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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Simplistic ideas get in way of efforts to increase wages

To the small cadre of economists who have worked their entire professional lives trying to understand the complexities of how and why the labor market rewards some skills, occupations and people more than others, the popularity of the idea of a government-mandated minimum wage must be depressing. But it shouldn’t be surprising. The notion that complex market outcomes can be explained by simplistic notions like greed or discrimination-solvable by the stroke of a lawmaker’s pen-will probably always have a superficial…

Putting a spin on 911: Law-enforcement agencies embrace reverse system

Langsenkamp, CEO of Sigma Micro Corp. in Indianapolis, began conducting research on the patented Reverse 911 Interactive Community Notification System in 1990. The technology, however, didn’t hit the market en masse until a decade later. Today, roughly 350 law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada, including those in Carmel and Beech Grove, use it to blast warnings to residents. “It was the first system that ever allowed people to dial phone numbers and deliver messages based on the…

NOTIONS: Mailbox of plenty could yield empty pockets

Bruce Hetrick is on vacation this week. In his absence, this column, which appeared on Aug.19, 2002, is being reprinted. Dear Reader: In our nation’s capital, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and North Capitol Street, the Smithsonian Institution has converted a former post office into the National Postal Museum. Carved into the white granite wall is an inscription called “The Letter.” Written by former Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot and edited by former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, it…

Lazy Daze Coffee House: Coffeehouse brews niche market for itself Independent shop welcomes competition, even from industry giants like Starbucks

You might call Lazy Daze Coffee House the “Cheers” of Irvington. This is a place where everyone does know your name-and what kind of coffee you drink. Lazy Daze is the brainchild of Jeff Coppinger, a 34-year-old Howe High School graduate who returned home after serving in the U.S. Navy. He’s working on a major in political science and a minor in philosophy at IUPUI, a good foundation for creating a coffeehouse that “crafts the art of conversation,” as he…

EYE ON THE PIE: Yes, Virginia, there is an ‘Indiana economy’

“Is there really such a thing as the ‘Indiana economy’?” The question came from Ed Doric, a pillar of our community. We were at one of the many fests that provide camaraderie and calories during our humid Hoosier summers. The crowd moved us apart so I could not answer his inquiry. Let the following be accepted as my response. Yes, Ed, there is an Indiana economy. As certainly as there is a U.S. economy, as surely as you or I…

Modernized Dunkin’ Donuts plans 10-plus area stores

Boston-based Dunkin’ Donuts is salivating over the prospect of ringing up big sales in Indianapolis and wants to franchise at least 10 stores here within the next year as part of a national expansion.

IU professor gains human insight from android studies: Robots might someday train students

Androids are creatures of science fiction to most people, but to Karl MacDorman, robots made to resemble humans are more like colleagues. MacDorman, 40, is an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Informatics in Indianapolis who uses the mechanical subjects in his studies of human-computer interaction. “The android is a very interesting device in studying human communication,” he said. “If you use a robot, people expect it to act like a robot. But if you use a robot…

INVESTING: Riding waves a lot like navigating stock market

I like to surf. I’ve been doing it for 25 years and, although I live in Indiana, I indulge my hobby with a few quality trips a year. One thing I love about surfing is the amount of fun I have without taking a lot of risk. Shark attacks are infrequent, and I don’t surf places with a history of them. And if the surf is so big as to be dangerous, I just stay out of the water. I…

Long-distance diagnoses are company’s specialty: NearMed to provide radiology services to hospitals

An Indianapolis health care startup plans to begin diagnosing patients this fall without actually seeing any of them face to face. NearMed will venture into the fastgrowing market for “teleradiology” by offering a network of doctors around the clock and radiology subspecialists who work days and evenings to read X-rays and other images transmitted over a secure computer network. The Intech Park-based company will call on radiologists in Indiana, Texas and Idaho. In addition, it will provide clients with picture…

IU hires consultant for business plan overhaul

Taking a page from Purdue University’s playbook, Indiana University has quietly put its economic-development efforts under review. IU hired Chicago-based Huron Consulting Group this month to examine its process of economic development and evaluate whether it matches Gov. Mitch Daniels' business-first agenda.

Political upstart unloads auto dealership

Eric Dickerson, the Republican trying to unseat Julia Carson in the 7th congressional District, plans to sell his north-side Buick dealership to Ed Martin Automotive Group as early as next month. But the dealership could become a campaign liability even if it’s sold.

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Carmel’s newest development craze?

What do you do if you own 40 acres smack dab in the middle of one of the hottest sections of Carmel; you are literally surrounded by cookiecutter subdivisions; and developers are swarming you with offers to buy your land at $100,000 an acre? If you’re Don and Judy Carter-Evans, you say “no thank you” and work with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to have threequarters of the acreage designated a Classified Wildlife Habitat. The Carter-Evans property is on…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Programmers make lousy site designers

Many, perhaps most, Web sites are hard to use. That applies to commercial sites, personal sites, almost any kind of site. In the early days of the Web, nobody was surprised at this, because the Web was a dancing bear. The wonder wasn’t that it danced gracefully, but that it danced at all. Today, visitors are much more discerning. In fact, there is a cottage industry in lambasting poorly designed sites. One of my favorite places to go on the…

FUNNY BUSINESS: Land sakes! State Fair celebrates farms of all sizes

I take a back seat to no one in my love of the Indiana State Fair. I haven’t missed one in about 35 years-including those years when the fair seemed outmoded, doomed to go the way of the Model T and the icebox. I was there when it struggled through the Injun Andy mascot debacle, the concerts with attendance numbering in the dozens, and the shocking revelation that elephant ears did not come from actual elephants. And so I have…

Duty in Iraq inspires reservist’s invention: Mtek founder hoping face mask will save lives

Impressed with the design, which military personnel admitted was years ahead of what’s now in use, the Army’s Soldier Systems Center purchased 10 of the prototypes Aug. 1 for testing. Mahan, 23, of Martinsville, ultimately hopes to create manufacturing jobs in Indiana by mass-producing the face masks for the military and law-enforcement agencies. With the help of his father, cousin and close friend, he’s formed Mtek Weapon Systems to start the process. “It’s definitely a radical departure from anything that’s…

BULLS & BEARS: Fuss over our trade deficit is much ado about nothing

I’ll preface this column by telling you I am not an economist, just an observer. How many times have you heard a sobering news report on the trade deficit? The gist of these reports is that the deficit will weaken the dollar, cause all kinds of job losses, and be the ruin of our economy. The typical deficit TV news report begins with a picture of some old, rusty U.S. factory. It closes with video clips of construction cranes building…

SPORTS: A grim look at what the city’s future could hold

I was having a fitful time trying to sleep. For some reason, the word “priorities” kept running through my mind. Then, suddenly, I felt as if I were awake, standing in downtown Indianapolis. I caught site of a calendar in a storefront window. I blinked and shook my head. It read August 2026, but the city didn’t look 20 years more modern. If anything, it looked 20 years older. It was as if time had passed by the Indy I…

State’s Medicaid goal: better, cheaper care: FSSA says new approach will boost efficiency

Better care through better management. That’s the mantra behind the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration’s push to limit Medicaid’s cost growth to 5 percent annually. The state entity announced this month that it awarded $4.4 billion in contracts to three managed care organizations to provide coverage for pregnant women and children under its Hoosier Healthwise program. Next, Indiana wants to hire care managers to monitor the well-being of every Medicaid recipient in its aged, blind and disabled category. That…

Professor reinvents classroom: Improving interaction reason behind DyKnow

Dave Berque knew his first college teaching assignment couldn’t get any worse when a fire in the overhead lights barely got a reaction from his students. “I was in a room with more than 100 people and only seven noticed it,” said the chairman of DePauw University’s Computer Science Department. “They were spending all of their energy copying notes and couldn’t think about what was going on.” The experience as a graduate student in the mid-1980s at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute…