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Taking the pulse of life sciences: Experts weigh in on whether Indiana is keeping up in the economic development race

IBJ: Is Indiana gaining ground against other states in the race to grow as a life sciences hub? What are some specific benchmarks that underscore your opinion? JOHNSON: Indiana is gaining ground, but Indiana already starts on really very substantial ground. There are a lot of outside validations of that and I think it’s important for this audience to hear a couple of them because there is nothing like having people on the outside pay attention to what we’re doing…

VC tax credit rarely used by startups: Less than 17 percent of incentives tapped

Last year, Indiana approved tax credits worth nearly $16.3 million to encourage speculation on local high-tech startups. Investors left most of the credits-$13.5 million worth-on the table. The highly touted Indiana Venture Capital Investment tax credit program debuted in January 2004. It allows investors in approved startups to write 20 percent of their outlay off their state taxes. Indiana certified 42 young companies last year as eligible for its venture capital credit. According to the Indiana Economic Development Corp., investors…

Clinic predicts Hamilton County will be fertile ground: Doctors relocate reproductive practice to growing area

Surgery centers and a heart hospital are among a host of health care facilities that have risen in burgeoning north-suburban Hamilton County in recent years. Now, a new fertility clinic could contribute to the population surge by helping couples conceive children. The 6,400-square-foot Follas Center for Reproductive Medicine opened late last month on East 146th Street in Noblesville in a collaboration between several Indianapolis reproductive medicine innovators. The center is a partnership between Dr. David McLaughlin, a local pioneer of…

Light dims for U.S. Grand Prix:

What started out as a technical problem for one tire company here at the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix blew up into a catastrophic F1 public relations pandemic that could very well kill the U.S. event. Fans immediately wanted to know if they were going to get their money back, not whether F1 was coming back. It is every businessman’s nightmare to have so many things go wrong in public all at once, and it will be interesting-maybe even instructive-to…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Use of commissioned staff sets Gregg apart from rivals

H.H. Gregg may be a pipsqueak compared to goliath Best Buy Inc. But a peek into the Indianapolis company’s financial statements shows it’s no alsoran when it comes to profit margins. In its latest fiscal year, the electronics and appliance retailer posted an operating profit (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 4.8 cents for every dollar in revenue, according to IBJ’s analysis of the private company’s financial statements. That margin is just shy of the 5.2 cents reported…

Schools follow different flight paths: Aviation programs see contrasting demand

Two aircraft maintenance programs in close proximity to each other are far apart when it comes to successfully filling classrooms with budding mechanics. Times are so tough for Vincennes University’s struggling aircraft maintenance program at Indianapolis International Airport’s Aviation Technology Center that it asked for permission to conduct three non-aviation degree programs there. The aviation program, which enrolled about 300 students in the mid-1990s, now has about 75. Vincennes officials blame the United Airlines Maintenance hub closure, which displaced 1,200…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS Patrick Barkey: Intelligence isn’t only factor that sets earnings potential

Do we have a passion for economics? Judging from the numbers of economics majors at colleges and universities across the country, the answer is probably no. The world of graphs and statistics we inhabit is not everyone’s cup of tea. But if few of us like to study the economy, we all have to live and work within its borders. And the most important interaction most of us will ever have with the economy occurs when we venture into the…

Holding serve: Racquet Club rallies through tennis slump

Born during boom times and volleyed through the bad, the Indianapolis Racquet Club, though a little leaner than in the 1980s, has survived four decades while many of its competitors have double-faulted. IRC officials said they’ve survived tennis industry tumult by adding instructors and programs, expanding the pro shop to become one of the biggest in the Midwest, and staying focused on the club’s core business. “It’s simple, really,” said Ed Brune, who has been general manager and tennis director…

Global mission: destroy, conquer: New law good news for shredding firm

Indianapolis-based Global Shred Inc. plans to use a new federal rule that forces companies to destroy more documents as a springboard to expand into other states. The document-destruction provision of The Fair and Accurate Credit Transaction Act of 2003 went into effect June 1, requiring all businesses to shred, burn or pulverize credit and consumer reports. While many mom-and-pop shredding shops in the highly fragmented industry look to fortify their local position, Global Shred founder and owner David Kantor thinks…

BULLS & BEARS: Fed policies encourage post-bubble hangovers

Economists teach us that too much money chasing too few goods causes inflation. As consumers, this supply-demand imbalance leads to rising prices on the everyday items we purchase. A similar phenomenon can occur in financial assets. Too much money chasing stocks, bonds and real estate can create financial asset inflation. Pension funds, institutions and wellheeled individuals are throwing money into “alternative investments” in the hopes of earning high returns. There are now an estimated 8,000 hedge funds that manage more…

SPORTS: The game is on: Academics vs. big-dollar sports

Give NCAA President Myles Brand and his Task Force on the Future of Intercollegiate Athletics their due. If you will pardon both the pun and the cliché, they’re going to give it the old college try. Putting the paste back into the tube won’t be easy. It will require a dramatic change in our sports culture-American in general, on campus in particular-to view intercollegiate athletics by any measure other than the one posted on the scoreboard. That is especially true…

Charitable sector rides on road to recovery: Giving makes big jump for the first time since 2000

Americans gave more money to charity last year than ever before, signaling a return to the pre-9/11 philanthropic heyday. Contributions were up 5 percent, to $248.5 billion-the first significant increase after adjusting for inflation since 2000. “Things have been kind of flat,” said Eugene Tempel, executive director at the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. “This … tells us things are getting a little stronger. This is a good sign.” Researchers at the center compile data each year and write…

EYE ON THE PIE: Our state has twisted priorities

No recent column has aroused so much outrage as my remarks concerning our state government’s investment in tourism. I argued that it was a waste of money and that, if such expenditures are to be made, they should come from the private sector exclusively, not from tax dollars. Kaboom! An entire industry wants to educate me, if they cannot eradicate me. At the same time, a worthy landmark is about to disappear. The Randolph County Courthouse, in Winchester, is scheduled…

NOTIONS: Standing face to face with the end of the universe

Editor’s note: Bruce Hetrick this month won first place for best bylined commentary in a national competition conducted by the Alliance of Area Business Publications. The winning entry, about Hetrick’s wife, Pamela Klein, was first published in IBJ on March 1, 2004. It is reprinted here. Klein died March 5, 2005. It’s Saturday morning. I’m sitting on the window ledge in my wife, Pam’s, room at Methodist Hospital. Outside, the February sky is as gray as my spirit. While Pam…

Airport seeking more air cargo operations: Carriers that fly to Asia among hot prospects beyond FedEx at nation’s 7th-largest cargo airport

When all exports are considered, by air and sea, China is Indiana’s eighthlargest destination, growing 25 percent last year to $294.4 million, according to the Center for International Business Education and Research at Indiana University. Air cargo to China is 10 times greater than a decade ago, Michael Ducker, an executive vice president of FedEx, said in a presentation about China. Airport officials won’t say whom they’ve courted in the cargo realm. “We’re casting a pretty broad net,” said BAA…

Watchdogs wishing for tough IURC: Consumer, biz groups hope Daniels picks commissioner who’ll say ‘no’ to utilities

Industrial and consumer interests say Gov. Mitch Daniels needs to fill a pending vacancy at the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission with a regulator “able to say no” to utility companies. The IURC has too often allowed utilities to pass on increased costs for fuel or purchased power, for example, through so-called tracking mechanisms rather than through traditional rate cases that take into consideration offsetting reductions in other costs, they complain. “It’s important to be able to say no to the…

Rose-Hulman looks ahead: Search for new president could take a year

But trustees currently have a higher priority: Let the dust settle. “It’s only been a couple of days,” said Rose-Hulman Chairman Robert Bright. “Nothing’s been established for sure yet.” It took the Terre Haute engineering school 10 months to find and narrow the field of 60 candidates that produced Midgley-nearly the length of his presidential stint. Most expect the search for his successor to last at least as long. In the meantime, Rose-Hulman has a more pressing task. It must…

IBJ garners awards for writing, design:

IBJ won three awards in the Alliance of Area Business Publications Editorial Excellence competition for work done in 2004. Weekly columnist Bruce Hetrick won first place in the best bylined commentary category for his column, “Standing face to face with the end of the universe,” which is reprinted on page46. IBJ won a second place award for overall design among large-market tabloids and came away with another second place award for best recurring feature for the monthly Women in Business…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Frick, master of megadeals, ready to dial back intensity

Attorney David Frick says Anthem Inc.’s $20.8 billion purchase of Well-Point Health Networks was the toughest deal he ever negotiated-and that’s saying something. This is the same guy who helped broker the 1983 deal selling the Indiana Pacers to Mel and Herb Simon, eliminating the risk the franchise would go elsewhere. The same guy who served as the city’s chief negotiator in the deal that brought the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis in 1984. Anthem-WellPoint was even tougher, Frick says, in…

Med school takes hit: IU trims $5.2 million from budget, cuts 36 positions

The school tabled some construction plans and may have to curtail recruiting of “star” faculty in areas such as diabetes research, said Dr. Craig Brater, the school’s dean. On top of that, the school cut 36 positions and halted spending for several programs after it was hit by decreases in state funding and grants, and a rise in expenses. Brater said the medical school has been lucky “in large part” to receive the funding it needed over the years. He…