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Income tax neither simple nor fair EYE ON THE PIE:

It’s that time again. You do your federal income tax and then you do your Indiana income tax. Ah, the Indiana income tax. We are so proud that we have only one tax rate (3.4 percent) instead of an evil graduated income tax. This, we think, makes our tax simple and equitable. Yet the Indiana individual income tax is neither simple nor equitable. It is a complex mess of special treatment based on arbitrary and inconsistent sentiment. Some examples: Indiana…

New owner brings hope for Eastgate property: Demolition would pave way for redevelopment

Every end is a beginning, the proverb goes. Accordingly, the probable demolition of nearly vacant Eastgate Mall by new owners JTL Capital LLC isn’t causing much heartbreak among city officials and east-side residents. “I was thrilled to hear they plan to demolish [Eastgate],” said Ruth Ann Walker, a member of the Warren Township Development Commission. “It opens that parcel up for bigger and better things.” What that might be isn’t yet clear, and Dallas-based JTL so far has divulged little…

Hendricks Regional Health out to make name for itself: Hospital on promotional push in fast-growing county Growth spurs advertising

When the former Hendricks Community Hospital underwent a name change in 2003, executives embarked on an ambitious advertising campaign to promote the new moniker. Two years later, the modified Hendricks Regional Health has yet to abandon its marketing blitz, although the message has changed. The hospital is wrapping up a year-long promotional push, mainly to alert newcomers to fast-growing Hendricks County of the center’s existence, and will launch a follow-up campaign in the summer. Its efforts to muster additional name…

INVESTING: Though energy sector remains hot, avoid the herd

In July, I wrote about a few stocks that might help an investor take advantage of the rising oil prices. Up to the April 4 close, here are the results of those three stocks: Veritas, up 33 percent; XTO Energy, up 56 percent; San Juan Trust, up 60 percent. The energy industry needs another look right now. High oil prices are a hot topic everywhere, and the low-hanging fruit of returns has been picked. I don’t want to make a…

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Revisiting the crystal ball reflects timid predictions

When economists look into the future, what do they see? Many of us reported our visions of the coming year late last fall in annual forecasting presentations. Our Ball State University forecast, like many others, was pretty optimistic about 2005. It foresaw reasonably strong growth for both the U.S. economy and Indiana. But as we start the second quarter, with four more months’ worth of fresh data in hand, is there any reason to change that outlook? It depends on…

Profit potential drives car dealers to risky end of market: Collecting on high-interest, buy-here-pay-here loans requires adept, relentless managers to succeed Management-intensive

A handful of the city’s new-car dealers are cautiously backing into the buy-herepay-here lot, a risky but potentially lucrative used-car business long the bastion of neighborhood lots and chains such as J.D. Byrider Systems. The allure of making in-house loans is interest rates that can top 21 percent and profit margins that can be 10 times higher than peddling fresh metal. While rebates on new cars come and go and make for volatile sales, the poor and those with credit…

Health leader likes hands-on approach: Monroe brings vast background of medical service to state commissioner’s role

Dr. Judith Monroe’s appointment as commissioner of the Indiana State Department of Health returns her to the early days of a practice steeped in public health. This time, though, the Carmel resident won’t be treating patients living in tree houses. That’s right, tree houses. The 52-year-old Dayton, Ohio, native began her medical career in Morgan County, Tenn., in the heart of Appalachia on the eastern edge of the Cumberland Plateau. Through a National Health Service Corps program, Monroe spent four…

Tough losses hit Powerway: Software firm cuts workers, CEO resigns after General Motors terminates contract

Its software was supposed to become the American auto industry’s standard. Instead, Powerway Inc. finds itself scrambling once again to recover from a sudden reversal of fortune. Detroit-based General Motors Corp. has terminated its 2-1/2-year-old agreement to implement Powerway’s quality-control software throughout its supply chain. As a result, Powerway’s CEO Theodore Wozniak has stepped down and the company has fired a quarter of its work force. “It’s frustrating and disappointing that, under such great financial pressure, the American-based manufacturers are…

IUPUI discovers Office for Women still needs to exist: Program uses workshops, discussions and awards to keep the issues affecting women in the forefront

While many universities have programs dedicated to women’s equality, the IUPUI Office for Women is not taken for granted by the administration there. “It is important as part of the university’s diversity department,” said Kathy Grove, director of the IUPUI Office for Women. “It helps women to fulfill their potential and ensure that we have an environment free of harassment based on gender.” Established in October 1996 under the leadership of Dr. Kathleen Warfel, who was a professor of pathology…

Aging employees, parents face care-giving challenges: More Americans balance jobs, elder-care concerns Long-distance care

More than 14 million employees today face the challenge of balancing job duties with the responsibility of caring for an older relative, according to the San Francisco-based Family Caregivers Alliance. And the numbers are growing as America ages. Employers and employees are feeling the cost of elder-care work conflicts to the tune of more than $11 billion in lost productivity annually, according to a MetLife study. Many baby boomer care givers find themselves sandwiched between caring for their own children…

NOTIONS Bruce Hetrick: Sweating the small stuff is worth the trouble

Bruce Hetrick has the week off.In his absence,this column, which appeared on July 2, 2001, is being reprinted. Two decades ago, Time magazine quoted a University of Nebraska cardiology professor on the ins and outs of coping with stress. “Rule No. 1 is, don’t sweat the small stuff,” said Dr. Robert S. Eliot. “Rule No. 2 is, it’s all small stuff.” (Another doctor, Richard Carlson, later converted this concept into a series of self-help books.) As a Type A, win-at-all-costs,…

Are you tough enough?: Women learn how to be hardy so they can compete with the guys in any field of endeavor

Dr. Mary Reilly sometimes gets emotional on the job. But the emergency physician also knows how to turn it off. “In the middle of a ‘code,’ I can’t be breaking down in tears,” said Reilly, who works with Indianapolis-based St. Vincent Emergency Physicians Inc. “I put a wall up in some situations and try not to think about these people as people. That’s the only way emotionally I can get through [it].” Reilly is among the many women who’ve learned…

TOM HARTON Commentary: Riding the rails from first to worst

When my grandparents took the interurban from Rushville to Indianapolis to see the 1920 Indianapolis 500, they probably didn’t appreciate how lucky they were to live in a state that was a leader in public transportation. Indiana had one of the earliest and most extensive interurban systems in the country. The state’s electric railway network converged at the Indianapolis Traction Terminal, thought to be the largest interurban station in the world. The massive building on West Market Street served 462…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Emmis stock is out of favor, but is future really so bleak? Outsourcing firm plans IPO

The radio industry receives abysmal press these days. Bears note that advertising revenue has grown sluggishly in recent years, despite the economic rebound. And they quiver over new competition from satellite radio and the iPod. So is this the time for investors to flee the sector? Or to pick up a few bargains? Contrarians may want to take a closer look at hometown broadcaster Emmis Communications Corp., which will announce fiscal fourth-quarter financial results April 14. Certainly, these are not…

CPA firm hopes to deduct waistlines: KSM promotes wellness with weight-loss contest

Katz Sapper & Miller LLP is putting its money where its employees’ mouths are, helping its work force stay fit and healthy during the hectic tax season. In an industry where numbers are king, the local accounting firm is tabulating pounds, inches and cholesterol levels along with deductions, capital gains and tax credits. Some 58 KSM employees are participating in a weight-loss competition from Jan. 15 to April 15. As procrastinating Americans are rushing their tax returns to mailboxes, KSM…

BULLS & BEARS: Derivatives’ linking nature worries analysts, investors

Berkshire Hathaway’s chairman, Warren Buffett, has described derivatives as “time bombs” and “financial weapons of mass destruction.” Charlie Munger, Berkshire’s vice chairman, labeled the accounting used in derivative transactions as “sewage.” What is it about these mysterious financial instruments that evoke such ominous warnings from highly sophisticated investment minds? First, derivatives cover a wide range of financial instruments. The word describes their function, since the future value of a derivative contract is derived from the movement of one or more…

Helping pets pop pills: Butler MBA student invents easy way to medicate animals

Rob Puma’s idea of a romantic date is not making dog treats in his kitchen. Yet that’s exactly what he found himself doing with his girlfriend over Valentine’s Day weekend in 2004. The unusual celebration of a lover’s holiday was part of what began as a semesterlong MBA project at Butler University four years ago and became, as trite as it sounds, a labor of love for Puma, the inventor of Medi-Crunch, a snack designed to help people medicate their…

Probe paved way for broker to bolt: Knall’s exit from McDonald a boon for Stifel

The Indiana University graduate who runs St. Louis-based Stifel Nicolaus & Co. has known David Knall for years. So his mind began to whir late last year after an insider-trading probe sidelined Knall, one of the nation’s top-producing stockbrokers, from his post at McDonald Investments. By late January, Knall’s leave of absence from McDonald had run nearly two months, and it wasn’t expected to end until r eg u l a t o r s wrapped up their probe, a…

Ergo Office Furniture LLC: Workers sit, ergo offices need furniture Retailer deals primarily in used desks and chairs

Businesses sometimes need office furniture immediately. That’s one of the reasons Ergo Office Furniture has thrived. Ergo, at 2525 N. Shadeland Ave., sells, rents or leases office furniture to its customers. Though the company does carry some new furniture, and can order whatever it doesn’t have, co-owner Mark S. Kemper said 70 percent of Ergo’s revenue is in used furniture. The advantage of selling used furniture is that it’s normally right there in the inventory. Brand-new furniture, in many cases,…

Bankrupt franchise group sells stores to Burger King: 34 local sites now under Miami company’s control; Omni partners still operating other restaurants

A Chapter 11 bankruptcy case involving more than three dozen Burger King restaurants has resulted in one of the area’s largest Burger King franchisees’ selling 34 of its units to Miami-based Burger King Corp. Locally based Omni Restaurants Inc. and sister companies KD Development Inc. and Michael P. Frank Co. Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection from creditors in September 2004. Omni shuttered 12 of the 46 restaurants involved in the petition in an effort to regain solid financial…