Home » Government

Government

Articles

Doc pay-for-performance program set to launch: Quality Health First signs up Anthem, 700 doctors

After four years of development, a payfor-performance plan for Indianapolisarea doctors will officially launch Oct. 1. Quality Health First, the latest service of the Indiana Health Information Exchange, now has 700 primary-care doctors signed up to receive its reports on the quality of the care they give. And perhaps even more important, the program has contracted with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Indiana as the first health insurer to offer bonus payments to doctors based on how well…

Read More

Children’s Bureau reaches out: State prevention program helps social-services agency enter new areas, lift budget

Since its origins as the Widows and Orphans Asylum in 1851, the Children’s Bureau has been working to fix broken families in Indianapolis. Now the local not-for-profit has expanded its reach into 37 Indiana counties-growing its budget 22 percent in the process. Despite the regional push, the agency remains focused on Marion County, where it’s building a $9.2 million service center at 16th and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. streets. The engine driving the organization’s recent growth: a statewide program…

Read More

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: China, higher education and our economic future

In mid-September, I’ll be traveling to China’s Liaoning province as part of a delegation led by Indiana State University, hosted by Liaoning University. We’ll arrive in the country too late for the Olympics, but we’ll be there to talk about another form of global competition-economic development. It’s appropriate that the two universities are co-hosting a conference on economic development issues, given the importance of human capital in our economy. It’s especially appropriate for China, where higher education has become a…

Read More

Law targeting controversial landfill only fuels fight: Would-be operator, citizens group are back in court

Even for those with a vested interest in the battle over a proposed landfill near Anderson, it’s hard to get too worked up over the latest twist before the courts or government agencies. After all, the Mallard Lake Landfill battle is in its 29th year. The latest development, one that opponents of the project had hoped was the silver bullet to fell their garbage Dracula, is starting to look just as inconclusive as countless other chapters, at least for now….

Read More

SURF THIS: This Olympic year, NBC got it right-online and off

I already miss the Olympics. Perhaps due to my overactive patriotic gene, the overdeveloped sports fan gene, or the finetuned sucker-for-agood-story gene (or some combination of all three), I found the entire event strangely compelling. I’ve paid attention to the Olympics before, but this year it had some captivating affect on me that was altogether new. I found I could watch beach volleyball or fencing with equal enthusiasm. I watched handball matches (which was not at all the game I’d…

Read More

Ivy Tech cooking up plans for more culinary space: Growing program hopes to build $7 million school at Glick Center

Popular television cooking shows such as “Iron Chef,” “Emeril Live,” “Top Chef” and, dare we mention, “Hell’s Kitchen,” have brought the interest in culinary careers to a boil. To help meet demand locally, Indiana Business College opened a Chef’s Academy downtown nearly two years ago. Now, Ivy Tech Community College is expanding its existing program by building a culinary school in Indianapolis at the Gene B. Glick Junior Achievement Education Center on North Keystone Avenue. Enrollment in Ivy Tech’s two-year…

Read More

INVESTING: Distressed assets today lead to profit tomorrow

Two real estate guys told me recently that the market might be able to grab some traction if the banks would face reality about the true worth of the stuff on their books. Write-offs are large, with an estimated $450 billion written down worldwide this year to date. And if you make an offer for real estate that is less than what the bank has written it down to, most likely your offer will be rejected. The bank is still…

Read More

SAT scores stuck below average

This yearâ??s SAT scores are out, and there isnâ??t much to cheer about. Indiana saw math scores improve slightly,
but reading and writing scores dropped a few points. All three remain below national averages.

Educators say the tests are…

Read More

VIEWPOINT: How to win Uncle Sam’s gas-tax shell game

Between 1956 and 1991, Indiana motorists willingly paid “temporary” hikes in the federal gasoline tax, knowing the money was being used to build the 42,000-mile interstate highway system. In 1991, Congress declared the highway system completed-but the tax lived on and on, growing bigger and bigger. No longer needed to build the interstate, the current 18.4-cents-per-gallon federal gas tax-double what it was in 1990-now funds a “highway trust fund” shell game that shifts $866 million a year, and control over…

Read More

Developers fear stricter IDEM cleanup rules

State environmental regulators are catching an earful for what some businesses complain is a rush to aggressive new rules
for remediating land contamination. Developers worry the Indiana Department of Environmental Management’s proposals, which
could require comprehensive site cleanup, will discourage brownfield redevelopment, especially the reuse of tainted-but-valuable
land in urban areas.

Read More

EYE ON THE PIE: It’s time for Indiana to come clean

“How are you doing?” Ed asks in a voice that for years has called out over the grind of the machinery that applies water, soap and heated air to thousands of cars. “Well,” I say. “Nice,” Ed says. “It’s nice to be doing well. It’s what a lot of folks wish they were doing in Indiana,” he says, chuckling. “I’m not aware of new serious problems,” I say. “No, you wouldn’t be, since you can afford one of my car…

Read More

No-bid contract lets local firm suggest sales or sale-leasebacks of city property

The Mayor’s Office has quietly agreed to consider selling some of the city’s more than 1,100 properties, including police stations, maintenance buildings and parks, in a bid to raise cash to help balance the budget. The city awarded the potentially lucrative no-bid contract to Venture Real Estate Services, a politically connected real estate firm led by John Bales.

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Why the 10-year alternative-energy goal is absurd

B e f o r e w r i t i n g about energy matters, I am going to have to make a confession. I am a closet environmentalist. I support a wide range of environmental policies and think it often makes good business sense to go green. But sadly, far too many supporters of environmental policy look at the world through green-colored glasses. One result is that it is increasingly difficult to take many environmentalists seriously. One verdant…

Read More

Susan Bayh as a political liability

Barack Obama is expected to announce his vice presidential running mate any day now, and Evan Bayhâ??s name
is still thought to be on the short list.

The Indiana senator is viewed as a moderate who would counter Obamaâ??s liberal voting…

Read More

Appraisers’ role in the meltdown

Some of the people most familiar with the mortgage foreclosure explosion in the Indianapolis area in recent
years have privately pointed fingers at appraisers.

Appraisers too often were in cahoots with lenders to illegally inflate prices of houses, the insiders complained,…

Read More

EDITORIAL: Privatizing MAC worth exploring: Saving cash shouldn’t be only goal

Privatizing MAC worth exploring Saving cash shouldn’t be only goal The bad news: The Mayor’s Action Center-city government’s primary vehicle for responding to citizen complaints-is vastly ineffective. When nearly half the residents who call the center hang up the phone in frustration before reporting their problems, you know something isn’t working right. The good news: Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard recognizes there is a big problem with the MAC and says he wants to fix it. In late July, he issued…

Read More

FUNNY BUSINESS: Wrap-master Redmond on Reynolds e-mail

I suppose you got the e-mail about Reynolds Wrap. Oh. Well, then, you’re among the few Amer icans who didn’t Actually, you might want to check your e mail after you finish reading IBJ. It’ll probably be waiting in your in-box Although I guess you really won’t have to, seeing as how I’m going to go ahead and spoil the surprise. Under a subject line full of typical Internet understatement (“OMG! THIS IS SO AMAZING! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”)…

Read More

Small towns with a heart: Spurning sprawl, more towns upbeat on downtown

From Andy Griffith’s Mayberry, the small town evolved into the likes of Avon, Ind. The tree-shaded bungalow on Oak Street within walking distance of the town center became the vinyl-clad, single-family home planted in a former cornfield with a contrived name ending in “creek” or “woods” or “farms.” Residents have to jump in the car if they want to buy a cup of coffee or to patronize the predictable chain restaurants and bigbox retailers. The Best Buy on Avon’s main…

Read More

EDITORIAL: Privatizing MAC worth exploring: Saving cash shouldn’t be only goal

Privatizing MAC worth exploring Saving cash shouldn’t be only goal The bad news: The Mayor’s Action Center-city government’s primary vehicle for responding to citizen complaints-is vastly ineffective. When nearly half the residents who call the center hang up the phone in frustration before reporting their problems, you know something isn’t working right. The good news: Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard recognizes there is a big problem with the MAC and says he wants to fix it. In late July, he issued…

Read More

FUNNY BUSINESS: Wrap-master Redmond on Reynolds e-mail

I suppose you got the e-mail about Reynolds Wrap. Oh. Well, then, you’re among the few Amer icans who didn’t Actually, you might want to check your e mail after you finish reading IBJ. It’ll probably be waiting in your in-box Although I guess you really won’t have to, seeing as how I’m going to go ahead and spoil the surprise. Under a subject line full of typical Internet understatement (“OMG! THIS IS SO AMAZING! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!”)…

Read More