Associated Press

Real estate investment trust Simon Property Group Inc. today announced plans to issue another $500 million in its 5-year senior notes. The notes will be issued by its majority-owned partnership subsidiary Simon Property Group LP. The issue would be a reopening of the 6.75 percent notes due 2014 issued on May 15. A successful reopening […]

Midwest governors met in Chicago today in a show of unity as they push for an eight-state, high-speed rail network – agreeing to set up a group that will coordinate the states’ bid for a share of $8 billion in federal stimulus cash for such projects. The one-day gathering, billed as a Midwest High Speed […]

A southern Indiana town board is considering filing for bankruptcy protection over a potential $1.45 million debt even though officials say state law doesn’t allow that action. The 3,000-person community of Georgetown faces the debt to a contractor and the nearby city of New Albany over stalled plans to build its own sewage treatment plant. […]

Indiana University officials are expecting several hundred fewer freshmen to show up next month at the Bloomington campus than last year’s record-largest freshman class. Officials expect about 7,100 freshmen when the fall semester starts in late August. IU vice provost Roger Thompson said that would be a good enrollment figure because the school plans on […]

A state committee has set tomorrow as the date that officials from Indiana’s public colleges and universities must explain their decisions to raise tuition. The State Budget Committee, which includes four fiscal leaders in the General Assembly and the state budget director, wants the colleges to justify the increases when so many students and families […]

Hundreds of workers have gone on strike at a Terre Haute factory after union officials say members overwhelmingly rejected a contract offer. Strikers started a picket line yesterday outside the Bemis Co. plant, which mostly makes packaging for the food industry. The plant opened 1956 and has about 740 union workers and between 150 and […]

Indiana University won’t have its own highlighted day at next month’s Indiana State Fair, a sponsorship change estimated to save the school about $60,000. The university sponsored a State Fair day for the past three years, with information booths, parades of cheerleaders and events such as last summer’s pep rally with new basketball coach Tom […]

The number of newly laid-off workers seeking jobless benefits rose nationally last week, though the government said its report again was distorted by the timing of auto-plant shutdowns. Unemployment insurance claims have declined steadily since the spring, but most private economists and the Federal Reserve expect jobs to remain scarce and the unemployment rate to […]

Lenders must notify homeowners of their right to request a settlement conference within 30 days of filing a foreclosure notice under a new Indiana law that state officials promoted Wednesday. The conferences give homeowners a chance to renegotiate terms, such as their interest rates or payments, and keep their homes. State officials also said about […]

An Indiana committee that oversees government spending will seek detailed explanations next week from public colleges and universities on why they have raised or proposed to raise tuition. Republican state Sen. Luke Kenley of Noblesville, chairman of the State Budget Committee, said today that the panel wants the colleges to justify their tuition increases at […]

A southern Indiana city is considering whether to convert its municipal power plant so that it could burn waste wood instead of coal. Jasper city officials say the plant has been shut down for all but a few weeks this year because low electricity prices have made it too expensive to operate. Doug Tischbein of […]

A former member of the Indianapolis City-County Council has been elected to fill a vacancy in the Indiana State Senate. Republican precinct committee members elected Scott Schneider during a caucus last night to replace Teresa Lubbers, who resigned from the Senate to become the state’s higher education commissioner. Schneider’s term representing Senate District 30, which […]

The minimum wage for Indiana workers is going up. The state’s minimum wage will increase from $6.55 per hour to $7.25 per hour on Friday. It coincides with a 10.7-percent increase in the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. The Indiana Minimum Wage Law applies to the minority of Hoosier employers and employees not […]

The Duffy Tool and Stamping plant in Muncie will close by the end of October, costing about 130 workers their jobs, company officials said. Duffy’s parent company, Cleveland-based Brittany Stamping LLC, told the Muncie Star Press that the decision to close was caused by poor national economic conditions “created by the collapse of the banking […]

Barge builder Jeffboat is laying off about 120 workers at its southern Indiana manufacturing facility along the Ohio River. The job cuts will leave the division of American Commercial Lines Inc. with about 1,100 workers at the Jeffersonville facility. Company spokesman David Parker blamed the recession and fluctuating demand for the layoffs announced yesterday. The […]

A recreational vehicle industry supplier plans on hiring about 240 people in northern Indiana as it shifts some production from Sweden. Dometic Corp. will spend at least $9 million on equipment for a factory in Elkhart to make refrigerators, awnings, air conditioners and other products. Company president Douglas Whyte said the factory could start production […]