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Standard Management continues perilous skid: Company reports more losses; stock value sinks

Standard Management Corp. stock peaked five days into 2006 at $1.55. It’s spent the rest of the year in a free fall that observers believe will culminate with the company’s filing for bankruptcy. The Carmel-based pharmaceuticals distributor reported a $10 million loss in the third quarter, bringing losses for the first nine months of 2006 to $14 million. The red ink, along with executive turnover and a string of failed acquisitions, has sapped investor confidence. The company’s shares, which traded…

NOTIONS: Looking in the mirror for Santa and Mrs. Claus

Bruce Hetrick has the week off. Before he left, he updated this column that was first published Dec. 20, 2004. Contrary to folklore perpetuated each December, Santa and Mrs. Claus don’t live at the North Pole. Their heads aren’t crowned with thick, white locks. Their clothes aren’t predominantly crimson. And there’s no sleigh in the garage, nor reindeer in the stable (in fact, there’s no stable at all.) The Clauses live, instead, on the north side of Indianapolis. As occasional…

BEHIND THE NEWS: For Conseco, tough loan tactics yielding big results

Conseco Inc.’s scorched-earth legal tactics have sometimes infuriated the defendants in the company’s path. But they sure seem to be working. As of Sept. 30, the company’s legal assault on the 11 biggest borrowers under its disastrous directors-and-officers loan program was expected to yield $54 million, after expenses-and that was before the Dec. 6 settlement with Stephen Hilbert, 60, the biggest borrower of all. Attorneys declined to tell how much Hilbert will pay, saying the deal is confidential. But you…

Hoosier Tire still racing: For nearly a half-century, Lakeville company has competed with the big boys

When the rubber meets the road, auto racing experts say there are few-if any-companies that outperform Lakeville-based Hoosier Racing Tire. Hoosier tires, industry sources said, are equal to their better-known brethren in racing-related sales and on-track performance. “This company has gone head-to-head with Goodyear on the biggest of all racing circuits,” said Dick Berggren, editor of Speedway Illustrated and a retired racer. “I can’t think of a business where the costs of entry are steeper or the level of technology…

Does gender matter in politics?: Despite high-profile wins, politics still remains a male-dominated field

1992 was dubbed the “Year of the Woman,” when four women were elected to the U.S. Senate, but 2006 may be seen as the beginning of a new women’s political movement, says Marie Wilson, president of The White House Project, a Washington, D.C.-based group that’s working to advance women in political office. Indiana has made some strides, but 85 years after women won the hard-fought right to vote, the number of women in elected office at the national level hasn’t…

Old National slaps Durham with suit

Indianapolis entrepreneur Tim Durham has run into trouble with one of his lenders. Evansville-based Old National Bank says
in a Dec. 1 lawsuit that Durham’s Indianapolis-based holding company,Obsidian Enterprises Inc., is in default on $2.6 million
in loans that came due Nov. 1.

Mixing religion, business leads to risks, rewards

Navigating the intersection between creed and commerce can betricky. Fearing lawsuits, many companies prefer to avoid it whenever
possible. But others unabashedly intertwine religion and business.

Hamilton County officials splash cold water on RiverPlace: Upstream trouble on White River could result from adding fill, overflow channel

A government panel is echoing the concerns of the Hoosier Environmental Council that Centre Properties’ proposed RiverPlace development along White River at 96th Street could worsen the effects of a flood. The Hamilton County Drainage Board doesn’t carry the weight of the U.S. Geological Survey, but its opinion could influence the giant, mixed-use project’s chances of winning a rezoning case. A letter the drainage board sent recently to the Fishers planning commission comes just before the Fishers Town Council considers…

Little Crow Foods happy to fly solo: Family-owned maker of CoCo Wheats cereal has avoided industry consolidation

The northern Indiana city of Warsaw is best known as home to three of the largest prosthetic makers in the world. But the smaller Little Crow Foods might be just as influential. Now in its fourth generation of family ownership, the company is responsible for bringing the American public the iconic CoCo Wheats cereal and a handful of other food products that followed. “When we have companies that have been as successful and around as long as Little Crow, I…

EYE ON THE PIE: Time for progressive Indiana income tax?

There is growing agreement that the rich are getting richer faster than the poor are improving their lives. If you believe the trickle-down theorists, the poor will get the runoff as wealth is showered upon the few. If you look about, however, you will question this charming opinion held by the comfortable. At the same time, policies at the national and state levels continue to emphasize cutting the most important means we have of correcting this growing imbalance in America….

INVESTING: Drug stocks are out of favor-so snap up the bargains

One of the biggest companies in the world just dropped a bomb. Investors got scared. I am going to tell you why Wall Street took the news the wrong way, and what it means to one of the most important industries to consumers. In the 1990s, Pfizer made a series of acquisitions that transformed the company into the second-largest drug firm in the world. Pfizer is worth about three times Eli Lilly’s market value. Until now, Pfizer employed more than…

Residents say safety is a growing concern: Survey: Fewer feel comfortable downtown after dark

Most central Indiana residents feel safe in downtown Indianapolis when the sun is out, but remain leery of the city at night, according to a study by the IUPUI Department of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management. The annual study, which is designed to gauge the impact of cultural tourism on quality of life, gives the city high marks overall in areas ranging from cultural attractions to cleanliness, public transportation to parking. But it also shows the city has more work…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Researching riddles from the labor market

When you work as a researcher at a large university, you’ve got plenty of company. I may not fully appreciate every nuance of the specialized research being done by the broad spectrum of professors and scientists I work with, but all of us share a common understanding of the research process, and what it takes to be successful. We slave over data sets, keep an ever-alert eye for funding and support, and try to get others excited about our findings….

H.H. Gregg betting big on flat screens

Locally based Gregg Appliances Inc. found itself flat-footed last holiday season when consumers demanded flat-panel TVs. The
popular televisions were in short supply at H.H. Gregg stores. This year, Gregg has bet on a huge selection of flat-panel
TVs to buoy sales.

Bar-restaurant is graduating to the big city: Scotty’s Brewhouse opens first Indianapolis location, branching out from its roots in Hoosier college towns

Scott Wise compares his Scotty’s Brewhouse expansion to a washed-up college band that finally hits it big after 10 years. If that’s the case, his fourth location-and first in Indianapolis-just might go platinum. Before it opened Oct. 30, Wise estimated the 96th Street restaurant would gross $3.5 million in its first year; it’s already on track to reach $5 million. Wise, 33, tapped the college-town markets of Muncie, Bloomington and West Lafayette before taking on Indianapolis. He hopes the name…

NOTIONS: Holidays have you anxious? Keep them in context

Just before a month of holidays focused on giving and gratitude, I got sucked into one of those proverbial working-world messes. You know the type: A Lemony Snicketish series of unfortunate events that can put good people at odds with other good people. As I got more and more drawn in, I tensed up, lost sleep, worked late into the night, began anew in the wee hours, and otherwise got distracted from deeds that needed doing, apologies that needed saying…

Starbucks pours it on in Indiana

Over the last seven years, Starbucks has inundated virtually every corner of the Hoosier landscape. And the company has no
plans to slow down. Several Indiana towns–from Gas City to Angola, Batesville to Bluffton–will get their first Starbucks
in 2007.

Pacers seek bigger share of NBA revenue

Indiana Pacers co-owner Herb Simon has thrown his support behind an effort to pressure National Basketball Association Commissioner
David Stern to implement more aggressive revenue sharing among NBA franchises.

TOM HARTON Commentary: Business in a hole climbs out

Everyone says owning a restaurant is hard work. But for Tracy Robertson, not owning one has been much harder. Robertson’s restaurant, the 745 Bar & Grill, hasn’t served a burger or a beer since the afternoon of Jan. 25, 2005. That’s when the 745 literally fell into a hole. A cook, a bartender and five patrons escaped just moments before the restaurant collapsed into the excavation pit for what is now the 757 Mass Ave condominium building. In an instant,…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Unique, low-profile bank shaking up the status quo

It’s a quiet giant, but not a sleeping one. The Federal Home Loan Bank of Indianapolis is the state’s fourthbiggest private company, with revenue last year of $1.8 billion. The $45-billionin-assets financial institution racked up 2005 profit of $153 million. Yet the board and executives of the 150-employee quasi-governmental enterprise aren’t wallowing in self-satisfaction. Seeing storm clouds on the horizon, they’re taking pre-emptive action to ensure the bank remains competitive and retains its formidable financial strength. “We’ve been cutting back,”…