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Hoosier Park raises prize money:

Hoosier Park, the pari-mutuel horse race track in Anderson, has announced a 10-percent purse increase for its standardbred racing program. The increase took effect April 23. The purse increase, Hoosier Park officials said, is the result of positive business factors as well as conservative purseaccount management at the beginning of this year’s early-season meet. The standardbred season will continue through June 25. “Thanks in large part to full fields and competitive racing, we have had an increase in our simulcast…

INVESTING Keenan Hauke: Changing times mean faster, more efficient markets

I grew up 12 miles from Manhattan. By walking a quartermile up the hill from my house and looking east, I could clearly see the entire skyline. At night, when the World Trade Center was all lit up, it felt close enough to reach with a small jump. Lost in all the gleaming skyscrapers is an institution that is almost as old as our nation. And there are changes going on right now that spell the endgame for that institution…

Rose-Hulman aims for education, not incubation: Michigan-based EDF Ventures takes lead of Indiana Future Fund-backed partnership REI Ventures

The name is unchanged, but under Jack Midgley education comes first at Rose-Hulman Ventures. Business incubation is a distant second. And speculation on high-tech startups is outside the university’s core mission. “The function of Ventures is education, because the function of Rose-Hulman is the education of engineers,” said Midgley, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s embattled president. “Ventures is not a separate entity. It’s part of the undergraduate program at Rose-Hulman, like the math department or the mechanical engineering department.” Named president…

Organizers have turned pro: It’s a hot field where most practitioners are women

You know who they are-the “neatniks” who always have everything so well organized. You can practically see a thought bubble hovering over them that says: “A place for everything and everything in its place.” Now they’ve discovered they can capitalize on their natural tendencies by becoming professional organizers. It’s a hot field that’s growing as fast as the paper piles in you-know-who’s office. Membership in the National Association of Professional Organizers has soared from 2,100 in February 2004 to 3,300…

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Budget process smoother, but effect uncertain

As legislative veterans well know, there is nothing like a deadline to force action. The April 29 date for final adjournment of the Indiana General Assembly’s 2005 session did just that-helped along by new House rules requiring a proposed budget to be available to lawmakers at least 24 hours before a final vote. After some four months of sorting through philosophical issues, fiscal issues, political issues and sometimes even personal issues, lawmakers finally reached agreement on a biennial budget. At…

Deaf School building independent-living house: Students will practice skills they need to make it solo

Beginning this fall, high school students at the state-run school will get that boost at a new facility intended to help them learn how to make it on their own. The so-called Independent Living House-which may have a catchier name by the time it opens-will be able to accommodate as many as 10 students at a time, giving them a safe environment to practice cooking, cleaning and caring for themselves. “A large number of students need this kind of program,”…

Local company launches technical think tank: Wolf Technical Services seeks broader customer base

A low-profile Indianapolis research firm is emerging from the shadows to raise its profile and grab more business. Wolf Technical Services Inc., which until earlier this year had focused on forensic studies and accident re-creation, enlisted former University of Indianapolis President Ben Lantz last year to launch a new division that is winning contracts that focus on the future rather than re-creating the past. Already, Wolf’s new division to develop problem-solving technology has done work for IndyGo, Riley Hospital for…

Forums seek out diamonds in rough: Future Fund events link VCs with entrepreneurs

With $15 million to plow into early-stage companies, Indianapolis-based Pearl Street Venture Funds is one of several venture capital firms searching for promising technologies to fortify with a cash infusion. In return, the investors hope to stumble upon the next Eli Lilly and Co., or at the very least, an enterprise that eventually becomes profitable and attractive enough for acquisition. The process of locating such diamonds in the rough, however, can be arduous and time-consuming. To that end, the Indiana…

New CEO’s ‘crash diet’ tones up ailing bank: After cutting its expenses, Old National plans to grow in central Indiana markets

Now it’s time for Old National to block and tackle. “Bob Jones has set forth a plan that makes good, sound fundamental sense. Now it becomes about execution,” said Joe Stieven, equity analyst with St. Louis-based Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. “Execution in banking is actually no different than in football. Your line has to do a lot of the work, and a lot of that work appears mundane and boring.” Formerly the CEO of Cleveland-based KeyCorp’s McDonald Investments Inc.,…

‘Blue-eyed soul brother’: Radio One’s new GM out to prove race doesn’t matter

“I think it had been so long since one of the doors had been opened, no one knew how to open it,” Williams said with a laugh from his office on the north side of downtown. Since that initial learning curve was conquered, the doors haven’t closed. “When Chuck opened those double doors, I was taken aback,” said Amos Brown, director of strategic research and one of the most well-known personalities at Radio One. “I thought, ‘Wow, something here is…

New Symphony Bancorp raises $15 million: Nearly 200 investors stake quality-service-oriented de novo bank on Marion-Hamilton county line

Flush with $15 million, Symphony Bank is nearly ready to take the stage. A group of nearly 200 investors contributed the money necessary to underwrite the new bank, which will be at 3737 E. 96th St., just south of the border between Hamilton and Marion counties. Symphony Bancorp President and CEO Steve Tolen said dedication to customer service will differentiate his de novo bank from its stiff competition. “When we looked at the marketplace, we felt while we may be…

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Is Otterness art? Does it matter?

This spring brought unusual “blooms” to our downtown via truck and crane-25 bronze sculptures by New York sculptor Tom Otterness. I watched from my office window as “Free Money” and “Female and Male Tourists” were installed at the Indiana Convention Center near the RCA Dome. The sculptures were previously displayed in New York City to rave reviews. From Broadway to Indianapolis, it doesn’t get more prestigious than that! The next day, while driving east on Market Street from Illinois Street,…

An unemployment riddle defies logical explanation ECONOMIC ANALYSIS Patrick Barkey:

You may not believe it, but the data tell us it is true. Indiana is leading the Midwest in job growth. In fact, through the last 14 months, the state’s employers have kept up with the national economy in net job creation, while Illinois, Ohio, and Michigan have seen their job totals remain stubbornly stagnant. But just as we are getting out the party hats to celebrate, along comes news of an entirely different tone on unemployment rates. The process…

Sales, new spec space in the cards at Intech: Intech One and Two likely to fetch top dollar, draw national interest, investment broker says

Two years ago, Lauth Property Group Inc.’s Intech Park was arguably the most prominent sign of central Indiana’s soft office market. The northwest-side park’s largest buildings, Intech One and Two, had entire floors vacant and awaiting completion. Acterna LLC was pulling out of its 140,000-square-foot building, a retreat symbolic of the technology bust’s effect on the larger suburban office market. Today, helped by a robust investment market and Intech’s recent state designation as a certified technology park, Lauth hopes the…

Developers plan spec industrial on heels of new deals: More big leases are expected in coming months

For months, local industrial brokers have reported an uptick in activity from potential tenants in the modern bulk-industrial market. With the start of the second quarter, tirekickers seem ready to sign on the dotted line. Three large-scale industrial deals in Plainfield kicked off the second quarter, prompting developers to release plans for more speculative bulk-industrial development this year across the metro area. “The activity in the first quarter is setting up the second quarter for a lot of closings,” said…

INVESTING: As bull turns to bear, wise investors see opportunities

A lot of investors are doing some deep thinking right now. People lost money in the first quarter. Now the second quarter is shaping up to be more of the same. For the most part, on a broad portfolio basis, many people are only now getting back to even with five years ago. But just as things start to pop above water, the losses begin to pile up again. The portfolio devastation most Americans suffered in the last bear market…

Accepting a Grand Challenge: Jones’ robotic startup aims at military market

Within the next 10 years, the U.S. Department of Defense hopes to fully automate a third of its ground vehicles. Indianapolis-based high-tech entrepreneur Scott Jones has plans to one day sell the robot pilots the military needs to accomplish that mission. But before he can build a business capable of attracting serious venture capital, he has to build a robot that can drive a Jeep Rubicon across 175 miles of the Mojave Desert in less than 10 hours. And he…

SPORTS Bill Benner: The city’s ‘next’ Reggie is already in our midst

Steve Alford and Stephanie White were the quintessential Indiana high school and college basketball stars. They were hardwood heroes who emerged from small towns and led their respective universities, Indiana and Purdue, to national championships. For many Hoosiers, the storybook ending would have been for that success to carry on to the professional level, with Alford and White leading the NBA Pacers and WNBA Fever to championships and street parades. Reality intruded. Alford, as we have been reminded recently, was…

Hilbert defeated on life policies: Conseco had purchased $87.5M in coverage in ’98

Seven years ago, Conseco Inc. purchased $87.5 million in life insurance coverage for company founder Stephen Hilbert and his wife, a move that seemed to assure vast wealth would pass on to the Hilbert family after their deaths. But in a new ruling, Chicago bankruptcy Judge Carol Doyle said Conseco’s obligation to provide coverage terminated when the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in December 2002. As a result, she ruled, Hilbert family trusts, which had filed millions of dollars…

JOHN KETZENBERGER Commentary: Calling chits to save Crane

About halfway between Bill Cook’s hometown of Bloomington and French Lick lies the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center. Thanks to billionaire Cook’s bet on the area’s historic hotels, it looks like French Lick’s riverboat is about to come in. But it also looks like Crane’s ship, and the nearly 4,000 jobs that go along with it, is about to sail, and no amount of money can keep it in a Hoosier port. Indiana crapped out a decade ago when the…