Clarian Health Ventures found its latest investment in Minnesota via a Wisconsin venture capital firm. But the company was right under Clarian’s nose in Indianapolis. Clarian Health Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Indianapolis-based hospital system, joined a gaggle of investors to pump $30 million into Minnesota-based Celleration Inc. The company has developed and […]
AM General LLC, the Mishawaka company that manufactures the Humvee military vehicle and H2 Hummer consumer sport-utility vehicle, now plans to build taxies. AM General will make the Standard Taxi for Vehicle Production Group LLC of Troy, Mich., which recently landed $160 million in funding for the project, according to the South Bend Tribune. The […]
Indiana might be in line for a lot more than the $20 million minimum each state will be allocated as part of the housing stimulus initiative signed by President Bush on July 31, according to a new IUPUI study. The Center for Urban Policy and the Environment estimates Indiana could receive $80 million to $100 […]
Worsening gas prices and congestion have some commuters demanding faster progress on launching a rapid transit line. They can quibble about slowness in getting it done, but lack of study hasn’t been an issue. The Indianapolis Metropolitan Development Organization spent $4 million since 2002 on a rapid transit study that concluded earlier this year, according to records provided by the agency. Most, or 80 percent, of the funds paid to eight consulting firms came from federal transportation funds, with 20…
Maybe it’s a stray dog rooting through your garbage. Perhaps someone has abandoned a car amid the potholes riddling your
street. Either way, Indianapolis offers a one-stop shop for irate residents to complain. Just dial the Mayor’s
Action Center at 327-4MAC. Then get ready to wait. And wait. So long, in fact, that close to half of the
MAC’s callers hang up in frustration.
Indianapolis has spent more than $2 billion on worthy civic projects such as the new airport terminal, Lucas Oil Stadium, and a new Central Library. The same sense of civic pride must be mobilized for funding improved criminal justice. Strong, coherent mayoral leadership is required to address the causes of increased criminal activity here, but a lasting solution requires a community-wide effort. Criminal activity is not simply the result of an individual’s motivation to offend. For crime to occur, the…
Each year, the 30,000 people who ride the Fishers fair train disembark at a depot east of Fall Creek and shuffle 228 feet across the historic 39th Street bridge, which leads to Gate 6 of the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Few likely give much thought to the crumbling condition of the bridge, other than noticing that a large block of stone railing has broken off at the west end. But, below, stones also have fallen off the sides of an arch…
Earlier today, City County Councillor Christine Scales e-mailed me regarding the city arts budget and the rumored threats against it. I’m reprinting the letter here (and posting it with the earlier blog) with her permission. Your thoughts are, of…
The buzz is growing around the arts community about anticipated budget cuts from the Ballard administration to be announced on Monday. See, for example, Justin Ohlemiller’s commentary at the Hetrick Communications site here and Gracie Communications’ Lisa Sirkin’s “Save the Arts” page…
Three Ball State University economists have gone public in recent weeks with their distaste for corporate social responsibility as it’s practiced these days. Philip Coelho and James McClure argued in a letter to the editor in The Herald-Times of Bloomington that…
An economic dry spell may have corporate America praying for rain, but tough times have led to a bountiful year at the
Indiana State Fair. Two weeks before the fair’s Aug. 6 start date, corporate sponsorships were running 22 percent ahead of
2007, surpassing $1.5 million for the first time.
After Mayor Greg Ballard’s upset victory at the polls last November, local arts leaders were in a panic. They worried the
no-nonsense former Marine would put public safety on a pedestal and slash Indianapolis’ funding for cultural groups.
The world’s largest children’s museum is about to get bigger. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has filed plans to build a $15.7 million expansion that will add 37,500 square feet of space including a new welcome center, bus driveway and bike port. The project is slated to begin in the next few months and finish […]
Carmel’s play for the arts Some fear it will come at Indianapolis’ expense The $80 million-plus Carmel Performing Arts Center, a neo-classical-styled concert hall designed to be an acoustical masterpiece, is still two years from opening. But it’s already the source of some dissonance in the Indianapolis arts community to the tune of Mozart’s String […]
TIPPECANOE COUNTY Purdue boosts budget request Purdue University plans to seek an additional $14.7 million when it submits its biennial operating budget request to the state in the fall. Purdue’s board of trustees approved the initial projections June 20. The additional appropriation for 2009-2011 represents a 4-percent increase over the prior two-year period. Included in […]
Nathan’s Battle Foundation, led by Phil Milto–who has two sons afflicted with the disease–has evolved over 10 years into
what Milto calls a not-for-profit biotech company that has raised money and guided research that resulted in a promising treatment
for Batten disease. Now, some of the gene therapy techniques researchers developed are being applied to other disorders.
The $80 million-plus Carmel Performing Arts Center, a neo-classical-styled concert hall designed to be an acoustical masterpiece, is still two years from opening. But it’s already the source of some dissonance in the Indianapolis arts community to the tune of Mozart’s String Quartet No. 19, in C major. On one hand, Indianapolis-area performing arts groups would sacrifice to theater god Dionysus for a chance to perform at the 1,600-seat music hall or at its adjacent 500-seat theater. But others fret…
The depths of the problems plaguing financial firms were on full display July 7, the date Fannie Mae’s shares dropped 16 percent and Freddie Mac’s tumbled 18 percent. Last December in this column, I marveled at how well the stock market had absorbed a 25-percent nose dive in the stocks of these two mortgage titans during trading Nov. 20. Since their highs last fall, these two institutions that underpin the mortgage and housing market have lost 75 percent of their…
On July 4, my college-aged sons came to visit. We grabbed a late lunch, talked for a while, and sat down in the family room to await the big party in the neighborhood courtyard. Austin and Zach got out their laptops and started browsing. I turned on the TV and started surfing. I landed on HBO’s production of “John Adams.” As we watched, the Continental Congress was in session in 1775 and 1776. The delegates-during and between meetings-were arguing various…
A recent Associated Press study of 62 major waterproviders across the country, including Indianapolis, found that nearly all their water had pharmaceutical product or indicators of pharmaceutical product in their water supply. P h a r m a c e u t i c a l products included antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones. The same AP study investigated watersheds and aquifers, large numbers of which were found to contain pharmaceuticals and other contaminants. Another national study of 139…
