IBJ Staff

Twenty-one states, including Indiana, are pushing ahead with consumer-protection laws and bond sales to try to minimize the impact of the deepest housing downturn since the Great Depression, according to Bloomberg. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels signed a bill designed to offer consulting to homeowners who are in default or in danger of doing so. A […]

Hurco Cos. Inc. today reported profit of $4.7 million for its second fiscal quarter ended April 30 compared to $3.9 million a year earlier. Revenue increased 15 percent, to $42.5 million. The Indianapolis-based maker of interactive computer controls, software and machine tools attributed the upswing partly to rising demand, mostly in Europe.

An $800 million factory now churning out engines for Chrysler, Hyundai and Mitsubishi might have landed in Marion instead of Dundee, Mich., had Marion been able muster more college-educated workers, according to The Chronicle-Tribune of Marion. A Marion economic development official pointed out that the Global Engine Manufacturing Alliance plant, which employs 530, demands at […]

Shopping mall developer Melvin Simon and wife, Bren Simon, have given the Indianapolis Museum of Art $10 million to endow the director and CEO position, the IMA announced today. The donation will be added to IMA’s endowment of $367 million, but interest proceeds will fund salary and professional development expenses for the museum’s head. Though […]

Six Midwest clergy were arrested today at Market Tower downtown for protesting what they said was resistance from an Indianapolis company to increasing compensation for janitors. The group, called Indianapolis Clergy Committee, led by the Rev. Darren Cushman-Wood, pastor of Speedway United Methodist Church, said Executive Management Services would not take part in a process […]

Philip Cochran has been named to replace Roger Schmenner as head of Indiana University’s business school at IUPUI. Schmenner, who led the program for nine years, will remain on the faculty and help IUPUI Chancellor Charles Bantz with special projects. As associate dean for the school, Cochran, a professor of business management and philanthropic studies, […]

West Lafayette-based Chromcraft Revington Inc. posted a loss of $1.2 million in the first quarter, compared with profit of $1.1 million in the year-ago period. Revenue in the three months declined 26 percent, to $33.8 million. The maker of residential and commercial furniture attributed the decline to a soft retail market, pressure from import markets […]

While Gov. Mitch Daniels is cautioning that German transmission maker Getrag Corporate Group hasn’t signed a contract with Chrysler, construction equipment is arriving at land Getrag owns near U.S. 31 and State Road 28 north of Indianapolis. Two bulldozers and a front-end loader arrived yesterday, according to the Kokomo Tribune. Getrag bought 145 acres earlier […]

Tropicana Entertainment says profit at its Casino Aztar in downtown Evansville was hurt in the quarter ended March 31 by the opening of the new casino in the southern Indiana community of French Lick. Profit fell 16 percent, to $9.3 million, on a 9.5 percent drop in gambling revenue, according to The Evansville Courier & […]

Keronite International, a British firm that changes aluminum and magnesium surfaces into high-wear ceramics, will locate a site in Greenwood, bringing 25 jobs and $1.5 million in investments, Gov. Mitch Daniels announced today during his trade mission to Europe. The company’s first U.S. operation will focus on motorsports with a possibility of expanding to broader […]

Warren Buffett likes WellPoint. Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. this week revealed it has amassed nearly 980,000 shares in WellPoint Inc., the Indianapolis-based health benefits firm, according to Reuters. Berkshire’s stake is worth about $82 million. Shares of companies often rise after Berkshire discloses investment in them. Buffett, the second-richest man in America, looks for stable, […]

Nearly 60 people protested outside the Monument Circle offices of WellPoint Inc. this morning, calling for the government to replace insurers as providers of health benefits. Inside, where WellPoint shareholders gathered for their annual meeting, outgoing CEO Larry C. Glasscock showed a video titled “Why We’re Here.” He said the Indianapolis health insurer aims “to […]

Babicz Guitars USA Inc. is expanding into Fort Wayne from its headquarters in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. The company, which has made acoustic and electric guitars for musicians including members of Pink Floyd and The E Street Band, said today that it will assemble and distribute instruments from an Urban Enterprise Zone downtown. It will invest $839,000 […]

Indianapolis-based BlueLock LLC, a computer hosting firm, has attracted interest from local IT entrepreneur David Becker. This morning, BlueLock announced Becker joined its board of directors after he made an undisclosed investment in the company. “BlueLock has a very promising future and I look forward to being a part of the team,” Becker said in […]

Jeffersonville barge builder American Commercial Lines Inc. has bought a 30-percent stake in Summit Contracting Inc., an Evansville environmental firm with offices in Indianapolis and Russellville, Ark. American Commercial Lines wants environmental expertise to pair with its recent expansion into shipping liquid chemicals, petroleum and ethanol. The stake cost less than $10 million, and American […]

Kathy Davis, who was lieutenant governor under former Gov. Joe Kernan and a former controller for the city of Indianapolis, has been elected a director of Chembio Diagnostics Inc. The Medford, N.Y., company develops and manufactures rapid diagnostics tests for infectious diseases. Davis owns Davis Design Group LLC, which offers analytical and visual tools for […]

Indianapolis software developer CTI Group Inc. said yesterday that it lost $582,896 in the first quarter, a 26-percent decline from the prior year quarter. CTI, which focuses on software for enterprise networks and telecommunication services providers, attributed the setback to a reduction in patent income and its Ryder Systems Ltd. acquisition. It is the first […]