I had a boss once who was infamous for his adages, always having one of these nuggets immediately at the ready. True, he would occasionally misfire, tossing off a “let’s throw it against the wall and see what sticks” when the situation may have clearly called for something more genteel like “run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.” But most of the time, he was right on the money. One of his favorites was the old “How do…
“I haven’t sung yet,” Frances the Fat Lady said. We were at the Bulging Buffet, which is open 24/7. Frances, one of the state’s biggest experts on public finance, had stacked her plate with bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and a variety of sweet rolls. “This property tax debate is not over yet,” she said as we took a table. “Despite the fact that only a few counties are really up in arms, there may be enough momentum for something realistic…
The changes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course to accommodate motorcycle racing means the track’s operators will forfeit around $500,000 annually in ticket revenue for the Indianapolis 500 and Brickyard 400. Due to modifications just south of pit road and directly north of the oval’s first turn, several thousand seats on the inside of the first turn will be removed after this year’s Brickyard 400. Work to prepare the track for next year’s MotoGP motorcycle race-which includes laying 13,300…
Indiana, as you know, has not escaped the inevitable crush of consolidation in the banking industry. No one should have been surprised by the announcement that First Indiana Corp. was selling itself to an out-of-state bank, Milwaukee-headquartered Marshall & Isley Corp. In spite of the best efforts of M&I, The National Bank of Indianapolis, of which I am chairman of the board, will add business as a result of this transaction. Some of First Indiana’s customers prefer to deal with…
Do the words “integrity” and “sports” belong in the same sentence? Worse, does anyone care? By the time you read this, Barry Bonds, a Giant in uniform but hardly a giant of a man, may have become baseball’s alltime home-run king. His inexorable pursuit of Henry Aaron’s magical mark of 755 has been well-documented. So, too, has been the overwhelming evidence implicating Bonds as a user of steroids. Thus, what should be one of baseball’s greatest moments is instead one…
LESSONS LEARNED PAUL KNAPP CEO, Young & Laramore ‘Shoot for the Stars ‘ Paul Knapp isn’t one to declare victory. Nor is he eager to toot his own horn. But even he has to admit that something’s working at Young & Laramore. The Indianapolis advertising agency Knapp leads has a stable of national accounts, is opening a satellite office in Canada, and has projected capitalized billings in 2007 will hit $80 million. So what’s the secret of its success? Y&L’s…
With the pending arrival of two new lead anchors, WRTV-TV Channel 6 is preparing to embark on a big marketing campaign that station management hopes will lift it out of third place in the local ratings. The campaign, which is set to begin next month to promote changes within WRTV’s news division, will be marked by a flurry of billboard, radio, newspaper and, of course, television advertising, said WRTV General Manager Don Lundy. But the centerpiece of the campaign takes…
The influential U.S. News & World Report college rankings come out next month, a rite of summer that causes many college administrators to groan. Some administrators in Indiana and elsewhere, in fact, have grown so disenchanted with the survey-and see it as so flawed-that they have decided they’ll no longer participate in at least part of it after this year. Nearly 100 private schools nationwide-including DePauw University and Earlham College in Indiana-are pulling out of the peer-assessment portion of the…
The summer of 2007 will likely go down in history as the Summer of Terror in the Skies. Well not exactly terror in the skies, more like terror in the skies as it relates to waiting at the gate area for your plane to arrive, as in sitting on the runway for two hours waiting for your plane to take off, as in wondering if you can possibly make your connecting flight now that your original flight is three hours…
The Arts Council of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis Cultural Development Commission recently launched a campaign to encourage individuals and businesses to buy art from local artists. I couldn’t agree more with the message. In addition to the “Be Indypendent, Buy Indy Art” stickers you’ll no doubt see all over town soon, the campaign includes a Web site, www.beindypendent.org, with a downloadable “how to” guide, plus links to the Arts Council’s artist database that includes the work of more than 400…
Some folks consider Congregation Shaarey Tefilla’s move to Carmel historic. After all, its new synagogue at 116th Street and Towne Road will be Hamilton County’s first. To others, it’s simply the latest development in the local Jewish community’s century of northward migration. For Rabbi Arnold Bienstock and his members, it’s a homecoming. “There’s a lot of support here,” he said. “People need that if they’ve just moved to an area.” Carmel welcomed Bienstock with open arms 15 years ago, when…
Production companies here say advertisements they’ve produced using high-definition technology are being held hostage by local television affiliates that have no way of showing them. The TV stations counter that they’re working as fast as they can to get up to speed.
Indiana’s physician assistants received a collective shot in the arm earlier this month when their authority to prescribe medicine to patients became effective. The profession had long lobbied lawmakers for the right before the Legislature relented with the passage of House Bill 1241 this year. July 1 officially marked the milestone in which Indiana became the last state in the nation to grant prescribing powers to physician assistants. “It’s the right thing to do,” said Dr. John Lucich, director of…
A significant Indianapolis sporting event with international appeal is preparing to celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011. The Indianapolis 500? Well, yes, that too. Far less-wellknown and recognized is that the origins of elite-level competitive tennis in Indianapolis also date back to just after the turn of the century … the last century, that is. Records show that the Western Tennis Championships, which led to the U.S. Clay Court Championships, which led to the U.S. Hardcourt Tennis Championships, which led…
“There is a crack, a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.” – “Anthem,” by Leonard Cohen How outrageous does executive behavior have to be before it should be deemed unacceptable by corporate America? Are we experiencing a trend toward greater scrutiny of our executives’ personal lives and is this a good idea? What should be the peccadillo standard for the executive officers of public companies? Witness the recent forced resignation of David Colby, chief financial officer and…
Twenty years ago, Indianapolis was preparing to take on the world. Or at least half of it. It was a month before the 10th Pan American Games. In my lifetime, I do not recall many times-if any-when there was such a feeling of collective effort. This wasn’t a city rooting for a team, like the Pacers or the Colts. This was a city rooting for itself to pull off this mammoth undertaking, to show not just the country, but the…
A federal judge in a high-profile fraud case has slapped a former Brightpoint Inc. manager with a $50,000 fine-a relatively modest sum, but one the manager says he lacks the resources to pay. Judge Harold Baer of U.S. District Court in Manhattan late last month assessed the fine against Tim Harcharik, the former director of risk management for the wireless phone wholesaler. Harcharik, 53, was the sole remaining defendant in a securities fraud lawsuit the SEC brought in 2003 against…
After years languishing as a ratings bottom feeder, WEDJ-FM 107.1 is quickly moving up the radio charts with its Hispanic format and is positioned to crack the market’s top 10 stations. Since local radio veteran Russ Dodge was hired as general manager in late April 2006, WEDJ’s rating for area listeners 12 and older has more than doubled, from 1.0 to 2.1, according to New York-based Arbitron Co. WEDJ’s morning show is ranked No. 3 with listeners ages 18 to…
Piano Solutions Inc. Shop singing piano’s praises Shop owners want to give community an arts education Piano Solutions Inc. owners Greg Durthaler and Brian Hostetler like to think they’re in tune with the music industry-all the better to help their clients. The key (so to speak) is to offer a full range of products and services. “Today, we offer tuning, moving and storage of pianos while carrying an array of method books, print music and piano accessories,” Durthaler said. “We…
Happily e ver after? How to avoid the roadblocks to financial security In her new book, “The Feminine Mistake,” author Leslie Bennetts cautions women to seriously consider the financial consequences of exiting the workplace to be a stayat-home wife and mom. The former journalist and Vanity Fair writer says “few intelligent people would sink a lot of money into refurbishing a rental, but stay-athome wives think nothing of subordinating their own financial interests to those of their husbands, blithely assuming…
