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INVESTING: What should we take away from Buffett’s railroad bet?

Say the name Warren Buffett around investors, and they get a little star-struck. For more than 40 years, his publicly traded company, Berkshire Hathaway, has torn up the performance rankings. His value-oriented, patient method is probably one of the most copied strategies in the world. The media rightfully put a lot of light on his actions, and his latest step has my attention. When Buffett took the controls at Berkshire Hathaway in the 1960s, it was a textile firm. Today,…

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Township wrestles with incorporation: As Greenwood, Bargersville annex commercial corridors, rest of township declines

White River Township in northwest Johnson County is dotted with an increasing number of high-priced homes and anchored by one of the area’s strongest school districts. But the area, known as Center Grove, also is marked by crumbling roads, poor drainage and an anemic parks system. To preserve its strengths and shore up its growing weaknesses, some in the area think White River Township needs to incorporate into its own city. The township of more than 40,000 residents faces the…

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ExactTarget accurately predicts its fast growth

ExactTarget Inc.’s 2005 announcement that it would be moving into 30,000 square feet on Monument Circle and hiring 100 people over seven years seemed ambitious. Indianapolis was littered with the ashes of once-high-flying technology startups that had flamed out. But ExactTarget is fast becoming one of the city’s biggest technology success stories.

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Web video series heralds Roman invasion at IMA: Produced in-house, the 11-part series is a first

When the Indianapolis Museum of Art landed the U.S. premiere of a 184-piece exhibit of Roman art from the Louvre, its staff knew the time had come to think big. “This show is considered a blockbuster,” said Daniel Incandela, director of new media at IMA. “I knew we should develop some blockbuster content ideas.” So he and his colleagues pitched their grand plan to museum leaders: They would travel to Rome and Paris to develop an 11-part series of digital…

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SPORTS: Feel-good sports stories are out there-just look

No question about it, the feel-good that sport can create has taken a beating this summer. There was Barry Bonds breaking the Major League homerun record under the strong suspicion of steroid use, NFL star Michael Vick’s guilty plea on federal dogfighting charges, the betting scandal involving NBA referee Tim Donaghy, and the revelation of match-fixing in professional tennis. Just to name a few. It could really get you down if you let it. Yet, I’ve written this before-sport provides…

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Ad agency scores national attention with MTV campaign: Bradley and Montgomery use Web’s social networks

Advertising agency Bradley and Montgomery launched an unorthodox campaign for cable television station MTV last month that is gaining the local firm-and its client-national acclaim. A friend of a friend led BAM officials to the New York-based music television channel, which was looking to promote the release of its show “The Hills” on DVD. BAM officials pulled video snippets from the show, enhanced them graphically, then uploaded the snippets to Web sites such as YouTube.comand Veoh.com. The resulting vignettes can…

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MICKEY MAURER: No gala, but a glorious grand opening

In 2006, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. closed almost 200 transactions. Many recipients of the IEDC largess marked the opening of their job-creation activities with hightech galas featuring products rolling down gangways accompanied by the applause of dignitaries and well-wishers. Recognizing that attendance at these ceremonies was not an efficient use of time, the IEDC adopted the mantra, “We don’t cut ribbons, we just cut deals.” With rare exception, ribbon-cutting was left to the politicians. Last month, I participated in…

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INVESTING: Time to protect assets; more turmoil lies ahead

Heroes are for sporting events and battlefields, not investing. With some of the damage repaired from the early August rout, it is a good time to raise a little cash and wait a few weeks. There certainly will be no shortage of things to watch while you wait. It is easy to make either the bull or bear case right now. The technical damage suffered by the market leading up to the July high was more short-term in nature, not…

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Campaign promoting local art moves into second phase: Plan to target business owners is still on the drawing board

“Be Indypendent” bumper stickers are popping up all over town. They’ve been stuck to the side of Dumpsters and the back of everything from VW bugs to cable repair trucks since debuting in July. The curious who follow the message back to its Web site discover an effort to get everyday consumers interested in buying locally produced artwork. The site (www.beindypendent.org) already has had nearly 2,000 hits from seven countries and 35 states, and now campaign organizers are looking to…

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Commentary: Is this any way to run a government?

As someone who writes and pontificates about the events of the day, summer is usually my slow season. I have to work hard to find things to write and talk about for public consumption. However, this summer has been a whole different matter. We have all been taken aback by the tax protests and subsequent government actions to mitigate the damage. But that wasn’t the big story that caught my attention. The story that stuck in my craw was the…

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Conrad owners tussle with project architect: Lawsuit alleges firms are owed more than $850,000 for work on $100 million downtown luxury hotel

The cranes and contractors have been gone from the site of the Conrad Indianapolis for about 18 months. But wrangling over the project continues in court. The private owners of the $100 million project are quarreling with prominent local architects Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf and New York-based engineering firm Cosentini Associates over how much they’re owed for their work. Both Browning and Cosentini have filed liens: Browning says it is owed $764,000; Cosentini claims $91,000. The owners say in a…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Indiana needs to develop more technology workers

Far from its older perception of a backoffice function, information technology today is cutting edge and business savvy, driving innovation in virtually every industrial sector. As an industry, IT in Indiana has seen significant growth in the past few years. In fact, the state’s tech nology sector has grown so quickly that the industry faces a new challenge-employers are experiencing explosive growth and cannot find enough qualified individuals to fill these new positions. As documented by the Indiana Department of…

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A&E: The ‘Hunch’ is back This week, a dancing bellringer and a musical madam

It’s unlikely that anyone attended Gregory Hancock Dance Theatre’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” (which ran Aug. 17-18 at the Pike Performing Arts Center) with any goal in mind except to see choreographed dancers in graceful, compelling action. Yet other factors come into play beyond the foot- and body-work, and those factors, for good or ill, can enhance or undermine the dancers’ work. Take lighting design. In this case, the masterful work of lighting designer Ryan Koharchik turned a minimal…

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New high school puts focus on workplace: Cristo Rey gives students taste of real employment

Terry Majors wants to make a name for himself in the business community, and he’s confident he’s well on his way to being successful. Making eye contact, he shakes hands firmly and confidently. He’s dressed neatly and professionally in a white, buttondown shirt and tie. His shoes are well-polished. He speaks in a friendly, yet authoritative, voice about a new job he will soon start. “It’s all about choices,” he says philosophically of life, as if he’s been making choices…

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MICKEY MAURER Commentary: Time unveils perspective on friendship

Many customs in the Jewish religion have been practiced since before the recorded word. Some, like the rite of “unveiling,” are borrowed from American culture and date back only a century or two. An unveiling is a graveside ceremony marking the end of the formal grieving period. It is observed by the bereaved, who meet no sooner than the first anniversary of the loved one’s death to symbolically set the headstone. The headstone is covered with a cloth, which is…

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SPORTS: Killing animals for sport isn’t right-or uncommon

On an August afternoon in 1992, while covering the Olympic Games in Barcelona for the local daily, several of us decided we needed to experience a slice of authentic Spanish culture. So we journeyed to a bullfight. I could offer a lengthy narrative, but I’ll provide the abridged version. The bulls are lanced several times by men on horseback. The subsequent loss of blood weakens the animals … slowly and agonizingly. Then the matador arrives with a sword and completes…

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New ventures expanding school sports coverage: Players large and small converge on growing niche

High school sports coverage, once found only in the back pages of local newspapers’ sports sections, is now spawning new Internet and print businesses. The players involved range from large public companies and professional sports franchises to small entrepreneurs. The effort to score with high school sports coverage appears to be driven by a growing number of advertisers interested in the diverse audience attracted to scholastic events. In recent months, High School Sports The Magazine debuted in central Indiana, Emmis…

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MARKETING: How can social media help promote your business?

MySpace. YouTube. Podcasting. Blogging. All are terms of the social media world, which offers businesses new ways to reach out to new and/or larger audiences. Let’s define these using explanations provided by www.wikipedia.org: MySpace: a social networking Web site offering an interactive, user-submitted network of friends, personal profiles, blogs, groups, photos, music, and videos internationally. www.myspace.com YouTube: video-sharing Web site where users can upload, view and share video clips, including movies, TV clips, music videos and amateur content, such as…

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IN THIS ISSUE:

I N T H I S I S S U E FOCUS:Insurance&BenefitsQuarterly19-24 Employerslooktohealthsavingsaccountsforpremiumrelief19 OneAmericaingoodpositiontogrowthroughacquisition19 NOTSTRICTLYBUSINESS45-47 15 A&EbyLouHarry:FringecharacterspopulateaFringeFilmhighlight45 Dining:FritesatBruggeBrasserie45 FunnyBusinessbyMikeRedmond:TheWorldofTomorrowhovers,preparestoland46 SportsbyBillBenner:Plentytochewonforsportsfansofeverystripe47 PERIMETER15-18 HendricksCounty:Brownsburgluresdrag-racingfirms15 45 BehindtheNews:Andrews4OPINION & EDITORIAL HowmortgagemeltdownsankOakStreet,Commentary:ChrisKatterjohn10othersIBJ’sEnterpriseAwardhits25 EconomicAnalysis:Barkey28AEditorial10 PartingthoughtsonIndiana’sstrengths,Dunnexitshowsboarddoingjobweaknesses EyeonthePie:Marcus11ClassifiedsandInternetDirectory34-35LifegoesondespitepropertytaxesPeople18Viewpoint:DeborahJ.Daniels11ReturnonTechnology:Altom32Helpingex-offendershelpsallofusSavingprinterpaperdoesn’tsavemuchmoneyRECORDS SmallBusinessProfile40Calendar33FundRaising41It’sadog’slifeConventions33InRecognition41 LISTS LargestIndianapolis-AreaRetirementSTOCKS Communities26Investing:Hauke28LargestIndianapolis-AreaAssisted-LivingDominoeffectworsenedwoesinsubprimeFacilities37market ProxyCorner:IrwinFinancialCorp.31 COMPANY INDEX This index does not include companies mentioned in letters to the editor, lists, charts and records. The page numbers listed refer to the pages where articles begin. 3S Karting Supply ………………17 Conseco Inc……………………….30 Interactive Intelligence Inc……10 Precedent Commercial 96th Street Steakburgers……….1 Crowe Chizek…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Saving printer paper doesn’t save much money

At one company I know, the head of information technology took note of rising printing costs and took decisive action. He immediately asked everyone to start printing on both the front and back of each printed sheet. Every time I saw people in meetings flipping pages up and down trying to read front-and-back, I wondered if he’d done the math, because it’s highly probable he didn’t save much at all. The big cost in copiers and printers isn’t paper, but…

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