Second-quarter net profit soared 49.3 percent for Republic Airways Inc., the Indianapolis-based carrier said late yesterday. Republic’s $28.4 million in profit was bolstered by a one-time gain of $6 million resulting from an interest-rate swap. Without the swap, Republic still turned a profit of $22.4 million, up nearly 18 percent from the same quarter last […]
Let’s get burritogate out of the way and proceed to more substantive, if less spicy, matters. Yes, a guy who works for the Canadian National Railroad paid for a burrito and a beer that I consumed. He did not know then that I wrote this column and hence commanded a vast, influential audience. I did not know then that he had a project to represent. But CN (as the rail line is called) has a most significant project going. It…
In the buttoned-down world of banking, it doesn't get much stranger than this: An Indianapolis loan officer with a strong reputation is suddenly dismissed after his employer charges he falsified lending documents. The bank says the fraud exposes it to potential losses approaching $20 million. And here's the kicker: The employer hasn't accused the banker of committing the wrongdoing for personal gain.
In the buttoneddown world of banking, it doesn’t get much stranger than this: An Indianapolis loan officer with a strong reputation is suddenly dismissed after his employer charges he falsified lending documents. The bank says the fraud exposes it to potential losses approaching $20 million. And here’s the kicker: The employer hasn’t accused the banker of committing the wrongdoing for personal gain. There are no allegations, for instance, of setting up fictitious borrowers to scoop up bank cash on his…
Auto insurance rates are climbing nationally, led by increases in Indiana that topped all other states, according to a report released last month by Insurance.com. The online auto insurance agency said the lowest car insurance quotes, on average, jumped 3.4 percent, to $1,893 per year, from the first quarter to the second. Rate increases in Indiana nearly doubled the national average, rising 6.7 percent, or $94, to $1,501. Arkansas and Rhode Island followed, with 6.1-percent and 5-percent spikes, respectively. Sam…
RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY Laptop hell: Air travel can bounce, bungle data Travel may broaden the mind, but it’s hell on laptops. If your laptop suffers some kind of death-dealing blow, it’ll probably be on the road. Air travel is the worst. You’re required during security screening to pull your laptop out of its snug little protective cover and submit it to the tender mercies of the Transportation Security Administration’s conveyors, X-ray machines and employees. Then there’s the jostling scramble to…
Five airlines at Indianapolis International Airport–all of them paying higher fees and rents to help
pay for the $1.1 billion midfield terminal–complain they may be stuck footing the bill for part of the
$214 million FedEx cargo-hub expansion.
Travel may broaden the mind, but it’s hell on laptops. If your laptop suffers some kind of death-dealing blow, it’ll probably be on the road. Air travel is the worst. You’re required during security screening to pull your laptop out of its snug little protective cover and submit it to the tender mercies of the Transportation Security Administration’s conveyors, X-ray machines and employees. Then there’s the jostling scramble to put it back in on the far side of the screening…
Five airlines at Indianapolis International Airport–all of them paying higher fees and rents to help pay for the $1.1 billion midfield terminal–complain they may be stuck footing the bill for part of the $214 million FedEx cargo-hub expansion. The dispute is detailed in a recent Federal Aviation Administration decision on a complaint filed in April 2007 by Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines, AirTran Airways, Continental Airlines and Southwest Airlines. It provides a rare look into the sometimes fractious relationship between…
Wheaton World Wide Moving has named two executives to fill the president and CEO positions long held by Stephen F. Burns, who will remain chairman, the Indianapolis moving company announced today. Effective Jan. 1, Chief Operating Officer Mark Kirschner will become CEO and Executive Vice President Dave Witzerman will become president. Burns has led the […]
Republic Airways Holdings will operate a dozen 76-seat Embraer aircraft for Milwaukee-based Midwest Airlines, Midwest announced yesterday. Indianapolis-based Republic will operate the planes until Midwest can move the fleet under its own Federal Aviation Administration operating certificate. Midwest will have the option of leasing the Embraer 170 aircraft from Republic. Republic also said it is […]
Gibson Insurance Group is the latest benefits broker to get more serious about wellness. The South Bend-based firm, which has an office in Indianapolis, has hired a dedicated wellness director to help its clients refine and assess their wellness programs for workers. Nicole Fallowfield, the former vice president of sales for Principal Wellness Co. in Indianapolis, will work out of Gibson’s downtown Indianapolis office but serve Gibson’s clients throughout Indiana. By hiring Fallowfield, Gibson joins a budding trend among brokers…
O N T H E R E C O R D First Merchants Corp. of Muncie announced Sept. 3 that it has agreed to buy Lincoln Bancorp of Plainfield for about $75 million. The acquisition expands First Merchants’ presence in the Indianapolis area from the northern suburbs into other fast-growing suburbs on the west and south sides. Announcement of the deal sparked a 37-percent runup in the value of Lincoln shares. Elanco, the animal-health division of Eli Lilly and Co.,…
Despite almost three months of attempted negotiations, officials for Lin TV Corp. and Bright House Networks have not been able to agree to extend their current deal to retransmit Lin’s three local channels on the cable system. Lin officials say Bright House has not responded to their proposals. However, Buz Nesbit, president of Florida-based Bright […]
Last week’s column looked ahead to the limitless possibilities of Lucas Oil Stadium. This week’s topic is a last look back at the Hoosier/RCA Dome because, this Wednesday, the Dome will be deflated and it will pass forever from our skyline. But not from our memories. Imagine our city without it. There would be no Indianapolis Colts. There likely would be no forthcoming Super Bowl, no Final Fours and no NCAA headquarters. There likely would have been no Pan American…
There are art lovers who will never, ever be able to embrace the kind of work represented in the very representational “Quest for the West” show at the Eiteljorg (through Oct. 5). Featuring Native Americans crouching at riverside, stalwart cowboys trudging through snow-covered silence, bucolic mountains, steadfast wolves (or coyotes-sorry, I’m from New Jersey), and anguished bronzes, much of the work seems to exist independent of the artists. Yes, they seem to have been there to capture the images, but…
With a driver shortage as bad as the freight industry says, one might think operating a truck-driving school would be a license to print money. But proposed federal rules to toughen training standards and, lately, a fishtailing economy could bring a shakeout among schools. There are even rumblings that a few big carriers that contract with driving schools are poised to eliminate tuition reimbursement as they sweat out the economic downturn. “We’re going to start losing schools,” predicted John Priest,…
A legal malpractice insurance carrier has agreed to pay $16.5 million to Indiana ‘s insurance department, settling a federal lawsuit stemming from the multi-million-dollar collapse of a health insurance trust. Alabama-based ProNational Insurance Co. agreed to make the payment to settle a bad-faith and breach-of-contract lawsuit filed by the department four months ago. ProNational was […]
Indianapolis-based passenger carrier Republic Airways Holdings Inc. said today it has agreed to loan US Airways Group Inc. as much as $35 million. Republic offered an initial, $10 million loan, on Oct. 20, and has made available an additional $25 million in the first quarter of 2009. Republic flies smaller jets for US Airways, headquartered […]
The big debt payments on the $1.1 billion midfield terminal at Indianapolis International Airport start coming due in January–just
as a recession hits and the battered airline industry cuts capacity. Despite the likely prospect of fewer passengers than
projected in the next year or two, airport managers say they don’t anticipate problems shouldering the roughly $40 million
a year in debt burden over the next 30 years for the new facility.
