The IBJ Podcast

What do the 2018 election results mean for 2019 and 2020?

While Democrats had a strong year elsewhere, they continued to largely falter in Indiana, most notably losing a U.S. Senate seat and leaving them without a single statewide office.

Host Mason King talks with IBJ reporters Lindsey Erdody and Hayleigh Colombo as well as Andy Downs, director of the Mike Downs Center for Politics in Fort Wayne, about what the 2018 elections mean for the next two election cycles — city elections in 2019 and the governor's race in 2020.

Get the latest scoop on Indy Mayor Joe Hogsett, Gov. Eric Holcomb and South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg. 

Anti-semitism, hate crimes and Indiana, a conversation with Denny & Sandy Sasso

Just a week after a shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue left 11 congregants dead, IBJ Podcast host Mason King sat down with Dennis Sasso, the senior rabbi of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck in Indianapolis, and his wife, Sandy, the director of the Religion, Spirituality and the Arts Initiative at Butler University and Christian Theological Seminary.

The couple talk about how they learned about the tragedy, their connection to the Tree of Life Synagogue where it took place, and how they spoke to their fellow worshippers about it.

They also discuss what the crime means for people and public policy in Indiana, particularly in the debate about whether Indiana lawmakers should pass legislation that enhances penalties for defendants found guilty of committing crimes motivated by hate or bias.

 

The news clips in this episode are courtesy of KGO-TV San Francisco and ABC News.

The music in this episode is Paint The Sky by Jeris, (c) copyright 2017, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. 

Photo courtesy of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf's office, via Flicker under a Creative Commons license.

 

Detailing the Pan Am Plaza hotel and convention project

Indianapolis officials are planning a fifth expansion of the Indiana Convention Center plus two attached, privately-financed hotels at Pan Am Plaza, an effort to maintain and expand the city's valuable convention and tourism business.

The city plans to spend about $120 million to build a 50,000-square-foot ballroom and other meeting space, which would be connected by walkway to the convention center. Kite Realty Group Trust is to develop the two hotels — one with 800 rooms and the other about 600 rooms — which would also be connected to the new convention space.

The Capital Improvement Board has given the go-ahead for city officials to work out the final details but it will still be a year before the project could get started. And there are a number of unanswered questions.

Guest host Lindsey Erdody (in for Mason King) talks with IBJ reporters Hayleigh Colombo and Anthony Schoettle about the project, the city's convention business and what remains unknown about the Pan Am Plaza project.

Click here to read more about the project.

Breaking down Indiana's Senate race

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly and Republican challenger Mike Braun are locked in one of the nation's most-watched Senate races. The winner could determine control of the U.S. Senate.

Already, some $61 million has been spent by the campaigns, political parties and independent organizations trying to sway Hoosier voters, who go to the polls Nov. 6. Polls show the race is a tossup.

Host Mason King talks to IBJ political reporter Lindsey Erdody about the race, her experience on the campaign trail with the candidates, and what we know about early voting.

See Lindsey's stories about the Senate race — including profiles of Mike Braun and Joe Donnelly — at IBJ.com.

Developing a downtown neighborhood from scratch

Just west of the White River and south of the Indianapolis Zoo is the site of the former GM stamping plant — 103 acres of mostly concrete that's been waiting for development for years. 

Now, Ambrose Property Group is unveiling more details about its plans for the site, including the project's name.

Still, the firm's president, Aasif Bade, is mum about whether the site is among those across the country that Amazon is considering for its planned HQ2, a $5 billion second quarters that promises as many as 50,000 jobs. 

Instead, Bade tells host Mason King when site preparation could begin, when specific plans for buildings will be unveiled and why the riverfront is so important to the project.

 

Why is a philosopher running a plumbing company?

Jack Hope launched his plumbing company to help him pay for his master's degree in philosophy.

But Hope Plumbing was so lucrative that by the time he graduated, Jack was making as much as might as a tenured college professor. So he stuck with plumbing. Today, that small startup has grown into a company with more than 40 employees and revenue projected to top $6 million this year.

But that doesn't mean Jack has left philosphy behind. Host Mason King asks him just how philosphy plays into his management style and about he approaches recruiting and retaining plumbers, the biggest challenge in his business.

 

IBJ Podcast: How an IU student turned her beekeeping hobby into a star startup

Ellie Symes, a rising star in the Indiana's tech ecosystem, leads The Bee Corp., a data-analytics firm that helps bee keepers and growers optimize the pollination of their orchards and fields.

Symes, who started the company while a student at Indiana University, appeared on stage at the Forbes AgTech Summit in Indianapolis and the company was part of the event's startup showcase. 

She talks with podcast host Mason King about being a young entrepreneur, taking risks and pivoting when you have to to make your company stronger. We also learn she's become allergic to bees! 

Photo courtesy of The Bee Corp. 

Music credit: Boogie da Bee by texasradiofish (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: Sprezza, tiltededge, Kara Square, ElRon XChile, Stefan Kartenberg, rocavaco, Javolenus, reg7783

 

IBJ Podcast: Can Indy support its downtown hotel boom?

Indianapolis has about 2,800 new hotel rooms slated to come online downtown in the next five years.

Some of those hotels — such as the 316-room Hyatt Place/Hyatt House project across from Bankers Life Fieldhouse — are under construction and nearing completion. Others — such as a long-discussed 800- to 1,000-room convention hotel — are only in the planning stages. 

If all are completed, those projects will add to the roughly 7,500 rooms already downtown.

Can Indy support all that growth? Host Mason King talks with Mark Eble, the managing director of CBRE Hotels Advisory and an expert on the hotel industry in the Midwest, to find out.

You can also read about Eble's view on the market and get more details about hotel growth in a story by Hayleigh Colombo in this week's IBJ.

IBJ Podcast: The experts behind Indiana's wine resurgence

Just two decades ago, Indiana had no grape and wine industry worth talking about. But today, more than 100 wineries dot Indiana.

The annual harvest (and the 2.4 million gallons of wine it makes) generates an economic impact of $600 million, sustains 4,000 full-time jobs, and pays $37 million in state and local taxes and $38 million in federal taxes.

The growth is thanks in part to the Purdue Wine Grape Team, a group funded by a 5-cent excise tax on every gallon of wine sold in Indiana. Founded in 1991, the team is an agricultural extension program composed of enology, viticulture and marketing specialists who assist Indiana winemakers and grape growers.

IBJ Podcast host Mason King talks to two of them — Bruce Bordelon and Jill Blume — about Indiana's wine industry, what makes it special and what to expect in the future.

You can read more about the Indiana wine industry at IBJ.

Photo for this episode by Tom Campbell, courtesy of Purdue Agricultural Communication .

Music for this episode:

Jazz Shuffle Blues by texasradiofish (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: Bluemillenium, Copperhead, David Merrick, ElRon XChile, Jeris, Annon, Rey Izian, Javolenus, Speck, Kara Square, Chuck Berglund, Nickleus, Fireproof Babies, My Free Mickey, DJ Snyder

IBJ Podcast: Five years in the works, The Idle micropark offers grand vista between two interstates

Where tens of thousands of motorists every day saw just another scrubby little hill along an interstate, Tom Battista saw a park. A place for reflection or respectful debate, to the soundtrack of hundreds of wheels on pavement. Maybe more importantly, a place that could connect residents of foundational Indianapolis neighborhoods separated 50 years earlier by interstate construction.

Indianapolis residents probably know Battista best as co-founder of Bluebeard in Fletcher Place, one of the key restaurants in reforming the city's culinary reputation. He also has a separate, legendary career in concert production, working on tours for artists such as Jimmy Buffett, David Bowie and Parliament Funkadelic.

The idea for the little park got stuck in Battista’s mind like a pop music earworm. To make it happen, he learned he would need to work through the city, state and federal government, while many folks told him he was nuts to even try. After five years of negotiating and planning, The Idle opened earlier this month. The access point is on the Virginia Street bridge between Fletcher Place and Fountain Square. Battista led podcast host Mason King on a walk-and-talk tour through the promontory and its history.

Music: "Drops of H2O (The Filtered Water Treatment)" by J.Lang (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/djlang59/37792 Ft: Airtone