Guidant drama keeps building:
Guidant drama keeps building Stock sales by Dollens, others may stoke lawsuits. Analysts say firm will be OK if sale to Johnson & Johnson unravels.
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Guidant drama keeps building Stock sales by Dollens, others may stoke lawsuits. Analysts say firm will be OK if sale to Johnson & Johnson unravels.
Many years ago, when I worked for a machine-tool dealership, I learned a lesson about technology and employees. As I was watching an employee run a part, I noticed he was doing something I knew hadn’t been in the engineering setup requirements. When I asked about it, he replied that he knew his decision hadn’t been sanctioned by the “idiots with slide rules,” but if he had done it the approved way, it wouldn’t work. Further, if he had notified…
Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana and the Indianapolis Museum of Art are collaborating to offer tours of local homes in conjunction with IMA’s International Arts & Crafts Exhibition, which opened Sept. 25. A half-day motorcoach tour on Oct. 23 will allow those interested in the Arts and Crafts architectural and design movement to view buildings that typify the design. The tour will visit four private homes and a church in the historic Irvington neighborhood on the east side. The area…
Big changes at Emmis? Analysts say sale of TV stations positions Jeff Smulyan to take media company private in leveraged buyout. PAGE4
Before we get into anything this week, let me clear up an error from last week. I wrote that Techpoint received $2.3 million in government incentives for locating at Indianapolis International Airport. The company was Transpoint. My apologies to all who have cause to be offended. Now let’s get on to the problem of the chicken and the egg. Many folks wonder which came first. When we have trouble identifying causality, we cite the chickenand-egg problem. Is the clothing store…
The fear du jour is the Avian Flu and the potential for the mother of all global pandemics. In November 2004, the World Health Organization said an influenza pandemic was “inevitable,” and in May of this year scientists predicted it could strike as much as 20 percent of the world’s population! Recently, news media have shown pictures from Asia of crates of dead birds and reported new predictions, ranging from 5 million to 150 million human deaths. Hundreds of millions…
News defined the careers of Clyde Lee and Diane Willis for a combined five decades. And it was the nation’s biggest news event of the last decade-9/11-that served as an ominous backdrop for the duo’s first entrepreneurial venture. “We incorporated in August 2001, and less than a month later, 9/11 hit, and we thought, ‘Oh my,'” Lee recalled. But more than four years later, Lee/Willis Communications is still standing-and prospering. The fiscal swoon that followed 9/11 caused many companies to…
At 6 feet 8 inches, consultant Bruce R. Frank is an imposing figure. But it’s the 30 years of business experience the former professional basketball player has accumulated that he says helps him tower over his competition. Frank, 51, is the founder of Bruce R. Frank & Associates, an Indianapolis-based consulting group that helps life-sciences companies develop business strategies. So far, he has found most of his clients outside Indianapolis: Frank spent seven months on the road last year. The…
The dirt is still fresh from the Colts’ stadium ground breaking, but local hospitality professionals already are planning for the growth it will spur in their industry. Experts project as many as 25,000 additional jobs by 2010, when both the stadium and a 275,000-square-foot expansion of the Indiana Convention Center are scheduled to be complete. That tally counts jobs created in those facilities as well as in hotels, restaurants and other attractions. Officials expect 4,200 jobs to be added in…
The Indiana Department of Insurance has boosted the outside help it uses to defend its medical malpractice Patients’ Compensation Fund after seeing a record payout this summer. A staff shortage, concern voiced by providers and a ruling that could lead to huge damage sums all spurred the move, said Amy Strati, who oversees the fund as the Insurance Department’s chief counsel. “The provider community has clearly said to us, ‘We want you using experienced [medical malpractice] attorneys on the complex…
An Indianapolis-based oil company with ties to a wealthy local family plans to go public in what analysts describe as a hot-butvolatile market. Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP wants to raise $140 million by selling 6.4 million units at an expected price of $22 each, according to papers filed this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Calumet has been part of the private business empire of the Fehsenfeld family, which 35 years ago founded Heritage Environmental Services, a…
With less than three months until Medicare D takes effect, there is plenty for an employer to do to get ready. If you have done nothing yet, follow these steps. If you are well on your way to compliance, use these to check your progress. Step 1: Learn it Medicare D is the new prescription drug benefit available to Medicare-eligible individuals, effective Jan. 1, 2006. With few exceptions, your retirees and active employees who are Medicare-eligible may enroll in Medicare…
Are you ready for some football? Of course you are. That the Indianapolis Colts are making the first of not one, not two, but three appearances on ABC’s “Monday Night Football” is once again recognition of the obvious, which is that Jim Irsay’s ownership, Bill Polian’s leadership and Tony Dungy’s coaching have made the Horseshoes as hot a commodity nationally as they are locally. Not that Peyton Manning, Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Dwight Freeney, Gary Brackett, Cato June et al…
TruckersB2B Inc. ought to have been among the road kill of the technology bust of 2000, when the restless ghost of Adam Smith dope-slapped investors out of their hypnotic drool over anything high-tech. But unlike scores of dubious e-commerce ventures, the 5-year-old Web site offering small to midsize trucking fleets group discounts on everything from fuel to tires turned out to be built on a sustainable business model. The Indianapolisbased business now claims more than 19,000 participants representing 445,000 trucks….
Larry Dust capitalized on a then-radical health insurance concept 25 years ago that thrust him to the forefront of the corporate movement to outsource employee benefits services. Much has changed in the world of health care since, but Dust and Key Benefit Administrators Inc. continue to redefine the way employers approach insurance. “The cheese has moved in this business,” Dust said, “and if you don’t believe it, you better get out.” The 57-year-old Knox native entered the insurance industry after…
The city’s newest art school has existing programs here sharpening their colored pencils and preparing for a showdown at the easel to attract new students. The Art Institute of Indianapolis earlier this month launched a marketing campaign seeking students for its first classes, which start Jan. 9. The for-profit school at the Pyramids is owned by a Pittsburgh firm. It plans to offer a two-year degree in graphic design and four-year degrees in graphic design, interior design and interactive media…
As anyone in the field of emergency management will tell you, the regrettably sluggish governmental response to the Hurricane Katrina natural and manmade disaster boils down to the argument over jurisdictions (a perennial challenge in the world of emergency management) and a gross lack of execution. As a result of the governmental infighting and dearth of critical decision-making in the early stages of this catastrophe, American citizens were victimized. People suffered, people died. In the analysis of the Hurricane Katrina…
The population statistics tell the story-we are a nation of cities. Nationwide in 2000, almost 80 percent of us lived in what the Census Bureau considered urban areas. Yet Indiana has more small cities, and more people who live in rural areas, than do many other states. In 2000, nearly 30 percent of us lived outside urban areas, compared with the national average of 21 percent. And of our 92 counties, 38 have fewer than 30,000 people, with 19 of…
The sun is rising on a new era for the Performance Racing Industry Trade Show-in Orlando. Formerly one of Indianapolis’ three biggest trade shows, PRI is now growing great guns in the Sunshine State. With 700-plus more booths sold this year over 2004, its last year here, and an additional 250 exhibitors added to the show’s 2005 lineup, the grass in Orlando-and PRI’s bank account-appears quite a bit greener. “We knew there was pent-up demand, but we didn’t think there…
Did NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue do a snow job on Indiana legislators? Tagliabue dangled visions of Indianapolis’ hosting a Super Bowl when he made the case for a $625 million stadium before Indiana lawmakers earlier this year. Now construction is under way, and local officials are watching 2006 host city Detroit to see if it can warm skeptics to the idea of playing the Super Bowl in a cold-weather city. But some observers of the big game doubt Indianapolis has…