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MICKEY MAURER Commentary: The right men for a tough job

In response to the sticker shock experienced by many Hoosiers upon opening the envelope from the property-tax assessor, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced a number of major moves. He ordered new assessments in Marion County and other counties throughout the state; a tax bill freeze in these counties to the 2006 levy; and the creation of a commission on local government reform, co-chaired by Indiana Supreme Court Chief Justice Randall Shepard and former Gov. Joe Kernan. The mission of the commission…

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SPORTS: Star athletes say the craziest things (or do they?)

Ah, another day, and another kick in the teeth for the Indiana Pacers. Back to the oral surgeon. The kind word for the Pacers’ Jermaine O’Neal would be disingenuous. Either that, or it’s a gaggle of reporters whom O’Neal wants us to believe either fictionalized or took several quotes “out of context”-don’t you love that fallback phrase?-last weekend in Los Angeles, where O’Neal said (or didn’t say) he wanted to be traded to the Lakers and was critical of Pacers’…

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PROFILE THERESIA WHITFIELD: Changing direction after life-altering crisis Former CNN producer follows path to healing, new career after overcoming post-traumatic stress

Whitfield, owner of Indianapolis-based Fletcher Communications Inc., was a freelance television news producer working for CNN, Reuters News and the Christian Broadcasting Network’s news division in Washington, D.C., when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon. Four years later, Whitfield crashed emotionally and was hospitalized suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder. The daughter of a retired Army officer, Whitfield, 39, had moved many times as a child before settling in Columbia, S.C. She graduated from high school in 1986, but…

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INVESTING: Better times lie ahead for embattled investors

The last full week of July turned out to be exciting for the stock market. Not long after the Dow Jones industrial average topped 14,000, a solid correction came flying in. The speed and power of the pullback deserve some respect, but so does the tenet of perspective. If it wasn’t already, it now is probably apparent why I have been harping all year that you should concentrate investments in energy, industrials, materials and select technology. The market suffered through…

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Against the odds, Emmis grows publishing division: Unsung unit now one-fourth of company’s revenue

At a time when many print publishers are wringing their hands at the prospect of losing readers to the Internet, Emmis Communications Corp. is experiencing surprising growth in its magazine division. With the acquisition of Orange Coast last month, Emmis owns seven city-based magazines and one nationally distributed magazine. And the publishing division, with 406 of Emmis’ 1,300 employees, is the company’s fastest-growing. “City magazines like the ones Emmis has are doing quite well,” said Abe Peck, chairman of journalism…

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Fringe Festival seeking next level in 3rd year: Growing downtown theater festival hopes to draw cash as well as bigger crowds

Pauline Moffat, executive director of the Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival, expects a big turnout for this year’s two-week salute to alternative stage productions. The event takes over the Massachusetts Avenue Arts District Aug. 24 to Sept. 2, offering 228 individual performances staged by 40 theatrical troupes and presented at five different venues, including Theatre on the Square, The Phoenix Theatre and American Cabaret Theatre. Moffat hopes this season will bring a third year of attendance growth and take the event…

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Local elder care service courts working care givers: My Health Care Manager partners with local firms to reach children of aging parents on the job

Local startup My Health Care Manager has found a faster way to get its elder-care message out. It has persuaded five local employers to direct their workers to My Health Care Manager if they need help finding and coordinating care for one of their aging parents. As of Aug. 1, law firms Barnes & Thornburg, Ice Miller and Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, accounting firm Katz Sapper & Miller and the Indianapolis office of the Publicis advertising firm all…

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SPORTS: There’s still time to savor a championship season

The Indianapolis Colts are back at it, and with their arrival in Terre Haute (which is French for “terribly hot”) comes the first round of predictions. Will they or won’t they back up their Super Bowl championship? Hey, we’ll all find out in the dead of winter, not the heat of summer … how’s that for not being either bold or profound? But words in the first week of August are just so much blah, blah, blah. So, too, as…

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SURF THIS: With tech tasks, define success before measuring it

I had a boss once who was infamous for his adages, always having one of these nuggets immediately at the ready. True, he would occasionally misfire, tossing off a “let’s throw it against the wall and see what sticks” when the situation may have clearly called for something more genteel like “run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.” But most of the time, he was right on the money. One of his favorites was the old “How do…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Property tax problem here to stay

“I haven’t sung yet,” Frances the Fat Lady said. We were at the Bulging Buffet, which is open 24/7. Frances, one of the state’s biggest experts on public finance, had stacked her plate with bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and a variety of sweet rolls. “This property tax debate is not over yet,” she said as we took a table. “Despite the fact that only a few counties are really up in arms, there may be enough momentum for something realistic…

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One motorcycle race gained, thousands of seats lost: Speedway officials think revenue from MotoGP race will make up for Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 losses

The changes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course to accommodate motorcycle racing means the track’s operators will forfeit around $500,000 annually in ticket revenue for the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400. Due to modifications just south of pit road and directly north of the oval’s first turn, several thousand seats on the inside of the first turn will be removed after this year’s Brickyard 400. Work to prepare the track for next year’s MotoGP motorcycle race-which includes laying 13,300…

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MICKEY MAURER Commentary: Banker’s exit won’t end good deeds

Indiana, as you know, has not escaped the inevitable crush of consolidation in the banking industry. No one should have been surprised by the announcement that First Indiana Corp. was selling itself to an out-of-state bank, Milwaukee-headquartered Marshall & Isley Corp. In spite of the best efforts of M&I, The National Bank of Indianapolis, of which I am chairman of the board, will add business as a result of this transaction. Some of First Indiana’s customers prefer to deal with…

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SPORTS: Awaiting a tainted ‘greatest’ moment in sports

Do the words “integrity” and “sports” belong in the same sentence? Worse, does anyone care? By the time you read this, Barry Bonds, a Giant in uniform but hardly a giant of a man, may have become baseball’s alltime home-run king. His inexorable pursuit of Henry Aaron’s magical mark of 755 has been well-documented. So, too, has been the overwhelming evidence implicating Bonds as a user of steroids. Thus, what should be one of baseball’s greatest moments is instead one…

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LESSONS LEARNED: PAUL KNAPP CEO, Young & Laramore: ‘Shoot for the Stars ‘

LESSONS LEARNED PAUL KNAPP CEO, Young & Laramore ‘Shoot for the Stars ‘ Paul Knapp isn’t one to declare victory. Nor is he eager to toot his own horn. But even he has to admit that something’s working at Young & Laramore. The Indianapolis advertising agency Knapp leads has a stable of national accounts, is opening a satellite office in Canada, and has projected capitalized billings in 2007 will hit $80 million. So what’s the secret of its success? Y&L’s…

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WRTV to launch massive marketing campaign: New news anchors to tour area in RV ahead of sweeps

With the pending arrival of two new lead anchors, WRTV-TV Channel 6 is preparing to embark on a big marketing campaign that station management hopes will lift it out of third place in the local ratings. The campaign, which is set to begin next month to promote changes within WRTV’s news division, will be marked by a flurry of billboard, radio, newspaper and, of course, television advertising, said WRTV General Manager Don Lundy. But the centerpiece of the campaign takes…

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Some Indiana colleges revolt against survey: U.S. News’ peer assessments called too subjective

The influential U.S. News & World Report college rankings come out next month, a rite of summer that causes many college administrators to groan. Some administrators in Indiana and elsewhere, in fact, have grown so disenchanted with the survey-and see it as so flawed-that they have decided they’ll no longer participate in at least part of it after this year. Nearly 100 private schools nationwide-including DePauw University and Earlham College in Indiana-are pulling out of the peer-assessment portion of the…

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Commentary CHRIS KATTERJOHN: Air rage: on runways, at gates, beyond

The summer of 2007 will likely go down in history as the Summer of Terror in the Skies. Well not exactly terror in the skies, more like terror in the skies as it relates to waiting at the gate area for your plane to arrive, as in sitting on the runway for two hours waiting for your plane to take off, as in wondering if you can possibly make your connecting flight now that your original flight is three hours…

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VIEWPOINT: Art is good for business and the community

The Arts Council of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission recently launched a campaign to encourage individuals and businesses to buy art from local artists. I couldn’t agree more with the message. In addition to the “Be Indypendent, Buy Indy Art” stickers you’ll no doubt see all over town soon, the campaign includes a Web site, www.beindypendent.org, with a downloadable “how to” guide, plus links to the Arts Council’s artist database that includes the work of more than 400…

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Synagogue project a sign of times: Northward migration of Jews brings temple to county

Some folks consider Congregation Shaarey Tefilla’s move to Carmel historic. After all, its new synagogue at 116th Street and Towne Road will be Hamilton County’s first. To others, it’s simply the latest development in the local Jewish community’s century of northward migration. For Rabbi Arnold Bienstock and his members, it’s a homecoming. “There’s a lot of support here,” he said. “People need that if they’ve just moved to an area.” Carmel welcomed Bienstock with open arms 15 years ago, when…

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