AUGUST 19-25, 2013
This week: Scott Olson explores a new way cooler-toting sightseers are tooling around town using peddle power, and Andrea Davis shares developer Pittman Partners' plans for a high-profile corner in Zionsville. In Focus, Anthony Schoettle takes a look at how advances in vending machine technology are helping Fastenal grow. And in A&E, Lou Harry offers a beginner's guide to the IndyFringe festival. Plus: IBJ's 2013 Healthiest Employers.
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Colts’ Luck playing catch-up as a pitchman
While Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck is exceeding off-the-chart expectations on the field heading into his second NFL season, some marketers think he’s underachieved as a corporate spokesman and product sponsor.
Read MoreConstitutional referendum on marriage could yield media bonanza
Television and radio stations have grown fond of income from “issue ads” in recent years on everything from right-to-work legislation to immigration reform.
Read MoreUtilities fall short on efficiency spending
Indiana’s largest power companies are set to reimburse their customers $32 million after falling short on spending for energy efficiency last year.
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Spurned Indy continues to court manufacturing
Indianapolis is losing manufacturing jobs at a steady, some would say alarming, rate. And the Circle City is not alone, as many metro areas face serious challenges in retaining and attracting manufacturers.
Read MorePedal pubs are latest hit in a beer-loving city
Booze and bicycling—in the most unconventional sense—is the thrust behind The Handle Bar, a local startup operated by Steve Lindsay and his brother Brian.
Read MorePittman family finally moving forward on mixed-use Zionsville project
After decades of choosing to wait, a Zionsville family is moving forward with a $90 million mixed-use project on the high-profile corner of Michigan Road and Sycamore Street.
Read MoreHealthx using IT to connect insurers to their customers
Health insurance has long been a business-to-business endeavor between insurers, employers, hospitals and doctors. Patients received benefits, but they weren’t really customers. That’s all about to change.
Read MoreWTHR to boost tower power on signal gripes
The city’s top-rated news station wants to crank up its signal, saying it’s had more than 40 complaints about reception from over-the-air viewers since the conversion to all-digital broadcasting.
Read MoreSymbios collapse snares local investors
Symbios Medical Products LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation, costing numerous Indianapolis-area angel investors large sums.
Read MoreAdjacent Chatham Arch properties could attract redevelopment
The roughly one-acre properties at 625 E. 11th St. and 602 E. 10th St. encompass an entire city block.
Read MoreFocusBack to Top
Fastenal vending machines serve up a revolution
Vending machines, warehouses bristling with technology slash costs.
Read MoreFastenal sponsorship deal draws NASCAR contracts
Vending machines aren’t the only reason the Fastenal brand is resonating.
Read MoreOpinionBack to Top
EDITORIAL: Root out rogue attorneys
They’ve been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Yet next to the names Paul J. Page and David Wyser in the Indiana Roll of Attorneys appear the words: “Active in good standing.”
Read MoreMAURER: Doctor turned novelist has another winner
Douglas Zipes’ third heart-pumping novel will keep you up at night.
Read MoreRUSTHOVEN: Taking issue with Kennedy
I don’t comment on columns by my liberal “Taking Issue” counterpart Sheila Kennedy. This week is an exception, prompted by reader requests to respond to her Aug. 12 “Detroit reflects our moral bankruptcy” column for impugning the motives of those who don’t share her views.
Read MoreFERIBACH: Disabled-friendly city advances again
The City-County Council recently approved a proposal to create more entrepreneurship opportunities for people with disabilities. Led by President Maggie Lewis and Vice President John Barth, the council unanimously agreed to include the disability enterprise category to the city’s contracting program. Within days, Mayor Greg Ballard signed it into law.
Read MoreHicks: Education debate shouldn’t matter to students
Higher education is undergoing a metamorphosis. Cost-saving measures such as online learning and the ubiquity of technology might seem to make today’s undergraduate experience vastly different from their forbears’. That is a mirage. The most essential elements of an education are unchanged.
Read MoreKim: ‘Golf as a Metaphor for Investing … and Life’
As summer and the golf season fade, this is a good opportunity to reflect and see if there are lessons from the game applicable to other areas of life, like investing.
Read MoreTourism cuts add up
Anthony Schoettle’s [July 29] article “Indiana tourism spending is fraction of nearby states’” shed light on an issue those of us in the tourism industry have been concerned with since the budget decreases began a few years ago.
Read MoreLeaders badly needed
I wholeheartedly agree with P.E. MacAllister’s Aug. 5 Forefront column “Bring back the CCC for troubled youth.” Dope, gangs, crime. A disappointing educational system. Our staggering economic base supplanted with food stamps and unemployment compensation. Declining church influences. Sagging morality. He mentions it all.
Read MoreIn BriefBack to Top
Indiana Rail Road chases intermodal container traffic
Indiana Rail invested more than $2.5 million equipping its Senate Avenue terminal to handle intermodal containers.(Photo courtesy of Ports of Indiana) Competing in the intermodal business for the first time, Indiana Rail Road Co. hopes to lure cargo from Asia to its Senate Avenue terminal south of downtown with quick travel times. Indiana Rail, a […]
Read MoreTeachers union could pay $14M to schools under settlement
Funds would cover about half of the money the ISTA Insurance Trust claimed was being held in reserve on behalf of school employees in its health insurance plan.
Read MoreLocal Publicis office awaiting merger fallout
One of the city’s top ad agencies is still waiting to see how a merger between French parent Publicis Groupe and New York-based Omnicom affects the local operation.
Read MoreSummertime and the reading is easy and prize-worthy
Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library’s summer reading program attracted almost 60,000 participants this year—the most since 2004.
Read MoreIndy-based Lids to open 200 outlets in Macy’s stores
The arrangement is considered an inexpensive way to expand Lids’ reach into large, sports-centric cities. But Wednesday’s earnings report from Macy’s indicates consumers aren’t spending as much on apparel.
Read MoreAllos attracts Ohio investor
Carmel-based Allos Ventures has secured more money for a $40 million investment fund from an Ohio investor.
Read MorePROXY CORNER: Interactive Intelligence Inc.
Interactive Intelligence Group Inc., 7601 Interactive Way, Indianapolis, 46278 (www.inin.com), develops communications and interactions-management software. In the quarter ended June 30, 2013, the company earned $1.2 million, or 6 cents per share, on revenue of $76.2 million. That compares with a net loss of $1.1 million, or 6 cents per share, on revenue of $54.8 […]
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