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A&E: Booker blitzes downtown

It is likely that “Chakaia Booker: Mass Transit,” the 10-piece exhibition running through April 1, will invite a greater negative reaction than the two previous public art shows that dotted downtown. Unlike Tom Otterness-with his rounded smileys masking money-is-evil messages-and Julian Opie-many of whose “Signs” could have served as, well, signs-Booker creates work that is abstract, defiant and unpolished. The pieces-constructed from tires-aren’t pretty, they aren’t funny, they aren’t slick and they don’t seem aimed to please. As such, they…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Don’t blame financial woes on others

A brief rain shower moves across the Front Range onto Colorado Springs. The clouds change their patterns rapidly above Pikes Peak and I sip my coffee at a Starbucks that is unlikely to close. Here, not far from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a brief drive from the U.S Olympic Training Center, the volume of cash passing hourly is heavy enough to ensure that the cappuccino soy latte and the mint mocha frappuccino will continue to be drawn for months,…

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NOTIONS: Bless the blogosphere, all praise social networking

A few months ago, after considerable cajoling, my friend Erik convinced me to join yet another online social network. This one’s called Smaller Indiana. It bills itself as “making people and ideas findable.” So now, in addition to being “LinkedIn” with a few hundred of my friends and colleagues past and present, and in addition to being what BusinessWeek calls a “fogey on Facebook,” I’m also a Smoosier-the moniker for Smaller Indiana members. No sooner had I become a Smoosier…

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Government officials dangle incentives, attracting firms across county lines

Marion County economic development officials are proud of their latest headquarters attraction. Bowen Engineering Corp.
will inject 103 high-paying jobs into the Indianapolis economy immediately. And over time, the company expects
to add another 138. Their average salaries will top $70,000. The deal didn’t require Mayor Greg Ballard
to travel to Japan, or even to another state. Bowen Engineering is moving all of 8.4 miles, from its former
home in Fishers to the 8800 block of North Meridian Street.

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Former Carmel exec goes from fast lane to jail cell

Just a few years ago, Carmel businessman Edward Okun was living the high life. By last year, his personal holdings had grown to include four mansions, a helicopter, three airplanes, 20 automobiles, and a 130-foot yacht. Today, Okun is in a Virginia jail, is represented by a public defender, and faces the prospect of spending the rest of his life behind bars. And, angry investors say, rightfully so. They charge-and government investigators agree-that Okun financed his lavish lifestyle by misappropriating…

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Bank-run scenes create concerns: IndyMac situation unlikely in Indiana, but customers should check out stability of their banks, experts warn

It was a scary scene, reminiscent of the Great Depression: Customers lined up outside California’s IndyMac Bank branches to withdraw deposits after a bank run led to the bank’s failure. The images have driven some central Indiana customers-businesses and individuals-to take a more critical look at the strength of their banks and the safety of their deposits. Even as financial stocks rallied in mid-July, the risk remains for more bank failures. Dismal earnings reports and massive write-downs continued in recent…

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VIEWPOINT: Let’s bring government into this century

In the early 1970s, employees at Xerox Corp. developed a breakthrough version of the desktop personal computer called the Xerox Alto. The innovation was quickly shelved by the company-everyone knew there was no market for a personal computer! It was later licensed to Steve Jobs along with a few other “orphan technologies” for $1 million in stock in his young company, Apple. The rest, as they say, is history. Xerox is still a solid company, valued at $17 billion. Of…

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Schellinger looks back

The Democratic primary race between presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and winner Barack Obama attracted
so much attention that the Indiana governorâ??s race got short shrift â?? and the governorâ??s race still isnâ??t
getting the respect it deserves.
Thatâ??s how Jim Schellinger…

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Community tries to keep up with diverse patient base: Hospital’s new system improves cultural understanding

It takes years of research for an anthropologist to understand another culture, but doctors and nurses don’t have that much time. With the growing diversity of people receiving health care in the United States, a patient’s cultural background is often ignored or misunderstood by care givers. That can make for a less-than-positive hospital stay or doctor visit or, in rare cases, a catastrophic medical mistake. To avoid any such pitfalls, Community Health Network has implemented Culture Vision, an Internet-based program…

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VIEWPOINT: Indianapolis needs to talk trash

Indiana has generous natural resources. I pumped some of those resources out of my sub-basement twice last month, and pulled some of its finer greenery from my roof and yard as well. The abundance is everywhere, from the farmlands and prairie in the north, to the farmlands, mines and even oilfields in the south. Drop a seed in most parts of Indiana and, if the neighborhood’s not flooded out, that seed will grow nicely. Ask me about my tomatoes. Don’t…

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INVESTING: Woes of Fannie, Freddie overshadow bank calamity

Wall Street often is nothing more than a game of three-card monte, with the majority of players losing because they were looking at the wrong card. It is challenging enough to make money during bull markets. But during bear markets, the distractions and traps are everywhere, and they are lethal. There is a big distraction right now that is masking what could be the falling domino that sends everything else toppling over. The disaster of the month is the near-collapse…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Taking the con out of economics

A marketing professor at the Kelley School of Business used to proclaim he could teach all one needed to know about economics in a week. That was back in the days when faculty would spend a few minutes of the morning hours in the coffee room engaged in friendly banter as well as serious discussion. The coffee room and my friend are both gone, but to me, a teacher of economics, the insult remains. Imagine-denigrating my calling, my faith, with…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: Steely-nerved investor double dips on ITT stock

Richard Blum is a former mountain climber who once led an Everest expedition. In his day job as a professional investor, he’s almost as daring. Twice in the last four years, his San Francisco-based money-management firm, Blum Capital Partners, has bet big on locally based ITT Educational Services at times other investors were terrified of the stock. Blum, husband of Democratic U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, began scooping up shares in the for-profit education company in February 2004-one day after federal…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: No simple solutions for our property taxes

There has been a common theme in many of the recent op-ed pieces in newspapers throughout the state: Our tax system is hard to understand and full of unnecessary complexities. I disagree, although there was a time when I also worried excessively about the intricacy of the tax system. But now that I am older, wiser and have come to understand that simple answers are usually helpful only for simple problems, my concern has abated. Here’s why: The real angst…

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Did airport decision split the baby?

As expected, the airport authority has opted to put Weir Cooksâ?? name on a major street leading to the new
terminal as well as the terminal itself.

Would the airportâ??s brand equity have been eroded had the board renamed…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: What we can learn from our kids’ summer activities

Summer is at its midpoint, and with it comes the end of youth baseball, scout camp and a seemingly endless string of swim meets for the Hicks household. Like many of you out there, I welcome a few more quiet evenings at home. But during those long third-inning stretches and sleepless evenings in a tent, I spent some time calculating how much we value these youth sports and activities. You might be surprised what this math tells us about ourselves….

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Is Bloomington anti-business?

Bloomington has a reputation as one of the toughest places in the state to do business.

Its regulations are thickets, its bureaucrats nit-pickers, its public officials aloof. At least thatâ??s how
many businesspeople view the city.

The latest controversy pits…

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Commentary: Two worlds, one language

Do you speak Chinese? I don’t, but I had a great conversation with two non-English-speaking Chinese artists and educators last week. I was moderating a roundtable discussion at the governor’s residence for Joyce Sommers and the Indianapolis Arts Center. The roundtable kicked off a two-month summer exhibit at the center called “Two Worlds, One Language through Art.” (You can read more about the exhibit on page 37.) It was my first time as a moderator in a situation requiring the…

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IU program aims to turn lab rats into leaders: Business training is tailor-made for scientists

Andrea Walker is a chemist with management aspirations. But instead of signing up for a traditional MBA program, the team manager at Indianapolis-based AIT Laboratories will enroll this year in a slimmed-down business program that focuses on the life sciences. The program, called the Kelley Executive Certificate in the Business of Life Sciences, is a new creation of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. The program will conduct most of its classes online over a one-year period. The courses will…

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