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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Why state’s job growth is better than neighbors’

For the past week or so, I have been flooded by phone calls from colleagues in Illinois and Michigan, chortling over a new marketing campaign launched by Hoosiers. The privately financed billboards and radio spots ask businesses and residents whether they are tired of high taxes and unresponsive government. If so, they are invited to “Come on IN” to Indiana. It’s high-order fun this holiday season. Indiana sits as a small island of growth in the Midwest, and it is…

Economy surged over summer but is losing momentum as year ends:

WASHINGTON – The economy sprinted ahead at its fastest pace in four years during the summer, although it is expected to limp through the final three months of this year as the housing and credit debacles weigh on individuals and businesses alike. The Commerce Department reported Dec. 20 that gross domestic product grew at a 4.9 percent pace in the July-to-September quarter, unchanged from an estimate made a month ago. The performance was especially impressive given that the housing market…

SPORTS: This is all I want for Christmas-seriously, folks

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth … if, perhaps, I were a member of the Indiana Ice. Who are playing pretty well, by the way. But there are other things in the realm of sports I would include on my list. All I want for Christmas is for those cheatin’ dog New England Patriots to have their comeuppance. Preferably from the Indianapolis Colts. In Gillette Stadium. In a driving snowstorm. In the AFC Championship. All I…

Union push under way at 2 Indianapolis hotels: They would be first to unionize in central Indiana

Employees at two Indianapolis hotels have begun a push to unionize-a move that, if successful, would make the properties the only union hotels in central Indiana. Several workers at the downtown Westin and the Keystone Sheraton have met with representatives of New York-based Unite Here, a labor group that represents about 440,000 hospitality and textile employees nationwide. Both hotels are part of Bethesda, Md.-based Host Hotels & Resorts Inc.’s global portfolio. Backers said a union is needed to raise wages…

Buyout firm lands $202M infusion

Locally based Hammond Kennedy Whitney & Co. closed on $202 million in new capital this month, doubling its size. Its resources
have increased, but HKW’s investment philosophy is unchanged. It continues to buy small and midsize specialty manufacturing
companies, infuse them with cash and management expertise, then patiently wait for them to grow.

EDITORIAL: Lilly picks wisely at tough juncture: Lechleiter well-groomed for top job

Lilly picks wisely at tough juncture Lechleiter well-groomed for top job Indianapolis’ business and civic leaders are rightfully worried about Eli Lilly and Co. these days. The entire pharmaceutical industry is under extraordinary pressure, in part because the blockbusters that have been its lifeblood aren’t gushing out of development pipelines anymore. Lilly faces the monstrous task of finding successors to its antipsychotic Zyprexa, whose U.S. and European patents expire in 2011-a milestone that’s expected to send the drug’s sales into…

Commentary: A funny thing happened in the jury box

I did my civic duty this month. I went to Hamilton Superior Court in Noblesville for jury duty. Like most people, I suspect, I sighed when I opened the envelope on the summons several weeks earlier. This will disrupt my life, I whined to myself. Even though I’d served on a Marion County jury for a criminal case several years before and enjoyed the experience, I wasn’t thrilled about being called. I’d been summoned earlier this year and had a…

PROFILE: AimFire Marketing: Job hopping led marketer to become her own boss AimFire’s specialty: Optimizing Internet search engine results

AimFire Marketing Job hopping led marketer to become her own boss AimFire’s specialty: Optimizing Internet search engine results Little more than three years ago, Susan Young’s custom Brownsburg home had two extra bedrooms, and the daily commute to Synergy Marketing Group in Indianapolis kept her home and office in separate worlds. Today, Young has two new babies: her 7-month-old daughter, Elaina, and her young business, AimFire Marketing. One of those once-empty rooms is now the heart of her six-figure career….

Ballard transition led by GOP insiders, business executives: 24 local leaders size up city for new mayor

With little encouragement and less financial support, mayor-elect Greg Ballard was forced to campaign as a longshot outsider. But his surprise election turned the tables. In the last six weeks, he’s been embraced quickly by Marion County’s Republican elite. And his transition team is stacked with insiders. To prepare an administration in less than two months, Ballard assembled a transition team of 24 local leaders, who then pulled in 150 volunteers to examine the current shape of city and county…

EYE ON THE PIE: Fiscal bombs in Hoosier political waters

The Indiana Department of Local Government Finance (DLGF) issued a “Citizens’ Guide to Property Taxes” on Nov. 20. That document contains the following paragraph: “What factors contribute to property tax increases? Local spending is the reason for property tax increases-or decreases-depending on local fiscal management. Other factors that contributed to increases during the 2006-2007 pay cycle include the elimination of the inventory tax and the onset of the annual adjustment process, also known as ‘trending.'” Got that? Property taxes rise…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: The worst of this year’s technology snafus

Another year gone, and yet another Christmas gift for you. Every year, I collect examples of utterly horrendous technological snafus and write about them. No matter how awful your own meltdowns may have been, they can’t have been as bad as these, so enter the new year with a light heart. The first example of disaster is fresh in the news still, at least in reports from the British Broadcasting Corp. The English government has lost disks with personal information…

NOTIONS: Upon the solstice, a passage about passage

We marked the winter solstice last week and ushered in the cold season. She arrived, however, on the arm of a promise that the days will grow longer and warmer, renewal waltzing in on their wake. As the seasons turn and the year wanes, indulge me a passage about passage. Early one morning long, long ago, my former wife Laura and I found ourselves seated across from one another at a small table in the basement cafeteria of Wills Eye…

Actor embraces ho-ho-holiday gig

Ty Stover is not your average mall Santa. From his real beard to his jolly laugh and rosy pink cheeks, he is a living, breathing
version of St. Nick.

INVESTING: Holding tight right now might wallop portfolio

While the seasons are a lot more predictable than the stock market, the market does go through climatic changes that investors should adjust to. In late September, after the market had been rallying for about six weeks off the August low, I mentioned it would be a good idea to reduce equity to around 40 -cent to 50 percent. In the middle of November, I wrote that it might be smart to reduce that level even more. If you’re still…

VIEWPOINT: Why did we allow gambling to seduce us?

The money is seductive: an “easy” $1.6 billion. That’s what gambling brought to Indiana in taxes this year. The prize might not be as big in 2008. There’s new competition. And a big drop in gambling revenue would spoil the negotiations that all the nervous Indiana politicians have been doing. Their jobs are on the line, and they know it. Hoosiers are embarrassed. They don’t like that. I have a beautiful picture of two of my children standing inside the…

Taurel helped Lilly weather Prozac defeat, but he also stumbled

When Eli Lilly and Co. CEO Sidney Taurel announced his retirement Dec. 18, he said he was leaving the company in good shape.
And he can cite plenty of evidence to support him. But when Taurel steps down as CEO March 31, he also will leave a legacy
of a languishing stock price and some costly mistakes that some think could have been avoided. “The facts are the facts; I
guess you can’t ignore it. The stock price has been…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Success of rivals’ IPOs embolden 2 local software firms

It’s a tumultuous time to take a company public. But the executives leading ExactTarget Inc. and Aprimo Inc., the two Indianapolis marketing-software companies with pending initial public offerings, have an abundance of reasons to think they’ll be successful. Here’s a big one: Each has a major competitor in its niche that already has gone public and done well. In the case of e-mail marketing firm ExactTarget, the competitor is Massachusetts-based Constant Contact Inc., which raised $93 million in an IPO…

A&E: Actors Theatre of Indiana goes green

Frog is confident. Toad is selfdoubting. Frog gets mail. Toad doesn’t. Frog is willing to take some risks. Toad is cautious. Frog looks funny in a bathing suit. Toad looks funnier in a bathing suit. And then there’s an actionpacked fight sequence in which … No, that doesn’t happen. Frog and Toad are friends. They love each other. They are happy when the other is happy. But then the villain comes to town, a giant … Nope, no villain. Over…

Cumulus is keeping format change a secret: Emmis and Radio One continue transitions

Several central Indiana radio stations will ring in 2008 with new formats and on-air talent, and new marketing campaigns bellowing the changes to listeners and advertisers. One station is keeping its plans secret, fearful of an industry domino effect if its strategy leaks out. There’s plenty at stake. Listener ratings for the first quarter of 2008 will be watched closely, local media buyers said, and could affect spending later in the year. A t l a n t a -…