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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: State employment growth is weaker than you think

There’s a real buzz about job growth in Indiana these days. Announcements of job creation, big and small, are echoing through the business media, and many economic development officials tell us their phones are ringing with calls from new prospects at a rate they haven’t seen in years. Yet the data used by most of us to track job growth tell a slightly more sobering story. The 2.94 million workers on Indiana payrolls in July, as reported by the Department…

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INVESTING: Long term, China and India offer opportunities aplenty

To put it mildly, the hype about China (and now, increasingly, about India) has been enough to choke a horse. I know. I got right to the front of the bandwagon three years ago when I started writing about India. But when it comes to your cash, it’s only worth talking about stuff that is going to make you money. We are not in a classroom. And with your money firmly in the front of our mind, let’s find out…

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Putting a spin on 911: Law-enforcement agencies embrace reverse system

Langsenkamp, CEO of Sigma Micro Corp. in Indianapolis, began conducting research on the patented Reverse 911 Interactive Community Notification System in 1990. The technology, however, didn’t hit the market en masse until a decade later. Today, roughly 350 law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada, including those in Carmel and Beech Grove, use it to blast warnings to residents. “It was the first system that ever allowed people to dial phone numbers and deliver messages based on the…

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NOTIONS: Mailbox of plenty could yield empty pockets

Bruce Hetrick is on vacation this week. In his absence, this column, which appeared on Aug.19, 2002, is being reprinted. Dear Reader: In our nation’s capital, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and North Capitol Street, the Smithsonian Institution has converted a former post office into the National Postal Museum. Carved into the white granite wall is an inscription called “The Letter.” Written by former Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot and edited by former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, it…

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Investors calling for big changes at Emmis: Smulyan remains bullish on company’s prospects

In the last year, Emmis Communications Corp. Chairman Jeff Smulyan has led efforts to sell his company’s television stations, change radio formats, reduce debt and take the company private. He even proposed using company funds to buy a Major League Baseball franchise. Now, after his recently failed attempt to buy the Indianapolis company, many Wall Street analysts and investors are wondering what Smulyan might do next. Some industry experts believe the only way for Smulyan to do what’s best for…

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NOTIONS: Preventing the pain that triggers bombs and bullets

A few weeks ago, my 18-year-old son, Austin, said he was in the mood for a movie. His friend, Jon, had been to see “Miami Vice.” Jon said it was “cool.” I said that the old TV version-which began airing before Austin was born-had been “cool,” too. So based on that trans-generational cool factor, we grabbed dinner at Chili’s and went to see America’s most celebrated vice cops, Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, do their undercover thing. On the big…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Low-impact development likely to make a big impact

Every time Indiana experiences one of its summer cloudbursts, the rainfall sets into motion one of a real estate development’s most expensive and least appreciated systems. As rain hits the ground, it quickly collects into wellengineered courses to swales and gutters, through pipes and culverts and into detention ponds. Flowing around, over and through the land that once absorbed it, the water is efficiently collected and conveyed off the site. In other words, gather it up and drain it off….

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Fountain Square district shoring up its Corners: Group turns old buildings into residential/work spaces

If State and English avenues in the Fountain Square district were on a Monopoly board, they would probably be the ones available immediately after passing “Go.” But after the Southeast Neighborhood Development Inc. is finished there, the intersection will move several spaces closer to Park Place. The not-for-profit is investing $1 million to renovate three dilapidated buildings it bought to convert them to residential/work spaces as part of its Fountain Square Corners development. A local photographer who will live in…

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Howdy partner, wanna pony up for a painting?: Eiteljorg fund-raiser expected to boost museum’s national prominence

In September, about 30 big names in the art world will converge at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art. It will be the Eiteljorg’s first attempt to host a big-name Western art show featuring representational styles, those depicting natural objects realistically. Eiteljorg officials hope the Quest for the West art show and sale bolsters its reputation as one of the nation’s elite Western art museums. For artists, the show will provide a rare opportunity to reach collectors…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: U.S. economy slowing, but still showing vitality

By the demanding standards of recent history, the justcompleted second quarter was a tough one for the U.S. economy. The Bureau of Economic Analysis reported an annualized growth rate of just 2.5 percent in the overall economy in the April-June period, significantly lower than historical trends and well below the blistering growth of the preceding three months. In addition, there was unwelcome inflation news, causing some analysts to dust off an old word that hasn’t been used since the early…

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Pools of Fun: Diving in the deep end Homebuilder’s ‘experiment’ still paying off 25 years later

In 1981, few central Indiana residents considered an inground pool a backyard necessity, but Plainfield custom homebuilder Larry Good added one to a spec home anyway-and jumped into the deep end of a new enterprise. “After it was installed, the home sold immediately,” said Bruce Holmes, CEO of the company Good launched. Pools of Fun started with one location and four employees. Today, it has five locations, a range of products and 90 full-time employees who share ownership of the…

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INVESTING: Lessons to draw from the new slide in transport stocks

One of the staples of a bear market is the futile attempt investors make to rationalize why they are staying invested. (This happens, of course, until it is far too late to do anything about remaining in the market). After the June 14 market low, one of the common rationalizations I heard was that the Dow Jones Transportation Index was nearing an all-time high. But like visions of a dying man wandering in the desert, it turned out be another…

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Bonds’ shaky support threatens Crane biz park: Region attempts to build on base’s stay of execution

During his first months in office, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ top priority was engineering a stay of execution for the Crane Naval Surface Warfare Center, 90 miles southwest of Indianapolis. Losing its 5,200 employees and contractors would have been a devastating blow to the region. Daniels’ lobbying effort in Washington, D.C., was so successful that the Association of Defense Communities last month recognized him as “2006 Public Official of the Year.” But troubles with local financing for a new business park…

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Let’s throw energy into public safety: We ignore crime at our peril

When yet another media story appears about jail overcrowding, it’s tempting to look away, to focus instead on rising gas prices, out-of-control health insurance costs or other pressing problems confronting your company. But make no mistake: Crime is a business issue. And it is escalating. Major offenses reported to the Indianapolis Police Department through April were up 22 percent over the first four months of 2005. Probably fueling that increase are the growing numbers of inmates being released early from…

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WellPoint putting members’ medical records online: Access to electronic medical information could reduce health care errrors and avoid unneccesary procedures

A benefits package WellPoint Inc. unveiled in July includes an ambitious effort that enables its 34 million members to access their medical records online. WellPoint’s initiative to make the records available electronically is but one example of a national movement, backed by President Bush, to make all medical records available online within the next 10 years. Advocates say online systems can reduce medical errors and avoid unnecessary procedures by making patients’ medical needs and histories available to doctors instantaneously. Indianapolis-based…

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E-tailers playing their cards right: CPAs-turned-entrepreneurs launch Web sites to cash in on poker craze

Talk about irony. Buoyed by success playing online poker, local accountant Jeff Smith quit his day job three years ago to sell poker chips and playing cards for live games. Now he and business partner Knute Lentz are too busy filling orders to deal themselves in. Once colleagues at national accounting firm BKD LLC, the men, both 33, said they saw the game’s potential long before amateur Chris Moneymaker’s victory in the 2003 World Series of Poker made it a…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: In defense of daydreaming

In addition to standbys like Little League and Girl Scouts, our children have the opportunity to learn sailing at Geist Reservoir, strut their stuff at the Jewish Community Center’s Broadway camp, or try medieval fantasy drawing at the Indianapolis Art Center. With such an appetizing array of choices, it’s hard to resist serving our kids a heaping plateful. Most of us want to give our children advantages we were not afforded, and “Mixed Media for Preschoolers” certainly qualifies. Besides, who…

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Hispanic radio stations are singing new song: New general manager making major changes

Russ Dodge is used to scaling cultural barriers. For 17 years, Dodge, who is white, was a sales manager at WTLC, one of Indianapolis’ top radio stations targeting blacks. Dodge was central in numerous community outreach efforts at WTLC. As the new general manager of two Indianapolis Hispanic radio stations, Dodge is attempting to hurdle not only another cultural divide, but a language barrier to boot. Dodge, 54, took the helm of WEDJFM 107.1 and WSYW-AM 810 in April, and…

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INVESTING: The bearish American shopper will punish retail stocks

I don’t like to shop. I do know, however, that I am in the tiny minority in this regard. We’ve elevated shopping in this country to a level that probably ranks higher in importance than family, religion and health. The American consumer is such a force that we make up 20 percent of global GDP. That’s right, for the entire world! I should think, then, that slowdowns announced by companies like Wal-Mart and Target would be headline news. Of all…

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Investment firm taps local talent: Riderwood opens office, targets mid-size companies

An East Coast investment-banking firm is opening an Indianapolis office and has recruited three high-profile professionals who bring a wealth of experience to manage operations. Towson, Md.-based The Riderwood Group Inc. wants to help midsize companies raise $5 million to $200 million in capital, a range largely ignored here by outside rivals, firm executives said. “There really is not a national mid-market investment bank [in Indianapolis],” company President Mitchell Fillet said. “This is a place where the big firms have…

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