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Flexible spending extension expected to be little-used: Planners say total elimination of use-it-or-lose it rule would increase participation, make plans more useful

A new Internal Revenue Service rule relaxes the “use it or lose it” rule in flexible spending accounts by extending the period during which expenses may be incurred beyond the end of the plan year. Health care flexible spending accounts allow participants to set aside at the beginning of the year a predetermined amount of pretax money to be used for medical, dental and vision expenses not covered by insurance. Dependent care spending accounts do the same thing for child…

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Biz groups join forces: Agencies hope to reach more minority-, women-owned firms

Two organizations that aim to increase business opportunities for minorities and women have formed a united front, hoping to foster even greater diversity among companies. Indiana Business Diversity Council and the National Association of Women Business Owners’local chapter aren’t only sharing knowledge and resources-they’ll also share space when NAWBO moves in with IBDC later this fall. NAWBO hopes the partnership will enhance its networking capabilities. It also will give the all-volunteer organization it first-ever place to call home. For its…

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Givers should be smart as well as generous, experts say: Do your homework before donating to any cause

Charitable giving often is a spur-of-themoment thing, particularly if it’s a response to a disaster. Still, charitable groups, relief agencies and financial advisers say a little thought before making a donation is a good idea. Giant disasters such as Hurricane Katrina jolt many people into trying to help, often with no particular idea beyond simply doing something. However, some types of help are more helpful than others. Properly following the rules of charitable giving can provide a tax benefit. It…

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‘1-of-a-kind’ Wal-Mart proposed: Michigan developer plans Carmel/Zionsville superstore

A Michigan developer plans to build a 300,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart Supercenter along Michigan Road north of 106th Street, continuing the rapid expansion of retail on the Michigan Road corridor. Heritage RDG LLC, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based developer new to the Indianapolis market, recently filed plans with town officials in both Zionsville and Carmel to build the center. The 36-acre parcel straddles the Boone-Hamilton county line and must be approved by local governments in both counties. Project…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: Big hankering for the Big Easy

Once you’ve lived in New Orleans, you never really leave. A part of you stays on. You don’t feel quite whole again except when you return. Then it’s like regaining an appendage you had learned to live without, but suddenly realize how much you have missed. Transfixed by events there over the past month, I have been missing that part of me I left behind in 1996 when I drove a U-Haul north after three years as a reporter and…

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Fly by security – for a price: ‘Registered traveler’ program to let passengers pay to avoid long lines

Business fliers accustomed to first-class seating will soon be eligible for privileged security screening at Indianapolis International Airport. Airport operator BAA Indianapolis is about to seek proposals from firms to operate a “registered traveler” program. It will entitle any frequent travelers who pass a government background check to use special security checkpoints-bypassing long lines and trouserloosening “secondary screening” passengers must sometimes endure. No more suffering in line behind bubble-gum-popping teens headed for Aruba. Show your registered traveler ID card and…

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BULLS & BEARS: Katrina crisis highlights need for self-sufficiency

No one really knows how Katrina is going to affect the economy. Some economists say it will be a whopper of a negative while some are convinced-and convincing-that she ultimately will be positive for GDP. But based on the fact the stock market, which is the great predicting machine, advanced a couple of percentage points in the week following the disaster, I’d have to go with the positive bet. The slow response and evacuation snafus were one problem, but the…

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Pocket-protector crowd to preach quality: Group plans first conference to promote better practices in information technology

Because of them, people stocked basements with food, guns and ammo. Others fell prostrate on hilltops and sang Kumbaya. There was fear software developers would inadvertently destroy the world with the infamous Y2K computer glitch, in the opening hours of 2000. These days, however, it is the developers who are worried-about things like how a glitch can give hackers access to customer credit card and Social Security numbers. Or get companies in trouble when software doesn’t capture information required by…

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Campaign just part of local United Way: Agency aims to meet community needs

United Way of Central Indiana got its start in 1918 as Indianapolis’ War Chest. Many decades and several name changes later, the organization still is fighting to raise enough money to meet vital community needs. Leaders kicked off the 2005 campaign this month, trying to raise $36.6 million, mostly from workplace campaigns and corporate gifts. Together, the two sources represent about 97 percent of all pledges. UWCI’s campaign is the 22nd-largest in the country. On these two pages, IBJ details…

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VIEWPOINT: We all pay the price of homelessness

“The moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy, and the handicapped.” -Hubert H. Humphrey The most recent sessions of the Indiana General Assembly and the U.S. Congress have focused significant efforts on addressing the needs of children through education and the elderly through prescription drug…

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INVESTING: Price controls are not the answer to fuel woes

The cries for rationing are getting louder. About 4 percent of America’s daily oil consumption was taken out by Hurricane Katrina. It will take months to get this supply back, and gas prices at the pump showed immediate reactions. Now with gas over $3 a gallon almost everywhere in the country, some politicians are telling the government to establish price controls and actually take control of the supply chain. The horrors we put ourselves through during the Nixon administration when…

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TOM HARTON Commentary: Where business, disaster meet

We don’t do weather. Business newspapers don’t ask reporters to stand in bitter cold to demonstrate that it’s uncomfortable. We don’t warn our readers about the dangers of a storm by assigning a reporter to stand in the middle of one. When the wind and rain send things crashing down around us, we become consumers of news just like everyone else. Last week, we broke our rule. No, we didn’t brave the elements, but what happened in New Orleans and…

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Basic utility vehicle rolling ahead-slowly: Assembly would happen in developing nations

A not-for-profit group developing vehicles for use in the Third World plans to open a “micro-factory” next month near 65th Street and Binford Boulevard. But the Institute for Affordable Transportation site won’t mass-produce its diminutive vehicles, powered by lawn tractor engines. Rather, the donated space will become a lab for working out methods to help those in developing countries assemble the so-called “basic utility vehicles.” The facility “is to basically prepare the way for this technology transfer package so it…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Façade of confidence saves us from anarchy

You may not know this, but every banker and policymaker does. If every one of us got out of bed tomorrow morning, drove to our banks or financial institutions, and tried to withdraw our money, the system that seems so solid today would suffer a complete collapse. The same thing would happen to the electrical grid if every device that could draw power were switched on at once. In fact, if every one of us decided today to fill up…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s build a new New Orleans

At the moment, rescue and relocation are the primary concerns along the Gulf Coast ravaged by Hurricane Katrina. In time, restoration will become the leading issue. Most property owners from Mobile to New Orleans will want their buildings repaired or replaced. They will seek to recreate the past instead of looking to the future. A more comprehensive approach is appropriate. Let’s consider the Gulf Coast as a region, centered on New Orleans, that stretches from Florida to Texas. This area…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: The design-build option bodes well for taxpayers

In the last legislative session the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Bill 244 to become Public Law 74, commonly known as the Design Build Law. The new legislation established the use of design-build delivery on most public works projects in the state. Initial reaction within the construction community has been mostly positive because design-build delivery has the potential to become a valuable resource for administrators of public works projects. The law went into effect July 1 and, predictably, we have…

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State unrolls insurer-friendly plan: New strategy aims to recruit, nurture insurance businesses; watchdogs wary of approach

The state of Indiana is aggressively courting the insurance industry to add high-paying jobs to the economy, a strategy that comes with a touch of controversy. The Indiana Economic Development Corp. announced late last month the appointment of Mike Chrysler as Indiana’s first-ever director of insurance initiatives. Chrysler then hit the ground driving. He’s already visited the Fort Wayne market and plans to reach several other corners of Indiana to let insurers know the state appreciates their business and wants…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Rising health care costs killing jobs and income

Most of us have been in a doctor’s office, and many of us have had conditions that require treatment. But few of us are likely to hear any information presented on the cost of different treatment options along with their benefits, especially if we are one of the 170 million people covered by employer- or governmentprovided health insurance. It is an amazing fact that nearly $3 trillion of health care goods and services are ordered off a menu that has…

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ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ Commentary: Can I have a bit more government, please?

Indiana has a lot of things. It has a lot of rich farmland, which provides the foundation to make it an economic powerhouse as we look for renewable sources of fuel. It also has a lot of good, decent people who make up the communities where you would want to raise a family. However, somewhere between the neighborhoods that house the great families and the farmlands that house our economic future is a lot of something else Indiana has-government. I…

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NOTIONS: The power of nature and the perils of human nature

Some colleagues and I drove south into Evansville last week just as the remnants of Hurricane Katrina blew in from the north. As we pulled into the parking lot of our destination, we watched workers battling wind and rain on the walk from their cars to the office. Twice, we saw sturdy umbrellas, held nearly horizontal against the oncoming gale, collapse upon their users. The drenched souls fumbled with the resulting maze of metal and fabric as they struggled across…

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