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The architectural firm Schmidt Associates Inc. wants to persuade clients to build greener buildings. So a couple of weeks ago–during a heat wave and under scorching sun, nonetheless–workers erected a solarpanel awning in front of the company’s 320 E. Vermont St. offices.
By the demanding standards of recent history, the justcompleted second quarter was a tough one for the U.S. economy. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported an annualized growth rate of just 2.5 percent in the overall economy in the April-June period, significantly lower than historical trends and well below the blistering growth of the preceding three months. In addition, there was unwelcome inflation news, causing some analysts to dust off an old word that hasn’t been used since the early…
In 1981, few central Indiana residents considered an inground pool a backyard necessity, but Plainfield custom homebuilder Larry Good added one to a spec home anyway-and jumped into the deep end of a new enterprise. “After it was installed, the home sold immediately,” said Bruce Holmes, CEO of the company Good launched. Pools of Fun started with one location and four employees. Today, it has five locations, a range of products and 90 full-time employees who share ownership of the…
If you’ve been paying attention to the news lately, you probably know crime has been at a record high in Marion County. The homicide rate hasn’t been this bad since the Backstreet Boys had a hit song. The year was 1998, by the way. In addition, burglary, robbery and larceny are all up double digits, percentage wise. And while we’ve all heard about the Hamilton Avenue murders that left a family of seven dead or the shootings that took place…
Smoke coming from the Indy Racing League’s business model indicates it’s leaking oil. Two IRL teams recently folded and at least two more are in serious financial distress. Television ratings and race attendance is either flat or trailing last season.
In the overcrowded Marion County Jail, early release of dangerous inmates has become an unpleasant fact of life. To slow the tide, Sheriff Frank Anderson is considering a radical new solution: full privatization.
Bryan Ballard and Cody Feldman never dreamed they’d end up here, soaking up the sun along Indianapolis’ downtown canal, peddling frozen treats from their very own ice cream cart. They certainly never planned to become business partners when they met as adolescents playing Special Olympics basketball. But it happened anyway, thanks to a federally funded program intended to help significantly disabled individuals find work that fits their interests and skills. What makes the so-called customizedemployment effort unusual is its emphasis…
Gateway Medical Resource Alliance, a niche health care benefits company, will shut down Aug. 30, more than a month after losing the lone Indianapolis hospital in its network. The company, which has shrunk to six workers, provides employers discounts for certain cardiology, orthopedics and oncology care. In return for fees from the employers, Gateway offers flat, all-inclusive prices for procedures. It also offers prescription and wellness services. CEO Terry Kopp said he still hopes to find another hospital to resuscitate…
One of the staples of a bear market is the futile attempt investors make to rationalize why they are staying invested. (This happens, of course, until it is far too late to do anything about remaining in the market). After the June 14 market low, one of the common rationalizations I heard was that the Dow Jones Transportation Index was nearing an all-time high. But like visions of a dying man wandering in the desert, it turned out be another…
Beverly Morgan and her husband Allen opened their first lemon shake-up stand at the Marion County Fair in 1970, when they were both teachers looking for some summer income. It went so well, they opened a stand at the Indiana State Fair. And they'll be back there this week, when the fair kicks off its 150th year of midway rides and corn dogs.
Property and casualty insurers are taking a financial beating over the spring hailstorm that pounded homes and vehicles in central Indiana. Damage from the Good Friday deluge resulted in a flood of Hoosier insurance claims: 177,000 so far totaling $560 million, making it one of the costliest weather catastrophes in state history, according to the New Jerseybased Insurance Services Office. Overall, Indiana topped the nation in the total amount of insured losses-$658.5 million-during the second quarter, according to the ISO….
By my calculations, the U.S. population will reach 300 million on or about Oct. 15. There is no need to specify the hour and minute. The population clock at the U.S. Bureau of the Census indicates that we are adding to our numbers at a rate of nearly one person each 10 seconds. Even though our population growth rate has been declining, the absolute growth numbers, and their implications, remain staggering. For example, if we average two persons per housing…
During his first months in office, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ top priority was engineering a stay of execution for the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, 90 miles southwest of Indianapolis. Losing its 5,200 employees and contractors would have been a devastating blow to the region. Daniels’ lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., was so successful that the Association of Defense Communities last month recognized him as “2006 Public Official of the Year.” But troubles with local financing for a new business park…
In a bizarre twist on the term “Power-Point poisoning,” some black-hat programmer with way too much time on his hands has created a PowerPoint presentation that, when opened as an attachment to an e-mail, plants a piece of spyware on your system that sends home to the mothership every keystroke and mouse click. Businessfolk in the Midwest need not panic, however, because the offending PowerPoint is easy to spot: it’s in Chinese. In the business, this sort of infection is…
When yet another media story appears about jail overcrowding, it’s tempting to look away, to focus instead on rising gas prices, out-of-control health insurance costs or other pressing problems confronting your company. But make no mistake: Crime is a business issue. And it is escalating. Major offenses reported to the Indianapolis Police Department through April were up 22 percent over the first four months of 2005. Probably fueling that increase are the growing numbers of inmates being released early from…
Butler University underclassmen got what some saw as very bad news last week: Starting in the fall of 2007, juniors-like freshmen and sophomores-will be required to live on campus. The university claims the new rule will make for a stronger on-campus community, but the change coincides with Butler’s struggle to fill a new 500-bed apartment facility, where rents are higher than offcampus rental houses. Butler President Bobby Fong said a change has been underway for years to try to align…
Being a super-bear or super-bull just got a lot easier and cheaper. Until the last few weeks, if you had been bearish on the market and wanted to profit from that bearishness, you only had a few ways to play it. One was to short an index exchange-traded fund, or ETF, in a margin account. The second was to buy an inverse mutual fund from Rydex or Profunds. Or, last, if you knew what you were doing, you could use…
PROFILE TIM HALL Music gigs far from ‘taxing’ for local accountant As head of Crowe Chizek’s tax-consulting group in Indianapolis, Tim Hall advises business and individual clients on complicated tax matters. Fourteen times a year, however, he puts down the spreadsheets and picks up his drumsticks to tour as a drummer with 1950s rock-and-roll star Jimmy Dell. An RCA Victor recording artist, Dell, whose single “Teeny Weeny” topped the charts in 1958, toured with childhood friend Dwayne Eddy and other…
When Michael Ferin took over the University of Indianapolis’ fundraising operations in 1997, he inherited a limp effort ill-equipped to support exponential enrollment growth “The institution did not have a very strong record of reaching out to the community or keeping in touch with their alumni,” Ferin said. “This place was behind by a number of years.” No one could say that now. The private college affiliated with the United Methodist Church has just wrapped up a six-year capital campaign…
Until proven otherwise, I like to believe the best about people. This past May, I emceed a luncheon at which an engaging young man named Justin Gatlin was the featured attraction. He came to Indianapolis to help promote locally based USA Track & Field’s national championships, and he arrived in our town within hours of tying the world record in the 100 meters. I couldn’t have been more impressed with Gatlin, wrote glowingly about him in this column, and encouraged…
