Endowments at Indiana colleges and universities are soaring, due in part to impressive investment returns in recent years.
The swelling coffers here and across the nation are stoking the debate over whether universities should be using more of their
wealth to hold down tuition increases.
Lawmakers last year approved a bill that would have given the NFL a onetime tax break on spending and revenue tied to the 2011 Super Bowl, a moot point once team owners awarded the game to Dallas. Now, similar legislation has passed both chambers of the General Assembly-this time extending the exemption to the NCAA, which has committed to hosting its Final Four basketball championships in Indianapolis regularly through 2039. If signed into law, the measure would allow the NFL…
March Madness is upon us-that glorious season born in a Springfield, Mass., peach basket and now headquartered, literally and spiritually, in the Hoosier state. That means, of course, high-pressure conference tournaments; Big Dance brackets and pairings; controversial selections and exclusions; friendly wagers; blowouts; upsets; scoring runs; dry spells; lead changes; come-frombehind victories; heartbreaking defeats; and last-second, game-winning three-pointers. But in only the first week of the third month of the Gregorian calendar, it’s clear-from personal life, to the recession (er…
The closer we get to March 14, the date the 2008 legislative session is scheduled to end, the less optimistic people seem to be about reaching agreement on a property tax relief and reform package that will attract sufficient bipartisan support and be structured in a way that meets the requirements of Gov. Mitch Daniels for his signature. The biggest problems in private legislative negotiations appear to revolve around how to fund local government and school shortfalls, as well as…
S o m e t i m e s , being a good businessperson means knowing when to get out of the business. That truism comes to mind because of the recent carnage in banking. Shareholders in First Indiana Corp., it turns out, cashed in at the right time, as did investors in privately held Union Federal Bank and its parent, Waterfield Mortgage Corp. Last July, just before the subprime mortgage crisis threw credit markets into disarray, the board of…
Imagine what Babylonia and other ancient cultures could have accomplished with a brick-making plant like the one scheduled to open Thursday in Terre Haute. Atlanta-based Boral Bricks Inc. is touting the $58 million facility as the most efficient in the United States, partly because the bricks will be fired by methane gas taken from a […]
The skyrocketing cost of asphalt is forcing some local officials to consider tearing out asphalt on rural roads and replace it with gravel, according to The Republic of Columbus. Local governments are struggling to fill potholes in asphalt roads, which is increasing chances for damage to cars. Conversions to gravel would occur if the condition […]
Presidential campaigns hitting a sour note? Candidates using pop songs face IP issues While this may be “Our Country” and you may have been “Born in the U.S.A.,” that doesn’t mean you can use those tunes in political campaigns without venturing “Into The Great Wide Open” of intellectual property law. Political candidates have been discovering this truth for decades as they’ve used musical hits at political rallies and campaign events, including the 2008 presidential election season. Wherever people gather to…
The “father of health savings accounts” isn’t satisfied. At 80, J. Patrick Rooney is gearing up for another health care reform
battle in Washington–five years after winning a colossal victory when Congress awarded health savings accounts tax-free status.
As we prepared this column at midweek, there still was no certainty about a property tax relief and reform package resulting from the regular session, set to adjourn sine die March 14. While some lawmakers were proclaiming no hope of enacting a package before time expired in the regular session, others were seeing movement toward a plan that was structured largely along the lines of the original package offered by Gov. Mitch Daniels. Democrats altered strategy as the scheduled adjournment…
The 2008 legislative session is history, and makes history with a property tax reform package that goes a long way toward Gov. Mitch Daniels’ goal of enacting one that is fair, final and farreaching. Give him the lion’s share of the credit for establishing the philosophical and practical framework. Majority House Democrats didn’t propose their own property tax plan, but they largely embraced the governor’s plan and successfully played a few new strategic riffs that Republicans found didn’t disrupt the…
Property tax reform is now Indiana law. Hoosier homeowners are thrilled. But many corporate leaders grumble the historic deal was brokered on the backs of business. Topping their concerns is the new 3-percent property tax cap for commercial and industrial properties, which they fear will slow business expansions and discourage companies from moving headquarters to the state.
Democratic candidate for governor Jim Schellinger wants to base economic development on a bottom-up style that includes work-force training, small-business advancement and pushing green jobs and buildings. Schellinger, president of CSO Architects in Indianapolis, is scheduled to unveil his plans at an early afternoon news conference at the Statehouse. IBJ obtained an advance copy of […]
The state of Indiana is satisfied with the results of Marion County’s property reassessment. This morning, the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance approved the new assessment of local residential, commercial and industrial property values via a letter to Marion County Assessor Greg Bowes. IBJ obtained a copy through a public records request. Gov. Mitch […]
Does the political party of Indianapolis mayors influence how they deal with panhandlers, or is it just coincidence?
Steve Goldsmith, a Republican, used the police to crack down on panhandlers, pushing many of them out of
downtown.
In his eight years, Bart…
As postmortems fly on ATAâ??s second, and final, nosedive into bankruptcy, another Indianapolis airline is
doing
a lot better and getting hardly any attention.
Republic Airways Holdings Inc. isnâ??t a household name because it quietly flies regional routes on…
The Indianapolis Star has launched an armada of initiatives to bolster revenue as it reacts to seismic industry changes, many
driven by advertiser and reader flight to digital media. Daily newspapers–once one of the nation’s most stable, profitable
businesses–now face a rapidly changing marketplace that would make the most innovative business operator quiver.
ATA Airlines may have crashed and burned. But the other Indianapolis carrier is flying high. Republic Airways Holdings Inc. earned $83 million in 2007, and profit might approach $100 million this year, according to the investment firm Raymond James. Revenue cracked $1 billion in 2006 and might surpass $1.5 billion this year. This at a time analysts are wringing their hands over which airline might be next to go bankrupt and cease operations. Skybus, Aloha Airlines and the hometown airline…
Nearly 30 years ago, former State Sen. Katie Wolf appeared at a “women in politics” conference in Gary. Afterward, Jill Long Thompson, then 25, marched up and asked for advice. Thompson had her sights set on joining the Valparaiso City Council. Wolf offered her phone number. She soon found Thompson waiting on her doorstep, bursting with questions about how a female Democrat should campaign in a conservative, rural area. “What struck me was her determination to win,” Wolf remembered. “After…
Michael Grueninger, president of Grueninger Travel Group, has learned since his company bought Ambassadair in 2005 from now-defunct
ATA Airlines that many travelers once enamored with dirt-cheap fares they can book online want something more than low price.
They are willing to pay for service.
