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BULLS & BEARS: Investing for the long term: Buffett does it; so can you

Have you dreamed of creating your own business empire? Well, if you have an investment portfolio that contains a group of stocks, congratulations. You and Jeffrey Immelt at General Electric Corp. have a lot in common. GE is a company composed of a diverse group of separate businesses. And since stocks represent a fractional ownership of a business, the separate holdings in your portfolio, when combined, are analogous to running your own mini-conglomerate. One technique you can use to track…

BRIAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Health care is hurting Indiana’s economy

Nearly 875,000 Hoosiers lack health insurance, including 165,350 children. Lack of health insurance takes a devastating toll on Hoosiers and the state’s economic health, and the effect of the uninsured will only get worse as their numbers grow. As companies confront rising health care costs, the obvious solution is dropping or scaling back health-insurance benefits. As a result, the number of uninsured increases, resulting in a premium cost shift to the insured and increased cost for government-provided health care. Over…

WNDY, WTTV face format changes in the fall: Lin TV forced to fill programming void

National television executives’ surprise decision to scrap two established networks and form a new one in their place caught local affiliates off-guard and sent WNDY-TV Channel 23 looking for content to fill its airwaves this fall. “I don’t think anyone saw this coming,” said Scott Blumenthal, vice president of television for Rhode Island-based Lin TV Corp., which owns WNDY. CBS Corp. and Warner Bros. Entertainment plan to launch The CW this fall, a move that will have far-reaching affects in…

Bills clash over video regulation: Phone giants, cable firms fight about franchising rules

In fact, some say the franchising clash has overshadowed the real implications of deregulation: Cable operators will get their first real competition since satellite TV mushroomed in the mid-1990s. Municipalities, which grant franchise agreements to cable TV companies and collect millions in fees in return, hyperventilated when Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield, introduced Senate Bill 245 last month. It would give the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission the job of doling out statewide video franchises. Cities would lose that authority, but would…

Sarbanes-Oxley spreads beyond public companies: Hospitals, other not-for-profits consider tightening rules

Few topics might kill a cocktail conversation faster than the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, unless the dinner party includes hospital administrators, university presidents or other not-for-profit leaders. A desire to boost credibility-coupled with prodding from bond-rating ratings agencies-has broadened interest in the 4-year-old federal law far beyond the public companies it actually targets. Sarbanes-Oxley-passed by Congress in the wake of high-profile scandals at Enron, WorldCom and elsewhere-was intended to enhance financial disclosure and eliminate arrangements that could undermine the independence of auditors….

Amnesty in concrete case?: Lawyer says company in civil price-fixing case helping prosecutors in criminal investigation

One of the seven concrete firms named as defendants in a civil price-fixing lawsuit is helping federal prosecutors gather evidence in a related criminal investigation, court documents reveal. A lawyer for one of the seven defendants in the civil case said in a filing that the 27 contractors and construction firms bringing the suit have the “unique and decisive advantage” of receiving documents and statements from a cooperating individual who could receive amnesty from criminal charges. Court papers don’t say…

Boston Scientific’s offer not as sweet as it seems:

BEHIND THE NEWS Boston Scientific’s offer not as sweet as it seems Now that Guidant Corp. has agreed to be acquired by Boston Scientific Corp. for $27 billion, or $80 a share, investors in the Indianapolis company can rest easy, right? Not really, a close reading of the medical-device companies’ merger agreement shows. It turns out Guidant shareholders are entitled to $80 a share in cash and stock only if the average closing price of Boston Scientific’s stock in the…

CHRIS KATTERJOHN The case of the missing passport Commentary:

Friday, 7:30 a.m.: I arrive at Indianapolis International Airport for a 9:01 a.m. flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where I’ll be attending a conference, and realize I have left my passport at home. I ask myself, “How could I be so stupid?” Friday, 7:35 a.m.: I check in at the American Airlines ticket desk, then call my brother, who is already at work. I ask him for a “huge favor,” whereupon he leaves work, goes to my house to retrieve…

Mr. Buick makes bid to dethrone Carson: Automobile dealer Dickerson takes grass-roots approach

Eric Dickerson held his hands out, palms facing each other, as if playing an accordion. He moved them closer to illustrate the narrowing margin of victory by which 7th District congresswoman Julia Carson has won re-election since 2000. A couple of tables away in the Starbucks near Broad Ripple, the founder of a private Indianapolis company sat listening to the political polka. Suddenly, he was up and talking to Dickerson, who wants to be Carson’s Republican challenger. “I want to…

IRL traveling bumpy road: Despite successes, sponsors are walking, teams are folding and top drivers lack rides

The Feb. 4-7 auction of locally based Panther Racing hangs over the open-wheel series like a dark cloud at a time when IRL officials have been crowing about its 2005 successes. Television ratings soared 53 percent from 2004 to 2005, attendance increased 9 percent, merchandise sales were up 75 percent, and Web traffic on the series’ site rose 162 percent. According to Joyce Julius and Associates, an independent Ann Arbor, Mich.-based media research firm, sponsors got 57 percent more exposures…

INVESTING Don’t just suffer stock-market losses; learn from them:

If you recently got hammered with big losses in Google, Yahoo or Intel, here are a few pointers to help you avoid making the same mistakes again. Every trader and investor experiences losses, but the great ones learn from their mistakes and move on. Two weeks ago, Yahoo and Intel released earnings that were below analysts’ estimates and the stocks were crushed. They each fell about 20 percent in only a few days. If you own these stocks, that money…

The TIES that BLIND?: Experts say links between company, directors may have taken toll

The Arkansas-based goliath has been on a rampage in central Indiana the past five years, building its market share in the local grocery business to 26 percent. When Marsh announced last N ove m b e r that it had hired Merrill Lynch & Co. to explore a s a l e , m a ny o b s e r ve r s attributed the steady decline of the state’s sixth-largest employer to inroads by discount rivals. But a…

Compensation takes stage in state leasing contracts: Meridian Asset, Resource to cap fees on state leases

New contracts between the state of Indiana and two local commercial real estate brokerages signal the beginning of an overhaul of how the state handles its real estate. Resource Commercial Real Estate and Meridian Asset Development will, at least for the next year, broker leases on behalf of the state. State agencies pay nearly $40 million each year to lease space in nearly every county. In many cases, agencies or the Indiana Department of Administration handle leasing duties, but IDOA…

EYE ON THE PIE Who says Indiana isn’t progressive?:

You probably don’t know Gary Price and never even heard of him, but he is at the center of important changes in the construction industry. Don’t get me wrong; Price is not doing this by himself. He is part of a remarkably progressive set of activities that are demonstrating how social objectives and private interests can be integrated. Price has an association management company; as such, he is the executive director of several organizations. He specializes in construction-related associations. The…

NOTIONS Playing both sides against the political middle:

Last weekend, I took my sons to see Woody Allen’s “Match Point.” It’s about a former tennis pro named Chris who gets himself into a jam. Chris is working at an upscale London tennis club when he meets a wealthy fellow named Tom. Tom introduces Chris to his sister, Chloe, with whom he falls in love (or, at least, “in like”). To help enhance Chris’ social stature and bank account, Chloe gets Chris a cushy job with her daddy’s firm….

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS:

You can tell that economists as a group don’t have a marketing bone in their bodies. How else can you explain the incomprehensible name we’ve given the measure of economic activity we watch more closely than any other? Gross domestic product. If I were a comedian, I could probably do a sketch on what images those words conjure up. But I’m an economist, so there’s little chance of that. Instead, like the rest of my brood, I am diving into…

Home construction spreads growing pains into country: Shelbyville, county struggle with housing growth plan

Developers grabbed 286 permits to construct single-family residential units in 2005, up from 204 the year before, according to the Builders Association of Greater Indianapolis. Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson, whose city captured most of that growth, said his municipality issued only about 30 permits a year before 2004. “It’s unbelievable,” he said. “I think people finally realize that Shelbyville is, I guess, reachable from anywhere.” A congestion-light commute to Indianapolis, acres of developable land and some tweaked building laws all…

ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ: Indy Works, part deux (the sequel)

As someone who enjoys a good film, I always worry when Hollywood tries to produce a sequel. The producers figure they raked in millions on an idea, so they run it again and again until it’s run into the ground. Mayor Bart Peterson is hoping to pass Indianapolis Works ’06 through the Indiana General Assembly this session. How successful will this sequel be? Let’s look at all the players and find out. Last session, GOP lawmakers gave the mayor police…

SPORTS Count your blessings, depressed Colts fans:

OK, as you read this, the Super Bowl is about to occur, or has just taken place, depending on when you get your IBJ. And you are, perhaps, gloomy. Depressed. Still nursing that emotional hangover. You’re blue … Colts blue in hue and psyche. The Horseshoes didn’t make it, and that brings to mind another expression beginning with “horse”. So, as a public service to all those still suffering an extended case of dejection and despair-to be compounded by hours…

STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Major Moves displays short-session political mastery

A combination of arm-twisting, dealmaking and the sheer brute force of the Office of the Governor came together the last week of January in a way Hoosiers seldom see. All the pressure was enough to keep Republican House members in line at just the right time in the legislative process to keep the governor’s Major Moves transportation plan moving. There was a lot of deep exhaling at week’s end, some from those in the Governor’s Office doing the heavy lifting…