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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Green building not over when construction finishes

“Green” has fast become the metaphor for that new world we want to live in. We’ll have green jobs, drive green cars and live in green buildings made from green materials. The link between the environment and the color may seem obvious, but most artists will tell you that green is, by far, the most difficult color to master. Green isn’t one color. It’s made by mixing yellow and blue. Different proportions of yellow to blue produce a wide range…

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INVESTING: Tough stock market brings big names back to Earth

Oh, how some of the mighty have fallen. A number of high-profile professional investors are struggling in this bear market. Perhaps surprisingly, many of these managers come from the “value investing” category, a style of investing that is supposed to outperform-or at least lose less – markets. In their heydays, when their mutual funds produced investment returns that soundly beat the market averages, these managers were often accorded star status in the financial press. Here are a few of the…

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Web site aims to help diversify work force: 70 199 233 220Diversity-One.comgetting push from Radio One

One of the city’s largest advertising agencies and a down-state software development firm have brokered a deal with Radio One Indianapolis to launch a Web site that matches minority job seekers with companies looking to diversify their work force. The site, Diversity-One.com, is the product of MZD Advertising and Batesville-based Employment Partners, a firm specializing in Web-based employee and job-search software. The partners in the project wanted a local niche site to compete with national job and employee search portals…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Laptop hell: Air travel can bounce, bungle data

Travel may broaden the mind, but it’s hell on laptops. If your laptop suffers some kind of death-dealing blow, it’ll probably be on the road. Air travel is the worst. You’re required during security screening to pull your laptop out of its snug little protective cover and submit it to the tender mercies of the Transportation Security Administration’s conveyors, X-ray machines and employees. Then there’s the jostling scramble to put it back in on the far side of the screening…

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Citizens’ new name is a gas-in a way: Parent company of local utility adds ‘energy’ to its moniker to reflect diversity of operations

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility on Aug. 25 will announce a new name and logo that reflect the diversification of its energy businesses and the closure last year of its 98-year-old foundry coke plant. Citizens Energy Group will be the name of the parent, a utility founded 120 years ago. Two units-Citizens Gas and Citizens Thermal-will retain their names. But a third, Citizens By-Products, will be renamed Citizens Resources. “We’re entering a new era,” said Citizens President and CEO Carey…

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A burned cookie cost me a fortune Commentary:

It was the chocolate chip cookies. My wife, Janie, who for years has entered her award-winning baked goods in the Indiana State Fair, was upset because she failed to earn a blue ribbon last summer. Upon inquiry, she was informed that her chocolate chip cookies were slightly burned on the bottom. (I have always been one of her official tasters, and they looked OK to me.) She blamed her lack of success on an unreliable 25-year-old oven that had to…

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SPORTS: Let the ‘greatest athlete ever’ debate begin

Back from vacation with thoughts of this, that and the other: Even as my bride and I traveled through the magnificent scenery of Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, our nightly ritual was the same as that of millions of other Americans: making sure we were in front of the television to watch the Olympics. And yes, especially, Michael Phelps. Some have rushed to proclaim him the greatest Olympian of all time and, certainly, the argument can be made if you look…

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SPORTS: Our new playground is much more than a stadium

Now, I feel like the unlucky one. For the past two years, I’ve been privileged to be part of monthly media tours of Lucas Oil Stadium. I was there as the concrete bowl began to take shape, and as those steel trusses that would frame the retractable roof were put into place. I was there as the brick exterior began to climb, and when the concourses were little more than freshly poured concrete and empty spaces. I was there when…

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FUNNY BUSINESS: Wrap-master Redmond on Reynolds e-mail

I suppose you got the e-mail about Reynolds Wrap. Oh. Well, then, you’re among the few Amer icans who didn’t Actually, you might want to check your e mail after you finish reading IBJ. It’ll probably be waiting in your in-box Although I guess you really won’t have to, seeing as how I’m going to go ahead and spoil the surprise. Under a subject line full of typical Internet understatement (“OMG! THIS IS SO AMAZING! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”)…

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Lucas says please don’t call stadium ‘The Luke’

Officials for Lucas Oil Products Inc. are imploring fans and media not to refer to the team’s new stadium as The Luke,
a nickname that has cropped up on sports talk radio shows and been repeated in print and on TV. The nickname
seems to be gaining momentum, and that doesn’t sit well with Lucas brass already playing defense against
New Jersey-based Lukoil Co. California based-Lucas Oil signed a 20-year, $121.5 million naming-rights deal
for the Colts’ new stadium.

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FUNNY BUSINESS: Wrap-master Redmond on Reynolds e-mail

I suppose you got the e-mail about Reynolds Wrap. Oh. Well, then, you’re among the few Amer icans who didn’t Actually, you might want to check your e mail after you finish reading IBJ. It’ll probably be waiting in your in-box Although I guess you really won’t have to, seeing as how I’m going to go ahead and spoil the surprise. Under a subject line full of typical Internet understatement (“OMG! THIS IS SO AMAZING! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”)…

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SPORTS: Our new playground is much more than a stadium

Now, I feel like the unlucky one. For the past two years, I’ve been privileged to be part of monthly media tours of Lucas Oil Stadium. I was there as the concrete bowl began to take shape, and as those steel trusses that would frame the retractable roof were put into place. I was there as the brick exterior began to climb, and when the concourses were little more than freshly poured concrete and empty spaces. I was there when…

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SPORTS: Games are-or should be-all about the athletes

At the same time, those same athletes, thrust into the spotlight, will find their failures magnified along with their successes. Media who normally shun gymnastics, or aquatic sports, or track and field, or cycling, or rowing, or even Taekwondo, will suddenly become instant experts, lifting up the victors and damning the vanquished. How well I know. It was my good fortune to cover three Olympics for the local daily: Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, and Atlanta in 1996. The…

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NOTIONS: Blessings and benefits of bestowing that first break

Dear Win: I’m writing to say thank you. I’m not sure I’ve ever adequately done that. I’m not sure I ever can. I’m also not sure I ever quite grasped the gamble you took on me when I was a not-even-graduated college senior 28 years ago-not until the resumes and referral requests started filling my inbox and the risks of hiring rookies sank in. But this isn’t just between you and me. I hope this letter will prompt others to…

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Commentary: Energy woes need quick, lasting fix

Last month, the front page of The Wall Street Journal featured 25-yearold Saeed Khouri, who paid at auction the equivalent of $14 million of our increasingly worthless American dollars for a license plate bearing “1.” His cousin, Talal Khouri, threw in $9 million in pocket change for tag “5” to tool around Abu Dhabi in his Rolls Royce. Get this, the Khouris declined to be interviewed because they didn’t want to be the center of attention. I am not particularly…

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Marketing veteran Ray Compton unveils Webcasting venture at State Fair

Local radio icons Big John Gillis and Jeff Pibeon will be broadcasting live this year from the Indiana State Fair. But
you won’t find their show on any radio station. Gillis and Pigeon have been hired by locally based Compton Strategies to create
audio-only, Internet-based shows for area events, companies and entertainment venues.

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Mortgage industry under more scrutiny: Tougher rules don’t include yield-spread premiums

A housing crunch resulting from a flood of foreclosures has cast the spotlight on the deceptive practices that cause borrowers-particularly those with weak credit-to unknowingly pay more than necessary for a mortgage. The Federal Reserve earlier this month unanimously approved new lending rules in an attempt to tighten standards and prevent another such crisis. The changes will apply to all mortgage lenders and take effect Oct. 1, 2009. In the subprime category, a lender will have to assess a borrower’s…

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SPORTS: NASCAR: Good for the city, not so fun to watch

Depending upon when IBJ lands in your hands, the 15th Allstate 400 at the Brickyard will be either coming to or going from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. So let’s talk racin’. Let me begin by saying how pleased I am that Tony George took that giant leap in 1994 and welcomed NASCAR to the hallowed openwheel grounds of IMS. By most accounts, the Brickyard 400 instantly became the second-most-coveted prize on the NASCAR circuit and it has remained in that…

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