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Chris O'Malley

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Initiative seeks to bolster not-for-profit execs: Venture groups would go beyond professional

The local not-for-profit Leadership Ventures plans to pilot a program that teams not-for-profit CEOs in monthly sessions where they’ll jointly solve problems at one another’s organizations. Besides professional development, the Executive Director Venture Group program seeks to form lasting ties among these CEOs, who often serve in relative isolation and face myriad more duties than their counterparts in private business. “There are a ton of support organizations for businesses, [but] how many are there only available for not-for-profits?” asked Ruth…

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Half-billion-dollar traffic plan considered for northeast side

Whether it’s southbound I-69 traffic backed up almost to Noblesville, or northbound I-465 traffic a parking lot all the way
to 56th Street, the northeast highway system is grossly inadequate at peak hours. But a report issued last month by an INDOT
consultant shows a radical, $600 million reconfiguration is in the works.

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A look from behind the wheel of one possible fix:

Perhaps the best way to describe possible changes that await I-69/I-465 commuters a decade from now is to drive the “preferred alternative” route under consideration. Just south of 96th Street, southbound I-69 traffic from Fishers would pick up an extra travel lane on what’s now a three-lane interstate. Then, just north of 82nd Street, two more lanes would appear to the right, isolated by a concrete barrier to prevent the orgy of lastminute merging that now disrupts traffic flow. Those…

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Landlords bring pipe to fight with regulators: Prospect of state oversight brings flood of protest

The state’s apartment industry, backed by firms that landlords hire to bill their tenants for water and sewer service, says state officials are legally all wet if they try to regulate the industry as utilities. Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission jurisdiction “does not extend to the regulation of a landlord’s water pipes any more than it may extend to a homeowner’s garden hose,” Clayton Miller, a Baker & Daniels attorney representing the Water Sub-Billing and Conservation Coalition, told the commission last…

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Clicking for dollars starting to compute?: Online donations to not-for-profits show signs of growth after sluggish years

During 1990s Internet mania, some in philanthropic circles had high hopes for online fund raising. After all, if people were buying books and clothes on the Web, they might just as impulsively click on a not-for-profit’s “donate” button. “They always expected it was really going to take off,” recalled Eugene Tempel, director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. “But it never did.” That may be changing: A new study by the Indianapolis-based center finds that not-for-profits “may be…

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IPALCO may face challenge over old retirement plan: Utility accused of continuing to collect plan money from ratepayers despite spinning it off years earlier

Six years after its $2.2 billion sale to AES Corp.-a deal that generated at least three shareholder lawsuits-IPALCO Enterprises has signaled that more sparks might fly from the long-done deal. An attorney claiming to represent participants in a retirement insurance plan IPALCO spun off and stopped funding six years ago alleges the utility continues to recover from its 468,000 ratepayers millions of dollars a year toward the plan. The letter asserts that Indianapolis Power & Light “is recovering in rates…

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AT&T’s stealth over U-verse drawes fire

Some in the telecom industry think AT&T had the Indiana General Assembly twirled around its finger like a coil of phone cord
last year. It lobbied legislators to rewrite the state’s telecommunications laws so it could more easily deploy its “U-verse”
video product.

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Post-bankruptcy turnaround not taking off for ATA

More than 18 months after flying out of a bankruptcy reorganization that unloaded $1 billion of debt and costly aircraft leases,
the parent of ATA Airlines still finds landing a profit elusive. Indianapolis-based Global Aero Logistics posted a loss of
$46.1 million in the first half of 2007, according to documents it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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Steam plant ups reliance on coal

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility shuttered its coke manufacturing plant earlier this summer, much to the relief of neighbors and
health officials who warned that its benzene emissions were a cancer threat. But regulatory filings show closing the plant
at Keystone Avenue and Prospect Street could result in more pollution downtown.

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Will hefty Hoosiers get up for green, healthy event?: Former producer of state flower and patio show plans first-ever Natural Living Expo in January

Todd Jameson knows how to get Hoosiers off the sofa. Up until two years ago, he was producer of the Indiana Flower and Patio Show and the Christmas Gift and Hobby Show-two of the most popular annual events in Indianapolis. But a dollar to a cholesterol-laden doughnut says his next gig will be his most difficult: getting some of the nation’s heaviest, most cigarette-addicted people off the couch and to the firstever Natural Living Expo, next January. Jameson figures the…

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Charity alliances in United Way’s shadow seek their share

Once a year, the CEO implores employees to sign pledge cards to the United Way. Local health and human services agencies that
benefit wait to redeem your tax-deductible gift. But others are preaching there’s another path to charitable-giving heaven.
Lesser-known federations continue to nip at the heels of the United Way establishment in the workplace.

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College program target of New York investigation

An obscure not-for-profit has become a financial powerhouse since it was founded here 19 years ago. But now it’s in the crosshairs
of a New York state investigation into whether it and others that organize study abroad programs for college students offered
universities perks to become their preferred providers.

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Heating-assistance program on the bubble: Agency urges improvements, questions accounting

The Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor has filed a lukewarm response to plans from a pair of local utilities to continue a program intended to reduce gas disconnections in the upcoming heating season. The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is weighing whether to continue the 20-month-old “universal service” programs offered by locally based Citizens Gas & Coke Utility and Evansville-based Vectren Corp. The programs are funded by the utilities and ratepayers. They amount to the secondlargest source of funds in…

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Dealer Services Corp. has rival Adesa taking notice

Dealer Services Corp. is an example of what happens when an entrepreneur sells his company to a bigger one and then comes
back to haunt it after he is tossed aside. In this case, the spurned entrepreneur, John Fuller, became a thorn to Adesa Inc.
a few years after its CEO sent him packing in late 2001.

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Consumers wary of ‘greenwashing’ by companies

With the gospel of global warming raising the call for “green-ness” to a near-hysterical pitch, there’s a growing sense that
creating an earth-friendly image will bring companies a strategic advantage. Yet the contradictions between what companies
do day in and day out and what they do to improve the environment can create a marketing minefield.

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UPDATE: Watchdog cheers Vectren decision

Saying its need for electricity can be filled in other ways, Evansville-based Vectren Corp. announced yesterday that it will not go forward with a southwestern Indiana coal gasification project it planned with Duke Energy Corp. Vectren instead will turn to buying power and will rely more on natural gas-fired peaking plants, renewable resources and persuading […]

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Settlement would halve water rate increase

Indiana American Water Co.’s proposed 18-percent rate hike would be cut nearly in half under a settlement agreement with the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor filed yesterday. The proposal would allow the Greenwood-based firm a 9.9-percent increase in rates and charges. Indiana American Water also agreed to develop a long-range water conservation plan, to […]

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Dealers say mileage mandates are too much, too soon: But consumer group contends heightened demand for fuel-efficient vehicles should allay industry’s fears

The region’s largest consumer advocacy group is trying to counter efforts by Indiana car dealers who want to water down higher fuel economy standards passed by the U.S. Senate. Citizens Action Coalition has been rallying its base to pressure the Indiana delegation to stand behind aggressive fuel economy targets that would require a carmaker’s fleet to average 35 miles per gallon by 2018. With gas supplies pinched and prices relatively high,”this is a very current and important issue,” said Dave…

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