If it sounds too good to be true-invest! This perversion of the old adage has cost many investors their life savings. How does it happen? In talking to many investors who’ve been victimized by outright scams, I’ve noticed the tendency of some to respond to what we call “The Big Lie.” Most investors seem to keep their guard up pretty high when approached about investing in a scheme that might return 10 percent, 15 percent or even 25 percent in…
Indianapolis not-for-profits are growing as more universities embrace service learning–an educational approach that encourages
students to incorporate academics into community service.
I’ve been driving around Indiana with my pal, the professor. For four consecutive Thursdays, we rendezvoused at dawn, grabbed cups of caffeine and headed to the northeast corner of the state to teach grant-writing. Our students, desperately seeking funds for the not-for-profit organizations they lead, were eager to learn and engaged in our lesson. The conversations en route were equally engrossing. We talked about our families and their health, our kids and their activities. We covered politics, sports and our…
After decades of Affirmative Action, women occupy fewer than one-fourth of U.S. university presidents’ offices-this despite females making up 58 percent of undergraduates, according to the U.S. Education Department. Women made decent strides between 1986, when 10 percent of college presidents’ offices were occupied by women, and 2001, when 21 percent had women. However, between 2001 and 2006, the number barely changed. In the most recent survey by the Washington, D.C.-based American Council on Education, a public-policy advocacy group, preliminary…
MICKEY MAURER Commentary A plug for non-partisan policy making In my final week as secretary of commerce, I appeared at a hearing before the State Budget Committee on behalf of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. The hearing was the first step in the reauthorization process for operating budget and incentive program funding for fiscal years 2008 and 2009. It was to be my final presentation at the Statehouse. In an effort to demonstrate that the Legislature was reaping a handsome…
A handful of bills pending in the General Assembly could have a major impact on Indiana’s high-tech sector. Legislation under consideration could stimulate increased commercialization of patented Indiana technology, channel more money toward development of alternative fuels, require regular review of Indiana’s certified technology parks, and more. Tech leaders are optimistic about the chances their agenda will be approved. “It’s the reason we married up with CICP,” said Ron Brumbarger, chairman of TechPoint, a trade association for Indiana high-tech companies….
I was taught economics, and in particular, the subject of public finance, by a faculty dominated by old Kennedy Democrats. A lot of that teaching has rubbed off or has simply been forgotten. Much of it also could be dismissed as idealism, a sort of ivory-tower thinking not relevant to the real world. Yet as I scan and digest the various tax proposals now in front of the Indiana General Assembly, several of those old lessons keep coming to my…
A pair of state studies last year attracted little public attention, but were highly-if warily-anticipated by business and industry, labor organizations, trade and professional groups, educators, local government officials, and even state agencies. The legislatively created Government Efficiency Commission served up its recommendation, followed, after the election, by the Office of Management and Budget’s Government Efficiency and Financial Planning office Program Results: an Outcome Based Evaluation (PROBE) analysis sought by Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels. The Government Efficiency Commission offered some…
There truly is no such thing as a free lunch, or at least that’s what Arnett Health-System told drug company sales representatives last fall. The Lafayette-based system banned meals for doctors that were paid for by the salespeople, but it allowed them to continue to meet with physicians through appointments. Then that stopped Jan. 1. Now, Arnett also prohibits reps from making sales calls at its roughly 20 locations in Tippecanoe County and the surrounding area. No more free samples…
Many CEOs take the word “retirement” figuratively, using the opportunity to become a full-time volunteer or to launch a second career. Don’t count 65-year-old Rene Champagne among those people. “I’ll be pursuing the leisure activities-like golf, tennis, fishing, traveling with my wife-that I don’t have time to do as CEO,” said the CEO and chairman of ITT Educational Services Inc., who announced Jan. 24 that he’s retiring from the Carmel-based company. Although he plans to remain in Indianapolis, “I don’t…
That sport, and not religion as Karl Marx once declared, has become the “opiate of the masses” is apparent in our fair burg, where we all-or at least most of us-are overdosing on the Indianapolis Colts. The TV types are in full hyper-ventilation. The scribes are cranking out words by the thousands. No angle involving the Colts and their upcoming Super Bowl date with Da Bears in Miami will go uncovered. And, yes, some of the story lines will be…
Folks I talked to, Democrats and Republicans, liked the governor’s State of the State speech. The fault they found was that the speech was scheduled opposite the Indiana University basketball game with Iowa. Isn’t that an impeachable offense in Indiana? The part of the speech that intrigued me most was the idea about leasing the rights to the lottery to get money to establish scholarships and endowed chairs at our universities. The idea is to slow or reverse the brain…
After saluting the accomplishments of the past year, Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels reached across the aisle during his State of the State Address Jan. 16 and assured Democrats that he can’t make further progress without their cooperation. Once again, the governor found himself competing for the TV audience of Hoosiers at home. In what seems to be a given of sorts, the Indiana University men’s basketball team was playing during the speech, taking on Hoosier hero Steve Alford’s University of…
With demand for welders outstripping supply, manufacturers, road and bridge builders, and other construction company owners
are all hurting. Despite a willingness to increase hourly wages and even offer signing bonuses, the search for welders is
getting more desperate.
On a cold and rainy day and wearing only a thin jacket, Maria walked eight miles to get help. She was pregnant and seeking prenatal care. Her husband had deserted her. The pervasiveness of unemployed and working-poor families presents a growing challenge. Most are underinsured or have no health insurance at all. That means our charity-care system is stretched to the maximum. One north-side center that provides care for the uninsured and underinsured has seen a 15-percent increase in patients…
One of the nation’s most prominent aviation schools is giving Indianapolis another chance. After withstanding a plunge in enrollment, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is adding five degree programs at its center here, with most of them aimed at careers outside the turbulent commercial aviation sector. It also plans to expand beyond its local student base of mostly working adults to court recent high school grads. Though in Indianapolis for 13 years, Embry-Riddle has had all the profile here of a stealth…
Ivy Tech Community College this month launched a pilot program that allows high school dropouts to earn their diplomas while simultaneously working toward a certificate or associate’s degree in college. Intended to improve the state’s labor pool, and as a lifeline to dropouts facing a dismal life in the earnings underclass, it will first be rolled out in Bloomington, Lafayette and Terre Haute. The Indianapolis campus also will offer the program aimed at those 19 or older, although a date…
Indiana’s thinly funded Insurance Department is pushing to raise nearly $1 million by hiking fees it charges insurers for the first time since 1994. The department also plans to shrink agent licenses from four years to two, in order to raise money and bolster continuing-education requirements. Insurance Commissioner Jim Atterholt hopes to win legislative approval this session for the measures, which would add $960,000 to the department’s $5.8 million operating budget and allow it to boost its work force from…
Congress and the IRS have taken a number of significant steps recently to increase their scrutiny of colleges, universities and related organizations. What’s the next step? The IRS has already tipped its hand and indicated that it intends to design and initiate unrelated business income tax-or UBIT-inquiries directed toward colleges during 2007 and 2008. This upcoming year will likely usher in a new tax climate focused upon enforcement initiatives and public transparency. The Pension Protection Act of 2006 included several…
Every other month, it seems, someone announces another promising alternative to the city’s public schools and their low achievement levels and high dropout rates. If it isn’t Indianapolis Public Schools announcing another specialty school within a high school, it’s a new charter school anointed by Mayor Bart Peterson-a number now approaching 20. So one could be forgiven for being a bit cynical about these schools, as parents who can afford to continue to leave the city for better schools. But…
