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BEHIND THE NEWS: 29-year-old investor stirring the pot at Steak n Shake

A Texas hedge fund manager young enough to be the grandson of several Steak n Shake Co. board members might cause the board a lot of headaches in the months to come. Twenty-nine-year-old Sardar Biglari, who runs the San Antonio-based Lion Fund, is leading a group that recently amassed a 5.8-percent stake in the struggling Indianapolis restaurant company. Biglari isn’t the passive investor type-just ask the folks at Applebee’s, Friendly Ice Cream Corp. and Western Sizzlin Corp., three other chains…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Indiana needs to develop more technology workers

Far from its older perception of a backoffice function, information technology today is cutting edge and business savvy, driving innovation in virtually every industrial sector. As an industry, IT in Indiana has seen significant growth in the past few years. In fact, the state’s tech nology sector has grown so quickly that the industry faces a new challenge-employers are experiencing explosive growth and cannot find enough qualified individuals to fill these new positions. As documented by the Indiana Department of…

Charity alliances in United Way’s shadow seek their share

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.

INVESTING Tumult in credit markets can create opportunities:

The upheaval in the credit markets has cast doubt on whether the long list of the acquisitions announced months ago will be completed. Some of these deals will blow up, but there also is opportunity for investors who are able to weigh the probabilities a deal will be completed. The spread between the current market price and takeover price on many of the deals in the works offers potential arbitrage profits. An example of a deal that has a low…

FAMILY BUSINESS: Circumstances dictate different stock for different children

Most owners of a family business have one class of common, voting stock. One challenge faced by these owners is how to divide the stock among their children, who may have very different personal circumstances. It may not make sense to give each child the same stock. Suppose, for example, that you have three children: Your daughter is active in the business and is married with two young children. Unfortunately, her marriage is troubled and a divorce is not out…

EYE ON THE PIE: Should fees replace property taxes?

So you want to be a boxer in Indiana? There’s a $10 fee to be paid every other year for the privilege. That’s a lot lower than the twoyear fee of $100 paid by architects. A driver’s license is good for five years and costs just $19.50. Whereas your aircraft bears a $10 annual registration fee, your passenger car has a $20.75 annual state fee. If you want to support a special cause, the Bureau of Motor Vehicles charges a…

A&E: The ‘Hunch’ is back This week, a dancing bellringer and a musical madam

It’s unlikely that anyone attended Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (which ran Aug. 17-18 at the Pike Performing Arts Center) with any goal in mind except to see choreographed dancers in graceful, compelling action. Yet other factors come into play beyond the foot- and body-work, and those factors, for good or ill, can enhance or undermine the dancers’ work. Take lighting design. In this case, the masterful work of lighting designer Ryan Koharchik turned a minimal…

Big Ten battles for TV sports bonanza

The new Big Ten Network and some of the nation’s largest cable television systems are fighting over how consumers will be charged for the network’s programming. Hundreds of sporting events could be blacked out in local markets, including scores of Indiana and Purdue university football and basketball games, if the two sides don’t reach an agreement.

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: How Indiana’s industrial economy looks to a newcomer

This week marks the start of my tenure as director of Ball State University’s Bureau of Business Research. I take over from Pat Barkey, whose thoughts on the state’s economy have long graced this column. His will be hard shoes to fill. I have read over many of Pat’s old columns, and the one thing that stands out is how much we agree on the issues facing the state-and their solutions. Contrary to the old stereotypes, hard-headed economists usually come…

LESSONS LEARNED ALBERT RENE TREVINO Owner, Rene’s Bakery:

LESSONS LEARNED ALBERT RENE TREVINO Owner, Rene’s Bakery As most entrepreneurs can attest, the process of running a small business includes facing plenty of challenges. But viewing those potential obstacles as opportunities has helped Albert Rene Trevino build Rene’s Bakery Inc. into a growing enterprise with a solid reputation. One of his biggest trials was getting the doors to his Broad Ripple shop open. Trevino had just parted ways with a former employer in 2004 when he stopped by the…

Aiming to save, Children’s Museum goes it alone: In-house construction crew builds exhibits from scratch

A sign on the basement wall reads “Construction Zone.” Nearby on the router table, window frames are taking shape along with decorative pieces that will adorn the façade of a World War IIera brownstone. Behind a red plywood wall a few floors up, hammers knock and saws shrill as workers erect a 13,500-square-foot homage to three children who changed the world. It’s just another day at the office for the production crew at The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. For months,…

New high school puts focus on workplace: Cristo Rey gives students taste of real employment

Terry Majors wants to make a name for himself in the business community, and he’s confident he’s well on his way to being successful. Making eye contact, he shakes hands firmly and confidently. He’s dressed neatly and professionally in a white, buttondown shirt and tie. His shoes are well-polished. He speaks in a friendly, yet authoritative, voice about a new job he will soon start. “It’s all about choices,” he says philosophically of life, as if he’s been making choices…

First Indiana Bank’s sale timing paid off

First Indiana Corp.’s announcement that it would be sold to Milwaukee-based Marshall & Ilsley Corp. for $529 million in cash
came just 17 days after sale discussions began. Banking observers have speculated for weeks that First Indiana acted fast
to cut a deal before it would have to report second-quarter results.

MICKEY MAURER Commentary: Time unveils perspective on friendship

Many customs in the Jewish religion have been practiced since before the recorded word. Some, like the rite of “unveiling,” are borrowed from American culture and date back only a century or two. An unveiling is a graveside ceremony marking the end of the formal grieving period. It is observed by the bereaved, who meet no sooner than the first anniversary of the loved one’s death to symbolically set the headstone. The headstone is covered with a cloth, which is…

United Way seeks corporate help to promote reading: Fourth-grade program tries to attract 500 volunteers

Wanted: Corporate types willing to give an hour of time a week to a cause that is as critical as any business decision ever made. Must be willing to work with children. If interested, contact the United Way of Central Indiana. Intrigued? Then you might be a candidate for the ReadUP program, which aims to help fourth-graders within the Indianapolis Public Schools system become better readers. The ultimate goal is to produce more high school graduates for a district in…

Pan Am development deal dies

Fallout from the subprime mortgage fiasco has scuttled a developer’s plans to acquire Pan Am Plaza and could complicate a
host of other development deals under way in Indianapolis.

SPORTS: Killing animals for sport isn’t right-or uncommon

On an August afternoon in 1992, while covering the Olympic Games in Barcelona for the local daily, several of us decided we needed to experience a slice of authentic Spanish culture. So we journeyed to a bullfight. I could offer a lengthy narrative, but I’ll provide the abridged version. The bulls are lanced several times by men on horseback. The subsequent loss of blood weakens the animals … slowly and agonizingly. Then the matador arrives with a sword and completes…

VIEWPOINT: How do we round up 11 million people?

Sometimes, important social and political issues can be seen most clearly beyond Interstate 465. Take the problem of illegal aliens, for instance. The latest statistics indicate 11 million to 12 million people, mostly from Latin America, are living in this country illegally. The practical reality is there’s no way to “round up” 11 million people and ship them back to their countries of origin. How do we go about it? About 11 million people live in Ohio. How realistic would…

New ventures expanding school sports coverage: Players large and small converge on growing niche

High school sports coverage, once found only in the back pages of local newspapers’ sports sections, is now spawning new Internet and print businesses. The players involved range from large public companies and professional sports franchises to small entrepreneurs. The effort to score with high school sports coverage appears to be driven by a growing number of advertisers interested in the diverse audience attracted to scholastic events. In recent months, High School Sports The Magazine debuted in central Indiana, Emmis…

Small biz tax bills rising, too: Extra expense narrows margins

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…