Home » Search

Search Results

13948 results for 'articles'

To refine your search through our archives use our Advanced Search

NOTIONS: Of saints, poets and the randomness of life

Last weekend, my wife Cherí and I visited my son, Austin, and his girlfriend, Karolina, in New York City, where they’re first-year students at New York University. Whenever I land at LaGuardia, catch a cab into the city, ride the subway, shop on Fifth Avenue, or meld with the masses at Times Square, the iPod in my brain advances through Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” to a song called “Another Hundred People.” Amid the horns, sirens and white noise, I hear: Another…

Activists flexing muscles at city’s marquee firms:

Suddenly, activist investors are swarming around struggling Indianapolis public companies-from The Steak n Shake Co. and Conseco Inc. to Emmis Communications Corp. Here’s an unsettling reality: Activists are all about making handsome returns on their investments-often achieved by selling businesses, taking them private or selling them piecemeal. It’s not farfetched to think that a year from now, none of the three high-profile firms still will be a local public company. To be sure, the executives who run the three firms…

Arts Council offers more help directly to artists

When Shannon Linker went to work for the Arts Council of Indianapolis in mid-2002, it was a typical pass-through organization–re-granting
city money to local arts groups. Now Linker is director of an artist-services program for the council that is on par with
those offered in communities like Seattle and New York City but few other places.

Is justice blind?: Few women in Indiana are appointed to high judiciary posts

It is still unusual to have women presiding over a court of law-so much so that when three women judges heard cases together on Sept. 28 in the 5th District Court of Appeals in Richland County, Ohio, it made history and national news. Should it come as a surprise that the symbol for justice is a woman? “Well that is a symbol, but the reality is that it is still a male-dominated profession,” said Maria Pabón López, an associate professor…

Wellness working for Goodwill workers: Despite high turnover rates, program cuts costs

Why pay to get employees healthy if they’re likely to leave in a few years? That used to be the killer question for wellness and disease management programs. But that attitude is changing. And employers like Goodwill Industries of Central Indiana are a good example of why. The not-for-profit, whose main mission is to help workers make a transition into other jobs, has enjoyed significant savings on health care costs even as it has ditched the employee-paid deductible on its…

INVESTING: The best investor activism focuses on the long term

It is certainly not welcome news for corporate executives to be informed that an “activist investor” has established a position in their company’s stock. Activist investors practice a confrontational style of investing, and the target of their criticism is usually the operational performance of the company’s management. An activist’s agenda usually is detailed in a list of brash demands communicated via press releases, Securities and Exchange Commission filings and on public conference calls, often sprinkled with colorful language to express…

Loss of institute may polarize Statehouse debate: Board considers shuttering respected government research organization

If the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute remains shuttered due to a lack of funds, the public won’t notice immediately. After all, the Indianapolis-based organization focused on long-term analysis of complicated communal questions, such as how to equalize property taxes, diversify state pensions or finance public schools. But taxpayers eventually will feel the impact. For 20 years, the institute has played a key role in Statehouse debate, helping frame major issues with hard facts and figures that conservatives and liberals alike…

A&E: ‘Hamlet’ halved; a flute sans magic:

A&E ‘Hamlet’ halved; a flute sans magic This week, I empty the notebook on IRT’s truncated “Hamlet,” the Indianapolis Opera’s “The Magic Flute,” an iconoclastic singer/songwriter at the Egyptian Room and passion in Chicago. At about half the play’s full length, it’s difficult for “Hamlet”-a great work-to be more than just a good one. With every minute reduced, the classic runs a greater risk of becoming more external and less internal. Text cutting is expected in just about any Shakespeare…

EYE ON THE PIE: Whose opinion is worth something?

“But,” I reply, “opinions that float free of reality are not worth anything.” “Untrue,” Juniper answers, wiggling a toothpick at me. “Most opinions are based on what people feel, whether they know anything or not. If they don’t know much, their opinions are still valid as a product of what they believe.” “That’s a very generous view,” I say. “It helps explain some really dumb letters to the editors of our newspapers. I get many e-mails that demonstrate good knowledge…

PROFILE: Posh Petals Inc.: Florist’s business is blooming Ample competition hasn’t kept Posh Petals from growing

Posh Petals Inc. Florist’s business is blooming Ample competition hasn’t kept Posh Petals from growing In just more than three years, Erika White and Meredith Moynahan have moved from employees of someone else’s flower shop to owners of a fast-growing retail florist with a reputation for unusual arrangements. Posh Petals Inc. opened its doors in July 2004, just a few months after the friends and co-workers, both 32, first discussed opening their own place. “It happened really fast,” White recalled….

THERE OUGHT TO BE A LAW: Hey dude, the boss is parking in my space!

I’ll admit it: Until recently, I thought “My Space” was simply where I stored “my stuff.” My bad, it turns out. Just ask that young staffer down the hall: The new place to see and be seen is MySpace, Facebook or one of the other online social communities. This summer, MySpace announced it had more than 70 million unique users in the United States-meaning nearly one in four Americans used the site, for a total of nearly 50 billion page…

Thoughts on Ralston Square?

Here are two renderings of the proposed Ralston Square project. The $60 million South Street project, named in honor of the original planner for Indianapolis, would feature a 150-room hotel, 55 condos, a 617-space parking garage and 41,000 square feet…

Court green-lights liquidation of Benicorp

Indiana Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt can begin liquidating the assets of Indianapolis-based Benicorp Insurance Co. after winning approval today from Marion County Circuit Court Judge Theodore Sosin. Sosin put Benicorp into receivership two months ago. Atterholt and his staff at the Indiana Department of Insurance took over Benicorp’s business as the company was three months […]

Abatement could anchor software headquarters

In exchange for promises to keep its headquarters here, Marion County is considering providing an eight-year property tax abatement worth $17,659 for local parking ticket software-maker T2 Systems Inc. According to a Department of Metropolitan Development filing, T2 Systems is promising to add 115 jobs to its current work force of 43 as well invest […]

Smulyan remains bullish on Emmis, radio

Despite slumping revenue, Emmis Communications Corp. Chairman Jeff Smulyan remains bullish on his company and the radio industry. Emmis this morning reported that revenue in the quarter ended Aug. 31 fell to $96.4 million from $99.9 million during the same period a year earlier. The decline was mostly due to softness at its New York […]

Central Library grand opening set for Dec. 9

Central Library downtown will reopen in a ceremony Dec. 9. The glass-and-steel expansion was to have opened two years ago, and is $50 million over budget due to faults discovered in concrete in the parking garage. Two lawsuits over the construction are pending. The project will house more than 700,000 books and audio-visual materials.

Butler snags $10M from foundation, alum

Butler University‘s $125 million fundraising campaign has received $5.3 million from the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation and $5 million from 1975 graduate Frank Levinson, the university said today. The donation from Indianapolis-based Fairbanks is earmarked for science. Levinson, a technology entrepreneur, asked only that the university use his money to set the university apart from […]

Alcoa puts four Indiana sites up for sale

New York-based Alcoa Inc. said today it has resumed its attempt to sell its packaging and consumer unit, which includes the headquarters in Indianapolis and three plants in Crawfordsville. The Indianapolis operation on the northwest side in Park 100 includes a plastic bottle cap plant. Alcoa also said it is nearing a definitive agreement to […]

Emmis profit plummets on weak radio sales

Continued weak sales in its radio segment caused profit from continuing operations in Emmis Communications Corp.’s second fiscal quarter to plunge to 3 cents per share from 6 cents per share a year earlier, the Indianapolis media company reported today. Revenue in the quarter ended Aug. 31 also slumped, to $96.4 million from $99.9 million, […]