APRIL 12-18, 2010
This week, see what challenges come with the opportunities tied to Butler University's run to the NCAA men's basketball title game and see what Indianapolis Airport Authority officials think of a Florida probe into CEO John Clark's past travel expenses. In Focus, read about the difference Women's Fund of Central Indiana is making in the community. And in A&E, etc., get Lou Harry's take on the new Tara Donovan exhibition at the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
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Centaur bets on risky restructuring plan
Bankrupt Hoosier Park owner Centaur Inc. has offered its creditors a risky reorganization plan. For it to work, dozens of
hedge funds must stay in the game, in return for a chance to buy a big chunk of the company later.
Adjunct instructors organize at IUPUI
Two problems come with prevalent use of adjunct instructors: a perception that adjuncts reduce the quality of instruction
and the adjuncts’ frustration with low levels of pay, security and benefits, and appreciation.
Nursing home association facing big debt
The Indiana Health Care Association is looking for a new leader even as it tries to dig out of a pile
of debt. Current President Steve Smith, whose contract expires Nov. 30, says he’s put the organization on a path to be financially stable by 2012. But his predecessor says Smith has ruined a once-strong organization.
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Final Four run presents challenges for Butler
Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone is hopeful Butler University officials will not let their enthusiasm over the school’s
recent push to the NCAA Championship game run wild.
Airport shrugs off CEO probe over travel allegations
The Indianapolis Airport Authority board had heard the allegations that John Clark, their star candidate for airport CEO,
spent big on world travel while chief of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority. Now, the Florida state attorney is collecting
travel records there and information from Indianapolis about trips Clark made here for job interviews.
Path to Fair Finance funds full of detours, roadblocks
The troubles at U.S. Rubber Reclaiming demonstrate the challenges a bankruptcy trustee faces in trying to recover money for
investors.
Noblesville company has high hopes for pomegranate
Verdure Sciences, a botanical-extract distributor, has invested more than $1 million in marketing and research,
and hopes to see its product in more
foods and drinks, perhaps even mouthwash.
$15M loan brings EnerDel closer to launching production
The locally based battery maker serves as collateral on the financing lined up by its New York-based parent, Ener1.
Read MoreSurvey: Online generation values personal touch in giving
The findings may come as a surprise to not-for-profit executives who think the Internet generation doesn’t require a
personal touch.
Hospitals stand to gain big by hiring docs
To understand why hospitals are so eager to employ physicians—and prevent them from owning their own facilities—look
no further than the latest data on how much doctors are paid compared with how much revenue they generate for hospitals.
FocusBack to Top
Women’s Fund sets $20 million goal for endowment
The Women’s Fund of Central Indiana recently completed an endowment drive that raised $7 million, making the endowment one
of the largest of its kind in terms of assets.
Athletic entrepreneur helps clients build camaraderie, improve leadership
Deseri Garcia’s Vida Aventura consulting firm uses challenge courses, other unusual techniques to improve teamwork, morale.
Read MoreOpinionBack to Top
EDITORIAL: Time for Brizzi to heed calls to step down
Carl Brizzi’s once-promising political career is coming to an end. He won’t become a mayor or a congressman or
win election to any of the posts that seemed within his grasp when he was an up-and-coming Republican.
HARTON: Escape your ‘information cocoon’
The information age is almost always spoken of in glowing terms. Information is empowering,
so we’re told, even if it comes from a cave in the Middle East or a basement down the block or a corporate media machine
that needs something—anything—to fill the gaps between the advertising on a 24-hour news channel.
MARCUS: Not all business owners are entrepreneurs
A serial entrepreneur often thrives on getting a business going, making it a success, then selling it off by
taking the firm public, or selling it to private investors or to another firm. The business owner, by contrast, often remains in the same
place, doing the same thing year after year.
HENDERSON: The real reasons not to merge utilities
Part of the overall utility problem is that lack of government oversight and public policy vision has made Indianapolis one
of the highest-polluting and just plain ugliest cities in the Midwest.
ALTOM: Going green here may not be going green there
The idea behind the green office is to have a slightly smaller damaging
effect on the environment in general. That sounds great, but I never forget that you can’t make ripples in only one part of a pond.
HICKS: Educated athletes add value to the magic
The greater truth is that what we learn from athletics might be just as important as what we learn in the classroom.
Read MoreHAUKE: There’s little down side to investing Down Under
The country started off as a dump for prisoners and other unwanted British citizens, but it has evolved into a modern-day
paradise.
Brizzi story was misleading
As a longstanding member of the Indianapolis Bar and reader of IBJ, I was surprised and very disappointed to see
an article appearing in this week’s issue [about Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi] suggesting that a sentence
reduction provided to Guilford Forney was based not solely on the merits.
Airport’s ideas are a joke
I was more than a bit taken aback by the lame revenue generation suggestions offered in the lead story of [the March 29]
IBJ (“Airport seeking revenue boost”).
Small schools give bang for buck
Economist Morton Marcus [on March 29] took issue with the notion that college and university graduation rates can be improved
by tying compensation to increases (or decreases) in institutional graduation rates.
Need quality, quantity in higher ed
In his [March 29] column, “Set sights on education, not graduation,” Morton Marcus raises a vital point about
Indiana’s higher education reform efforts—but he overlooks a larger one.
Editorial understated MIBOR commitment
Your editorial in the March 29 edition praising State Farm and city leaders for the commitment to the [2012 Super Bowl] housing
“legacy project” was very commendable. But we do have a correction to what you stated about our piece of the project.
Column captured Hinkle’s magic
My dad took me to Butler Fieldhouse to see
Oscar [Robertson] play for Attucks—against Broad Ripple in the sectionals—and to see Tony’s Bulldogs.
Hinkle would be proud of Butler
Butler showed the “big boys” what true Indiana basketball is about and that the kids
from the small cities and towns can keep up with the big schools.
In BriefBack to Top
City approval of Citizens Energy deal could come in May
Citizens Energy should have completed the majority of its due diligence of the city’s water and sewer utilities, which
it plans to acquire, by the end of this month.
Pew study questions health of Indiana’s public pensions
The Washington, D.C.-based Pew Center on the States says Indiana “needs improvement” in setting aside money for
retirees’ future health care and other benefits.
Butler University basketball player Jukes supports students in Uganda
Jukes raises money so Ugandan children can attend secondary school through his Jukes Foundation for Kids.
Read MoreIndianapolis Colts owner Irsay appears in Toyota TV commercial
The TV ads are being launched as the Japanese car maker tries to recover from the public relations hit it took following a
massive recall earlier this year.
Grocers raise thousands for earthquake relief
Marsh Supermarkets and its customers have contributed $100,000 to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. The Kroger Co.’s
Central Division and students from Indianapolis Public School 46 raised more than $106,000, mostly from Kroger customers and
employees.
Members: Anthem health plans subpar
Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana fell slightly below average for customer satisfaction among scores of health
plans,
according to a new survey by California-based J.D. Power & Associates.
NFP of NOTE: Dress for Success Indianapolis
Dress for Success Indianapolis promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire,
a network of support, and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life.