Friday, August 31, 2007

Central Library Searching for CEO

The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Board of Trustees has announced that it is beginning its search for a permanent Chief Executive Officer to plan and direct the operations of the IMCPL system.

Although it isn't reported in the Inside INdiana Business announcement, the candidate has to have nerves of steel -- what with the massive cost overruns and construction "mishaps" and all.

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Maybe, Just Maybe, We Can Get Wine Shipments at Home Now


Indiana wine consumers will once again be able to receive wine shipments from their favorite Indiana wineries without having to visit them first.

U.S. District Court Judge John Tinder has issued a ruling declaring the 2006 Indiana law requiring Indiana residents to fill out a face-to-face verification form from any winery they wished to have wine shipped from as unconstitutional, reports Inside INdiana Business.

All 34 Indiana wineries had reported a drop in instate shipping since the requirement became effective.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

"Miracle Mile" Parade Set for Saturday


A "Miracle Mile" Parade steps off at 1 p.m. Saturday (1 September) to spark support for the continued economic revival of the corridor along Madison Avenue
on Indianapolis’ near Southside, says the Gateway Business Alliance.

The parade, last staged in 1957, will roll up Madison Avenue with more than 70 floats and participating groups, according to Jeff Cardwell, Parade Chairman and president of Cardwell DoItBest Home Center.

The Gateway Business Alliance is a not-for-profit corporation spearheading efforts to re-develop the "Gateway to the South/Gateway to Indianapolis".

Monday, August 27, 2007

UIndy's Kellogg Writers Series Announced

Award-winning poets and fiction writers from around the country will read and discuss their work in the 2007-2008 Kellogg Writers Series at the University of Indianapolis, 1400 East Hanna Avenue, Indianapolis. Admission is free. This year’s speakers are:

Poets Jason Bredle and Jim Walker
8 p.m. 27 September, Studio Theatre, Esch Hall

Indianapolis native Jason Bredle is the author of Pain Fantasy, Standing in Line for the Beast and A Twelve Step Guide. He lives in Chicago and works at a translation agency in Evanston, Ill.

Jim Walker is founder and board president of Big Car Gallery, a collaborative arts organization. A poet and nonfiction writer, he is the author of the writing guide Poetry Report and three chapbooks. His poetry and prose have appeared nationally in such publications as Painted Bride Quarterly and Hanging Loose. In 2006 he was awarded a Creative Renewal Fellowship from the Arts Council of Indianapolis. Walker lives in Indianapolis and works full-time as a newspaper journalist and part-time as a college writing teacher.

Poet Mark Doty
8 p.m. 15 November, Ruth Lilly Performance Hall, Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center

The only American poet to have won Great Britain’s T. S. Eliot Prize, Mark Doty is the author of seven books of poems. The first, Turtle, Swan, appeared in 1987. His third collection, My Alexandria (1993), received both the Los Angeles Times' Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Since then he has published Atlantis (1995), Sweet Machine (1998) and Source (2001), as well as the memoirs Heaven’s Coast (1996) and Firebird (1999). Doty’s newest volume of poems, School of the Arts, was published in 2005, and his newest memoir, Dog Years, was published in 2007. He teaches in the graduate program the University of Houston and is a frequent guest at Columbia University, Hunter College and NYU. He lives in Houston and New York City.

Fiction Writer Jayne Anne Phillips
7:30 p.m. 6 March, Good Hall

Jayne Anne Phillips is a fiction writer and winner of numerous awards. Her first collection of stories, Black Tickets (1979), won the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction, awarded by the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters. Phillips’ work has appeared most recently in Harper’s, Granta, Doubletake and the Norton Anthology of Contemporary Fiction. She has taught at Harvard University, Williams College and Boston University, and is currently professor of English and director of a new master of fine arts program at Rutgers-Newark, the State University of New Jersey.

Poet Lee Upton
7:30 p.m. 27 March, Studio Theatre, Esch Hall

Lee Upton, poet and fiction writer, is the author of 10 books. Her poetry has been published in the Atlantic Monthly, the New Republic, Poetry, American Poetry Review and numerous other journals. Her fiction has appeared in The Antioch Review, Epoch, Shenandoah, Ascent, Glimmer Train, Northwest Review and other journals. She is a professor of English and the writer-in-residence at Lafayette College.

Endowed by Allen and Helen Kellogg, the Kellogg Writers Series brings writers of distinction to UIndy, giving the community an opportunity to meet and talk with the writers and hear them read and discuss their work. Presenting a wide range of voices of both national and international significance, the series also receives support from Follett College Stores and the University of Indianapolis Lecture/Performance Series. For more information, contact Valerie Miller Wahlstrom, arts outreach coordinator, 317:788-2183.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Joyce Carol Oates Is Coming to Indy!


The Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series at Butler University has announced its fall speaker lineup. All events are free and open to the public. For more information, call 317:940-9861.

Here's the schedule:

--Ann Cummins, 7:30 p.m. 20 September, Krannert Room, Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler University campus.
Cummins, author of the short-story collection "Red Ant House" and the novel "Yellowcake," teaches creative writing at Northern Arizona University. The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, Quarterly West and the Sonora Review, as well as "The Best American Short Stories 2002," have published her writing.

--Galway Kinnell, 7:30 p.m. 1 October. Reilly Room, Atherton Union, Butler.
Kinnell, considered one of the most influential poets of the second half of the 20th century, is a social activist whose most popular poems include "St. Francis and the Sow" and "After Making Love We Hear Footsteps." The first edition of his "Selected Poems" (1980) won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. He was a professor of creative writing at New York University and chancellor of the American Academy of Poets before retiring, and "Strong Is Your Hold," his first collection in more than a decade, was just published.

--Michael Martone, noon 4 October, Vivian S. Delbrook Writers’ Studio (Room 304, Jordan Hall), Butler.
Fort Wayne native Martone's most recent book is "Double-Wide: Collected Fiction of Michael Martone." He is a professor of creative writing at the University of Alabama.

--Dan Wakefield, 7:30 p.m. 25 October, Krannert Room, Clowes Memorial Hall, Butler.
Indianapolis native Wakefield is well known for his best-selling novels "Going All The Way" and "Starting Over." He's written several books on spirituality, including "The Hijacking of Jesus: How the Religious Right Distorts Christianity and Promotes Prejudice and Hate." Wakefield's appearance is co-sponsored by the Center for Faith and Vocation.

--Joyce Carol Oates (photo, above left), 7:30 p.m. 31 October, Reilly Room, Atherton Union, Butler.
Oates' most recent book, "The Gravedigger's Daughter," is her 36th published novel. "Them," which was published in 1970, won a National Book Award, and first five of her other books have been finalists for that honor. Her 1994 book, "What I Lived For," was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. She has taught creative writing at Princeton University since 1978.

--Carl W. Ernst, 7:30 p.m. 5 November, Reilly Room, Atherton Union, Butler.
Ernst is a specialist in Islamic studies, with a focus on West and South Asia. His most recent book, "Following Muhammad: Rethinking Islam in the Contemporary World," received several international awards. Ernst has been on the faculty in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Department of Religious Studies since 1992. His appearance is co-sponsored by the Change and Tradition Program.

--Adam Zagajewski, 7:30 p.m. 29 NOvember, Reilly Room, Atherton Union, Butler.
Poet, novelist and essayist Zagajewski, winner of the prestigious Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2004, is a faculty member in the University of Houston Creative Writing Program. The New Yorker published his much-praised poem "Try to Praise the Mutilated World" after 9/11.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

75 Murders in 2007?


According to Indy Undercover, there were two more murders in Indy (one involving a carjacking).

Yikes!

Thursday, August 23, 2007

IU Dental School Gets Grant to Treat Low-Income Children

Indiana University School of Dentistry pediatric dentist Dr. Judith Chin is the principal investigator on a grant that will be used by the school's Department of Pediatric Dentistry to provide comprehensive oral health services to economically disadvantaged children.

The $35,000 grant is one of 14 that the National Children's Oral Health Foundation (NCOHF) recently awarded to not-for-profit community, university, and hospital-based dental programs nationwide, according to the News Center at Indiana University-Purdue University in Indianapolis, where the IU school is located.

During the six-month clinical project, the children will be treated by students in the dental school's Pediatric Dentistry department. Equally important to the treatment, says Chin, is the patient education component of the program that will underscore the critical importance of practicing good oral hygiene in the home.

The NCOHF was created in 2006 in response to the growing need to provide disadvantaged families with access to the community-based programs for underserved children that deliver the best approaches to optimizing oral health, enhancing self-esteem, reducing student absenteeism, and significantly enhancing quality of life and family productivity.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

OMG! She's Our Representative in Congress?

Watch this, and wonder.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Indy Made the New York Times, Again!


"Yes, They Deep-Fry Oreos, but Not in Trans Fats," says the headline on Monica Davey's feature on the just-concluded Indiana State Fair.

"The deep-fried Combo Plate may be a little more healthful this year at the Great Indiana State Fair. So say the fair’s leaders, who, taking a step rarely seen in the realm of corn dogs and fried pickles, have banned oils with trans fats from all the fryers that line the grounds here."
...
"'This is a slice of heaven,' said Ryan Howell, 31, as he cradled his Combo Plate, which, for the record, consists of one battered Snickers bar, two battered Oreos and a battered Reese's Peanut Butter Cup — all deep-fried in oil that is trans-fat free, thank goodness."

Cincy is Too Darn Close to Indy

An investigative business reporter at The Cincinnati Enquirer has been fired for no identifiable reason, according to Talking Biz News.

"Jim McNair, a well-known investigative business reporter who joined the Cincinnati Enquirer in 2001 from the Miami Herald during the Gannett’s paper’s attempt to beef up its business coverage, was fired from the paper last week, but was not given a good reason as to his dismissal."

Like The Indianapolis Star, The Enquirer is owned by Gannett (which launched the trial balloon of eliminating The Star's business section entirely a month or so ago).

Any similarity to the current situation in Cincy is probably not coincidental.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Indy Needs Trash Cans Costing $4,000 Each????


Just when you think Indy can't get loonier, along comes this news story (courtesy of Indy Undercover):

The City has bought $4,000 trash cans to deploy downtown! Evidently they do everything except whistle.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

City County Councillor Resigns

Not to beat a dead horse or anything, but Patrice Abduallah no longer sits on the City County Council.

Check the first two Indy blogs listed to the right for more details.

Good work, guys!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Sorry, Bart, But This Story Has Legs

Word is out that Indy doesn't have sworn police officers:

Ruling May Invalidate Many Indy Arrests
(10 August 2007)
Washington Post

Hundreds of arrests made by Indianapolis officers not sworn in may be invalid
(10 August 2007)
International Herald Tribune

Ruling May Invalidate Many Indy Arrests
(10 August 2007)
Forbes.com

For Want of a Swearing In, an Arrest Is Lost in Indiana
(11 August 2007)
The New York Times

Ruling May Invalidate Many Indy Arrests
(10 August 2007)
Fox News

Friday, August 10, 2007

No Cuticle Cutters Allowed!


For your reading enjoyment, a complete list of items you can't bring with you into the City-County Building -- "in an effort to control articles from being brought into this Building that would cause harm to others".

This Indianapolis Observer sure would like to know why some of 'em made it onto the list. You can't bring a tape measure into the C-C building, for example, or eyeglass repair tools or a medium safety pin!

But, then, this list is specified by the Marion County Sheriff's Department -- and that law enforcement entity no longer exists. Hmmmmmmmmmm!

Thursday, August 9, 2007

I wasn't gonna talk about this, but....

The debate is heating up over whether Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers are legit. That is, if they didn't take an "oath of office" when the new department was created last January, are they "sworn" officers?

Here's the statute.

Relevant section:
IC 5-2-1-17
Police officers; enforcement powers; duties; oath; training
(c) Police officers appointed by the board:
(1) must take an appropriate oath of office in a form and manner prescribed by the board;

Tuesday, August 7, 2007

Fairbanks Art & Nature Park Starts Construction


Contractors are laying the groundwork to start construction on the $50-million Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, according to Indianapolis Business Journal.

IMA has chosen a construction manager, The Hagerman Group, and work is slated to begin in Spring 2008.

The land for the park, 100 acres along the White River including woods, wetlands and a 35-acre lake, was given to IMA in 1972. Acclaimed architect Marlon Blackwell, landscape architect Edward Blake and New York environmental artist Mary Miss have been working on the project. Miss designed the park’s gateway, a 1,500-foot-long pedestrian bridge (shown here).

Monday, August 6, 2007

Iris Recognition Software in the Works at IUPUI

A professor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has received a $300,000 military grant to develop a video surveillance system for homeland security that uses iris recognition to identify suspects, according to the IUPUI News Bureau

Dr. Yingzi (Eliza) Du, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology at IUPUI is one of 33 recipients of the 2007 Office of Naval Research Young Investigators award.

Under a three-year project, Du will research and design software to monitor and identify terrorists and other criminals covertly in real time using the patterns of the irises of their eyes.

Saturday, August 4, 2007

An Oktoberfest Preview!


See Indianapolis-Cologne Sister City Committee website for more information on how to buy tickets!

Friday, August 3, 2007

Mission Creep, Indeed!

It turns out that the shenanigans of TSA in "screening" IndyGo bus riders in downtown Indianapolis is just the tip of the iceberg.

TSA intends to dress its screeners to look like law enforcement officers -- without requiring law enforcement training.

Check out this link.

Another incremental erosion of civil liberties, eh?

Thursday, August 2, 2007

What's Wrong with This Picture?

The Transportation Security Administration is conducting random searches downtown as part of a national security initiative called Operation Viper, according to Indianapolis Business Journal.

As people get on IndyGo buses, the agents will search for weapons, drugs and anything else that could be a security problem. Violators will be arrested.

This Indianapolis Observer hopes the TSA catches all those terrorists intent on hijacking IndyGo buses!

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

GP Motorcycle Track Construction Underway

Construction on the new, 2.601-mile road course to be used for the inaugural Red Bull Indianapolis GP motorcycle race to be held 14 September 2008 has started at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, according to an IMS news release.

Photos of the construction will be posted to the IMS website periodically so fans can track the progress of the construction. IMS officials plan to have all construction completed by Opening Day for the 92nd Indianapolis 500-Mile Race in May.

Ticket orders are being accepted now for the inaugural race. Orders can be placed either online, or by mailing an order form to IMS. The order form is available at the IMS Web site or by calling the IMS Ticket Office, 800:822-INDY or 317:492-6700. Ticket Office hours are 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

All tickets for this event are three-day tickets, with both reserved and general admission seating available. Ticket orders will be fulfilled at a later date.