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Ongoing manufacturing layoffs have resulted in Fort Wayne being stung worse than 14 other Midwestern cities, an Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne study shows. Fort Wayne wages increased just 7.9 percent between 2001 and 2005, the lowest among Dayton, Ohio; Rockford, Ill., and other cities studied, according to Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly. Earnings for […]
At the top of a lunch-time retail roundup: Downtown’s Bearno’s Pizza has closed and will be replaced by Flagstar Bank. A sign on the door says to look for Bearno’s elsewhere in…
Two former WellPoint Inc. executives have joined Indianapolis-based Medical Animatics LLC as chairwoman and vice chairwoman of the health care education company’s board after becoming angel investors in May. Jane Niederberger, Medical Animatics’ chairwoman, had been vice president and general manager of operations for WellPoint’s central region. Barbara Kew had been vice president of information […]
Nestle Waters North American Inc. plans to build a $32 million water bottling plant in Greenwood, reports the Daily Journal of Johnson County. The 294,388-square-foot plant would employ 64 workers who would make an average annual salary of $33,000. Nestle Waters is a unit of the Swiss tea, coffee and chocolate company that is building […]
Middlebury-based Pilgrim International Inc., which was acquired by private equity firm Monomoy Capital Partners LP in July, will not be merged with Washington-based Western Recreational Vehicles Inc., which also is owned by Monomoy Capital. The private equity firm had said it would merge the two travel recreational vehicle companies. No reason was given for changing […]
The Indiana Department of Transportation tentatively has chosen an engineering design firm out of San Francisco to conduct a feasibility study of developing a commuter rail system that would connect Muncie to Bloomington. Stops along with way would include Anderson, Noblesville, Fishers and Indianapolis. A report by CRS Corp. could be out in about a […]
Hopes for a quick decision on who will redevelop the Market Square Arena site are quickly fading. City officials had promised a decision by July at the latest, but the political climate…
David Marsh’s legal battle with Marsh Supermarkets Inc. was so contentious that it seemed the parties never would make peace. But that’s what just happened, and both sides are keeping the terms of their deal under wraps. Court records show David Marsh and the company his grandfather founded reached a settlement in late August, after weeks of discussions. To be sure, David Marsh-the former president of Marsh Supermarkets who now serves as president of the locally based Crystal Flash convenience-store…
Would you sell a piece of history? Let’s just say, for the purposes of this discussion, that you were in possession of a piece of history with a generally healthy market value-an 1884 Carson City $20 gold coin, for example. written notes from the Gettysburg Address. Or, say, the baseball that Barry Bonds hit to break Hank Aaron’s homerun record. Would you sell it? I wondered about this recently when I read that Matt Murphy, the fan who caught the…
Buildings, just like people, have lives. They’re born, they do their jobs, they take on new roles and, after about 75 years, most of them reach the end. Sadly, some beautiful ones die too soon, while a few ugly ones live too long. How should we decide when to save a building or when to tear it down? And have the reasons changed? The terms of renovation are well-known (adaptive re-use, mixed-use development and historic preservation). When our actions meet…
Two of the city’s largest and most visible construction projects so far have committed roughly $300 million in contracts to minority and women business owners-a healthy sum that has the owners meeting most of their obligations. The $1.1 billion midfield terminal at the Indianapolis International Airport and the $700 million Lucas Oil Stadium are on pace to be finished the second half of 2008. All told, that’s roughly $1.8 billion in construction contracts that ultimately will be awarded. With 80…
Citizens Gas & Coke Utility shuttered its coke manufacturing plant earlier this summer, much to the relief of neighbors and
health officials who warned that its benzene emissions were a cancer threat. But regulatory filings show closing the plant
at Keystone Avenue and Prospect Street could result in more pollution downtown.
Todd Jameson knows how to get Hoosiers off the sofa. Up until two years ago, he was producer of the Indiana Flower and Patio Show and the Christmas Gift and Hobby Show-two of the most popular annual events in Indianapolis. But a dollar to a cholesterol-laden doughnut says his next gig will be his most difficult: getting some of the nation’s heaviest, most cigarette-addicted people off the couch and to the firstever Natural Living Expo, next January. Jameson figures the…
Heroes are for sporting events and battlefields, not investing. With some of the damage repaired from the early August rout, it is a good time to raise a little cash and wait a few weeks. There certainly will be no shortage of things to watch while you wait. It is easy to make either the bull or bear case right now. The technical damage suffered by the market leading up to the July high was more short-term in nature, not…
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…
Electro-Spec Aerospace niche helped business’ revenue skyrocket Decades later, Franklin electroplating firm working to diversify its customer base It all started with spoons. These days, Franklin-based Electro-Spec is a $5 million a year electroplating company that produces components for the automotive, telecommunications and medicaldevice industries. That’s quite a change from its origins in 1959, when the company focused on spiffing up antique silverware. “It did silver and gold plating of family heirlooms,” said President Jeff Smith, who bought the company…
The Labor Day holiday, coming as it does on the first weekend in September, was conceived to recognize the American worker, but also to contrast to the May Day holiday so popular in socialist circles. As Labor Day passes, most of us don’t mentally make the connection between the U.S. labor movement and the traditional end of summer. We’re far more worried about the college football schedule and lamenting the seemingly too-early start of school for our kids (as a…
At last, we have a commission working to see if we can improve government in Indiana through reorganization. Former Gov. Joe Kernan and Supreme Court Justice Randy Shepard are leading the effort. Some of us are concerned that the commission has been established to find ways not to improve government services, but to cut local property taxes. The two goals might not work in the same direction. Public libraries are often cited as ripe for consolidation. There are 238 of…
About halfway through “Party of One,” an IndyFringe performance by a clown called Captain Melisande, things started to get uncomfortable. Melisande (real name Noel Williams) had already established herself as a loser in love, ready to get out of town and escape her past. Saddled with uncooperative baggage and a desire to keep gabbing even when she had nothing to say, she was the picture of every needy, confused person you ever wanted to help-but stayed away from for fear…
With the Nov. 6 mayoral election looming, Mayor Bart Peterson seems content to wait for a third term to choose who will redevelop
the Market Square Arena site. He’s willing to put off the opportunity to wipe past failures clean in large part because the
political climate has changed.
