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NOTIONS: How to beat the high price of dependence on petrol

Went to the gas station last week. Filled ‘er up. It’d been a few weeks since I’d done that. Seemed like the price had jumped pretty dramatically. The pump clicked off. The total read $48.75. Egad. Next day, Indianapolis declared a “Knozone Air Quality Action Day.” Some fellow at the Department of Public Works told the local paper there was “literally dirt in the air.” The paper described this gunk as “floating particles the diameter of a human hair,” particles…

Super rebuff builds pressure to attract even more events

With the 2011 Super Bowl galloping off to Dallas, pressure is building to bring in more of the marquee sports events the city’s
economy has come to rely on to keep hotels full, retail businesses humming and the national and international spotlight focused
on Indianapolis.

Dramatic tax hikes predicted for homeowners

A former head of the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance says some Marion County homeowners soon could see property-tax
increases of as much as 50 percent–far higher than government officials estimated. In part, that’s because of Indiana’s decision
five years ago to abolish the inventory tax.

Autism’s rise challenges local agencies: Those with disorder face difficulties in locating meaningful employment

Experts haven’t pinpointed the exact reason, but they do know one thing-the rate at which children are being diagnosed with autism has been rising. About one child in 150 is diagnosed by the age of 8 with autism or a related autism spectrum disorder such as Asperger’s syndrome, according to a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That rate is up about 10 times from the 1980s. Experts have a variety of theories to explain the…

South-side company bets big on Bargersville: Welbourne Cos. plans major project near Clarian site

The recent purchase by Clarian Health Partners of 158 acres at the southwest corner of State Road 135 and Whiteland Road lends instant credibility to a Greenwood company’s plan to develop the most ambitious commercial project to date in Bargersville. Welbourne Cos., which sold the land to Clarian, still controls about 260 acres of farmland surrounding the intersection. The company plans to build a mixed-use development on the property. Initial phases call for 46,000 square feet of retail space, 42,000…

BULLS & BEARS: Shift to restricted stock not always good news

In recent decades, companies accelerated their use of stockbased awards as a compensation method. The key argument for these compensation plans was that they align managerial interests with stockholder interests. The modern stockoption plan originated at the young technology firms-which, short on cash, instead issued equity to compensate and motivate employees. As the riches began to flow, option programs escalated at larger firms that weren’t cash poor but proclaimed the alignment-of-interests theme. The option largesse was encouraged by accounting fantasy,…

INVESTING: REITs lose sheen as other sectors of market shine

If you avoided getting hit by the falling brick that has been the residential homebuilding sector, you may want to get ready to do another sidestep. It looks as if weakness in homebuilders is spreading to real estate investment trusts, and it is early enough to take defensive action. Before getting into it, let me say that I believe the overall stock market has plenty of upside, despite the recent heady gains. My reason for avoiding REITs now is that…

EYE ON THE PIE: Commuting boosts earnings for Hoosiers

I was delighted to receive a new disc from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis containing the latest annual data on economic conditions in every county in the nation. Now I have a more detailed picture of how our state functions and is changing. For example, the daily flows of commuters between counties within and outside Indiana are essential to our economic health. By commuting, Hoosier workers find better jobs and firms get the best workers. Commuting is easier when…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Taking the ultimate step in K-12 accountability

Everyone in business today knows that customers have choices, and that making and keeping customers happy with your product has always been a big part of the game. These days dissatisfied customers have many more options than simply walking away-they can go online and blast your product in cyberspace, attacking the image and reputation you may have spent a lifetime trying to build. That’s the daunting prospect American businesses face every day. Yet as difficult as that sounds, here’s one…

Court tells telecom giants to pay payphone operators

The state’s 30-or-so independent payphone operators–a conveyance nearly made extinct by wireless phones–may begin receiving
refunds next month from AT&T Indiana and Verizon for excess charges the phone companies billed independent payphone operators
for dial tones from 1997 to 2004.

A&E: Oz, Aussies and the oversized

Henry Arthur Jones’ more-than-100-year-old quote referred to dramatists, not critics. But his words seem a good guide for this column, where I’ll be coaxing excellence by watching everything I possibly can, attempting to lure you to the stuff that excels and serving as your guide to the sometimes confusing array of possibilities Indy offers. And I plan on having a good time doing it. I hope you’ll have as good a time reading. Sparks flew 40 years ago when Sidney…

Jazz Fest ditches Ticketmaster

Two weeks before the annual Jazz Fest begins, donations and corporate sponsorships are running about $150,000 short of the $1.3 million budget. So organizers are aiming to boost ticket sales by eliminating the $8.50 Ticketmaster fee.

Agriculture goes urban: New academy plans to show city students that there’s more to horticulture than farming

Indiana’s stature as one of the nation’s top producers of corn and soybeans is as enduring as the fertile farmland in which the crops are grown. But a new initiative plans to introduce urban high school students in Indianapolis to a bushel of opportunities within the agriculture industry that extends well beyond farming. The Hoosier Agribusiness and Science Academy is a partnership between state government and Ivy Tech Community College in which students from the Lawrence Early College High School…

Commentary: Do we want ex-cons to strike again?

I want you to meet my friend Shawn Hendricks. We are different-like Stevie Wonder says, “Ebony and Ivory.” But it’s more than that. Our life experiences and challenges have been extraordinarily disparate. Our story begins with a remarkable man, Tom Binford, whom I was privileged to know well and whom I admired not only for his business acumen but also for his strong sense of community. I called him Mr. Indianapolis. He called me boss. For seven years, he wrote…

Service drives education software maker: Angel Learning quickly weathers PR setback

When The Indianapolis Star reported on its front page in mid-May that Indianapolis Public Schools had accidentally exposed thousands of private student records online, it was a potentially enormous public relations setback for locally based education software maker Angel Learning. Angel Learning had provided the software, and CEO Christopher Clapp said he immediately asked staffers to send explanation emails to all 300 of his customers. They then followed up with phone calls. He wanted to assuage clients’ worries right away….

AFTER HOURS: LAURA WILSON: Being prepared is more than a Scouting slogan

AFTER HOURS LAURA WILSON Being prepared is more than a Scouting slogan Longtime Boy Scouts volunteer Laura Wilson learned firsthand the importance of the scouts’ motto-“Be prepared.” A vice president of com munications at the Indiana Bankers Association, Wilson accompanied her two sons on a camping trip last year to New Salem, Ill., where the scouts went on a nearly 20-mile hike on the Lincoln Pilgrimage trail from New Salem to Springfield. Later that night, she learned the hard way…

ITT’s youthful CEO has large shoes to fill

Kevin Modany, CEO of ITT Educational Services Inc., carries an iPod and downloads drum solo videos from YouTube. But when
Modany, a young-looking 40-year-old, talks about ITT’s 35-percent increase in first-quarter profit, he comes across as savvy
and confident of his ability to take the post-secondary education provider to even greater heights.

Tiptoe through the toxins becomes walk in the park: $600,000 in federal, state grants fund initiative to turn former industrial sites into recreation areas

Take a deep breath of that air, wafting with the fragrance of methylnaphthalene. And those violets-must be the lead and arsenic in the soil that give them such a lovely glow. Nothing quite refreshes like a stroll through a hazardous waste site. Or, in the eyes of state planners, make that a former hazardous waste site. The Indiana Brownfields Program will create the Indiana Brownfields Trails & Park Initiative. It will assess abandoned industrial and commercial properties with real or…

Commentary: Super Bowl pales compared to other woes

I had originally planned to write this month’s column about the “Titanic-Hindenbergesque” disaster that was last month’s primary election in Marion County. I had the best lines all set about the incompetence of the County Clerk’s office, the disenfranchisement of more than 3,000 voters, or the hypocrisy of the Amercian Civil Liberties Union, the Indiana Legislative Black Caucus and other groups that oppose Voter ID and don’t speak out about the voters who were not able to cast their ballots….

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Employers should prepare for strict Indiana wage law

It could happen to any business owner. A new employee is hired and promised two weeks of vacation per year. The employee doesn’t use the vacation time. Months later, she is fired for theft. Soon after, the company is presented with a bill for $6,000, the value of two weeks of the employee’s unpaid vacation time, plus two times that amount in liquidated damages-in addition to the claimant’s attorneys’ fees. This scenario may represent a good outcome for the former…