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Markey’s sells off sales unit: Move by audio-visual firm creates new tech company

Markey’s Audio Visual, a south-side company that’s decked the stage for some of corporate America’s flashiest meetings and conventions, has sold its equipment sales and integration unit to a new firm owned by a competitor and by a family member. Sensory Technologies is held by Anne and Andy Sellers, principals of Indianapolis-based Video Images LLC-and by Kevin Markey, who headed Markey’s sales and integration. The sale last week, for an undisclosed price, allows the 47-year-old Markey’s to focus on its…

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SPORTS: Pacers’ off-the-court performance never waned

Like any team, especially the professional variety, the Indiana Pacers are to be judged by their success … or lack thereof. Their bottom line is the one that’s posted on the scoreboard 82 times a season, then again in the playoffs. It comes as no bulletin that the last two years have been more painful than pleasurable, much of which can be traced to the excesses and eccentricities of the nowdeparted Ron Artest. Collateral damage has been the organization’s reputation…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Fixed-rate mortgage loans remain a relative bargain

Mortgage lenders have found all sorts of creative ways to get money into the hands of eager buyers, with interestonly, piggy-back and no-doc loans. While these loans have provided opportunities to fund more house than ever, the opportunity to sleep peacefully knowing your payments are locked in place makes fixed-rate mortgages a desirable option for many homeowners these days. Closing gap Even with interest rates inching up, fixed-rate mortgages never looked better compared to adjustable-rate mortgages, or ARMs, and short-term…

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WANTED: Coach with Midas touch: IU searching for hoops leader who’ll bring financial stability to athletics-and university

With a $1 billion capital campaign looming at Indiana University, athletic director Rick Greenspan is facing his biggest decision. Many observers think the choice of basketball coach will determine not only the health of the men’s basketball program, but of the entire IU athletic department-and to some extent the entire university-for decades to come. IU officials have not yet publicly announced their capital campaign, which would allocate about $85 million for the university’s athletic facilities, and likely won’t until next…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: Bill offers new hope for Main Street

Recycling isn’t just good for the environment. It’s good for buildings, and ultimately for economic development. When the Disciples of Christ moved its international headquarters downtown from Irvington in 1995, it left behind a 121,000-square-foot structure built in 1910 that could easily have become a vacant eyesore in the east-side neighborhood. Instead, local developer Mansur Real Estate Services Inc. helped give it new life as Mission Apartments for seniors. That $6.5 million project might not have happened without the help…

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Federal deposit insurance reform beefs up coverage: Retirement savings accounts stand to benefit most

Federal deposit insurance reforms signed into law by President Bush last month boost coverage of some retirement accounts and will raise coverage for other bank accounts beginning in 2010. The legislation, debated by lawmakers for the past six years, is significant because it offers the first increase in deposit insurance coverage in more than 25 years, and just the seventh rise since 1935. Federal deposit insurance currently covers as much as $100,000 per depositor. Starting no later than November, depositors…

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Ticked off over tickets: NCAA plans to battle hospitality brokers during Final Four

The launch of The Tournament Club at this year’s men’s basketball Final Four in Indianapolis is the first shot across the bow of brokers, travel agents, hotel room resellers and others who’ve stepped in to meet the demand for hospitality packages the NCAA previously ignored. In December, the NCAA hired rEvolution, a Chicago-based sports marketing and media agency, to launch the association’s own hospitality package, including lower-level tickets, access to an exclusive hospitality area at the game venue, premium hotel…

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Clarian climbs aboard podcast bandwagon: Hospital network finds new way to broadcast its message to employees and the community

Communications experts say the medium, which has been around only a couple of years, carries loads of marketing potential. “You’re immediately tying a voice to the company and a face to the company. That’s a powerful thing,” said Kelly Hendricks, president of BLASTmedia, an Indianapolis-based public relations firm. “It’s going to be interesting to see how this evolves.” Evans decided to try Clarian’s hand at podcasting after his research found it costs “almost nothing” to produce a message and upload…

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EYE ON THE PIE: David meets Goliath in Hendricks County

The people of Hendricks County are no more stupid, greedy or ignorant than folks most places. Now they have a chance to prove they are more intelligent, far-sighted and wise than most Hoosiers. Let’s set the scene. Hendricks County lies directly west of Marion County. You can take U.S. 36 straight west from Indianapolis to Avon and Danville. Or you can go out Interstate 70, past the Indianapolis airport, to Plainfield. Alternatively, Interstate 74 will take you to Brownsburg, Pittsboro…

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Blog Boom: Newest Web craze becoming a key tool for business marketing, communications

Myles Brand needed a way for his organization to reach out to the public. It had to be direct and immediate and initiate an honest two-way discussion. Brand, NCAA president, chose an offbeat idea-albeit one with a growing following-to solve this age-old business problem. He gave the directive late last year for the NCAA to launch its first blog, an online presence that two years ago few corporate types understood, much less considered a viable means of communication. Now, the…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Senate doesn’t hesitate to check House, governor

Why do we have a bicameral legislature, with four-year terms for senators and two-year terms for House members? Because, as George Washington reputedly told Thomas Jefferson, the framers created the Senate to “cool” House legislation, just as a saucer was used to cool hot tea. We’ve just seen evidence of this, and also of another important phenomenon, one that reminds us of just how separate our branches of government truly are. We recently mentioned how the “adults” in the Senate…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Study casts new light on rising house prices

I have always been amazed at the confidence and certainty projected by those who stand before the television cameras at the end of the day and explain to us-in 90 seconds or less-why the stock market behaved as it did. I suppose if we are silly enough to ask for a simple explanation for the 5 million or 6 million trades conducted on any given day, we should expect nothing more in return. Of course, those trades take place for…

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SPORTS: IU doesn’t have to hire from the ‘family,’ but it will

There will be no shortage of worthy successors to Mike Davis as the head basketball coach at I.U. Rick Majerus? I love Rick Majerus. He’s the absolute basketballjunkie with nothing like a wife, family or even a home to distract him from the job. He’s a tremendous motivator and strategist. But he’s also a guy who’s had heart problems and I worry if he could survive the stress-not from coaching, but from being within an hour’s drive of Iaria’s. Thad…

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Open source gaining traction: Government departments, more businesses seek alternatives to Microsoft, others

The Indiana Department of Education’s effort to outfit high schools with computers is a costly endeavor for a state strapped for cash. But installing what is known as open-source software is softening the blow. As the name implies, open-source programming is available for users to study, modify and share freely-a sharp contrast to the proprietary software sold by behemoths such as Microsoft Corp. and Oracle. Expensive licensing fees associated with the proprietary software sent the Education Department looking for alternatives….

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VIEWPOINT: Why don’t Republicans like Indy Works?

As you remember from the legend, Rip Van Winkle wandered off one day into the Catskill Mountains and ended up sleeping under a tree for 20 years. When he wandered back into his village, unaware that he’d slept so long, Van Winkle found things back home had changed in dramatic ways. You might have forgotten this detail from the story: Rip reappeared in his New England town on Election Day, shortly after the end of the Revolutionary War. When he…

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Labor tiff puts loan for stadium in limbo: NFL Players Association refusing to back $34 million as fight with owners drags on

A $34 million loan from the NFL that the Indianapolis Colts are counting on to fund part of their share of stadium construction could get sacked, at least temporarily, in an NFL labor dispute. Teams with pending stadium loans-including the Colts, Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants and Jets-hoped to get final approval of their loans at the March owners’ meeting. That is now in serious doubt, league sources said. NFL owners last June approved a $34 million loan for…

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Startup receives first Indiana Seed Fund investment: Purdue-bred SonarMed plans move to Indianapolis

Until recently, SonarMed Inc., a startup developing a new type of breathing tube, was just a mailbox at Purdue University. But having recently been awarded the first investment from the BioCrossroads’ Indiana Seed Fund, SonarMed plans to move into office space in Indianapolis, hire 15 to 20 employees before the end of the year and begin seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval for its device. The Indiana Seed Fund was formed last summer and now has $6 million to…

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Emerging India: Opportunity or threat?: Indiana businesses brace for growing global competition

Opportunity or threat? Indiana businesses brace for growing global competition Next month, President Bush will make his first official visit to India. To most of the American media, it’ll be just one more round of global terrorism discussions with a distant foreign nation, perhaps worthy of a brief. The Indian press knows better. Six weeks ahead of Bush’s trip, banner headlines about it ran in every newspaper. Al Hubbard knows better, too. Friends with Bush since their days at Harvard…

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SPORTS: Time for Mike Davis to look himself in the mirror

“Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?” – from the song “Charlie Brown,” by The Coasters I count myself among many, many Indiana University alumni, supporters and basketball fans in general who wanted to see Mike Davis succeed as the Hoosiers’ coach. I admired his demeanor, humility and honesty. I respected the incredibly difficult situation he inherited, first as the interim coach, then as the man designated to sustain IU’s tradition in the wake of Bob Knight’s firing. And certainly, no…

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Tiny firm initiates ‘triple play’: Hancock Telecom first to bat with voice-data-video combo

Not so long ago, the heart of Hancock Telecom in the tiny town of Maxwell was a concrete bunker ticking with the solenoids of telephone switching equipment. But about a year ago, the devices were moved to a corner to make room for rack after rack of satellite receivers-fed by a 32-foot dish big enough to cap a corn silo. The product: 176 channels of network and local TV programming that leave headquarters in the form of pulsing light via…

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