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PROFILE: KARLA SNEEGAS: Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana

PROFILE KARLA SNEEGAS Clearing the murky air ITPC director leads charge toward smoke-free Indiana Karla Sneegas is primed for battle. With the fervor of an ancient Crusader, this pint-sized warrior is fighting a “just war” to reduce Indiana’s addiction to tobacco as executive director of the Indiana Tobacco Prevention and Cessation agency. At 4 feet, 11 inches, Sneegas is well-prepared for all foes. She’s armed with knowledge learned as a public health professional and as former director of South Carolina’s…

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Local music festivals struggle for footing: Is there any such thing as a consistent money-maker?

The humidity and mercury are rising as a slew of summer music festivals tune up. There’s bluegrass in Brown County, jazz in Military Park. But all the music events-even those with years of history-struggle to break even. Blame uncertain weather, large price tags and fickle fans. “As a general rule, only very large pop music festivals make money,” said Christopher Hunt, a professor at Indiana University’s arts administration program. “Smaller festivals of every kind-jazz, pop, classical-almost always lose a good…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Saving shouldn’t put you in jail

Here is a test for you. The state government sends you a check for $2.5 million. What do you do with the money? According to the Associated Press, Sabrina Walker received such a check from the state of Minnesota. She then “bought a $500,000 certificate of deposit, funded two retirement accounts, [and] bought a $500,000 Treasury bond.” Prosecutors claim she also bought $5,500 in jewelry, and spent $3,817 at Best Buy and $2,000 on limousine services. This prudent woman is…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Taking the ultimate step in K-12 accountability

Everyone in business today knows that customers have choices, and that making and keeping customers happy with your product has always been a big part of the game. These days dissatisfied customers have many more options than simply walking away-they can go online and blast your product in cyberspace, attacking the image and reputation you may have spent a lifetime trying to build. That’s the daunting prospect American businesses face every day. Yet as difficult as that sounds, here’s one…

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Agriculture goes urban: New academy plans to show city students that there’s more to horticulture than farming

Indiana’s stature as one of the nation’s top producers of corn and soybeans is as enduring as the fertile farmland in which the crops are grown. But a new initiative plans to introduce urban high school students in Indianapolis to a bushel of opportunities within the agriculture industry that extends well beyond farming. The Hoosier Agribusiness and Science Academy is a partnership between state government and Ivy Tech Community College in which students from the Lawrence Early College High School…

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Commentary: Do we want ex-cons to strike again?

I want you to meet my friend Shawn Hendricks. We are different-like Stevie Wonder says, “Ebony and Ivory.” But it’s more than that. Our life experiences and challenges have been extraordinarily disparate. Our story begins with a remarkable man, Tom Binford, whom I was privileged to know well and whom I admired not only for his business acumen but also for his strong sense of community. I called him Mr. Indianapolis. He called me boss. For seven years, he wrote…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Scoring political points can cost state in long run

Perhaps the best thing that can be said about economic cycles-the boombust patterns of everything from housing to commodity prices-is that they keep economists and forecasters gainfully employed. John D. Rockefeller tried to eliminate them by controlling production and distribution. Franklin Roosevelt tried to cut them short by using the federal government checkbook. And Alan Greenspan, and now Ben Bernanke, keep trying to talk and cajole financial markets in the direction they think they should go. It hasn’t worked. Or,…

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Coal vendor not digging coke plant closure: Virginia firm sues Citizens Gas for breach of contract

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility faces the first big fallout from a vendor involving the planned closure of its coke manufacturing plant. A breach-of-contract lawsuit by Bristol, Va.-based Central Coal Co. could make the plant even more of a money pit as Citizens seeks to cut its losses and escape the problems caused by falling coke demand and rising environmental compliance costs. Central Coal says it’s out almost $831,000 because Indianapolis Coke failed to buy all the coal required under…

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Law lets small employers band together for insurance: Experts disagree on whether associations will take off

The Healthy Indiana Plan, which enacts a system to bring affordable health insurance to low-income Hoosiers, is one of the most far-reaching pieces of legislation to arise from the General Assembly this spring. The noble cause could provide coverage to about 15 percent of the state’s population. Yet it could affect the small-business community as much as the state’s growing number of uninsured. House Bill 1678, introduced by State Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, and signed by Gov. Mitch Daniels May…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Infrastructure is costly to improve, but costlier to ignore

A recent article in Strategy+business magazine estimated that “the world’s urban infrastructure needs a $41 trillion makeover” between now and 2030. The article explained that $41 trillion is roughly equivalent to the “2006 market capitalization of all shares held in all stock markets in the world.” Some experts think that “new technology” will be the answer, and it may be when nanotechnology takes over the world. For now, however, the trend usually reinforces the trend, and we do the same…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Creation of state officer reconfirms value of GIS

Virtually unnoticed in the spate of bills that emerged from the 2007 session of the Indiana General Assembly was creation of a new officer in state government who can be extremely helpful in the state’s economic development efforts. The law creating a Geographic Information Officer, or GIO, gives official status to an important discipline that has been blossoming over the last 25 years and is increasingly relied upon in business and political decision-making. A Geographic Information System is a collection…

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Initiative aims at more minority participation: Construction group says current strategy not working

More needs to be done to improve minority involvement in the construction industry than simply employing a certain percentage of the companies on projects. That’s the consensus of the Indiana Construction Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the biggest users and providers of construction services. Its diversity outreach initiative aims to increase minority participation within the trades by rewarding contractors who support education and training, employ minorities and women, and mentor small minority- and women-owned businesses. The initiative…

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Contamination reconsidered: Developers show more acceptance toward environmental trouble spots When property is scarce, mitigation becomes viable

When property is scarce, mitigation becomes viable The plan to close Citizens Gas & Coke Utility’s coke manufacturing plant this year has already brought a few inquires about its reuse potential. But perhaps the biggest impact of the foundry fuel-maker’s demise will be stoking discussions over whether other environmentally scarred properties are ripe for redevelopment. Until recent years, many developers regarded any property with even a tinge of environmental contamination as if a parcel in Chernobyl. The coke plant “illustrates…

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Banking industry slowly embracing biometric security: Local tech firm rolls out keystroke authentication systems to financial institutions

The banking industry is turning to the next generation of online security to thwart cyberthieves, and an Indianapolis information technology consulting firm is trying to stay at the forefront of the movement. Locally based Catalyst Technology Group has received a contract from BioPassword Inc., a security-software company based in Issaquah, Wash., to install keystroke authentication systems at financial institutions throughout the United States. Keystroke authentication is among the latest offerings from the field of biometrics-the measurement and analysis of unique…

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Breaking bread, breaking down barriers: International Center pairs local hosts, visiting delegates to promote cultural understanding

International Center pairs local hosts, visiting delegates to promote cultural understanding When a group of Iraqi editors and writers visited Indianapolis last summer as part of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program, they learned about American journalism and Hoosier hospitality. Florence May, a member of the International Center of Indianapolis’ board and president of Simply Hospitality-an Indianapolis-based special-event planning company-hosted the group for dinner in her home. May grew up in a military family and has lived throughout…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Employers hope to save by promoting healthy living

“Mandates are a form of love,” a state legislator once said, explaining a vote that added requirements to privately funded health insurance programs statewide. And our governments evidently love all of us-businesses, individuals, and even other governments-very much. Our legislatures tell us the lowest wage we can pay our workers, the questions we can and cannot ask during job interviews, and how many gallons of water we use to flush our toilets. To the admittedly narrow-minded thinking of an economist,…

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Commentary: A plea for bio-focused policies:

Commentary A plea for bio-focused policies On April 2, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that carbon dioxide is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act and can be regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. While the ruling acknowledges the obvious, it offers a compelling rationale for Indiana elected officials to create an economic development strategy that leverages Hoosier intellectual capital and one of the state’s greatest assets, our farmland. With the scope of the twin challenges…

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Former sales rep alleges Ohio roofing firm overcharged: Tremco denies civil charges of unfair business practices in its work for Indiana school corporations

A longtime sales representative for one of the roofing industry’s largest manufacturers alleges his former employer defrauded Indiana public schools out of more than $1.5 million. Brennen Baker charges that the company, Beachwood, Ohio-based Tremco Inc., circumvented Indiana’s public bidding laws for school projects; overcharged for its services; and billed for materials, services and equipment it never delivered. Baker was a Tremco sales rep for southwest and central Indiana from 1991 until January 2004. Baker, who later founded the Fishers-based…

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Interactive poised to make incentives pay: Communications software-maker to add 637 jobs

Interactive Intelligence Inc. has come full circle. On May 2, Marion County’s Metropolitan Development Commission was slated to review a 10-year property tax abatement for the communications software maker. If the incentive is approved, Interactive Intelligence plans to use it to hire 637 people at an average of $32.50 per hour. According to its filings with the city, the company also will build a $15 million, 154,000-square-foot building next door to its current headquarters near Interstate 465 and West 71st…

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Design changes afoot for state Web pages: Online renovation includes search-engine upgrade that features Scott Jones’ ChaCha instead of Google

A redesigned state Web portal unveiled last month should make it easier for Hoosiers to plow through mounds of government minutia. But, more important, the revamping set to be finished in mid-2008 represents a major shift in state policy. By contracting with locally based ChaCha Search Inc.- tech entrepreneur Scott Jones’ new humanassisted Internet search engine-the state no longer relies solely on big, name-brand computer technology such as Microsoft. “We have somebody who is local and excited about taking the…

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