SEPTEMBER 3-9, 2012
This week, find out why Bill Simpson is turning his attention from auto racing to football and learn what a veteran educator thinks the future holds for public schools. Also, check out our guide to the upcoming arts and entertainment season. And in Forefront, hear from Indiana's candidates for U.S. Senate.
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Lumina betting $10M on startups
Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation, one of the nation’s largest donors to education groups, has given $10 million to a venture capital firm to fund for-profit startups with ideas to meet the nation’s education challenges.
Read MoreIndianapolis symphony’s woes aren’t just about money
Even if the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s management and musicians overcome gaping differences and reach a contract agreement, industry experts say disconcerting questions will continue to hang over the organization.
Read MoreSenatorial candidates angling for advantage in tight race
Central Indiana residents will have a front-row seat on the close race for U.S. Senate, as Democrat Joe Donnelly and Republican Richard Mourdock drill into each other’s partisan strongholds to pick up crucial votes.
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EnerDel charged up over utility market
Locally based EnerDel, maker of fuel-efficient lithium-ion batteries, is steering away from the disappointing electric-vehicle market. Its new strategy: batteries for utilities—especially in emerging markets where electric grids can be unreliable, which increases the need for backup power supplies.
Read MoreNew company focuses on making football helmets that reduce concussions
Bill Simpson, famous for pioneering multiple advances in auto-racing safety, has turned his attention to a new sport. His new company, SGH Helmets, is making a football helmet that Simpson hopes will help prevent concussions.
Read MoreEducation veteran predicts decade of drastic change
New laws, new technology and a new era of flat funding will bring more change to Indiana’s public schools in the next decade than occurred in the past century, predicts David Dresslar, a former school superintendent who is now executive director of the Center of Excellence in Leadership of Learning at the University of Indianapolis.
Read MoreHHGregg’s new push: Selling treadmills alongside TVs
The appliance and electronics retailer is quietly launching a test of furniture and fitness equipment, with rollouts scheduled for 31 of its more than 200 stores.
Read MoreCommercialization priority for Lugar energy center
IUPUI unit has ambitious plans even as namesake prepares to step down from long-held seat in Congress.
Read MoreWellPoint launches search for new CEO after Braly resignation
Investors are looking for a CEO who can right the Indianapolis-based company’s financial performance and integrate WellPoint’s recent deals to buy Medicaid insurer Amerigroup Corp. and vision company 1-800-Contacts Inc.
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EDITORIAL: Braly ouster overstates failures
Investors heaped criticism on former WellPoint Inc. CEO Angela Braly and called for her ouster in the weeks leading up to her resignation Aug. 28, but her leadership of the health-insurance giant might not be judged so harshly once the smoke clears.
Read MoreMAURER: At the sports book with Cousin Eddie
Cousin Eddie is an obstetrician/gynecologist and medical director of one of the largest OBGYN practices in Houston. He also is an author, inventor, songwriter and stock market whiz.
Read MoreRUSTHOVEN: Is pro-life extreme, or isn’t it?
Whatever else Planned Parenthood does, it is the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Read MoreHENDERSON: If coffee were like gasoline
Today, we’re paying what the market will not get upset over, just like the enormous price of coffee, whose bean prices have also collapsed.
Read MoreRACE: Professional project review is an investment in quality
If you want to make the private sector leery of developing in your community, take the certainty out of the process by making it political.
Read MoreHICKS: Observing the transformation of unions on Labor Day
In this column, on a sunny Labor Day five years past, I asserted that the American labor movement was dead. Given what has transpired since, it would appear my diagnosis was a bit optimistic.
Read MoreKIM: Why the Libor lie matters to the man on the street
Libor, the London interbank offered rate, certainly sounds like an obscure, technical bit of financial jargon. However, Libor directly affects the pricing of more than $800 trillion in securities and loans.
Read MoreNew leadership must tackle debt
The most important issue in this election year is our massive debt and its effect on jobs and the economy.
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Lake Wawasee house sale is largest of year for local listing service
Encore Sotheby’s local office represented seller in the $3.8 million sale to a local buyer.
Read MoreWISH-TV fires news director, industry sources say
Several industry sources say Patti McGettigan was escorted from the WISH-TV Channel 8 building Friday after a three-year run as the local CBS affiliate's news director. The station isn't commenting on what led to her abrupt departure.
Read MoreWXIN adding an hour of news at 6
The Fox affiliate will go head to head with rivals at prime news hour as it continues to increase local programming.
Read MoreUtilities to get bill for damaged grid-control room
A Carmel not-for-profit that monitors the electric grid in 11 states and part of Canada plans to pass on to its member utilities and transmission-line operators $5.4 million in costs resulting from damage to its local data center last September.
Read MoreSteak n Shake loses appeal over franchisee’s pricing
A longtime Steak n Shake franchisee who sued the chain after it insisted on setting prices for menu items prevailed again Friday as the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed an Illinois federal court’s ruling in the franchisee’s favor.
Read MorePROXY CORNER: First Merchants Corp.
Muncie-based First Merchants Corp. operates 79 branches in 24 Indiana counties and two Ohio counties.
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