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Daniels’ economic development plan calls for pricey tools: Three incentive funds would cost more than $100M

Indiana’s days of economic development on the cheap may soon be finished. Three major new business-incentive funds are on the Indiana Economic Development Corp.’s wish list, each bearing a significant price tag. The General Assembly will decide next year whether to provide the more than $100 million IEDC requests to form them. Plans for the three funds are tucked into Gov. Mitch Daniels’ comprehensive new state economic development plan, “Accelerating Growth,” released April 25. It aims to bring Hoosiers’ lagging…

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INVESTING: Rising rhetoric over oil prices is cause for worry

We all want more energy. Every time we go to the grocery store, we get bombarded with rows of new energy drinks. Health professionals are telling us things we can do to increase our energy. And we don’t just want more of it for our bodies. Our SUVs need more. Our homes need more. And China needs more. The delicate problem we’ve helped develop has in large part been created by rising demand for energy in places like China and…

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BRIAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Should we invest in ethanol or education?

During times of high gasoline prices, the investment made by the Daniels administration in six ethanol plants would seem prudent. The touted benefits of ethanol plants are that they create jobs in rural communities, support Indiana corn growers, improve air quality, and lower dependence on foreign oil. As an Indianapolis resident with little exposure to our farm economy, my first question was, “How do you make ethanol?” Ethanol is made by fermenting and distilling simple sugars like those found in…

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Timing is everything in the fuel-savings game: INDOT to synchronize signals in more area brake zones

State transportation engineers, having just tweaked traffic-light timing to improve flow on U.S. 31 in Carmel, next plan to target three other busy corridors in the metro area. They include U.S. 31 on the south side, between Interstate 465 and County Road 750N, and the increasingly congested stretch of State Road 37 between State Road 238 and Cumberland Road in Noblesville. The improvements to be conducted over the next several months can’t come fast enough for motorists weary of the…

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Health care with privileges: Boutique medical practices buy time for doctors, patients

Membership definitely has its privileges at the new north-side medical practice launched by doctors Timothy Story and Kevin McCallum. An annual retainer of at least $2,500 gives patients around-the-clock doctor access, medical records they can carry on a key chain, unlimited office visits and refreshments when they arrive. FirstLine Personal Health Care represents the Indianapolis market’s latest foray into boutique medicine, a form of health care criticized for being exclusionary since it popped up in Seattle a decade ago. Story,…

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Boutique high schools could bolster work force: Movement targets students who need extra help and otherwise might not pursue higher education

Two school districts have received pivotal funding for “early college high schools” to prepare secondary students for the rigors of college and give them the opportunity to earn college credits before setting foot on campus. The initiative also could be a plus for area employers to the extent it improves the pool of qualified workers locally. Indianapolis Public Schools’ Crispus Attucks Medical Magnet/Early College High School and the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township’s Early College High School each received…

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NOTIONS: A primary primer on the need for simpler government

Do you know the name Kelly Bentley or Derek Redelman? Michael Brown or Michael Rinebold? How ’bout Barbara C o l e m a n – K n i g h t , Barry Campbell, Judie Williams, Karon Williams, Maureen Jayne, Milton Baltimore Jr. or Olgen Williams? Even if you’ve heard these names, do you know these people’s backgrounds, what experience they bring to the table, what they preach and practice? Do you know who, if anyone, supports them financially…

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First-class parking: Airport freebie list includes former politicians, other VIPs

Scott Jones could probably afford to buy the 1,800-space parking garage at Indianapolis International Airport, as one who’s earned millions of dollars in patent income from voice mail technology he invented. But why buy the garage? The Indianapolis multimillionaire shows up on a list of nearly 400 politicians and other VIPs entitled to free parking at the airport, a review of airport records shows. Begun as a courtesy to a handful of elected officials decades ago, the free parking list…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: It’s time we get started on a new state economy

Have you ever plunked down a lot of money for something and worried if you made the right choice? You have plenty of company. To cope with that insecurity, some of us try to persuade our friends to follow our footsteps. We put forth convincing arguments why our brand of car, or our new electronic gizmo, is really the best thing, and feel comforted and vindicated when they make the same choice we made. For too many years, that simple…

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BULLS & BEARS: We have a long way to go bolstering financial literacy

It’s the first of May, hip-hip-hooray, American investors are smarter today! Why are they smarter? Well, they must have improved their financial acumen because Congress designated last month as Financial Literacy Month. In fact, April 25 was Financial Literacy Day in America. Do you mean to tell me the big day came and went and you didn’t even know it? That’s OK. If you subscribe to this periodical, you have a higher net worth and income than the average American,…

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Telecom CEO cited mother’s death in plea to avoid fine: Utility regulators stood firm on $1.1 penalty against Micronet; Wyoming company plans to appeal

Of all the curious legal filings with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission since the late 1800s, Frank Santa’s might be the first to use the death of a mother as a defense against financial sanctions. And it’s likely the first utility filing in the last 100 years to include the death certificate of a Hungarian widow. The president of Casper, Wyo.-based Micronet Inc. stated in a Feb. 3 filing with the IURC that his firm shouldn’t have to pay a…

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Alien hirers rarely busted: Law doesn’t force employers to verify that workers are legal

Despite a high-profile raid against IFCO Systems on April 19, Indianapolis employers have little to fear in hiring undocumented aliens or those who present questionable identification. Rarely do immigration cops bust an Indianapolis-area workplace. Until federal agents led away about 40 allegedly undocumented Mexicans and Guatemalans at the south-side pallet plant this month, the last high-profile raid was more than a decade ago. In 1995, customs officials raided the former Simpson Race Products shoe factory in Speedway, nabbing 66 illegal…

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BOOK REVIEWS: “Many Unhappy Returns: One Man’s Quest to Turn Around the Most Unpopular Organization in America”

On the face of it, reading a book on the IRS may seem as appealing as a visitation of the gout. One might view this read as a civic duty-we all owe it to ourselves to learn ways to reform this cumbersome but essential bureaucracy. Rossotti, the IRS commissioner from 1997 to 2002, describes himself as the “first businessman to lead the Internal Revenue Service.” He took over amid accusations of mistreatment of taxpayers, management failures, and growing public anger….

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Racing for the green: Rookie owner risks house and home to realize dream

“If somebody wipes one of them out, the associated residence goes with it,” he says, only half jokingly. Now in his 14th season in t h e m o t o r – sports industry, Crawford, 38, decided to hoist his own flag for the first time this year in the Indy Pro Series, open-wheel racing’s highest minor league. For the record, he’s not a wealthy man. The second property is the only investment he and his wife, Myra, haven’t…

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VIEWPOINT: Latinos and the legal system: no free lunch

Many issues face national and local civil and criminal justice systems across our nation. Years and years of application of Band-Aid remedies to complicated and longterm problems have brought many government systems to the verge of collapse. Marion County is no exception to the rule. Courts are strained with overwhelming caseloads. Average lives of cases continue to increase, clogging jails and courts. Public defender and prosecutor caseloads continue to swell, effectively reducing the quality of representation available to both the…

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Ivy Tech to focus more on results, not just growth: Student success and broader ties with employers among goals of community college system’s five-year plan

After growing its enrollment 75 percent the last decade, Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana is shifting its focus to student retention. A top administrator also wants to expand the number of training courses offered at businesses, as a way to supplement the system’s $253 million annual budget. Some who’ve studied the state’s educational system have recommended that Ivy Tech spend more to hire additional full-time faculty to strengthen its effectiveness. The school’s five-year student retention plan calls for doubling…

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Real estate experts examine the market: Indianapolis in good shape overall, panelists say, but job growth, incentive issues, among concerns

On April 14, as part of its Power Breakfast Series, the Indianapolis Business Journal gathered a panel of commercial real estate and construction experts to discuss industry conditions in the local market. In a discussion moderated by IBJ Editor Tom Harton, panelists took on a wide range of issues, including tax incentives and the status of downtown’s residential and retail markets. Power Breakfast guests were Mike Curless, executive vice president and principal with Lauth Property Group; Mike Wells, president of…

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Ending overdue: Library shows progress amid legal tussle

There’s finally visible progress on the city’s Central Library expansion project. But the litigation over who’s responsible for its construction problems still has no end in sight. City-County Councilor Isaac Randolph is frustrated. So he wrote a proposal to order all the players in the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library’s legal dispute to enter binding arbitration. “I’m trying to find a resolution to what’s clearly become an embarrassment to the citizens funding this,” Randolph said. “I’ve lost confidence in the leadership…

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BULLS & BEARS: Day-to-day market headlines get in way of wise investing

Every day, the financial press and market pundits provide us with the reason for the previous day’s stock market activity. Following a down day, we might read an article headlined, “Investors sell stocks on fears of rising inflation.” Perhaps the next day the market rises and we see, “Stocks climb as investors see end to Fed interest rate increases.” What exactly happened overnight that caused this apparent shift in sentiment? Did investors sleep on it and the next morning collectively…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s open the doors wide to opportunity

Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau released 2004 data showing that Indiana had 264,936 persons of Hispanic origin among its 6,058,930 population. That would mean 4.37 percent of Hoosiers, themselves or their ancestors, came from Mexico, Cuba, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Panama, Chile and other Spanish-speaking nations. Don’t you just love that precision? 264,936 and 6,058,930 are merely estimates, not census counts. Anyone who has worked with numbers should be embarrassed to be more specific than 265,000 and 6,060,000. The…

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