Articles

Cripe expands with Evansville office

Cripe Architects + Engineers, the Indianapolis-based architectural firm, is adding an office in Evansville in addition to its satellite locations in Carmel and Fort Wayne, according to the Evansville Courier & Press. Cripe has 75 employees. Chairman and CEO Alex D. Oak, a Native American, brings the firm minority-owned status.

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Tennessee firm buys ice cream operation

Land-O-Sun Dairies LLC of Johnston City, Tenn., has acquired Driggs Farms of Indiana LLC, a bankrupt ice cream manufacturer in the northeastern Indiana town of Decatur. Land-O-Sun will continue operating the plant, which employs 200 in a Decatur industrial park, according to The Decatur Daily Democrat. The transition is expected to take place in September.

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AM General to lay off 80 at Hummer plant

Falling demand for the hulking H2 Hummer sport-utility vehicle has prompted its manufacturer, Mishawaka-based AM General, to lay off 80 workers, according to the South Bend Tribune. Production at AM General’s northern Indiana plant will be cut to 25 units a day from the volume of 52 a day early this summer as rising gas […]

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WellPoint chief moves up on most-powerful list

Angela Braly, who last summer took over as CEO of Indianapolis-based health insurer WellPoint Inc., is ranked No. 4 on Forbes’ latest list of the world’s most powerful women. That’s up from No. 16 last year. The magazine builds the rankings based on a person’s public profile and financial “heft.” Topping the list is Germany […]

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Racing company to expand manufacturing plant

Impact Racing LLC, which manufactures fire suits, helmets and other racing gear, plans to expand by building a plant in Clermont, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. said today. The $3.7 million, 20,000-square-foot expansion is expected to result in hiring 100 workers in addition to the 120 currently on the company’s roster. Indianapolis-based Impact Racing received […]

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Grant to support Athenaeum fundraiser

A $100,000 grant from Lilly Endowment is intended to help the Athenaeum raise funds to continue restoration of the downtown landmark. The Athenaeum Foundation said yesterday that the grant will support a development director for two years as the foundation looks to projects that range from tuck-pointing bricks, at a potential cost of $250,000, to […]

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Flood swamps Columbus furniture firm

Record flooding on June 7 has claimed a downtown Columbus furniture and interior business. Montage Furniture & Design will close after 16 years in business, The Republic newspaper of Columbus reported. More than $100,000 of merchandise was lost when flood waters hit a Montage warehouse. Montage, owned by Trent and Cinde Wirth, will close in […]

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Noblesville Daily Times to stop presses

Five years after its launch, the Noblesville Daily Times will stop publishing at the end of the week, the newspaper said today on its Web site. “It’s a tough economy, it’s a competitive market, and it’s a tough time for newspapers in general,” Publisher Michael Corbett said in an online story. “All newspapers are wrestling […]

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Hammond Kennedy finances company buyout

The Indianapolis private-equity firm Hammond Kennedy Whitney & Co. Inc. has financed the recapitalization of Crane Rental Corp. of Orlando, Fla. Hammond Kennedy partner Jim Snyder said the value of the deal was more than $60 million, and involved the existing president of the family-owned company remaining in the post and holding a minority equity […]

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Celadon strikes agreement with trucking firm

Indianapolis-based Celadon Trucking said it will help Farmington, N.Y.-based Priority America wind down its over-the-road trucking operations, but did not disclose the value of the agreement. Celadon will handle some of Priority America’s customer loads and assist a lender retrieve tractors and trailers and collect accounts receivable. However, Celadon will not buy assets of the […]

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Steelworkers vote today on strike authorization

Fourteen thousand members of the United Steelworkers union are being asked to vote today to permit a strike against domestic plants operated by ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based steel giant. In Indiana, ArcelorMittal has plants in Burns Harbor, East Chicago and New Carlisle. About half of the company’s 14,000 U.S. union employees are in the Indiana plants, […]

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Publisher hit with $50,000 for software violations

Author Solutions has been fined $50,000 for using unauthorized copies of Adobe, Microsoft and Symantec software, the Business Software Alliance announced today. The Bloomington provider of self-publishing services was outed through a report to the alliance’s hotline, the alliance said. Author Solutions President and CEO Kevin Weiss said in a joint statement with the alliance […]

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AG accuses Countrywide of deception

Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter has filed a lawsuit in Steuben County Court against Countrywide Home Loans Inc., alleging that the nation’s largest mortgage lender engaged in deceptive practices that led borrowers to obtain costly and potentially risky loans. He joins attorneys general from four other states in taking action against Calabasas, Calif.-based Countrywide this […]

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Toll-road workers reject unionization

The company that leases the Indiana Toll Road from the state said late last week that a vote involving 86 maintenance workers resulted in rejecting an organization attempt by the International Union of Operating Engineers and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. ITR Concession Co. LLC did not release vote totals. Meanwhile, the company is tussling […]

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Obama picks Biden, passes over Bayh

Barack Obama named Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware as his vice presidential running mate early Saturday, passing over Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, who was informed yesterday that he was not the pick. The selection of Biden balances Obama’s ticket with a seasoned congressional veteran well-versed in foreign policy and defense issues. Obama announced the pick […]

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Maple Leaf Farms scales back duck production

Maple Leaf Farms, one of the nation’s largest duck producers, has sold a production location in Wisconsin due to high feed costs. The company, headquartered near the northern Indiana town of Milford, partly compensated for the downsizing by stepping up production at its home plant. Maple Leaf is in its third generation of family ownership […]

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WellPoint names new executives

Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc. said today it has hired a new chief accounting officer and appointed its acting chief information officer to the position on a long-term basis. Martin Miller, 46, will join WellPoint as chief accounting officer on Sept. 15 after working as global controller for Molson Coors Brewing Co. He also will be senior […]

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Lilly’s Cymbalta approved by European panel

The European Commission has approved Cymbalta, the anxiety drug developed by Eli Lilly and Co. The thumbs-up came from the commission’s European Medicine Agency Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use, the Indianapolis company said today. The approval opens markets in 27 European Union nations as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. Lilly estimates nine […]

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Kokomo toilet maker shuts down

Kokomo Sanitary Pottery, a toilet maker that has operated in the city north of Indianapolis since 1932, will close in November due to high costs, according to the Kokomo Tribune. The company, owned by Gerber Plumbing Fixtures LLC, which is based in the Chicago suburb of Woodridge, laid off 125 hourly employees last October, leaving […]

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BREAKING: EnerDel to create 850 jobs

EnerDel, the Indianapolis company that’s developing lithium ion batteries for cars, plans to create 850 jobs across the state by 2012, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced today. Some of the jobs will be at the company’s headquarters on the northeast side of Indianapolis. Other positions will be located in Noblesville and the rest will be at […]

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