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Commentary: We’re all in danger of motion sickness

(Author’s note: I submitted this column Oct. 14, with full knowledge that the world may have come to an end by the time it is published.) It’s swing time. Candidates for office, state and federal, are swinging and slinging mud at one another. In a last-ditch effort to scare voters, Sarah Palin accused Barack Obama of hanging out with Bill Ayers, co-founder of the Weathermen, a militant group of the 1970s. In reality, by the time Ayers met Obama, his…

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Commentary: White deserves praise and support

Chris Katterjohn has the week off. In his absence, this column, which appeared on Oct. 2, 2006, is being reprinted. It’s been a little more than a year since Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Eugene White took over the job of battling the flames at IPS. We should all be grateful he did. He is a special man. “It was like going into a burning house,” White told a group of business leaders at a recent breakfast. “I don’t know too…

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Mild bump expected in benefits: Despite modest rise in premiums, employers look to pass on costs

Several industry surveys predict health insurance expenses will rise at a slower pace in 2009 than in previous years. Many employers, however, are passing the added burden on to workers. Raising deductibles, copayments or out-of-pocket spending limits are the most common ways companies plan to reduce their increases. The trend of passing more of the responsibility to employees has escalated the past five years, giving rise to cheaper alternatives such as consumer-directed health plans. “The tie that binds is that…

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Sport Graphics diversifies with WFYI project: Former print shop looking to expand downtown

When WFYI-TV Channel 20 officials were looking for a company to help with their rebranding, they didn’t turn to an ad agency. Instead, they hired locally based Sport Graphics, a company known more as a print shop and sign maker with a sports focus. These days, though, Sport Graphics is becoming better known for its creative work and relying less on putting ink on paper to bring in business. “Printing is a commodity, and there are people-regardless of relationships-who will…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: We may be in a recession, but don’t expect calamity

It will be some months before we know for sure, but I would wager today that the United States is in a recession. Our unemployment rate is at right about the 50-year average, productivity is up, and living standards never have been higher. Even so, the economy likely has been pushed into recession because uncertainty about credit will dramatically slow hiring and production the next few months. Demand for goods also will be affected. This is financial-market mayhem spreading to…

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SPORTS: Crean and Hoosiers are a story like no other

Last week, I attended a press conference that pumped the upcoming Hartford Hall of Fame Showcase at Lucas Oil Stadium Dec. 6. The Showcase will feature Indiana University versus Gonzaga University in one game, the University of Notre Dame against Ohio State University in the other. Name wise, it’s a stellar lineup befitting the occasion: the first basketball games to take place in LOS. It’s safe to predict they will be the first of many. At the very least, an…

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Pathway Productions gets new owner, new CEO

Pathway Productions, one of the city’s highest-profile video production firms, has a new owner, a new CEO and a new plan to blaze a trail to prosperity. Michael Husain, who founded the company from his basement in 1996, earlier this year quietly sold a majority stake to Mays Chemical Co. President William Mays, who in turn named Jerald Harkness the new CEO.

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SURF THIS: With Hulu, there’s no need to jump through hoops

Reader beware: You may not have the willpower to resist the draw of Hulu. I realize that sounds a little strange, as if the service itself is drawing some sort of mind-melding power from Spock or exhibiting the addictive draw of caffeine. The truth is far more sinister. This is television on demand-on steroids-with movies thrown in just to destroy any remnant of your ability to fight it. I’m talking about Hulu (www.hulu.com), a joint venture of NBC Universal and…

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A&E: Altered ‘State’ in Muncie and cyberspace

An Alexander Calder mobile hangs above. Bronzes by Henry Moore and William de Kooning stand handsomely on the ground. The walls feature works on paper by Picasso, Pollock, Rembrandt, Miro and more. Ball State University Museum of Art’s collection is well worth lingering over. But I’m doing a lightening round because the museum is closing at 4:30 and I’ve spend the better part of the afternoon immersed in another Ball State Museum of Art. The one online. In Second Life….

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Commentary: Downtown reflected in shoeshine

Snake was proprietor of the shoeshine stand at Cento Shoes on South Meridian Street and, like he said, he could “make your shoes shine like new money every time.” For over 27 years, he applied his spit and polish with lively commentary on any subject you chose. He was a downtown historian and authority on the local scene. Snake suffered from a variety of ailments, but it was arthritis that finally sent him into retirement. While watching him fold that…

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Arcadia banking on DailyMed: Company hopes product sales can help it escape debt, lift stock

When Arcadia Resources Inc. moved from Southfield, Mich., to Indianapolis last fall, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. crowed with pride. In exchange for incentives worth more than $6 million, the state had landed the headquarters of a publicly traded life sciences firm with more than 5,000 employees. Even better, the company was ready to launch an innovative new product that promises to improve home health care while simultaneously reducing its cost. A year has passed, but investors still aren’t as…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: How 9/11 attacks helped set stage for financial crisis

After just two tumultuous weeks of financial crisis, the blame casting already has begun in earnest. A little deeper analysis might be warranted before jumping to conclusions. I am going to indulge in the combination of my two careers-one military and one scholarly-to focus on one issue. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks focused limited Al Qaeda resources on the U.S. economy and the command-and-control systems of our military. The latter attack failed miserably (due both to the robustness of our…

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Planned giving: Here’s what to consider: Many charitable techniques can help donors maximize their gifts, tax savings

If you have continuously donated money and time to specific organizations, or if you want to save some money on taxes, or maybe a little of both, planned giving might be a way to continue both of those aims. However, there are a few things to consider, such as how to set up the planned giving, what the money can or can’t be used for, who can speak for your interests after you die, and obviously how much money will…

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Advisers get more bullish on ETF option: SEC decision may lead to widespread appeal of mutual-fund alternative

ETFs have been available in the United States since 1993 and are an alternative to mutual funds that trade just like stocks. But a decision earlier this year from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could broaden their appeal even more. An ETF is a “basket” of stocks that by itself trades on an exchange just like an individual stock. ETFs contain the assets of large or small companies, real estate investment trusts, international stocks, bonds and even gold. For…

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Hitting the BIG TIME: ‘Big Joe’ Clark building national rep as investment commentator

The Anderson money manager known as “Big Joe” got his start as an independent insurance agent in Lafayette. He had been on the job just two weeks before Black Monday struck Wall Street in October 1987. The market shed more than 22 percent of its value, the largest one-day decline in U.S. history. With no clients and no money, the 20-year-old temporarily left the insurance industry and landed a job at AT&T’s old Western Electric division, helping rewire Ball State…

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TO DO LIST ART vs. ART: Destroying art for fun and profit

This isn’t a scene from a dystopic sci-fi novel, nor a recreation of a fascist act from a less tolerant time. It’s actually just one of many outlandish and exhilarating moments of Art vs. Art, an event gaining more attention with each annual incarnation. (This year’s is Sept. 26 at the Vogue). Art vs. Art is a painting competition and auction, where entering artists are each given identical canvases, art supplies, and four hours to complete a work. These entries…

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Planners to pare down commuter-rail options: Vote for light diesel trains would precede design

Goodbye elevated guideway. Goodbye buses zooming down paved-over rail beds. For that matter, forget about commuter trains running down the median of Binford Boulevard and I-69. Or along Allisonville Road or Keystone Avenue. These northeast corridor rapid-transit options, cheered and jeered by residents in the debate over rapid transit, officially get thrown from the train on Sept. 26. That’s if a regional government group votes to accept the recommendation of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Planning Organization for running diesel light rail…

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Commentary: Rethinking my presidential pick

Help me, John. I’m falling off the wagon. I like you. I read your autobiography, “Faith of My Fathers.” You are a maverick, like they say, and a patriot. My old boss, Mitch Daniels, made you his early choice. I agree with most of your pronouncements on taxes and the economy, and applaud your willingness to face up to the energy crisis and our dependence on foreign oil. I tentatively decided to cast my vote for you in November. But…

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Airport hoping to double ad revenue with digital push

Indianapolis International Airport officials hope to double advertising revenue, pushing it past $1 million, when the midfield
terminal opens in November. That income, officials said, is important because it helps ease pressure on cash-strapped
airlines, allowing them to focus on offering more flights. The airport relies on non-airline revenue, such as food sales and
advertising, for about 60 percent of its revenue.

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Browser wars: Should you go for Chrome?

There’s a war being waged all around you, and I’ll bet you haven’t even noticed. Oh, you may have noticed a year or two back, when the media reported on it, but after a while even wars get dull and the press wanders off to report on Jamie Lynn Spears’ baby. There used to be two combatants in the war. One was a behemoth, one of the world’s largest, while the other was an upstart, but gaining ground over time….

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