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BEHIND THE NEWS: Area’s humdrum economy now looking pretty good

Hoosier executives aren’t exactly crowing about the Indianapolis-area economy these days. But they’re painting a brighter picture than you might think, especially compared with the carnage they see in what used to be the nation’s hottest markets. Here’s what Simon Property Group CEO David Simon, not one to lavish idle praise, said during a February conference call with analysts: “I think the Midwest has been flat for I don’t know how many years, other than Indianapolis. Indianapolis seems to be…

Commentary: We manage traffic Rube Goldberg-style

Rube Goldberg was an engineer by training who rose to prominence not for his engineering skills but for his political cartoons, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Goldberg was also famous for his cartoons that depicted whimsical machines with complex mechanisms to perform simple tasks. Goldberg’s fantastic contraptions served as an inspiration for the annual Rube Goldberg competitions held at colleges, universities and high schools across the country. In years past, students have been required to develop…

Student loan industry still in limbo, despite new law: Sallie Mae, others wait for details from government

A federal bill intended to bail out student loan lenders like Sallie Mae, one of central Indiana’s top employers, has raced like a bullet through Congress-a remarkable feat for Washington lawmakers. But what the future holds for embattled student lenders remains murky. While the newly passed measure will increase liquidity by allowing the U.S. Department of Education to buy loans, it leaves responsibility for working out the details to bureaucrats. In effect, Congress said in the bill that the Department…

Firm helps clients blog easier: Compendium sees huge market in making business Web sites more interactive

The number of blogs operating on the Internet outnumbers the inhabitants of California, New York, Texas and Florida combined. With a market like that, it’s no wonder Chris Baggott and Ali Sales are so excited about the potential of Compendium Blogware, an upstart firm the two formed in January 2007. Baggott is best known for founding, along with co-owner Scott Dorsey, fastgrowing local e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget Inc. in 2000. The company brought in $48 million in revenue last year….

Overshadowed by Patrick, Fisher fights to keep racing

A group of motorsports journalists stood open-mouthed along the wall of the Texas Motor Speedway in 1999 as they watched 19-year-old
Sarah Fisher, fresh from the sprint car and dirt track circuits, zip past veteran open-wheel racers Buddy Lazier and Billy
Boat. What happened to Fisher over the next nine years is equally amazing–and mystifying–to those same motorsports experts
who watched her in Texas.

NOTIONS: Political promises no panacea for health care

A while back, I had lunch with my friend John. As is our wont, we talked about politics, religion, our families, joys, frustrations. When the subject turned to work, John told me he’s trying a new approach to fund raising and “friend-raising” for his small not-for-profit cancer agency. He’s cutting out the big, time-consuming special event and simply inviting people in for a one-hour introduction to medically under-served cancer patients and how his organization helps. I told him I’d like…

INVESTING: Political shift could turn ethanol boom into bust

If the price of corn keeps going higher, the best investment any of us could make would be to turn our lawns into cornfields. Before we do that, though, we would need to buy farm equipment and fertilizer to get the field ready. After we grow the stuff, we would have to transport it to a processing plant and turn it into ethanol. Then, we would need to ship the ethanol to the refinery where it would get mixed in…

Companies prepare for tougher breach law: Writer of security bill wanted more protections

Imagine a busy local bank that signs several new accounts weekly. With each new customer, the bank receives that person’s Social Security number, home and business addresses, and entire financial history. But what if a computer containing all that personal information-so useful for identity theft-is stolen from the building? Should the company notify its customers of the possible danger or hope the information itself is safe and keep quiet to avoid scandal? To answer those questions, the Indiana General Assembly…

Simons poised to give estate to IU

Billionaire philanthropists Mel and Bren Simon are laying the groundwork to donate Asherwood–their extravagant Carmel estate
and golf course–to the Indiana University Foundation, potentially to house a new think tank. The couple plans to downsize
into a home just outside the town square in the nearby Village of WestClay.

Clean Wave hopes to invest $100M in alternative energy, sustainable technologies

A former Silicon Valley sales executive and a Cincinnati investment manager have formed a venture fund here that’s trying
to raise $100 million to invest in the new darlings of the investment world: clean technology firms. Clean Wave Ventures founders
Scott Prince and Rick Kieser are banking on soaring energy costs attracting investors to the risky but potentially lucrative
realm of alternative energy and transportation and related fields.

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Despite some perceptions, future for IT workers bright

In mid-March, Bill Gates traveled to Washington to carry an unpopular message to Congress: Raise the limits on visas for foreignborn tech workers, or Microsoft and other high-tech companies will be forced to move more jobs overseas in search of a skilled work force. Gates’ testimony to the House Committee on Science & Technology wasn’t groundbreaking-the shortage of tech workers is well-documented. But it begs an obvious question: Why have computer science enrollments at U.S. colleges and universities fallen by…

You-review-it Monday

It was a low-key weekend for me, with my only arts stop being a visit to Fountain Square for Primary Colours’ Allotropy event–which I may get to in a later blog.

Okay, I also watched “Lucky You,” the terrible Drew Barrymore/Eric Bana poker romance…

Ex-Cohesant plant to close, idling 55 workers

An Indianapolis plant that makes equipment to spray polyurethane on boats, water towers and other objects will close by the end of the year, its new owner says. Fifty-five workers will lose their jobs at the northwest-side GlasCraft plant, which was owned by Indianapolis-based Cohesant Technologies Inc. until the company was acquired in December by […]

Delta Faucet axes workers, again

Delta Faucet Co. laid off another 95 workers from its Greensburg plant yesterday, the company’s third round of cuts this year, according to the Greensburg Daily News. The Carmel-based company idled the same number of workers in mid-March. The new cuts will leave about 567 workers employed at the Greensburg facility. The cuts have been […]

Good news on a Friday

Manufacturing seems to churn out about as many lay-off headlines as cars these days, but plenty of good
news about the sector is buried in a recent Ball State University study.

Indiana manufacturing workers are accomplishing far more work than peers…

Biotech company buys vacant Terre Haute plant

ChemGen Corp., a biotechnology company based in Maryland, has bought a long-empty manufacturing plant in Terre Haute, according to the Terre Haute Economic Development Corp. ChemGen makes a natural feed additive that helps chickens, turkeys and pigs digest food. It expects to hire up to 20 people and begin operating in the plant by the […]

‘Wicked,’ ‘Ave. Q’ &…’Happy Days’?

The big news on Broadway in the 2003-2004 season was the Tony-Award battle between mega-musical “Wicked” and where-did-that-come-from upstart “Avenue Q.”

(For an up close and personal look at the development of both shows, check out the documentary “ShowBusiness,” which…

State to help employees buy out companies

A program rolled out yesterday by State Treasurer Richard Mourdock aims to encourage more Indiana business owners to sell companies to their employees. The Treasurer’s Office will subsidize banks for loans used in transitions to employee stock ownership plans, or ESOPs. Taxpayers will more than recoup the program’s annual cost of $500,000 a year because […]

Dessert at intermission

A while back, I was asked by a charitable foundation if I’d be willing to be part of a silent auction package at a fund-raising dinner. The prize? The highest bidder would join me on one of my reviewing assignments….