Economic development officials say networking is the first step in a process that, when successful, leads to industrial plant
expansions and company headquarters relocations. Travel, food, gifts and entertainment, they argue, are a necessary cost of
attracting jobs to Indiana.
When the state kicks off its spring tourism ad campaign April 22, it will have a little more staying power thanks to a 38-percent surge in spending. The increase, made possible by cutting back in other areas, means a total of $550,000 will be spent on TV, radio and magazine ads targeted not only at neighbors in Chicago and Cincinnati but also Hoosiers from Evansville to South Bend. “We thought it was really important to put more money into that…
For those who thought this had been a fairly boring session of the Indiana General Assembly to date, wake up from your deep slumber. Nap time is over. We’ve reached the point where the lowhanging fruit has been picked by lawmakers and passed on to the governor, and the heavy lifting remains. Lawmakers embark upon the conference committee stage of deliberations. To understand conference committee time, forget all your conceptions to date about the session and begin with a clean…
Apartment-builder Gene Glick and his wife Marilyn will give $30 million to found an eye institute at the Indiana University School of Medicine, the school announced this morning. Two-thirds of the money will pay for a new building to house the Eugene and Marilyn Glick Eye Institute. The remainder will fund research on eye diseases, […]
Former Union Federal Bank of Indianapolis President and CEO Alvin “Kit” Stolen III has taken a position as vice president of consulting at Achievant LLC. The Indianapolis company, launched in September with funding from the 2005 sale of the Carmel banking software firm Baker Hill, sells consulting services and software to help financial institutions with […]
The professor of cytomics-the study of cell systems-is leading an effort to develop a low-cost device that would help more Africans get tested for the deadly disease. His goal, bolstered by his Cytometry for Life not-for-profit, is to build thousands of units that can be delivered to third-world countries around the globe. Robinson has completed the prototype and returned in March from a weeklong trip to Nigeria, where he and fellow university researchers met with government and health care officials…
The Alliance Steering Committee, a loose organization of neighbors of Crown Hill Cemetery that opposed redeveloping a section of the historic property, is meeting this afternoon with nature groups that are interested in buying the parcel. One alliance leader, Butler University biology professor Tom Dolan said at least eight entities are showing interest in the […]
Leaders of Indianapolis’ mass transit movement don’t expect to benefit—at least not immediately—from Gov. Mitch Daniels’ giving up on his push to build the Indiana Commerce Connector toll road. “I never felt they were either/or projects, said City-County Councilor Joanne Sanders, a Democrat and vice president of the Central Indiana Regional Transportation Authority. “They both […]
We recently told you how revenue growth was lagging the December fiscal forecast. One prominent Republican senator tells his constituents that his colleagues are now planning for a growth rate in this fiscal year of only 2.5 percent, not the 4.2 percent to 4.5 percent they had planned on at the beginning of the session. While lawmakers will not have a new fiscal forecast for the biennium until the middle of April, they are clearly girding for a new fiscal…
Bank loans and credit cards are common solutions to small businesses’ cash-flow crunches, but small-business owners increasingly
have another option: using unpaid invoices as collateral to borrow money from investors.
The seats in the new Carmel Performing Arts Center will be designed so music will be acoustically unaffected whether people are sitting in them or not. The walls and jutting upper-level balconies will be curved so sound waves wrap around the hall, preventing sound from becoming focused in a single spot. A suspended reflective canopy will be raised or lowered depending on the number and types of instruments being played so reverberation time stays perfect at all times, thus doing…
After about seven months without a leader, the Indiana Small Business Development Center network has found one in Jeff Heinzmann. An attorney by training, the 39-year-old is charged with getting the statewide system of 11 regional centers on track in their efforts to help entrepreneurs get started and grow. Despite their connection, the Indiana centers for the most part have operated independently, and some-like the central Indiana office serving Marion and the surrounding counties-have struggled for stability. Heinzmann aims to…
Just when I think I’m coming around to liking people, something like this happens. The phone rang at the office and a woman announced that she was calling on behalf of the “Committee for Missing Children.” She gruffly explained that, while I may not recognize the organization’s name, I would likely recall one of the 2 billion images of missing children they’ve distributed on milk cartons and posters. Our policy here is to avoid giving to telephone solicitations. So I…
Efforts to secure a mass-transit system for central Indiana are moving ahead. But not rapidly. Several mass-transit bills are pending in the General Assembly-including one requiring the Indiana Department of Transportation to study building a rail system from Indianapolis to Muncie, and another encouraging development of mass-transit systems across the state. But neither is likely to result in immediate funding for a system serving Indianapolis commuters. Local mass-transit advocates still are a long way from winning over lawmakers and others…
Construction on a hotel Fishers-based Dora Bros. Hospitality Corp. is building in downtown Columbus can resume, now that Sears, Roebuck & Co. has withdrawn part of a lawsuit it filed in November. But the retail giant still wants monetary damages, according to The Republic of Columbus. Sears, based in Hoffman Estates, Ill., claims construction on […]
Financial advisors counsel clients on income, estate and gift taxes among other things. But they often neglect residential property taxes. That could well be a mistake. Property taxes are a significant cost of owning real estate – typically 1 percent to 1.5 percent of market value. So, they must be considered in making financial decisions. They can also be a significant cash-flow consideration for someone in retirement who has a lot of illiquid wealth-not just for your primary residence, but…
As a hearing-impaired, diabetic, migraine-suffering cancer survivor, father of a cancer survivor and widower of a cancer victim, I’ve followed my share of doctor’s orders. So I’ve taken two of Monroe’s tenaciousness pills, and I’m calling (well, writing) you in the morning. Since my late wife the non-smoker was diagnosed with a smoker’s cancer, I’ve shared our sad story to educate government officials and citizens about the dangers of secondhand smoke. But let’s skip the emotions this time, abandon impatience…
In our first column of the session, introducing you to the assorted variables that would influence the policy outcomes of 2007, we cautioned you that the next few months would be focused upon money and priorities. Lawmakers and Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels had a number of pet initiatives they wanted to see enacted and funded. But, after ensuring that programs and entities that had been shortchanged in the past biennium would be compensated and after bumping up education spending a…
Not only did airport tenant FedEx cancel its order for the cargo version of the “superjumbo” last November, but no other carriers have indicated they’ll likely use the super-jumbo here, said airport Director Patrick Dooley. Nor, Dooley added, is there a compelling case to be made for taxiway upgrades merely as a contingency for A380’s being diverted here occasionally from Chicago’s O’Hare International or other airports. So managers are removing all references to the A380 in a long-range airport plan…
Entering her third year as Ball State University’s president, Jo Ann Gora has earned a reputation in business and political
circles as a shrewd, aggressive ambassador for the 19,500-student university. And by all measures, she’s just gotten started.
