Roller Girls gain cult following
The Naptown Roller Girls are proving so popular, the locally-based team is looking for a bigger venue. In only its second season playing at the State Fairgrounds’ Toyota Blue Ribbon Pavilion, the team’s…
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Research investment widens Targanta loss
Targanta Therapeutics Corp., a Massachusetts antibiotic-development firm with strong ties to Indianapolis, lost $10.7 million in the fourth quarter, $1 million more than it lost in the same quarter a year earlier. The company is commercializing an antibiotic developed by Eli Lilly and Co. to fight skin cancer. Targanta had its headquarters in Indianapolis before […]
You-review-it Monday
For me, the weekend included lots of reading for upcoming book reviews, a visit with Dance Kaleidoscope (review to appear in next week’s IBJ) and screenings of the classic “Mildred Pierce” and the less-than-classic “Horton Hears a Who.”
So what did…
EYE ON THE PIE: Trending will rot out property tax deal
“They” have gone home. “They” are the neighbors we asked to serve in the Indiana General Assembly. They are reasonable, pleasant, well-intentioned people who act like irresponsible, ignorant and fearful children when organized into caucuses. Legislators in a caucus are similar to slaves in a galley ship, coerced to move to the beat of a single drum, rowing in unison, not knowing where their efforts will lead. Our legislators spent months chanting old sea ditties about property tax reform. Now…
Employee-ownership plans increasingly common: Selling to staff allows owners to ease back, gives workers stake in firms’ success
When Unique Home Solutions owner Bob Dillon started thinking about retirement, he knew he didn’t want to sell his company to the highest bidder. After all, he and his 125 employees worked hard to establish a corporate culture that has helped the service firm triple revenue in recent years-and win the Better Business Bureau’s Torch Award for marketplace ethics four times. So like a growing number of baby boomers, Dillon is planning to sell the business to his staff through…
ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Final version of tax reform deserving of accolades
The practice of economics certainly can compel a man to cynicism. Take, for example, tax reform. I’ve testified on tax reform before legislatures in three states and one foreign country. Each had much bigger tax problems than does Indiana. Today, in each of those places, several solid proposals languish under the assault of special interests, much to the chagrin of taxpayers. Here in Indiana, the story is different. The past few months have seen reasoned and informed debate on property…
NOTIONS: Beyond the biased barriers of Beaver Cleaverville
I grew up on the outskirts of Omaha, Neb.; Lafayette and Fort Wayne. Each time we moved, we wound up near the line where the suburbs met the farm fields. For a kid, this had advantages. You could ride your bike down miles of country roads, hike through newly plowed furrows or climb through construction sites after the Amish workers had called it a day. Mostly, you watched one world advance and the other retreat. The houses in our neighborhoods…
Legislators tackle range of business-related measures:
Property tax reform took center stage during the just-completed session of the Indiana General Assembly. But lawmakers also grappled with a host of other measures with business implications. A roundup appears below. ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT One of the session’s most divisive issues-whether to penalize companies that hire illegal immigrants-died during the waning hours. Under the legislation, introduced by Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, companies could have had their business licenses suspended, or revoked after three instances. The Senate and House passed…
Brown County tourism industry feuds over how to ward off a slump
Among those who stake their livelihood on tourism there is a sense that Brown County is at a crossroads. That dilemma is evident
in decisions about whether to refurbish aging hotel rooms, update restaurant decor or close shop for the off-season.
Struggling Noble Roman’s takes over franchisee’s 6 units
Noble Roman’s Inc. has taken over the operation of six franchised restaurants in Indianapolis in a bid to prove its concept
can be executed profitably. The move–which comes amid a chorus of discontent from franchisees and as the company explores
the possibility of selling itself–could help the 1,000-restaurant chain avoid the embarrassment of store failures in its
own back yard.
STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Full impact of tax reform won’t be known for years
The 2008 legislative session is history, and makes history with a property tax reform package that goes a long way toward Gov. Mitch Daniels’ goal of enacting one that is fair, final and farreaching. Give him the lion’s share of the credit for establishing the philosophical and practical framework. Majority House Democrats didn’t propose their own property tax plan, but they largely embraced the governor’s plan and successfully played a few new strategic riffs that Republicans found didn’t disrupt the…
BEHIND THE NEWS: Buybacks come back to haunt WellPoint
For most of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc.’s six years as a public company, it’s been a Wall Street darling. Even with the company’s stock down by nearly half since January, it still boasts sterling long-term performance. Since their October 2001 debut, the shares have appreciated 120 percent, obliterating the 18-percent advance of the S&P 500. But that’s yesterday’s news. Management has been on the hot seat since March 10, when the company announced it was slashing its earnings forecast because medical…
Mortgage blues haven’t hit all: Some firms are holding their own despite housing, credit slump
The local office of Cleveland-based KeyBank has hired a banking veteran to lead a revamped mortgage department that will boast a larger sales force. And locally based mortgage firm Signature Group recently completed construction of its new headquarters and added three brokers. In this climate of ballooning foreclosures and rising interest rates, one might wonder whether executives of the aforementioned institutions are reading the wrong spreadsheets. To the contrary, despite the gloomy picture monthly housing statistics paint, they are among…
Tax reform fallout worries biz interests
Property tax reform is now Indiana law. Hoosier homeowners are thrilled. But many corporate leaders grumble the historic deal was brokered on the backs of business. Topping their concerns is the new 3-percent property tax cap for commercial and industrial properties, which they fear will slow business expansions and discourage companies from moving headquarters to the state.
Anthem increases its hold on Indiana
Anthem Insurance Co. added nearly 75,000 commercial customers last year, pushing its total up more than 4 percent. Anthem,
a subsidiary of Indianapolis-based WellPoint Inc., now claims a whopping 1.8 million commercial customers in the state. The
trouble is, Anthem’s dominance limits price competition, according to benefits brokers, making it hard for local HMOs such
as M-Plan or even some national players to compete.
SMALL BUSINESS PROFILE: MATRIX LABEL SYSTEMS INC.: Label maker manufacturing growth – again Fourth expansion project set to open this summer
SMALL BUSINESS PROFILE MATRIX LABEL SYSTEMS INC. Label maker manufacturing growth – again Fourth expansion project set to open this summer Within a month, Plainfield-based Matrix Label Systems Inc. will break ground on a fourth addition to its central Indiana facility, adding nearly 17,000 square feet of warehouse space and potentially more workers. That’s just the latest growth spurt at the 23-year-old company that started out of a garage and now has 50 employees and $15 million in annual revenue….
A&E: Seeing ‘Tosca’ from the terrace
I try to avoid leading this column with commentary on productions that have come and gone. While I steadfastly believe it’s valuable to keep such productions in the mix, I appreciate that many of you aren’t as interested in what happened as you are in what’s still happening. Still, I think there’s use in talking about some weekend-onlys and onenighters. If I share, for instance, that Indianapolis Opera’s production of “Tosca” (March 14, 16) offered a compelling, entertaining, and often…
INVESTING: Collapse of Bear Stearns may portend more woes
JP Morgan’s unprecedented, purchase of Bear Stearns for $236 million raises more questions than it answers. In a stunning series of events, Bear Stearns went from trading for $65 a share on Wednesday, March 12, to an announcement the following Monday that, with the assistance of the Federal Reserve, it was being sold to JP Morgan for $2 a share. The collapse of Bear Stearns began the prior week with investors who had entered into securities transactions with the firm…
Farm Fresh clients pay a premium to support local growers, organics
Matt Ewer and his wife, Elizabeth Blessing, launched Farm Fresh Delivery LLC in July. With nearly 500 subscribers already,
the organically- and locally-grown-groceries delivery business is blooming in a segment where many large, mass-market retailers
failed during the dotcom bust.
VIEWPOINT: Indianapolis’ utility acne syndrome
It took decades of turning a blind eye to get here: Indianapolis has draped itself in utility poles. Walk, ride, jog or drive to any major street in Indianapolis, with the exceptions of a few designated boulevards, streets and avenues. Take a mental picture of where you are. Now, with Photoshop in your mind, remove the web of utility poles and wires from that picture and quickly open your eyes. We’re visually strangled by them. Few streets are exempt from…