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What’s up with kids (us) today? CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary:

News flash: Many kids today show little respect for or fear of authority, or anything else for that matter. Did you catch Ruth Holladay’s Nov. 8 column in The Indianapolis Star about the vandalized deer sculpture on the DePauw University campus? A life-size sculpture of an eightpoint buck was created by New York artist Marc Swanson and donated to the school by the Butler Family Foundation at a cost of five figures. It was a beautiful piece of public art,…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: We need to push harder to foster a tech economy

You have to give the folks at Techpoint, the advocacy group for technology-oriented business in Indiana, plenty of credit for stamina. For eight years, these f o r wa r d – l o o k i n g folks have been carefully measuring the state’s progress in what was once called the high-tech economy. And for each of those eight years, the message has been depressingly consistent: We remain at the back of the pack. That’s not for lack…

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State revamps I-Light expansion project: Funding restored, but network limited to universities

Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels has given high-speed Internet project I-Light the green light, but with a twist from its original intent. He agreed this month to support the final stages of funding for the project, which began in 1999 and connected supercomputers at Indiana University, Purdue University and IUPUI. The aim was to expand Indiana’s digital infrastructure by connecting 15 cities via a fiber-optic network. Under his directive, though, only universities and related research parks can tap into the network,…

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BULLS & BEARS: Problems look daunting? A lesson from Granddad

Granddad rocked back and said, “The news is pretty tough to read these days. Makes me want to sit on the porch and just watch the leaves turn.” He shook his head and mentioned all sorts of events that made him wonder if the United States could ever bounce back. First, he brought up the battles for control in the Gaza strip and the fierce fighting over Palestinian areas. Then came speculation on how the United States was going to…

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NOTIONS: An interdependent interaction with Bill Clinton

A few months ago, Butler University announced that former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush would be among the speakers appearing on its Indianapolis campus during the school’s 2005-2006 sesquicentennial celebration. Within hours of the news breaking, my niece, a Butler junior and political science major, sent an e-mail asking if I’d like to join her for the first of these appearances, the one by Clinton on Nov. 8. Having long ago rounded up my fellow neighborhood kids for…

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Butler construction project targeted for fall ’06 finish: Student housing, rec center to join historic campus

The landscape around Butler University’s historic Hinkle Fieldhouse is undergoing dramatic changes not seen on the private campus since the early 1960s. Construction began in May on a $50 million project to build a student recreation center west of the 77-year-old arena and student housing to the east. Both should be finished by the start of the fall semester in August. The construction projects are the largest since Irwin Library, Clowes Memorial Hall and Lilly Hall were built in 1961,…

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NOTIONS: Learning what matters in the ultimate survivor game

When I was 21, I went to work for a mayor. I was an intern. I wrote speeches, letters, news releases and proclamations; took photographs; set up chairs for news conferences; poured coffee for reporters; sipped tea with sister-city delegations; photocopied documents; scheduled guests for radio and TV shows; produced an audio-visual presentation; showed it to scores of neighborhood associations; told them how great the mayor was. Things like that. I made minimum wage, learned from some wise mentors and…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Talent, education are keys in competitive field of design

“Individuals with little or no formal education in design, as well as those who lack creativity and perseverance, will find it very difficult to establish and maintain a career in the occupation,” warns the department through its currently posted Bureau of Labor Statistics Outlook. While I do suggest that designers of the future should take their career outlook seriously given the current and expected competition, I certainly would not want to discourage them. Creativity and perseverance are among those traits,…

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There’s more to logistics than forklifts and sweat: Colleges offer degrees for white-collar jobs in the field

It’s not sexy, but it’s where the jobs are. Ivy Tech Community College will offer an associate’s degree in logistics management, the latest effort in Indiana aimed at cultivating a work force for the transportation-distribution-logistics sector, known as TDL. Meanwhile, the University of Indianapolis is preparing a concentration in supply chain management that will have key applications in logistics careers. Experts say the educational push is sorely needed, yet it’s still a challenge to get young people interested in the…

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Startups offered a fast track: Motorsports-themed incubator gets green light in Brownsburg

Hendricks County officials hope a new business incubator there revs the engines of local entrepreneurs. The motorsports-themed facility, to be known as Fast-Start, got the green light after a year-long feasibility study concluded the project was a logical fit for a community that already houses Prudhomme Racing, John Force Racing and Bill Simpson’s Impact Racing. “It would help achieve some of our goals in Brownsburg,” said Jeanette Baker, town council president and treasurer of the Hendricks County Economic Development Partnership,…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Adjusting to major changes in federal bankruptcy laws

The difficult decision to file bankruptcy has become even more stressful for individuals. The Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act went into effect Oct. 17 with significantly tougher reporting and qualification requirements. The most highly publicized aspect of the new law involves tough new restrictions on who may qualify for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the most common form of individual filing that allows consumers to erase their debts. Yet advisers say it’s important to understand one important fact-your own state…

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Credit-counseling mandate causing stir: Critics contend providers, including some under investigation, will unfairly profit from new bankruptcy law

The reform measures that took effect Oct. 17 will make it harder for filers to wipe away unsecured debt by steering more of them toward Chapter 13-instead of Chapter 7-which requires them to repay at least some obligations. But consumers wishing to declare bankruptcy must first undergo credit counseling within 180 days of filing and finish debtoreducation courses before exiting the courts. Critics contend the extra step will add more time to the pre-filing phase and increase the cost for…

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Banks embrace checking reprieve: Growing program frees potential customers

Banks and credit unions statewide will soon have a larger pool of customers to tap into when a central Indiana program that helps people barred from opening checking accounts expands. Get Checking, a national program that began at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 2001, is a way for people who have landed on the ChexSystem register-a list of consumers barred from opening an account-to get off the list. People find themselves in ChexSystem due to bouncing too many checks, failing…

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Center director ready to score: Ball State’s new entrepreneurship chief has big plans for top-rated program

The 6-foot-6-inch Cox visited the Indiana University campus on Dec. 24, 1974, as a member of the Nebraska Cornhuskers basketball team. The starting center scored 15 points and pulled down five rebounds in a 97-60 loss to the thenmighty Hoosiers. His team took solace in a free meal from a local fast-food joint that gave each ticketholder a burger, fries and shake every time IU won by 30 points or more. After scavenging the stands for discarded stubs, the ‘Huskers…

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Industry: Let’s build minority business: Construction consortium working on diversity

A consortium of some of central Indiana’s biggest players in construction has set its sights on improving minority involvement in the $8-billion-a-year industry. The Indiana Construction Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the biggest users and providers of construction services, on Oct. 12 approved a diversity outreach initiative. The ambitious plan aims to increase minority participation in the construction industry by rewarding contractors who support education and training, employ minorities and women, and mentor small minority- and women-owned…

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Public broadcasters seek big bucks to feed Big Bird: WFYI capital campaign has ambitious $15.3M goal

Public broadcasters usually aren’t shy about asking for money. Indeed, their telethon-style fund-raising drives likely are as recognizable to audiences as Big Bird and Garrison Keillor. But when it comes to big money, they haven’t had much practice. Until now. For more than a year, Indianapolis broadcaster WFYI quietly has been lining up support for its largest-ever capital campaign-a $15.3 million effort to upgrade equipment, expand its Meridian Street building, and more than double the not-for-profit’s endowment. Station leaders were…

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Ahnafield helps disabled achieve self-dependence: 34-year-old firm makes high-tech mobility products

Driving a road sweeper when he was 18 years old, Ryan Kruse never saw the train that slammed into his vehicle and turned him into a quadriplegic. College and other plans for the future seemed out of reach for Kruse, who was paralyzed from his chest down that day 13 years ago. But recently, Kruse, who is working on a second bachelor’s degree at IUPUI, traveled to Georgia to celebrate his grandmother’s 80th birthday. He drove. With only limited use…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Time to realign taxes with services

Many folks want to get rid of property taxes. They think property taxes are o l d – fa s h i o n e d , although most who think so have not thought through the issue. These property-tax abolitionists want to use income or sales taxes, which they contend are more “fair,” whatever that means. They forget that one aspect of “fairness” is to relate taxes to services received. This is called beneficiary taxation. An example of beneficiary…

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Boom, baby: Tourism industry preps for growth: Convention center, stadium may add thousands of jobs

The dirt is still fresh from the Colts’ stadium ground breaking, but local hospitality professionals already are planning for the growth it will spur in their industry. Experts project as many as 25,000 additional jobs by 2010, when both the stadium and a 275,000-square-foot expansion of the Indiana Convention Center are scheduled to be complete. That tally counts jobs created in those facilities as well as in hotels, restaurants and other attractions. Officials expect 4,200 jobs to be added in…

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Art school to compete with Herron, U of I: For-profit Art Insitutue has designs on new programs

The city’s newest art school has existing programs here sharpening their colored pencils and preparing for a showdown at the easel to attract new students. The Art Institute of Indianapolis earlier this month launched a marketing campaign seeking students for its first classes, which start Jan. 9. The for-profit school at the Pyramids is owned by a Pittsburgh firm. It plans to offer a two-year degree in graphic design and four-year degrees in graphic design, interior design and interactive media…

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