ATLANTA – A surprise boost in the quality of Phoenix’s bid for the 2012 Super Bowl nearly up-ended what had been expected to be a reasonably easy catch by Indianapolis at the NFL team owners meeting yesterday. Owners hesitate to discuss the vote, which eliminated Houston’s bid early and finally handed the event to Indianapolis […]
Speedway may have been built on motorsports, but some residents think a $500 million redevelopment plan that would transform the small town into a year-round racing-themed destination goes too far. The plan, which involves 350 acres south of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has become the issue in town at a time when a certain race usually dominates conversations. At the cozy Charlie Brown’s Pancake and Steak House on Main Street, patrons mull over the project in-between forkfuls of the diner’s signature…
Encouraging new development-residential and commercial-is such a high priority in many communities these days that one would think both the private and public sectors would rush to break ground before the impulse passes. But as ESPN college football analyst Lee Corso often responds each Saturday during the season to the observations of others, “Not so fast my friend.” Before construction actually starts, all parties involved in a proposed project, if it is to be successful, must reach consensus on a…
Shoot, if I’d known city leaders were going to resurrect Dennis Hopper-Shooter, from my alltime favorite flick, “Hoosiers”- for the Super Bowl bid video, I would have suggested they also use Hickory High player Merle and paraphrase his memorable line: “Let’s win it for all the smaller NFL-designated market areas that never had a chance to get here.” Yes, we are the nation’s 13th-largest city. Thank you, UniGov. But in terms of market size, we’re 26th or so. Certainly not…
New Jersey-based Skanska USA Building Inc., a division of the $23 billion Swedish construction powerhouse Skanska AB, arrived in Indianapolis in April. Named last year as the top green contractor in the nation by Engineering News-Record magazine, Skanska USA is recognized in particular for its projects in the health care, higher education and pharmaceutical sectors. Its largest project, however, is the $998 million Meadowlands football stadium under construction in New Jersey. Locally, Terry Parrott, 50, is in charge of operations….
Just after dawn a few weeks ago, my wife, CherÃ, drove me to the Indianapolis airport. At the Hertz lot, I kissed her goodbye and went inside to rent a minivan. In the parking lot, I wiped the morning dew off the windshield, popped Harlan Coben’s latest pageturner into the CD player, and cranked up the volume. Stopping only twice for combined food/gas/bio breaks, I drove 700 miles through the rich farmland of Indiana and Ohio, across a corner of…
It’s happening: Premium gasoline is breaking the $4 barrier that diesel fuel passed several months ago. While there are other serious issues in this “sour economy,” fuel prices are the most obvious sign of the future we face. We can view the problem in several different ways: This is just temporary. Our problems were caused by a bunch of crooks, greedy oil companies and the war in Iraq. Things will get back to normal if we cut back a little…
Indiana and Purdue universities will create a new medical research program after receiving a $25 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, the universities announced today. IU and Purdue will launch the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute to turn scientific and medical discoveries more quickly into better care for patients and into new […]
Indiana University and the city of Bloomington are at odds over how best to commercialize the university’s discoveries–or,
more specifically, where to commercialize them.
Well, to all but one sourpuss. “The [Indy Racing League] is garbage,” said caller “Gordon from Zionsville” on WNDE’s sports-talk show, “The Drive,” on the Tuesday following the big race. Gordon was weighing in to denigrate the IRL and praise NASCAR. Back to him in a moment. For the time being, the IRL’s competition isn’t NASCAR. While overnight ratings showed the afternoon Indy 500 scored a bigger rating than NASCAR’s prime-time 600-miler at Charlotte-and that Indy’s ratings were up from…
In fewer than two years, workers have filed 30 lawsuits against their employers regarding fees charged to the employees’ 401(k) plan accounts. Half of the lawsuits have been filed by a single St. Louis law firm. Ten suits have been filed in Illinois. Employers that have been sued include Bechtel Corp., General Dynamics Corp., International Paper Co., Kraft Foods Global, Inc., Lockheed Martin Corp., Northrop Grumman Corp., United Technologies Corp. ABB, Inc., Deere & Co. and Unisys Corp. In order…
Baldwin & Lyons Inc. has been publicly traded for nearly four decades. For most of that span, the Indianapolis company has gone quietly about its business of providing insurance for truck fleets. And investors who went along for the ride generally fared well. But recent months have been bumpy. Baldwin is in the tricky game of setting premiums, then hoping claims come in low enough to ensure a profit. The company’s financial results of late have been worse than expected….
The Indy Racing League is continuing its popularity growth.
After a strong month of May in Indianapolis, the IRL saw a 30 percent attendance increase at its race yesterday in Milwaukee, to just more than 30,000.
While…
Expect the state economy in coming months to feel like a head cold that won’t go away. And the Indianapolis area won’t escape the doldrums. That’s the take from the latest quarterly forecast issued by a group of Indiana University economists. The Center for Econometric Model Research says the state will suffer declining employment and […]
My father in law, John Parker Jr., died this past March in LaPorte. He was 90, so he didn’t get shortchanged in the longevity department. He had a full, complete life. Except for one thing. He spent virtually all those 90 years rooting for his beloved Chicago Cubs to win a World Series. As with many from northwestern Indiana-Da Region-his afternoon ritual, especially in his retirement years, was sitting in front of the television to root, root, root for the…
The conversation between my neighbors, Paula and Paul Plain, interrupts the enjoyment I get from sitting on the deck in the dark of the night. They generally agree on whatever subject they discuss, but their voices nonetheless displace nature’s quiet. Thus, I find myself an unwilling participant in their nocturnal conversations. Last week, they were discussing the idea that young adult Hoosiers should be encouraged to remain in Indiana. “I’m so glad,” Paula crooned, “that 80 percent of central Indiana’s…
State and local leaders are turning up the amp on the importance of higher education, but they’re also trying to tune students into the message that being college-educated doesn’t have to mean spending four years at a university. In recent weeks, both Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels have loudly proclaimed the state’s need for more workers with twoyear degrees. While government officials have long said the state needs a more educated work force to attract business,…
Two high-profile property developers are squaring off for the rights to transform a six-story apartment complex adjacent to
the Central Library downtown. Van Rooy Properties and Buckingham Cos. both submitted proposals to redevelop the Ambassador
apartments at 39 E. Ninth St., just north of the library.
Spiking diesel fuel prices have deflated trucking stocks and made road kill out of many a small motor carrier. It’s sweet
irony for anyone who’s worn a pinstriped cotton cap to work. The rising price of diesel is poised to invigorate a mode of
transportation that trucks nearly annihilated–the 40 freight railroads crisscrossing the state.
A bankruptcy trustee is planning an auction of Premier Properties USA Inc.’s
remaining office furniture while struggling to get a handle on what other assets remain for the defunct developer.
