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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Pondering the world from an economist’s viewpoint

In case you’ve ever wondered what it is like to look at life through the eyes of an economist, here are some questions to ponder: Has anyone else noticed that public schools these days are in the transportation business, the sports entertainment business, the restaurant business, the health care business, not to mention the day care business? It’s no wonder their jobs are so difficult. To those who decry the risk of diverting Social Security revenue towards personal accounts in…

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SPORTS: Age-defying Reggie bids a historic farewell

So much for the meat. Now all we have left is an uncertain supply of NBA playoff gravy. Lap it up while you can. Will we ever see another like No. 31? Will we ever see another who is such an inspiring combination of talent, loyalty, longevity and professionalism? Will we ever have another to represent us so nobly on the stage of professional sports, and to single-handedly carve so many memorable moments into our collective consciousness? We can only…

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Mission to Mexico to promote business: City officials, corporate leaders to take part in trip

Most Hoosiers visiting Mexico spend their time on the beaches of Cancun, Cabo San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta. But this fall, an excursion of a different kind will take local business and civic leaders south of the border to explore new opportunities for commerce and trade with Mexico. The week-long mission, scheduled for early September, is the brainchild of Sergio Aguilera, Mexico’s consul general for Indianapolis. He hopes that exposing Hoosiers to all facets of Mexican life-from government and the…

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Accounting firm looks overseas for help: Sarbanes-Oxley business sparks need for extra hands

Zietsman is one of several employees of PricewaterhouseCoopers who are in the United States to temporarily help the global accounting firm complete client audit work created by the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley corporate-accountability law. One rule, Section 404, requires corporations to assess the internal accounting controls they have in place to ensure their financial reporting is accurate and reliable-and requires accounting firms to vouch for those controls. Many public companies had to devote thousands of employee hours and millions of dollars to…

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SPORTS: Two cities, eight teams and miles of observations

ST. INDIANAPOLIS-OK, an explanation of the goofy dateline. I have just finished shuttling back and forth between St. Louis for the NCAA Men’s Final Four and Indy for the NCAA Women’s Final Four. Because of a speaking engagement in St. Louis and an obligation back here on the front end, I made three round trips in six days, covering 1,500 miles. It was worth it. Six games over four days resulting in two national champions, the University of North Carolina…

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Helping pets pop pills: Butler MBA student invents easy way to medicate animals

Rob Puma’s idea of a romantic date is not making dog treats in his kitchen. Yet that’s exactly what he found himself doing with his girlfriend over Valentine’s Day weekend in 2004. The unusual celebration of a lover’s holiday was part of what began as a semesterlong MBA project at Butler University four years ago and became, as trite as it sounds, a labor of love for Puma, the inventor of Medi-Crunch, a snack designed to help people medicate their…

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SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary: A novel treatment for workplace injuries

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary A novel treatment for workplace injuries Oh, my aching back! How often we express that lament, or perhaps it’s an aching neck or shoulders or wrist pain. If you have escaped so far, you can surely identify a friend or co-worker who is hurting. Is it because we are aging or is something amiss, or both? Businessmen and -women, young and not so young, sit in front of a computer for hours every day. Many jobs require…

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SPORTS: And I repeat…the new stadium isn’t just for football

A lot of folks have pointed to the arrival of the Indianapolis Colts in 1984 as the beginning of the Indianapolis renaissance through sports. I would submit that the train already had left the station. The Indianapolis 500 notwithstanding, Indy’s first major national splash came four years before, in 1980, when the NCAA brought the Men’s Final Four to Market Square Arena. At that time, the event was just starting to bust out. The year before, Michigan State and Indiana…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY Don Altemeyer: Let’s rebuild Indiana’s rep as construction powerhouse A well-paying career More research A lesson from hoops

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY Don Altemeyer Let’s rebuild Indiana’s rep as construction powerhouse A well-paying career More research A lesson from hoops We could wear out our hands clapping like Gene Hackman’s Hoosiers, and it’s not going to change the fact that basketball in Indiana this year has been nothing short of unremarkable. Despite the state’s long-standing reputation as a basketball powerhouse, it’s the other teams playing in our arenas that are making history. There’s a similar story taking place,…

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School moratorium concerns industry: State officials studying whether too much money is being spent on non-educational construction projects

Designers of educational facilities are expressing concern over the future of school construction in Indiana as state officials mull guidelines that could bring changes to the process. Upon taking office in January, Gov. Mitch Daniels temporarily halted new school-construction borrowing to give the Department of Local Government Finance time to develop guidelines to ensure taxpayer money is spent wisely. The 120-day moratorium is a result of Daniels’ theory that school corporations spend too much money on projects unrelated to instruction….

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SPORTS: No more excuses for the fortunate Coach Davis

I find it semi-amusing that Mike Davis has to be publicly reminded that there are higher expectations for Indiana University basketball than seconddivision Big Ten finishes or NIT bids, that “We’re No. 4” is not an acceptable rallying cry, that the fans are demanding, that the boosters tend to be cranky and that, gee, a third mediocre season in a row might cost him his $800,000-a-year job. Well, yeah. So? Nonetheless, now the basketball literally is in Davis’ court. Which…

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McIntosh goes to bat for players at hearings: Former politician represents 3 stars grilled about steroids

Hoosiers who saw some of baseball’s biggest stars testify before a congressional committee about steroids may have caught a glimpse of former U.S. Rep. David McIntosh. The Republican Muncie native served Indiana’s second district in the House of Representatives from 1995 until 2001, and he ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2000. He is currently a partner at the Washington, D.C., office of international law firm Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw LLP. Commuting from Indiana to the nation’s capital, McIntosh’s legal…

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Wood flooring companies put bounce under ball: Hoops tourney signals competitive bidding season

With March Madness, the NBA playoff race and high school state tournaments reaching a feverish pitch, many Hoosiers are eyeing bouncing balls and hanging hoops. But Kevin Price and his staff are more focused on the floor below. Price’s company has carved out a profitable niche supplying, painting, polishing and servicing the hardwood that keeps basketballs bouncing. “I’m sure a lot of people just think of it as a floor,” said Price, Indianapolis’ regional sales manager for Cincinnati Floor Co….

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: There are reasons for rising school construction costs More technology More sports

Public school officials around the state have received sharp criticism in recent years for authorizing construction that critics decry as ostentatious and excessively expensive. Chief among the targets, but not exclusively, are athletic facilities that are often perceived as superior to all but the largest of our NCAA Division I colleges and universities. Without taking sides in the fray, I would simply remind everyone that K-12 education is basically a community function driven by local decisions. The bulk of the…

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VIEWPOINT: Congress and Indiana class actions The class-action problem CAFA’s fix Unintended consequences

Congress recently passed the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 (CAFA), intending to lower the costs and risks class-action litigation imposes on businesses. CAFA works primarily by moving certain large class actions out of state courts and into federal courts. This seemingly elegant solution assumes that litigating in federal court will be quicker, cheaper and yield a better result than litigating in state court. However CAFA’s complexity, combined with the good job most state courts are already doing, undermines that…

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No backing down: Irsay leads crusade to strengthen NFL revenue sharing

Irsay became a central figure in the NFL franchises’ small-market vs. large-market battle at the annual owners’ meetings in Hawaii March 21-23. He told reporters he isn’t sure how long his-or any-team can be competitive in a city the size of Indianapolis if large-market teams have their way with the league’s revenue-sharing formula. The Indiana General Assembly is in the midst of a fierce debate over funding for a $600 million retractable-roof stadium for the Colts, but that could be…

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INVESTING: Tumbling indexes should not be cause for panic-yet

The market’s been taking a bit of a beating lately. On March 4, the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed at 3-1/2-year highs. Apparently that was enough to bring out sellers, because the major averages suffered pullbacks of 2 percent to 3 percent the next week. Each time the market falls, I get the feeling there are more than a few people ready and willing to call the start of the next bear market….

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SPORTS: Diagnosing basketball’s ills in a Hoosier laboratory

The local daily recently had a story that revealed there are no statewide high school basketball legends in the making anymore. Players whose reputations were wellknown from Michigan City to Tell City long before their senior year in high school have gone the way of, well, single-class basketball. On top of that, as March Madness unfolds around us-with the NCAA men’s first and second rounds being played at the RCA Dome and the Women’s Final Four rolling into town April…

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D.C. key to meeting biz: Indianapolis lands conventions with Washington contingent

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Kim Allison wants people to think of one thing when they see her: Indianapolis. So she makes the rounds, on and off the clock, creating that connection. Whether she’s bowling or shopping, eating or reading, Allison has her hometown in mind-even though she’s living and working nearly 600 miles away. “We go to everything,” said Allison, who leads the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association’s two-person office in suburban Washington, D.C. “It helps keep our name out there.” Thousands of…

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WKLU sings new tune to gain competitive edge: Some experts say station’s new strategy can’t last

Bruce the Radio Pirate has left the building. Dr. Demento, Pop and Scratch and “The King Biscuit Flower Hour” are gone, as well. The hippie-sounding radio personalities and offbeat shows that were WKLUFM 101.9 moved out of the roughly 100-year-old house in Brownsburg five months ago when the station’s new owner, staff, music-and business strategy-moved in. But whether that strategy-to keep the smalltown station sounding small while it brings in big bucks-can work remains to be seen. And now WKLU…

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