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BRIAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Should we invest in ethanol or education?

During times of high gasoline prices, the investment made by the Daniels administration in six ethanol plants would seem prudent. The touted benefits of ethanol plants are that they create jobs in rural communities, support Indiana corn growers, improve air quality, and lower dependence on foreign oil. As an Indianapolis resident with little exposure to our farm economy, my first question was, “How do you make ethanol?” Ethanol is made by fermenting and distilling simple sugars like those found in…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: Scattered images from abroad

We landed in the Marble City, nearly blinded by the light and the white and the reflection of it all. I think of Athens as the Marble City because of its many ruins, but also because of all the other marble buildings and the slippery marble sidewalks and, in our apartment, the marble walls and floors and marble countertops that make so much noise when you set your cup down. We felt compelled to bring some marble home with us….

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New funds target life sciences: MidPoint concentrates on agricultural technology; Heron aims at broader market

Two new locally based venture capital funds believe Indiana is ripe with opportunity for biotech deals. With $20 million under management, Heron Capital LLC is broadly focused on the whole Hoosier life sciences market. Attempting to raise $30 million, the Mid-Point Food & Ag Fund LP has a narrower concentration: high-technology related to farming and nutrition. “We’re very excited about our prospects,” said Heron Managing Director Greg Maurer. “We have a number of deals in the hopper, some of which…

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BioCrossroads seeks help teaching math and science: Education center to bolster students’ careers

Indiana life sciences initiative BioCrossroads wants to improve the science and math skills of Indiana’s elementary and high school students. To figure out how, it’s asking the public for ideas. BioCrossroads released a “request for interest in participation” in the creation of a new K-12 Indiana Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education Resource Center. Patterned after the North Carolina Science, Mathematics and Technology Education Center, BioCrossroads’ STEM is meant to be a Web-based, largely virtual organization. It would coordinate math…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Mysteries abound in Indiana

There is so much I do not understand about Indiana. After living here for 35 years, after visiting every county and traveling almost every mile of state highway, after making friends with thousands of Hoosiers, I am in the dark on so many issues. Here are three examples: Example 1: What do Mitch Daniels, Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, and Kathleen Blanco of Louisiana have in common? They are all governors who have massive approval deficits. According to Survey USA (and…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: It’s time we get started on a new state economy

Have you ever plunked down a lot of money for something and worried if you made the right choice? You have plenty of company. To cope with that insecurity, some of us try to persuade our friends to follow our footsteps. We put forth convincing arguments why our brand of car, or our new electronic gizmo, is really the best thing, and feel comforted and vindicated when they make the same choice we made. For too many years, that simple…

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At age 2, Future Fund still work in progress: So far, 7 startups have received investments from BioCrossroads

For two years now, the $73 million Indiana Future Fund has been at work in the Indiana life sciences market. BioCrossroads, Indiana’s public-private life sciences economic development initiative, is pleased with the results so far. “When we put the Indiana Future Fund together and surveyed the landscape, there were only two or three [local venture capital] firms that really identified themselves as in [the life sciences] area,” said BioCrossroads President David Johnson. “Now we see much more traffic than we…

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Right decision crucial for small firms:

Of course, trying to be less subjective does not mean you shouldn’t consider “fit” with the organization’s culture. In a small company, fit can be critical. One way to attempt to reduce early turnover is to use the “realistic job preview,” in which prospective employees are given both the positive and negative aspects of the job, as opposed to the traditional approach of “selling” the firm. If individuals aren’t going to enjoy the job, it’s better to know it before…

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NOTIONS: Seeking your input on satisfaction

Dear Reader: For six years, I’ve filled this weekly space with notions, gnashings, drivel and diatribes. From time to time, some readers have responded-often with nods of agreement, occasionally with headshaking disbelief, once in a while with outraged indignation. Now that we’ve built something of a virtual community (call it a Neanderthal blog), I want to ask you a question. Yes, I mean you. Please don’t assume someone else will answer. And please, don’t feel that your insights and opinions…

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Alien hirers rarely busted: Law doesn’t force employers to verify that workers are legal

Despite a high-profile raid against IFCO Systems on April 19, Indianapolis employers have little to fear in hiring undocumented aliens or those who present questionable identification. Rarely do immigration cops bust an Indianapolis-area workplace. Until federal agents led away about 40 allegedly undocumented Mexicans and Guatemalans at the south-side pallet plant this month, the last high-profile raid was more than a decade ago. In 1995, customs officials raided the former Simpson Race Products shoe factory in Speedway, nabbing 66 illegal…

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VIEWPOINT: Latinos and the legal system: no free lunch

Many issues face national and local civil and criminal justice systems across our nation. Years and years of application of Band-Aid remedies to complicated and longterm problems have brought many government systems to the verge of collapse. Marion County is no exception to the rule. Courts are strained with overwhelming caseloads. Average lives of cases continue to increase, clogging jails and courts. Public defender and prosecutor caseloads continue to swell, effectively reducing the quality of representation available to both the…

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Ivy Tech to focus more on results, not just growth: Student success and broader ties with employers among goals of community college system’s five-year plan

After growing its enrollment 75 percent the last decade, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana is shifting its focus to student retention. A top administrator also wants to expand the number of training courses offered at businesses, as a way to supplement the system’s $253 million annual budget. Some who’ve studied the state’s educational system have recommended that Ivy Tech spend more to hire additional full-time faculty to strengthen its effectiveness. The school’s five-year student retention plan calls for doubling…

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Real estate experts examine the market: Indianapolis in good shape overall, panelists say, but job growth, incentive issues, among concerns

On April 14, as part of its Power Breakfast Series, the Indianapolis Business Journal gathered a panel of commercial real estate and construction experts to discuss industry conditions in the local market. In a discussion moderated by IBJ Editor Tom Harton, panelists took on a wide range of issues, including tax incentives and the status of downtown’s residential and retail markets. Power Breakfast guests were Mike Curless, executive vice president and principal with Lauth Property Group; Mike Wells, president of…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: As construction costs rise, older buildings gain appeal

Construction costs continue to rise in the wake of hurricanes, tornadoes, the war in Iraq, the building boom in China and general inflation. The trickle-down effect often lands at the feet of small business owners. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index, prices for materials and construction components increased 0.3 percent in February, following a 1-percent hike in January and continuing a threeyear upswing. The average building cost index has increased about 45 percent since 1995,…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Measuring jobs: How to get handle on how we’re doing

Getting a good read on the Indiana economy is harder than you might think. That’s partly because there really is no such thing as the Indiana economy. State borders are, after all, purely legal contrivances that flows of dollars, workers and goods don’t worry much about. We’re a collection of regions, in actuality, some centered within our state’s borders and some not. But it is the public sector that does the scorekeeping on the economy, and it is public officials…

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Suburban residents slow to jump on vanpool bandwagon: Neither cost nor environmental advantages stir the masses; advocate says ’employers need to get smarter’

The federally funded Central Indiana Commuter Services has finally won over a dozen workers to share a van to and from work-somewhat of a feat in a region where a vanpool might as well be a bathing option for a conversion van. Besides a vanpool program that runs between Cloverdale and Indianapolis, CICS recently signed on a handful of Fishers residents to share a seven-passenger van between the Hamilton County town and downtown Indianapolis. Lately, CICS has been trying to…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Diversifying economy requires new mind-set

The microwave oven has been a staple in most American kitchens for so long that there is now a generation of young adults who’ve never lived without them. And for that same generation, the doughy, limp texture of foods like pizza quick-cooked in a microwave, in contrast to the crisped, browned texture produced over a longer time by conventional heat, is associated with the food, not the technology. If you’ve grown up eating from a microwave, that’s the way food’s…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: A silent productivity killer: executives with addictions

Productivity losses-every business executive looks for ways to avoid them. Yet, an astonishing $40 billion in productivity gains were lost last year due to preventable selfinflicted behavior. This productivity killer typically openly manifests itself on days like Jan. 2, or more recently, on the Monday after the Super Bowl, when an estimated 1.4 million Americans called in sick after a Sunday of intense partying. A big loser? Indiana’s economy This major loss in productivity reflects rapidly growing excessive alcohol use…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Election is critical to Gary’s future

Let’s sell Fort Wayne and its surrounding counties to Ohio or Michigan. Or in the spirit of the day, at least we could lease out part of northeast Indiana. If we got rid of Fort Wayne (Allen County) and two counties to the north (Steuben and DeKalb) plus one county to the south (Adams) and one to the west (Huntington), we could decrease our state’s population by 491,500. Why would we want to do that? There’s no good reason to…

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Experts: Businesses should prep for bird flu: Vast majority of U.S. companies have not budgeted for possible pandemic, despite warnings from health officials

The much-hyped Y2K computer bug came and went without so much as a whimper from a whirring hard drive. But unlike the threat of malfunctioning computers, health experts warn that the potential danger of an avian flu pandemic is far greater. In the event of a widespread outbreak in the United States, companies large and small need to be prepared in order to keep interruptions to a minimum, they say. “I am an evangelist for having a contingency plan,” said…

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