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The town of Burns Harbor is springing back after Bethlehem Steel filed bankruptcy in 2002 and gutted 85 percent of the town’s net assessed tax valuation. The good reputation of its Duneland schools, quick access to several major highways and low tax rate of 17 cents per $100 assessed valuation has prompted a miniature boom […]
On a cold and rainy day and wearing only a thin jacket, Maria walked eight miles to get help. She was pregnant and seeking prenatal care. Her husband had deserted her. The pervasiveness of unemployed and working-poor families presents a growing challenge. Most are underinsured or have no health insurance at all. That means our charity-care system is stretched to the maximum. One north-side center that provides care for the uninsured and underinsured has seen a 15-percent increase in patients…
A cash-flow squeeze and a shortage of baby deliveries caused Monroe Hospital to stumble after its October launch. But the leader of Indiana’s newest general service hospital envisions a full recovery. The $39 million, doctor-owned hospital in Bloomington recently dropped childbirth services due to lack of deliveries, CEO Dean Melton said. Monroe also struggled with tight finances as it waited more than two months for the first revenue to trickle in. Meanwhile, a founding physician who has the hospital’s road…
The gyms are full, Slim-Fast is flying off the shelves, and the closets are scheduled for cleaning. Human beings regularly view the turn of the calendar as an opportunity to take stock of their affairs, and to vow to change things that need adjustment. So, add to your agenda a review of your investment program. This annual checkup will include an assessment of the performance of your portfolio for 2006. But it is wise to reserve your harshest judgments for…
I’ve seen the picture of the proposed ginormous art installation for downtown, and I think I speak for many of us when I say … Well, come to think of it, I better not say that, seeing as how many of us do not use that kind of language. In case you missed it, here’s the deal: There’s a movement afoot to erect a large, circular, steel, Dairy Queen curlicue over at 11th and West streets-a $10 million large, circular,…
Just because House Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, finessed the new legislative session’s first area of potential legislative c o n t r ove r s y – t h e opening prayer-without any fuss (and even with some compliments from both sides) doesn’t mean you should expect the next 14-odd weeks to slide by as a big legislative lovefest. However, you should consider his action in the broader context we outlined last week: where House Democrats can find bottom-line…
One of the nation’s most prominent aviation schools is giving Indianapolis another chance. After withstanding a plunge in enrollment, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is adding five degree programs at its center here, with most of them aimed at careers outside the turbulent commercial aviation sector. It also plans to expand beyond its local student base of mostly working adults to court recent high school grads. Though in Indianapolis for 13 years, Embry-Riddle has had all the profile here of a stealth…
Local officials for Georgiabased Cumulus Media Inc. have taken another risky leap, launching central Indiana’s first commercial
news-talk format on the FM dial.
The Indiana Department of Transportation may yet allow a partial opening of one or two Interstate 70 interchanges on the east side during a 10-month reconstruction of the main artery between downtown and Interstate 465. City-County Councilor Mary Moriarty Adams said she’s been talking with INDOT officials and with Mayor Bart Peterson in recent days about the potential harm to businesses of having all the interchanges closed. “We’re hopeful that we can have some exit and/or on ramps open at…
In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been interviewed by reporters from both the Kansas City Star and the Baltimore Sun. Both were pursuing the same angle: Indianapolis as a pro football town vis a vis Kansas City and Baltimore, and support for the notion that our citizenry in general and Colts fans in particular are “just too darn nice.” My response to both was, well, yes, our folks and fans are nice, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing…
Ivy Tech Community College this month launched a pilot program that allows high school dropouts to earn their diplomas while simultaneously working toward a certificate or associate’s degree in college. Intended to improve the state’s labor pool, and as a lifeline to dropouts facing a dismal life in the earnings underclass, it will first be rolled out in Bloomington, Lafayette and Terre Haute. The Indianapolis campus also will offer the program aimed at those 19 or older, although a date…
The Columbia Club, the tradition-rich enclave where the city’s business elite have gathered and cut deals for more than a
century, is facing declining membership, the departure of its longtime general manager, and looming financial challenges–including
a $5.5 million loan that comes due this summer.
With some hesitation, I take you inside the men’s rest room at the Statehouse. There, I found a new member of the General Assembly combing his hair over his otherwise empty scalp and asking, “Mirror, mirror on the wall, which is the fairest tax of all?” The mirror responded, “The sales tax is the fairest of them all.” Startled, both the legislator and I looked around, only to hear another mirror say, “No, the income tax is fairest of them…
We are a nation of more than 300 million people, over half of whom are in the civilian work force, with almost 146 million having jobs. So why do we get so excited, or disappointed, when the government scorekeepers report each month about job gains of a mere couple of hundred thousand? Of course, when I say “we,” I mean the tiny group of economists, policymakers and financial analysts who keep track of such things. Most businesspeople, let alone folks…
DOING GOOD PATTY JONES Different kind of donation Patty Jones’ free time isn’t all that free. Last year, she took on more than 100 assignments as a member of Indianapolis Ambassadors. And that’s just for starters. She also volunteered for dozens of activities at Greenwood Christian Church, was treasurer of her neighborhood association and served on the board of Joy’s House, a provider of adult day services. “We all have talents and mine help organizations,” said Jones, 45, owner of…
Indiana’s thinly funded Insurance Department is pushing to raise nearly $1 million by hiking fees it charges insurers for the first time since 1994. The department also plans to shrink agent licenses from four years to two, in order to raise money and bolster continuing-education requirements. Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt hopes to win legislative approval this session for the measures, which would add $960,000 to the department’s $5.8 million operating budget and allow it to boost its work force from…
A museum in the
works for downtown would feature one of the world’s largest collections of super hero memorabilia, including a Batmobile and
costumes worn by every actor who has played Superman on TV or in the movies.
State officials are advancing plans to privatize a state-run hospital for the mentally ill and now are looking for a not-for-profit
to build and manage a new facility in Indianapolis.
I’m back. My last regular column appeared in the Indianapolis Business Journal on Jan. 3, 2005. In that column, I announced that I had accepted a twoyear hitch with the Daniels administration as president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and that columns would be suspended during my tenure with the state. The editors at IBJ felt that writing a column would pose a conflict of interest with my new responsibilities, and I agreed. It was a good thing; I…
Congress and the IRS have taken a number of significant steps recently to increase their scrutiny of colleges, universities and related organizations. What’s the next step? The IRS has already tipped its hand and indicated that it intends to design and initiate unrelated business income tax-or UBIT-inquiries directed toward colleges during 2007 and 2008. This upcoming year will likely usher in a new tax climate focused upon enforcement initiatives and public transparency. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 included several…
