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Fast-growing WDG built on years of industry experience: Veteran of Kite, Lauth branches out on his own

For Mike Wyman, a devastating fire that gutted the family home during his teen-age years laid the foundation for a rewarding career in construction. The 41-year-old Wyman climbed from carpenter to become a leader of projects at two of the city’s largest commercial developers before launching his own company in 2005. WDG Construction & Development Services Inc. on East Washington Street downtown has since grown into a firm that expects to top $30 million in revenue next year-double this year’s…

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Commentary: To the victor go the schools?

I have no idea who will get the job of mayor of Indianapolis come Nov. 7. But whoever it is can make a real difference in this town by tackling its most pressing issue: public schools. Good schools are the lifeblood of any community. They increase property values, lower crime and make your municipality more attractive to companies looking to relocate. Marion County schools haven’t had the best track records. Whether it’s Indianapolis Public Schools and its academic performance, Washington…

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Design Build Institute hoping to spur flood of projects:

Public entities, like school districts and universities, are not known for being risk takers. Some even call them “risk averse.” So, those in the architectural and construction industries aren’t surprised that a state law passed two years ago allowing public entities to use the design-build process is only now taking hold. Design-build lets the owner hire one team to carry out both the design and construction of a project-unlike the traditional design-bid-build process in which the owner commissions architectural plans,…

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Financial education on a roll: Money Bus travels state to make children smarter about finances

Teaching kids about finances used to be as simple as giving them lunch money. With credit card debt and bankruptcy rates soaring among young adults, however, there’s a new push nationwide to help kids get smart about money. Experts say even kindergartners aren’t too young to learn the ins and outs of spending, saving, borrowing and budgeting. One local program is hoping to do all that in a fun, informative setting. The Money Bus, a sort of traveling classroom, visits…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Time for a little schooling on income inequality

A reader in South Bend recently argued that attention to growing wage inequality in the country should be part of these economic discussions. He is right-and given the proximity of the presidential election, we are all going to hear plenty about it. Here’s a bit of economic analysis of the situation. By itself, income data can tell a misleading story. The United States enjoys significant income variability over an individual’s life cycle. So, a snapshot across one year tells us…

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White-collar crime has a new watchdog: Indiana securities commissioner aims to educate investors, enforce law

Madison native Chris Naylor on Oct. 5 became Indiana’s securities commissioner. He was appointed by Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita to succeed O. Wayne Davis, who now is a semi-retired legal consultant. Naylor, former county prosecutor in two southern Indiana counties, sat down with IBJ to talk about his goals as the state’s top securities cop. The following is an edited version of that interview. IBJ: What’s your office’s focus? NAYLOR: There are two large areas: investor protection and…

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VIEWPOINT: Reform won’t require constitutional rewrite

In July, when Gov. Mitch Daniels appointed the Commission on Local Government Reform to search for ways to streamline and modernize Indiana’s system of local government, he recommended considering every option for bringing government into the 21st century. And he raised one particularly dramatic option: convening a convention to rewrite Indiana’s constitution, a document that has been amended often, but never rewritten, in 156 years. Times were different in 1851, when Indiana enacted its constitution. The state had fewer than…

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Washington Township tests anti-tax mood

A north-side Marion County school district is reigniting the property-tax furor by rolling out a plan to spend as much as
$200 million on renovations and new construction. Washington Township is the first school district in the county to unveil
major capital projects since residents howled in protest last summer against property-tax increases that averaged 35 percent.

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New leader aims to keep school, students growing: More businesses support private north-side institution

What began in 1994 as a six-room schoolhouse with 38 students has grown into a three-building campus with 602 pupils. The growth of the International School of Indiana, which welcomed a new headmaster this year, has been possible because of increased support from an expanding flock of businesses. They believe in its mission: to help attract scientists and executives from around the world to this community by providing a global education for their children. Before the school opened, recalled Eli…

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IU business incubator partners with Siberian school: Reciprocal visits could lead to high-tech opportunities

After unwrapping his luggage from its seal of shrink-wrap, Mark Long reviewed his notes for the upcoming seminar. He hardly needed them. Long, CEO of Indiana University’s Research and Technology Corp., has spoken many times about how academics transfer their research discoveries to the market. But this was the first time he ever delivered the speech in Siberia. The audience-a group of business and academic leaders-ultimately could help Hoosiers access a treasure-trove of Russian technologies. “They have a lot of…

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Experts look into the future of health care: Industry panelists disagree on whether current system needs radical changes

Five local industry leaders conducted a serious debate over problems and issues facing our health care system during the most recent installment in Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast series. The event took place at the Downtown Marriott hotel on Sept. 21 The panelists: Robert Brody, president and CEO of St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers, the Indianapolis-area’s fourth-largest hospital system. Brody has been chief executive at St. Francis since 1996. Dr. Robert Mouser, a primary care physician at Cornerstone Family…

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PEOs bouncing back following shakeout: Professional employer organizations enjoying growth as companies seek better ways to manage benefits

Even though Sentelligence Inc. in Noblesville has only five employees, the tiny tech firm offers an appealing benefits package rivaling that of a large corporation. The designer of diagnostic sensing devices for diesel engines has not discovered the Holy Grail of human resources. Rather, it’s using what’s known as a professional employer organization. Companies contract with PEOs to handle all the headaches of human resources, including payroll, payroll taxes, Worker’s Compensation claims, health plans, and other employee benefits, not to…

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Is justice blind?: Few women in Indiana are appointed to high judiciary posts

It is still unusual to have women presiding over a court of law-so much so that when three women judges heard cases together on Sept. 28 in the 5th District Court of Appeals in Richland County, Ohio, it made history and national news. Should it come as a surprise that the symbol for justice is a woman? “Well that is a symbol, but the reality is that it is still a male-dominated profession,” said Maria Pabón López, an associate professor…

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Commentary: Here’s how to make a living (wage)

Of all the topics I could have chosen to write about this week, the one I kept coming back to was the whole issue of “living wage.” You guys are a pretty sharp audience by the fact you read this publication, so maybe one of you can help me figure out the living wage crowd. I just don’t get them. If you saw last week’s IBJ, you probably read Michael Dabney’s story on the ongoing efforts by the Service Employees…

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Tax credit boosts interest in Indiana’s college plan: Break offsets what some consider excessive fees

Parents sifting through the dizzying array of college-savings plans must feel as though they’re playing their children’s Pin the Tail on the Donkey game: Make a blind stab and hope for the best. But a state tax credit that took effect at the start of the year seemingly is providing enough incentive to steer Hoosiers toward Indiana’s 529 offering despite the hefty fees that accompany it. The bill that created the 20-percent tax credit-equaling $1,000 on contributions up to $5,000-vaults…

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Home entrepreneurs test child-care waters

Motherhood is a common path to the home-based child care business, but more childless women looking for self-employment options
also are getting into the field. Nearly 3,000 Indiana child-care providers are licensed to provide services in their homes–including
469 in Marion County.

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NOTIONS: It’s no rant; we need to have a conversation

If you’re reading this column in ink on newsprint, thanks. It’s the medium that inspired me to be a journalist, the one that still lands on my driveway each morning and the one I recycle each Friday afternoon. If you’re reading this column on a Web site, thanks. It’s the medium that’s revolutionized communications, the one drawing droves of ad dollars and the one I can turn to any time to learn what I want to learn as it happens-long…

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Rising tuition fuels Lumina’s reform agenda

The 7-year-old Lumina Foundation, formed as part of the sale of USA Group, is on a radical mission-to overhaul the way higher
education is funded in this country. The not-for-profit believes the nation’s economic future depends on making college more
affordable, and accessible.

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Web puts employers on display as much as job candidates

Job searches nowadays aren’t what they used to be, on both sides of the hunt. Looking for a job is a global endeavor now. And looking for employees produces more candidates, but is more complicated. As with so many other business matters, the Web has changed everything. At first glance, it would seem the old want ads page just moved into databases. Monster (www.monster.com) was one of the first companies to offer cyberlistings. The employer pays for the listing. The…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Time to make government accountable

The biggest change the Kernan-Shepard commission could recommend for improving local government would be to focus responsibility. Some folks want to consolidate government horizontally; that means combining units of the same type. It might take the form of consolidating school corporations or bringing the number of library districts down from 238 to some smaller number. (It could mean reducing the number of counties from 92 to a more realistic number, but I should not try to make you laugh.) Many…

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