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NOTIONS: Got gold? Share the wealth with your Jason Lezak

Like hundreds of millions of other people around the world, I’ve been watching the Olympics on TV. Like most Americans among those viewers (especially NBC executives), I was pulling for swimmer Michael Phelps to win eight gold medals and surpass the record seven set by Mark Spitz in 1972. As everyone not buried under a rock knows by now, Phelps succeeded in his quest, but only by the narrowest of margins and only with considerable help from his teammates. Thus,…

Business heats up for new Godby: Firm re-emerges after selling to a national competitor in the late 1990s

When big publicly held companies snapped up local heating, cooling and plumbing companies in the late 1990s, Tom Godby thought he needed to get on board. “I didn’t want to miss that tidal wave of change,” he said. Godby was the sole owner of Godby Brothers Heating and Air Conditioning LLC, which had been in the Indianapolis market for three decades when Godby sold it to American Residential Services in 1997. But instead of being the industry’s new face, the…

Indiana auto insurance rates show uptick, report says: Despite rise, state still among cheapest in nation

Auto insurance rates are climbing nationally, led by increases in Indiana that topped all other states, according to a report released last month by Insurance.com. The online auto insurance agency said the lowest car insurance quotes, on average, jumped 3.4 percent, to $1,893 per year, from the first quarter to the second. Rate increases in Indiana nearly doubled the national average, rising 6.7 percent, or $94, to $1,501. Arkansas and Rhode Island followed, with 6.1-percent and 5-percent spikes, respectively. Sam…

INVESTING: Beware of advice as you seek wisdom on Internet

Most people abide by the doctrine that you cannot believe everything you read. That principle is all the more relevant today for anyone accessing the massive reservoir of information available over the Internet. The latest Web trend is the “blog,” where anyone with an opinion and modest technological know-how can instantly appear to be an authority on a chosen subject. Investors need to be particularly alert to “articles” that on the surface may pass as knowledgeable, yet upon closer inspection…

Citizens’ new name is a gas-in a way: Parent company of local utility adds ‘energy’ to its moniker to reflect diversity of operations

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility on Aug. 25 will announce a new name and logo that reflect the diversification of its energy businesses and the closure last year of its 98-year-old foundry coke plant. Citizens Energy Group will be the name of the parent, a utility founded 120 years ago. Two units-Citizens Gas and Citizens Thermal-will retain their names. But a third, Citizens By-Products, will be renamed Citizens Resources. “We’re entering a new era,” said Citizens President and CEO Carey…

No-bid contract lets local firm suggest sales or sale-leasebacks of city property

The Mayor’s Office has quietly agreed to consider selling some of the city’s more than 1,100 properties, including police stations, maintenance buildings and parks, in a bid to raise cash to help balance the budget. The city awarded the potentially lucrative no-bid contract to Venture Real Estate Services, a politically connected real estate firm led by John Bales.

Cautious contractors warm to Lilly-Covance deal: Drugmaker works to assuage fears of some local researchers worried they might lose lucrative work

When Eli Lilly and Co. announced Aug. 6 that it would more than double the amount of research and development work it outsources to Covance Inc., Dr. Alfonso Alanis got nervous. The CEO of contract researcher Anaclim LLC worried that more work for Covance would mean less work for local firms that provide drug development services to Lilly. Executives at other local firms, who asked not to be named because of confidentiality agreements with Lilly, also have fretted that their…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Why the 10-year alternative-energy goal is absurd

B e f o r e w r i t i n g about energy matters, I am going to have to make a confession. I am a closet environmentalist. I support a wide range of environmental policies and think it often makes good business sense to go green. But sadly, far too many supporters of environmental policy look at the world through green-colored glasses. One result is that it is increasingly difficult to take many environmentalists seriously. One verdant…

A burned cookie cost me a fortune Commentary:

It was the chocolate chip cookies. My wife, Janie, who for years has entered her award-winning baked goods in the Indiana State Fair, was upset because she failed to earn a blue ribbon last summer. Upon inquiry, she was informed that her chocolate chip cookies were slightly burned on the bottom. (I have always been one of her official tasters, and they looked OK to me.) She blamed her lack of success on an unreliable 25-year-old oven that had to…

Firm helps area high schools sell themselves

Continental Enterprises, an intellectual property consulting firm, launched a service this summer to help area high schools register their logos, names and mascots as trademarks and establish licensing programs, assuring that schools will get a cut of all merchandise sales bearing their mark. This month, North Central High School, one of the state’s largest, signed with Continental, and six to eight more schools are expected to follow suit within 60 days.

SPORTS: Let the ‘greatest athlete ever’ debate begin

Back from vacation with thoughts of this, that and the other: Even as my bride and I traveled through the magnificent scenery of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, our nightly ritual was the same as that of millions of other Americans: making sure we were in front of the television to watch the Olympics. And yes, especially, Michael Phelps. Some have rushed to proclaim him the greatest Olympian of all time and, certainly, the argument can be made if you look…

IndyFringe reviews 3

Today, some family friendly fringe–in the company of my 6-year-old son.

We started with “Tastes Funny,” in which a pair of goofballs (the Ed Grimley-haired Daniel Oldaker and the stunning, “Pretty Woman”-era-Julia-Roberts-looking Ranik Huszar) performed admirable feats of  plate spinning, juggling, and…

Obama picks Biden, passes over Bayh

Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, passing over Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who was informed yesterday that he was not the pick. The selection of Biden balances Obama’s ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues. Obama announced the pick […]

IndyFringe reviews 1

For the first night of this year’s IndyFringe Theatre Festival (aka IndyFringe or Indy Fringe), I decided to select four showsthat looked to be among the most risk-taking. After all, what’s a fringe without something out there on the fringe? (Skip…

California firm bids most for Tuchman stores

A California dry cleaning company whose own financial viability is in doubt has submitted the high bid in U.S. District Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to buy 23 Tuchman Cleaners stores in the Indianapolis area. Newport Beach-based US Dry Cleaning Corp. reported a negative cash flow of $4.8 million in the nine months ended June 30 […]

Brightpoint brass snapping up company stock

Brightpoint Inc. executives in recent days have scooped up tens of thousands of shares of company stock, a move that suggests they believe the battered shares have become a bargain. At the time of the purchases, the stock was off more than 50 percent for the year. Disclosures of the purchases this week gave Brightpoint […]

Apartments planned for old school

The former Paul C. Stetson School northeast of Fall Creek Parkway and College Avenue could soon find new life as a 47-unit senior apartment complex….

Maple Leaf Farms scales back duck production

Maple Leaf Farms, one of the nation’s largest duck producers, has sold a production location in Wisconsin due to high feed costs. The company, headquartered near the northern Indiana town of Milford, partly compensated for the downsizing by stepping up production at its home plant. Maple Leaf is in its third generation of family ownership […]

WellPoint names new executives

Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. said today it has hired a new chief accounting officer and appointed its acting chief information officer to the position on a long-term basis. Martin Miller, 46, will join WellPoint as chief accounting officer on Sept. 15 after working as global controller for Molson Coors Brewing Co. He also will be senior […]