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SPORTS: Century-old NCAA ready to flaunt its new image

A centennial celebration only comes around, what, every hundred years or so? Given that, the NCAA hopes to do right by its 100th anniversary, and to maximize the opportunity it brings. “This is the catalyst,” says Dennis Cryder, the association’s senior vice president for branding and communications. “The foundation has been put in place. Now we want to use the centennial to put our student-athletes out front, and represent the best of the whole process of putting sports and academics…

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IRSAY’S ODYSSEY: Owner learned from life in NFL to build winning team

The Indianapolis Colts' evolution from perennial patsy to Super Bowl favorite is a body of work with a seldom-told—and often misunderstood—history. It's easy to see the hues all-pros Peyton Manning, Marvin Harrison and Edgerrin James painted on this masterpiece season. President Bill Polian and Coach Tony Dungy certainly colored the landscape. And Offensive Coordinator Tom Moore added his creativity. But theirs aren't the only signatures on this canvas.

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: Can’t get no (job) satisfaction?

-Dylan Thomas What would it take for you to love your job? For my friend Portia Graves, it’s taking a major career change. After 14 years as an insurance adjuster, she has enrolled in nursing school at age 40. She liked her job at first, but eventually the luster wore off. “I saw this huge increase in what I would call greed. It was really starting to get to me,” she said. And as the industry became more afraid of…

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NOTIONS: Throwing out the book on ‘remedial’ education

On the first day of school, eighth-grade history teacher George Barnes took aim at tradition. With all the arm strength of the former Butler University football player he is, Barnes heaved a history text across his classroom. The book flew past his students’ stunned faces and crashed against the wall. Barnes asked the shocked teens: “If you were recording for history what you just witnessed, what would you say?” “Some,” said Barnes, “said, ‘That Mr. Barnes, he’s a crazy man….

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Passing ‘Major Moves’ initiative will mean major work

While most Hoosiers are focused on just how legislators are going to be able to cut residential property taxes again this year, the real battle to watch will be the one over what Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels refers to as the jobs program of a generation or more-his “Major Moves” roads initiative. What he wants boils down to this: finding a funding source for road building and repair that will not rely upon taxes. He made it clear shortly after…

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State’s plans for Larue Carter remain uncertain: New hosptal ideas are still under consideration

A year after the administration of then-Gov. Joe Kernan proposed building a new Larue D. Carter Memorial Hospital, the future of Indianapolis’ lone state-owned psychiatric hospital remains murky. The Indiana State Office Building Commission bought an 18-acre site near the IUPUI campus in December 2004, during the waning days of the Kernan administration. State officials talked then about spending as much as $55 million to build a Larue Carter that would replace the existing hospital, which is part of an…

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Cash-strapped county mulls part-time cops: Merger lets combined department add more reserves

Marion County Sheriff Frank Anderson has long clamored for help fighting crime in the suburbs. Thanks to the police merger, he’ll soon get it-from volunteers. The City-County Council ordinance authorizing a merger between Anderson’s Marion County Sheriff’s Department and the Indianapolis Police Department allows for a massive, 239-percent increase in the use of unpaid reserve police. Anderson, a Democrat, will have leeway to use up to 657 reserves in addition to the combined department’s 1,642 full-time cops. That’s 463 more…

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Super Bowl no longer ‘right moment’: Lilly shifts Cialis ads, will focus on programs aimed toward adults

As the Indianapolis Colts gear up for a run to next month’s Super Bowl, Eli Lilly and Co. already has decided to watch from the sidelines after two straight appearances during the big game. In a marketing strategy shift, the Indianapolis drugmaker will forgo TV commercials for its erectile dysfunction drug Cialis during the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics, which begin Feb. 10. Cialis competitors Viagra and Levitra may join it on the bench, as the pharmaceutical industry trends…

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ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ Commentary: A news event that hit close to home

I’ve been writing professionally for nearly 20 years and this is the hardest column I’ve ever had to write. Originally I planned an end-ofthe-year piece with some snappy one-liners and tongue-incheek observations about local and state issues. Thursday, Dec. 22 at 9:45 a.m. that changed. I was in the Capitol on my way to one of Gov. Mitch Daniels’ weekly media sessions when my cell phone rang. It was a phone call from my producer telling me that 18-year-old James…

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BULLS & BEARS: Start the new year with quotes on investing

Once again, I have selected a few quotes on the topic of business and investing to start the new year: “There is nothing like higher prices to attract more buyers. In department stores you mark merchandise down to move it. On Wall Street you mark it up.” -Michael Metz, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. stock analyst “Speculative bubbles frequently occur during periods of financial innovation and deregulation … lax regulation is another common feature … there is a tendency for business…

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New governor brings business mentality to state government:

As he took office in January, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ first order of business was just that: Apply a business mind-set to state government. That meant efforts to improve the efficiency and cooperation of state agen- Envisioned by Republicans as a publicprivate partnership, IEDC swallowed and replaced more than half a dozen boards and agencies such as the Indiana Depart cies. It also meant key changes to economic development. The creation of the Indiana Economic Development Corp. was one of his…

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BULLS & BEARS: Beware mutual fund pitch touting eye-popping returns

Remember those mutual fund performance advertisements splashed across publications in huge, bold print? During the peak of market euphoria, some of the touted returns were unbelievable, and, it turned out, unsustainable. Those were the salad days, as mutual fund managers achieved rock star status as they were paraded before the cameras of CNBC. In early 2000, the Munder Internet Fund (formerly called the Munder NetNet Fund and an investor favorite during the “new era”) could run giant print ads claiming…

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Library cash crisis looming: Officials mull deep cuts, branch closings to balance books

After long delays, the city’s Central Library expansion should finally be finished by 2008. But to heat the building and keep its lights on, the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library may have to shutter half a dozen of its 22 branches. IMCPL officials say the system faces dire financial woes. They project a $1 million shortfall in next year’s $36 million budget, and even bigger problems after that. By 2008, IMCPL expects to be short $6.3 million a year, or about…

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Republic Airways buffeted by U.S. Airways pilot turbulence: Locally based carrier gets favorable ruling in one dispute, but remains mired in separate $1.2B lawsuit

Republic Airways Holdings Inc. has landed a break from an arbitrator who ruled the Indianapolis regional airline is obligated to hire no more than half the 300 pilots employed by US Airways’ MidAtlantic regional airline, which Republic is acquiring. Regional carrier Republic can avoid higher personnel costs by not having to hire as many U.S. Airways pilots with seniority. The amount of the savings was not immediately available. But Republic remains a defendant in a complicated, $1.2 billion lawsuit that…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Economy is doing great, but what about next year?

Here’s a question the visually oriented news media face all the time-what does a strong economy look like? Belching smokestacks and humming assembly lines are the clichés of yesteryear, now that we’ve entered an era when knowledge and services account for more output than do physical goods. But somehow the picture of an office worker tapping on a keyboard or a group of executives huddled around a conference table doesn’t quite convey the vitality and power of the world’s largest…

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Star’s weekly battles Nuvo for young readers: As Intake turns 2, independent tabloid fights on

Tracking the readership of a free newspaper is like trying to bottle a vapor. What’s not difficult to determine is advertisers’ desire to target young consumers. “Advertisers increasingly want that young, upwardly mobile audience,” said newspaper analyst John Morton. “And they’ll pay to be a part of a product that can deliver it.” Central Indiana’s two biggest newspapers aimed at readers with a strong interest in the city’s night life and only a fleeting concern about long-term savings plans have…

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SPORTS: The season that should have silenced BCS bashers

On a recent Sunday morning, the talking head on ESPN introduced NCAA Division I-AA football playoff highlights by saying, “And now let’s go to the action from where they actually decide the championship on the field.” Ah, how tiresome. How unfresh. How unoriginal. Just another shot taken at the Bowl Championship Series, another regurgitation of the media mantra aimed at the decision-makers in Division I who refuse to enact a championship playoff. So, this year, we must settle for the…

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NOTIONS Bruce Hetrick: Here’s how to avoid a difficult taxing situation

Bruce Hetrick is on vacation this week. In his absence, this column, which appeared on Dec. 10, 2001, is being reprinted. If I were a betting man (and what entrepreneur isn’t?), I’d bet that you bought something from an out-of-state firm for yourself or your company this year. I’d bet that you logged onto the Internet and purchased new books, computers or pantyhose. I’d bet that you shopped via catalog for your niece or nephew, and shipped that tutu or…

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Clarian nabs UAC building: Hospital network wins bid for former corporate headquarters

Clarian Health Partners is polishing a deal to buy the former Union Acceptance Corp. headquarters on North Shadeland Avenue, a move that plants a large footprint for the burgeoning hospital network squarely in a competitor’s east-side back yard. Clarian made the winning bid for the 126,000-square-foot building at a Nov. 15 auction, but the sale had not closed as of Nov. 30, said Bob Getts of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, which ran the auction. He referred all questions to Clarian….

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Water treaty on tap: Mediated agreement calls for Carmel to pay Indy $36.2M

Carmel and its big-city neighbor to the south have a truce in hand to end a 3-1/2-year war over what Carmel will pay to buy Indianapolis-owned water distribution lines serving 6,000 customers in the Hamilton County community. The proposed purchase price: $36.2 million, according to documents recently filed with state regulators. Carmel officials say the deal eventually should improve water pressure and lower fire insurance rates, and make it easier to plan for growth. It also would give affected residents…

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