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Massive hotel project could advance without city help: Redevelopment would be on a smaller scale

Land near Victory Field could get hundreds of additional hotel rooms even if the developers that control the site don’t receive city incentives they’re seeking for a huge convention hotel project. Merrillville-based White Lodging Services Corp. and Indianapolis-based REI Real Estate Services are asking the city to invest $45 million to $55 million toward a $250 million campus of hotels on land that’s now home to a 235-room Courtyard by Marriott and a TGI Friday’s. If they don’t win the…

SPORTS: IU’s Sampson prepares for his toughest audience

CHICAGO-Yes, Kelvin Sampson has the job. It’s been his since March. Nonetheless, the audition begins next week in Conseco Fieldhouse, when his IU Hoosiers basketball team opens the preseason NIT against Lafayette. Sampson will need to be into multi-tasking. Coach his team. Rise to stratospheric expectations. Restore reputations. Quiet the critics who can’t get over the fact that he arrived with baggage that included more than his clothes. And, just win, baby. That will take care of virtually all of…

Former Lt. Gov. Davis seeks support for Model Indiana

Former Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis is attempting to build a virtual version of Indiana for policymakers to wander. If successful, the new IT system could help shape Statehouse debate on a host of subjects.

BULLS & BEARS: Market may be at high, but big challenges loom

The other day, as investors basked in the glow of new stock market highs, an eyecatching headline traveled across newswires. The article, which seemed out of place with the record highs on the Dow Jones industrial average, was titled “GAO chief warns economic disaster looms.” The Government Accountability Office, or GAO, is an investigative arm of Congress that audits and evaluates the performance of the federal government. The head of the GAO can be thought of as the nation’s chief…

Martin University to lose its founder, but not his philosophy

In an 80-grit patch of the city fluent in poverty and despair, the Rev. Father Boniface Hardin lectures a visitor on how businesspeople need to learn the language and culture of countries where they operate. If not out of deference, then do it for practical reasons, he says, painting a picture of foreign business partners who “bow their heads and say, ‘This guy is one big sucker and we can rip him off,’ in their language.” What at first sounds…

High school dropouts go under microscope: IPS seeks answers from leaders on costly problem

Indianapolis Public Schools late this month plans to convene a community panel to help the state’s largest school system implement a dropout prevention plan next spring. The first public meeting of the 50-person panel is set for Nov. 27 and comes as a new report suggests Indiana dropouts cost taxpayers $62 million a year. The panel is made up of a wide range of people, from parents to community leaders. Each of the estimated 21,000 dropouts statewide costs the state…

NOTIONS: A memo to winning pols from the middling masses

One of my sons will vote for the first time this week. His twin got so busy with schoolwork and extracurriculars that he missed the registration deadline. With only a fraction of eligible American voters casting ballots on the Tuesday after the first Monday this November, “majority rules” once again will be a misnomer. In fact, with only the most partisan and deep-pocketed among us ruling the day and candidates pandering primarily to such activists’ priorities, “fringe rules” would more…

Ponds poo-pooed by more developers: Land prices create need for alternative storm systems

For years, the model for most local drainage systems-especially in large development sites not directly downtown-has been underground pipes running into a large detention pond. The ponds have dotted the landscape, becoming a perk for office dwellers and homeowners wanting a “lake” view, but raising the concern of many safety officials over the increased risk of drownings. But as new federal rules come into effect requiring not just flood prevention but also filtration of contaminants, more developers may be moving…

EYE ON THE PIE: We all could use a dose of civility

Whenever life seems too gloomy to endure, there is relief to be found in the antics of the Bloomington City Council. That body of jokesters recently voted to permit households within the city limits to keep up to five chickens. These chickens will help supply fresh eggs, thereby reducing the community’s dependency on unnatural food sources. (No, dear reader, I did not make this up.) We will not claim the City Council of Bloomington is sexist because it permits egg-laying…

NaClor picks spot for $40 million plant: South-side parcel considered for chemical factory

Backers of a proposed $40 million Indianapolis chemical plant are eyeing a south-side parcel near White River, but neighbors worry fumes from the facility will drag down property values nearby. In the spring, local economic development groups trumpeted Indianapolisbased NaClor Inc.’s decision to build the plant here. In return for the 53 new jobs-making bleach and other chemicals used in soaps, detergents and water quality treatment-the state promised $2.8 million in tax cuts and training grants, and the city offered…

Ex-Lilly execs take on diabetes with Carmel startup

Four former top scientists at Eli Lilly and Co. have formed a Carmel-based company to develop diabetes therapies–a venture observers say has the potential to become the kind of blockbuster success BioCrossroads was built to stimulate.

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Bringing answers to Indianapolis from around the globe

Why should you care how many stamps your architect has in his or her passport? Or whom your architect talks to from around the world? Because, as national publications declare design to be the new driving force in the marketplace, and as that marketplace becomes increasingly global, your architect can offer you a conduit to the people and ideas that will make a difference in your business in the years ahead. Indianapolis-area architects already are working to bring the world…

Foreign auto plants-yes, foreign automobiles-no: Ford and Chevy tops in all 92 Indiana counties

Hoosier workers and community leaders want Honda and Toyota jobs, but the vast majority of them don’t want their cars, at least not yet. At a time when employment by the Big Three automakers is plummeting throughout the state, 80.6 percent of Indiana vehicles registered by the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles are domestic. Hoosiers’ taste for domestic models is in stark contrast with the rest of the country. Nationwide, domestics account for just 51 percent of the market. “I…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Guidant sale not so sweet for holders of buyer’s stock

With almost every passing day, Boston Scientific Inc.’s $27 billion purchase of India n a p o l i s – b a s e d Guidant Corp. looks like a bigger fiasco-for the buyer, that is. Whether it was bad for the sellers-Guidant shareholders-is a trickier question. They received a stew of stock and cash in the deal and fared splendidly if they immediately sold their shares. But if they didn’t, Massachusettsbased Boston Scientific’s $80-a-share offer has lost its…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Improving state economy defies simple measures

The replacement of the Indiana Department of Commerce with the privately directed Indiana Economic Development Corp. has been mostly a non-issue in this election season. While most of the fist-pounding, face-reddening rhetoric has been directed at such meaty issues as how long we wait when we go to the BMV office once a year and whether or not we should reset our clocks each spring and fall, the issue of how we go about reinventing and reinvigorating the economy that…

Lucas Oil launches high-end motorcycle biz in Indy

Little known in this market less than a year ago, Lucas Oil Products is roaring into town with its first brick-and-mortar operation. Founder Forrest Lucas has set up a sister company, Lucas Cycles, to make fancy, fuel-injected motorcycles.

TOM HARTON Commentary: Recipe for a great university president

And in the almost 20 years since John Ryan? None of the three presidents hired by IU’s trustees have had any apparent connection to IU or the state. The IU marketing machine will churn out plenty of evidence, most of it legitimate, that those three-Thomas Ehrlich, Myles Brand and Adam Herbert-enjoyed successful tenures, but public perception says otherwise. IU isn’t alone in turning its back on internal candidates. R. William Funk, one of the foremost university president headhunters, said only…

Cable company rolls out on-demand advertising: Comcast already has signed deal with General Motors

People don’t typically pay for on-demand cable so that they can look at advertisements, but Comcast thinks they will. It’s trying to turn an old axiom-that people avoid advertising like the plague-on its ear. The Philadelphia-based company that provides cable television in much of Marion County thinks its new on-demand advertising-launched earlier this fall-will be so popular, viewers will seek out the pitches. For Comcast digital cable subscribers, accessing on-demand ads is as easy as going to their video on-demand…

LEADERSHIP: Are you a genius or an idiot? Just ask your employees

Do me a favor. Take out a piece of paper and draw a line across the middle from left to right. On the far left side of the line, put the letter “I,” and on the far right side of the line, place the letter “G.” Now set this piece of paper aside for just a minute and let’s address one of the biggest challenges facing leaders today-getting the most out of every member of your team. Regardless of where…

New law encourages workers to save more: Pension Protection Act lifts retirement account limits, steers people into 401(k)s

A major provision of the Pension Protection Act signed into law by President Bush last month encourages companies to register workers for retirement plans without requiring them to “opt in.” Putting the onus on employees to decline enrollment is a savings caveat financial planners favor. “Anytime you leave it up to somebody to do something on their own, you increase the odds that it’s not going to happen,” said Grace Worley, president of Indianapolisbased Worley Financial Group. “If they’re [enrolled]…