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Credit-counseling mandate causing stir: Critics contend providers, including some under investigation, will unfairly profit from new bankruptcy law

The reform measures that took effect Oct. 17 will make it harder for filers to wipe away unsecured debt by steering more of them toward Chapter 13-instead of Chapter 7-which requires them to repay at least some obligations. But consumers wishing to declare bankruptcy must first undergo credit counseling within 180 days of filing and finish debtoreducation courses before exiting the courts. Critics contend the extra step will add more time to the pre-filing phase and increase the cost for…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: State’s economy humming, so why do we feel gloomy?

The days are shorter, the temperatures are colder, and the leaves are falling off the trees. For most normal people, that means it’s time to start carving pumpkins, planning for holidays, or even watching the World Series. But for economists, it means something else entirely. It is the beginning of forecasting season. It’s a time when organizations of all kinds are thinking about what they can expect in the coming year. For most of us, the state of the economy…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Public notice still critical in Indiana

I hate to get all philosophical on you, but a free press is critical to democracy. In the free world, newspapers have always played the dual roles of information provider and watchdog. Readers expect to learn what’s happening by reading newspapers. When it comes to publicly funded government entities, the role of watchdog is particularly critical. Newspapers throw the light of day on the workings of government so citizens can see how their money is spent and keep their elected…

NOTIONS: Lessons of withdrawal from a recovering addict

A friend of mine recently visited his doctor. He was worried about chest pains. The doctor wired him to an EKG, studied the readings, and pronounced him fit. During the exam, my friend asked how the doctor was doing. The physician said he was dreading winter. He said ailing patients would flock to his office seeking cures. He’d tell them they had viruses and they’d recover on their own. They’d demand medicine. He’d tell them none would help. They’d demand…

Banks embrace checking reprieve: Growing program frees potential customers

Banks and credit unions statewide will soon have a larger pool of customers to tap into when a central Indiana program that helps people barred from opening checking accounts expands. Get Checking, a national program that began at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2001, is a way for people who have landed on the ChexSystem register-a list of consumers barred from opening an account-to get off the list. People find themselves in ChexSystem due to bouncing too many checks, failing…

Center director ready to score: Ball State’s new entrepreneurship chief has big plans for top-rated program

The 6-foot-6-inch Cox visited the Indiana University campus on Dec. 24, 1974, as a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team. The starting center scored 15 points and pulled down five rebounds in a 97-60 loss to the thenmighty Hoosiers. His team took solace in a free meal from a local fast-food joint that gave each ticketholder a burger, fries and shake every time IU won by 30 points or more. After scavenging the stands for discarded stubs, the ‘Huskers…

EYE ON THE PIE: Writer blamed for promoting guilt

“See,” he said with rising voice, “that’s the snobbery, making other people feel guilty if they don’t value what you value. You do it all the time.” “Sir,” I said, disarmed by his rancor, “which of my columns bothered you?” “All of them, blast it, all of them,” he bellowed. “Last week you wanted us to enlist in the cause of property taxes. Before that, you insisted that cities and towns needed more taxing authority to stimulate economic growth. “Another…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Could the new Roth 401(k) plan be in your future?

Roth IRA accounts are a relatively new way to save for retirement. Changes in the tax laws made these accounts available beginning in 2001 for certain taxpayers. Conventional IRA accounts permit you to put away money on a pre-tax basis. At retirement, amounts withdrawn from the IRA account are taxed as ordinary income at your current tax rate in the year you make the withdrawal. But, with a Roth IRA, you can contribute money on an after-tax basis, and taxes…

State revamps health coverage: New health savings accounts and high-deductible policies could help stem rising costs

Indiana state government will unveil a fresh approach to insurance coverage next year when it offers health savings accounts to its 33,000 employees and their dependents. The state wants employees to take more control of their health care and consequently harness spiraling costs, Personnel Director Debra Minott said. The high-deductible AnthemBy-Design plan it chose to accomplish that will be offered as one of five coverage options during an open enrollment that starts Oct. 31. “We really see a looming crisis…

INVESTING: Good riddance, Greenspan, and your heavy-handed ways

A centrally planned economy. A few guys in a back room making unaccountable decisions. Men obtaining supreme power through unelected means. Americans fought wars to avoid living under the Soviet-style government I just described above. The problem is I am not describing the Soviet Union. I am talking about or own country! The Federal Reserve Bank of America is run like a dictatorship. It is insane that we give so much lip service to the power of democracy and the…

Fixin’ to retire: East-side repairman closing doors after 45 years of business

Dave Roberts is an ordinary-looking guy who would hardly stick out in a crowd. But as the man called Mr. Fix-It, he can command cult-like status. “I’ll go to a restaurant and people will say, ‘Hey Mr. Fix-It!'” he exclaimed from behind the counter of his cluttered repair shop. “I feel like a celebrity sometimes.” But the moniker that made him an east-side institution will no longer exist after Dec. 31, when Roberts closes the doors on 45 years of…

Health construction beat marches on in Hendricks: Population growth spurs health care development

A growing population is breeding more multimillion-dollar health care projects in Hendricks County. Danville-based Hendricks Regional Health will begin work next month on a $16 million medical office building more than a year after completing a $24.5 million hospital expansion, and St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is staking its claim with a $4.7 million medical office under construction in Plainfield. Meanwhile, Clarian Health Partners plans to bulk up parts of the 76-bed hospital it opened just last year in…

Medicaid presents crime of opportunity: Fraud investigators see steady stream of people ripping off the system

Pictures may be worth a thousand words, but they could cost dentist Michael Bajza $200,000 and six months of home detention. The Griffith dentist pleaded guilty in federal court this month to one count of health care fraud. He admitted asking Medicaid for reimbursement of oral Xrays when he knew his employees had only taken photographs of patients’ teeth. Bajza and Thomas Hoshour, a former operator of central Indiana detox centers who is scheduled for sentencing Nov. 4, are but…

Somerset enjoying freedom: Firm grew under First Indiana, but independence brings control, president says

Leaders of Somerset CPAs PC are soaking in the single life, one year after they split from First Indiana Corp. Twenty-one Somerset partners bought the assets of the accounting firm from the locally based public company on Oct. 25, 2004, ending a four-year relationship in which bad timing contributed more to the breakup than bad karma. The corporation is the holding company of First Indiana Bank. At a time when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates auditor independence, Somerset President Patrick Early,…

Industry: Let’s build minority business: Construction consortium working on diversity

A consortium of some of central Indiana’s biggest players in construction has set its sights on improving minority involvement in the $8-billion-a-year industry. The Indiana Construction Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the biggest users and providers of construction services, on Oct. 12 approved a diversity outreach initiative. The ambitious plan aims to increase minority participation in the construction industry by rewarding contractors who support education and training, employ minorities and women, and mentor small minority- and women-owned…

BULLS & BEARS: It’s not time to lose faith; stock market will be back

Two weeks ago, this column was about the bird flu. Most likely, when you look at your October brokerage statement in the next week or two, you’ll feel the symptoms. You’ll feel a bit puny, tired, achy and feverish. You’re tired of looking at weak statements, achy from getting punched by your stocks, and nearly feverish when you look at your statement’s stagnant bottom line. It’s no wonder you feel queasy. As this is being written, the Dow Jones Industrial…

One Call rings up regulatory ire: Carmel telecommmunications firm faces fines, legal action-and increased scrutiny from FCC

The Federal Communications Commission is threatening to revoke the operating authority of Carmel telecommunications firm One Call Communications for allegedly failing to remit millions of dollars in federal fees. In its second action against the firm since 2002, the agency also proposes a $1.1 million fine against One Call and parent OCMC Inc. The FCC complaint quietly launched in August comes after allegations made last spring by state regulators. The state allegations involved so-called “modem hijacking” of dial-up computer users,…

Theater rehab project symbolic of city’s makeover:

While Anderson officials have focused much energy on Interstate 69 access points and former General Motors Corp. sites and business parks outside the city’s center, they’ve also been carefully rebuilding downtown. In 2002, Anderson Indiana Main Street was formed, and has become active in the last two years recruiting business there and hosting a number of festivals and other events. In recent years, many of the streets have been repaved-some with brick pavers as part of a massive beautification project…

Will cook, need kitchen: Bakers, caterers struggle to find space to bake-legally

Both women know they have sweettoothed fans who want to buy their goodies, but because of new state regulations, they are finding it difficult to deliver their products to a hungry market. At the beginning of this year, a law took effect requiring that most food for sale to the public be prepared in commercial kitchens with certified food handlers. The regulation has effectively kicked Castillo, Johnson and dozens of other small caterers and bakers out of their production facilities-in…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Trends can be more illuminating than fresh data

Sanford Kahn, a business trends analyst, (www.businessspeaker.biz/ ) once wrote that it is a myth that information is power, and I agree with him. If it were true, the public library would rule the world. Google would run a galactic empire. Instead, in the halls of the real power structure in the world’s most powerful nation, our government suffered one of history’s biggest forehead-slappers after its intelligence organization confused rhetoric with reality over weapons of mass destruction. In this case,…