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VIEWPOINT: Asian trade mission: different kind of trip

Sweat and fatigue. These two conditions dominate my memories of the recent trade mission to Taiwan and Japan. The week-long mission led by Gov. Mitch Daniels was the largest ever of Indiana business leaders and state officials to these countries. Many of the more-than-70-member delegation had independent agendas. Those of us who accompanied the governor never had an opportunity to adjust to the Asian clock, which was 14 hours later than Hoosier time (whatever that means). Most days were packed…

SPORTS: NCAA not shy about taking on hot-button issues

The Indianapolisbased NCAA can be-and usually is-accused of a lot of things. Sticking its big, bureaucratic head in the sand is not one of them, at least not any longer. Say what you will about the organization under the leadership of Myles Brand since he came on board as president 2-1/2 years ago, but he has seen to it that wishy-washy is a term best left at the Laundromat. Academic reform and accountability, student-athlete welfare, a streamlined legislative process, rules…

Blair Kiel launches DVD production firm: Company’s first release goes inside the Irish huddle

Former University of Notre Dame and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Blair Kiel is leading a local group that thinks it can put up big numbers with a series of sports DVDs. Kiel-along with former Indianapolis Colts marketing chief Ray Compton, Grand Slam Cos.’ Milton Thompson and Pathway Productions’ Michael Husain-formed Legendary Sports LLC this year, and the company is preparing to launch a string of video productions. Legendary Sports’ debut DVD, “Inside the Irish Huddle,” the tale of the University of…

Soldiers confront insurance obstacles: Health providers reluctant to accept Tricare coverage due to low reimbursement

Karen Welch had plenty of reasons to break out the worry beads last year, even before she dealt with Tricare, her new health insurance provider. The Zionsville resident was a month pregnant with her first child when she watched her husband, Travis, leave for Afghanistan with his Indiana National Guard unit. Then she learned she had to find a new primary care physician who would accept Tricare. She also needed an obstetrician/ gynecologist and a pediatrician in the netwowrk for…

GuyFest: Motorcycles, brewers, home theaters … New event targets CEOs to steelworkers

It’s not a new medical procedure, but a three-day event Compton calls “a magical place-home to both the steelworker and the CEO.” Testostorama Men’s Expo, planned for Nov. 11-13 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, is being hyped to men of all ages and backgrounds “as payback for all those years she dragged you to the Flower and Patio show.” “We cooked up this event and put a little edge to it,” Compton said. Testostorama organizers expect more than 200 exhibitors-from…

INVESTING: Powerhouse tech stocks may have more room to run

Technology is cool, especially when you can profit from it in the stock market. There have been all kinds of breakouts in the technology sector the last eight weeks, and with the pullback occurring now, opportunities abound. Let’s start with the big guy, Microsoft. (My fund owns Microsoft.) This stock had been lagging the market this year until it went bananas Aug. 2. The stock broke out that day on almost triple the average volume. It then climbed near $28…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Let’s emulate user-friendly Portland

I travel a fair amount for both business and pleasure, and I’ve been to several major U.S. cities. Most of the time, I return from these adventures thinking that wherever it was I visited had nothing on Indianapolis. In fact, I usually think those cities can learn a lot from us. This time, it was different. I’ve just returned from a place that’s doing a lot of things right … a place that has employed some ideas and programs our…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Settlements bring anticlimactic close to SEC fraud case

When the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2003 announced fraud charges against three former executives of once-high-flying Analytical Surveys Inc., it filed court papers laced with explosive allegations. Anyone who read the 18-page civil lawsuit filed in federal court in Indianapolis might have figured a trial drenched with drama was in the offing. So much for the climax. Newly filed court papers show the SEC has quietly reached a $260,000 settlement with Sidney Corder, who was CEO of the computerized-map…

Used cars piling up: Record sales of new vehicles put damper on auction prices

Especially these days, used cars have gotten all the respect of Rodney Dangerfield. Like the late comic, they’ve been dissed-in this case by the incessant marketing of automakers’ “employee discounts” that drove new-car sales to record volumes in July. But with automakers expected to end those discounts in early September, local dealers and auction firms are bracing for used cars to be the next big wave of sales. Dealer lots are crammed with trade-ins, so many aren’t buying additional used…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: If tired of browsing for news, why not try an aggregator?

The bane of the Information Age is information. At least when my father went to work in the factory he ably kept running for many years, he knew the aisles would still be in the same places, the machinery still exhibiting the same behaviors, and that the number of unknowns in his life would be manageable. I’m better situated in life than he was, but I pay for it with uncertainty. The content of my job isn’t machinery, but information,…

BULLS & BEARS: Something not going well? Blame surging in oil prices

The spike in the price of oil has many people singing the blues, and using it as an excuse for nearly every imaginable problem. Oil has been a scapegoat for the weak stock market, poor sales at Wal-Mart, tough times at Bob Evans restaurants, and a bad summer at the movie box office. Conventional wisdom is, gas costs so much that the average family can’t afford to buy gas AND shop, eat out, or go to a movie. Nobody likes…

NOTIONS: An empty nest fills with memories

Last Sunday morning, I awoke before dawn. Dreading what was to come, I lingered in bed, watching the gray light of a cloudy morning illuminate the houses across the way. Around 7:30, I worked up the energy to get out of bed. I took a shower, popped my morning meds, and headed downstairs. As is their teen-age wont, both my boys were still asleep. So I retrieved The Star and The New York Times from the driveway and glanced through…

EYE ON THE PIE: Prison reform is off state’s radar

What do the following cities have in common? Auburn, C r aw f o r d s v i l l e , Greenfield, Griffith, Huntington, Logansport, New Castle, Seymour and Shelbyville. Each has a smaller population than the number of people in Indiana prisons. The Indiana Department of Correction reports we have more than 19,600 adults in our prisons at an annual cost in excess of $21,500 per prisoner per year, for a total of $420 million. According to…

Questions follow Standard into new arena: Company boosts health services with several purchases

Standard Management Corp. followed the sale of one of its staple insurance businesses with a flurry of purchases this summer aimed at shifting its focus to health care services. Despite all the change, some constants remain for the struggling Indianapolis holding company: seven-figure quarterly losses and questions about its new direction. Standard completed the sale of Standard Life Insurance Company of Indiana to Louisville-based Capital Assurance Corp. in June for $79 million, then wasted little time spending some of the…

Stoeppelwerth & Associates: ‘Staking’ their claim on growth Local engineering firm finds abundant opportunities

While most 8-year-old boys were playing with toy trucks, Dave Stoeppelwerth was riding in big ones helping land surveyors at his father’s civil engineering firm. Stoeppelwerth, now 51 and CEO of Stoeppelwerth & Associates, grew up learning the business. In fact, Stoeppelwerth had done enough surveying during grade school and high school that at age 16 he became a crew chief working under his father, Dick, who started the north-side company in 1962. He joined the company full time after…

Museum deflects pork perceptions: Policy wonks decry grant of $12.5M in transportation funds

“Why are taxpayers in California and Texas and Massachusetts paying for a museum in Indianapolis?” David Boaz, executive vice president of the Washington-based Cato Institute, wrote on the think tank’s Web site in May as the bill was coalescing. The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis landed the grant under the $286 billion transportation bill signed by President Bush this month. The grant was included in the bill courtesy of Rep. Julia Carson, D-Indianapolis. “Congress constantly uses the Department of Transportation’s budget…

Law could generate earnings for Cummins: States face deadline in completing standards for connecting generators to grid

Cummins Inc. and other makers of electric generators stand to gain under a provision an Indiana lawmaker plugged into the federal energy bill signed this month. The amendment by 4th District Republican congressman Steve Buyer forces state utility commissions to adopt standards within two years that will pave the way for businesses that generate their own electricity to sell excess power to the electric grid. That’s good news for firms that generate their own power and for Cummins, which makes…

Real estate investment trusts buck slump predictions: REITs outperforming major stock market indexes so far this year; Simon, Duke and Kite doing well locally

For the second quarter, the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts Composite Index posted a return of 13.52 percent, boosting its year-to-date return to 4.9 percent. For the quarter, that’s more than three times any of the other equity indicators, the highest of which, the Russell 2000, posted a 4.32-percent return. The Russell 2000 also has the second-highest year-todate returns at 5 percent. Real estate investment trusts are due for a downturn, according to many stock analysts, but they’ve…

EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s turn our children into assets

Could we reduce some of the major costs in our society if we had fewer children and more immigration from abroad? Think about it. Children, particularly those 15 to 19 years of age, are a major disruptive and expensive aspect of our nation. They establish behaviors that lead to lifelong misery for themselves and expenses for the rest of us. Teens get into all sorts of costly trouble. They lead police on dangerous chases because they will not obey the…