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Corporate shopping spree: Massive Guidant deal helps make 2006 a record-setting year for local M&A activity

Last year was a record-shattering period for the Indianapolis-area merger and acquisition market, thanks in large part to the loss of one public corporation. Guidant Corp.’s acquisition by Boston Scientific Corp. for $28.4 billion last year and the related sale of its vascular business to Abbott Laboratories for $4.1 billion made the 2006 Big Deals list bigger than ever. That’s because the two deals made up about 85 percent of the $38.5 billion of M&A activity tracked down by the…

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SPORTS: Overdosing on the Colts? Enjoy it while you can

That sport, and not religion as Karl Marx once declared, has become the “opiate of the masses” is apparent in our fair burg, where we all-or at least most of us-are overdosing on the Indianapolis Colts. The TV types are in full hyper-ventilation. The scribes are cranking out words by the thousands. No angle involving the Colts and their upcoming Super Bowl date with Da Bears in Miami will go uncovered. And, yes, some of the story lines will be…

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Colts’ Super Bowl appearance a winner for WISH: Local affiliate should realize seven-figure windfall

Heading into Super Bowl XLI, WISHTV Channel 8 is in the catbird’s seat among local broadcasters. With WISH’s affiliate network, CBS, carrying the Feb. 4 game, the local station is set to rake in a seven-figure sum in advertising revenue-in addition to what it would have made on the Super Bowl if the Colts weren’t in it, industry experts said. “With the Colts in the Super Bowl for the first time since moving to Indianapolis, WISH’s opportunities are immense,” said…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: We need less of ‘cool’ and more of ‘can do’

I’ve been accused of being both technology-besotted and technology-averse. I’m neither one. I’m just interested in using technology in appropriate ways. I’m fond of reminding people that a pair of scissors is perfect for a job that a pair of scissors can do. Scissors don’t need Tim Allen-style enhancements. An example popped up from reading “The Soul of a Chef,” by Michael Ruhlman, where I ran across the statement by a young chef that a computer system made the difference…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Greetings from Indianapolis South

NAPLES, Fla.-Here I am more than 1,000 miles from Indianapolis and yet feeling right at home. Seems like everywhere I turn, there are signs of the city. The first night I was here, I ate dinner at a restaurant where six Indianapolis people I know were sitting at the table next to ours. During the course of my stay so far, American United Life Insurance Co. held a board retreat here and the St. Vincent Hospital Foundation threw a fund-raiser…

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Temp agency jumping into training, construction: Latino-owned Aztec Group’s first foray is three-year project to fix up warehouse complex on near-east side

When Rod Webb moved to the United States from Mexico in 1982, his plan was to make a career as a salesman for an Indianapolis industrial chain manufacturer. But a short stint volunteering for a group that aided migrant workers planted another seed that’s now bearing fruit. After eight years running a temporary employment firm that specializes in offering Hispanic employees alternatives to field work, Webb is embarking on an ambitious plan to transform a dilapidated east-side warehouse complex into…

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College targets dropouts with new program: Ivy Tech offers high school failures chance to get degree, pursue higher education

Ivy Tech Community College this month launched a pilot program that allows high school dropouts to earn their diplomas while simultaneously working toward a certificate or associate’s degree in college. Intended to improve the state’s labor pool, and as a lifeline to dropouts facing a dismal life in the earnings underclass, it will first be rolled out in Bloomington, Lafayette and Terre Haute. The Indianapolis campus also will offer the program aimed at those 19 or older, although a date…

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MICKEY MAURER Commentary: A fresh start for this IEDC alum

I’m back. My last regular column appeared in the Indianapolis Business Journal on Jan. 3, 2005. In that column, I announced that I had accepted a twoyear hitch with the Daniels administration as president of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. and that columns would be suspended during my tenure with the state. The editors at IBJ felt that writing a column would pose a conflict of interest with my new responsibilities, and I agreed. It was a good thing; I…

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Getting to know you: Companies are using sites like MySpace to learn much more about job candidates

In today’s Internet age, companies are going well beyond reading résumés and contacting references to check out job candidates. More and more would-be employers are turning to the Web to conduct background checks on prospects. MySpace and Facebook are two hugely popular social networking sites where college and high school students often post risqué photographs and provocative content about drinking, recreational drug use, sexual exploits and other personal conduct. But what some job seekers might mistakenly consider relatively private information…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Community resolutions for 2007

It’s a week past the appropriate time to be writing about New Year’s resolutions, but from the feel of traffic heading in and out of town during rush hour, it appears a number of folks are still on vacation. I think the vast majority of us are ready now to get back down to business, so I feel justified in my timing. Therefore, be it resolved: Mayor Bart Peterson and Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi should continue to address the…

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Women builders see big growth: More opportunities seen in home construction

Indianapolis-area women are making their mark in the ownership and management of residential construction businesses, following decades of working behind the scenes. Women account for 47 percent of privately held firms in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. That number is growing, and the greatest growth is in construction. The National Association of Home Builders Women’s Council reports that the number of women-owned businesses in the building industry has risen 30 percent since 1997. “One of…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Don’t believe all the threats you hear about

Ah, a new year, and a new opportunity for all of us to be scared witless by some new threat. A recent article about cell phone viruses that I read in the magazine Scientific American got me thinking about terrorism, but not in the way you might imagine. What is it about panic and fear that we love so much? We seem to treasure those moments when we’re jumping at shadows. Movie producers have known this for years, and how…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Think the state’s awash in cash? Think again

Most observers assume there will be a confrontation between House Democrats, led by Speaker Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, and Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels this session. They suggest it’s like watching a hockey game and just waiting for a big fight. But confrontation need not be a synonym for breakdown , and while legislative Democrats and Daniels have some different philosophies about the role of government, they also have some basic agreements on just what should be accomplished before the end…

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BEHIND THE NEWS: SEC: It might sue Knall in wake of trading probe

The investigation into allegations of insider trading in Galyan’s Trading Co. stock that ensnared star stockbroker David Knall two years ago hasn’t faded away. The Securities and Exchange Commission notified Knall last May that it’s considering filing a civil lawsuit against him, according to a disclosure in the Central Registration Depository, a database detailing stockbrokers’ regulatory records. In the notice, the SEC invited Knall to make his case why doing so would be unwarranted-typically the final step before staff makes…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Ford was from another era, one walloped by inflation

The death of a former president still is a pretty big deal in this country. We can probably thank our first president, one of the most beloved men in the country in his time, for the reverence and respect we hold for those who have sat in the Oval Office. But as the media pundits remark on the political decisions and world events that helped define President Gerald Ford’s administration, I am struck by a retrospective of a different type….

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BRIAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Lottery could help education even more

Recently, Gov. Mitch Daniels put forth a proposal to privatize the Hoosier Lottery. As envisioned by the governor, a private contractor would give the state an upfront payment of at least $1 billion and pay the state a guaranteed $200 million per year for the life of the contract. Daniels has proposed two uses for the upfront payment. Dollars would be split between a) scholarships for Indiana high school students attending Indiana universities and colleges and b) funding programs to…

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Business shoved aside: Readers say city should focus on crime, education in 2007

The brutal murders of seven family members, including three children shot dead in their east-side Indianapolis home, cast a dark cloud over the city last summer. Yet the June slayings only served as a harbinger of a wave of violence that later claimed 15 lives in a 10-day span. The crime spree rattled city leaders so severely that Mayor Bart Peterson declared an emergency normally reserved for a natural disaster. 2006 no doubt ranked among the most deadly years in…

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City picks Marriott, passes on Pan Am plan:

A willingness to redesign and add rooms to its proposed JW Marriott hotel helped push locally based REI Real Estate Services and its partner over the top in their quest to build a convention headquarters hotel. The team of REI and Merrillville-based White Lodging Services Corp. proposed building an 800-room JW Marriott as the centerpiece of a 1,500-room, five-hotel complex at the site of the existing Courtyard by Marriott hotel at West and Washington streets. A city committee charged with…

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Bringing Honda to Greensburg highlights a wild year for Daniels:

It was a banner economic development year for Gov. Mitch Daniels, topped by the blockbuster Honda auto plant deal. Thanks in part to a second trip to Japan, Daniels landed a $550 million plant for Greensburg in June. Slated to begin production in 2008, the plant is expected to employ more than 2,000 people. Two months earlier, Daniels unveiled “Accelerating Growth,” his economic development plan for the state. Its ambitious goal is to boost Hoosiers’ per-capita income to the national…

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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: IBJ has big plans for coming year

This has been a strong year for your local business weekly. We take seriously our mission of providing readers with the best, most in-depth coverage of local business, so it is with a sense of both pride and gratitude that I report on our most successful year ever. Editor Tom Harton has called 2006 the Year of the Award. This year, IBJ won 18 news awards-eight of them gold-from three different organizations. Our coverage was recognized nine times by our…

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