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Showing WAL MART some love: New statewide group supports oft-criticized retailer

Several Hoosiers are at the forefront of a fledgling effort to deflect a growing barrage of criticism lobbed at retail giant Wal-Mart Stores by organized labor and worker’s rights advocates. The Indiana chapter of the Working Families for Wal-Mart formed earlier this month and includes in its membership local elected officials such as City-County Councilor Ron Gibson and State Rep. Vanessa Summers, D-Indianapolis. The national not-for-profit, which launched a year ago, is backed by the Arkansas-based retailer and also boasts…

Doors still closed on Hamilton County bus service: Local officials continue to nail down preferred routes

Bus service to Hamilton County won’t begin this year, as some commuters and planners had hoped. But the 10-month reconstruction of Interstate 70 across Indianapolis’ east side, starting in February, could push the accelerator to get service started. “I’d certainly hope so ….The work on I-70 is probably going to make the commuters’ ride a little tougher,” said Gary A. Huff, town manager of Fishers. It was another interstate project, the 2003 Hyperfix of the interstates 65/70 split downtown that…

VIEWPOINT: Diversity has unexpected benefits

As a leader of your company, are you taking advantage of the benefits of diversity? Is your organization’s culture resistant to change? Are you considering the business advantages of diversity? Can a firm without a variety of internal perspectives and ex perience meet 21st-century challenges? In our industry, professionals come in all colors, shapes and sizes and from just about every culture in the world. We see a host of opportunities as a result of the incredible diversity in qualified…

Fast-growing Indy bank nearing $1B in assets: National Bank of Indianapolis credits service for climb

When cousins Michael and Morris Maurer decided to start a bank from scratch in 1993, they had several major issues to work through. There were regulatory approvals to win and federal deposit coverage to secure. They needed investors, bankers, office space and technology. But even the seemingly small details required time-consuming care. For one: selecting a name. It had to evoke a feeling of local control and continuity. It had to call to mind the company’s strategy of long-term relationships…

INVESTING: Election outcome a big setback for nation on upswing

A recent election ended in disaster. Voters revived a party that has no business coming back into power. I only hope the electorate wakes up soon and gets the situation back on track. No, I am not talking about the congressional elections in the United States. I’m talking about the presidential election in Nicaragua, where Daniel Ortega, leader of the Sandinista Party, was re-elected president after a 15-year hiatus. Real estate values plunged 10 percent instantly, and large corporations began…

NOTIONS: Let’s clear the air at state schools

Long ago, I did some work for Special Olympics. In the process, I learned a semantic preference of the organization: One never says “mentally retarded people.” One says “people with mental retardation.” The rationale: These athletes are people first, not a condition. Long ago, I also did AIDS education and prevention work. In the process, I learned a semantic preference of health organizations and their clients: One never says “AIDS victims.” One says “people with AIDS.” The rationale: Those with…

Holiday outlook bright for retail: Online sales, gift cards expected to bring cheer

Retailers are optimistic they won’t find a piece of coal in their stockings this winter. Veteran jeweler Greg Bires has labored in retail long enough to recognize when a robust holiday shopping season is starting to take shape. Fortunately for the owner of the downtown Windsor Jewelers, this should be another strong year, experts predict. “So far, things have been pretty positive,” Bires said. “It’s been a long time, but I’ve seen years when you knew things were going to…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: China’s economic engine may be starting to sputter

It seemed like a reasonable forecast at the time. After an extraordinarily violent and deadly hurricane season in 2005, predictions of a second straight severe summer in 2006 made big headlines. But 2006 has turned out to be a year where not a single hurricane-rated storm has made U.S. landfall, one of only 21 years on record here that has been hurricane-free. It’s hardly the first time forecasters have eaten humble pie. And the experience serves to remind us that…

LEGAL: Embracing truth can make business decisions easy

Despite what we would like to believe, most people struggle to live in the truth. It’s hard and can be intensely painful. At times, the truth confronts us with issues we would rather ignore-the employee who isn’t working hard enough, for example, or the suppli er whose products have gone downhill. So to flee this harsh reality, we avoid the truth with other people. Tragically, we also avoid the truth with ourselves, at times to the point where we no…

Insurance adjuster building offices near 96th Street:

Indianapolis-based National Catastrophe Adjusters will move next spring to a new, more permanent home in Fishers. The company broke ground this month on the two-story, 13,000-square-foot office at the corner of Windermere Boulevard and Olympia Drive off of 96th Street. NCA hopes to move in by the end of April. Its office is now at the intersection of 75th Street and Shadeland Avenue. NCA decided to build because it wanted a permanent home, said Ken Averitt, chief operations officer. The…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Daniel’s toll-road plan futuristic, not dated

Is building roads innovative? Some reactions voiced in the wake of the Gov. Mitch Daniels’ proposal to build a 75-mile beltway around the east and southern quadrants of central Indiana say no. Outer belts, it is said, are a mistaken product of 1960sera thinking, robbing growth from central cities and helping create the faceless suburban landscape that surrounds so many major cities today. Innovative thinking on transportation, one might say, would embrace new technology and get us away from the…

BioCrossroads aims to aid life sciences service sector: Group hopes to identify or raise at least $25 million

BioCrossroads, the life sciences initiative responsible for raising the $73 million Indiana Future Fund and the $6 million Indiana Seed Fund, is in early discussions on a new capital-formation effort. The focus this time around: biotech services businesses. “This is very much a work in progress,” said BioCrossroads CEO David Johnson. “But we believe and acknowledge this is an area that needs our attention and our active involvement.” Next year, Johnson hopes to focus at least $25 million to $30…

Critics question trustee’s property portfolio given mission to help needy

Center Township has real estate holdings worth more than $10 million, according to IBJ research. The township’s robust real estate portfolio—highly unusual for an Indiana township—fits Trustee Carl L. Drummer's vision for his taxpayer-supported office. But it makes others see red.

Bypass too tentative to affect land values, experts say: Property near toll-road exits may be coveted eventually, but uncertain route should keep speculators at bay for now

When Gov. Mitch Daniels unveiled his ambitious but vague plan for an outer loop around more than half of Indianapolis, some landowners in the potential path panicked while others dreamt of a windfall. But local experts say, until a route is more defined, neither worry nor anticipation is warranted. “There are so many outstanding issues,” said Abbe Hohmann, a land-price expert for the local office of St. Louisbased Colliers Turley Martin Tucker. Hohmann said two types of buyers usually drive…

NOTIONS: Drinking not from the cup of bitterness and hatred

In August, a group of ministers, whose common bond is their race, their faith, their concern for this city and their desire to help, wrote an open letter to our mayor. It was published in The Indianapolis Star. In their letter, the ministers decried the rise of violent crimes in our community. They commended the mayor for his “rapid response.” And they asked him to raise a lot of money to advance crime prevention through improved social programs. The letter…

VIEWPOINT: Does Indiana have a ‘vision thing’?

Nothing hurts a plan more than a lack of vision. The primary aim of the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s plan-Accelerating Growth, Indiana’s Strategic Economic Development Plan-announced in April, is to boost personal income per capita to the national average by 2020. An effort to achieve an average standard in 14 years seems to be an unusually low aspiration. The historical record makes this target appear more challenging. Indiana has ranked 30th to 34th in the nation in percapita personal income…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Fashion Mall has the pull tolure most-prized anchors

Wo n d e r i n g who’ll fill the available anchor slot at The Fashion Mall at Keystone? Think pricey and plush. The north-side mall is among the 100 top-performing malls in the United States, according to the investment firm Friedman Billings Ramsey. It already has many of the nation’s top upscale retailers-from Saks Fifth Avenue and Crate & Barrel to Tiffany and Restoration Hardware. That says a lot. As Friedman Billings observes in a report, “The best…

Clarian to put prices on its Web site

Clarian Health Partners will start posting prices for care on its Web site early next year, a move aimed at advancing the national movement toward greater transparency in health care costs.

Philanthropic fund-raisers target over-funded IRAs: Federal law change allows tax-free charitable gifts from senior citizens’ accounts in 2006 and 2007 only

About 1,300 senior citizens recently received correspondence from the Indiana University School of Medicine. The letters detailed changes in federal law allowing them to make tax-free charitable gifts from their individual retirement accounts in 2006 and 2007 only. Thanks to IU’s October mail campaign to alumni, former faculty and staff, the School of Medicine already has attracted seven six-figure contributions. And it’s received inquiries from many more potential donors. Some want to establish scholarships for students. Others want to underwrite…