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SPORTS: A basketball breakfast you won’t soon forget

One of the reasons the NCAA chose Indianapolis to host this year’s Final Four is that it coincides with the association’s centennial celebration. What better way to bring attention to the NCAA’s 100th year than by having its showcase event in its headquarters city. But that won’t be the only significant basketball anniversary to be feted during Final Four weekend. Three others have significance to Hoosiers. Call it a coincidence of greatness. For starters, it will be the 50th anniversary…

WellPoint freezes pensions: Insurer joins national trend, shifts focus to 401(k) plan

WellPoint Inc. quietly froze pension contributions for most of its 42,000 employees earlier this year, a move that draws criticism but falls in step with what many other big employers are doing. The Indianapolis-based health insurance giant noted deep in an annual report filed late last month that on Jan. 1 it stopped adding pay credits to the pension accounts of employees not nearing retirement. The insurer rang up a $2.5 billion profit last year and, unlike some other companies…

Short session long on action: Led by Major Moves, telecom successes, biz interests fared well in 2006 General Assembly

In less than three months, the Indiana General Assembly approved a pair of blockbuster economic-development measures designed to dramatically upgrade the state’s infrastructure. With the passage of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ Major Moves initiative, Indiana will lease the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian-Spanish consortium for 75 years. It will use the upfront, $3.9 billion payment to build roads. Meanwhile, the approval of telecom deregulation sets the stage for more local phone, cable and Internet competition. Daniels, a Republican, argued that…

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Low poll numbers don’t seem to slow Daniels’ agenda

For a guy whose approval level is about as low as-well-the president’s, and who was pushing a program about as popular as turning over supervision of vital national assets to a foreign entity (see the parallels yet?), Gov. Mitch Daniels sure enjoyed some major success this legislative session. He just signed a wide-ranging telecommunications deregulation measure he had strongly advocated, placing Indiana at the cusp of reform in the field, after several years of the Legislature’s refusing to move off…

NOTIONS: The power of persistence in work, art and sport

Bruce Hetrick is off this week. In his absence, this column, which appeared on April 19, 2004, is being reprinted. During spring break, my wife, Pam, and I took our sons, Austin and Zach, to Chicago. Because Zach is a budding photojournalist and Austin likes to write, we arranged through a friend to visit The Chicago Tribune. One of the newspaper’s photographers, Nuccio DiNuzzo, arrived at work an hour before his Sunday shift to meet with us. He gave us…

BEHIND THE NEWS: When the rich turn poor: Bankruptcies offer unique peek

Ex-Conseco Inc. officers Max Bublitz and Jim Adams filed for bankruptcy last year. So, you might be thinking, they must have hit bottom, overwhelmed by millions of dollars in debt stemming from their former employer’s ill-fated insider-loan program. Yet a different picture emerges from a review of their court filings and transcripts of court hearings. Yes, they say their assets are a shadow of their debts. But no, that doesn’t mean they’re going to start living like most of us….

Indiana calls off Monster contract: Newspapers hoping to have some input about state job bank

The state’s largest newspapers will have a second chance at weighing in on a state effort to create a new online job bank, thanks to a halt in negotiations between the state and job-search giant Monster. The Indiana Department of Workforce Development and Monster Government Solutions were close to finalizing a fouryear, $2.8 million contract for Monster to develop and maintain a statewide job search and recruitment system when the deal was called off in early March. Monster would have…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Revised data shows state faring better than thought

If you were watching this space to see what-if any-silver lining for Indiana could be found in the harsh blows about to fall on the high pay, full benefit, Big Three automaker production jobs I promised to talk about last week, I ask your forbearance. The Toyota Corp. has beaten me to the punch. The company’s announcement that it plans to build its top-selling Camry in Lafayette says it better than any words I could come up with. The future…

Markey’s sells off sales unit: Move by audio-visual firm creates new tech company

Markey’s Audio Visual, a south-side company that’s decked the stage for some of corporate America’s flashiest meetings and conventions, has sold its equipment sales and integration unit to a new firm owned by a competitor and by a family member. Sensory Technologies is held by Anne and Andy Sellers, principals of Indianapolis-based Video Images LLC-and by Kevin Markey, who headed Markey’s sales and integration. The sale last week, for an undisclosed price, allows the 47-year-old Markey’s to focus on its…

Irwin to idle failed foray into venture capital: $20 million fund formed during dot-com boom, focused on financial software

Indiana’s sixth-largest venture capital fund is winding down. Founded in 1999, Irwin Ventures LLC is a subsidiary of Columbus-based Irwin Financial Corp. The fund, which in recent years reported assets of $20 million, focused on seed and early-stage investments in startup firms that create financial services software and technology. But Irwin Ventures’ speculative investments didn’t pan out as expected. “Based on the results since inception, this line of business was a financial disaster,” said Ross Demmerle, an analyst with Louisville-based…

SPORTS: Pacers’ off-the-court performance never waned

Like any team, especially the professional variety, the Indiana Pacers are to be judged by their success … or lack thereof. Their bottom line is the one that’s posted on the scoreboard 82 times a season, then again in the playoffs. It comes as no bulletin that the last two years have been more painful than pleasurable, much of which can be traced to the excesses and eccentricities of the nowdeparted Ron Artest. Collateral damage has been the organization’s reputation…

Bill boosts hope for bariatric patients: Measure would make it easier for morbidly obese to receive surgery

Bariatric surgeons hope a bill being considered in the legislature eliminates lifethreatening waits like Shaul’s and improves access to a surgical specialty that has seen expansive growth in central Indiana over the past few years. The measure, now in conference committee, is expected to win final approval in the waning days of this year’s session. Senate Bill 266 would trim the minimum wait insurers can impose before they cover the surgery from 18 consecutive months to six. It also adds…

Lilly says hands off Gemzar: Drugmaker files suit to keep cancer drug off generic market

Fresh off one blockbuster patent defense, Eli Lilly and Co. mounted another last month when it filed suit to protect its billiondollar cancer drug Gemzar. The Indianapolis drugmaker sued Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and a subsidiary, Sicor Pharmaceuticals Inc., to prevent them from selling generic versions of Gemzar, which treats several forms of cancer and comprises 9 percent of Lilly’s worldwide sales. Lilly learned in January that California-based Sicor had filed so-called “abbreviated new drug applications” with the U.S. Food…

Federal farm lending could shrivel under latest budget: Banking associations oppose proposed fee increases

Brent Kerns likes to compare the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s lending program to that of the Small Business Administration’s. In short, the USDA helps farmers the way the SBA assists small-business owners. But if a proposal to cut the budget of the farm loan program is approved, it could become as expensive to use as the SBA’s offering. Supporters fear a hike in user fees would hurt those who need the money the most. “That cost goes straight to the…

INVESTING: The rise of derivatives: an innovation to cheer, not fear

After I read about a new futures contract at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange that allows traders to place hedges on snowfall amounts in various areas, my first reaction was, that’s cool. I am a geek about my business, and I love the way the industry is constantly innovating. The weather contract is called a derivative, and I can remember not too long ago a lot of people were worried about derivatives. A derivative is a contract whose price is dependent…

Time switch creating computer nightmare: Technology experts predict change to daylight-saving could be Y2K all over again

If you have an important meeting starting April 2, beware of relying on your computer for a reminder-there’s a fair chance you’ll be late. The state’s first-ever switch to daylight-saving time will leave thousands of computers confused about what time it is, and their users not much better off. PC clocks have to be adjusted just like the cuckoo over the mantle, but if you forget to switch the timezone setting from “Indiana (East)” to “Eastern Time”-or neglect to check…

Breaking the glass ceiling: Despite gains, commercial real estate field still dominated by men

As a business student at IUPUI in the late 1980s, Jill M. Herron worked part-time as a leasing agent for a commercial real estate company to earn extra money. She had no idea that her parttime job would turn into a lifetime career. “I fell into it by accident,” Herron said. “But I found I liked the diversity of the job, the opportunity to meet different types of people and the challenges of meeting a client’s goals.” Now a vice…

Forum Credit Union buys health-care consultant: Financial institution beefing up commercial services

Forum Credit Union, central Indiana’s largest credit union, has acquired Indianapolis-based health-care consulting firm Health Care Economics Inc. And banks are piping mad about it. “It’s part of our effort to meet the needs of what our members have been asking us to do,” said Andrew Mattingly, senior vice president of strategy and marketing for Fishers-based Forum. “They want to put all of their finances together [at one institution].” Health Care Economics primarily serves as a business consultant to medical…

You can take it to the bank: Financial experts say state’s economy is rising, merger mania isn’t over and regulatory laws could take a toll

On Feb. 24, IBJ Publisher Chris Katterjohn, Managing Editor Greg Andrews and banking reporter Matt Kish sat down with four leaders from Indianapolis’ banking and finance sector: Judith Ripley, director of the Indiana Department of Financial Institutions; Kit Stolen, CEO of Union Federal Bank of Indianapolis; Steve Beck, president and CEO of the Indiana Venture Center; and Keith Slifer, senior vice president of LaSalle Bank. Among the topics of conversation: How’s the state’s economy doing? Are more bank mergers on…

BULLS & BEARS: Buffett’s skeptical eyes see plenty to fret about

Warren Buffett’s annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders was posted on the company’s Web site early this month. He has a way of distilling complex issues into simple messages using witty anecdotes. Here is my Cliffs Notes version, but first a note of caution: One thing you don’t get from Buffett is the world viewed through rose-colored glasses. Derivatives. Buffett resolved that when Berkshire acquired General Re, the large reinsurance company in 2001, he would unwind the company’s derivative contracts….