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Chris O'Malley

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Timing is everything in the fuel-savings game: INDOT to synchronize signals in more area brake zones

State transportation engineers, having just tweaked traffic-light timing to improve flow on U.S. 31 in Carmel, next plan to target three other busy corridors in the metro area. They include U.S. 31 on the south side, between Interstate 465 and County Road 750N, and the increasingly congested stretch of State Road 37 between State Road 238 and Cumberland Road in Noblesville. The improvements to be conducted over the next several months can’t come fast enough for motorists weary of the…

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Boutique high schools could bolster work force: Movement targets students who need extra help and otherwise might not pursue higher education

Two school districts have received pivotal funding for “early college high schools” to prepare secondary students for the rigors of college and give them the opportunity to earn college credits before setting foot on campus. The initiative also could be a plus for area employers to the extent it improves the pool of qualified workers locally. Indianapolis Public Schools’ Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet/Early College High School and the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township’s Early College High School each received…

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First-class parking: Airport freebie list includes former politicians, other VIPs

Scott Jones could probably afford to buy the 1,800-space parking garage at Indianapolis International Airport, as one who’s earned millions of dollars in patent income from voice mail technology he invented. But why buy the garage? The Indianapolis multimillionaire shows up on a list of nearly 400 politicians and other VIPs entitled to free parking at the airport, a review of airport records shows. Begun as a courtesy to a handful of elected officials decades ago, the free parking list…

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Telecom CEO cited mother’s death in plea to avoid fine: Utility regulators stood firm on $1.1 penalty against Micronet; Wyoming company plans to appeal

Of all the curious legal filings with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission since the late 1800s, Frank Santa’s might be the first to use the death of a mother as a defense against financial sanctions. And it’s likely the first utility filing in the last 100 years to include the death certificate of a Hungarian widow. The president of Casper, Wyo.-based Micronet Inc. stated in a Feb. 3 filing with the IURC that his firm shouldn’t have to pay a…

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Alien hirers rarely busted: Law doesn’t force employers to verify that workers are legal

Despite a high-profile raid against IFCO Systems on April 19, Indianapolis employers have little to fear in hiring undocumented aliens or those who present questionable identification. Rarely do immigration cops bust an Indianapolis-area workplace. Until federal agents led away about 40 allegedly undocumented Mexicans and Guatemalans at the south-side pallet plant this month, the last high-profile raid was more than a decade ago. In 1995, customs officials raided the former Simpson Race Products shoe factory in Speedway, nabbing 66 illegal…

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Ivy Tech to focus more on results, not just growth: Student success and broader ties with employers among goals of community college system’s five-year plan

After growing its enrollment 75 percent the last decade, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana is shifting its focus to student retention. A top administrator also wants to expand the number of training courses offered at businesses, as a way to supplement the system’s $253 million annual budget. Some who’ve studied the state’s educational system have recommended that Ivy Tech spend more to hire additional full-time faculty to strengthen its effectiveness. The school’s five-year student retention plan calls for doubling…

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Suburban residents slow to jump on vanpool bandwagon: Neither cost nor environmental advantages stir the masses; advocate says ’employers need to get smarter’

The federally funded Central Indiana Commuter Services has finally won over a dozen workers to share a van to and from work-somewhat of a feat in a region where a vanpool might as well be a bathing option for a conversion van. Besides a vanpool program that runs between Cloverdale and Indianapolis, CICS recently signed on a handful of Fishers residents to share a seven-passenger van between the Hamilton County town and downtown Indianapolis. Lately, CICS has been trying to…

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IndyGo claims take their toll: Payout for injuries, damages hit 3-year high, a big financial hit for cash-strapped system

“If it had been a bigger bus, I’d have been dead,” said Williams, who was injured and his car totaled. IndyGo settled his case out of court for an undisclosed sum. Williams filed one of 20 tort claim notices with the Indianapolis Public Transportation Corp. last year. Those, and 10 lawsuits, seek a total of more than $2.6 million in damages. IndyGo attorneys estimate the company’s total potential liability is more like $784,350, according to records obtained by IBJ. The…

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Mexican truckers file lawsuit against Celadon: Trucking giant disputes discrimination, calls other claims ‘a form of extortion’

To Celadon Group Inc., it’s ambulance chasing, Tex-Mex style. Mucho absurdo. To a handful of Texas lawyers who filed suit against the Indianapolis-based trucking company last month, it’s an opportunity to haul home triple damages on allegations of racketeering and wage discrimination against Mexican citizens who drove Celadon’s trucks on this side of the border. At the least, the allegations in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Laredo, Texas, reflect a complex relationship between North American neighbors, said…

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IDEM pollution fines fall: Violators assessed lowest amount since ’99, but Daniels administration speeds up process

Under Republican control for the first time in 16 years, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management in 2005 handed out $2.03 million in fines for pollution violations, the lowest annual assessment since at least 1999. The 2005 penalties were down nearly $600,000 from a year earlier, when the department was under the administration of Gov. Joe Kernan. But IDEM records show Gov. Mitch Daniels’ team had comparatively little patience for unresolved cases, in which the commission and alleged violators couldn’t…

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States demand One Call answers: Carmel telephone firm ‘out of control’

A Carmel long-distance and operator service company has a lot to answer for these days. After crossing wires with Indiana regulators and with the Federal Communications Commission last year, One Call Communications now is being accused by Iowa and Missouri regulators of putting bogus charges on phone bills and then harassing people to pay. Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon this month filed a lawsuit alleging the privately held company violated state and federal consumer protection laws. Nixon said the company…

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More students seek degree online: Working, career-hopping adults drawn by flexible degree format

ITT Educational Services Inc. may nearly double by the end of this year the number of degree programs it offers entirely through online instruction as the school seeks to enroll students who can’t make class because of work or family obligations. Six online bachelor degree programs and two online associate degree programs are in various stages of regulatory and accreditation review, according to the Carmel-based technical education provider, which has 38,800 students enrolled at schools in 28 states. President and…

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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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Time switch creating computer nightmare: Technology experts predict change to daylight-saving could be Y2K all over again

If you have an important meeting starting April 2, beware of relying on your computer for a reminder-there’s a fair chance you’ll be late. The state’s first-ever switch to daylight-saving time will leave thousands of computers confused about what time it is, and their users not much better off. PC clocks have to be adjusted just like the cuckoo over the mantle, but if you forget to switch the timezone setting from “Indiana (East)” to “Eastern Time”-or neglect to check…

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IT firm bought again: New York company acquires Core Business Technology but will move HQ to Indy

Now, Core Business Technology Solutions has gone down the aisle again, tying the knot last month with White Plains, N.Y.-based Convergence Technologies Inc.-a deal that makes Indianapolis headquarters for a company with 270 employees and $105 million in revenue. But, with apologies to Wynette, nobody at this wedding sang, “Stand by your LAN.” The good ol’ local area network is now just a slice of the increasingly diverse information-technology products and services Core offers small and midsize companies these days….

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College hatches business to measure airwaves: Big wireless firms flocking to one-of-a-kind database

Ball State University has created what could be a moneymaking venture to help the nation’s wireless providers find dead spots in their signal footprints even before they put up the first towers. The university’s Office of Wireless Research and Mapping said it has at least $720,000 in tentative contracts from businesses and government agencies. “My hope is, in two or three months, we have a fully operational center that is going to be recognized nationally,” said Bizhan Nasseh, a Ball…

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Ethanol’s secret: Highly touted alternative fuel needs tax subsidies to survive

State and local leaders have been crowing about how ethanol plants will bring more jobs to Indiana and put more dollars in the pockets of corn farmers. If that prospect isn’t enough to make votecoveting politicians and corn farmers giddy, General Motors Corp. started singing ethanol’s praises this month in TV ads. Joyous motorists frolic under blue skies-all thanks to ethanol’s promise of cleaner air and energy independence from oil. But there’s another economic reality for motorists who use E85,…

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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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Industry veteran at helm as ATA exits bankruptcy: After months of tumult, Karnik ready for ‘boring’ year

Subodh Karnik slowly backed up to his chair at ATA Airlines Inc. and slumped into it. His 46-year-old back was killing him. One of his elementary-age sons back home in Atlanta used him like a trampoline over the weekend. The injury got worse when Karnick ran through the airport, like O.J. Simpson in an old Hertz commercial, to catch a flight back to Indianapolis. “I was born a masochist,” said Karnik, a 6-foot-4-inch native of Mumbai, India, who sports a…

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Conflict avoided, but not revealed: Director didn’t participate in hiring Sallie Mae unit for $15M state project

Records filed with the Indiana Ethics Commission show that Goode last July removed himself from involvement in vetting the contract his department later OK’d between the Indiana Department of Revenue and General Revenue Corp., a Cincinnatibased subsidiary of the student-loan giant. General Revenue, which pursues overdue payments for Sallie Mae, was hired in August to help the state collect $255 million in back taxes through a tax amnesty program last fall. But the Department of Revenue never sought competing bids…

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