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Center offers businesses a challenging experience: Year-old school program adds corporate component to build community awareness and financial support

Simulating the events of a real-life space mission is not just child’s play anymore. Decatur Township Schools’ Indianapolis Challenger Learning Center now allows area businesses to participate, too. The center, in Ameriplex Business Park, has been hosting field trips and summer camps for children for about a year. An adult program lifted off last fall. “We do not just want to do school-oriented projects,” said Director Gary Pellico. “We want to be a part of this community and we are…

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Web demand by the disabled likely to increase: Accessibility rally aims to boost Internet access

There are 54 million Americans living with disabilities. Apparently, most U.S. businesses don’t want their e-commerce. Right now, universal Internet accessibility is a distant dream for the blind, deaf, handicapped and otherwise-disabled. According to local assistive-technology provider Attain Inc., less than 10 percent of Web sites are built with their needs in mind. But Attain is hoping to help change that. On June 11, Attain will stage a local “Accessibility Internet Rally” in conjunction with the national event’s original organizers…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Protecting property rights means thinking globally Effect on Indiana business Taking action

Last month, 10 members of the U.S. House of Representatives asked the Bush administration to initiate trade disputes before the World Trade Organization and to identify nations that don’t protect intellectual property rights under U.S. trade law. The Representa tives pointed to a number of countries-Brazil, China, Pakistan, Russia and Thailand-that have been identified in the “National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers” as having poor enforcement of trademarks and copyrights. While the lawmakers’ concerns are valid, the expression…

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As market correction plays out, good buys remain INVESTING Keenan Hauke:

It’s week five of the correction that began in early March. Major market indexes have declined anywhere from 3 percent to 8 percent, and the selling may not be over. Does it matter? Is this simply another minor setback on the march to new highs? It definitely matters. As I’ve said since January, the bull market that began in March 2003 has now changed so that you can’t depend on the broad rising tide to bail you out. Micro-cap-size companies…

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WIP Downtown: Salon combines talented stylist, savvy tech guy 40 percent of appointments are made online

You won’t find People magazine in the waiting room at the WIP Downtown hair salon. “That magazine just encourages gossip,” explained co-owner Jeff Demaree. Contrary to the stereotype of hairdresser as therapist, Demaree wants his staff “to avoid discussing personal problems with customers because it makes the atmosphere more stressful.” Instead, Jeff and his wife, co-owner Kimberly Demaree, suggest discussing current events, politics-if they know they agree with the customer-TV, or recent WIP accomplishments such as photo shoots. “We want…

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Cook treading into new territory: Bloomington medical firm makes move toward untapped stent market

Cook Inc. plans to slide its coated-stent ambitions from the heart down to another region of the body where a multimillion-dollar market awaits. The Bloomington-based medical-device maker recently started testing a product that uses the same drug Cook put on a coronary stent it tried to develop a couple of years ago with Guidant Corp. Instead of treating arteries near the heart, the Zilver PTX stent targets blockages in the major artery that runs through the thigh. Cook is the…

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Profit potential drives car dealers to risky end of market: Collecting on high-interest, buy-here-pay-here loans requires adept, relentless managers to succeed Management-intensive

A handful of the city’s new-car dealers are cautiously backing into the buy-herepay-here lot, a risky but potentially lucrative used-car business long the bastion of neighborhood lots and chains such as J.D. Byrider Systems. The allure of making in-house loans is interest rates that can top 21 percent and profit margins that can be 10 times higher than peddling fresh metal. While rebates on new cars come and go and make for volatile sales, the poor and those with credit…

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Tough losses hit Powerway: Software firm cuts workers, CEO resigns after General Motors terminates contract

Its software was supposed to become the American auto industry’s standard. Instead, Powerway Inc. finds itself scrambling once again to recover from a sudden reversal of fortune. Detroit-based General Motors Corp. has terminated its 2-1/2-year-old agreement to implement Powerway’s quality-control software throughout its supply chain. As a result, Powerway’s CEO Theodore Wozniak has stepped down and the company has fired a quarter of its work force. “It’s frustrating and disappointing that, under such great financial pressure, the American-based manufacturers are…

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Incubator lures biotech upstart: Fish vaccine biz hoping to land on canal

Hatching new businesses is getting to be routine for Indiana University. So it was easy for Richard Wagner to contemplate moving his biotech startup from Columbus, Ohio, into IU’s 2-year-old business incubator on the Central Canal. “It’s an excellent facility. Every time I go up, I’m more and more impressed with it,” Wagner said. “They put a lot of thought into designing it to meet the needs of life science and biotechnology research.” Wagner, who holds a doctorate in plant…

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INVESTING: As bull market winds down, time remains for bargains

There wasn’t enough space last week to complete the discussion of the long-base theme. These are stocks that have been trading in tight ranges for many years and can offer tremendous returns to investors. Last week, I brought up Honda and Franklin Resources. Here are a few more that have been moving sideways for years: Energy company Smith International Inc. traded as high as $44 a share at the end of 1997, then pulled into a tight sixyear trading range….

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Little jets get the test in Indiana: New aircraft could help small airports shave costs

A top Indiana economist will study whether an emerging class of aircraft known as “very light jets” could fuel an economic boom, especially in the state’s smaller, more isolated communities. Morton J. Marcus, director emeritus of the Indiana Business Research Center at Indiana University, will gauge the potential impact of VLJs in six communities, including Mount Comfort Airport in Hancock County. Several aircraft makers next year plan to launch the diminutive jets, which can whisk up to six people as…

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Appnuity LLC: IT firm targets small businesses, not-for-profits Web-hosted services one of the company’s fastest-growing areas

Appnuity founders David Eckel and Mark Castelli started their information technology business in 1999 specifically to serve this client base. They provide a wide array of personal-computer network solutions, Web site application development, Web-hosted services and structured cabling, which is determining the type of cabling needed to support current and future technology needs. The partners’ skills complement each other. Eckel, 33, who is president and CEO, has experience as a network technician and sales consultant. Castelli, 34, is Appnuity’s vice…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY Don Altemeyer: Let’s rebuild Indiana’s rep as construction powerhouse A well-paying career More research A lesson from hoops

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY Don Altemeyer Let’s rebuild Indiana’s rep as construction powerhouse A well-paying career More research A lesson from hoops We could wear out our hands clapping like Gene Hackman’s Hoosiers, and it’s not going to change the fact that basketball in Indiana this year has been nothing short of unremarkable. Despite the state’s long-standing reputation as a basketball powerhouse, it’s the other teams playing in our arenas that are making history. There’s a similar story taking place,…

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Million dollar baby: Hospital reaps benefits of caring for high-profile boy A public relations jackpot

The Afghan boy may have arrived last month at Riley Hospital for Children with heart trouble and a need for complicated surgery. But behind those soft, brown eyes and that adorable smile lies a 12-cylinder marketing engine. A sample of the 15-month-old’s power: Qudrat’s often-reported story created at least $1 million in free media for Riley, according to hospital officials. That’s 10 times the amount Riley spends on print or broadcast advertising in a year. He could be responsible for…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: There are reasons for rising school construction costs More technology More sports

Public school officials around the state have received sharp criticism in recent years for authorizing construction that critics decry as ostentatious and excessively expensive. Chief among the targets, but not exclusively, are athletic facilities that are often perceived as superior to all but the largest of our NCAA Division I colleges and universities. Without taking sides in the fray, I would simply remind everyone that K-12 education is basically a community function driven by local decisions. The bulk of the…

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INVESTING: Somnambulant stocks a good buy for patient investors

The longer the base, the higher in space. For any technical analysis geeks out there (like me), this phrase brings visions of money raining from the skies. Stocks that have moved sideways for years or have been stuck in trading ranges can, under the right conditions, unlock massive wealth. The trick is to find these gems. Extremely long-term trading ranges exist because investors typically forget about the stock. The owners are frustrated but don’t want to sell, so they figuratively…

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Struggling IndyGo pays big for technology expertise: At $94 an hour, IT director raises some eyebrows

Financially struggling IndyGo is paying a handsome sum to its information technology director, hired to help turn around a city bus system that began 2004 with a $4 million budget deficit. Dale Meyers would earn about $188,000 if he worked 40 hours a week, based on a $94-an-hour employment agreement inked last July. Meyers’ pay would dwarf the $120,000 annual salary of Indy-Go CEO Gilbert Holmes. It’s also salty compared to others’ in his field. The median pay for an…

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Purdue ousts biz guru: Director fired amid shakeup of high-profile tech incubator

The billboards read “Go Businessmakers,” but the yellow flag is up. Purdue University is reorganizing its primary program to assist high-tech startups and has fired the director. Part of Purdue’s nationally recognized effort to transform raw university research into viable businesses, the Gateways Program had been managed since October 1998 by Sam Florance, a former investment banker and management consultant. Purdue closed Gateways and eliminated Florance’s position on March 14, IBJ has learned. On March 18, Joseph B. Hornett, senior…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: The importance of being different

Well, there’s a conversation-starter you don’t hear every day, I thought. It was inane even for the preschool crowd, which is known for the inanity of their questions. “Um, I think it’s a Kenmore,” I replied. “Oh,” he said. “Ours is an Oreck XL Classic commercial-grade vacuum with a bristled-edge cleaning system, long-lasting drive belts, an easy-load bag dock, metaxalloy motor fan, pile-lifting roller brush and non-marring bumper,” or something to that effect. That’s when I realized Henry was no…

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Supreme Court drug case could restrict development: Lilly, other firms want research exemption confirmed

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments April 20 in a case that Eli Lilly and Co. and other pharmaceutical corporations say could restrict the development of new drugs. The dispute stems from a June 2003 decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. The panel affirmed a district court’s finding that Merck KGaA in Germany infringed upon four of New Jersey-based Integra LifeSciences Holdings Corp.’s licensed patents. At issue is whether pharmaceutical companies…

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