Articles

Steinway pulls out of bid for band instrument company

Steinway Musical Instruments Inc. has withdrawn its $40.5 million offer for the assets of The Woodwind & The Brasswind, a bankrupt South Bend maker of school band instruments. Steinway “has concluded that there will be a failure of certain conditions necessary to close the transaction,” the company said in a statement. It did not elaborate on […]

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Indiana catastrophic insurance claims led nation last year

Indiana lodged a whopping $1.5 billion in catastrophic insurance claims—the most in the nation—in 2006, according to ISO, the New Jersey company that tracks losses. Indiana was clobbered by spring storms that broke windows and ripped skin from One Indiana Square, the downtown office tower. Hail also ruined roofs and siding across a broad swath […]

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Indiana State might merge nursing, health colleges

Indiana State University is considering merging its colleges of Nursing and Health and Human Performance to create a College of Nursing, Health and Human Services if funding and other issues can be resolved, according to The Tribune-Star of Terre Haute. The reorganized college would focus on health sciences, human services and nursing professions. Both colleges […]

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Cook signs deal to develop replacement valves

Cook Medical, the Bloomington medical device company, has signed an agreement with Leman Cardiovascular of Switzerland to develop replacement venous valves through Leman’s U.S. subsidiary Hancock Jaffe Laboratories. The companies hope to be first to commercialize venous valves, which help control blood flow in veins, said Brian Bates, Cook vice president of business development. Valve […]

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Economy to stay strong, Evansville professor says

University of Evansville emeritus economist Ray Arensman believes the national economy could remain sturdy for as long as four more years. Speaking to the Evansville Rotary Club yesterday, Arensman said robust consumer spending and corporate earnings as well as high employment rates show the economy is solid, according to the Courier & Press. Factory capacity […]

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Muncie airport president promises dramatic change

Delaware County Airport is ripe for intense economic development instead of just continuing to rent land to farmers, President Dr. C. Kurt Alexander told commissioners Tuesday. The airport can look to Elkhart, Goshen and Fort Wayne for inspiration in turning airports into economic development tools, Alexander said. Michael Lynn has been hired to replace 91-year-old […]

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Planning staff favors Crown Hill rezoning

Staff of the Indianapolis Department of Metropolitan Development is recommending approval of Mann Properties LLC’s request to rezone 70 wooded acres it plans to buy from Crown Hill Cemetery. Locally based Mann wants to build three residential subdivisions and a retail strip at the southeast corner of Michigan Road and 42nd Street. The staff recommendation […]

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BP promises to make refineries safer

BP Plc, the British oil giant, said today it will be more proactive in improving process safety at its five refineries, including its refinery in Whiting. An independent panel formed after a September 2005 explosion at BP’s Texas City, Texas, refinery concluded that management mistook improvements in rates of personal injuries as evidence of a […]

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New Adesa owner to shuffle senior management

Kar Holdings II said today it plans to place its own senior managers at Adesa Inc., the Carmel-based car auction the private fund is buying for $3.7 billion. Chairman and CEO David Gartzke will be replaced by Brian Clingen. Clingen is an investor and board member of another auto auction Kar bought, Insurance Auto Auctions […]

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New Adesa owner to shuffle management team

Kar Holdings II said today it plans to place its own senior managers at Adesa Inc., the Carmel-based car auction the private fund bought in December for $3.7 billion. Chairman and CEO David Gartzke will be replaced by Brian Clingen. Clingen is an investor and board member of another auto auction Kar bought, Insurance Auto […]

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Downtown Hyatt, National City Center to get $14M facelift

The Hyatt Regency Indianapolis and National City Center will undergo a $14 million renovation that is set to begin next week. The bulk of the redesign—$11 million—will go toward adding 10,000 square feet of meeting space, an Italian/American restaurant, a Starbucks coffee shop and upgrading a lounge in the lobby of the downtown hotel. National […]

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Anderson bleeding manufacturing jobs

Guide Corp.’s abrupt decision Friday to close its tail light plant in Anderson immediately instead of in June sped a long-term trend in the city northeast of Indianapolis. For November, the latest month for which statistics are available from the U.S. Department of Labor, Madison County employment was 44,400 down from 50,100 in 1995. The […]

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Lilly pull-back hits local Virginia development

Eli Lilly and Co.’s decision last week to end construction on its $325 million insulin production plant near Washington, D.C., is a “clear blow” to the area’s attempts to launch a biotechnology industry, according to The Washington Examiner. Still, the newspaper reported, Prince William County, Va., will overcome the setback and attract international companies to […]

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Imaging Office Systems buys Ilinois imaging company

Imaging Office Systems has bought Frontline Imaging of Schaumburg, Ill., for an undisclosed price to digitize paper documents in the Chicago suburb. Imaging Office Systems, owned by Gary Gushard of Columbia City and headquartered in the northern Indiana community, maintains 125 of its 200 workers in the Indianapolis area. The company also sells scanners and […]

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NASDAQ threatens to delist Biomet

Stock in Biomet Inc. might be delisted from NASDAQ Global Select Market on Jan. 22 because it missed a deadline for filing its financial report with the Securities and Exchange Commission for its second fiscal quarter, the Warsaw prosthetics company announced today. Biomet said it plans to appeal the decision within NASDAQ, and that the […]

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Terre Haute plant swept in with GE acquisition

A Terre Haute plant that makes gas turbine components is part of a $4.8 billion acquisition of its British parent announced this morning by General Electric Co. Connecticut-based GE said it wants the parent, Smiths Aerospace, for its electronic and mechanical products in order to improve its commercial and military jet engines and services. The […]

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Lilly sues airline, shipper over ruined insulin

Eli Lilly and Co. has sued DHL Express USA and Lufthansa Cargo on claims the shipper and airline allowed its Humulin, Humalog and Humatrope drugs to spoil, according to Miami Daily Business Review. The December suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Miami, alleges DHL and Lufthansa let the insulin and growth hormone products freeze […]

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Burns Harbor surviving near-death experience

The town of Burns Harbor is springing back after Bethlehem Steel filed bankruptcy in 2002 and gutted 85 percent of the town’s net assessed tax valuation. The good reputation of its Duneland schools, quick access to several major highways and low tax rate of 17 cents per $100 assessed valuation has prompted a miniature boom […]

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Simon gets sweeping rating upgrade from Fitch

Fitch has upgraded several debt ratings for Simon Property Group by one notch. One example is its senior unsecured notes, which were pushed to A- from BBB+.   Fitch attributed its decision to the Indianapolis company’s stable cash flows and large, well-diversified asset portfolio of shopping malls.

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