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Bedroom community awakens to growth nightmare: McCordsville land use, design standards put to test

This town is grateful just to have had a dentist hang out a shingle along its main drag the other day. McCordsville even held a ribbon cutting for a gas station-that remodeled. It’s hard to figure the locals would be uptight about much in the way of development. But, recently, the folks at Mc-Cordsville’s veterinary-clinic-turnedtown-hall took a long look a couple of miles north, to Fishers-the poster-child for explosive residential development-and they winced. So McCordsville recently adopted a land use…

INVESTING: Confused by Guidant? Here’s the CliffsNotes version

I’ve developed whiplash trying to follow the Guidant story. This situation has it all: drama, suspense, confusion, even death. I am going to offer a quick rehash of what has happened, what it can mean locally and what, if any, profit opportunities remain. To get the entire story straight would take a new series called “CSI Indianapolis,” but here is a CliffsNotes version instead. Guidant was a division of Eli Lilly until 1995. Lilly spun Guidant off at around $5…

Bills push for health incentives: Measures dangle carrots to quit smoking, shape up

A couple of state senators want to tame rising health care costs by delivering extra motivation to help government workers get in shape and other employees quit smoking. Sen. Vi Simpson, DEllettsville, has introduced a bill that would knock $100 off the annual health insurance premiums of state employees who complete a yet-to-be-designed wellness program. Sen. Beverly Gard, RGreenfield, is pitching legislation making it easier for employers to dangle incentives to curb smoking. That could lead to cash rewards for…

Bike Line, Broad Ripple firm plan Mass Ave purchases: Two sales would be latest in owner-occupant trend

Two buildings on Massachusetts Avenue downtown are slated to change hands in coming weeks as two Broad Ripple businesses stake their claims on the resurging corridor. The first deal scheduled to close is the sale of 409 Massachusetts Ave., owned for the last 15 years by advertising firm Young & Laramore. Elizabeth Dillon, owner of RN Specialties, plans to move her growing 10-year-old company and its 21 employees into the 17,000-square-foot building after minor renovations to the ad agency’s former…

Walther looks to change funding approach: Cancer institute’s shift in emphasis to grants worries some researchers

Walther Cancer Institute is shifting the way it spends millions of dollars on research every year, a move that adds an element of anxiety to some research labs at the Indiana University School of Medicine. The Indianapolis not-for-profit spent its first 20 years helping to build the research infrastructure at Purdue University, Indiana University and the University of Notre Dame by spending millions to pay the investigators who work there. Now, its leaders say they want to focus the money…

SPORTS: Century-old NCAA ready to flaunt its new image

A centennial celebration only comes around, what, every hundred years or so? Given that, the NCAA hopes to do right by its 100th anniversary, and to maximize the opportunity it brings. “This is the catalyst,” says Dennis Cryder, the association’s senior vice president for branding and communications. “The foundation has been put in place. Now we want to use the centennial to put our student-athletes out front, and represent the best of the whole process of putting sports and academics…

INVESTING: Year off to a good start, but investors should be wary

There was talk in December that the market would fall apart in early January, just as it did last year. The catalyst this year would be the hedge funds that pumped the market up using margin and other derivatives in order to get an up year so they could get their bonuses. As usual, the market didn’t listen to the talk. Stocks came out of the gate strong and have been firing ever since. Because the first week was good,…

Biz-incentive plan may be beefed up: Legislators seek to strengthen EDGE program by doubling retention tax credit to $10 million

Indiana’s showcase business incentive program is about to go through another tweaking. At the request of the Indiana Economic Development Corp., legislators are considering changing the EDGE tax credit program to give it more teeth to retain existing jobs. Since 1994, Indiana has used the Economic Development for a Growing Economy, or EDGE credit, to spur private-sector job growth. The program allows budding companies to abate state payroll taxes for new employees. Over the last 12 years, Indiana has authorized…

VIEWPOINT: Foreign study deserves government support

The goal of “crosscultural understanding” is now practically a mantra at every university, and the federal government has joined the chorus. President Bush has proclaimed, “America’s leadership and national security rest on our commitment to educate and pre pare our youth for active engagement in the international community.” And in November, the U.S. Senate designated 2006 as the “Year of Study Abroad.” The Senate resolution maintains that education abroad promotes the nation’s “security, stability and economic vitality.” It notes with…

Celadon says inland port would be economic boon to state: Putting customs clearing here would speed crossings

Celadon Trucking plans by the end of April to install global positioning satellite devices on 1,350 of its trailers, an application of technology that could pave the way for an inland cargo port in central Indiana. Tom Glaser, president of one of the largest trucking lines hauling goods between the United States, Mexico and Canada, plans to urge state economic development officials to build a multimodal port in Indiana that would include Mexican and Canadian customs-clearing facilities. Officials would inspect,…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: The new economic reality: It’s all about the work force

Since these words usually find their way out onto the Internet, I thought I’d work in the following phrase to get the hit counters for the new year off to a good start: Evolution vs. intelligent design. Ah, that should do it. I can hear the sounds of computer mouse clicks already. And, believe it or not, there’s an economic angle to that debate. Not literally, of course. Economics is pretty important, but I will concede that the creation of…

BEHIND THE NEWS:

Two upcoming, high-profile business trials now are off the schedule, thanks to a guilty plea from wheelerdealer James T. O’Neal Jr. and a settlement by former Conseco Inc. executive Rollin Dick. O’Neal, 60, a Carmel native accused of swindling some of Indianapolis’ wealthiest investors out of millions of dollars, just before Christmas reached an agreement with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to two of the 82 felony counts against him. He could face up to six years in prison….

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Daniels may not wield as much influence this session

We’ve only made it through the first few days of activity, but already we can get a feel for what this session of the Indiana General Assembly will focus on. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels made it clear in his Jan. 11 State of the State Address that he believes lawmakers should devote the bulk of their attention to a legislative agenda revolving around highway construction, education, and local government reform and flexibility. House Republicans last week unveiled a broad series…

EYE ON THE PIE: Indiana turning toward Houdini plans

“What should the Indiana General Assembly do during this session?” The question came from Ralph Write, a newly minted reporter. “I’m glad you asked,” I replied. “Simple solutions from simple people would be simply spectacular. But the issues are complex and I don’t know if the legislators have the information they need to decide intelligently any of the major questions before them. “For example,” I expounded, as Ralph took more notes than were warranted by my remarks, “there is the…

Trying to make wastewater less wasteful: Carmel startup sees big potential in new treatment

The yellow-hued liquid in a jar that business partners Bud Harmon and Timothy Ortman tote with them to tout their venture often is mistaken for urine. But the pair is pretty sure the chemical compound, which treats wastewater at food-processing plants, carries much more promise. A second-place finish in a November business plan competition hosted by Purdue University helped bolster their belief. Harmon, a past chairman of Purdue’s Department of Animal Sciences, and Ortman, an aerospace engineer who cut his…

Banking players on rise: Despite flood of mergers, area competition heats up

Big-ticket bank mergers grabbed plenty of headlines in the past two years. Just don’t let the splashy news stories fool you. The number of players in the Indianapolis banking market is expanding, even amid consolidation in the industry nationwide. Over the past 10 years, the number of banks taking deposits in the metropolitan area has grown from 41 to 56, according to annual data from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Analysts attribute much of the growth to smaller banks and…

Builders remain bullish: Area likely to escape home construction slump, experts say

When home mortgage lender Fannie Mae this month predicted home sales might fall as much as 10 percent in 2006, Wall Street shuddered. Shares of home builders dropped, temporarily stalling a rally in the broader stock market-and raising questions whether the pace of new subdivisions in central Indiana might slow. Yet despite the discouraging outlook for the national housing market, builders active in central Indiana remain optimistic, singing a common refrain: not here. As it has for the past two…

Aearo aiming for IPO: Giant in safety equipment wants to raise $230 million, plans overseas expansion

An Indianapolis company that makes earplugs, hard hats and other protection gear used by everyone from soldiers to construction workers has laid the foundation for an initial public stock offering. Aearo Technologies Inc. plans to raise up to $230 million in the offering and list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, according to its registration statement filed late last year with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the filing leaves blank a number of key details-such as…

NOTIONS: Failing to learn from the past, condemned to repeat it

It was raining in London the morning before New Year’s Eve. As we emerged from the St. Paul’s tube stop to a gust of wintry air, my friend Cheri wrapped her black topcoat a bit tighter, I buttoned my Navy blue, and we pulled on our gloves and scarves, and opened umbrellas to ward off the cold and damp. We walked briskly past the north churchyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral, turned the corner and climbed the front steps. Inside, we…

BULLS & BEARS: Behind the mumbo-jumbo lie risky pension strategies

Let me introduce you to the hottest thing going in institutional investing (pension plans)-it’s called “portable alpha.” One salesman for a large money management firm hails this as a new era in investing: “The new paradigm rejects total return as the measure of a strategy’s worth. It instead holds steadfast to the principle that any strategy’s total return can be divided into a market return and (ideally) a net excess return. “The market return component is quantified as beta and…