The Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute, Indiana’s only statewide organization devoted to independent government research, is on the cusp of collapse. Steve Johnson, its CEO, told IBJ this morning he has stepped down due to lack of funding. “I was just not able to sufficiently raise the dollars to keep the institute going,” Johnson said. “Oftentimes, […]
Officials for the Indiana Invaders track and running club and the city of Indianapolis announced yesterday that a championship cross-country course and training venue will be developed along the banks of the White River downtown. Ground was broken this week on the project, which is being financially supported by locally based retailer The Finish Line, […]
The Indy Racing League is going where only stick-and-ball sports have gone before: revenue sharing. In a concept unique to motorsports, IRL officials have floated a plan that will guarantee teams about $1.3 million from series coffers for each car entered full time in the 16-race series. The change means the IRL could pay out $36 million to teams in 2008, $10 million more than it did through prize purses this year. Industry experts think revenue generated by the newly…
The 7-year-old Lumina Foundation, formed as part of the sale of USA Group, is on a radical mission-to overhaul the way higher
education is funded in this country. The not-for-profit believes the nation’s economic future depends on making college more
affordable, and accessible.
ParaPRO LLC, a startup specialty pharmaceutical company that’s developing a novel treatment for head lice, has received a $2.1 million grant from the 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced today. The grant will allow the Carmel company to complete clinical trials of its medicine for head lice and their […]
The Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission today approved funding intended to pay for a public art display of Chakaia Booker sculptures in Indianapolis next year. The commission gave the Arts Council of Indianapolis the OK to pull $85,000 from this year’s budget and committed to approving another $165,000 from 2008’s budget for the project. The council […]
Purdue University has received another shot of money to find ways to use engineering principles to improve health care. The Regenstrief Foundation has donated $2.45 million to improve cancer care, patient scheduling, and phone- and internet-based health care, Purdue officials announced this morning. The Indianapolis-based foundation, which helped launch Purdue’s Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering […]
Matt Gutwein and Lisa Harris drive into work each morning knowing their hospital, Wishard Health Services, will lose half
a million dollars that day. But they’re OK with that. In fact, they’re laying a plan to keep it up for the next 20 years.
Looming large on their to-do list: building a new hospital.
Six years after its $2.2 billion sale to AES Corp.-a deal that generated at least three shareholder lawsuits-IPALCO Enterprises has signaled that more sparks might fly from the long-done deal. An attorney claiming to represent participants in a retirement insurance plan IPALCO spun off and stopped funding six years ago alleges the utility continues to recover from its 468,000 ratepayers millions of dollars a year toward the plan. The letter asserts that Indianapolis Power & Light “is recovering in rates…
ExactTarget Inc.’s 2005 announcement that it would be moving into 30,000 square feet on Monument Circle and hiring 100 people over seven years seemed ambitious. Indianapolis was littered with the ashes of once-high-flying technology startups that had flamed out. But ExactTarget is fast becoming one of the city’s biggest technology success stories.
Hanging out at the art world’s water cooler, but don’t know how to break the ice? Here are several topics IBJ has identified that will be on the tips of the tongues wagging in the local arts scene. Read and discuss amongst yourselves. What do you think of Max Anderson’s leadership at the Indianapolis Museum of Art? Since taking over in mid-2006, staff say Anderson is constantly beating this drum: The IMA is a top-10 encyclopedic museum; it’s time we…
As Julian Opie’s pop art sculptures get carted away this week, officials are in talks with New York City artist Chakaia Booker
about featuring her work in next year’s public art blowout. Booker’s shtick-sculptures created entirely from used tires.
Purdue University is mapping out a controversial strategy to produce more land surveyors amid growing demand for graduates entering the profession. The number of Purdue students interested in pursuing a surveying career has dwindled to just a dozen out of roughly 500 enrolled in the university’s School of Civil Engineering. M. Katherine Banks, head of the school, attributes the dearth to a lack of visibility the surveying program endures tucked within the larger department. “We need a fresh start,” she…
The city plans to hire an outside auditor in the next few months to review the books of the Conrad Indianapolis Hotel and
determine how its investment is performing. It’s a routine process, Mayor Bart Peterson said. But it’s one hotel-industry
experts say is overdue.
Much of what defines a charter school is in sharp contrast with the traditional model found in public school districts. And the differences start with the structure itself. Charter schools, due to budget restraints, typically involve renovations of a buildings once used for entirely different purposes. From there, the architecture and interior design must create a look and functionality educators say enhances learning and instills in students a sense of ownership and pride in their eventual alma mater. “No one…
The Brown County Convention and Visitors Bureau is without a permanent leader after its longtime president and CEO resigned amid a budgeting conflict. Teresa Anderson quit Aug. 24 after the county Tourism Commission ordered the CVB to cut its personnel expenses, as well as split part of the Innkeepers Tax income with other organizations promoting […]
Once a year, the CEO implores employees to sign pledge cards to the United Way. Local health and human services agencies that
benefit wait to redeem your tax-deductible gift. But others are preaching there’s another path to charitable-giving heaven.
Lesser-known federations continue to nip at the heels of the United Way establishment in the workplace.
Area homeowners weren’t the only ones to get a shock when they opened their 2007 tax bills. Some small-business owners also saw their bills skyrocket-putting a strain on entrepreneurs who often operate on razor-thin margins. “It’s catastrophic for some businesses,” said Kevin Hughes, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business’s Indiana chapter. Mike Hutson, owner of Westfield Lighting Co., certainly feels the pain. The bill on his commercial property-several acres and a 22,500-square-foot building-increased from $42,000 in 2006…
With the 200th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth approaching, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky all are fighting for
a share of the bicentennial limelight. Each has a valid claim to the 16th president: Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Ky.,
on April 12, 1809, moved to a southern
Indiana farm with his family at age 7, then moved to Illinois at 21.
Insurers are split in their support of legislation that could significantly alter the way they do business by creating a federal agency to regulate the insurance industry. The National Insurance Act of 2007, introduced by Reps. Melissa Bean, D-Illinois, and Ed Royce, R-California, would let insurers choose whether to be regulated by the new system or continue to receive oversight from the states. The current way in which insurers are regulated gives the states authority to set industry standards. The…
