SEPT. 10-16, 2021
The latest player in the local SPAC space is Brad Bostic of hc1.com, who’s trying to raise $200 million through a new “blank check company”—aka a special purpose acquisition company. John Russell reports Bostic’s Future Health ESG is targeting disruptors in the health-tech field in hopes of taking one public. Also in this week’s IBJ, Emily Ketterer has more on John Mutz’s latest passion project—funding research to help reinvent and bolster business models for local news outlets. And Leslie Bonilla Muñiz details the launch of two new supplier-diversity programs as local companies try to make good on their equity promises from last year.
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Tech exec Bostic seeks $200M to buy lucrative health tech disruptors
Bradley Bostic is aiming to raise the funds through a new “blank check company,” called Future Health ESG, that will hold its initial public offering in coming weeks.
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Initiative aims to spur innovation by connecting, analyzing data bases
Fueled with a $36 million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant, the Central Indiana Corporate Partnership has launched AnalytiXIN to promote innovations in data science throughout Indiana.
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Former lieutenant governor Mutz invests in shoring up local news
John Mutz has donated nearly $2.3 million in four years to kick-start and support research by the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism’s Local News Initiative.
Read MorePrograms aim to bring diversity to work-procurement table
Two new supplier-diversity programs are launching in Indianapolis as local companies and other organizations try to make good on their equity promises from last year.
Read MoreQ&A with Rose-Hulman’s Craig Downing: Giving students a jump-start on entrepreneurial ideas
The school’s “ventureship” program gives students the chance to explore an idea for a company or product during a summer at the school, with financial and mentorship support.
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New brewery set to anchor east-side art studio property
The brewery space will feature a 1,200-square-foot taproom with seating for up to 50 people and a 3.5-barrel brewing system.
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Lawsuit accuses Lilly of favoring millennials over older job applicants
Two former job applicants, aged 55 and 49, filed a proposed class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis on Wednesday, accusing the Indianapolis-based drug maker of age discrimination.
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Functional medicine practitioner planning new $4M clinic in Carmel
Be Well Family Care has more than 100 patients on a waiting list, so owner Swathi Rao plans to build a new facility to triple the functional medicine clinic’s footprint.
Read MoreQ&A: Indiana DWD officials discuss expired pandemic jobless benefits
State Department of Workforce Development officials explain what the end of federal pandemic unemployment benefits means for Hoosiers.
Read MoreCouncil committee advances inflation wage change, paid parental leave
An Indianapolis City-County Council committee on Tuesday unanimously voted to advance a plan allowing public employees’ wages to rise with inflation, as work continues on the city’s first public pay scale change in more than a decade.
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Mike Lopresti: Holtmann, Patberg share milestones on Sept. 11
There was a lot of news in the sports world that Tuesday morning.
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Local businesses provide workplace experience for every Providence Cristo Rey student
One day a week, students work (and learn) at companies as close as a few minutes away, or as far as Carmel.
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IUPUI’s BOSS program helps students learn to think like entrepreneurs
About 20 teens from across Indianapolis Public Schools spent a week this summer learning about entrepreneurship and business development, guided by professors and small-business owners who helped them conceive products and services as well as business plans to execute them.
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Editorial: Holcomb sets the right tone welcoming Afghan refugees to Camp Atterbury
We trust the military to follow its extensive vetting process. What needs to be done now is to make sure the Afghan evacuees feel safe and welcome and are well taken care of.
Read MoreNate Feltman: Visionary entrepreneur making Indy better
Ersal Ozdemir, founder of Keystone Group and the Indy Eleven professional soccer team, is pressing ahead and betting big on our city’s future.
Read MoreSheila Kennedy: Here’s how gerrymandering gives rural voters more influence
Gerrymandering allows the GOP to control state legislatures with supermajorities even when voters prefer Democratic candidates by hundreds of thousands of votes. It thus nullifies elections and insulates lawmakers from democratic accountability.
Read MoreDale Neuburger: Four lessons Indy can learn from the successful Tokyo Games
The Tokyo Olympic Games were hardly the super-spreader that was predicted by public health officials, and there’s plenty Indy can learn from that experience.
Read MorePete the Planner: Loosen purse strings for experiences, not stuff
Dear Pete, My husband and I realized we may have a weird little conundrum. We got into a zone in our early and mid-50s in which we lived frugally in order to secure a sustainable retirement. Now we’re retired, and we’re afraid we’re squandering some very active and healthy years due to the frugal habits […]
Read MoreIn the workplace: Data is a commodity, but insight is gold
If you are embarking on that journey and wisely trying to include stakeholders in the process, make sure to work with a researcher who knows how to help you use your data for years to come by highlighting the insights.
Read MoreBohanon & Curott: As life expectancy increases, social security must be reformed
In 1940, deaths among those 65 years old and older were 9,719 per 100,000; by 2019, they had dropped to 4,753 per 100,000, a decline of over 50%.
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IU Health suspends hundreds of unvaccinated workers, postpones all inpatient elective surgeries
IU Health, the state’s largest hospital system, said unvaccinated workers will be placed on a two-week suspension and will be allowed to return to work if they attest to partial or full vaccination.
Read MoreBeech Grove to pay employees $50 to get COVID vaccinations
Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said “it is imperative all of us who are eligible get vaccinated to protect the health and safety of our community, particularly our children and our neighbors who are immunocompromised.”
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New restaurant in works at former Scotty’s site in Southport
The owner of several local Indian and Pakistani restaurants plans to open Royal Indian Restaurant and Banquet Hall at the site.
Read MoreFirst-time Indy Chicken & Beer Festival getting big response, organizers say
A first-time downtown Indianapolis food festival featuring some of the city’s best-known restaurants and brewers is already nearly a sellout, organizers said this week.
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