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High school dropouts go under microscope: IPS seeks answers from leaders on costly problem

Indianapolis Public Schools late this month plans to convene a community panel to help the state’s largest school system implement a dropout prevention plan next spring. The first public meeting of the 50-person panel is set for Nov. 27 and comes as a new report suggests Indiana dropouts cost taxpayers $62 million a year. The panel is made up of a wide range of people, from parents to community leaders. Each of the estimated 21,000 dropouts statewide costs the state…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Guidant sale not so sweet for holders of buyer’s stock

With almost every passing day, Boston Scientific Inc.’s $27 billion purchase of India n a p o l i s – b a s e d Guidant Corp. looks like a bigger fiasco-for the buyer, that is. Whether it was bad for the sellers-Guidant shareholders-is a trickier question. They received a stew of stock and cash in the deal and fared splendidly if they immediately sold their shares. But if they didn’t, Massachusettsbased Boston Scientific’s $80-a-share offer has lost its…

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Cable company rolls out on-demand advertising: Comcast already has signed deal with General Motors

People don’t typically pay for on-demand cable so that they can look at advertisements, but Comcast thinks they will. It’s trying to turn an old axiom-that people avoid advertising like the plague-on its ear. The Philadelphia-based company that provides cable television in much of Marion County thinks its new on-demand advertising-launched earlier this fall-will be so popular, viewers will seek out the pitches. For Comcast digital cable subscribers, accessing on-demand ads is as easy as going to their video on-demand…

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9 ways to keep clientele coming back:

The most reliable method for evaluating whether your business truly offers great customer service is customer retention. Customer-retention results reflect the customer’s decision to purchase more of your products and services. After much research in this area, we know that these “re-purchase” decisions are based on three important evaluations. First, the customer decides whether you delivered the basic service promise. Did you deliver the package on time? Was the repair done correctly? Second, the customer makes some touchy-feely evaluations about…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Who is watching Hoosier journalism?

I recently attended a lecture on renal problems of penal populations. The study of kidney disease among prisoners has been a fascination of mine since I started watching James Cagney movies. The next day, I thought I would break out in liver spots when I read the newspaper account. The central points of the lecture were missed as the reporter bore down on other interesting, but tangential, issues. No doubt some of prisoners’ kidney problems are the result of specific…

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NOTIONS: Of errors, apologies and redemption

Last week, a friend and I stopped by Nordstrom so she could purchase some cosmetics. She found one needed product on the shelf, then asked the clerk if the item she’d asked to be sent from another store had arrived. The clerk said it had, but that they’d sold it to another customer because my friend hadn’t called for it. My friend said she’d never been notified the product was in. The clerk repeated that it’s store policy to sell…

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SPORTS Bill Benner: Little-noticed Horizon League prospers and grows

SPORTS Little-noticed Horizon League prospers and grows From his fifth-floor office in Pan Am Plaza, Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone has a view of the Indianapolis skyline. His only wish is that the city would look back. Not at him. At his nine-member league, which will grow to 10 next July when upstate Valparaiso joins Butler in the league’s Indiana contingent. Alas, it’s a prime example of good news making no news. Or of the media, local and otherwise, determining…

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RCA Championships secures ATP support: Local tournament working on TV, sponsorship deals

In the wake of rumors that a mini offseason for players could interrupt the RCA Championships’ calendar slot, the ATP-the association representing men’s professionals tennis players-has come out in strong support of the local tournament. “There’s no uncertainty about the future of this tournament from the ATP’s perspective,” said Mark V. Young, ATP’s CEO for the Americas. Young confirmed that ATP officials, who set the men’s professional calendar, have discussed shortening the schedule at the behest of players, who claim…

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Noblesville mega-mall begins lining up retailers: Area brokers say space is likely to lease well

J.C. Penney, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond plan to open stores in the $100 million open-air mall Simon Property Group Inc. and a partner are planning to build in Noblesville, retail brokers say. In addition, Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Goodrich Quality Theaters Inc. is in preliminary talks to open a cinema in the project, owner Bob Goodrich confirmed. Simon and another Indianapolis-based developer, Gershman Brown & Associates, announced plans for the nearly 1-million-square-foot Hamilton Towne Centre a year ago….

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NOTIONS: Dear philanthropist: Make me a daydream believer

Last month, I picked up my boys in Fort Wayne, drove north on Interstate 69, hooked a left at Interstate 94, and got off at the Portage, Mich., exit. There, we whiled away the weekend at a family reunion. The grownups ate too much, caught up on gossip and puttered around the lake in the speedboat. The teenagers, whom we rarely saw, did X-Box battle in the basement. On Sunday, after the kids had surfaced for lunch and the grandparents…

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Newspaper war erupting in northern suburbs

Two new Carmel newspapers will soon join eight others in Boone and Hamilton counties. While the region is one of the fastest growing in Indiana, journalism experts said having 10 newspapers serving a population of just under 300,000 is astounding.

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Making the right move: For companies planning a relocation, months of preparation are often in order

CORPORATE RELOCATION Making the right move For companies planning a relocation, months of preparation are often in order Employees of Aprimo Inc. are settling into their new digs at Parkwood Crossing after the fastgrowing marketing-softwaremaker moved its headquarters early last month. While the building may be different, the surroundings are quite familiar. The company remains in the same office complex, albeit across College Avenue from its previous space. But don’t tell Dani Hughes, Aprimo’s human resources representative who coordinated the…

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TOM HARTON Commentary: Crime takes indirect swipe at the arts

In Indianapolis, when the crime rate goes up or kids’ test scores go down, it’s not uncommon for people to point the finger at publicly funded sports facilities. “Our priorities are screwed up,” observers opine. “We spend too much money on these playgrounds for the rich, and not enough on cops, courts and public education.” The sports establishment here has been batting away this criticism for years. It goes with the territory in a city where sports is an important…

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Product gives Thomson better hand: New micro-camcorder boosts prospects for unit French parent wants to deal

Thomson’s latest product is a lot like the French company’s presence in Carmel, these days. Small, and getting ever smaller. With half the number of employees it had in the late-1990s, Thomson’s Americas unit here is about to be downsized yet again from its current 900-some jobs-but not before enjoying a bit of a surprise hit in a palm-size, under-$130 camcorder. The success of the Small Wonder camera-and a slicker new version due out this fall-could help frame the future…

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Fox Sports Midwest rebrands, unveils new plan: Local broadcasters will feel heat if strategy works

Fox Sports Midwest-which is in the process of rebranding to Fox Sports Indiana in this market-is serving notice it intends to be the television network of choice when it comes to local sports. Shortly after wrestling part of the Indiana Pacers broadcast rights from WTTV-TV Channel 4, officials for St. Louis-based Fox Sports Midwest unveiled a plan that entails significant upgrades to its local sports programming, including adding professional, collegiate and high school sports of all sorts as well as…

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masthead:

E S TA B L I S H E D 1 9 8 0 L O C A L LY OW N E D 41 E. WASHINGTON STREET, SUITE 200 INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46204-3592 317-634-6200 Fax: 317-263-5060 Editorial Fax: 317-263-5406 E-mail address: info-ibj@ibj.comWeb site address: www.ibj.com PRESIDENT AND PUBLISHER Chris Katterjohn VICE PRESIDENT/ SALES & OPERATIONS Greg Morris EDITORIAL Editor – Tom Harton Managing Editor – Greg Andrews Associate Editor – Tawn Parent Focus Editor – Jeff Newman Enterprise Editor – Andrea…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Laptop deal-breaker depends on reliability

I’ve been scanning laptop buyer’s guides lately, and I have to say that many magazine test labs seem utterly out of touch with business users. They extol the big screens, fast multimedia and other capabilities business users just don’t care about. They act as if weight is a big factor for those of us who have to cart our hightech symbiotes around with us, but laptops long ago dropped below that critical barrier. Hewlett-Packard had a little notebook unit in…

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Cleanup of contamination in store for new Claus site: Sausage shop owner redeveloping brownfield property

It’s 2:30 p.m. on a Tuesday and a steady stream of customers continues to patronize Claus’ German Sausage and Meat Market on East South Street. By March, however, the butcher shop likely will have abandoned its longtime home for a new building on South Shelby Street in Fountain Square. Whether its loyal clientele will follow concerns owner Claus Muth, who purchased the store from relative Gerhard Klemm in 2003 and changed the name from Klemm’s in April. “Since [the new…

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Young architect honored for design of orphanage: Cluster complex plan wins international competition

Chunsheh Teo is a driven man. The 28-year-old sometimes works long days as an architectural graduate at Ratio Architects Inc. and spends his off time building furniture for the home he and his wife recently purchased in Irvington. On a recent weekend, he built a new fence for the yard. Oh, and he also enters international design competitions in his down time-about seven in the last three years. “It’s just kind of a fun thing to do,” Teo said. At…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: ‘Pop’ group: Cosby, White & Dungy

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary ‘Pop’ group: Cosby, White & Dungy Bill Cosby, Eugene White and Tony Dungy are a pop group of a different kind. They are out and about these days calling on men to be better fathers. Comedian Cosby was in Baltimore late last month urging fathers to help raise their kids. “This is a great evening because we’re calling on men to come claim their children,” Cosby said to the crowd. “And that’s part of being a man….

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