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VIEWPOINT: Expect disruptions at midfield terminal

What frequent travelers dislike is disruption, and that’s in your future if you travel through Indianapolis International Airport. If you’re a frequent traveler like me, you’ll need to be patient and learn some new tricks. Due to open late this fall, the terminal is a huge shift, with its own entrance off Interstate 70. Don’t go to the old terminal and look for a route to the new one, because there isn’t a convenient one. The airport parking lots you’ve…

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Move over ‘Super 70’-this one is really big: Department of Transportation hoping for summer launch of study to add truck lanes to 800 miles of I-70

Imagine driving the car down an interstate highway devoid of tractor trailers. It could dramatically improve traffic flow and safety, but it would sever supply chains and bring manufacturing to a halt-to say nothing of the state’s logistics industry. But how about putting those trucks in their own lanes, separated from cars and light trucks? What seemed merely a fanciful concept for Interstate 70 when highway planners tossed it out about a year ago is gaining momentum. The Indiana Department…

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Test run of commuter rail could be relatively cheap

Planners and politicians spent the better part of a decade and untold millions of dollars studying a mass transit system between
downtown and the suburbs. They have little to show for it except mounds of reports and an estimate of $690 million, but the
boys in bib overalls at the Indiana Transportation Museum think they can get it done for much less.

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Commentary: Making the segue to Segways

Have you seen Margot Eccles or Brian Payne cruising downtown sidewalks on their Segways? It’s quite the sight, and a still-novel one considering Eccles and Payne are the only two people I know who have the two-wheelers and use them regularly in the central business district, save the security people at Circle Centre mall. I went to a meeting Eccles attended on the 29th floor of One American Square and her Segway was parked in the corner of the conference…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Despite some perceptions, future for IT workers bright

In mid-March, Bill Gates traveled to Washington to carry an unpopular message to Congress: Raise the limits on visas for foreignborn tech workers, or Microsoft and other high-tech companies will be forced to move more jobs overseas in search of a skilled work force. Gates’ testimony to the House Committee on Science & Technology wasn’t groundbreaking-the shortage of tech workers is well-documented. But it begs an obvious question: Why have computer science enrollments at U.S. colleges and universities fallen by…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: A healthy economy makes an uninteresting campaign

In this curious primary season, Indiana finds itself the brief center of attention as Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama invest time and treasure in the crossroads of America. The strongest focus in both their campaigns is my favorite subject-the economy. Both candidates bemoan the poor Hoosier economy, its job losses and income inequality. This would be a superb campaign approach for both candidates, except that their claims are wholly, totally and embarrassingly devoid of facts. Indiana’s economy is doing…

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Airport contractor accused of faulty work in New York

An Indianapolis firm helping oversee construction of the city’s $1.2 billion midfield terminal is facing accusations from
Southwest Airlines that it failed to ensure the quality of a $12.4 million concrete apron at Long Island MacArthur Airport.

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Recession speculation is wrong way to use brainpower

With all the media warnings on the state of the U.S. economy, it is hard to get a good idea what a recession is and what it might mean for Hoosiers. The formal definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth. We haven’t had even one quarter where real growth dipped below zero, and the weakerthan-usual employment data of the first three months this year won’t be enough to pull the economy into a recession. The…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Intermodal is key to Indiana’s future crossroads identity

Earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal ran a front-page story about rail’s resurgence as a means for moving goods across the country. The story described the federal dollars being spent to fuel this railroad recovery, as well as the private sector investments being made and the economic benefits waiting for cities that get involved. The story included a map with thick, colored lines representing the key rail systems connecting the Midwest to the coasts. It took only a quick…

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Company seeing big growth in family entertainment: Firm supplies parties with oddball acts from acrobats to mimes to ventriloquists

When Kathy Fitzgerald has a group of 85 day-camp kids to entertain, she needs someone who can hold their attention-easier said than done considering they range in age from 6 to 13, not counting the 12 young adults who work as camp counselors. If an act bombs, the result can be chaos. That’s why Fitzgerald, assistant park manager for Broad Ripple Park, has locally based FamilyTime Entertainment Inc. on her speed dial. FamilyTime can deliver a fully produced magic show,…

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FUNNY BUSINESS: Wing and a prayer: Surviving today’s air travel

One of the great struggles of the day-Airlines vs. Human Beings-has taken some interesting turns lately, but the score remains the same as it has been for years: The human beings are not winning. Consider these touchdowns, so to speak, just from the last couple of weeks: A piece of a wing detaches itself from a US Airways jet and smacks into several of the plane’s windows before falling to the ground somewhere in Maryland. “May I have your attention,…

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VIEWPOINT: Lest we forget, ‘solid and stable’ is good

“I moved to Indiana on purpose,” I’ve been telling people since the move from Florida last August. The Indianapolis area attracted me and my business for a number of reasons-reasons which, I’m more convinced each day, Hoosiers take for granted. Someone might want to consider the good that’s right in front of our collective noses: Unlike Florida, whence I emigrated, people here know who can get things done, where businesses are, and whose reputation is good. A state full of…

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Under Grueninger, Ambassadair division chartering growth

Michael Grueninger, president of Grueninger Travel Group, has learned since his company bought Ambassadair in 2005 from now-defunct
ATA Airlines that many travelers once enamored with dirt-cheap fares they can book online want something more than low price.
They are willing to pay for service.

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IU leader’s goal: global integration: CIBER director wants center’s work to influence all areas of business education

Barbara Flynn, a veteran of academia who arrived at Indiana University in 2006, is director of the IU Center for International Business Education and Research. CIBER, founded in 1981, creates business research and study opportunities for IU faculty and students, with the ultimate goal of preparing graduates to compete in today’s global economy. The center mostly is funded federally and operates on a $500,000 annual budget. The 55-year-old Flynn has a degree in psychology from Ripon College in Wisconsin and…

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ATA plan ticks off terminated pilots, attendants

Former ATA Airlines employees are trying to comb the wreckage of the bankrupt carrier, looking to grab their financial belongings
before managers and lenders cart off what little is left. Pilots and flight attendants are opposing retention bonuses for
managers who will spend the next several months turning out the lights of the 35-year-old carrier.

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Charter schools face long wait for county funding: State, local money based on outdated mechanism

The property tax reform plan recently signed into law by Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to provide relief-eventually-for most homeowners. Unfortunately, the tax crisis wasn’t fixed fast enough for charter schools. Because property taxes haven’t been calculated yet this year, schools didn’t get funding advances from Marion County, something 15 of the county’s 21 charter schools needed last year. At least one school-Irvington Community Academy-has received help from the Greater Educational Opportunities Foundation in getting an emergency bridge loan of…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Sales tax increase helps cut government spending

Indiana’s sales taxes rose a penny this week, to 7 percent. The increase was a necessary remedy to our property tax mess. But it’s worth laying out its impact on our economy. Sales tax is paid by Hoosier residents, visitors and businesses alike. By my estimates, Indiana households will pay $640 million in additional sales taxes, businesses $500 million more, and out-of-state visitors an extra $160 million. The two effects economists might worry about with a tax hike are changes…

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VIEWPOINT: Get on board with transit, or miss the bus

The Crossroads of America is at a crossroads-a transportation crossroads. And the direction we choose will affect our area’s competitiveness and economy for decades. It’s imperative that we embrace mass transit. Mass transit matters because it correlates to a key concern for companies planning to move or expand: access to a qualified work force. In choosing a community, companies assess obvious factors such as site acquisition costs and taxation, but even those typically take a back seat to work-force access….

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Monarch eyes vacant Lawrence drive-in for HQ

The state’s largest beer and wine distributor is considering a long-abandoned drive-in theater in Lawrence for a new headquarters.
Monarch Beverage Co. has outgrown its home along Interstate 465 just east of the airport and has been looking for a place
to move for a year.

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Charities are feeling pain of gas price spike: Groups scrambling for volunteers, dollars to beef up transportation

With gas prices on the rise-and expected to reach $4 a gallon this summer-local not-for-profits are losing volunteers and throwing money at skyrocketing transportation budgets. Indianapolis Meals on Wheels Inc. Executive Director Barb Morris is used to fielding calls from reporters whenever gas prices fluctuate. In the past, she quashed their theory that high prices at the pump drove away volunteers. Not now, though. “If you’d asked me four or five months ago, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not,'” Morris…

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