I drove past the shrine at Clark and Addison in Chicago the day after the White Sox won the World Series. All was normal outside Wrigley Field. There was no evidence of the momentous event in Houston the night before. The White Sox and their fans do not exist for Cubs fans. There is an order to the world. For Hoosiers, people from Kentucky generally rank lower than folks from Pennsylvania. Yet we know Hoosiers don’t rank highly in the…
An Indianapolis company that provides wireless broadband service from atop grain elevators, water towers or darned near anywhere the warbler roosts is expanding at a rapid clip and plans to launch Internet-based phone service in early 2006. Omnicity Inc. also plans another private offering to raise cash for its ambitious build-out in rural areas that are underserved by high-speed Internet providers. Improving broadband access has economic development implications in Indianapolis’ remote bedroom communities and throughout sparsely populated areas. Now, even…
Here’s a new twist in the already surreal saga of James T. O’Neal Jr., the Carmel native preparing to stand trial in Orlando on charges he swindled millions of dollars from executives here and in Florida. In late September, a new court filing charges, the 59-year-old Orlando resident swiped his passport and the Social Security cards for himself and his family from a repository of court records in Indianapolis. “It is a reasonable assumption that he will continue to take…
There’s no such thing as a free lunch, goes the familiar cliché about economics. That old phrase is meant to impart the simple idea that anything that consumes resources imposes a cost, which is certainly true. But a little tweak of the wording produces a much more powerful insight. That’s to say-to an economist’s way of thinking, at least-nothing should be free. Those dour sentiments doubtless explain why economists don’t get invited to many parties. Free goods abound in our…
Four miles and decades of history separate the Anderson exits along Interstate 69 northeast of Indianapolis. Empty General Motors Corp. plants-as much a thing of the past as single-class basketball-cast ominous shadows at Exit 26, once Anderson’s front door. To the west, closer to Indianapolis, is Exit 22 and the trappings of the future: millions of dollars in new infrastructure, a new business park, and the state’s largest business incubator-tools Anderson officials think they need to turn this rust-belt poster…
I hate to get all philosophical on you, but a free press is critical to democracy. In the free world, newspapers have always played the dual roles of information provider and watchdog. Readers expect to learn what’s happening by reading newspapers. When it comes to publicly funded government entities, the role of watchdog is particularly critical. Newspapers throw the light of day on the workings of government so citizens can see how their money is spent and keep their elected…
Indiana state government will unveil a fresh approach to insurance coverage next year when it offers health savings accounts to its 33,000 employees and their dependents. The state wants employees to take more control of their health care and consequently harness spiraling costs, Personnel Director Debra Minott said. The high-deductible AnthemBy-Design plan it chose to accomplish that will be offered as one of five coverage options during an open enrollment that starts Oct. 31. “We really see a looming crisis…
A centrally planned economy. A few guys in a back room making unaccountable decisions. Men obtaining supreme power through unelected means. Americans fought wars to avoid living under the Soviet-style government I just described above. The problem is I am not describing the Soviet Union. I am talking about or own country! The Federal Reserve Bank of America is run like a dictatorship. It is insane that we give so much lip service to the power of democracy and the…
A growing population is breeding more multimillion-dollar health care projects in Hendricks County. Danville-based Hendricks Regional Health will begin work next month on a $16 million medical office building more than a year after completing a $24.5 million hospital expansion, and St. Francis Hospital & Health Centers is staking its claim with a $4.7 million medical office under construction in Plainfield. Meanwhile, Clarian Health Partners plans to bulk up parts of the 76-bed hospital it opened just last year in…
A consortium of some of central Indiana’s biggest players in construction has set its sights on improving minority involvement in the $8-billion-a-year industry. The Indiana Construction Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the biggest users and providers of construction services, on Oct. 12 approved a diversity outreach initiative. The ambitious plan aims to increase minority participation in the construction industry by rewarding contractors who support education and training, employ minorities and women, and mentor small minority- and women-owned…
Sanford Kahn, a business trends analyst, (www.businessspeaker.biz/ ) once wrote that it is a myth that information is power, and I agree with him. If it were true, the public library would rule the world. Google would run a galactic empire. Instead, in the halls of the real power structure in the world’s most powerful nation, our government suffered one of history’s biggest forehead-slappers after its intelligence organization confused rhetoric with reality over weapons of mass destruction. In this case,…
There is an unfortunate misunderstanding going around about the Social Security trust fund. These are facts: First, the U.S. bonds that constitute its assets pay the same rate of interest as regular U.S. bonds. Second, the bonds held by Social Securi ty are not marketable, which means they can be cashed any time at par or face value. Other U.S. bonds are subject to the market if cashed before maturity. Third, the surplus is not there by accident; it was…
The giggle will soon be gone. Hoosier Lottery officials are eliminating the tag line giggle in their ads. And, more significantly, they’re replacing the local firm that created those ads with a Louisville-based advertising agency. That decision has wiped the smile off many faces in the local advertising community. One local industry executive said agencies here are stunned given the state’s pledge to “buy Indiana.” The Louisville firm, Bandy Carroll Hellige, beat out Bloomington-based Hirons & Company Communications Inc. and…
Public broadcasters usually aren’t shy about asking for money. Indeed, their telethon-style fund-raising drives likely are as recognizable to audiences as Big Bird and Garrison Keillor. But when it comes to big money, they haven’t had much practice. Until now. For more than a year, Indianapolis broadcaster WFYI quietly has been lining up support for its largest-ever capital campaign-a $15.3 million effort to upgrade equipment, expand its Meridian Street building, and more than double the not-for-profit’s endowment. Station leaders were…
Driving a road sweeper when he was 18 years old, Ryan Kruse never saw the train that slammed into his vehicle and turned him into a quadriplegic. College and other plans for the future seemed out of reach for Kruse, who was paralyzed from his chest down that day 13 years ago. But recently, Kruse, who is working on a second bachelor’s degree at IUPUI, traveled to Georgia to celebrate his grandmother’s 80th birthday. He drove. With only limited use…
Many folks want to get rid of property taxes. They think property taxes are o l d – fa s h i o n e d , although most who think so have not thought through the issue. These property-tax abolitionists want to use income or sales taxes, which they contend are more “fair,” whatever that means. They forget that one aspect of “fairness” is to relate taxes to services received. This is called beneficiary taxation. An example of beneficiary…
The state of Indiana has taken a first step in overhauling how it manages its real estate by selecting a local firm to sell surplus property. Meridian Asset Development was notified Oct. 12 of the state’s intent to award it a contract to manage the sale of potentially hundreds of acres of land the state owns. A contract could be in place within two weeks, pending negotiations over the exact terms, said Kevin Ober, deputy commissioner for the Indiana Department…
In a dark corner of the Kenny Brown Performance garage is the 2005 Mustang Ford Motor Co. should have built. Supercharger. Disc brakes as big as the tires of some cars. All hung on a chassis that’s Prince Charles stiff. And shrouding its meaty tires are a protruding rear fender and a filled-in quarter window raked all the way back to the taillights, akin to the 1967 Mustang fastback. “It’s kind of like the marriage of heritage and technology,” said…
Change seems to be the one constant at Indianapolis Public Schools. Superintendent Eugene White unveiled a major redistricting plan Oct. 12 that would send 14 percent of students to new schools next year. IPS has been redrawing its districts every few years since the ’70s. In recent years, children in my Irvington neighborhood have been assigned at various times to Thomas Carr Howe, Arlington and Broad Ripple high schools. Now, it’ll be back to Howe again. Some families, like mine,…
One of two former Brightpoint Inc. employees charged this month in an accounting scandal has agreed to plead guilty in return for receiving a prison sentence of no more than 18 months. John Delaney, 40, former chief accounting officer of the wireless phone wholesaler, could end up spending far less time behind bars. In his nine-page plea agreement filed in federal court in Indianapolis, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says it will argue for a lesser sentence. Delaney on Oct. 13…
