Brizzi’s lease deals benefited friend, donor
Records show Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi directed lucrative work for the Prosecutor’s Office to his friend, business
partner and political contributor John Bales.
Records show Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi directed lucrative work for the Prosecutor’s Office to his friend, business
partner and political contributor John Bales.
Indiana banks soon might have to pay the state as much as $300 million in new fees for deposit insurance at a time the industry
is experiencing its deepest woes in decades.
Small, community banks will bet on their strength in customer service, and large banks will offer business customers lower
costs.
Ann
Lathrop's interactions with the Indiana Pacers and Indianapolis Colts aren't what she might have envisioned as a young
college student pursuing a career in sports medicine. Now president of the city's Capital Improvement Board, her relations
with the teams are tied to their financial conditions rather than the health of their players.
Cleveland-based Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP gains Indianapolis presence by absorbing 99-year-old local law firm
with 29 lawyers.
Executives are scheduled to testify Tuesday before a California legislative committee and on Wednesday before a U.S. House
of Representatives committee about big premium increases.
The commercial real estate slump is prompting several Indianapolis brokerages to add property-management services to their
portfolios or bolster existing ones.
Indianapolis is on the verge of losing one of its most prominent public companies. The Steak n Shake Co. is planning to
change its name to Biglari Holdings Inc. and move its headquarters to San Antonio. The Steak n Shake restaurant chain would retain a presence in Indianapolis.
The federal Medicare program will conduct a demonstration project using the Indianapolis-based Indiana Health Information
Exchange to examine the impact of a multi-payer quality reporting and pay-for-performance incentives. Medicare will
feed its patient data into IHIE’s Quality Health First program, which combines data from health insurers with patient
medical records to help physicians track the quality of their care. Already, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of
Indiana is offering bonus payments based on how well doctors do at managing their patients’ health in key areas.
The Medicare program will allow IHIE to share in a portion of Medicare savings achieved once quality of care and cost objectives
are met.
St. Vincent Health made it official on Feb. 1. Washington County Memorial Hospital
in Salem is now St. Vincent Salem Hospital. The 25-bed facility will cost Indianapolis-based St. Vincent $3.5 million
over five years in a lease-to-buy agreement. St. Vincent executives have been managing the hospital for 18 months,
including during its bankruptcy reorganization, which began in June. The Salem hospital is the 18th in St. Vincent’s
statewide network.
The National Institutes of Health’s National Eye Institute has awarded Teri Belecky-Adams,
professor of developmental biology at IUPUI’s School of Science, a $1.25 million grant to study astrocytes
in the optic nerve. Astrocytes are cells that make it difficult for the brain to heal and to overcome injury or disease. By
understanding what kind of factors regulate certain gene expressions in astrocyte cells in the optic nerve, scientists hope
to gain a deeper knowledge of brain injuries and the brain’s response to disease and injury. The study is a collaborative
effort between the IU Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine, scientists within the IU School of Medicine,
and researchers at the University of Wisconsin.
Biologics LLC, which makes mobile labs and manufacturing
buildings for biotech firms, will locate its headquarters in Brownsburg, and plans to create at least 50 jobs by 2013. The
company plans to invest $14.6 million in machinery and equipment and lease 7,500 square feet in the Brownsburg
Motorsports Park before constructing a manufacturing plant in 2011. The Indiana Economic Development
Corp. offered Biologics up to $550,000 in tax credits to support the company’s job creation. Hendricks
County and the town of Brownsburg will consider additional property tax abatements.
AMPATH,
a joint partnership between Indiana University School of Medicine, Moi University School
of Medicine and Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, has received another $5 million USAID grant to
expand health care services in western Kenya. AMPATH, which stands for the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare,
received a $60 million grant in 2007 from USAID, or the United States Agency for International Development. More than 100,000
Kenyans receive HIV/AIDS treatment through USAID-AMPATH’s system of community health workers in 23 full-time clinics
and 23 satellite clinic locations.
New Jersey-based Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. closed on the sale
of its specialty pharmaceutical business, including a plant in Indianapolis, to Italian-owned Sigma-Tau Group. The deal
could be worth up to $300 million. Locally, Enzon’s plant at 6925 Guion Road makes drugs to treat leukemia, meningitis,
fungal infections and the “bubble boy disease” immune disorder. The plant employs about 100 workers, and the manufacturing
operations will remain in Indianapolis, Sigma Tau spokesman Marc Tewey said.
Fourth-quarter profit fell 19 percent,
to $69 million, at Indianapolis-based Dow AgroSciences as the company spent more on research and marketing
expenses related to its seed business ramp-up. Revenue rose 17 percent, to $1.1 billion, from the same period in 2008. For
all of 2009, Dow Agro, a subsidiary of Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co., reported revenue of $4.5 billion,
down from $4.6 billion in 2008. Annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization dropped
to $577 million from $892 million.
The government has erected a high fence around a pot of $27 billion available to doctors and hospitals that successfully
computerize their patient records by next year, sparking complaints.
Hoosiers enrolling at fast-growing Ivy Tech Community College might find it increasingly difficult to get the classes they
want at the times they prefer. Blame burgeoning enrollment and $10 million in funding cuts.
State teachers union’s recommended approach differs sharply from spending cuts and salary freezes recommended by the Indiana
Board of Education.
At a torrid pace, major pieces of legislation are flying
through the Indiana General Assembly, leaving lawmakers with an envious decision: Adjourn early and make Hoosier voters happy,
or stick around and devote attention to other major issues that deserve close scrutiny, but receive short shrift in sessions
bogged down by battles over high-profile partisan matters.
In Washington, the Senate Banking Committee is considering far-reaching legislation regulating the financial services
industry in the wake of the recent and ongoing crisis. This legislation will dramatically change the relationship between
the federal government and some of our financial institutions.
Maybe Elkhart County needs to ask itself if there is long-term economic value
in being the RV or even the electric-vehicle capital of the nation.
The written statement Carl Brizzi released Thursday saying he will not seek a third term as Marion County prosecutor makes
no reference to the controversy surrounding his business and personal ties with embattled Indianapolis financier Tim Durham.
Stephanie DeKemper believes everything in her adult life has prepared her to run SynCare LLC. She’s so
sure that she’s buying the company.
Experts say a unique four-way partnership that includes the Pacers and Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association may be the favorite to run the city’s sports and
convention venues.
Health spending is growing slower than it has in 48 years, but whether health care reform will continue the trend is the
subject of debate here and around the country.
Health spending is growing slower than it has in 48 years—but that’s better news for businesses and households
than it is for governments. Whether health care reform will continue the trend is an open question.