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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Pondering the world from an economist’s viewpoint

In case you’ve ever wondered what it is like to look at life through the eyes of an economist, here are some questions to ponder: Has anyone else noticed that public schools these days are in the transportation business, the sports entertainment business, the restaurant business, the health care business, not to mention the day care business? It’s no wonder their jobs are so difficult. To those who decry the risk of diverting Social Security revenue towards personal accounts in…

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Criminal inquiry targets ex-exec: Brightpoint’s risk manager part of AIG grand jury probe

Brightpoint Inc.’s former director of risk management is a target of a federal grand jury criminal investigation into a 1999 deal regulators say allowed the Plainfield company to conceal more than $11 million in losses. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Indianapolis filed papers in a Manhattan federal court April 12 identifying Timothy Harcharik, Brightpoint’s director of risk management from 1997 until his dismissal in 2002, as one of the targets of the nearly complete securities-fraud probe. On the other side…

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Mission to Mexico to promote business: City officials, corporate leaders to take part in trip

Most Hoosiers visiting Mexico spend their time on the beaches of Cancun, Cabo San Lucas or Puerto Vallarta. But this fall, an excursion of a different kind will take local business and civic leaders south of the border to explore new opportunities for commerce and trade with Mexico. The week-long mission, scheduled for early September, is the brainchild of Sergio Aguilera, Mexico’s consul general for Indianapolis. He hopes that exposing Hoosiers to all facets of Mexican life-from government and the…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Protecting property rights means thinking globally Effect on Indiana business Taking action

Last month, 10 members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked the Bush administration to initiate trade disputes before the World Trade Organization and to identify nations that don’t protect intellectual property rights under U.S. trade law. The Representa tives pointed to a number of countries-Brazil, China, Pakistan, Russia and Thailand-that have been identified in the “National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers” as having poor enforcement of trademarks and copyrights. While the lawmakers’ concerns are valid, the expression…

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NOTIONS: A passionate, personal plea for public smoking ban

I’d rather not be here today. And I don’t mean just this public hearing. I mean if I weren’t responsible for two sons and 27 employees, I’d rather not be anywhere. Since you began this process, I’ve watched your proceedings on TV. I’ve heard folks question one another’s statistics and call one another names. I’ve heard the Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, of which I’m a member, say we must “balance” human health and corporate profit. And I’ve had Council members…

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Special Report: Flawed funding: Years of guaranteed increases set stage for school crisis

Indiana’s decades-long effort to protect shrinking school corporations from drastic cutbacks may well backfire on the very districts that most depend on it-including Indianapolis Public Schools. Critics say the promise of more money regardless of enrollment has allowed some school systems to bloat their budgets, and now state legislators are poised to let the air out. School funding already represents more than one-third of Indiana’s $24 billion, twoyear budget, and lawmakers want to rein in expenses and eliminate a projected…

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Changes sought in Citizens Gas pipeline project: Industrial customers argue that alliance drives up cost

Citizens Gas & Coke Utility should build a new pipeline to reap cheaper wholesale gas from the West and Canada, but it should ditch its unregulated partner on the project, say industrial customers and the state’s utility consumer watchdog. The Citizens Industrial Group and the Office of Utility Consumer Counselor don’t want Citizens Gas’ ProLiance Energy subsidiary to be involved in certain financing, ownership and management aspects of the proposed $17 million pipeline. They say the joint venture, known as…

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Navigating a painful journey: St. Vincent Pediatric Hospice helps families cope

Erin Sammons knew nothing about St. Vincent Pediatric Hospice when she gave birth to her son, Hart, last November. She just knew that Hart had a chromosome disorder, and doctors expected his life to last only minutes or maybe days. The hospice offered help, so she took it. Hart lived for almost a month, and Sammons said the hospice staff walked her family through every step of that journey. “It was a tragedy, and my heart breaks every day ……

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Banker fits bill at art museum: Ex-Bank One CEO O’Connor leads facility through final stages of $74M expansion

Just over a year after retiring from the top position at central Indiana’s largest bank, former Bank One of Indiana CEO Lawrence A. O’Connor Jr. found himself giving up his newfound freedom to run another big business-the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Making the jump from financial services to arts and culture might seem unlikely, but O’Connor, who’s been serving as IMA’s interim executive director since November, finds himself at home running Indianapolis’ largest arts-related not-for-profit. “This is a wonderful place,”…

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Income tax neither simple nor fair EYE ON THE PIE:

It’s that time again. You do your federal income tax and then you do your Indiana income tax. Ah, the Indiana income tax. We are so proud that we have only one tax rate (3.4 percent) instead of an evil graduated income tax. This, we think, makes our tax simple and equitable. Yet the Indiana individual income tax is neither simple nor equitable. It is a complex mess of special treatment based on arbitrary and inconsistent sentiment. Some examples: Indiana…

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IUPUI discovers Office for Women still needs to exist: Program uses workshops, discussions and awards to keep the issues affecting women in the forefront

While many universities have programs dedicated to women’s equality, the IUPUI Office for Women is not taken for granted by the administration there. “It is important as part of the university’s diversity department,” said Kathy Grove, director of the IUPUI Office for Women. “It helps women to fulfill their potential and ensure that we have an environment free of harassment based on gender.” Established in October 1996 under the leadership of Dr. Kathleen Warfel, who was a professor of pathology…

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Aging employees, parents face care-giving challenges: More Americans balance jobs, elder-care concerns Long-distance care

More than 14 million employees today face the challenge of balancing job duties with the responsibility of caring for an older relative, according to the San Francisco-based Family Caregivers Alliance. And the numbers are growing as America ages. Employers and employees are feeling the cost of elder-care work conflicts to the tune of more than $11 billion in lost productivity annually, according to a MetLife study. Many baby boomer care givers find themselves sandwiched between caring for their own children…

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TOM HARTON Commentary: Riding the rails from first to worst

When my grandparents took the interurban from Rushville to Indianapolis to see the 1920 Indianapolis 500, they probably didn’t appreciate how lucky they were to live in a state that was a leader in public transportation. Indiana had one of the earliest and most extensive interurban systems in the country. The state’s electric railway network converged at the Indianapolis Traction Terminal, thought to be the largest interurban station in the world. The massive building on West Market Street served 462…

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Ergo Office Furniture LLC: Workers sit, ergo offices need furniture Retailer deals primarily in used desks and chairs

Businesses sometimes need office furniture immediately. That’s one of the reasons Ergo Office Furniture has thrived. Ergo, at 2525 N. Shadeland Ave., sells, rents or leases office furniture to its customers. Though the company does carry some new furniture, and can order whatever it doesn’t have, co-owner Mark S. Kemper said 70 percent of Ergo’s revenue is in used furniture. The advantage of selling used furniture is that it’s normally right there in the inventory. Brand-new furniture, in many cases,…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Keep lights on at the Statehouse

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary Keep lights on at the Statehouse Every morning I wake up happy that my job doesn’t require getting things through the Indiana General Assembly. I don’t have that kind of patience, and I’m not cut out to deal with that much frustration. I understand that big issues take time to be resolved and that compromise rarely happens overnight, but for a few issues that everyone seemed to agree were critical from the outset, the time it’s taking…

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Wishard aims to even it up: Health system could break deficit string

About half the bills Wishard Health Services used to send out came back sans payment thanks to an error. Now that happens only 4 percent of the time, a change that saves millions, according to Wishard number-crunchers. Improvements such as these might spur a multimillion-dollar turnaround in Wishard’s ledger this year, said Matt Gutwein, the leader of Marion County’s safetynet hospital. Wishard will attempt to break even by the end of 2005, a far cry from the $77 million deficit…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH Ed Feigenbaum: Competing interests emerge to cloud coming budget tiff

At the beginning of the legislative session, you probably thought that given Republicans were firmly in charge at the Statehouse for the first time in 20 years, bu d g e t – m a k i n g would be easy. Guess again. And gear up for a major budget battle. When Gov. Mitch Daniels proposed his budget ideas, lawmakers immediately shot down the most visible and memorable feature: the 1-percent surtax on higher-income Hoosiers. House members then passed…

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EYE ON THE PIE Morton Marcus: Casino location none of state’s business

Let’s see if I have this right. This is Indiana, a state dominated by conservative thought. Folks here support the free market, unimpeded competition, the roughand-tumble world of entrepreneurs doing their stuff guided by the benevolent invisible hand. So, why don’t we live by our supposed principles? Case in point: gambling, specifically at French Lick, where the Donald has ducked out, thus reopening the bidding for the right to build a casino and hotel complex in Orange County. Let’s review…

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Council launches new HR initiative: Target is small companies that have no administrator

Small-business owners who need help wading through myriad human resources issues now have another source to consider-the Indianapolis Private Industry Council Inc. The 23-year-old IPIC, better known for overseeing the seven WorkOne career centers in Marion County, has leapt into the HR arena by partnering with a handful of professionals who have agreed to honor the agency’s low-cost pledge. Sixty thousand people walk through the doors of the centers each year looking for work. But many of their potential employers-many…

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School moratorium concerns industry: State officials studying whether too much money is being spent on non-educational construction projects

Designers of educational facilities are expressing concern over the future of school construction in Indiana as state officials mull guidelines that could bring changes to the process. Upon taking office in January, Gov. Mitch Daniels temporarily halted new school-construction borrowing to give the Department of Local Government Finance time to develop guidelines to ensure taxpayer money is spent wisely. The 120-day moratorium is a result of Daniels’ theory that school corporations spend too much money on projects unrelated to instruction….

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