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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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VIEWPOINT: Unleash your employees’ service potential

As anyone in the field of emergency management will tell you, the regrettably sluggish governmental response to the Hurricane Katrina natural and manmade disaster boils down to the argument over jurisdictions (a perennial challenge in the world of emergency management) and a gross lack of execution. As a result of the governmental infighting and dearth of critical decision-making in the early stages of this catastrophe, American citizens were victimized. People suffered, people died. In the analysis of the Hurricane Katrina…

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Taking aim at the middle: New Conseco Insurance leader says growth will be found in average households

Four months into his job as president of Conseco Insurance Group, Michael Dubes is explaining his strategy to return the subsidiary to profitability. Then, ice cream enters the conversation. Dairy Queen, he argued, continues to thrive despite an onslaught of competitors offering more expensive treats. The key to the franchise’s success is that it has never wavered from its middleincome target audience, Dubes said. He is applying the same simple tactic to grow the group’s portfolio of policyholders, while many…

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Apartment industry embracing Ball State graduates: Program makes property management a career goal

During the 1990s, a booming Indianapolis apartment market was becoming increasingly competitive. About 10,000 units were added to the market in the second half of the decade and professional, well-educated managers to run them were in short supply. Enter the Apartment Association of Indiana, which figured the best way to find the professionals apartment owners needed was to grow their own, so to speak, by creating a post-secondary education degree program for the industry. At that time, Virginia Tech was…

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Speaking of health care: Local experts weigh in on rising costs, the uninsured and whether our current system needs an overhaul Public health priorities, executive salaries and the “gold rush” of health care construction were among the topics tackled Sept

Public health priorities, executive salaries and the “gold rush” of health care construction were among the topics tackled Sept. 21 in the latest installment of Indianapolis Business Journal’s Power Breakfast Series. IBJ reporter Tom Murphy moderated the panel discussion, attended by some of the area’s foremost health care experts. Following is an edited transcript of the often-spirited discussion, which included a brief interruption by protestors seeking medical insurance coverage for janitorial staff who clean Anthem Inc. buildings. IBJ: Can you…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Is our child care ‘industry’ up to snuff?

Recently, I have been part of a study for the Indiana Child Care Fund. It has been a learning experience. The first thing I learned is that virtually nothing is known about child care. We do not really know how many child care facilities exist in Indiana. Data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census suggest there are more than 16,000. However, fewer than 5,800 are licensed or recognized by the state. In addition, there are informal child care arrangements…

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NOTIONS: How big-ticket amenities deliver long-term ROI

Fourteen years ago this month, my new bride and I loaded our belongings onto a moving van in Bloomfield, Conn. We packed our cats, suitcases and a few heirlooms into our cars, and pulled away from our little apartment bound for a place called Indianapolis. As I followed Pam’s blue Accord through New York and New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio, I listened to cassette tapes, trying to drown out the mews from the back seat. With David Sanborn and Stan…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Data thin on rural areas, and likely to get worse

There was a time in this country when cities had electricity and the countryside did not. This side-by-side existence of two lifestyles-one filled with leisure and convenience, another with endless drudgery and work-ultimately shamed the federal government to subsidize rural electrification and turn lights on in the country that had been burning in cities for several decades. That same situation exists today for broadband Internet, and its implications for economic development have already motivated many communities to pursue plans to…

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VIEWPOINT: 40 years after Civil Rights, opportunity calls

As the Civil Rights Act turns a middleage 40 this year, it’s time to celebrate accomplishments and consider the future. From a business and higher education perspective, we’ve witnessed a major turnaround. Many companies and institutions seek out minority businesses and students now. Those that are well-prepared can use the opportunity to succeed and make a big difference for our state and nation. Altruism and fairness may lie beneath some of the change, but it also just makes good economic…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Building a proper nest egg takes investment strategy

Retirement planning means far more than simply accumulating a nest egg for the years when you’re no longer working. It involves developing a long-term investment strategy that helps you meet this critical goal without losing sight of your more immediate financial concerns, such as paying your mort gage or sending a child to college. Where will nest egg come from? Many retirement planning experts agree that you will need about 75 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain your current…

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How Clarian funds building projects:

Clarian Health Partners CEO Dan Evans offers a simple explanation for how the People Mover, Clarian’s futuristic rail system, came to be a few years ago. “People ask me all the time how we paid for it. I said, ‘Thank the stock market,'” he said. The bull market of the late 1990s allowed Clarian to use mostly investment income to fund the $40 million transportation project that opened in 2003 and connects its three downtown hospitals: Methodist, IU and Riley…

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