Is Bloomington anti-business?

Bloomington has a reputation as one of the toughest places in the state to do business.

Its regulations are thickets, its bureaucrats nit-pickers, its public officials aloof. At least thatâ??s how
many businesspeople view the city.

The latest controversy pits…

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Michigan’s pain, Indiana’s gain

Detroit keeps turning out bad news, what with General Motors, Ford and Chrysler losing market share and Volkswagenâ??s
announcement last fall that it would abandon the city and move its U.S. headquarters to Virginia.

Now Volkswagen is days away from unveiling…

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Executive pay is ‘flat’

Indianapolis-area executives are struggling to keep their compensation at last yearâ??s levels â?? which were
no
improvement over 2006.

Thatâ??s the observation of compensation specialist Debi Muelller, a partner in the human relations firm HR

Dimensions.

â??At best, itâ??s flat,â?? says Mueller…

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Base closings and health care

Weâ??ve reached the season when companies start lining up employee health care coverage for the following year.

Like prior years, companies will complain about skyrocketing costs and workers will complain about getting
fewer benefits. Study after study suggests both parties will…

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Progress with entrepreneurship

Compendium Blogwareâ??s announcement today that it raised $1.6 million in private funding is another brick in
the wall as the Indianapolis area and the state continue their push to build a culture of entrepreneurship.

Investors are showing more interest…

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The next 100 years

Thereâ??s nothing like travel to change oneâ??s perspective on the world.

Graham Toft, perhaps the stateâ??s most experienced economic development expert, has traveled a lot in the past
couple of years, consulting to state governments worried about rebounding from their doldrums.

The…

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Expert: 75 mph might be safe

A Purdue University civil engineering professor made news this week by rolling out a study showing the new
70 mph speed limit on rural interstates in Indiana caused virtually no increase in fatalities or injuries.

The study was prompted by the…

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Farm and suburban polluters

Drive through areas hit by the deluge of rain in the past few days and youâ??ll see mind-boggling soil
erosion.

At the base of myriad fields lie deltas of sediment washed downhill from elsewhere in their respective watersheds.
Not only was…

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Depending on a three-legged stool

Economic development experts have long contended that business investment and good jobs gravitate to places
where business, government and higher education are on the ball and get along together.

If one of the three legs doesnâ??t carry its weight, the other…

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Making companies say, ‘I do’

Lots of Indiana towns will do almost anything to get a factory or warehouse. That often means skipping pointed
questions about corporate citizenship for fear of losing the project.

A Lebanon city council member isn’t looking the other way, though.

Dick Robertson…

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Return Weir Cook to airport title?

Weir Cook has been dead a long time, since 1943, but a military veterans group wants to bring his name
back to what is now Indianapolis International Airport.

The war heroâ??s name was on the airport from 1944, a…

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Etiquette for high gas prices

It seems like more people are driving below the speed limit now that gas has become expensive.

Particularly on interstates, it isnâ??t uncommon to come upon congestion only to realize that somebody, for
no apparent reason, is puttering along and holding…

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Farm bill stranglehold

It isn’t easy providing tomatoes to the nation. Consider the ongoing struggle at Red Gold Inc. The state’s largest food processor, which is headquartered north of Anderson in Orestes, was all but locked out of buying tomatoes from Indiana growers under…

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Analyzing Speedwayâ??s success

If you were at the track over the weekend or in the past few weeks, you made your way through Speedway,
an island of stability in a county where some other older communities, like Beech Grove, are slipping into
decay.

Speedway…

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