
Read MoreIn the workplace: Here’s how managers should handle 2021’s ‘Great Resignation’
Some executives I have interviewed have blamed working from home and the general burnout from the increased uncertainty as reasons for this struggle. Other executives blame generous unemployment benefits.
Read MoreBohanon & Curott: Masks are a good tool, not a silver bullet
In the villages with the mask campaigns, 43% of adults wore masks in public venues and 29% socially distanced, whereas only 13% wore masks and 24% socially distanced in villages that had no campaigns.
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Indiana’s first Everbowl superfood restaurant to open in Noblesville
Everbowl, a quick-serve restaurant offering customizable superfood bowls, plans to open its first location in the state near Hamilton Town Center in Noblesville at the end of the year.
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Carmel Community Players launching fundraiser for new theater
Carmel Community Players plans to launch a fundraising campaign next month with the goal of securing $250,000 for the buildout of a planned new community theater on North Meridian Street.
Read MoreIndiana governor’s lawyers could bill nearly $200K for suit
The Indiana governor’s office has signed a contract paying a law firm up to nearly $200,000 for challenging the increased power state legislators gave themselves to intervene during public health emergencies.
Read MoreIndianapolis greenways to get $25M after unanimous council approval
The money will go toward design, construction and inspection for nine trail and greenway projects, including Pleasant Run Trail and Pogue’s Run Trail.
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Purdue warns 300 students, employees over COVID-19 policy
The students and employees face disciplinary action for failing to comply with the school’s mandatory COVID-19 testing for those who haven’t provided proof of vaccination.
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Meridian Hills apartment complex sells for $26.5M after 55 years with same family
The new owner plans to make a significant investment in improvements that likely will drive up rents that have languished of late.
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Aaron M. Renn: Knock down the City-County Building and replace it
Having been created in an act of architectural homicide, the CCB itself should hardly be protected from meeting the same fate.
Read MoreDamon Hewlin: Considerations should be equitable, transformational
From afar, the City-County Building’s mark on the skyline is significant. Dated architecture, perhaps, but noticeably part of the urban fabric.
Read MoreJim Shella: I was out of the country, off work on Sept. 11.
During 40 years in the news business, I was never so far removed as I was from the terrorist attack in 2001, possibly the biggest story of our time.
Read MoreKaren Celestino-Horseman: Women must speak up to defend their right to choose
The refusal to stay the law from taking effect by the Supreme Court has given hope to those who oppose choice.
Read MoreCurt Smith: Ruling could set precedent for more pro-life laws
It is time the states be allowed to pass laws that reflect the will of the citizenry.
Read MoreBrad Rateike: The art of selling a home? Be realistic.
We want to look like we never leave a piece of paper out on a desk, or we wash and put away every dish following every meal.
Read MoreDana Black: It’s time to focus on 2022 elections
The Republican supermajority can and will do what it wants with little regard to the voices of all Hoosiers.
Read MoreMichael Leppert: Great musicals really should stay off the screen
It is too often a mistake to turn something that makes a great musical into a movie. It doesn’t justify the risk.
Read MoreUna Osili: Companies must rethink workplace giving
The pandemic has offered companies and employees a new opportunity to refocus.
Read MoreShariq Siddiqui: Program aims to educate on Muslim Americans
The philanthropic sector continues to have failed to be transformed by the impact of 9/11 on Muslim Americans.
Read MoreClaire Fiddian-Green: We need more creative ideas to boost civics literacy
Right now, participation in Hoosier Hall Pass is low, and there is often a shortage of poll workers on Election Day.
Read MoreJennifer Wagner: Downtown Indy takes proactive approach with survey
I felt like the questions were very much in touch with the issues local residents and workers are facing.
Read MoreAbdul-Hakim Shabazz: Poll surveys attitudes on crime, COVID and charters
Forty percent of voters believe that Indianapolis is headed in the right direction, while an equal 40% think the city has gone off on the wrong track.
Read MoreRep. Ed DeLaney: Listen to the mothers and help end the COVID crisis
Let me suggest a simple start for Holcomb’s move toward real leadership: Require the hundreds of schools that are not reporting their COVID cases to do so.
Read MoreDr. Richard Feldman: A look at the world without vaccinations
It’s tragic that thousands of people are dying unnecessarily from our newest vaccine-preventable disease.
Read MoreDeborah Daniels: Leaving Afghanistan after 20 years is concerning
Our collective lack of long-term memory and our tendency to ascribe ulterior motives to former government officials … leads us to be critical of those who acted to protect us then.
Read MorePierre Atlas: Reflecting on the war in Afghanistan
After nearly 20 years, with about 2,400 American troops killed, 20,000 wounded, and $2 trillion, our counterinsurgency strategy failed.
Read MoreSpecial SectionsBack to Top
2021 Health Care Heroes: ‘A debt of gratitude’ owed to heroes
Dr. Kristina Box was thrust into the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic as the state’s health commissioner.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Dashboards detailed virus’ spread, informed decision makers
The dashboards have been used throughout the pandemic to provide important data not only to health and government leaders but also to everyday Hoosiers.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: School’s sample testing provided new insight on virus
At the request of Gov. Eric Holcomb, a team of researchers and practitioners at the school designed and executed several waves of sample COVID testing of Indiana’s population.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: City’s EMS team shared PPE with front line workers across state
From March to December last year, IEMS crews responded to nearly 20,000 calls about potential COVID-19 cases and were ultimately in contact and caring for more than 2,300 positive patients in Marion County.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Team of Riley nurses prepared coworkers to redeploy early in pandemic
The team was charged with training nurses to be deployed anywhere they were needed during the pandemic, including areas where COVID surges and nursing shortages were expected.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Pulmonogist led Eli Lilly’s COVID-19 antibody trial at Franciscan
Lilly’s BLAZE-1 study examined antibody therapy engineered from one of the first individuals in the United States to recover from COVID and was specifically designed to attack the virus that causes it, SARS-CoV-2.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Volunteer spent six weeks in vaccine clinics 200 miles from home
Dave Skeels, a 59-year-old retired engineering consultant from Indianapolis, spent six weeks this year volunteering in a vaccine clinic in Evansville, more than 200 miles from home.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Clinic serves uninsured in Pike Township
The clinic, staffed by volunteers, is only open on Saturdays and was seeing 15 to 20 patients a day before the pandemic.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Reforming state’s antiquated, confusing end-of-life statutes
The advance directives overhaul bill, along with legislation the group shepherded in 2013 and 2018, eliminates several barriers to honoring a patient’s wishes.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Prioritizing first responders’ mental well-being through screenings
Wellness is a major focus for the company as it tries to bring down the incidence of early disease and death among public safety personnel.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Jump-starting transplant patients’ recovery
COLTT was launched in 2016 by Dr. David Roe, the former director of IU Health’s lung transplant program, who modeled the program after one he’d seen at Duke University. In 2018, it was expanded to include heart-transplant patients.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Transforming the way health care is delivered
When the pandemic suddenly made in-person visits impossible, Chugh needed to act fast to keep cardiac patients connected with their physicians.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Team launches living donor liver transplants at IU Health
Among complex organs, the liver is the only one that can regenerate.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Riley cardiologist reflects on long career
When he started his career at Riley Children’s Health in 1975, he became the third pediatric cardiologist in the entire state. When he retired this January, there were 22 just at Riley.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Providing a ‘safe haven’ for transgender patients
In March 2016, after nine months of planning and training—and an outpouring of support from her colleagues—Fogel launched the Eskenazi Transgender Health and Wellness Program, a multidisciplinary clinic that serves about 2,000 patients a year from across Indiana and surrounding states.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Clinics give ICU patients their lives back
In 2011, Khan started the nation’s first post-ICU outpatient clinic, specifically to address the physical and mental deficits often experienced by ICU patients.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Nurse dedicates time to training others
Through the decades, Roesener has been instrumental in training thousands of nurses and doctors across the state and educating them about how to respond to high-risk pregnancies.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Nurse has ‘a huge need to be needed,’ ‘no ability to say no’
Ball, 36, is a licensed practical nurse who regularly takes night shifts so others can spend time with their families and does jobs nurses aren’t usually expected to do.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Taking mental health services directly to children
Oruche is developing a program to help parents who are cowed by a convoluted health care system to become more involved.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Couple dedicates retirement to dementia
They moved back to their hometown of Indianapolis in 2014 and immediately got involved with local Alzheimer’s organizations, including the Alzheimer’s Association’s central Indiana chapter.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Volunteer stocks ‘comfort’ cart for patients’ parents, caregivers
The cart, known at Riley as the “convenience store on wheels,” has served since 2006 as a lifeline for inpatients and their families, providing snacks, toiletries and other everyday items free of charge so families of Riley patients can focus on their children.
Read More2021 Health Care Heroes: Volunteer advocates for organ donation after brother’s death
Montgomery and her sister Courtney share their donation message with audiences ranging from high school students to law enforcement.
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