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EYE ON THE PIE: News flash? Indiana continues to lag nation

The U.S. Department of Commerce put two data sets under my tree the week before Christma. On Wednesday, I got personal-income data, by state, for the third quarter of 2006 from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. On Friday, the Bureau of the Census sent me 2006 population estimates for all the states. Could I ask for anything better unless it was the “Complete Works of Alvin and the Chipmunks”? However, my joy may not be shared by those who have…

City picks Marriott, passes on Pan Am plan:

A willingness to redesign and add rooms to its proposed JW Marriott hotel helped push locally based REI Real Estate Services and its partner over the top in their quest to build a convention headquarters hotel. The team of REI and Merrillville-based White Lodging Services Corp. proposed building an 800-room JW Marriott as the centerpiece of a 1,500-room, five-hotel complex at the site of the existing Courtyard by Marriott hotel at West and Washington streets. A city committee charged with…

CEO Smulyan captains Emmis through another turbulent year:

It was a frustrating year for Smulyan, 59, who watched the company’s stock price tumble, driven down by an advertising slump. In an interview last spring, he lamented, “Nothing we do seems to make anybody happy these days.” To focus on radio, the company unloaded 14 of its 16 TV stations for nearly $1 billion, shrinking its debt. But analysts widely panned Smulyan’s decision to apply some of Emmis’ new financial firepower toward his ultimately failed bid to buy the…

Winona Hospital litigation fizzles

A court-appointed trustee in charge of Winona Memorial Hospital’s bankruptcy says he believes former owners fleeced it for
more than $4 million. But he has little to show from his two-year quest to recover money for creditors and now is winding
down the case.

New stadium rising; city preparing for Super Bowl bid:

The concrete columns of the Indianapolis Colts’ new $675 million stadium began rising out of the ground in early 2006. Soon thereafter, the new venue had a name. In March, California-based Lucas Oil Products agreed to a 20-year, $121.5 million naming rights deal. Meanwhile, city and team officials in 2006 began discussions they hope will lead to attracting the Super Bowl to Lucas Oil Stadium in 2011. The Lucas Oil pact is one of a flurry of sponsorship deals the…

For Cornelius ’06 was full of challenges:

Long-time Indianapolis business leader Jim Cornelius jumped from one daunting challenge to another in 2006. He started the year as chairman and CEO of Guidant Corp., as it weighed a possible sale to either New Jer sey-based Johnson & Johnson or Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific Corp. After Boston Scientific won, Cornelius became acting CEO of New York-based Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. in September. Cornelius stayed with Guidant from start to finish. He left his position as chief financial officer at Eli Lilly…

TOM HARTON Commentary: Tying up some local loose ends

Maybe you’ve already heard. Mickey Maurer’s column will return to this space in a few weeks. After two years serving as Gov. Mitch Daniels’ go-to economic development guy, Mickey should have plenty of stories to tell. And Associate Editor Tawn Parent and I, as his trusty substitute columnists, should have a bit more time to devote to our behind-the-scenes work at IBJ. I’m closing out my brief columnwriting career by addressing a handful of topics-some of them new, some of…

Boston Scientific swallows Guidant:

Massachusetts-based Boston Scientific Corp. finally sealed its purchase of Indianapolis medical device maker Guidant Corp. in April. But it was still paying a price for the $27-billion deal as 2006 wound to a close. Boston Scientific shares have tumbled since the deal closed, partly because of concern that its signature product, drugcoated stents that prop open obstructed heart vessels, can sometimes cause fatal blood clots. But many of the company’s difficulties relate to product-liability problems at Guidant, one of the…

Bringing Honda to Greensburg highlights a wild year for Daniels:

It was a banner economic development year for Gov. Mitch Daniels, topped by the blockbuster Honda auto plant deal. Thanks in part to a second trip to Japan, Daniels landed a $550 million plant for Greensburg in June. Slated to begin production in 2008, the plant is expected to employ more than 2,000 people. Two months earlier, Daniels unveiled “Accelerating Growth,” his economic development plan for the state. Its ambitious goal is to boost Hoosiers’ per-capita income to the national…

INVESTING: No need to fret over sputtering transport stocks

Recent weakness in a major U.S. stock index has some experts and investors calling the bear out of hibernation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average probably is more closely followed than any other market indicator in the world, but the index creating the stir is the Dow Jones Transportation Index. The creator of these indicators, Charles Dow, saw them as a means to get a quick understanding of the general economic conditions in America. Today, market analysts combine the two into…

Payne blazed Cultural Trail:

Inspiration struck Brian Payne in 2001 while he was walking the Monon Trail. He remembered a conversation in which city officials lamented that downtown streets were too wide and cars moved too fast to allow much of a pedestrian connection town’s top attractions. between down- His brainstorm: Eliminate lanes of traffic and build a path-creating an amenity that could become a destination in itself. Payne, president of the Central Indiana Community Foundation, began telling everyone he knew about the idea….

A sweet year for Interactive, other stocks:

Interactive Intelligence Inc. this past summer finally rebounded to $13, its initial public offering price seven years ago. Then it kept going. By year-end, shares of the Indianapolis-based software maker were trading around $21. For the year, Interactive shares appreciated 311 percent, making it the top-performing stock in 2006-by far. But it was an outstanding year for many Indiana companies, as their shares climbed in step with the national market indexes. In 2006, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 16…

Better days on the way for museum:

Things are improving for Ellen Rosenthal. For more than two years, she kept Conner Prairie on track while a battle raged over control of the Hamilton County living history museum. Now she’s leading the institution’s rebirth. For the first time since 2000, Conner Prairie finished its fiscal year in the black. Attendance and memberships are up, and fund-raising is recovering after bottoming out at less than $100,000 in 2004. The museum’s two newly appointed boards-one to oversee museum operations and…

Banks play name game: Sky purchases Union Federal, then sells to Huntington:

Union Federal Bank became Sky Bank after Ohio-based Sky Financial Group in October completed its $322 million purchase of Indianapolis’ largest locally based financial institution. But the Sky signs won’t be up for long. On Dec. 20, Sky announced it was being acquired by another Ohio-based financial institution, Huntington Bancshares Inc., for $3.6 billion. The deal will elevate Huntington to Indianapolis’ third-biggest bank. It had ranked eighth, based on employees. Locally, it has 20 locations and 270 employees. Sky has…

Retailers worry private manager might change terms:

For the nine years she’s owned the Lightning Food Mart in New Albany, Tammy Wolford has depended on the Hoosier Lottery to attract customers. So if Indiana leases its lottery to a private operator, it could directly affect Wolford’s bottom line. “I am not for it,” she said. “I really feel if that happens, eventually it will come down to the retailers who will be losing.” Gas station and convenience store owners like Wolford fear a private lottery operator might…

Beginning lawyers may see salary boost: Experts think big-city pay raises will trickle down here

Starting salaries for young lawyers at the city’s largest law firms could be on the cusp of hitting six figures. First-year associates at several top-tier Indianapolis practices currently earn $90,000 a year. But a wage war playing out among firms on both coasts, and in Chicago, might prompt those here to raise the ante as well. “It’s just a matter of who blinks first,” said Mike McConnell, a former legal consultant who chairs the state’s Education Employment Relations Board. “It…

EYE ON THE PIE: It is time to accept I-69 and move on

I don’t want to write this column; you don’t want to read it. Yet, I must respond to the diehards who insist that building Interstate 69 (and almost any other road) will be detrimental to our state. Several economic and environmental studies support the Bloomington-Crane-Washington-Petersburg route to Evansville. Yet, time after time, supporters of the Terre Haute-Sullivan-Vincennes-Princeton route rise up and demand a reconsideration of the path. The Terre Haute crowd is afraid it will lose something if the Bloomington…

Carmel company helps clients determine next big thing

The employees of production-innovation consultant Insight2 interview customers, but they also watch and videotape them using
various products. That footage then is dissected to see how consumers deal with problems they encounter. More times than not,
the result is a new product intended to satisfy needs consumers didn’t even know they had.

Small talk with new SBDC chief: Central Indiana counseling office gets fresh start after years of uncertainty

Victoria Hall this year took over the Central Indiana Small Business Development Center, which counsels more than 500 Hoosier entrepreneurs annually. Hall, a former vice president for H&R Block Tax Services, oversees four employees, including three business counselors. She also teaches part-time at Ivy Tech Community College, which hosts the local SBDC. She earned her MBA from the Indiana Institute of Technology in Fort Wayne. One of 11 regional centers in Indiana, Central Indiana SBDC has been plagued in recent…