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Chris O'Malley

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Byrider banging out dents from franchisees: Repairs precede used-car chain’s planned expansion

Its image dinged by regulatory actions against J.D. Byrider used-car franchisees in Ohio and Kentucky, Byrider Franchising Inc. is busy culling problem operators ahead of a planned 2006-2007 expansion. The Carmel-based “buy here, pay here” chain with 123 stores in 28 states also said it has spent millions of dollars on vehicle repairs, customer service improvements and more sophisticated underwriting software to reduce loan delinquencies. There were 127 franchised stores operating in 2004, plus another 13 companyowned stores, according to…

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Bills clash over video regulation: Phone giants, cable firms fight about franchising rules

In fact, some say the franchising clash has overshadowed the real implications of deregulation: Cable operators will get their first real competition since satellite TV mushroomed in the mid-1990s. Municipalities, which grant franchise agreements to cable TV companies and collect millions in fees in return, hyperventilated when Sen. Brandt Hershman, R-Wheatfield, introduced Senate Bill 245 last month. It would give the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission the job of doling out statewide video franchises. Cities would lose that authority, but would…

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Mr. Buick makes bid to dethrone Carson: Automobile dealer Dickerson takes grass-roots approach

Eric Dickerson held his hands out, palms facing each other, as if playing an accordion. He moved them closer to illustrate the narrowing margin of victory by which 7th District congresswoman Julia Carson has won re-election since 2000. A couple of tables away in the Starbucks near Broad Ripple, the founder of a private Indianapolis company sat listening to the political polka. Suddenly, he was up and talking to Dickerson, who wants to be Carson’s Republican challenger. “I want to…

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Landing ad revenue: Airport charged up over sponsorship of electrical outlets

Advertisements for mutual funds, watches and kolaches. Now as you wait at the gate for your flight, you’ll even see ads on electrical outlets. The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Jan. 20 was expected to approve a $65,000 marketing partnership with Chase in what is the latest and certainly the most electrifying of all advertising schemes at Indianapolis International Airport. These are desperate times for marketers. Too many ads are getting lost in the shuffle. And barraged consumers have figured out…

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Bedroom community awakens to growth nightmare: McCordsville land use, design standards put to test

This town is grateful just to have had a dentist hang out a shingle along its main drag the other day. McCordsville even held a ribbon cutting for a gas station-that remodeled. It’s hard to figure the locals would be uptight about much in the way of development. But, recently, the folks at Mc-Cordsville’s veterinary-clinic-turnedtown-hall took a long look a couple of miles north, to Fishers-the poster-child for explosive residential development-and they winced. So McCordsville recently adopted a land use…

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Landing ad revenue: Airport charged up over sponsorship of electrical outlets

Advertisements for mutual funds, watches and kolaches. Now as you wait at the gate for your flight, you’ll even see ads on electrical outlets. The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Jan. 20 was expected to approve a $65,000 marketing partnership with Chase in what is the latest and certainly the most electrifying of all advertising schemes at Indianapolis International Airport. These are desperate times for marketers. Too many ads are getting lost in the shuffle. And barraged consumers have figured out…

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Bedroom community awakens to growth nightmare: McCordsville land use, design standards put to test

This town is grateful just to have had a dentist hang out a shingle along its main drag the other day. McCordsville even held a ribbon cutting for a gas station-that remodeled. It’s hard to figure the locals would be uptight about much in the way of development. But, recently, the folks at Mc-Cordsville’s veterinary-clinic-turnedtown-hall took a long look a couple of miles north, to Fishers-the poster-child for explosive residential development-and they winced. So McCordsville recently adopted a land use…

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Celadon says inland port would be economic boon to state: Putting customs clearing here would speed crossings

Celadon Trucking plans by the end of April to install global positioning satellite devices on 1,350 of its trailers, an application of technology that could pave the way for an inland cargo port in central Indiana. Tom Glaser, president of one of the largest trucking lines hauling goods between the United States, Mexico and Canada, plans to urge state economic development officials to build a multimodal port in Indiana that would include Mexican and Canadian customs-clearing facilities. Officials would inspect,…

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Aearo aiming for IPO: Giant in safety equipment wants to raise $230 million, plans overseas expansion

An Indianapolis company that makes earplugs, hard hats and other protection gear used by everyone from soldiers to construction workers has laid the foundation for an initial public stock offering. Aearo Technologies Inc. plans to raise up to $230 million in the offering and list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange, according to its registration statement filed late last year with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But the filing leaves blank a number of key details-such as…

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Carrier looks deeper at rent-a-plane roots to grow revenue: ATA aims to reverse declines in commercial charter

ATA Holdings Corp. is again plotting a course toward commercial charter, a segment of the airline industry hurt over the last decade by falling scheduled service fares that have erased charters’ price advantage. But rather than aiming at the leisure end of commercial charter-so battered by fare wars-the Indianapolis carrier will try to tap more lucrative segments such as “incentive” charters. Among the clients: big corporations that send hundreds or thousands of their top salespeople each year to conferences in…

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‘Crammers’ facing big fines: Two firms accused of billing phone customers for directory assistance services not ordered

As in $1,071,000. That’s how much the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor wants the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to ring up in fines against Casper, Wyo.-based Micronet Inc. It also requests that the commission turn over the case to Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter for prosecution under the state’s deceptive practices act. Micronet is accused of billing hundreds of Indiana business, residential and state government lines in late 2004 and early 2005 for directory assistance service callers never requested or…

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New airport control tower has a blind spot: More than 300 feet of runway obscured by FedEx hub will be closed, dozed to give controllers view

Indianapolis International Airport this month will launch a highly unusual project-shortening a runway. Perhaps just as odd is the reason: Controllers in the airport’s new air traffic control tower, opening next spring, won’t be able to see the southern 324 feet of the 7,604-foot crosswind runway. The FedEx hub is in the way. “The control tower needs to see the surface of the runway,” said John Kish, manager of the $1 billion midfield terminal construction project that necessitated the new…

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New ATA shares harder to land: Public offering not expected as airline exits bankruptcy

You probably wouldn’t want to buy shares of the first discount airline in recent years to file bankruptcy reorganization-not unless you’re a short-seller or a relative of Norman Vincent Peale. Not in this airline climate. But even they won’t have a chance to buy shares being issued in ATA Holdings Corp. after the Indianapolis airline emerges from Chapter 11 as early as next month. ATA was delisted from Nasdaq shortly after it filed for bankruptcy in October 2004. Old shares…

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ATA struggles to survive:

ATA Airlines in 2005 was gutted into a shell of its former glory. On the upside, it ended the year with a $100 commitment from New York finance firm MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners. That could set the stage for the company to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February, 16 months after it filed. But the price of restructuring was high for Indianapolis. The company, which just a year ago was the busiest carrier at Indianapolis International Airport, will discontinue…

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NEWSMAKER Outspoken White takes charge at IPS:

NEWSMAKER Outspoken White takes charge at IPS Eugene White ruffled more than a few feathers early this year when he publicly called Gov. Mitch Daniels “a liar.” White, then the superintendent of Washington Township schools, didn’t care for Daniels’ claim that the state’s school administrators cared more about building projects than education. Like him or not, White doesn’t mince words. He has a stand-up style that this summer helped him land the job of superintendent of Indianapolis Public Schools. The…

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Retirees from IPL face cuts: Declining assets strain trust providing benefits to 1,900

A stampede of early retirements after IPALCO Enterprises was bought by AES Corp. in 2001 is forcing cuts in health and life insurance benefits starting next month. The IPALCO Enterprises Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association has told its 1,900 participants that new members and rising health care costs have forced cuts that “are absolutely essential to extend the long-term viability of the VEBA Trust.” The retirement plan’s assets have fallen to $88 million from $95 million at year-end 2004, according to…

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A fuzzy picture for Thomson-again: French parent puts consumer unit in play, but will keep part of 700-person Carmel work force

Engineering and research-anddevelopment jobs in Carmel likely will be spared the uncertainty of Thomson’s plans to sell outright or to find partners for its consumer products and accessories business. The French company that owns the RCA brand and employs 700 in Carmel said last week that it will exit the consumer end of the electronics realm in 2006. But Thomson also said it has a number of engineers and related personnel in Carmel that would fit the company’s focus on…

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Republic Airways buffeted by U.S. Airways pilot turbulence: Locally based carrier gets favorable ruling in one dispute, but remains mired in separate $1.2B lawsuit

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. has landed a break from an arbitrator who ruled the Indianapolis regional airline is obligated to hire no more than half the 300 pilots employed by US Airways’ MidAtlantic regional airline, which Republic is acquiring. Regional carrier Republic can avoid higher personnel costs by not having to hire as many U.S. Airways pilots with seniority. The amount of the savings was not immediately available. But Republic remains a defendant in a complicated, $1.2 billion lawsuit that…

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Backyard gushers: Prolific Plummer oil field profitable for Citizens as crude prices rise

They’ve also pumped up revenue for Citizens Gas & Coke Utility, thanks to the soaring price of oil this year. The utility’s oil revenue for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 nearly doubled, to $4 million from $2.26 million in fiscal 2004. Since 1969, the Oil Division has generated income of nearly $40 million. In fiscal 2005, income of the Oil Division rose 160 percent, to $2.6 million, vs. $1 million in 2004. Although $2.6 million is not a huge…

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Utility customers to receive millions of dollars in credits: Tentative agreement with PSI would settle disputes, compensate ratepayers for risks related to merger

PSI Energy Inc. has reached a preliminary settlement with the state’s utility consumer counselor on how its 750,000 Indiana ratepayers will fare under the merger of parent Cinergy Corp. with Duke Energy. Details of the agreement aren’t ready to be released, said Angeline Protogere, spokeswoman for the Plainfield-based utility. But filings both sides made last month with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission suggest that ratepayers could receive credits on their bills 21 percent greater than previously estimated by PSI. The…

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