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TOM HARTON Commentary: Keep your eye on the design

Design matters, and architects aren’t the only ones who should care. On the eve of two significant ground breakings, even those of us who know nothing about facades and fenestration should consider what’s about to take place here. Later this month, the first dirt will be turned on the site of the city’s new airport terminal, and we can assume that dignitaries will brandish shiny shovels next month just south of the existing RCA Dome. In both cases, there will…

Auto auction board hikes own pay: Adesa Inc. also sent executive packing with full-sized severance

Vehicle auction giant Adesa Inc., which already pays one of the richest sums to its directors of any local company, has jacked up its annual board retainer 50 percent. Meanwhile, the Carmel-based company also has disclosed details of a severance package it paid to Executive Vice President James P. Hallett worth more than $1.3 million, not including the value of his stock options. Both events were disclosed in documents filed recently with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The eight-person board…

SPORTS: Artest’s future bright as long as Bird’s in his corner

In this space and in other media forums, I have expressed optimism that the Indiana Pacers’ Ron Artest will (a) make it through an entire NBA season without incident, (b) perform like the selfless allstar he has been and can be again, and (c) therefore justify the Pacer management’s faith in keeping him in a blue-and-gold uniform. What I fear, of course, is that he’ll do (d) none of the above. Artest’s talent is obvious. Unfortunately, so is his volatile,…

AAR lands another maintenance customer at base: Work for ATA Airlines raises questions about future of carrier’s own maintenance hangar as fleet shrinks

ATA Airlines Inc. has tapped aircraft repair firm AAR Corp. to refurbish up to 14 older Boeing 737s joining its fleet rather than using its own maintenance operation barely a mile away. The Indianapolis-based airline also is considering a plan to abandon its maintenance facility for a smaller location at Indianapolis International Airport, according to a source involved in the leasing discussions. The bankrupt carrier indicated in a court hearing last week that it would not reject its current maintenance…

INVESTING: Rising rates could create opportunities for profit

Interest rates are interesting, right? Well, to a market geek like me, maybe. I know the rest of you take a glancing look at borrowing costs maybe once a month, and you might have even stopped doing that, given that rates have been pretty much unchanged over the past year and a half. A quick bond primer: When you watch CNBC and someone says bonds are falling, that means interest rates are rising, which causes bond prices to fall. When…

EYE ON THE PIE: Nation forgets how it achieved prosperity

“How do you do it?” The question came from Mumbles Marcus, my talk-showhost cousin. “Every week, another fresh, insightful column addressing one of our nation’s leading issues.” Since we were onair, I kept my reply polite: “Actually, Mumbles, I write the same column almost every week. I change the clothing, but the body remains the same. I am obsessed with the many choices we must make to satisfy private interests today and meet the needs of ourselves and others in…

Often thought of as new technology, fuel cells have long history: Here’s how they work:

Scientists are working to make fuel cells a viable energy source for the 21st century. But, in fact, the technology dates back more than 150 years. Research began in the mid-1800s, but with the onset of the Industrial Revolution, fuel cells were abandoned in favor of more powerful alternatives, said Jack Brouwer, associate director of the National Fuel Cell Research Center in Irvine, Calif. “They didn’t think fuel cells could contribute,” he said. The technology sat dormant until the beginning…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Hat World helps propel parent’s stock out of slumber

When Indianapolis-based Hat World Corp. announced its $165 million sale to a Tennessee firm 17 months ago, it had posted increases in same-store sales for an impressive 27 months in a row. Now, make that 42 and counting. Such a streak is almost unheard of in the rough-and-tumble retail world, especially for a firm wrestling with the inevitable distractions that go along with the transition from independence to ownership by a publicly traded company. “We have maintained the same momentum…

Incentives take aim at rising fuel costs: State pumps out grants for company vehicles using alternative fuels

A combination of soaring gasoline prices, state grants and environmental idealism have whet appetites among businesses for “alternative fuel vehicles” such as this batterypowered Global Electric Motorcars model. A $3,996 grant from the Lieutenant Governor’s Office paid for about one-third the cost of the Pizza Express vehicle, manufactured by a DaimlerChrysler subsidiary. “Industries such as ours should be pioneers in the electric vehicle frontier,” said Gabe Connell, franchisee of the Pizza Express restaurants near IUPUI and in Broad Ripple. As…

Firm plans to get personal with clients’ home pages: Former gubernatorial candidate runs Web business

Developing an Internet home page that gives users more options for content than what behemoths such as America Online and Yahoo! offer through their syndicated selections has become the ambition of George Witwer. The 46-year-old Bluffton native, who once aspired to be Indiana governor, launched the northwest-side Humanizing Technologies in January 2000. With much of the product’s research and development in the can, the venture is close to weaning itself from investors and, for the first time, could turn a…

Scammer targets local trust: E-mail scheme seeks data from Pulliam grant recipients

An Internet scammer borrowed the identity of a high-profile local foundation this month, blasting out an error-riddled e-mail message that solicited personal information from former grant recipients. Leaders of the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust responded by sending its own e-mail to all 2,400 individuals on its electronic contact list, instructing them to disregard the fake missive that promised a $2.5 million grant. Fallout from the so-called phishing attack appears to be minimal so far, trust CEO Harriet M. Ivey…

Speculator’s personal bankruptcy may tinge spouse: Trustee sorting through assets of real estate investor Marten, jeweler wife

A real estate speculator whose wife owns a prominent Carmel jewelry store has filed for personal bankruptcy, spawning an inquiry into whether her assets should be available to repay his creditors. On April 27, Christopher Marten filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, listing assets of $1.03 million and liabilities of $2.56 million. The case is pending in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Indianapolis. Marten’s 26 creditors include six banks and credit unions. Christopher Marten is married to Jan Marten, owner of…

Prime property can mend fences: Earlham land sale on right course

The process Earlham College has set up to sell 413 acres of prime Hamilton County acreage it expects to receive in its settlement with the Conner Prairie living-history museum is a silver lining to this otherwise stormy saga. In the more than two years since Earlham touched off the Conner Prairie drama by firing the museum’s board, we’ve had nothing good to say in this space about Earlham’s handling of the situation, but the land sale is shaping up as…

NOTIONS: Time to ponder the proverbial, ‘How ARE you?’

I went to the bookstore the other day to buy a condolence card. A friend’s mom had died. There weren’t many choices. Most offered poems or Bible verses that didn’t seem right for me or the recipient. So I chose the simplest card. It featured an abstract image of light breaking through darkness. Inside, it said, “Thinking of you with deepest sympathy.” I was thinking of him. And the families of London bombing victims. And the widows, widowers and children…

Program hopes to boost women in science: IUPUI to put female science students under one roof to nurture their interest in field often dominated by men

The “girls aren’t good at science” myth still exists, according to many science educators. That is why a new School of Science program at IUPUI hopes to do its part to dispel the label many say is created as early as elementary school. IUPUI’s Women in Science House will literally house together women studying science, providing a nurturing environ ment for female students who often feel isolated, a factor that can cause them to change majors, said Pam Crowell, director…

BULLS & BEARS: Analyzing ‘free cash flow’ key to valuing businesses

Companies report their earnings as net income, a figure calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles, or GAAP. But that number often provides the investor with a distorted picture of what really took place. Net income often includes various non-cash items that obscure the actual cash flows within the company. Because of this problem with reported earnings, analysts often turn to a company’s “statement of cash flows” and retrieve a figure called “cash flow from operations” or “operating cash flow.”…

VIEWPOINT: Hoosiers gave tech transfer a big boost

Today, we take for granted that our state universities play a role far beyond their traditional educational mission-especially in the economic arena. University-sponsored research is being licensed to the private sector, or used to form new companies. Universities are managing business incubators. Consulting partnerships between academia and industry are commonplace. It wasn’t always this way. Not long ago, university officials were skeptical of becoming too involved with the private sector. Business leaders and investors didn’t recognize the value of innovation…

Music events seeking rhythm: Midwest Music Summit picks up the beat for industry convention expected to draw 23,000

The Midwest Music Summit is approaching its fifth year bigger than ever as organizers fine-tune an event they hope will find harmony with a massive convention planned for the same weekend. More than 400 artists are slated to perform at 35 venues throughout the city during the July 21-23 summit-scheduled this year to coincide with International Music Products Association’s NAMM Summer Session, an annual gathering expected to draw 23,000 music aficionados for its first stop in Indianapolis. The timing is…

Narrow Gate Media LLC: Brothers help others sell via the Web They’ve developed a template that can be tweaked to create unique sites

“People would always tell me I had the personality and social skills that made me a good salesman,” said Vaught, who, with his older brother Tim Vaught, founded Narrow Gate Media LLC in January 2000 in Indianapolis. For example, when Tom Vaught bought a motor scooter for his paper route, all his friends wanted to ride it, and he let them-in exchange for delivering the newspapers. “They got to ride the scooter and I still collected the money” from the…

Court files grow thick against Guidant: Shareholders, patients, employees air their grievances

“Attention, patients with Guidant heart defibrillators,” the announcer’s voice booms as the television commercial begins. Nearly 50,000 of the devices were recalled June 17, and people using one may be at risk, according to the ad, which has run in Tennessee, Kentucky and central Indiana so far. It ends by urging viewers to call the Becker Law Office in Louisville for a free consultation. That ad could spawn at least 10 wrongful-death lawsuits, according to Gregory Bubalo, a Louisville-based lawyer…