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Eco suit spawns flurry of litigation: Class actions hit Honeywell in wake of thermostat fight

Industrial powerhouse Honeywell International Inc. suddenly finds itself under siege by an army of aggressive class-action attorneys-all because it decided to mess with a couple of determined entrepreneurs from Lebanon. Attorneys from around the nation in recent months have filed six class action lawsuits in state courts charging New Jersey-based Honeywell used deception to obtain the trademark for its ubiquitous round thermostat, then used its lock on the round-thermostat market to overcharge customers. T h e l eg a l…

Giving women a boost: Companies use in-house programs to maximize the potential of female employees Crowe Chizek and Co. LLC Rolls-Royce North America

While men and women are often hired in equal numbers, inequities tend to crop up once employees reach management level and above. For innovative companies, the race is on to move more women into the management pipeline. “I think it is a trend in companies that have been smart enough to take a look at their promotion patterns over the last five to six years,” said Nancy Ahlrichs Raichart, author and founder of Indianapolis-based EOC Strategies, a human resources consulting…

INDOT spends millions with little oversight: Critics charge state’s failure leads to poor work

More than half of the $8 billion spent by the Indiana Department of Transportation on construction over the last decade went to only 10 construction companies. The same is true of the hundreds of millions spent on consulting. Ten design and engineering firms got 56 percent of all of the money contracted by INDOT-more than $155 million over the last 12 years. The large sums of money concentrated in a relatively small number of recipients has raised alarms for some…

TAWN PARENT Commentary: Playing a game I may not want to win

I’m playing the lottery. But even if I win, I might lose. The stakes are high. It’s a lottery that will have a major impact on my family for the next decade. But this lottery isn’t about money. It’s about education. It’s the Indianapolis Public Schools magnet school lottery. Families submit their choices in the fall, and by the first of March they find out if they have won the right to attend any of their favorite schools. But there’s…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Lawyers in big-biz cases get scolding from judges Taking stock of Lilly

Two big businessrelated cases are advancing toward trial, and the lawyers involved are getting nasty. At least that’s how it seems to the judges handling the cases, and they’re tired of it. In a Jan. 31 filing, federal Magistrate Judge V. Sue Shields gave a verbal spanking to attorneys for both Paul Harris Stores Inc. and the accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers. “All counsel are admonished that the court expects them to behave in a civil manner toward one another and to…

City convention planners working on transition strategy: Keeping event clients content during expected stadium construction, expansion of center crucial to success Smooth transition critical Contingency plans

The city’s hospitality industry might want to adopt the weathered “no pain, no gain” expression as its mantra until the proposed expansion of the Indiana Convention Center is completed, presumably in 2010. Construction of the 275,000-square-foot addition to the center should begin in 2008, pending legislative approval of a $500 million stadium financing deal for the Colts. The Convention Center expansion is expected to cost $250 million, and its financing and location hinge on the stadium deal. Work on the…

Head of IT firm ensures company primed for growth: She started business to offer customized training but altered her strategy as circumstances changed Strategic decisions “She almost vibrates” Female support

Kathy Carrier’s dad was angry when she left a lucrative job at a Fortune 500 company to start her own firm. But four years later, when she won an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, he told his daughter: “Clearly your vision for yourself was greater than the one I had for you.” In less than seven years, Carrier, 46, has built her Fort Wayne-based information technology writing and training firm, Briljent LLC, into a business with annual…

Keystone Towers in financial bind: Owner with grand plans faces foreclosure

The latest attempt to revive the 15-story Keystone Towers apartment complex appears to be in danger of derailing amid a threatened foreclosure and unpaid bills from contractors. The landmark complex at Allisonville Road and Fall Creek Parkway on the northeast side has been largely vacant since 2001, when previous owners defaulted on the mortgage and the property was sold at a sheriff’s sale. The apartment complex, built by local developer George Ginger in 1974 as the VIP Center, originally included…

Sides nearing peace on the Prairie: ‘Solomonic’ ending awaits Earlham, museum

Once the fine points of the deal with Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter are worked out, Earlham will hand over $91.5 million in cash and its interest in a jointly owned golf course worth another $2.5 million-much more than the $64.7 million take-it-or-leaveit offer the college made just before firing the museum’s CEO and dismissing nearly all its directors in June 2003. “We’re just trying to put this behind us,” Earlham board Chairman Mark B. Myers told IBJ after trustees…

BULLS & BEARS: How managing investments works from the top down

Another variation of the asset allocation and diversification theme that is common on Wall Street is what’s called a “topdown” investment strategy to manage a portfolio. Investors who practice this sort of money management are generally more concerned with the economic outlook and its effect on various “market sectors” than the business fundamentals of a particular company. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index is the most commonly used measuring stick for the investment performance of many mutual funds and money…

Zoo gets boost from marketing campaign: Attraction is drawing record crowds by luring more visitors from farther away

The Indianapolis Zoo’s attendance has increased 50 percent in the last decade, reaching record levels the last two years. More than 1.2 million people visited the downtown attraction last year. Zoo officials credit an aggressive advertising and marketing campaign in 2003 and 2004 for the most recent attendance jumps. The zoo hired Lodge Design Co. to help spread its message around central Indiana, but also asked the small, Indianapolisbased agency to help bring in more remote visitors, targeting those within…

GERALD BEPKO Commentary: Let’s celebrate everyone’s right to vote

Recently, our senior pastor at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, Kent Millard, spoke with typical passion of the “externally focused life,” recalling the lessons of our faith that teach the importance of leading a life of service. Scripture references included well-known lines from the Gospel of Luke concluding with these words: “What does it profit them if they gain the whole world, but lose or forfeit themselves?” Similar words were used 40 years earlier, on March 15, 1965, in a…

New-technology veterans take hands-on approach: West Lafayette’s IN-vivo Ventures aids startups

Spinning out university research to form new companies is a tricky proposition. But the partners who formed West Lafayette-based IN-vivo Ventures believe they can show would-be academic entrepreneurs what’s behind the curtain. “If an entrepreneur is looking for funding, that’s not what IN-vivo’s about,” said co-founder Chad Barden. “What we are about is identifying good, strong commercial opportunities that lack a business focus, and inventors who lack the business expertise to take it to market.” Every day, scientists and engineers…

More condos planned for north Lockerbie: Mill No. 9 developers teaming up again to bring townhouses to Dinmont-owned land north of Michigan Street

North Lockerbie LLC, a subsidiary of Dinmont Development LLC, filed plans with the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission Jan. 27 to build brick townhouses on the land. The $20 million project, to be called Lockerbie Park, will be jointly developed by Dinmont and locally based Hearthview Residential. The development sits at the northwest corner of Michigan Street and College Avenue on land that in 2001 was slated for a multi-use project that would have included 100 condos, plus retail and office…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Do cell-phone calls trump talking person-to-person?

I’ve been watching the wireless revolution in business, and I’m fascinated by how people are fitting technology into etiquette. For example, in one recent meeting, I saw people jumping up and down like a Whacka-Mole game, scuttling from the room each time their cell phones commanded them to. The phones were muted, so nobody heard the rings, but it’s not conducive to coherence in a meeting to have people running in and out like the Secret Service at a state…

EYE ON THE PIE: County income taxes need simplification

How is anyone supposed to understand the tax maze created by our beloved General Assembly? For example, we have three local option income taxes. The revenue is collected by the state and sent back to the county where the taxpayer resides. These taxes enable counties to lower property taxes, pay for needed local services and lift themselves through the miracles of economic-development efforts. The idea is wonderful, but who can understand these taxes? First, there is CAGIT (the county adjusted…

Northwest has no interest in intrastate air service:

Supporters of intrastate air service who hoped Northwest Airlines would pick up flights ATA Holdings Corp. is discontinuing March 28 might be disappointed. “We have studied the service and do not believe that non-stop service from these cities into Indianapolis would be economically viable in the long term,” said Kurt Ebenhoch, spokesman for Minneapolis-based Northwest Airlines. Airport officials in Evansville, Fort Wayne and South Bend considered Northwest their best hope of restoring the turboprop service launched late in 2004 that…

Herff Jones considers global acquisition: Deal to buy George F. Cram Co. is in the works

Sources close to Indianapolis-based George F. Cram Co. said the 139-year-old maker of globes and maps is being sold to Herff Jones Inc., another local company with deep roots. Cram officials did not return phone calls seeking comment. But sources said Cram officials have indicated the sale is done. Officials for Herff Jones-an employee-owned maker of school-related items including caps and gowns, yearbooks and high school diplomas-said the deal is not yet imminent. “We’re in conversations, but we’re not ready…

NASCAR fuels C&R growth: Maker of custom racing parts diversifies from open-wheel roots

Though he’s only 45, Chris Paulsen is a grizzled veteran in racing circles. The storied mechanic has already been invited to take part in old-timer events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But industry sources say Paulsen’s future is as wide open and promising as that of a schoolboy with a fresh diploma. The innovations that made him a household name in open-wheel have earned a following among NASCAR’s elite, and the insightful entrepreneur even talks of starting his own race…

Special Report: MURKY MISSION: Vague directive dilutes 21st Century Fund’s high-tech impact

When directors of Indiana’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund convened in May 2003, they’d already doled out $70 million in state grants over three years to fund h i g h – t e c h innovation a n d w e r e preparing to u n l e a s h another $60 million. But you wouldn’t know it after reading minutes from that meeting. They show a rollicking debate broke out over the 21st Century’s Fund’s…